California INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Report | |
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Corporate Profits and State Revenues Up California finally got some good news this past month as more than $2 billion of additional tax revenue was collected that should help close a budget shortfall estimated to be $8.6 billion for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The increased revenue came from increased Corporate profits as well as better than expected earnings from Californians through stocks and other investments. The Legislative Analyst's office says that corporate profits are "soaring" in a number of industries, including manufacturing, real estate and financial services. Thank you for continuing to receive the California International Business Report. Please take a moment to formally subscribe at the link at the bottom or unsubscribe if you don't want to receive this. Also, this newsletter is "content rich" and can trigger spam filters- make sure you "white list" this publication in your spam filter. Please also read an important announcement at the bottom of the page about the operations of California Trade Network. |
 News and Politics back
Illegal Immigration Debate Heats Up
San Francisco wins Stem Cell Competition. After a fierce competition between four California cities, San Francisco has been selected as the Headquarters City for the new California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The bidding war that developed for the Center included subsidies, real estate offers and other perks and came down to San Francisco verses San Diego in competition for the votes of the committee overseeing the stem cell initiative. In an unfortunate display of the North-South regionalism, all committee members from the Bay Area, Sacramento and Fresno voted for San Francisco while two members in the Los Angeles region joined them giving San Francisco 16 votes to San Diego's 11 votes. San Francisco offered an estimated $17 million in subsidies, including free rent for office space near SBC Park, free hotel rooms nearby, free furniture, conference facilities and a long list of other perks. San Diego's bid included 17,000 square feet of rent-free office space in La Jolla and other perks worth an estimated $11 million but stressed the large cluster of biomedical enterprises in the area. Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco had staked a great deal of political capital in his bid to get the headquarters for his city, and personally gave the final presentation before the final vote. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine headquarters will now be housed on the third floor of an unassuming building near the new Mission Bay campus of the University of California San Francisco, across from the San Francisco Giants' SBC Park. "San Francisco is now primed to become the stem cell research capital of the world and the center of biotechnology research in the United States," U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, said in a news release. The initiative, however, still faces huge challenges including lawsuits from religious groups and lack of short term funding. Chairman Robert Klein II has announced that he will be seeking $100 million in private contributions to keep the agency afloat until legal challenges can be resolved and the bonds voters approved for stem cell research can be sold. Immigrants Found Captive in LA Homes. Los Angeles police found 148 immigrants held captive in two South Los Angeles houses and arrested two suspected smugglers who were allegedly demanding payment for their release. Police discovered the first group after one of the prisoners escaped and called 911 from a nearby pay phone. Officers arriving on the scene found bars on the rear windows- they said they noticed a powerful odor when they entered the house and discovered men and women shoulder to shoulder in two locked bedrooms. The immigrants, who were from Ecuador and Mexico, described being held for as long as a month as smugglers, called "coyotes" demanded payments of $3,000 for their release. This discovery was the most recent of a string of "safe houses" authorities have uncovered over the last few years. Officials say Los Angeles has emerged as a center of the human-smuggling business, with immigrants shipped from Latin America, across the border and to houses in Los Angeles. Often, they are eventually put on airplanes to other parts of the country. Chinese eyeing Port of Sacramento. The troubled Port of Sacramento has continued to report "dismal" new financial losses and local officials are trying to get West Sacramento to take over its operations. The facility has not been able to make money mostly because it is California's shallowest ship channel, which at 30 feet deep cannot handle container ships. Port leaders leaders recently have been asking some in the global shipping industry for ideas on buying, managing or financially reinvigorating a port that saw three only ships in March. A Port Commission member recently revealed that a Chinese group has expressed interest in buying the port, but he said it was too early for serious discussion. Port officials also said they can't save the region's facility for oceangoing ships unless government officials first figure out who is responsible for making decisions concerning the operation of the Port. Interim Chief Executive Officer Andrew Belknap said these political struggles have blocked changes at the port. "This has repeatedly come up over the years, and it needs to be resolved," he said. It is currently projected that the Port faces complete financial collapse by the summer of 2006.
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 Letters to the Editor back
Thinks We are Supporters of NAFTA Sir, The Corporate Officers of ITI do not believe that NAFTA is a contributing trade organization for the overall health of the United States. Nor, does ITI feel that the nominalized Office of Lt. Gov. Bustamante further represents the people and organizations which form the Tax base of the State of California. Therefore, it is our request that we be removed from your e-mail list. Sincerely, Name withheld Del Mar, California Editors Note: While I personally agree that NAFTA was not necessarily all that great of a thing for either the U.S. or Mexico, this was not discussed anywhere at all in this newsletter, so I have no idea how the "Corporate Officers" of ITI came to this conclusion. As they requested this company has been removed from our mailing list. Another Letter from our Fan Club Rob; You liberal idiots don't get it do you. The reason California is dead and will continue to slide off the end of the earth is the ridiculous burden of secular-social legislation placed on "doing business in California." Most company's that could, have left the state, these that could not, have stayed, you are left with a bunch of losers. It is very obvious you had not driven in Paris lately where gasoline is 7 1/2 dollars per gallon! This country has the lowest gasoline prices on the planet! If you have no new refineries built in the last 30 years, how can you have anything but a supply shortage? I am amazed gasoline is not at $10 a gallon given the restrictions on new refineries construction and the illegal immigrant population growth. Do not ever send this left wing-waco report to me again! Roger O. Williams EDC Biosystems San Jose, California | |
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International Trade Through LA to hit 300 Billion this Year. According to a report just released by the the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation. The study called "International Trade Trends & Impacts" reported that the total value of two-way trade moving through the Los Angeles Customs District should increase by 14.3% to $302.1 billion, a new record level. The report acknowledged that congestion and pollution at the Port facilities in the LA region remain a huge problem. The report however seemed to gloss over differences between "exports" and "imports" and didn't mention the number of empty containers being shipped back to Asia- preferring instead to laud the "total value" of two-way international trade and its positive impact on job creation. They also noted that trade in "services" - such as entertainment intellectual property, tourism, and education is usually not reported and this skews the numbers in favor of foreign imports. The full report can be found at this link:http://www.laedc.org/data/pdf/2005_InternationalTradeTrendsandImpacts.pdf Port of LA gets its own TV Show. The Port of Los Angeles has put its cable television program back on the air after a three-year break and has modernized the content to more of a news magazine format called "portfolio". Airing on the City of Los Angeles' CitiChannel 35, the program can reach up to 3.25 million viewers in the City of Los Angeles with each showing. Portfolio is a half-hour program that is produced quarterly and features a variety of news about the Port such as community events, environmental programs, waterfront development and business/infrastructure developments. Produced and created by the Port's Public Affairs staff, the most recent edition of features stories on the Port's waterfront revitalization taking place in San Pedro; groundbreaking on a new park in Wilmington; and the Port's many programs to improve the quality of air, water and natural habitats in and around the Port. California Teachers Fund to invest $3 billion in Emerging Markets. California teachers fund CalSTRS is to launch a search for up to six active equity managers to invest about $3 billion in emerging markets, or 10% of its international equity portfolio. The California State Teachers' Retirement System said funds for the shift would come from “normal cash flow”. The search begins on April 20 and the deadline is June 7. Selected managers will be announced in the autumn. The Sacramento-based fund, the third-largest public pension fund in the US, said the move follows an “extensive study of the opportunities and risks in investing in emerging markets”. The decision represents a shift from its current policy of making emerging market investments on an “opportunistic basis” through its existing managers. California Farm Bureau endorses CAFTA. The California Farm Bureau Federation has endorsed the proposed free-trade agreement between the United States and Central American nations. The CFBF board of directors supported the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, saying it would open markets for California farm goods. "Without an agreement, Central American imports to the United States will continue to grow, while our exports to those nations remain stifled by the tariffs they impose," said CFBF President Bill Pauli. "In weighing the pluses and minuses to the agreement, our board determined that it would benefit California farmers and ranchers over the long term". Not all board members agreed- Lassen County rancher Hannah Tangeman-Cheney said she would rather see U.S. trade negotiators focus on markets that offer greater opportunities for California producers and thinks DR-CAFTA would put the United States in a position to under-price its competitors. "I feel there is a real lack of opportunity with CAFTA consumers' purchasing power. People are going to have limited ability to afford our products," she said. "I think we need trade agreements with countries where there are consumers with money to buy our products. Our trade policy is failing family farmers because we're currently importing more food than what we're exporting, and we're picking countries that have no money to set up trade agreements with." Monterey Institute may merge with Vermont College.The Monterey Institute of International Studies may merge with Middlebury College in Vermont, one of the top small liberal arts colleges in the nation. According to a report in the Monterey Herold, they have been in discussion with MIIS since last fall about a possible merger, Middlebury spokesman Phil Benoit confirmed this after word of the talks was revealed on an education Web site. Merger talks "have been accelerating over the last three or four months," he said, with both institutions holding discussions and formulating guidelines. Benoit and MIIS President Steve Baker said there is no discussion of a "purchase" since both are nonprofit entities. "You don't 'buy' a nonprofit," Baker told the Herold. "There's no question of payments changing hands." Baker said he initiated discussions with Middlebury because the Vermont school's reputation is well known, particularly in language education. Its graduate programs in the languages focus on people training to become teachers, Benoit said, while Monterey offers a range of language-related programs in translation, interpretation, international business and international studies H1-B Standards Tightened. Immigration authorities have reversed an interpretation of new legislation on foreign workers that would have shrunk the number of visas for highly educated technology workers. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services caused some controversy in March when the agency said it would not require higher educational standards from applicants for the 20,000 H-1B visas Congress set aside for workers with advanced degrees from U.S. universities. The agency disclosed in a notice on its Web site that it had reversed its decision and that qualified applicants for the 20,000 additional H-1B visas should have a "minimum master's level degree from a U.S. academic institution". Some critics said that the immigration agency gave a loose interpretation to the H-1B Visa Reform Act of 2004 because it had mistakenly accepted as many as 10,000 too many applications for the current fiscal year's 65,000 regular H-1B visas and needed to find slots for those workers. The delay in implementation of the legislation has caused disruption in hiring plans for many companies in Silicon Valley and caused difficulties for students. The change in interpretation has been welcomed in Silicon Valley- an area that hires many H-1B employees. Governor proposes new energy agency. The Schwarzenegger administration announced a major energy reorganization plan to create a new Cabinet-level Department of Energy. The plan, will require legislative approval and is first being to the Little Hoover Commission which would hold public hearings on the proposal. In a statement to reporters, Joe Desmond, who Schwarzenegger recently named as chairman of the California Energy Commission said, "Energy is vitally important to the health and welfare of all Californians. It impacts on jobs, on industry, on consumers and the environment. For California to move forward, it needs to have a consistent, consolidated view and speak with one voice on energy policy. This proposal accomplishes those objectives." Another group, "the Alliance for a Better California" is backed by labor unions and has just collected enough signatures to place before voters a proposal to re-regulate California's electricity markets. The markets were deregulated by Governor Pete Wilson and by a unanimous vote of the State Legislature in 1996. Many people believe that this deregulation at the supplier level, but not for consumers led to market manipulation and the state's energy crisis of 2001. California Unemployment Rate Drops Slightly. California’s unemployment rate was 5.4 percent in March, down from 5.8 percent in February, the state Employment Development Department (EDD) reported today. This is the lowest unemployment rate since July 2001, when the rate was also 5.4 percent. A year ago, in March 2004, California’s unemployment rate was 6.4 percent. According to EDD’s survey of employers, nonfarm payroll employment in California grew by 17,600 jobs over the month, for a total of 14,699,300. According to the separate survey of households, the number of Californians holding jobs in March was 16,700,000. This was a decrease of 17,000 from February, but up 347,000 from the employment total in March of last year. | |
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Huge Asian Trade Center Proposed for Sacramento. A Sacramento-based business group says it has secured $900 million in backing from Asian investors to build a $1.4 billion for a new development project they have proposed to be called "The California International Trade Center". The center is to include an office tower, 550-room hotel, a huge exhibition center, housing, restaurants and a small college. It would total at least 4.5 million square feet. According to a report in the Sacramento Business Journal, the privately financed venture would be modeled on the 6.5 million- square-foot World Trade Center in Seoul, South Korea, run by the Korean International Trade Association. It would focus on further expanding Asia's trade with the United States, especially with California and Foreign companies who would display their products at the center. The project is intended to support 17 Western States. Proposing the trade center are Alan Tompkins, a physicist and aeronautical engineer active in technology transfer projects in Asia; Lee Shull, a scientist and former University of California Davis professor; and Hardie Setzer of Sacramento-based Setzer Forest Products. The partnership's project consultants include Stephen Eimer & Associates Inc., with development and asset management experience; Swinerton Builders, a San Francisco construction company; and Hornberger & Worstell Inc., a San Francisco architecture and planning practice. The Journal reported that CIC LLC, the partnership led by Tompkins and Shull, has "handshake deals" with Asian investors for the $900 million. Tompkins considers the commitments solid. The investors, whom Tompkins and Shull won't identify, include a bank holding company and an international company, both in Asia. These investors are willing to put their money into construction in exchange for equity in the project. The foreign investors do not want financial assistance from local, state or federal governments. They want to avoid public money, fearing that government involvement could ruin the project. The Foreign companies also intend to bring their lobbyists and lawyers here to try to change environmental and other rules that they see as unfriendly and costly to business. "We can get laws changed," Tompkins was quoted as saying. The goal of the California International Trade Center would be to enhance and assist trade, commerce and finance, especially between California and Pacific Rim countries. Tompkins and Shull said they hope to get through the entitlement phase in three years, and want to finish the center in 2010. Fluor Corporation is leaving California for Texas. Fluor Corporation, one of the largest international engineering and construction firms in the world has announced that it will relocate its corporate headquarters from Irvine to the Dallas-Fort Worth area by early 2006. The company said the move will create 70 new jobs and the company would relocate 100 employees to the Dallas area. About 80 employees will be reassigned to other Fluor locations. The company expects about 100 employees to leave the company. The Company's CEO Alan L. Boeckmann said in a written statement: "Today's announcement reflects Fluor's strategy to improve operational efficiency and position the company to more effectively serve our global client base," Boeckmann said in a written statement Tuesday. "While we highly value our West Coast clients, most of our North American customers are clustered in Texas and on the East Coast, which can be more efficiently accessed from the Central time zone. In addition, Dallas/Fort Worth Airport provides optimal travel connections to customers in all other global locations". Texas Governor Rick Perry will be welcoming Mr. Boeckmann when he arrives at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport this week. San Diego and Tijuana Hammered by Wireless Layoffs. Global competition in the cell phone industry prompted big layoffs at two wireless firms and more than 1800 people will lose their jobs in the San Diego area. Kyocera Wireless said it will eliminate 150 to 175 employees in San Diego and 1,400 at its maquiladora in Tijuana over the next three months because it is outsourcing phone manufacturing. The cuts come just four months after the layoff of 718 workers, which was about one-third of Kyocera's work force in San Diego. Saul Garcia, president of Kyocera Mexicana, explained that the jobs would be going to Flextronics, a large electronics manufacturer in Singapore that has operations worldwide and manufactures phones for other cell phone maker. "We know this is not good for Tijuana," Garcia said. "We know it's not good for the people in Mexico. I hate it. But, at the same time, business is not good in the cell phone division. We have a very tight margin. We are not at the profit level we want to be". Ericsson, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, is shutting down its San Diego operation, laying off 250 of its 300 employees over the next six to nine months. The remaining 50 will likely be transferred to other Ericsson offices. High Tech Industry: More Exports but Fewer Jobs. California's high-tech industry is slowly rebounding, with state exports in 2004 rising to $48.3 billion from $41.5 billion in 2003, according to a Report by the American Electronics Association. The study reported, however, that the industry continued to lose jobs, though at a slower pace than in recent years. According to the AeA study, venture capital investments in California are up by $1 billion in 2004, jumping from $8.2 billion in 2003 to $9.3 billion in 2004. "When you examine this increase in VC funding and the fact that California still leads in employment in nearly every high-tech sector, it is obvious that California remains an attractive location for technology companies to innovate," said Matthew Kazmierczak, director of Research for AeA. According to the report titled 'Cyberstates 2005,' high-tech employment fell by 67,800 in 2003, which is significantly fewer than the 134,400 jobs lost in 2002. State employment data for 2003 are the most recent available in this report. "That's a big, big drop in jobs lost," said William Archey, president and CEO of the AeA, a tech industry trade group. "Basically, the hemorrhaging stopped." Archey attributed the slower rate of job loss to more demand for software service and computer technical service positions. He also cited the spike in demand for computer-related jobs in the defense industry, fueled by overseas military campaigns. Google Earnings Up almost 500 Percent. Google Inc.reported that its first-quarter profit more than quadrupled and revenue nearly doubled because of surging online ad sales. The news sparked a rally in the search engine giant's stock price. For the three months ended March 31, Google reported profit of $369.2 million ($1.29 a share), up from $64 million (24 cents) in the first quarter last year. Revenue, almost entirely from online advertising on Google and its partner Web sites, increased 93 percent, from $651.6 million to $1.3 billion this year. Google stock shot up nearly $20 on this news as share prices pushed above $220. Google went public in August at a price of $85 a share. "Our focus remains very clearly and steadfastly on long-term growth. In the meantime, we have a quarterly earnings report about which we are very pleased," said Google chief executive Eric E. Schmidt. Adobe to Buy Macromedia. Adobe Systems has announced that it agreed to buy multimedia software maker Macromedia for about $3.4 billion in stock, a move designed to extend its lead in the market for creating and distributing digital documents. Adobe, best known for its Acrobat document-sharing software, said the deal would help it meet rising customer demand for audio and video options that are compatible with hand-held devices. Macromedia also gives Adobe access to the dominant animated graphics software on the Internet, which has been expanding into mobile phones. The deal is the latest move in the long-anticipated consolidation of the software sector. It was initially welcomed by industry-watchers. Mr. Chizen will stay in his position as CEO, Adobe said, while Macromedia President and CEO Stephen Elop will become president of worldwide field operations at the combined company. Sun to Buy Tarantella. Sun Microsystems has announced it will acquire software maker Tarantella in a $25m cash deal it hopes will boost sales to big Corporates. Tarantella's software helps customers access and manage data across a number of platforms, networks and devices, and its Secure Global Desktop product line allows customers to web-enable applications. The acquisition of California-based Tarantella is Sun's latest software move. Tarantella was known as Santa Cruz Operation prior to selling its software business to Caldera International in 2001. It adopted the Tarantella name after its remaining product line which ran software on central servers that desktop computers could access. Following Caldera's acquisition, the Santa Cruz Operation software business went on to become the SCO Group. | |
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Sally Johnson, of InterNetLC.com has announced the first Trade Finance deal as a result of an arrangement with TEFO- TradePort Export Finance Online. The customer,World Energy Labs (WEL) of San Francisco, has developed a high tech tool that helps companies to maximize the uses of expensive electro-chemical systems, such as backup batteries. John Dunlop, CEO of InterNetLC.com, traveled to San Francisco in December to evaluate the Documentary Letter of Credit. After revisions, he recommended the transaction to a Private Funding Source and arranged an introductory meeting to review the money flow,and was able to arrange a Documentary Letter of Credit for $28,775.63. from China Banking Corp. of Manila. Jean Kreagel, formerly the Trade Manager for the World Trade Center of Los Angeles/Long Beach has parted ways with that organization. The joke in certain circles in international trade in LA is that this is no better way to advance your career than to fail at this World Trade Center, as successive Directors continued to lose membership from this once vibrant organization, and then go on to great jobs elsewhere. Jean didn't fail, but he did come up with the unique idea to give up on the idea of membership entirely- preferring to position the WTC as a community resource- so by taking the membership down to zero we are sure he has a bright future. Jean is in the Orange County area and is putting some ideas together for that region- if anyone wants to contact him he is at 562-884-6582. International Monetary Systems, Ltd. a company involved in business-to-business barter services, announced that it has moved its Southern California office to Beverly Hills. This will allow the company to expand its marketing in key areas of greater Los Angeles. CEO Don Mardak commented: "We now have an office that is less than 150 yards from Rodeo Drive in the heart of Beverly Hills. This will enable us to better serve our growing Los Angeles client base and to enroll higher profile businesses that are located in this dynamic marketplace." Qing Chang Jiang, president of EHI Group USA and Araj Electronics, of Cupertino, California, has been acquitted of illegally exporting microwave technology to China for military purposes. Jiang was arrested by customs agents in January 2003 and charged with exporting microwave amplifiers to China without an export permit. The amplifiers have applications both in the commercial sector and in the military, where they can be used in equipment for tracking missiles. Chief Magistrate Patricia Trumbull of the U.S. District Court in San Jose, California acquitted Jiang on the grounds that there was reasonable doubt that he knew he was breaking the law. The judge did, however, find Jiang guilty of making false statements to customs investigators when he told them he had withdrawn his export application and returned all the equipment to the manufacturer. | |
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Now that the Bush Administration is well into their second term it has become apparent, even to many Republicans, that they have absolutely no interest in finding common ground or reaching out to the other side to show that they intend to represent all Americans. This has been especially true in Foreign policy where Paul Wolfowitz, the neoconservative architect of the Iraq war was rewarded for his many costly mistakes by being appointed to head the World Bank, and notorious UN hater John Bolton has been nominated to be U.S. Ambassador the the United Nations. Remembering back to the Republican convention speech when they brought in that psychopath Zell Miller, supposedly a Democrat, many of us were stunned to learn that we are considered traitors for disagreeing with the Bush administration on Foreign policy "in a time of war". Never mind that Bush took a country that had been completely united after 9/11 and alienated those who hoped for America to be a more positive force in the world. His approach was purely military, and while that was necessary at least in Afghanistan, the rest of us had no role at all except that we were supposed to "go buy stuff". This is why many Americans, especially here in California, no longer believe that Bush Administration foreign policy represents our interests or values. So what should we do? Well, as we have said before here, California should have its own Foreign Policy! It is really not that radical of an idea. State Assemblyman Ray Haynes, (R-Murrieta) recently proposed the creation of aCalifornia Border Police Agency to enforce immigration laws. "We should stop complaining about the federal government enforcing the law and take matters into our own hands," said Representative Raynes. We might not agree with this particular policy, but we agree with the sentiment. California is a huge nation-state, and the current government in Washington has not been representing our international interests. So maybe of own border agency is a good way for Conservatives to assert California's these interests, but what about the Progressives? I mentioned this idea before, and it would be a good way to counter those angry voices on the right who, like Bush, hate the United Nations and want to kick it out of the United States. We should go the other way and invite the United Nations back to their ancestral home in California. This would be a bold move for the Governor, and it would align him with moderates in his own party who also want the U.S. to be a positive force in the world. True, it would be mostly symbolic, but who knows, they may even take us up on the offer. New York traffic jams are horrible, there is always a chance of getting mugged and people are always yelling "your motha". Since San Francisco just nabbed the stem cell center I recommend that we invite them to San Diego. Think of it, they could chill out on the beaches, they would stop fighting each other, and world peace would break out all over! - or not, but I still think it is a good idea. Here's another one, but first let me disclose that I came up with this idea through the wondrous creative properties inherent in a bottle of California's finest vintageTwo Buck Chuck, which I opened about 10 minutes ago and is just starting to take effect. This is a little out of the box, but here goes: Let's join the British Commonwealth! Wait, before you dismiss this as another crackpot idea hear me out. The British Commonwealth is an association of countries that were once part of the British empire. Fifty three countries are members with over 1.8 billion people including India, Singapore, Australia, Canada, Nigeria, South African and many others. They participate in various trade and cultural exchanges but this organization has become mostly ceremonial and somewhat moribund. Still, it is already there- a "shell" trade organization that we could easily take over. Think of what would happen if California would join this organization- it would be reenergized by the addition of California as its newest member, and it would help the British too. They aren't so hot on the European Union these days, and a reinvigorated Commonwealth would give them an alternative. This should be more acceptable to our right wing friends, concerned with the increasing influence of Latin America on our culture, as all members of the British Common wealth are English speaking countries- and those dudes should know we speak awesome English! I think this is a great idea- just think of it, the sun would never set on the California Empire! A fairly obscure website called BuyBlue- (www.buyblue.org) has a mission of discouraging Progressives and Liberals from inadvertently buying products from companies that financially support right wing politicians and causes. They reported on their website that the California Chamber of Commerce had a meeting recently called "Advocacy Council Members Only: Spring Retreat." where one of the topics was a discussion of how to defend themselves against campaigns like BuyBlue. As we reported here previously, the California Chamber broke with a tradition dating back more than 100 years when it endorsed Schwarzenegger in the recall election, in the last election they endorsed seven Republicans running for legislative seats, and more recently president Allan Zaremberg headed up a group called "Citizens to Save California" whose purpose is to support the Governor's political initiatives. The website said that they didn't know if this was just a minor point of discussion, but noted that they were on the Chamber's radar screen. In our opinion, the Chamber should be concerned. It seems to me that opponents of the Governor might now just pick Chamber Members as their boycott targets- why wouldn't they? If the Chamber has become a Republican organization then they may have made their members fair targets. Maybe the Chamber should follow the advice given on this website on how to avoid these boycotts: "the answer is pretty simple - get out of politics. Every company out there wants to bring as many loyal consumers as possible into the fold. Therefore, I think that many companies will someday realize that it doesn't pay to buy politicians and risk alienating potentially half of their consumer base. Until that day comes, we'll continue to shop our politics as much as possible". On another topic, I think I found one of the reasons there is so much Legislative confusion on International Trade Policy, while researching another topic, I came across this link http://www.sen.ca.gov/sor/reports/COMM_STUDIES/Trade.pdf - it is a report called "State Government and the Global Economy" and was written a little more than a year ago by the Senate Office of Research. In it, they recounted the history of the old California Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency, and gave their take on the reasons for its demise. Then they made a curious turn in logic, "At this juncture, before attempting to design any new State international programs, it may serve us well to post the question that Howard Shatz from the Public Policy Institute of California raised .. "How can California benefit from International Trade?". They go on to conclude that the State should no longer be concerned with encouraging exports but should instead focus on broader issues such as competitiveness and market share. This could be accomplished by investments in education, health care and trade infrastructure. They have got to be kidding- this is fuzzy, "feel good stuff" without any substance at all - and with all due respect Howard- you're our friend, but that is a really dumb question. A better question How can California avoid getting its clock cleaned in international markets. Sure we want better education, and absolutely we need healthcare- but these are only peripherally related to international business. As for trade infrastructure- which seems to be the State's current emphasis, yes, its a good idea, but be careful- because unless we also consider exports and our own international business interests, we could really just be paving the road to hell. Red Star over California- should news that the Chinese tried to by one of our last oil companies- Unocal last month, and may have their eyes on the Port of Sacramento cause us to ask could California become part of Greater China? Probably not- from what we have heard the Government will be trying to encourage this kind of "Foreign Direct Investment". Besides, if there really is a real estate bubble here in California, as many experts think, we will need these people to buy our houses. The powers-that-be will never let real estate values fall- and due to mismanagement of our Economy, the Chinese have lots of dollars. One some of the trade bulletin boards we manage we are already seeing hungry real estate agents broach this issue. That's why we took note of a small story in the LA Times, that in addition to the Flag of Taiwan, the Flag of the Peoples Republic of China has been raised in Los Angeles China Town- coincidently- or not- on the same day they had a big anti-Japanese demonstration in front of the Japanese Consulate- belatedly protesting atrocities Japan committed in World War II. The article didn't say whether old glory was flying also- but I hope so. As much as the Zell Millers of the world want to claim the stars and strips for the far right, we are not quite the traitors they think us to be.
RG . | |
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California Maps and Geography. We think maps are really cool, so we are building a "map room" on the California Trade Network portal. It's not easy to find good digital resources for maps and geography for California so please let us know if you know of any others. Here are a few of our favorite links: Not related to California, but definitely worth a look is theWorld as a Blog website. It is a NASA map of the world with "geocoded" blog entries displayed in Flash in real-time. It is a fascinating site where you can see what people are writing- and thinking, all over the world. A few interesting articles. Here's a great article about globalization called "Trading Places" by famous management consultant Peter Drucker. He points out that international business comes in many stripes and sizes. Although I haven't read the book yet, I really liked this review of the book, "The World is Flat". It is called, "The incredible Shrinking Planet- what Liberals can Learn from Thomas Friedman's new Book". The next revolution, Friedman believes, is about global collaboration among individuals- and Corporations should be quaking in their boots. It can be found at this link:http://www.slate.com/id/2118243/ Slate also had a few interesting articles about Hollywood dealmaking- including this one called "How to Finance a Hollywood Blockbuster" that describes how German tax shelters are used to finance movies:http://www.slate.com/id/2117309. There was also a good article about one of the advantageous deals ever made in Hollywood- done for the benefit of someone who should be familiar to readers of this newsletter. It is at this link:http://www.slate.com/id/2118243
Please send ideas for listing here to caltrade@gmail.com. | |
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back Contact: Heather Hopkins Clement 213.627.6217,Hopkins_clement@jas-socal.org
May 18: Riverside/TBD: 12th Annual World Trade Conference. Sponsored byCalifornia Inland Empire International Business Association. Contact: 909.466.4134, ontariocal.office.box@mail.doc.gov May 18: San Diego. 6th Annual Trade Visions Conference. Sponsored bySan Diego World Trade Center, Location- May 18: San Francisco. Roundtable Discussion on Trading with Vietnam. Sponsored by City College of San Francisco. contact Ann Truong 415-724-8228, atruong@ccsf.edu May 19: Long Beach. Who's Who in U.S. Customs. Hosted By the Los Angeles Costoms Brokers & Freight Forwarders Associantion. More info: http://www.lacbffa.org/ May 24: Los Angeles. 7th Annual The Mexico Economic Review and Political Outlook. Hosted By the U.S. Mexico Chamber of Commerce. More info: http://www.usmcocca.org/ May 24: Long Beach. Export Pricing. Hosted By Center for International Trade Development. For more information contact citd@lbcc.edu or Phone: (562) 938-5018. May 25: Sacramento. The Eighth Annual Capital City Consular Corps Luncheon. Hosted by the The Northern California World Trade Center, California Chamber of Commerce, the Senate International Relations Committee, and the Assembly International Protocol Office. Sponsored-by the Sacramento County Airport System.http://www.caltradereport.com/eWebPages/Calendar.html May 25. Los Angeles. Asian American Mixer. Hosted by The British American Business Council Los Angeles and The Asia Pacific-USA Chamber of Commerce, Asia Society of Southern California, Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, Hong Kong Association of Southern California, Japan American Society, Pakistan June 23-25: Rancho Mirage. African American Business Summit. Turning Point Magazine’s 8th Annual African American Business Summit. For registration and information, visit www.AABS2005.com or contact Adrienne S. Lamm, Marketing & PR (323) 299-6000 ext. 107.
Please send events for listing here to caltrade@gmail.com. if your event is near the beginning of the Month, please try to get us your listing at least 5 weeks in advance. | |
Governor Weighs in on Illegal Immigration. Governor Schwarzenegger made several public comments about illegal immigration last month- an issue he had largely ignored during his initial time in office. His first comment, made at the Newspaper Publishers of American Association meeting caused a storm of controversy when he said, "Close the borders. Close the borders in California, and all across Mexico and the United States". The Governor later retreated from this comment saying that it was a less than perfect command of English- his second language, that caused the confusion and that he meant to say, "secure the borders". Later, Governor Schwarzenegger praised the "Minutemen"- a group of volunteers who descended on the Arizona border to deter illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States, saying that he thinks they are doing a "terrific job". While even President Bush called this group, "vigilantes" the Governor has not retreated from this comment and has said that he considers this to be simple "neighborhood groups concerned about security". Some critics charge that the Governor made these comments for political reasons because of his sagging poll numbers, he has denied this and said he his comments were not made for political reasons. Emboldened by this praise for the Minuteman Project, a Chino group says that it has enlisted hundreds of volunteers to patrol the Mexican border near San Diego this summer. Another approach is being proposed by State Assemblyman Ray Haynes, (R-Murrieta) who has introduced legislation that would create of a California Border Police Agency to enforce immigration laws.
Marla Ruzicka Remembered. Not all heroes wear military uniforms. Marla Ruzicka was killed last month with her Iraqi translator when a car bomb exploded as they drove along the extremely dangerous road leading to Baghdad's airport. She was a peace activist who was there to help the civilian victims in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but Marla was no ordinary peace activist. She formed effective relationships with many different kinds of people and organizations- including the U.S. Military in her mission to count the civilian casualties in those wars. Only 28 years old, she was said to be a one-woman human rights movement, instrumental in securing millions of dollars in aid for distribution in Iraq. She'd been traveling to and from the country since US-led forces invaded in March 2003, often going door-to-door to meet wounded Iraqis and collect the figures for her surveys on the number hurt and killed. She was in Iraq in March 2003 with a woman's peace group called "Code Pink" when Bush
ordered the invasion. Rather than leave the country, she stayed in Baghdad as the bombs began to fall, believing she could do more good if she stayed there. A month later, she founded the "Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict" (CIVIC), an organization count casualties, provide assistance, and pressure the US government to take responsibility for the innocent civilians harmed by US forces. Marla was said to be fearless, and took huge risks to help the men, women, and children trapped in the crossfire of the U.S. military bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. 
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Donkeys and Elephants Let's be honest. Could our political system possibly be more of a mess right now- even if we got some Hollywood scriptwriter to come up with an disaster movie about a dysfunctionalgovernment and paid our politicians to act the part. On a national level, our country faces critical problems- astronomical trade and budget deficits, a rapidly devaluating currency, crumbling infrastructure, and a huge number of our fellow citizens without medical insurance or access to healthcare. So where do President Bush and the Republicans who control Congress think we should be put our attention? Well, for one thing Terry Schiavo- a private family tragedy that managed to get Congressional intervention and almost three weeks of non-stop news coverage. Then of course, we had the critical issue of "steroids in Baseball" with teary eyed athletes taking the fifth on national TV. They also seem to be all bent out of shape that the Democrats, as the minority party, have blocked a handful of Judges- even though the Republicans already control the House, the Senate, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court, a good chunk of the media, and now seem to be taking their marching orders from a bunch of fundamentalist preachers. They tell us our most pressing issue though- at the very top of our national agenda, is reform of Social Security. If we don't drop everything and act immediately this system will go bankrupt in 30 years! President Bush has gone on a national road show to convince Americans that this system needs reform. Is it just me, or does this seem totally out of whack- has he forgotten that we have a war going? - and people are dying. Shouldn't he be spending all his time and energy trying to extricate us from the situation in Iraq, and try to ensure a positive outcome for the Iraqi people? Another huge issue is the government's deficit spending, as Bush and Congress continue to spend vastly more than the government receives in revenue- trashing our future and in the process ceding control of our currency to foreign interests. This must be embarrassing to Republicans. As one journalist put it, "as significant as the Democrats losing the South, the Republicans have now lost all claim to being the party of fiscal conservatives". President Reagan's admonition to Democrats would now apply equally well to the Republicans in Congress: "we could say the Republicans are spending money like a bunch of drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors". Here in California, of course, the situation is reversed. The Democrats are still the drunken sailors here. With a little help from Enron and our friends in Texas, they nearly took our State into bankruptcy. Worse, the Republicans are right when they observe that the Democrats here have become captive to special interests- specifically Government employees and their unions. Governor Schwarzenegger was also right to try to reform the public employee pension system, but he botched it politically. "Never get between a bear and her cubs, and never get between a bureaucrat and his pension" a wise old timer once told me. You see, for all the flames I get about being "a clueless Liberal" I am actually far to the right of the Governor on this issue- or is it far to the left? I'm not sure, but I do think the system is badly broken and needs to be fixed. What I do know is that the founding Fathers of this country, in their wisdom, gave lifelong job security to just a small, select group of citizens. So highly prized was the idea of a job that lasted for an entire lifetime, that the writers of the United States Constitution offered this incredible privilege only to members of the United States Supreme Court. Now, of course, once you get a government job it is considered to be a lifetime entitlement, and you get job security and benefits far beyond anything that is available in the private sector. Along with this security comes some horrible baggage- they become arrogant and unresponsive and eventually they destroy the very system they were supposed to support. Here in San Diego, our local government has experienced a complete meltdown, as a result of an unholy alliance between the Government employees and Republicans- the employees got huge unfunded benefits packages, the Republicans got to tap this money for the deficit spending without taxes that they love so much, and as a result the city is almost completely bankrupt. So how do we get out of this mess? Well, this idea may seem a little radical, but why do we need Government employees at all? Why not put them all on contract- i.e. make them "temps". Instead of "lifelong jobs" they would be given employment contracts for periods of two or three years- or for extremely talented people maybe occasionally award a five year contract. The trick would be to make the salary better than what the Government employees get, and the contribution to their 401(k) plans should be generous. This would only be fair since they wouldn't have the same security as the public employees. These contracts would likely be highly prized, and possibly some public employees would even want to switch to become contract workers. Only Nixon could go to China, so it may take a Democrat to take on the Public Employee Unions. A politician could take them on directly, with a campaign for "term limits for bureaucrats" or he or she could do it more gently by talking about "reform" of the Civil Service system, which has become hopelessly outdated. Schwarzenegger, by the way he went about it, scared all the Democrats away- though they may have been on his side had he not publicly mocked them. Public employee unions- in their current form- are an economic abomination- they never should have been allowed to gain so much power- and they pose an extreme danger to the Democratic Party. I've heard more than one person say it recently-from different political persuasions- that neither Political Party is representing our interests anymore. The Republicans are representing big Corporations and moralistic religious groups, the Democrats, as we have discussed, are representing government employees and bureaucrats. There is a huge middle, that neither party represents. I would think, for example, that both parties would be falling all over themselves to represent small businesses. As we have reported here, there are 1.2 million "zero employee companies" here- the largest number of any State. So why aren't they? The sad truth is because these small companies don't have the money for political contributions as the Corporations and Unions do- even though these are the seeds that grow into our major Corporations. It remains to be seen if California has any smart politicians- who will throw off the stereotypes and marching orders imposed on them by their national party bosses, and be true leaders for California. I'm not holding my breath.
RG
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The California Trade Network The California Trade Network is a private sector initiative with the goal of providing high quality information and communication services for California's international business community. This service operates a Registry of firms and professionals in California with international business interests. This includes a free international profile record, directory listing and access to our basic trade database for any company or professional in this State. We have recently greatly expanded the utility of this service by including all companies in California that we know to be involved in international trade and business. This directory is available on the CALTRADE portal at the link below or directly at California International Business Directory. Please review the directory and if you find a listing for your company use the Password Request form to gain access to your international business profile. or send us a remove request if you want to be delisted. If you are not listed you should be- please register on the CALTRADE.COM portal. In general, we are seeking the person responsible for international business development or international marketing in each organization. The California Trade Network also operates services including a Trade Opportunity Database as well as several other information services and on-line business forums. We are also developing more sophisticated commercial services including an international trade opportunity matching service and higher quality information content and communication services. We are especially excited about the new CALTRADE Community Portal - it uses a business networking technology with integrated Internet Telephony- and can be used for communication and collaboration among international business professionals. We are actively looking for partners and sponsors for these initiatives so please contact us if you would like to discuss business possibilities. For more information about the current services of the California Trade Network please see this link or visit us on the web at: This report is published by the California Trade Network and we are solely responsible for its content. Please send comments, suggestions, corrections and ideas for inclusion to CALTRADE@gmail.com or call 858-483-7250. We will also consider short opt-ed pieces. This is part of an outreach effort to the international business community in California. Please help us by using the link at the bottom to forward this to the person responsible for international business development in your organization, or to your associates who may be interested in this topic. To remove yourself from this mailing list use the "unsubscribe" link at at the lower left. Also use the unsubscribe link if you want this delivered to a different email address- the current delivery address will be removed and a form will display that will allow you to enter a new email address. |