我们这里有外汇市场专家吗？(M+M+M！)

Even before this populist eruption over the Wall Street rescue, Middle America was souring on the privileged class. There has been a growing sense in the U.S. that a stagnant tide has kept the 80-foot yachts afloat while beaching the family outboard. At the start of the presidential race, the Pew Research Center found that three-quarters of Americans agreed with the statement that the "rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer" - up 8 percentage points from five years earlier. Some 43% also agreed that America is divided into haves and have-nots, another big jump from past years.

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Feeding the politics of envy is the parallel rise of a class of superrich: The top 1% of earners now collect the largest share of income since 1929, and there are more than 1,000 billionaires in the U.S. alone. Obama economic advisor Jason Furman has calculated that the rise in the income of the top 1% of earners, set against the drop in income by the bottom 80%, is the equivalent of a shift of $885 billion a year. Average CEO compensation has also caught the attention of the public and politicians. According to the Economic Research Institute, CEO compensation in 2007 increased 20.5%, to an average $18.8 million in February, while corporate revenues increased less than 3%.

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In this populist environment, fat pay packages will get more scrutiny - even those not attached to federal rescue deals. For three years House Financial Services chairman Barney Frank has argued that pay packages need better disclosure to shareholders. Watch for hearings on that issue. Meanwhile, if you want taxpayer bailout money, say goodbye to that million-dollar bonus and stock-option package; Congress wants your salary to look more like that of a government employee.

Wanted: someone who will claim credit for saving the U.S. economy. With little fanfare and all the enthusiasm of a hangover, congressional leaders from both parties on Sunday unveiled a detailed agreement on legislation to bail out Wall Street. But no presidential candidates were in sight, and few in Congress were doing much bragging about their handiwork.

wherestip wrote:

Yueyin,

You'll be amazed at what gasoline is selling for when you get back. Over the weekend I gassed up at an Exxon station. Regular was $2.49/gal. My guess it must have been around $4.00/gal when you left for your visit to China.

ysun wrote:

You would be amazed at the price of drinking water inside the "Water Cube" (the National Aquatics Centre) in Beijing. It is 10.00 yuan RMB for one bottle (500 ml)!

It seems to me that the gasoline price in the US is now cheaper than that in China:

The Chinese announcement comes days before the President Hu Jintao is scheduled to travel to Washington for a global economic summit meeting that will be attended by leaders from around the world, including President George W. Bush. At the meeting, China is expected to be pressed again to do its part to help strengthen the global economy in the face of what some economists say is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. But Beijing has already indicated that it intends to help stabilize the global economy by trying to keep the Chinese economy, the world's fastest-growing, on track.

wherestip wrote:

Great move.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/09/business/yuan.php

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Margaret Warner: Brief us on another point of comparison with the U.S. - Can China afford to do this, and we can't. Because what? They have no debt?

Fred Bergsten: China is the best positioned, of all the big countries, to launch a major stimulus program. They're running a budget surplus; they have very little, if any, debt; they're, of course, running a huge trade surplus, externally, so there's no foreign constraint. China is well positioned. They've taken advantage of this rapid growth period. They've done good boom management, which we have not, put themselves in a position; now when they need some ammunition, they've got it.

Margaret Warner: And brief final thought - uh, is the timing an accident or on purpose, coming just ahead of the G-20 Summit?

Fred Bergsten: Well, I think China does this mainly for domestic purposes. But the announcement may be linked to the fact that President Hu Jintao is coming to Washington this weekend, with over a hundred delegates, incidentally, from China, uh, to play a big role in this G-20 Summit. And, President Hu Jintao is in a very good position to indicate leadership of the global economic recovery strategy, challenge the United States, the Europeans, and others to match at least in part what he's done. As I say, China's got the driving force, the number one driver of the world economy. Uh, They'll be in a strong position at this meeting. We may be seeing some passing of the guard in terms of global economic leadership.

Margaret Warner: Setting a very high bar indeed. Fred Bergsten, Peterson Institute for International Economics, thanks.

Fred Bergsten: Thank you.

wherestip wrote:

To think I went to the trouble of transcribing that little blurb myself! Now I found the whole transcription ...

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec08/chinacrisis_11-10.html

Margaret Warner: Do you think that finally ... that when this crisis finally passes, that the ... it will end up that the United States has a less dominant role in the world financial system? And maybe a less dominant role in setting the rules?

Christine Lagarde: It could well be the case. And it could well be that as part of this better balanced, or rebalanced world, we see new players emerging, such as China, such as India, such as Brazil, such as countries that are becoming extremely powerful because they hold reserves, or because they hold monetary and financial power. If you look at the flow of funds across the planet, it's clear that the Chinese authorities, and the Chinese monetary authorities are playing an important role. And the Chinese population, by saving, and enabling the Chinese Government to actually buy, in massive amounts, Treasury Bonds, are holding a significant position on the global financial planet. So there will be rebalancing in that respect as well. And if that causes China to be a bit more powerful, Brazil to have a bit more to say, the oil-producing countries to be properly represented, and financial institutions to represent all of that in a more cohesive way ... if that is in consideration for a slighter reduced role of the United States, or of Europe for that matter, then so be it. I think a balanced world is required.

Margaret Warner: Madam Minister, thank you for being with us.

Christine Lagarde: My pleasure.