Taking a Breather from Politics, Sort of

As I haven't posted much stock news lately as I barely have enough time to blog on politics, let alone do my own due diligence on stock picks, I've decided to tie both stocks with politics in this one.

Remember the 20,000 TAIEX "promise"-turned-"just kidding" by Ma's presidential campaign staff/advisors/whoever it was that said it? Taipei Time's article covering yesterday's rally against Ma's performance, or lack of performance in the first 100 days provided a few quotes by some Taiwanese who were rallying [Side note, here's great coverage on the event by Michael Turton, citing participants > 100,000 compared to the most of the media reporting only tens of thousands showing]. This quote I want to note:

“In his presidential campaign, he said he would boost the TAIEX to 20,000 points ... After I lost NT$2 million [US$63,000] on it, he said he was just kidding — but I blame myself too for believing him,” Chen said.

Although my loss is not nearly as much, I also took the same road by picking up the equivalent ETF that tracks the TAIEX, ticker EWT, a week or so before Ma's inaguration.

Entrance Strategy: Buy on speculation of a magical economic boom once Ma steps into office.
Exit Strategy: "Buy on rumor, sell on news"

Long green bar indicates entering long position. (May 8th)

Result: Bought on the 8th of May and was at a high of 17.50 on the 19th. Planned to sell on news the next day, but the day the "news" came out the TAIEX went opposite of what I planned and ended up moving down a lot. Being not so smart, I held, and held and held. To this day, I'm still down 20% on EWT, and may exit soon for a loss.

My thinking behind it was, well the DPP lost, and at the very least, why not profit off of Ma's populartiy and assumed economic boom that he promised. Let's ride this sucker for what it's worth. As an investor that has read numerous investing books of all ranges, I know that what I decide is ultimately my own doing. This is what investors like to call, doing your own DD (due diligence) on ultimately selecting a stock to invest in. What I didn't do this time was my own DD. I took the words of Ma Ying-Jeou and ate them up, even though I didn't believe his words during the election campaigning. How stupid and naive of me. In my attempt to be more pragmatic in response to Ma Ying-Jeou winning, you could say I was just trying to "give him a shot." My dad, who bleeds green, was quick to point out how I was wrong on that trade and told me to sell it off. No matter the reason I gave him, he simply responded "bo kou lin" [不可能] [impossible].

Believing Ma, Ying-Jeou this time was "simply" a financially costly mistake, but continuing to believe in his empty promises may prove to be a mistake that cannot be afforded and resolved by simplying working harder to earn back that lost money; it may be a mistake that we will not realized what we had until we will have lost it.

Open Letter to DPP Supporters, by Tsai Ing-Wen

Here's the translated version of an open letter to the DPP supporters by the DPP Chairman, Tsai, Ing-wen. Also copied below:

By Tsai Ing-Wen 蔡英文

Wednesday, Aug 27, 2008, Page 8

There is a kind of sadness so painful it cannot be soothed, and a kind of disappointment so grave it cannot be overcome. I believe this is what Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters are going through.

Since the evening of Aug. 15, when former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), withdrew from the party, many people in Taiwan have turned off their cellphones and avoided going online or watching TV because they do not know how to react to this incident. The truth is so unbearable that it has almost completely eroded the trust of the party’s supporters, who can only remain silent and hang their heads.

As a party, have we returned to square one? Have we been knocked down yet again?

Every time we struggle to pick ourselves up, we’re hit with another powerful blow. As a DPP supporter, it seems that one must always worry about the party and relinquish one’s right to happiness.

Past mistakes periodically return to haunt us at unexpected times. I know that many people would like to just turn around and leave, but the sad truth is, they do not know where to go. For a long time, the DPP has been the only choice in politics for these people, and yet the party has now made some unpardonable mistakes. All of a sudden, our supporters feel like they have fallen into the sea, unsupported and directionless.

Taiwan is in a diplomatic plight; not only is life tough for our citizens, but our national sovereignty is also being eroded. People are afraid that our beloved land can no longer uphold its dignity and beauty.

Unfortunately, at this crucial time, the DPP has once again disappointed them. To be honest, I do not know how to comfort them, but one thing I do want to say is that this is a democracy. Sometimes a democratic system can be ruthless: All the actions of the previous administration will be publicly scrutinized following the transition of power.

Through its mistakes, the DPP has demonstrated that Taiwan’s democracy is gradually heading toward maturation and completion. To our supporters, this is indeed a painful process, but I must reiterate that this is democracy. No one in a democracy can enjoy privileges. When a president steps down from office, he too must assume responsibility for his mistakes.

I had extremely mixed feelings when Chen publicly admitted his mistakes and then withdrew from the party. He will have to face the judicial system, and I hope that he can set a good example for Taiwan’s democracy during the investigations.

I also hope that the judiciary will respect his human rights by not violating the principle that “investigations shall not be public” and refraining from publicizing unverified information. This is an opportunity for the entire nation to learn about democracy and self-discipline, and everyone should remain calm and rational.

It cannot be denied that Chen put considerable effort into bringing the DPP to its height, by which we were all touched and even moved to tears. Now that he has left the party, Chen’s legacy has become a part of the party’s history and memory. I would like to call on all DPP supporters to unite closely and fearlessly at this time of crisis, and to face this collective history and memory together.

Politics cannot return to nothing and start afresh; it is continual. It is impossible to completely cut off and wipe away old ties. As DPP chairwoman, I have the responsibility to shoulder everything that the party has been through in the past eight years. I represent not only the current DPP, but also the past DPP.

I inherited the party’s history without any reservation, and, like everyone, I too feel a lot of pain from the opened wounds. However, no matter how excruciating it is, this is the real DPP.

Only by recognizing this truth and taking on these challenges can we resurrect the party. Therefore, I will definitely not shun the responsibility, nor turn a blind eye to our past mistakes. Instead, I will contemplate these mistakes more attentively than anyone else.

I am aware of my responsibilities, and I will spare no effort in helping the party rise from its wretched plight.



Tsai Ing-wen is the chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party.

TRANSLATED BY TED YANG

Thoughtful, sincere, and honest. Probably couldn't have stated it better, this is the tough road of democracy. Ideally, we vote candidates into power because of our belief that they will carry out the policies that we believe to be in the best interest for the country, and probably for ourselves. Not because of the individual. Whether the candidate is white, black, Taiwanese, Cantonese, we support the candidate because of their platform. It is the policies and ideals we support. Therefore, to abandon Chen, Shui-bian is completely fair, but to abandon the DPP, well that's just taking the easy way out.

Taiwan Won 4 Medals, What?

So after 16 days or so, I'm finally back to being Taiwanese again. For a while there I was too ashamed to even say I was rooting for Chinese Taipei, mainly because I'm not Chinese, nor is my family from Taipei. But, in my effort to inform people, I decided to let a lot of my friends know how many medals "our" team had. To sort of my surprise, but not really, about half of my friends had no idea what Chinese Taipei was, nor knew why Taiwan was being called Chinese Taipei. To keep it brief in an attempt to not lose their interest, I just said that China has bullied the IOC and a load of other countries into disallowing any sort of "Taiwan"-ness on the international stage. Not being allowed to use our name, nor our national flag, nor our national anthem, nor any sort of emblem or thing representing our country was demanded by China and Co.

Anyways, glad the Communism Party is over, aka the Beijing Olympics.

Bridging the Divide - Xiamen & Jinmen

As if there weren't anymore possible connections possible between China and Taiwan to signify the continual march towards unification that the KMT Chairman, Wu Poh-Hsiung, has made very transparent in what he is attempting to accomplish; it appears that plans are already in the works or already in place for constructing a bridge to connect and outlier outpost/island of Taiwan with China. That is, Jinmen Island with China.

China's own Wu Poh-Hsiung said on Monday:

Jinmen has shifted its focus from a war front to becoming the place that connects China and Taiwan.

Oh is that so? And what of the other end of that bridge in Xiamen? Sure if a bridge is built, of course there is a physical connection. But, I hardly think Wu was simply referring to a physical connection, rather a symbolic connection. The focus of Xiamen as a launching stage for a military invasion of Taiwan has not shifted, and is the place that one can point to where there is no 'thawing of relations,' nor 'peace' between China and Taiwan despite what the the trifecta of CCP, KMT, and the media would like you to think.

"633" Pledge: Downgraded to "Not Likely"

Latest figures here and some more here with some extra info regarding GDP, from the Taiwan government, indicate it is slipping again; and revised estimates for the year 2008 down again to 4.3%. Unemployment at 11-month high rising to 4.06% (attributed to freshly graduated students).

A reminder at what the 633 promise is:

- 6% GDP Growth Annually
- 3% Unemployment rate by 2012
- $30,000 Per Capita Income by 2012

As I posted on 7/22/08, the GDP continues to be adjusted downward, citing the global economy as the reason. Don't want to beat this to death, but why wasn't the global economy cited for a so-called "poor" economy during Chen's last couple years? Instead, blame Chen [For readers, I am not trying to pump up Chen still, this is just to show how the media and the KMT made it convenient to blame the president instead of citing the actual reasons when it favored them].

Analyst Rating: Richard downgrades the "633" pledges to "not likely" from "don't look to well."

The End of the Line?

Quite a few articles appearing these past few days quoting many ex-DPP supporters that they have now withdrawn their party membership or have decided to not support the DPP anymore, and therefore support the KMT in all likelihood. As this article shows, an image of a Kaohsiung resident burning his "Vote for Chen" shirts, and instead, making sacrifices to Chiang Kai-shek.

Is this really the end of the line for the DPP? It seems like this was the last nail in the coffin for the DPP as far as elections in 2012 go- that is, if Taiwan even gets a 2012 election. At this rate, it seems like Taiwan will be swallowed up by 2010-2011 by China. The new DPP chairman, Tsai, Ing-wen, was promoted as a new change for the party- but it seems like further change will be necessary in order to completely seperate the DPP from the scandals of Chen, Shui-bian.

It took quite a long time and many sacrifices by brave people to bring about this democracy and two-party system, but now it seems like it's one and a half party system with the half quickly becoming minute.

It really will be up to the people of Taiwan to recognize and defend Taiwan's democracy. No party, nor no leader (as we have seen), will be able to successfully defend Taiwan's sovereignty and democracy by themselves. It was the people who paved the way for today's Taiwan, and it must be the people who once again safeguard the sovereignty of Taiwan.

Devastating Reversals

As many have probably heard, Chen, Shiu-bian has acknowledged his wrong-doing in money laundering. It is indeed a sad day for Taiwan, especially for the DPP. We all knew Taiwan politics was corrupt, but to have your president directly involved in a money-laundering scandal like this after "vehemently" denying it previously, is really heartbreaking for the morale of the DPP party. First and foremost it is A-bian's fault for doing so, but is there no accounting practices inside the administration? Anyways, while Chen, Shui-bian has declared that he and his wife will be leaving the party, the negative effects have already taken place and any distancing now is just a formality.

Nevertheless, you cannot deny what A-bian has done for Taiwan in these last 8 years, although the whole time he was "profting" greatly from his presidential position. It really is too bad that A-bian is going to go out like this, because for the most part, we all thought that the A-bian's presidency would be redeemed after a poor showing by Ma over these next 4 years. ("You never know what you have until you lose it"). But, in the end it looks like A-bian will be remembered for cheating the public and DPP supporters out of tens of millions of dollars.

In other news, Taiwan is getting "unification" pandas from China. A symbol of China's impending threat of destabilizing status quo and autonomy for Taiwan. Interestingly enough, these two stories mark the fall of A-bian, and the coming of pandas, of which A-bian refused to accept during his term.

Oh yeah, seemingly well timed, the Ma has decided to forgo full membership in the U.N. and settle for the sub-organizations of the U.N. Which would have caused a nice uproar from some people, but due to the timing, once again the bad news from their mouths have been swept under the carpet.

Better days ahead, we hope.

Letter to the Senator

A couple weeks ago I fired off two e-mails to both senators of Washington State. One about renewable energy (solar) and the other about Taiwan. I first sent off the e-mail about her support for Taiwan in terms of the Arms Deal holdup as well as general support for Taiwan's international space, specifically on H.C.R. 136 - Support for removal of restrictions on high-level visits by Taiwan officials. A few days later I sent off an e-mail regarding support for renewable energy, which specifically contained incentives for solar energy- I believe that was H.R. 6049.

To my surprise, Senator Murray sent a response back to me within one business day on the issue of solar energy and thanked me for my support of renewable energy. At the same time she took the chance to place all blame on the Republicans (perhaps not unfounded):

Dear Mr. XXXXXX

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for renewable energy and your interest in extending renewable energy tax credits. It was good to hear from you.

Like you, I agree renewable energy should be an important part of the national energy policy. I believe that increasing our use of alternative energy and developing conservation and efficiency technologies will help our country meet its future energy needs.

As you may know, on December 19, 2007, the President signed into law the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007. This law set new standards for energy efficiency, and increase fuel economy standards for cars for the first time in 30 years. Unfortunately, Republicans prevented the Senate from including an important tax incentive package in this legislation. This tax packaged included several important renewable energy tax credit extensions.

In June 2008, the Senate once again tried to pass a tax package with renewable energy tax credit extensions. Despite H.R. 6049, the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act, passing the House, the Senate was unable to consider the legislation because Senate Republicans blocked the motion to proceed to the bill. H.R. 6049, would provide tax incentives for renewable energy production, extend expiring renewable energy tax provisions, and help homeowners and businesses who make their properties more energy efficient. Rest assured, I will continue to work with my colleagues in the Senate to ensure that these important issues are addressed.

As a member of the Senate Renewable Energy Caucus and the Senate Appropriations Committee, I will continue to support efforts to diversify our energy portfolio to offset fossil fuel use. I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind as the Senate continues to address energy issues during the 110th Congress. If you would like to know more about my work in the Senate, please feel free to sign up for my updates at http://murray.senate.gov/updates. Thank you again for writing, and please keep in touch.

To my dismay, Senator Murray has not responded to my e-mail about Taiwan at all. It has now been two weeks, and if she can fire off a response within a day on the issue of solar energy, is it not reasonable to expect one also on Taiwan within a week or two? I suppose the issue of Taiwan is too tough of an issue for her. She's willing to speak out on solar when I'm in support of her there, but unwilling to explain herself on Taiwan when it's likely not in her favor to vocally support Taiwan's Arms Deal. Perhaps it's not as surprising that she will stay silent on that issue, but I would have hoped for at least a response from her in explaining her position.

Elections are just around the corner and it's always nice to have an idea of where your candidates stand on the issues that are important to you. And being silent on the issue is just about as bad as having the opposite position of those on the other side of the aisle.

In China there is no Taiwan

Not to anyone's surprise, the Chinese crowd at the games have cheered Taiwan as their own-- but rather than cheering "Go Taiwan," they cheer, "Go China!" They must get so confused when they see people cheering for Taiwan, instead of China, even though the athletes are coming from "Chinese Taipei." As this article shows, the majority of the Chinese that still live on the mainland eat and breathe CCP propaganda. They know nothing of Taiwan's autonomy and current pseudo-independence via status quo. How sad it is for 1/5th of the world's population to be brainwashed into the ideologies of the CCP.

As always, when making the point that Taiwan does not want formal declaration of independence, they cite the DPP's loss this past year. But when it's convenient, they cite the "wonders" of Ma's economic policies for his win this past year. At least this time they also recognize that the Taiwanese are strongly opposed to unification, which for the most part is true- except for the few KMT whos dieing wish would be to "reunite" back with China. And I use quotes this time because the KMT would be reuniting back with China on the mainland, but as a whole, Taiwan would not be "re"uniting as most of the people on Taiwan were not part of the KMT exodus from China.

Anyways, the best part is that the same Chinese that are rooting for the Taiwan athletes would just as quickly turn against them and berate them if the athlete showed a Taiwan flag.

"From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. It should not be like this, my brothers!"

Sidenote I: Props goes to NBCOlympics.com for at least showing the actual flag of Taiwan instead of the Chinese Taipei flag- albeit still calling them Chinese Taipei.

Sidenote II: You can watch pretty much all games online at NBCOlympics.com, and I just saw the badminton match for Taiwan's Hsieh vs Iran's Mehrabi. You can just go here and find the match and click "Rewind" to watch. It was a pleasant surprise to hear the side conversation between the coach and Hsieh speaking in Taiwanese. And yes, you do hear the crowd rooting for China even though it's Taiwan's Hsieh playing. Don't get me wrong, no problem for them to root for other countries, but root for them with their correct nationality. At the very least, how about a "Go Chinese Taipei." Or better yet, don't root at all so that non-Taiwanese/Chinese won't get the wrong impression that Chinese Taipei is really, Chinese Taipei.

At What Cost

Rest in peace, Todd Bachman. Attacked by what I can only say deranged Chinese, and likely brainwashed into believing the CCP propaganda, he and his wife were attacked and Todd eventually fell at the hands of that Chinese who eventually committed suicide. All this on the watch of "thousands" of security forces and military personnel. I guess this just shows who the Chinese really care about- themselves.

My question is, why isn't this making bigger news? It is hardly the frontpage on many of the Olympics sections on news sites, such as the Seattle Times. It's on the side as a sub-article. If this happened anywhere else, I'm sure it would be getting a lot more attention. Is this a cover-up by the Chinese who won't release any details and thus the media has nothing to write off of-- or is this China once again bullying everyone into believing this was a one time deal.

How many more may have to die before we take action? Perhaps the U.S. should do more than just express that their "thoughts and prayers are with the victim and family." At what cost will it take to finally step up. It's not so much that it was an American who died, nor that it was a Chinese who did it- but to let it happen after they were so proud of their security, and then it's nothing more than a sub-article on the frontpage?

In other news, congrats to the first "Chinese Taipei" athlete to medal, Chen Wei-Ling. For those of you who don't know, I'm actually "Chinese Taipei" for the next 15 days, after I'm Taiwanese again. Ridiculous right?

The Highlight of the Olympics Will Be...

When Taiwan wins a medal and the athlete pulls out the official national flag for Taiwan and raises it like You-Chen Liu did here in Seattle less than a year ago. Although it would probably be a lot more dangerous for a Taiwan athlete to do so in a stadium likely filled with many legions of security guards and Chinese who believe that Taiwan is a part of China. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to see how China reacts on this "world-stage," and I have no doubt that they already have protocols or plans in place that would quickly bring down the athlete who raises the Taiwan flag.

It is wrong for the IOC to continue to allow China to force Taiwan to accept things at their will; it is wrong for China to force Taiwan to be "Chinese" at their will. While Taiwan is under agreement to "follow the rules" and not use the official national flag, nor the national anthem if they place, so was all parties concerned under agreement to use "Zhonghua Taipei" as the title for Taiwan in the Olympics- and yet that too had to be "re-negotiated" this time around and declared a "diplomatic victory" by Ma.

Michael Turton's resposne to a comment in his blog on the Seattle event puts it into perspective:

Comment:

Michael, the Chinese Taipei team agreed to participate under the team flag (as shown in the WCG site) - shouldn't he honor the agreement and drape himeself in the team flag?

Turton's Response:

Yes, and when blacks went on the bus in the south in the 1960s, they agreed not to sit up front too.

Yes, for the most part agreements should be followed, but when things are clearly wrong- should we just stand down and not protest? Besides that, the IOC/China/Taiwan agreement on the "Chinese Taipei" name had been agreed upon since 1989. Yet, China "protested" this agreement this past month in trying to use something along the lines of "China's Taipei" or "Zhongguo Taipei," instead of the agreed upon name of "Zhonghua Taipei" or "Chinese Taipei."

You-Chen Liu, you are our hero.


That said, with the KMT in power now, it is likely that the KMT would have serious consequences in place for the athletes if they did not adhere to the "Chinese Taipei" that is supposed to be them. Therefore, the chances of this occuring? Slim, but I'm hopeful.

Surprise Surprise

As if we didn't see it coming, China plans on calling the Taiwanese Aboriginals, "minority peoples from Taiwan." To the keen ears and eyes, this is a subtle attempt at throwing the Taiwanese Aboriginals under the scope of ethnic Chinese.

Hearing that the Taiwanese Aboriginals would be performing some things during the opening ceremonies to showcase their culture, I was pretty sure China was going to attempt to label them as a minority Chinese group, from Taiwan. Their claim to being "Taiwanese" is even more so than me and a large majority of those in Taiwan who came to Taiwan either with the KMT or long before that. They are aboriginals of Taiwan, meaning they've been there forever. If there was ever a more formal definition of Taiwanese, that is the aboriginals.

“We are Taiwanese Aborigines, we are citizens of the Republic of China. We are Taiwanese, but we are not Chinese. And we are not Chinese minorities.”

On the eve of the opening ceremonies, China has already managed to "Chinese" the Taiwanese several times. Just a few, CCTV called Taiwan's team Zhongguo Taipei even after Ma declared "diplomatic victory" for getting China to call Taiwan Zhonghua Taipei- an already agreed upon name that is nothing to be victorious about. Then putting Taiwanese close to the Chinese territories (ok, not that bad of an offense), and now the Taiwanese Aborigines are now minority peoples from Taiwan-- implying Chinese minority peoples from Taiwan.

Boy am I glad that someone like the Communist China can tell me that I'm Chinese. Much more to come in the next 16 days!

July DPP Newsletter (English)

Here's the DPP newsletter in English for the month of July:

July DPP Newsletter

By the way, I receive these monthly newsletters as I am on their (the DPP's) foreign mailing list, and you can probably contact them to receive these also by e-mailing foreign@dpp.org.tw.
And these are put out by their international affairs department, which I recently found that you can view them also on their English version of their website, here. Although it seems like the July newsletter is not yet up though. Anyways, so I will probably stop uploading them as they are easily accessible from their website.

Taiwan "Separatists"

This editorial in the China Post by the China Post news staff is a clear reminder that the goal of the KMT is unification of Taiwan with China. There should be no doubts about where they are taking things, and as such, the Taiwanese people must be aware that while Ma promised no unification during his term, the party that he is in is against him. From the first couple months, it's clear that Ma is not in the reigns, rather he has taken a back seat on national/foreign policy to KMT chariman Wu Po-Hsiung.

The view that the DPP supporters, or even all non-KMT/PFP/unificationists are "separatists" is a really far stretch. Taking a step back, if you want to stick the term "separatists" on a group of people, shouldn't the KMT be the ones that should be viewed as separatists-- fleeing to Taiwan in 1949 to set up what was to be a temporary launching pad to retake the mainland. In the end, Chiang Kai-Shek failed to do so and remained on Taiwan, thus separating from the mainland China.

Separating implies that there was some sort of unity beforehand, and yes the KMT were united with the Communists for a while, but then separated. Therefore, if you want to throw the label on someone, shouldn't it be the KMT who are the "separatists?"

And yet the staff at the China Post believe that they (the KMT) are the "good boys" and not separatists, implying a negative connotation of rebellion and a "renegade province." I'm about to confuse myself because they seem to contradict themselves here; the pan-green side are separatists living on Taiwan, but we just concluded that the KMT are the real separatists... the pan-green (I hate to generalize here, but to make my point) side is usually supported by those who came to Taiwan long before 1949, aka bensheng ren (本省人). The KMT are the ones who came in the mass exodus with Chiang Kai-Shek, who separated from the mainland as a group of people, and occupying the land of Taiwan.

It should be clear, but I guess it's not to everyone, that if you want to coin one of the groups of Taiwan as separatists, it should be the KMT, not the pan-green side.

On a side note, the terms bengsheng ren and waisheng ren are useful terms in describing people in Taiwan, but for the better of Taiwan I believe those terms should eventually be dropped. I know in the past that the DPP has used these terms in their push for identifying with people, but the two terms should and would better be replaced by a simple, daiwan lang (台灣人).

Uh, Say That Again?

As a proud supporter of Bush's tax cuts, but not so proud of his easing on China and fading encouragement for Taiwan, I seem to not understand what he meant in his latest interview. As a matter of fact, Bush seemed to have confused everyone but himself about what he actually meant. I guess I can't really comment about anything, but just to say, try again?

President Bush:

“I would say that there’s been a … it’s just been interesting to watch I would say that there’s been a — it’s just been interesting to watch, and interesting to participate with people. I mean, the Taiwan issue was a very touchy issue for a while, causing me to say in the Oval Office — that which is now well-chronicled — that the United States does not support a unilateral declaration of independence. Because I wanted to make sure that our message was clear, but also that the relationship was in a way not our relationship, but other’s relationship with China was in a way that it could evolve peacefully and constructively,”

continued...

“My only point to you is, is that — or the Taiwan-Chinese relationship and that issue. It’s a very sensitive issue for the Chinese government. And people who study this very closely will see that the issue is in a better place. And I made it abundantly clear that there was some red lines for the United States on this issue, that there would be no unilateral declaration of independence, that our policy was still the same. It’s very important for the president to be very consistent,”

Capital Gains Taxes for Taiwan

Currently Taiwan does not have capital gains taxes for things such as stocks and real-estate/land sales. According to this report in Reuters UK, the Taiwan Tax Reform Committee will be doing a study on whether to put back in place the capital gains tax. Although the report says its largely unlikely to be implemented, why would they even consider it then? Especially, as the article states, at a time like this when the market is in a slump. At least Bevan Yeh knows something about capital gains taxes and its effect on the markets.

"It's not likely that the government will impose the capital gains tax while the stock market is still struggling," said Bevan Yeh, fund manager at Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust.

Can't say the same for the Democrats in the United States. Although we already have a good ~30% tax on short-term gains, and 15% on long-term gains, Obama feels the need to strip the tax break given to those "rich" Americans, which apparently Obama considers me as since I'm a college student who is working part-time, but invests in stocks. Maybe the Democrats need to learn from people like Mr. Yeh in Taiwan- raising capital gains tax during a recession and a bear market is only going to send stocks down further. When people start seeing their account values of their stock account continue to slide, they get scared and pull out- that's when we get a crash.