Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is a financial institution that exists more than 100 years.

Bloomberg reports in March, 2011, "Goldman Sachs shares, which closed yesterday at $168.55, fell 0.4 percent in 2010 after doubling in 2009. They reached a peak of $247.92 in October 2007 and closed as low as $52 in November 2008. "
On the oficial site of Goldman Sachs reports earnings per common share in 2011 first quarter were $4.38.
Goldmans receives $10 billion as TARP money. They also got $13 billion from AIF bailout money. That means the goverment bailed AIG and AIG paid Goldman Sachs from this money.
There are a lot of speculations regarding the fact that Goldman`s were the most interested organization and "the single largest beneficiary" of AIG bailout. The decision about supporting AIG was made in September 2008 by Henry Paulson, Geoege W. Bush Treasury Secretary and former Goldman`s CEO. The detailes of the meeting where former Goldman`s CEO and current Goldman`s CEO made a decision to bailout AIG have been undisclosed. But this decision brought $12,6 billion to Goldmans in the time of financial crisis.
Goldman Sachs bought hundreds of thousands subprime mortgages. many of this mortgages were from unreliable lenders. The agents fooled people to sell them the mortgage:"loan agents promised applicants that they could buy a $600,000 house for payments of $1,200 a month, and the buyers "never read the fine print ... (and) didn't know their interest would increase and that eventually they would lose their house and their money." Goldmans bought these mortgages and packed them into high-yeild bonds. They sold them to the clients and other companies as good investments and played against them on the market at the same time. Now the question is whether it will be possible for federal prosecuters to prove they did it deliberately and were fully aware of what they are doing. It is not easy to prove, but some experts say it is possible is case there is political will to put Goldmans under investigation.

cheap goods and American workers

It is not cheap goods that affect Amercian workers. It is the corporation management that outsource the jobs. I wear Lucky brand jeans. They are made in th U.S. Their price is the same average jeans price. In case of American cars, GM was managed very badly. And I believe it is not the union that didn`t allow GM to compete. Michael Moore said a lot of the quality of GM management. The corporations are seeking for the profits. the clothes they sell us are cheaper than American houses, but much more expensive than their prime cost. So, it is not about makeing the goods cheaper. It is about increasing the gap between prime cost and retail price and making profits.

unclear issues

It is unclear to me how Western countries force the developing countries to play on their rules? "Rich countries put high tariffs on competing foreign goods while at the same time demanding that developing countries lower their tariffs on American and European products." (Johnson, 71).  How do they do it? What leverages do they use? And what organizations do it - WTO, goverment officials?

"In reality, many important decisions get made in a processs whereby poor countries negotiators are not even invited to closed-door meetings..." (Johnson, 90). Doesn`t WTO has some rules about member representation and decision making? Who are the people who govern WTO? Are they elected? If so, who are the voters?

North Korea radio

Here is the site of North Korea radio:
 http://www.vok.rep.kp/CBC/english.php?sYear1=2011&sMonth1=4&sDate1=15

Today is the first day of their presense in the internet.

introduction

Hello! My name is Lina. I`m from Russia. I have MA in Russian language and literature. My major now is Psychology. In Engl1A class I hope to improve my writing skills. This blog is a part of class requirements. Now we are reading articles about globalization and free trade.
 I`d like to share the facts and statistics I found about the sallary and living conditions of people who work to produce clothes for the Western world.  
   Clothes is mostly produced in China and Bangladesh. Top four cotton producers are China, USA, India and Pakistan.
An average daily wage for Asian countries is $2 to $3. In China salary in garment factories is about $50 per month. Official work limit there is 44 hours per week. In fact people work 100 hours or more. Employees are not allowed to talk during the working day. 
  In Bangladesh salary wage is about $24 a month. The working day is 12 hours.
In Cambodia the salary is $55 per month. To get the idea how much money is it for the country, consider the price for renting 8`-12` room. It is about $55. So, usually the workers have 5 to 6 roommates.

In India children are accounted for 90% of the total labor force in cottonseed farms. In 2007 nearly 54% of the children were younger than 14.  About 60% of all agricultural operations are processed by women. Women`s salary in agriculture is 50%-75% from men`s salary. Female salary is considered to be too low to overcome absolute poverty.

For information I used World Bank statistics, the data from AIAS (Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labor) and the links about the book "Where I am wearing" by Kelsey Timmerman.