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A Proposal for a New Type of Presidency

Candidate-for-President Mitt Romney says he'd hire McKinsey and Co, one of the world's largest consulting companies to tell him how to run the government. Let's forget, for a moment, that McKinsey and many other consulting mega-firms already have enormous contracts with the government - I have a better idea. Instead of letting individuals run for president why don't we let the big consulting companies run for president? McKinsey and Co vs. KPMG (Bearing Point now) or Boston Consulting Group (BCG) vs. Anderson and Co. for example. We the people could issue an RFP (request for proposal) and each firm could give us their best proposal in a closed bid and we could vote on it. The budget has to be part of the proposal and there could be no wars unless they were part of the proposal we voted on.

We'll be away from the computer for a few days in warmer waters so we hope everyone will have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. We'll be back before New Year.

Corruption-reporting Website Overwhelmed

The Chinese Government put up a website this week where citizens can go to report official corruption. Unfortunately, the website almost immediately crashed from overuse. Seems that there are a lot of people out there with stories to tell.

China's biased media coverage of Bali Summit

This year China overtook the United States as the world's biggest polluter but if you just read the newspapers in China you'd never know that. While the world has been leaning on the U.S. to sign on to the Kyoto Agreement to limit emissions the world has been largely silent about China's massive and rapidly growing pollution problem. The U.S. position has been that it won't agree to limits until China and India agree to do so. China's position is that it is a developing country and it is unfair to expect them to limit their economic growth during this stage in their development. India's position is that they'll agree to limitations if the developing world will pay for it. Europe's position is, predictably enough, to criticize the U.S. and turn a blind eye to China and India's contributions to global warming.

The media in China has gleefully covered Europe's criticisms of the U.S. while completely ignoring China's own refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol or reign in its own pollution. This story in the Shanghai Daily is a good example of the biased coverage that Chinese citizens receive.

My thought is that global warming is a serious threat and the world needs to agree to do something concrete - but that China and India need to pull their own weight in relationship to the amount of pollution they contribute. They don't get a pass.

walker

Clothes fixed

The sign above his head says "Clothes repaired". I read an article in a magazine recently about a man that fixes clothes on the sidewalk at Xujiahui and takes home about US$2,000 a month. I don't think this gentleman is doing so well.

Bonk

I took this photo today of a truck plowing through a pedestrian walk, with pedestrians in it, just to show you what it's like crossing the street in Shanghai everyday. This is not unusual, in fact, you can count on it. Every driver does it. This is the first lesson a foreigner must learn as soon as he/she arrives in the city - or risk injury or worse.

When drivers prepare to take the drivers test in Shanghai they learn that drivers are required to give way to pedestrians - but this is but one of the myriad laws in China that are ignored. I'm convinced that the primary reason China has these laws is so the authorities can apply them retroactively - to have some basis to punish someone that has displeased them. Heaven knows that the police never proactively enforce the law requiring drivers to give pedestrians the right-of-way.

Last year when I was hit by a taxi driver while I was walking in a pedestrian crosswalk on a green pedestrian light the police initially told me that both I and the taxi driver were right. How could this be I demanded to know? The taxi driver turns left and drives across a crosswalk full of people crossing on a green pedestrian signal, hitting one, and he is right? "yes", said the officer. This is the sort of logic that drives foreigners crazy. You can find the same sort of thinking in the business world of China. It makes it very difficult for foreigners to succeed in China.

While foreigners may not understand why drivers in Shanghai drive like they do, it is primarily the Chinese pedestrians that suffer. And bike riders too. Also today, we were riding in a taxi that hit a electric-bike rider from behind - fortunately very slightly. What was odd however was that the taxi driver blamed the bike rider for letting him hit her. This photo was taken while she stood there and took his screaming abuse. The incident was entirely his fault - he was behind her and decided he wanted to turn right and knicked her as he did so.

Later today I bought a loud handheld horn, the kind with a bulb on it. Next time a taxi driver honks at me as he nearly bumps into to me in a crosswalk I'm going to stick the horn in his ear as he goes by and give it everything I've got. I'll let you know how that goes.

To Serve and Protect: Shanghai Style

After almost two years in Shanghai we've hit about all the big sights and are now looking for the overlooked. We found it on Saturday. We visited the Museum of Public Security operated by the Shanghai police and chronicling their history. We paid 8 rmb to enter the multi-storied museum on Ruijin South Road and immediately noticed that we were all alone. There was a security guard at the entrance and a young lady that sold us the ticket - but there was no one else to be seen.

We went from floor to floor looking at exhibits of 150-years of police gear, clothing, vehicles, and memorabilia. There was virtually no English signage so we were only able to get bits and pieces of the story behind the exhibits but much of it was self-explanatory. There was a section on counterfeit money and credit cards, a section on spies that the police caught (hollowed-out books, etc) and one room dedicated to photos of bludgeoned, shot, decapitated and otherwise inconvenienced crime victims.

The fourth floor was given over to the firefighters - a part of the Public Security Bureau (PSB) - the name the police go by in China. This was the last floor. It had been an hour-long tour of the museum and we had not seen another visitor during that hour. Like the Zhou Enlai Museum I visited a couple of weeks ago, this museum was empty on a Saturday afternoon in a city of 20 million people. So if you are ever in Shanghai and get tired of the crowds all you need to do is pay 8 rmb (about US$1) and retreat to a museum celebrating the police or old Communist heroes.