Global Strategies

Olivia Ong sings "Fly Me to the Moon"

 

From wikipedia (here)

Olivia Ong (simplified Chinese: 王俪婷; traditional Chinese: 王儷婷; pinyin: Wáng Lìtíng; born 2 October 1985) is a Singaporean singer. She sings mostly in English but developed her career singing in English and Japanese. In addition, she has released rare tracks, recorded in Mandarin, and Cantonese which can be found on limited edition albums.

Likened to Seiko Matsuda, she won a singing contest and was signed to a Japanese recording company S2S Pte Ltd at the age of 15.

After taking her O-level examinations in Singapore, Ong moved to Japan to further her studies as well as her career as a solo artist. In Singapore, Ong, along with 2 other Singaporean girls formed the Japanese pop (J-pop) group, Mirai. Their first single, "Open Up Your Mind", was one of the theme songs in the Japanese anime Gensoumaden Saiyuki..

She released her bestselling début, A Girl Meets Bossa Nova at only 19. With her sultry, soulful, pristine and innocent vocals, she reinterprets Frank Sinatra's hits such as "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars", among other jazz and pop numbers. She is one of the new wave of Singaporean talent being exported internationally. So far, Ong is the only pop sensation exported exclusively to Japan; previous stars such as Mavis Hee, Kit Chan, Tanya Chua, Joi Chua, Stefanie Sun, Michelle Saram etc., have been promoted mainly in the Greater Chinese market.

In 2009 Ong was signed to Taiwanese record company HIM Music and became a big hit back in Singapore after she sang the theme song of the peranakan-themed drama serial, The Little Nyonya. She has stated that her paternal grandfather is Peranakan (here).

Her first record under HIM Music was released on 5 March 2010, entitled Olivia. In 2011, Ong recorded a duet, "最後一眼" (Just One Look), with label mate Aaron Yan of Fahrenheit, which was released in his debut EP The Next Me.

Olivia has recently released her latest album entitled 'Romance' on 22 July 2011

Bonamici wins trade policy debate

 

Oregon’s biggest business growth opportunities, and potential sources of Oregon jobs, are abroad. That’s where most global consumers are. That’s where the fastest growing markets are. What we need to do is tweak our educational system to support an export economy. What we do not need to do is put up more barriers to trade.

Candidates Brad Avakian, Suzanne Bonamici and Brad Witt for the Democratic nomination for Congress from Oregon’s 1^st District debated at the Oregon AFL-CIO convention in Eugene, Oregon, on 9/27/11. There were several questions on trade policy. One is shown in the video above.

Brad Avakian would vote “No” on currently pending agreements. Brad Witt wants “to go back and renegotiate” every free trade deal since NAFTA. Suzanne Bonamici wants to shape “trade policy to optimize the number of jobs.” Bonamica would move us forward on expanding exports by recognizing that every trade deal loses some jobs. What we want are trade deals that create more jobs than they lose, or, in her terms, which “optimize” jobs.  Bonamici wins this debate on trade policy.

Convert Sabin K-8 to language immersion

Portland Public Schools needs, for all the strategic reason repeatedly described on this blog, to expand its Mandarin and Japanese immersion programs. They now have an opportunity to do so as they consider the current distribution of enrollment across schools.

From the Oregonian article “Portland Public Schools to consider boundary changes, school closures, other ways to fix too-big or too-small schools” by Betsy Hammond (here):

By mid-October, the Portland School Board will be looking at a small list of schools that need a boundary change or other fix because their enrollment is too small to offer a full program or too big to fit in the building.

It will be the first step in a multi-year effort to close, consolidate or reshape m any of the district's elementary, middle and k-8 schools to try to make them more equal in size and offerings, Superintendent Carole Smith said.

Enrollment numbers are still not settled for the year, but will be soon. Based on last y ear's enrollments, schools that could come up for discussion because they are too small include:

Seven K-8 schools that have 150 fewer students than the 500-student minimum district official say is needed to offer a robust program. They are Skyline, Sabin, Ockley Green, King, Humboldt, Creative Science School and Creston. Skyline and Creston are particularly tricky because every classroom in the building is full, but their enrollment still is below 300…..

…. Overcrowded schools could also find themselves on the boundary change list. They include Alameda Elementary, Rigler School and Harrison Park School.

Please note that Sabin is contiguous to Alameda to the east and to King to the north and west. And Humboldt is just to the west of King (see district map here).

Sabin could be converted to a language immersion school, either Mandarin or Japanese. At 50-60 students per grade (two classrooms), it could over time become a 400-480 students school (right in PPS’ target range). If Sabin’s existing numbers of students were redistributed to King and Humboldt, both those school could be over 400 and in the desired target range.

Sabin could be converted slowly, one grade per year, to immersion, permitting existing neighborhood attendees to continue through eighth grade. Younger neighborhood students not opting for the language immersion program would go to King or Humboldt. Promotional efforts could be made to attract younger Alemeda students to the immersion program in an effort to reduce Alemeda’s student numbers.

Both the existing Mandarin and Japanese immersion programs have had sufficient excess parental demand at their current locations to be optimistic about attracting 50-60 kindergarteners to a new program at Sabin. For 2010-11 enrollment (data for 2011-12 is not yet online, see here), the Richmond Japanese immersion program had 64 more application than open positions and the Woodstock Mandarin immersion program had 42 more applications than positions. With better odds on getting in and more promotion, applications for both could go up still further. It is unclear what effect on applications a Sabin location might have.

I’d prefer to expand the Mandarin immersion program because there is a much larger strategic need to do so. But two points favor a Japanese immersion program. First, there is more existing parental demand for more Japanese (if it can be transported to Sabin). And second, Sabin students go on to Grant High School where the existing high school Japanese immersion program exists. Thus strengthening that program further. The Mandarin high school immersion program exists now at Cleveland High School, so, in my thinking, it would be better to locate the next Mandarin immersion program in that cluster also.  For example, in the past, I've suggested using the former Edward Elementary for Mandarin immersion (see here).

Best of all would be to do both somehow.

"The Great Divergence is over, folks"

In this video of Niall Ferguson, he says

This is the great re-convergence. And it is the biggest story of your lifetime. Because is on your watch that this is happening. It is our generation that is witnessing the end of Western predominance. The average American used to be more than 20 times richer than the average Chinese. Now it is 5 times. Soon it will be 2.3 times

 

“Eight steps Oregon can take to take advantage of the opportunities in China”

 

Jin Lan, China consultant and Executive Director of the Oregon-Fujian Sister State Association, testified before the Oregon Interim House Transportation and Economic Development Committee on 9/22/11. In the above video, he lays out “eight steps Oregon can take to take advantage of the opportunities in China”

This is my summary of his eight steps:

(1)   Establish an authoritative statewide Oregon-China Relations Council.

(2)   Diversify economic relations beyond Fujian Province (our sister state).

(3)   Find ways to recognize and/or reward Chinese businessmen who bring investments to Oregon.

(4)   Work with congressional delegation to clear up issues for Chinese tourists.

(5)   Provide more funding for a dedicated China representative office.

(6)   Promote annual trade missions to China by the governor and legislators.

(7)   Establish protocol to welcome Chinese dignitaries (and increase bilingual employees in state government)

(8)   Beef up Mandarin education and educational/culture exchanges.

"By 2030 China’s economy could loom as large as Britain’s in the 1870s and America’s in the 1970s"

Legislative Revenue Officer Paul Warner showed the above chart to members of the Oregon Interim House Transportation and Economic Development, I think. From it source, the Economist article "The celestial economy: By 2030 China’s economy could loom as large as Britain’s in the 1870s and America’s in the 1970s” (here):

…. Mr Subramanian argues that China’s economic might will overshadow America’s sooner than people think. He denies that his prophecy is self-denying. Even if America heeds its warning, there is precious little it can do about i

Three forces will dictate China’s rise, Mr Subramanian argues: demography, convergence and “gravity”. Since China has over four times America’s population, it only has to produce a quarter of America’s output per head to exceed America’s total output. Indeed, Mr Subramanian thinks China is already the world’s biggest economy, when due account is taken of the low prices charged for many local Chinese goods and services outside its cities. Big though it is, China’s economy is also somewhat “backward”. That gives it plenty of scope to enjoy catch-up growth, unlike Japan’s economy, which was still far smaller than America’s when it reached the technological frontier.

Buoyed by these two forces, China will account for over 23% of world GDP by 2030, measured at PPP, Mr Subramanian calculates. America will account for less than 12%. China will be equally dominant in trade, accounting for twice America’s share of imports and exports. That projection relies on the “gravity” model of trade, which assumes that commerce between countries depends on their economic weight and the distance between them. China’s trade will outpace America’s both because its own economy will expand faster and also because its neighbours will grow faster than those in America’s backyard.....

Mr Subramanian combines each country’s share of world GDP, trade and foreign investment into an index of economic “dominance”. By 2030 China’s share of global economic power will match America’s in the 1970s and Britain’s a century before (see chart). Those prudent American strategists preparing their countrymen for a “multipolar” world are wrong. The global economy will remain unipolar, dominated by a “G1”, Mr Subramanian argues. It’s just that the one will be China not America.

Tom Barnett has thoughts on the article, and the book it is based on (here):

.... Point being: China works its region while we do not.  We play the drug war and China is working infrastructure like crazy in SE Asia. China will also logically work toward an Asian Union with its economy as the centerpiece, while the US puts up a border wall.

Back to an argument I continue to make: we need to be opening up to the south like crazy, not shutting ourselves off on immigration and drugs.  We'll make ourselves weak relative to China and India due to their bulk populations, when our version of their interior rural poor are there for the taking.

We should be expanding the United States, not closing it down.

Brooking's Amy Liu on Portland's Export Initiative

 

Amy Liu, Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program, Brookings Institution, testified to the Oregon Interim House Transportation and Economic Development Committee on 9/22/11. She is working with the city of Portland and other groups in the Portland region to develop and exports initiative. The above video is a sample of what she said.

(I apologize for the sound and video quality. Note that she was speaking from the East Coast.)

In the video, Liu recommends five activities the state could undertake to support regional export initiatives:

(1) Boost Oregon’s ability to create innovative products and services for international markets.

(2) Continued to be a leader in and support advanced manufacturing statewide.

(3) Increase international education, foreign languages, and study abroad.

(4) Consider state grants for regional export promotion.

(5) Upgrade infrastructure.

From the Columbian (here):

With help from a Washington, D.C., think tank, regional economic development leaders are laying the groundwork for an ambitious project: to create jobs and boost employment by increasing the region's exports.

Two key pieces of the effort -- a market assessment and a strategic plan, both written with help from the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy group -- will be rolled out Oct. 17 in Portland. The event is expected to be attended by the mayors of Portland and Vancouver, port representatives, and economic development officials. .

The idea is to help empower businesses to increase their exports and to persuade companies that don't export to do so, said Bonnie Moore, director of business services for the Columbia River Economic Development Council, the Vancouver-based business recruiter….

I am, of course, wondering if this export initiative, for all its broad wording, will make any difference in getting Portland Public Schools to expand their Mandarin and Japanese immersion programs or to create a high school study abroad program. I don’t think so, but would like to be surprised. Unfortunately, I don’t think we have a world-class, globally aware business community in Portland (unlike Utah, see here).

 

Warner: "Exports and business investment that are going to drive economic growth in US"

Paul Warner, Oregon Legislative Revenue Officer, testified before the House Transportation and Economic Development Committee on 9/22/11.  The topic was “Oregon Economists’ Views of Opportunities for Expanded Economic Activity in Oregon.” The first part of his presentation is shown in the above video.

 Note that he makes two points relevant to, and often made on, this blog. He discusses both (1) the increasing importance and growth of the Chinese economy and (2) the importance of international exports in our future. He says “It is going to have to be exports and business investments that drive economic growth in the US in order to restore the imbalances that have happened.”

Oregonian reporter Harry Esteve, in his article “Oregon’s economy: Little for law maker to do but wait and think long term” on this same hearing, missed these two points. He wrote (here):

 Oregon's economy was smacked so hard by national and global forces that there's little the state can do but hang on, hope for the best and look five to 10 years down the road, a panel of economists told a solemn panel of lawmakers Thursday.

"The most important advice I can give you is, there is almost nothing you can do in the short run," said Joe Cortright, founder of Impresa, a Portland economic consulting business. "We're along for the ride here."

Legislators, meeting in Salem this week in preparation for next February's session, are struggling to come up with a remedy for Oregon's stagnant unemployment rate, flagging personal incomes and deflating state budget. They called on some of the state's top economists to give them some inspiration……

Esteve mentions neither the increasing importance of China nor the increasing importance of exports to Oregon economic future in his article.

What we, and state government, can to do is tweak our educational system toward supporting more exports: stronger foreign language and study abroad programs.

 

Co-Speaker Bruce Hanna on China: "The opportunities are vast"

The voice on this video is of Co-Speaker of the Oregon House Bruce Hanna. He is speaking of the recent, two-week, 17 legislator plus others, Oregon trade delegation to China.

He makes three points:

(1)   Oregon needs to pursue and promote trade with China because “the opportunities are vast.”

(2)   Oregon could receive many more tourists from China if problems getting US visas could be reduced.

(3)   For the long term China relationship, Oregon needs to expand student exchanges 

For another overview of the China trade mission see here.

Jin Lan reports on the 2011 legislative trade mission to China

In the this video, the sound track is of Jin Lan, Executive Director of the Oregon-Fujian Sister State Association, briefly summarizing the recent legislative trade mission to China in testimony to the Oregon legislature’s Fujian Sister State Committee.

Note that Lan says the emotional high point of the two week legislative trade mission was meeting with English-speaking high school students in Yichang and talking about student exchanges.

17 Oregon legislators plus others formed the delegation.