Walter Hutchens’ Blog

• Indian truck painting folk art: http://t.co/usL3Oqba #
• CSRC vice chair says China to ease controls on HK listings: regulator http://t.co/CBQro6Ur via @reuters #

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• FREER gallery Cixi photos: http://t.co/JIUF5BWF #

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• The politics of establishing a Confucius Institute @ a US higher ed institution: http://t.co/CTRm5z3H #

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• NPR: Why Burn Doctors Hate Instant Soup http://t.co/cx1g50zr #
• Looking out Beijing window, wondering if gray obliterating bldgs across street is more natural fog or noxious soup NYT: http://t.co/qqYkoGZb #

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• Statement from UW Pres Young regarding governor’s proposed further budget cuts: http://t.co/6Te96fUz #
• Listening to Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, hearing how Jobs commissioned Paul Rand to create Next logo #
• . . . Hearing how Jobs argued with Paul Rand about kerning of period after P in Steven P. Jobs . . . maniacal! #
• Signed on for Red Lemonade. Requested "beta" author membership. They must be flooded now, after Poets & Writers article on Richard Nash. #
• Deny PRC air is as bad as US embassy readings indicate. Then buy machines for air filtering. Nice! NYT: http://t.co/TZCx4Wid #
• Boston College Prof. Philip G. Altbach on higher ed in India, the US & the limited prospects for cooperation: http://t.co/DBAqsKta #

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• Read Riding in Cars with Boys for Theo Nestor's memoir writing class. Enjoyed it. http://t.co/LKqSyWaz #

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• Why they like Western classical music in China? "The Direct Line From Confucius to Lang Lang" http://t.co/khvElQqL via @millermccune #

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• Intl trade in higher ed services. India says come but funds stay in India & give intl quality for fixed India prices http://t.co/GAdxAw5b #
• PCMag: Why China is Apple's Land of Opportunity http://t.co/rNasdo1G via @pcmag #

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• Wu Jinglian decries bkward motion on economic reforms, SOE revival SCMP.com Slowdown in reform efforts under attack http://t.co/32AOXFu2 #
• Baseline Scenario crunches #s on, er, baseline scenarios for US deficit, finds things bad but not as bad as many expect http://t.co/SM5CDR2W #
• Tsinghua's Patrick Chovanec thinks abt whether China about to have an economic crisis http://t.co/DWd6MbAK #
• Arghhh, @Engadget liveblog feed from Apple event malfunctioning. What, I may have to wait whole minutes to know about the new iPhone. Noooo! #
• From @Engadget liveblog of ongoing Apple event: iPhone 4S is both GSM and CDMA. Nice . . . so carrier free version will cost . . . ? #
• Ok, I'm buying an iPhone 4S for camera alone . . . unless the iPhone 5 tops it? #
• RIP, Steve Jobs. You changed the world. #
• RIP Derrick Bell. NYT obit: http://t.co/FpLUMhfP #
• US gives WTO list of Chinese subsidies that it says violate WTO rules, NYT: http://t.co/MT3zItro #

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• NYT Book Review: The Case for Countering China’s Rise, "A Contest For Supremacy," by Aaron L. Friedberg http://t.co/fdFaX0dq #
• How long till we have a specialty in "Facebook law?" Wash Post: http://t.co/qKp0HJP7 #
• "In China, business travelers take extreme precautions to avoid cyber-espionage," Washington Post http://t.co/n6aYT9Zy via @washingtonpost #
• China’s Lenovo and Taiwan’s Compal enter joint venture to make laptops – The Washington Post http://t.co/66P8iUA1 via @washingtonpost #
• "Vancouver film industry looks to lucrative Chinese market" via @ChinesePod http://t.co/me4KZq9D via @globeandmail #
• New NYC community college will be near Bryant Park: http://t.co/XdYKZHPo #
• Kindle Fire…tempting! Threat to iPad b/c 1) lower price 2) leverages an ecosystem, like iTunes store. But Apple's retail stores + for them #
• One small Seattle retailer's story, incl NYC expansion. NYT: A Small Retailer Tries to Get a Foothold http://t.co/PeL2L1v4 #
• US Solicitor Gen asks Sup Ct to please review 11th Cir decision on Obamacare. http://t.co/0IIr2yGf #
• Seattle local: Zoka Coffee has rats @ roasting facility. http://t.co/AESn8LRU #

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• NYT: Hundreds Protest Pollution at Haining, China, Factory: http://t.co/c6g3zOWP #
• GM Board meets IN China- ABC News http://t.co/72cqcpYT (via @ABC) #
• RT @bokane: RT @iandenisjohnson: Peter Hessler wins "genius grant": http://t.co/UyFcwyOp #
• "Heavy hand" of state affects Chinese pop culture, banning Amer Idol type show, any story involving time travel (!) etc http://t.co/OD4URskT #
• Universities, media, shoe co's, coaches, NCAA execs all make millions. Why not athletes? Atlantic on college sports http://t.co/vLR4z2ak #
• Guide to "The World's Rudest Hand Gestures" (maybe useful in my global business classes!) The Atlantic: http://t.co/jxsyfj2E #
• Epiphany: I am getting old. Stood in line @ RECORD stores for midnight REM releases. "R.E.M. Breaks Up After 3 Decades" http://t.co/V9Dvkv54 #
• Interesting observations by PRC high level cadre on innovation, education & moving up global economic value chain: http://t.co/GlC9fDcS #
• IPO far off, tender offer used to give Alibaba employees way to cash in http://t.co/4ctiQ0tY via @niubi #
• Peterson Institute for Intl Economics blog on China: http://t.co/QyDrNcw5 #
• NYT: Rape Case Is a Rarity in Chinese Justice System: http://t.co/Ng1M7YV7 #
• Jonathan Fenby offers thoughts in History Today on China's 1911 revolution and its aftermath: http://t.co/u2UhBEtj #
• Dali Lama to China: you can't pick my successor. http://t.co/yep5Xo4c #
• Wow. LA Times: Faster than light? CERN findings bewilder scientists http://t.co/asYTQF2h #
• Fed judge slams Bernstein Leibhard b/c after 6 years just disclosed lead plaintiff in securities case never an owner http://t.co/fCQF7P1V #
• BBC News – China beating: Anger after man mistaken for petitioner http://t.co/14fwBZ20 #
• BBC News – Protesters riot in China city over land sale http://t.co/rJrOMn7w #
• Leo Katz, Why the Law Is So Perverse, U Chicago P: http://t.co/LivBIUBF #
• Wet books @ UK library indicate China's rise, ravenous appetites: http://t.co/IB16hUOn via @theeconomist #
• HSBC touting its Chinese currency capabilities: http://t.co/HVqKUG1I #
• Clever NYT profile of multiple generation NYC Chinatown bldg: Under One Roof: http://t.co/yftDmcBf #
• Chanos Keeps Shorting China… and Winning (FXI, GXC, TAO, CHN, TDF, MPEL) – 24/7 Wall St. http://t.co/Pcoyvqdq #

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• Worth reading: Privatisation in China: Capitalism confined | The Economist http://t.co/MP4JkZx via @theeconomist #
• All digital parliament "Dutch senators get iPads, claim to be 1st Euro leg to go fully digital" http://t.co/1gguATq via @washingtonpost #
• Another dist. ct. judge somehow "distinguishes" precedents to : http://t.co/OlTIKGX #
• Sup Court cases say growing wheat/pot for personal use substantially affects commerce so Cong can regulate. But not not buying health insur? #
• Seems to me if judges want to invent a rule that says Cong can't make you buy xyz, they should find it in Bill of Rts, not commerce clause. #
• US health care costs 2.5 trl/yr 18% GDP, >43 bil in uncomp care/year, yet not buying health insur doesn't subst affect commerce? Puleeeze. #
• Yes, the insurance purchase mandate invades liberty. Yes, it is novel. Yes, lots of people don't like it. But not ok under ICC? Can't see it #
• I think 6th Circuit got it right: if you don't like Obamacare, vote. Political backstop, not ICC judicial activism, is remedy. #
• Unless we want to disassemble the world as we know it, define commerce as guy with STUFF in wagon crossing state lines. Only Justice Thomas? #
• Irony, of course, is that forcing people to buy private health insurance was alt to creating a single payer system, was the less rad US plan #
• Separating the wheat from the chaff in China’s data jungle http://t.co/zrfuZfr via @globeandmail #
• Wed my Business, Gvt & Society class talks abt US debt. Might use: NPR PlanetMoney Podcast: When Congress Plays Chicken http://t.co/5ml8Nxs #
• OK Sen. Coburn says law school dean unqualified to be fed judge b/c she knows too much about intl law? Sheesh . . . http://t.co/YLovjxc0 #
• Shenzhen Stock Exchange website down for maint, coming back 9/17 8:00 pm. When Apple does this means new products. Hmm. http://t.co/5cPzT7TX #
• China's CSRC "Intl Advisory Committee" mtg, talking derivatives, infl on China from wave of global stock exchg mergers http://t.co/aeey5lR5 #
• Comp China seeking intl input & advice to abet "continuous improvement" vs US Sen. Coburn thwarting judicial nominee b/c intl law expert! #
• Hedge funds research researchers, pay them to "consult" NYT: Columbia Professor Linked to Insider Trading Case http://t.co/8ZWe2WX8 #

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I love being a professor. There are lots of great things about it. One is the joy of watching students blossom. Another is all the learning I get to do. In my current Business, Government and Society class I am enjoying both these benefits, watching students accomplish much while also learning a great deal myself. Right now we’re mutually learning details about the:

1. fight over the constitutionality of the recent law to reform the US health care system;
2. lawsuit the Department of Justice has filed to stop AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile (T-Mobile is based in Bellevue, Washington which is the venue for this class!);
3. complaints some NGOs have voiced about Apple’s manufacturing operations in China (via its contract suppliers), including both their environmental and labor practices and
4. lawsuits the regulator/conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has filed against Goldman Sachs and other sellers of mortgage backed securities.

The course is designed to acquaint business majors with how firms are affected not just by markets and internal management issues but also by the actions of governments and civil society.

I assign a textbook for the course—one of the standard texts for the field, now in its 13th edition, but I like teaching about topics “ripped from the headlines,” things unsettled and so contemporary that they are not yet in even the most recent edition of a textbook. I hope it makes the students feel drawn into important, ongoing dramas. Sometimes this works beautifully, shifting their perspective, prompting them to care about a topic not just because it will be “on the test” but because they become sincerely interested in it.

I think it is good, too, to give students primary source materials rather than something derived from a journalistic or textbook account of a matter. It can be challenging for them, but they get a lot of benefit from wrestling with these primary sources (the actual appellate court decisions in the health care fight, the actual DOJ complaint in the T-Mobile case, the actual FHFA complaint against Goldman Sachs in the mortage backed securities case and the full report of an NGO in the Apple matter). It helps them learn to read carefully and critically, helps them practice extracting and synthesizing information from a complex text—skills that will benefit them long after the Supreme Court has decided whether or not Congress can make everyone buy health insurance, long after they’ve forgotten the relevant seven magic words of Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution (and who Roscoe Filburn and Angel Raich were!). I hope they’ll develop a lingering respect for the judicial system and some pride that they have read some judicial opinions “in the raw” and extracted facts and arguments from them—I hope the course builds, to be blunt, their self confidence about what they can do (which is infinitely more than load some vapid bullet points from canned textbook PowerPoint slides into their short-term memory right before a test!).

For our unit on the health care law their assignment is to write an opinion on whether the insurance purchase mandate is constitutional, as if they were a Supreme Court Justice. They are to lay out the key provisions of the act, cite the relevant parts of the Constitution (the Commerce Clause and the 10th Amendment, with some nod to the concepts of enumerated powers and federalism) and distinguish or apply a handful of key precedents to substantiate their conclusion. It is a lot of work for them—these, again, are undergraduates—but I think students in my BGS class know more about what “Obamacare” actually provides (and requires) and how it is being contested than most any undergraduates in America. I am proud of that, and hope in the long run they will be, too, along with accruing a surfeit of other benefits.

Aside: besides the primary source materials, I am proud of having managed to assign a perfectly apt article from the Onion (“Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be“).

• Neo-Mercantilism dept. Building a nativist house not so easy. NYT: All-American, Floor to Roof? Not So Simple http://t.co/fVb9Clb #
• NYT on the US diplomatic cables from China divulged in WikiLeaks "In Secret Cables, Oddities of U.S.-China Relationship" http://t.co/O7AY94z #
• I know Penetta is the US sec of defense, but I thought Li Peng retired! :-) "Pennetta upsets China's Peng to reach US" http://t.co/5zxU5Od #
• "车多力量大" becomes 计划生育? NYT: China Carmakers Told to Seek Fuel Efficiency, Not Sales: http://t.co/sX9Av2T #
• Singapore's "Temasek Buys China Construction Bank Shares for $2.8 Billion" Businessweek http://t.co/A2S29no via @BW #
• Schadenfreude & "sensitivity"/censorship in PRC intl reporting -LATimes Chinese state media walk a tightrope in coverage http://t.co/jDT7Yjz #
• Interesting China-India comparative analysis: In either Beijing or Delhi, governments respond to middle-class protests http://t.co/Pj7xTUe #
• Now for a little nerd porn via @apttherapy Design Inspiration: Bookcase Stairs http://t.co/WreWGtR #
• US-China WTO dispute on tires, appellate body opinion circulated Sept. 5, avail here: http://t.co/fuAzQXN #
• PRC predictably unhappy that WTO panel ruled US tire tariffs didn't violate China's WTO accession agreement: http://t.co/99e0pLA #
• BBC reports Dell & PRC search leader Baidu (Nasdaq BIDU) planning more coop. on mobile phones, new product in Nov? (中文) http://t.co/wbUWNZN #
• Pattern: Corp buys blog I love, founders leave, spark flickers out. Examples: JKOnTheRun, Engadget, now TechCrunch? http://t.co/mGhkAz2 #
• China bans some scholars from coming back after they published a book on Xinjiang http://t.co/e7MgFgE via @washingtonpost #
• Ok, ChinesePod broke this story BEFORE NY Times! Chinese Law Could Make Divorced Women Homeless: http://t.co/M0CKOkI vs http://t.co/B5DSsXB #
• RT @ChinaNewsDaily: China's Amazon Eyes $5 Billion U.S. IPO http://t.co/8jCk8i3 #
• The Economist on Chinese science http://t.co/InighXX via @theeconomist #
• REALLY?? Yuan Will Be Fully Convertible by 2015, Chinese Officials Tell EU Chamber – Bloomberg via @BloombergNow http://t.co/eNPeveX #
• HUMMER, MG, SAAB all Chinese brands now? "Potential Saab savior gets good signs from Beijing" Reuters http://t.co/80qnpQK via @reuters #

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• Problems Building for Chinese Banks – Reuters BreakingViews: http://t.co/VBQz27U #
• Bank of America sells half of its China bank stake | cleveland.com http://t.co/Q0eDDFL #
• Case Western Reserve U law school looking for China scholars: http://t.co/DOMhMzj #
• Echoes of Tom Robbins? http://t.co/mNz5hSo #
• Chinese Telecom Executive Sentenced to Death for Bribery: http://t.co/DLWvK0j #
• NYT Dealbook: U.S. Moves to Block AT&T Merger with T-Mobile: http://t.co/Erse2lo #
• Here's the full complaint for US Gvt. suit to block AT&T TMobile deal: "U.S. v. AT&T" on Scribd http://t.co/FzyQBFQ #
• Protection of three-dimensional (3D) marks in China: http://t.co/7timfvh #
• On the one hand, they're nuts. On the other hand, they are completely wacko. "Scientology Strikes Back at New Yorker" http://t.co/RBQcLCX #
• Btw Cheney & my fellow Alabamian, I believe Rice. Reuters: Condoleezza Rice fires back at Cheney memoir http://t.co/WdqXzYx #
• I agree w/ P Krugman: Huntsman attractive in GOP field. Pro-science. Decent ("I respect the President"). Understands China, speaks Chinese #
• Guessing China DID notice recent anti-corruption mvmt. NYT: India Measures Itself Against a China That Doesn't Notice http://t.co/kWorztz #
• Shenzhen Stock Exchange on 9/1 launched a host of new indices, including a SZSE 200, 700 and 1000, complimenting existing SZSE 100 & 300. #
• SZSE link for new indices announcement: (中文) http://t.co/1cHVi0g #
• If Fannie wins, will banks then ask for bailouts to pay the damages awarded? NYT: US…Ready to Sue Banks Over Mortgages http://t.co/cALQw4r #
• Sobering. NYT: Recent College Graduates Wait for Their Real Careers to Begin http://t.co/I7MyDtt #
• Deanna Fei on love, money, race. In NYT Modern Love – The Trophy Wife http://t.co/NgA4yXt #
• AT&T, T-Mobile merger in hands of Judge Huvelle – The Washington Post http://t.co/YDt4mk2 via @washingtonpost #
• Chronicle of Higher Ed blogger attacks NYT piece on underemployed recent college grads: http://t.co/TVXPOFu #
• WP: Amazon offers Calif. 7,000 jobs to hold off on tax law http://t.co/6CwpuPl #
• FHFA's press release: http://t.co/ujondNS Their actual complaints: http://t.co/umiNdjG #

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• Pouge's pithy, spot-on analysis: Apple's Steve Jobs Reshaped Industries: http://t.co/V8q7eZk #

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It seems there’s currently an upsurge in US higher ed. searches for admin. positions that are China focused. NYIT is looking for a dean for their new Nanjing campus (ad here). Hult, a Boston-based business school that the Financial Times ranks #5 for international business ed., is looking for a dean for their new campus in Shanghai (ad here). The Univ. of California Irvine has a new center for business law focused on China, and they are looking for a director (ad here). Earlier this summer Rutgers announced a search for a director to coordinate their university-wide portfolio of China projects, presumably an outgrowth of a strategic China initative described in this letter from their president (however, the ad seems to have been pulled; the cached Google version is here).

• NYT video on Zhao Liang, "Filming China's Dark Side" http://t.co/n2QATD0 #
• Getting capital easy, complying with disclosure rules hard? "SinoTech forced to defend governance" – FT.com – http://t.co/pmW1uPS #
• Apple passes Lenovo in Chinese sales revenue http://t.co/lUT5SZR #

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• Gigaom: China readies smartphone invasion of U.S. http://t.co/RT6gdgJ #
• If you teach them, they will use it? Recent law school grads "Suing Over Jobs" – Inside Higher Ed: http://t.co/JSpD90p #
• Interesting, but I'm not going to jump in right away. "The complete guide to Facebook Messenger" http://t.co/U5ItsPx #
• China matters for business, not just as vast market & world's factory but as capital source. Today see FT on Munich RE & NYT on GDF Suez. #
• And yet . . . NYT: China Releases a Blogger, Ran Yunfei, With Conditions http://t.co/r8AQwli #
• Commentator in Washington Post "Uncle Sam to university inventors: Class is in session" http://t.co/WTrDyri #

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• Wendi Deng, tiger wife? #
• Going to miss Borders. I certainly did my part to keep them in business over the years! #
• Coburn plan – TheHill.com: http://t.co/UaDF2Ki #

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• Strategic pork reserve? NYT: China to Release More of Its Pork Reserves – http://nyti.ms/n6xfXk #
• Chicago still Hog Butcher for the World, as Sandburg wrote? AP notes trading of bacon contracts ending (via @CMEGroup ) http://t.co/A7EUWPY #
• BJ prof says ditch "harmonious society" slogan for "just society" 北京理工大学教授…要求…放弃"和谐社会"提法，继 以"公正社会"来代 http://t.co/dhliBYZ via @WLYeung #
• China predictably objects to Obama DL mtg: 中国呼吁奥巴马取消会见达赖喇嘛: 中国外交部星期六（7月16日）呼吁美国总统奥巴马取消与西藏流亡精神领袖达赖喇嘛的会晤。 http://t.co/Wm1Ce9m via @bbcchinese #
• Tsinghua campus now closed to tourists. Some unhappy, trying to find backdoor: http://t.co/eyPXaKX #

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• Microsoft gets antitrust okay for Skype purchase, readies shockingly large wire transfer http://t.co/4G7bR1t via @engadget #

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• Story on 44-year-old guy in Chengdu taking gaokao, China's college entrance exam, for 15th time: http://bit.ly/mCVT0Y #

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• PRC commentary on "fundamental issues" in establishing an "international board" within PRC securities markets: http://bit.ly/lIFNU3 #
• John Paulson down US$ 460m on Canadian-listed Sino Forest which denies short seller's fraud allegations FT: http://t.co/pd8nJs8 #
• Brand new "old" stuff in China — nostalgia, development and new city walls and "Tang" buildings in Datong @nybooks http://bit.ly/jKWdhx #
• Economist on shareholder mtg of "Reliance Industries, India’s largest firm, run by its richest person, Mukesh Ambani" http://t.co/eeMxkNA #
• PRC State Council approves NDRC's strategy for economic system reform in 2011: http://bit.ly/kR2BiX The 2010 doc: http://bit.ly/9NRpCK #

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