Daily Archives: Oct. 6, 2008

FDIC chief very busy

Oct. 6, 20081:44 p.m.

An interesting story today illustrates just how busy Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chairwoman Sheila Bair has been.

It shows a very proactive regulator who has been doing what she probably thinks is in the best interest of the nation’s banking system.

It seems her role in finding a suitor for Wachovia has been extraordinary, according to the Charlotte Observer’s story:

At 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, Steel said he received an unexpected call from FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair telling him to be on the lookout for an offer from Wells. He was preparing to board a flight from New York to North Carolina so he told her to call the bank’s general counsel Jane Sherburne. When he landed, he talked with Bair again before receiving a 9 p.m. call from Wells Fargo chairman Dick Kovacevich. A few minutes later, Kovacevich e-mailed Steel a signed merger agreement.

By Jerry Siebenmark | Filed under Banking | Comments (1) | Share this post

China losing its low-cost edge

Oct. 6, 200810:35 a.m.

We’ll have to start griping about China differently. It’s no longer the cheapest place on earth to make something, even though it is poised to become the world’s number one manufacturer in 2009, according to the latest issue of Impact Analysis from the Kansas World Trade Center.

The reason: the inexhaustable supply of unskilled Chinese labor is hitting limits as a pool of skilled labor, driving up manufacturing wages by 5-15 percent a year. The cheap stuff is moving to Vietnam and other countries. And the higher cost of transportation from Asia and the depressed dollar have both greatly raised costs for US manufacturers.

It’s meant less pressure on US manufacturers to outsource (at least to China). But on the other hand, China is moving up the value chain to compete more directly with the industries left in the US.

By Dan Voorhis | Filed under Uncategorized | Comments Off | Share this post