James Fallows
Recently by James Fallows
Jul 28 2009, 10:09AM
Is China Making The Smoot-Hawley Mistake?
Several months ago in this Atlantic story, I explained what some economists thought was the biggest danger in the Chinese government's response to the world business collapse. Obviously the Chinese government had to do something to offset the tens of millions of layoffs happening all at once. Its predicament was in a way like America's at the start of the Great Depression: having had an abnormally large share of the world's manufacturing jobs and export earnings when times were good, it had more of them to lose when demand crashed. But China's situation was worse, because it is so much poorer than America was, and because exports represented a bigger share of its employment base.
Feb 11 2009, 6:36AM
Spam is making me smarter
From the company spam filter for my email account just now (click for larger):
Feb 6 2009, 6:14AM
Meet Mr. China!
Several times I've written in the Atlantic about the Irish businessman Liam Casey, who in the past few years has built an outsourcing empire in the southern Chinese manufacturing center of Shenzhen. (Original Atlantic article here. Slideshow including snapshots of Casey here.)
In these articles I gave Casey the jokey honorific "Mr. China," derived from Tim Clissold's hilarious book of the same name. The title is a campy way of indicating the person most in touch with the Chinese trends of this exact moment.
In these articles I gave Casey the jokey honorific "Mr. China," derived from Tim Clissold's hilarious book of the same name. The title is a campy way of indicating the person most in touch with the Chinese trends of this exact moment.
Jan 28 2009, 8:07PM
Offline Gmail: instant user report
From Mark Supanich, this first-hand answer to the questions I was speculating about moments ago:
I just installed it on my account, and the downloaded Google Gears app informed me that "based on my email volume" it would be storing 3 months worth of emails on my local hard drive. It wasn't clear from the notation if it would be doing that for each browser I access gmail from. There was no option or information (even on the help page) to choose how far back it cached emails on my computer, nor any info on if it would constantly update to clean messages older than three months from the cache. It did note however, that any message in my Inbox, no matter how old would be cached, and that spam and items in the trash would not be cached.OK, total of two minutes taken away from "real" work! Turning off email account for next 12 hours or so. Thanks for the clarification.
Jan 28 2009, 3:49PM
Big news on the personal tech front (assuming it works)
If this really works, it transforms the world of email -- and may be the step that will finally liberate me from Outlook and its gigantic, touchy PST files: offline access for Gmail. Report in the official Google Enterprise blog here. Early report from Network World that alerted me to the development here.
I have, alas, enough real-world, late-on-deadline, day-job writing ahead of me in the next 24 hours that I don't even have time to check this out and see how it works. There will be much more to say later on about what this means for "cloud computing," for desktop apps (like Outlook), for Google's plans, and all the rest. And I certainly will try to get it applied before my next long plane trip not long from now.
For the moment it is sufficient to say: Check this out!
I have, alas, enough real-world, late-on-deadline, day-job writing ahead of me in the next 24 hours that I don't even have time to check this out and see how it works. There will be much more to say later on about what this means for "cloud computing," for desktop apps (like Outlook), for Google's plans, and all the rest. And I certainly will try to get it applied before my next long plane trip not long from now.
For the moment it is sufficient to say: Check this out!
Jan 25 2009, 10:56AM
Broader point about Geithner, Obama, China, and "manipulation"
Here's what increasingly bothers me about the recent flap over Timothy Geithner's "currency manipulation" criticism of China. I am showing this in "extract" format below not because I am quoting someone else because I am quoting the thought that has been running around in my head:
Because Barack Obama has been so knowing-sounding and aware of complexities on so many issues, it's natural to assume that he and his team will display the same sophistication when it comes to dealing with China. But in reality, virtually nothing that the President or his appointees has said or done on the subject has shown much sophistication at all. I made this point at various stages in the campaign. But as time goes on you inevitably start wondering: If these people are so smart, when will they get around to acting smart about the country whose cooperation they need more than any other's to avoid true financial catastrophe?Now, the reasoning behind that assertion:
Jan 23 2009, 8:36PM
Trouble in the software business: this time, it's serious!
Via my friend Bruce Williams, an accomplished aviator, flight instructor, and technology guy, I hear that the first-ever, 5000-person cuts Microsoft has just announced in its work force include the team responsible for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Williams himself, who was a major figure on that team across six versions of the program over 15 years, presented the news on his website under the headline: The End of Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Jan 22 2009, 8:53PM
Last words on the Geithner SE Tax issue
After the jump, samples from a surprisingly strong stream of reader mail about a comment earlier today on whether our Treasury Secretary-designate made an innocent error, or did something more, in neglecting to pay part of his federal taxes for several years. Summary of my view: I think he should be confirmed, since dealing with the economic crisis matters more than anything else. But that doesn't mean that I believe his tax story.
Jan 22 2009, 8:15PM
A word about Timothy Geithner
I recognize that dealing with the world financial/economic crisis is the most important next thing the Obama Administration has to do. Without detailed knowledge, I am willing to accept that Geithner is a crucially well-prepared member of the team that will help in this effort -- and that getting the right team is a first-order national priority. I don't know him, but friends who do know him like and respect him. Fine.
I also think that it is sensible to move past the Zoe Baird / Kimba Woods era (look it up) when any tax irregularity of any sort could be taken as an absolute bar, in itself, to service in any position subject to confirmation. Some standard of reasonable judgment has to be applied here.
I also think that it is sensible to move past the Zoe Baird / Kimba Woods era (look it up) when any tax irregularity of any sort could be taken as an absolute bar, in itself, to service in any position subject to confirmation. Some standard of reasonable judgment has to be applied here.
Jan 22 2009, 2:52PM
Might as well make this an all-Geithner day
Usually journalists are in the position of being told that they have lamentably "oversimplified" or "hyped" their discussion of topics -- and told this by the real policy experts in academia or think tanks or specialized government agencies. Often enough, the accusation is true. Part of journalism's basic function is to explain, in simpler (and often necessarily less nuanced) terms, what the real experts are trying to say. If they do that well enough, they can reach people who would never sit still for the full, rococo, expert version and give them a better understanding of important ideas and problems than they would otherwise have.
But now we've got a situation where a journalist (moi-meme) is listening to a renowned expert and wondering, Can he possibly believe that things are as simple and bald as what he's just said?
The expert in question is our old friend Timothy Geithner, who when he was not being grilled about his tax problems today was saying (in his written answer to questions) that China is "manipulating" its currency. Oh my. Where do we start with this.
But now we've got a situation where a journalist (moi-meme) is listening to a renowned expert and wondering, Can he possibly believe that things are as simple and bald as what he's just said?
The expert in question is our old friend Timothy Geithner, who when he was not being grilled about his tax problems today was saying (in his written answer to questions) that China is "manipulating" its currency. Oh my. Where do we start with this.
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