CIC or Now Get that Biggish Bonus

Today must a day for short posts.  This will thrill some critics of this blog who suggest that the posts--and indeed, the very sentences--are too long and complicated for any reader who has, say, a longish walk on his or her schedule, longish being open to interpretation.  (And I do, too, take criticism well.  If it is any damned good.)

Anyway.  To the topic:

The Chinese are buying our stuff.  That's a switch, isn't it?  Only, they are not buying our stuff at our Walmarts or Dell.  The China Investment Corp., CIC for the ADHD'ers out there, is buying biggish (subject to interpretation) chunks of some biggish US, if multinational, companies.  Figure Coke, Johnson & Johnson, Apple, Motorola (especially after a certain ad during the Super Bowl) and even your plastic best friend,Visa.

China's CIC is what we call a Sovereign Wealth Fund and it is stocked with about $300 Billion.  And that would be in US dollars, because the Chinese are swimming in them.  And looking about for a shore to land on.

The CIC is like a Politburo-owned Warren Buffet. They have plunked lots of dollars in this fund and can dump more in any time they want.  Getting Dollars into the fund is not the problem.  It is how fast can they get the damned Bucks out without trashing the value and drubbing their own reserve in a Megan Fox-sized bathtub.  So, buying top-of-the-heap (I chose my words carefully) US companies seems like the next best thing after over-printing Dollars with Yuans or, maybe, feeding them into a bonfire.

Do you hear the Republican shouting of "Socialism" about this CIC Sovereign Wealth Fund?

No.  But relax, they're already Communists, which is like the Barry Bonds of Socialists.  They make TBO look like Sarah Palin.  Except smart.  And it's not like it's the Red Army buying up the Yankees or something.

Personally, I think the latest news puts this CIC business into a cheerful perspective.  Sure, the idea that the Chinese may end up owning all of Walmart is intimidating, but CIC has also been buying up shards of Citi, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, which, among other things,will let the Chinese speak freely about making their cherished hope of making The First Dude into The First Lad. 

Maybe that free speech angle isn't great, but you know what trumps it all?

Guess who has to ask the Chinese Communist Party for their Billion Dollar Bonus payouts?