Free Republic

Key Points: As the East&Gulf coast ports strike hits day three on Thursday, there are multiple signs of supply chain stress building. Thousands of shipping containers were potentially dumped at the wrong ports as ocean carriers scrambled to find alternate options for cargo, and increased tracking of diverted vessels is a direct challenge to an ILA-union threat to stop unloading at other ports. Surcharges imposed by shipping giants are starting to mount, and the need to use inland transportation options like trucking and rail for diverted cargo are adding to costs. A major grocery chain CEO tells CNBC that while...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl1908.aspx Treasury Identifies Kassem Rmeiti & Co. for Exchange and Halawi Exchange Co. as Financial Institutions of “Primary Money Laundering Concern” 4/23/2013 In First Use of Section 311 Against a Non-Bank Financial Institution, Treasury Acts to Protect the U.S. Financial System from Foreign Exchange Houses Tied to Global Narcotics and Money Laundering Networks and Hizballah WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today named two Lebanese exchange houses, Kassem Rmeiti & Co. For Exchange (Rmeiti Exchange) and Halawi Exchange Co. (Halawi Exchange), as foreign financial institutions of primary money laundering concern under...

Well-to-do North Koreans have been hoarding South Korean goods since a disastrous currency reform, Open Radio for North Korea said Wednesday. "Wealthy people in Pyongyang prefer goods to cash as they have lost confidence in the North Korean currency since the reform," it said. "Demand for South Korean goods, which are considered best quality, has more than doubled." The broadcaster quoted a Korean-Chinese trader dealing with the North as saying, "Growing numbers of people want to smuggle South Korean products and sell them in the North despite a crackdown by North Korean customs." It said the widespread perception among North...

Which economy will dominate the Globe 10-20 years from now? While the US economy of today is the world's most powerful given consideration to its ability of providing large numbers of households with the blessing of prosperity and, furthermore, the upsurging economy of China probably will be able to fully compete with the Western World in 50-100 years or so, 'Old' Europe still stands a decent chance of strengthening its position visavi these 'parvenu' economies during the next decades. Americans who pride themselves of belonging to and contributing to the most impressive economy on Earth are right in doing so....

...Poor and isolated 30 years ago, China is emerging as the world's factory floor. The country's embrace of capitalism, coupled with an abundance of cheap labor, massive foreign investment and the collapse of international trade barriers, has sparked an explosion of manufacturing. The reverberations are being felt around the globe. Shopping for a pair of shoes? Chances are that nimble Chinese hands sewed them, along with nearly 80% of the footwear purchased in the United States. That French provincial bedroom set on the showroom floor? It's probably part of the $4.6 billion in furniture that China shipped to the United...