|
|
ONLINE FEATURES
Book Reviews
BW Video
Columnists
Interactive Gallery
Newsletters
Past Covers
Philanthropy
Podcasts
Special Reports
BLOGS
Auto Beat
Bangalore Tigers
Blogspotting
Brand New Day
Byte of the Apple
Economics Unbound
Eye on Asia
Fine On Media
Green Biz
Hot Property
Investing Insights
Management IQ
NEXT: Innovation
NussbaumOnDesign
Tech Beat
Working Parents
TECHNOLOGY
J.D. Power Ratings
Product Reviews
Tech Stats
Wildstrom: Tech Maven
AUTOS
Home Page
Auto Reviews
Classic Cars
Car Care & Safety
Hybrids
INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | |
DECEMBER 22, 2003
Is The Patriot Act An Investment Killer? There are even worse aspects to the Patriot Act than those covered in "Still drowning in dirty money" (Finance, Dec. 1). I am a U.S. citizen living in London. I recently received a letter from Strong Financial Corp., the fund-management company, citing the USA Patriot Act as a basis for refusing additional investments. It was an invitation to close the account, which I did. If all U.S. financial institutions interpret the Patriot Act in this manner, imagine the effect on investment into the U.S. from people living abroad. D.W. Anderson London In Venezuela, Faint Applause For The Opposition "Will Venezuelans sign up to dump Chávez?" (International Outlook, Dec. 1) quotes me as saying "The people are feeling the economic crunch and want to see a change." In fact, I told BusinessWeek that President Hugo Chávez enjoys far more support than any of the opposition's leading politicians. I added that discontent due to pressing economic problems would hurt Chávez in a recall referendum in which the voter is not being asked to choose between the President and the opposition. However, many Venezuelans who would vote to remove Chávez from office in a recall would support him or abstain in a presidential election rather than back opposition parties. The short-lived coup staged in April, 2002, and the subsequent 10-week general strike resulted in considerable hardship -- discrediting the opposition, which lacks programs, ideology, and credible candidates. Steve Ellner Barcelona, Venezuela   Vietnam: Doing Its Best For Favorable Trade In its bid to attract more and more foreign direct investment, Vietnam has been creating plenty of favorable conditions for foreign investors, as reflected in the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam along with its amendments and relevant regulations and policies ("Time is running out," Asian Business, Dec. 1). Compared with [the situation] for local companies, it could be said that a pretty fair playing field has been gradually created. In some aspects, laws favor local companies, whereas in others, they take the side of foreign-invested firms. For example, foreign companies may pay more for certain goods and services than locals do. But since the advent of the Law on Enterprise in 1999, local companies have always paid a 32% income tax, while foreign companies pay 25%. Nevertheless, the problem of "side-taking" will be removed soon. The government started to phase out the dual-price policy for foreigners and locals last year, and it will be terminated completely in a year or two. Likewise, from next year, both local and foreign-invested companies will be subject to the same corporate income-tax rate of 28%. Regarding the raised tariffs on foreign-made car components, it may be a big mistake to enforce the tariff increase, but it would be a much bigger mistake to encourage the expansion of personal car ownership before improving infrastructure and fixing traffic congestion. It would be a still bigger mistake to leave the national industry heavily dependent on foreign countries. I hope Hanoi will meet its self-imposed deadline. I look forward to the day Vietnam gets over the threshold into "the big house" and improves its chances of increasing its per capita income from $400 to a four-digit, and subsequently five-digit, figure. Truong Tran Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Kodak's Revival Plan Is Totally Out Of Focus In all its history, Eastman Kodak Co. (EK ) was famous for film -- never for its cameras ("Not exactly a Kodak moment," News: Analysis & Commentary, Nov. 24). Before World War II, and for some years after, Germany was the leading producer and innovator of both top-quality cameras and lenses. Then Germany got trounced by Japan almost overnight. It is decades since Kodak, or America, has had any market share in sophisticated film cameras. I suggest that Daniel A. Carp's denigrators know more than he does. If he spent $3 billion or $300 billion, Kodak could no more compete seriously in digital photography than it did with photo equipment. What it always did was produce film of fabulous quality for every field. It was said years ago that Kodachrome was produced at a factory-door cost of 40% of its wholesale pricing. It enjoyed decades of this kind of margin. To find anything like it in the new "chippy" era cannot be hoped for. William H. Latimer Toronto
| | |
 Copyright BWStory.copyright, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of Use | Privacy Notice |
Printer-Friendly Version
