The Chinese are gaining power and influence not just in financial, technical, economic markets, but now also in the Art market.  Til recently, they have mainly been buying art within their own cultural sphere.  They have not been prominent buyers in the western art work...til now.  Soethby's and Christie's are expecting major sales to the Chinese.  Russians and Ukrainians are also re-emerging, but the rise of the Chinese art buyer is fairly new.

 

This is interesting for a few reasons (at least to me) - raising 2 paradoxes (and you know me and Paradoxical Thinking J )

 

1. Just as the Chinese are shutting information gates to the western world they are acquiring archetypical symbols of the western world - 20^th century art;  this highlights a tension between the ‘wants' of the political base (who are shutting the info gates) and the ‘wants' of the populace (well, the rich populace) who are seeking ownership of the west's cultural symbols - for pure investment, for greed, for ‘prestige', for whatever else (and I could think of some not so positive reasons)
2. Art is an intensely private, intimate act and ‘product' - it is a revelation of the artist's soul - one could argue when you by a painting you are buying a piece of that artist (or you could argue you're helping him/her pay for college - I used to think that actually of Robert Motherwell's paintings which all looked alike in his 1957-60's period) - and yet at the same time, it is a very public asset - a joy and gift to the public to view and experience on both an individual and a collective basis.  

 

So what will this mean to the art that is acquired? Will it disappear from the public? Many private collectors make parts of their collection available to the public via loans to galleries and museums.  Obviously some stays private in the west, but as this art is acquired, will it be shared with the Chinese population at large let alone the rest of the world? Is a treasure for all going to be ‘gated' just as information is?  

wow! perhaps some penalties for sportsmanship are deserved here -- Jobs has come out swinging against Google...and Adobe!  Steve said Google's "don't be evil" is "Bullshit"

Google - Jobs said Apple didn't enter search but google entered the phone biz (was that illegal??) - Google is out to kill the iPhone and we won't let them!

Adobe - they are lazy - they could do lots of cool things and won't, they won't take advantage of what Apple has to offer them

Well,  the cyberwars have begun...and this is quite the Reality TV show!

 

So, documents reveal that Goldman was more involved in bringing down AIG than previously thought! Say it isn't so!!! And we know how well they fared in the bailout of AIG - better than most others (save SocGen...but see below) .  It wasn't their fairy godmother, their super secret seer, their expensive crystal balls...no, it was a bit more mundane...insider information.  Goldman had bought many CDS from AIG as protection but they also created a bunch of CDOs in SocGen's portfolio that AIG insured too (and remember SocGen? they're the bank that had the rogue trader a few years ago too that almost caused their collapse).  Pretty nice and tidy huh?

So what does this mean? Well, means that Goldman knew what was coming and going - they knew their position on the securities AIG was underwriting and they knew AIG's position (risk) on the securities Goldman underwrote (via SocGen and others).  

A smart position to be in huh?

David Brooks editorial in yesterday's NYT - The Populist Addiction - is an great editorial on the populist movement - it's in the eye of the beholder - and been hijacked by both the democrats and republicans at various times.  We are a country that keeps swinging from one end of the pendulum to the other - balance doesn't seem to be in our vocabulary (social, religious, fiscal, you name it!).  While I'm highly displeased with the current administration, I don't hold out much hope it would be better with the 'other side' - just different...but we are so desperate now for something that the Populist movement is filling the vacuum...

The gov't is the ends, not a means to an ends anymore - e.g., more union workers work for the gov't than private sectors today, more job creation in gov't than private...these are dangerous precedents...perhaps in 2010, something can happen to wake us up...

ok - so Youtube has just announced their first live broadcasting deal - ok, so it's cricket, but you know soccer, football, etc. will follow - last week they announced they were getting into the movie rental business -- only a matter of time before Youtube, hulu, etc. cause the demise of cable and satellite...after all, your flat screen TV is really just a big monitor....