The Washington Times

Taiwan’s President Chen Shui-bian kicked up a fuss earlier this month with his statement that there are two countries facing each other across the Taiwan Strait, China and Taiwan, and proposing a referendum on Taiwan about its future status, including the possibility of independence. China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province whose destiny is reunification with the mainland, was clearly displeased.

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The Washington Times

I published in Policy Review’s June-July edition an article by a California portfolio manager, Steve Stein, called “Taxes, Dividends, and Distortions.” It was a rather brilliant discussion of the drastic decline [to the point of near-demise] of the practice of corporations paying annual dividends to their shareholders. Where once dividends were the rule and retained earnings drew the scrutiny, now the opposite is the case.

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The Washington Times

The good news is that the president is getting trade promotion or “fast-track” authority from Congress. The bad news is that congressional support for liberalizing trade hangs by a wire. The Bush team needs to be as attentive to rebuilding the domestic case for free trade as it needs to be aggressive in negotiating new pacts in both the Doha round of World Trade Organization talks and bilateral agreements.

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