Washington Post, December 29, 2009 page A12

As 2009 draws to a close,Allan Sloan has his deals:

1. "The tax is arbitrary and unfair, I was arbitrary and unfair too." Such admission is truly worthy to be noted with Mea Culpa,Mea culpa,Mea maxi-culpa as expressions to be humble and modest to get along with others.

2. "Washington is becoming the nation's financial center as well as the political center." That is political economy in action in USA and in China as well. Cf."Keys for Economic Understanding" with my awareness of socio-economic happenings as my vision since the 1970s.

3. "It is important to revive the economy but the retired folks trying to live off interest income to supplement Social Security so they have to reduce their standard of living, eat into principal or take more risk to keep their income up such as working after retirement."(teaching was my case till October 31, 2009). Lifetime savers are not rewarded but investment in the stock market was volutle and risky for most elders.

4. "The big players wield real financial power but the middle-income folks get whacked." The middle class is shrinking in USA as per research report from Brookings Institution. But the middle class is expanding in China from my on-the-spot observation during the past years. Media in USA reported such realities as well.

5. "Stocks are a bigger risk than they were a year ago. What will the market be? Would that someone knew or knows?" Such is educated guesstimates.

6. "Social Security would be a big story of 2010." That remains to be seen.

"In the meantime, a happy, healthy and prosperous new year 2010 to you and yours. asloan@fortunemail.com" The above quotes are for reader's perusal with my comments re Sino-American Economics on Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 9.46 a.m.

Francis Shieh aka Xie Shihao, a graduate student from Shanghai in 1947, trying to practise my on-line blogging for the good opportunity of learning from others as my daily routine.