Digging to China

Wall Street in Crisis/Asian American Voters Keeping Virginia Red?

Segment 1:  Wall Street in Crisis

Wall Street is in crisis.  It drove Lehman Brothers into bankruptcy and forced American International Group into the hands of the U.S. government.  Merrill Lynch sold itself to Bank of America.  Goldman and Morgan Stanley are to become commercial banks.  China has resisted years of pressure from U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to open its financial system more quickly and add new products.  Those barriers helped the nation limit its losses and write-downs from the credit-market crisis to less than 1 percent of the $516 billion global total.  Chinese officials warned that the U.S. had set off a financial tsunami by allowing Wall Street lenders to trade in subprime debts and unstable financial derivatives.

Guest:  Robert Sherretta, President of International Investor, Inc.

Segment 2:  Asian American Voters Keeping Virginia Red?

The growing electoral clout of Asian Americans could play an important role in the upcoming presidential election.  For the first time in more than four decades, Virginia is a battleground in the presidential race.  A recent survey found that a significant number of Asian Americans voted for the first time in 2006.  The survey also pointed out that a growing number of Asians, particularly Chinese Americans, call themselves “independent voters” and do not affiliate themselves with any party.  The most important issues to be addressed by the 2008 presidential candidates include the economy, jobs, and health care.

Guest:  Ken Feng, Community Activist with Chinese American Republicans of Vir