Rhetoric vs. Reality: China, Entrepreneurial Capitalism & the Turbo Tax Defence

China has made a move to increase the trading flexibility of the yuan. It's reportedly one of the government's strongest moves yet to show the yuan is ready to become a global currency.
It also gives banks a new pitch for bonds and other yuan-denominated investments. Though China's currency has been slowly appreciating in value for over half a decade and that move has accelerated over the past 18 months, we hear plenty of hawkish rhetoric towards China's currency policy from politicians including frontrunner for Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney, who says he would name China a currency manipulator if elected. We talk about what developments like this really mean for business, the US and China trade-and-currency song and dance, and the global economy. We interview Barbara Hackman Franklin, former US Secretary of Commerce (1992-1993) who led a mission to China in 1992 to normalize commercial relations. She's now President/CEO of international consulting firm Barbara Franklin Enterprises, where she's an adviser to American companies doing business in international markets including China. She's also the subject of a new book: "A Matter of Simple Justice: The Untold Story of Barbara Hackman Franklin and a Few Good Women." Hackman separates business reality from domestic political rhetoric.

Speaking of the world economy, it "remains on life support" from central banks.
That's one conclusion from the latest Brookings Institution-Financial Times tracking index reportedly. So as central banks like the Federal Reserve continue to prop up the big banks, what's the cost to true entrepreneurial capitalism in the US? We talk about the impact of corporate welfare, Too Big to Fail Banks, and the JOBS Act on small businesses, entrepreneurial investment, and innovation. We speak again to Barbara Hackman Franklin, who is an expert in corporate governance and has served on the board of directors of fourteen public companies.

And remember when US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner got into trouble at his confirmation hearing a few years back for failing to pay some of his taxes? It came out that he used the software Turbo Tax to file his returns. He used the "Turbo Tax defense" and he saw the IRS waive his fines! So with three-quarters of individual US tax returns expected to be filed electronically this year, shouldn't average Americans have protection from some kind of Turbo Tax defense against penalties, too? We talk about that, along with the bull market in targeted drone killings and the new Dutch banker oath, in Loose Change. We're joined by special guest Alyona Minkovski. Source