Reading Roundup (XIII) - Cars in China (Again), and Our Boastful, Careening Culture

Articles I've recently read with my comments in italics, and other miscellany:

In land of bicycle, car boom brings freedom of open road, by Amelia Newcomb.
["The car has long been a potent symbol of 'having arrived,' packing a triple threat of purchasing power, style, and convenience ... in 1985 {China} produced just 5,200 passenger cars ... . China is already home to many of the world's most polluted cities. Vehicle exhaust will account for 79 percent of total air pollution in China this year, according to official estimates." There's no point in owning a car if you live in Beijing. It's very expensive and inconvenient to keep a car here.]

The Christian Paradox, by Bill McKibben.
["America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in its behavior. That paradox... illuminates the hollow at the core of our boastful, careening culture ... Christ was pretty specific about what he had in mind for his followers... in the days before his crucifixion, when Jesus summed up his message for his disciples, he said the way you could tell the righteous from the damned was by whether they'd fed the hungry, slaked the thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, and visited the prisoner." This is a teaser excerpt from the August 2005 issue of Harper's. In the American edition, I believe Psalm 37:11 reads: "But the McMansion owners shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of possessions."]

Dollar Futures and the Gold ETF

Folks who aren't able to play trend changes in the dollar via the cash or futures markets can always play gold instead -- I recommend using the streetTRACKS Gold Shares ETF (GLD), which is very actively traded.

US Dollar Index futures, streetTRACKS Gold Shares (GLD): Hourly Charts