ECFA與救台灣

英九先生前天正式將要跟中國簽的協議定調為「兩岸經濟合作架構協議」（Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement，ECFA），並引述中經院的報告說：如果不簽ECFA台灣會有11萬人失業。言下之意似乎是台灣與中國經濟開放，可以拯救台灣的經濟。啟銘也說「ECFA會擱發」。從總統大選時，英九便不斷宣稱與中國開放可以拯救台灣經濟，可是從520至今，一連串的開放政策似乎並未未達到英九和兆玄宣稱的效果，從經濟學人、CNN和紐約時報都爭相報導台灣經濟遭受這波金融海嘯衝擊為世界第一，便可知。問題究竟出在哪裡呢？

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論打官腔的哲學

儘管研究助理們都不太喜歡學校公務人員的罐頭回答，但是這似乎是官場的生存之道。
我想提出一個未經證實的假說：當官員針對社會現象發表評論而失言時，會引起媒體關注，加大民意壓力，使得官員急著推出未經審慎思考的利多政策以安撫民心。這類政策常常具有明確的短期效果，長期而言未必是好的政策。

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讀聖賢書所為何事？

馬政府上任至今唯二對社會的貢獻：1.證明笨蛋病會傳染，2.證明什麼屁股決定什麼腦袋。

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NeoCon on Taiwan’s election

Written by John R. Bolton a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Bolton on Ma’s victory
Ma’s strong support for closer economic ties with China reflects the widely held expectation that such ties will improve Taiwan’s economic position. Moreover, in pursuit of those ties, he will downplay Taiwan’s political challenge to China, not because, as many [...]

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Why is Taiwan so desperate to get into the United Nations?

I met a couple of politically opinionated people tonight and had intense political discussions. During our conversation about how Taiwanese culture were susceptible to patriarchialism, i made an interesting pitch. I asked, is Taiwanese desire to be recognized by the United Nations a manifestation of Taiwan’s patriarchal trait?
In Taiwan, family with father at its center [...]

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