A glimpse of what to come

Chinese bank chooses NYC for first US branch

ALBANY, N.Y.

Gov. David Paterson says the largest commercial bank in China has chosen New York for its first U.S. branch.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will open the branch in Manhattan, giving the global financial hub a shot in the arm amid Wall Street's meltdown.

There was no word on how many jobs might be created.

Paterson says the bank is the largest in mainland China and its shares trade on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges. (view source)

New order moves us closer to China's economic model

By David Ignatius

WASHINGTON -- We are all Chinese now. That is, we have a nominally capitalist economy, but we don't trust the freewheeling private market when it comes to the crunch. So we turn to the government for protection and stability.

The new interventionism isn't so much socialist as it is Confucian -- a belief that a public-private partnership of the wise ones will get us out of the mess. And if it's any consolation, the Chinese are becoming more like us, even as we are becoming more like them.

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