Links n stuff

Todays factoid, from a discussion on Forumosa:

"I'm sure it is true of civil servants all over the world, but Taiwan may be a special case. A quick Google search shows that the US fires 0.55% of federal employees each year. Taiwan has about 320,000 civil servants (including employees of state enterprises). If it fired at the rate the US government does, you would expect to see 1,760 civil servants lose their job each year. Taking a quick look at the 2012 statistics from the "Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries", it appears that just 15 civil servants lost their job in 2012. At least half were police officers.

It is also important to note that the US president appoints thousands of officers to top governmental positions. These appointments extend down to the level of departmental heads in various agencies and they serve at the pleasure of the president. In contrast, Tawan's president (through the premier) appoints only the Ministers and one vice minister in each ministry. Everyone else is a civil servant with life tenure.

I'm not holding the US up as an exemplar. I just chose it as an example because it was easier to find the numbers. Still, I think that these numbers show that US civil servants are far more accountable and subject to democratic control than their counterparts in Taiwan are.

And no, I don't think the answer is more punishments. Taiwan's solution to every problem is to impose criminal penalties. It would be better served by a system where citizens could seek meaningful remedies themselves in the courts and make the polluters pay for the damage they cause."

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Daily Links:

• Brookings explains how China games the PISA rankings: it's the usual combination of secrecy, bullying, and bullshit we've all come to know and love whenever China interacts with the world's systems. ChinaUncensored snarks this one out of the park.
• Also: China's Arunachal Pradesh fixation. 
• Free Economic Zones okayed by Ma. Still opposed by the Ministry of Finance, which is like the last redoubt of fiscal and financial sanity and sovereignty in the Ma government.
• Siemens to install offshore wind here in 2016? Wouldn't that be awesome.
• Way cool. Elderly workers uncover old mining railway abandoned in the 1980s.
• Edible oil scandal results in 16 year sentence
• Same-sex marriage opposition apparently engages in cyber attacks

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