Word: irone
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...stage in an assortment of absurdist masks and costumes. One guy clinging to a pole is wrapped up in duct tape; another wrestles naked inside a sheet of translucent plastic; then there's the vaguely threatening shirtless clown, who wanders about tangled in an extension cord, with an iron dragging at the end of it. (See TIME's top 10 theater productions...
...round-robin reverie for icons of mid-century American life, with no irony whatsoever: "I remember my father's collection of arrowheads." "I remember loafers with pennies in them." "I remember game rooms in basements." "I remember come-as-you-are parties..." I'll remember that clown dragging the iron, but even now he seems kind of sweet...
Even so, not every shareholder is thrilled at the prospect of selling to the Chinese. Chinalco is a huge consumer of iron ore, and mining companies fear that the investment in Rio Tinto could give China more influence over the price. During the boom years, when Chinese companies' appetite for virtually every metal was voracious, they got stuck with stiff price increases. The deal could give Chinalco, which already owns 9.3% of Rio, better access to the company's choicest deposits of copper, iron ore and bauxite. The secretary-general of China's Iron and Steel Association, Shan Shanghua...
These were expensive lessons, but Beijing has decided that Going Out is still a better economic strategy than staying home. Despite China's slowing economy, officials see the global recession as a prime opportunity to cheaply acquire strategically important raw materials such as iron ore, copper, oil and gas--commodities China will need in vast quantities in the long run. In the past two months, Chinese companies have sought to buy assets abroad at an unprecedented pace. Aluminum Corp. of China (Chinalco) has announced plans to invest $19.5 billion in Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest mining companies...
Considering how far mineral prices have fallen, some analysts believe Chinalco might actually be paying a premium for Rio Tinto assets. But BOC International's Xu says, "The price is much, much lower for the assets--particularly iron ore and copper--than it would have been just six months ago. This seems like a pretty good deal." And as long as commodity prices are depressed, Chinese companies will be Going Out, cash in hand, ready...