Readers Speak: Google Should Leave China

This week, SmartMoney.com readers voiced their opinions on tech, finance and entertainment. You think Google (GOOG) should quit China; you don t believe the government s financial-crisis probe will be productive; and you could care less whether Jay or Conan snags the 11:30 p.m. time slot.

The voting occurred over a five-day stretch during which the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed the 10700 threshold, only to give back those gains. On Friday, stocks fell on lower-than-expected consumer confidence results and a JPMorgan Chase (JPM) earnings report detailing steep losses on mortgage and credit-card loans that suggest the consumer-credit crisis is far from over. On Thursday, President Obama proposed a new fee on banks to recoup taxpayer money and the government s losses from the Troubled Asset Relief Program; some analysts say the fee could result in higher charges for consumers. In Washington, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission called in executives from the country s biggest banks and top regulators to answer for the meltdown of the financial system. The week s biggest story was the devastating earthquake in Haiti, a disaster that dealt another blow to the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

China made waves this week following Google s highly publicized threats to leave the country over censorship and alleged cyber-spying. SmartMoney.com readers are siding with Google. Seventy-two percent voted for Google to leave China, while 28% said it should stay. At least 34 companies in sectors including finance, technology and media have been affected by Google s statement, according to news reports. Meanwhile, tension is mounting between the U.S. and China regarding the yuan, climate change and an expected U.S. weapons sale to Taiwan. So far, U.S. officials have mostly refrained from commenting on the Google vs. China issue while they wait for a response from China.

On Capitol Hill, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission kicked off its probe into the financial sector by grilling chief executives of the nation s largest banks over the causes the economic crisis. Most SmartMoney.com readers say they don t think anything productive will result from these hearings. You ve got to be kidding is how 65% of respondents voted. Only 10% said they think the probe will be productive, and 25% said it won t. On Wednesday, CEOs from Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America (BAC) and Morgan Stanley (MS) were in the hot seat, fielding questions about executive pay and bank-backed strategies that may have helped cause the financial crisis. The next day, the commission questioned top regulators, including Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Mary Schapiro, chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who said the agencies fell short.

On the entertainment front, Jay Leno and Conan O Brien duked it out for the late-night slot on NBC. While the news made headlines, few SmartMoney.com readers paid the fight much attention. When asked who you would prefer to watch at 11:30 p.m., 55% said they d rather sleep, 24% said Leno, 11% said Letterman, 6% said O Brien and 4% said news programming. On Thursday night, NBC said Leno would get a half-hour show in the 11:30 p.m. slot an attempt to boost his ratings, which have floundered in prime time while O Brien s fate at the company remains unclear.