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October 31, 2006
Quote of the Day for Tuesday, October 31, 2006
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October 30, 2006
Quote of the Day for Monday, October 30, 2006
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October 29, 2006
Iraq is "a Comma, Not a Death Sentence"
From Gerard Baker, writing in the Times of London:
. . . Despite the heated rhetoric, the US is not going bankrupt — its fiscal deficit is falling and its accumulated debt is easily manageable. Compared with most other advanced economies, its demographics look indecently healthy. This month the US population passed 300 million; it will be 400 million in less than 50 years, and still relatively youthful.
Posted by John at 6:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackIf you want to understand the real enduring strength of America as a nation, look at the Dow Jones industrial average. Not the record 12,000 level reached this month — that may last no longer than a day or a week. Look instead at the 30 companies that make up the Dow index. Only two of the original 30 companies in the index in 1930 — General Electric and General Motors — are still there today. Most of today’s Dow components — the Microsofts and Intels — weren’t even around 50 years ago.
If you look at the relevant stock market indices for Germany, France or even Britain, you will find them dominated by companies that have been around for generations. America by contrast, has mastered the art of creative destruction. This vast competitive openness, combined with entrepreneurial spirit, keeps the country constantly innovating and regenerating.
Long after Iraq has established itself as some kind of punctuation mark in American history, America’s genius for renewing itself will surely have the last word.
Las Vegas Sings "Viva Asia!"
Las Vegas sees Asian tourists, and the Chinese in particular, as a crucial new demographic to cater to:
To better cater to visitors from China, many Vegas operators are taking cues from their ventures in Macao, which are drawing crowds of visitors by ferry from Hong Kong.
Vegas hotels have hired chefs from Hong Kong to serve up authentic dishes. Even room-service menus are starting to reflect the desires of the diverse customer base, offering rice congee and dim sum alongside hamburgers and turkey clubs. There are a multitude of Asian restaurants to choose from, where waiters are more comfortable speaking Mandarin or Cantonese than English. . . .
Posted by John at 6:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackThe Venetian in Vegas boasts seven Asian-language television stations in every room and same-day delivery of several Asian newspapers. On the gaming side, the casino opened a high-end baccarat salon. It is stocked with 100 types of tea, rather than dozens of beers on tap.
"A traditional gaming experience for an American may be to sit down and have a Budweiser," Reese said. "We've obviously found out through our operations in Macao that Asians prefer not to drink alcoholic beverages while they're playing. They enjoy a good tea."
The Venetian's exclusive Paiza Club, which opened last year, has an Asian theme, including dragon statues and other art. The high-roller suites even have a karaoke room complete with flashing lights, microphones and a curved lounge-style couch.
"Compared to what this room would have been, I bet you would have been hard-pressed to find daily delivered Chinese newspapers, Chinese programming on TV and dragons on the backs of chairs," Reese said. "Certainly there's a different feel and atmosphere than Las Vegas five years ago."
[Source: Los Angeles Times]
Quote of the Day for Sunday, October 29, 2006
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October 28, 2006
Free Trade and Congressional Price-Gouging
Walter Williams explains quite succinctly why free trade has so few active defenders in Congress:
. . . Tariffs and quotas on imported sugar saved 2,261 jobs during the 1990s. As a result of those restrictions, the average household pays $21 more per year for sugar. The total cost, nationally, sums to $826,000 for each job saved. Trade restrictions on luggage saved 226 jobs and cost consumers $1.2 million in higher prices for each job saved. Restrictions on apparel and textiles saved 168,786 jobs at a cost of nearly $200,000 for each job saved.
Posted by John at 9:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackYou might wonder how it is possible for, say, the sugar industry to rip off consumers. After all, there are far more consumers than sugar workers and bosses.
It's easy. A lot is at stake for those in the sugar industry, workers and bosses. They dedicate huge resources to pressure Congress into enacting trade restrictions. But how many of us consumers will devote the same resources to unseat a congressman who voted for sugar restrictions that forced us to pay $21 more for the sugar our family uses? It's the problem of visible beneficiaries of trade restrictions, sugar workers and sugar bosses, gaining at the expense of invisible victims -- sugar consumers. We might think of it as congressional price-gouging.
Quote of the Day for Saturday, October 28, 2006
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October 27, 2006
The Death Throes of Managerial Capitalism?
Robert Samuelson observes that we may be witnessing as much:
. . . In 1830, getting from New York to Chicago took three weeks. By 1857, the trip was three days (and we think the Internet is a big deal). From 1850 to 1900, track mileage went from 9,000 to 200,000. But railroads required a vast administrative apparatus to ensure the maintenance of "locomotives, rolling stock, and track" -- not to mention scheduling trains, billing and construction,as [Alfred} Chandler showed in his Pulitzer Prize-winning book "The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business" (1977). . . .
The trouble now is that the defining characteristics of Chandler's successful firms have changed. For example, many were "vertically integrated'' -- they controlled raw materials, manufactured products and sold to the public. AT&T made electronic components, produced telecommunications equipment and sold phone services. But in many new industries, vertical integration has virtually vanished, as economists Naomi Lamoreaux of UCLA, Peter Temin of MIT and Daniel Raff of the University of Pennsylvania argue in a recent study. The computer industry is hugely splintered. Some firms sell components (Intel, AMD); some, software (Microsoft, SAP); some, services (IBM, EDS); some, hardware (Dell, Apple). There's overlap, but not much.
It's also true that old, established firms -- despite ample capital and technical know-how -- often don't dominate new industries. Google, eBay and Yahoo rule the Internet, not General Motors, Sears or Disney.
You should read Samuelson's commentary in full; it is very thought-provoking.
Posted by John at 8:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQuote of the Day for Friday, October 27, 2006
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October 26, 2006
Quote of the Day for Thursday, October 26, 2006
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October 25, 2006
What You Realize When Cancer Comes
Courtesy of the Writer's Almanac, I ran across "What You Realize When Cancer Comes", a marvelous poem by Larry Smith. The poem strikes me as being as much for those of us who are cancer-free as for those afflicted by this disease:
What You Realize When Cancer Comes
You will not live forever—No
you will not, for a ceiling of clouds
hovers in the sky.You are not as brave
as you once thought.
Sounds of death
echo in your chest.You feel the bite of pain,
the taste of it running
through you.Following the telling to friends
comes a silence of
felt goodbyes. You come to know
the welling of tears.Your children are stronger
than you thought and
closer to your skin.The beauty of animals
birds on telephone lines,
dogs who look into your eyes,
all bring you peace.You want no more confusion
than what already rises
in your head and heart.You watch television less,
will never read all those books,
much less the ones
you have.Songs can move you now, so that
you want to hold onto the words
like the hands of children.Your own hands look good to you.
old and familiar
as water.You read your lover's skin
like a road map
into yourself.All touch is precious now.
There are echoes
in the words thrown
before you.When they take your picture now
you wet your lips, swallow once
and truly smile.Talk of your lost parents
pulls you out, and
brings you home again.You are in a river
flowing in and through you.
Take a breath. Reach out your arms.
You can survive.A river is flowing
flowing in and through you.
Take a breath. Reach out your arms.
If you want to read more, this poem comes from a collection of Smith's work titled A River Remains, and can be ordered directly from Bottom Dog Press.
Posted by John at 7:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackBusiness Lessons to Be Learned This Political Season
Steven Pearlstein, business columnist for the Washington Post, offers an engaging commentary on business lessons to be learned in the battle for control of Congress this year:
There are lots of reasons why businesses run into trouble, but a few pop up with remarkable regularity.
Misreading or ignoring market signals.
Focusing more on competitors than customers.
Confusing management with leadership, tactics with strategy.
Promoting leaders who misunderstand their jobs and surround themselves with blind loyalists.
It should be no surprise that these business missteps are also common in politics.
They are the key mistakes that led Republicans to overplay their hand and perhaps throw away the chance to renew their political lease on Congress and the White House.
Though the election is still two weeks away, there are signs the Democrats, if they win, are determined to make the same mistakes.
Let's start with the "Six for '06" plan that Democrats promise to ram through the House in the first 100 hours, or 100 days -- I'm a bit confused as to which. The very premise of the document represents a fundamental misreading of the political marketplace.
First, there is no mandate for a Democratic agenda because until last week, there wasn't one. Like most political turning points, including the one in 1994, this election is fundamentally a referendum on the party in power rather than on the promises of the opposition. The voters are angry at Republicans, dissatisfied with their programs and disenchanted with their governance. It's less that Democrats will have won this election than Republicans will have lost it. . . .
. . . reading through the "Six for '06" document, it's pretty clear Democrats have followed Republicans into the trap of thinking more about competition (winning elections) than consumers (voters). Instead of offering a credible strategy for extricating us from the horrible mess in Iraq, confronting difficult fiscal trade-offs and reversing the powerful market forces that are leading us toward economic insecurity and inequality, they offer nothing more than political tactics. . . .
I encourage you to read Pearlstein's insightful column in full by following this link.
Posted by John at 7:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQuote of the Day for Wednesday, October 25, 2006
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October 24, 2006
The Most Oppressive Tyranny
As you consider your government in action, think of this C.S. Lewis quote, courtesy of Samizdata.net:
Posted by John at 9:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackOf all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies, The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
"Poverty is Relative" for New Latino Immigrants
The Washington Post's Marcela Sanchez explains how the word "poverty", when applied to the new immigrant Hispanic community, is clearly a relative term. Read her entire commentary here:
If immigrants, especially Hispanics, are card-carrying members of the U.S. underclass, society at large is having a hard time convincing them of it: Latino immigrants are too busy working, buying cars, purchasing homes, and even investing abroad. . . .
Posted by John at 8:48 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackThe income they pull together from their jobs is pumped into work-related expenses and living essentials, putting 90 percent of their earnings back into the U.S. economy, according to the IDB. Most of the rest of their incomes they invest in their homelands as remittances.
The IDB report found that immigrants will send home approximately $45 billion in remittances in 2006, creating "one of the broadest and most effective poverty alleviation programs in the world." It also found that the majority of migrants want to purchase a family home or open a small business in their home country. One-third said they had already made investments, mainly in real estate. These are not the actions of the economically deprived.
Hispanic immigrants don't necessarily feel excluded or underserved either. In an education survey, the Pew Hispanic Center and the Kaiser Family Foundation found two years ago that Hispanic immigrants were notably positive about the quality of public school education in their area. More pointedly, the survey concluded that Hispanics are not a "disgruntled population that views itself as greatly disadvantaged or victimized."
What Hispanics do with their money and how they live reflect not deprivation or exclusion but an attitude of abundance. Poverty is relative. Less than $20,000 a year may rank an immigrant statistically poor, but this income may be seen as a fortune to someone who was making less than a tenth of that back home.
Quote of the Day for Tuesday, October 24, 2006
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October 23, 2006
Quote of the Day for Monday, October 23, 2006
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October 22, 2006
Honors to Kennesaw State's Center for International Training and Ken Jin
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Since the program was begun in 1993, Ken and his staff have hosted and trained more than 1,300 international visitors, mostly Chinese, from a wide variety of industries, government agencies, and schools.
I've spoken to groups Ken has brought from China, and I can tell you that Ken's efforts to give his groups a educational and enriching time are very strenuous. He does an outstanding job and he and his program are highly deserving of such recognition.
Incidentally, Ken's program has received plaudits from China as well. In 1999, China's central government selected Kennesaw State University as one of the five training bases to provide professional training programs for China in the US. This program is the only one in the Southeastern U.S. with such status.
Congratulations, Ken!
Posted by John at 10:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackLatin Food Market to Reach $25 Billion
According to a study by Packaged Facts, the Latin food service market in the United States should reach $25 billion by 2015. This market was worth about $18 billion in 2005.
The Latin food service market is large enough today that this study breaks it down into 30 different subsectors of cuisine and concepts.
[Thanks to Hispanic Business for the pointer.]
Posted by John at 11:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackOne of History's Greatest Demographic Changes
Evan Randall, one of the student organizers of the Georgia China Alliance chapter at the University of Georgia I have mentioned before, sent me a link to this BBC article which puts China's aging population problem in sharp relief:
Posted by John at 10:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAround 7.5% of the Chinese population is over 65, but in the next quarter century that number will increase to 30%. It will be one of the greatest demographic changes in history.
Quote of the Day for Sunday, October 22, 2006
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October 21, 2006
Quote of the Day for Saturday, October 21, 2006
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October 20, 2006
Quote of the Day for Friday, October 20, 2006
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October 19, 2006
Quote of the Day for Thursday, October 19, 2006
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October 18, 2006
The Path to 400 Million
With the U.S. population now officially at 300 million, Joel Kotkin assesses the country's next 100 million in growth. Read his excellent commentary in full:
Ideologues on the left and right both consider America's changing racial mix as something certain to undermine society. Conservatives generally see the possible emergence of a "majority minority" population as precursor to social crackup and the demise of traditional Anglo-Saxon values. Leftist intellectuals envision a nation where Anglo-Saxon norms are demolished in favor of a hodgepodge of quasi-autonomous ethnic communities. Both sides miss the point entirely. Few people immigrate to America so they can recreate conditions they fled in Mexico, Iran, China or Cuba. And even if the first generation might feel some tug of the old language and culture, virtually every study of the second generation indicates increasing integration into the American mainstream, both linguistically and culturally.
Posted by John at 5:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackSeveral factors will accelerate this process. One is the continuing movement of minorities and immigrants into the suburbs, which tend to be less hospitable to the creation of segregated racial enclaves. If you want to find the newest and biggest Chinese supermarkets, Hindu temples, or mosques, the best place to look is not the teeming cities but the outer suburbs of Los Angeles, New York or Houston. Just travel to places where few Manhattan or Washington pundits venture, like Ft. Bend County outside Houston. The largely affordable middle-class suburb has a population that is just under half white, one-fifth African-American, one-fifth Hispanic and around 12% Asian. It's the new American melting pot, and, more or less, it's working.
Our population growth certainly indicates belief in the collective American future. But accommodating this surge clearly will require a strong response from both the public and private sectors. Perhaps the most daunting challenge will come not so much from accommodating racial diversity, but dealing with the problem — existent in virtually all advanced economies — of class.
Over the past two decades, education, global competition and other factors have led to a concentration of wealth. Recent surveys found nearly two-thirds of Americans fear that their children will face longer odds in trying to achieve their dreams. These troubling statistics may lead some to call for shutting down immigration, or adopting European-style redistributive politics. Although immigration and economic policies may need some adjustment, emulating the European welfare state or blockading the border would snuff out the very sources of entrepreneurial energy necessary to meet our future challenges.
Instead, we need to deal with the future by doing those things that in the past Americans have done best — building new infrastructure and giving people the opportunity to take care of themselves and their families. Most major surges of economic growth and population have been facilitated by such investments — canals in the early 19th century; railroads during the industrial age; roads, bridges and electrification during the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower eras. Today we need to commit ourselves to building both hard and new infrastructure: more universal high-capacity broadband and better drainage systems, new electric transmission lines and renewable energy sources, better roads and innovative forms of public transit.
Governments at every level can and should play a critical role in this great project. But we also need to take advantage of the vast pool of private capital available both here and abroad for such investments. Investors can be lured, as in the past, by the opportunities created by a growing nation. Building toll roads or super-fast trains between burgeoning Texan or Californian cities offers far better prospects than doing the same in Japan or Germany, whose populations are gradually diminishing. . . .
As Tocqueville noted over 170 years ago, America has flourished not because of geniuses in Washington but due to its Constitution, fertile land mass, egalitarianism, entrepreneurship, unique spiritual vitality and attachment to local community and family. This combination of factors has always made us different from other countries, and, in this deeply cynical and secular age, now more so than ever before.
These factors do much to explain why we have reached the 300-million milestone at a time when most of our primary competitors are either stagnating or shrinking. They also provide some reasonable expectation that we will figure out how to accommodate the 400 million Americans living here in the generation ahead.
China Passes Germany, Now Ranks Fifth in Patent Filings
China has passed Germany and now ranks fifth in patent filings, according to a study conducted by the World Intellectual Property Organization. Japan is first, following by the United States, the European Patent Office, and South Korea.
In the last two decades, patent filings by Chinese residents have grown more than five-fold.
Posted by John at 4:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQuote of the Day for Wednesday, October 18, 2006
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October 17, 2006
Quote of the Day for Tuesday, October 17, 2006
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October 16, 2006
IBM Relocates Its Global Procurement Headquarters to China
The headquarters of IBM's global procurement, along with Chief Procurement Officer John Paterson's office, is being moved to Shenzen:
The decision to move Chief Procurement Officer John Paterson's office from Somers, NY, to China marks the first time the headquarters of an IBM corporate-wide organization has been located outside the U.S. This move illustrates a shift underway at IBM from a multinational corporation to a new model -- a globally integrated enterprise.
"In a multinational model, many functions of a corporation were replicated around the world -- but each addressing only its local market," said Mr. Paterson. "In a globally integrated enterprise, for the first time, a company's worldwide capability can be located wherever in the world it makes the most sense, based on the imperatives of economics, expertise and open environments."
Engaging China points out one of the important points of the move: IBM no longer views China primarily as a source of hardware, but software and services as well:
Posted by John at 5:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackThe other reason Mr. Paterson has relocated to Asia is to lead an effort to reshape the company's supply base in the region. Although IBM has been sourcing in Asia for more than 50 years, most of it has been in support of its hardware businesses. While that's still important, the demand for software and services skills -- across Asia and worldwide -- is growing. To meet the demand, it will require developing relationships with new partners and suppliers and working with existing ones to help them build skills, processes and management practices to compete globally in the services market.
Quote of the Day for Monday, October 16, 2006
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October 15, 2006
Give a Man a Fish, and He's Fed Today; Give Him a Cellphone, and His Business Flourishes
The Washington Post offers a look at how cellphones are helping India's fishermen and farmers improve both productivity and realized prices for their commodities:
For the millions of fishermen who work off of India's 4,350 miles of coastline, change is rare.
"The two crucial changes that have happened in my lifetime," said Jayan Kadavunkassery, 37, an Andavan crewman in a pink button-down shirt and a lungi, "are the inboard motor and the mobile phone."
Posted by John at 4:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackRajan said that before he got his first cellphone a few years ago, he used to arrive at port with a load of fish and hope for the best. The wholesaler on the dock knew that Rajan's un-iced catch wouldn't last long in the fiery Indian sun. So, Rajan said, he was forced to take whatever price was offered -- without having any idea whether dealers in the next port were offering twice as much.
Now he calls several ports while he's still at sea to find the best prices, playing the dealers against one another to drive up the price.
Potato Math on the Chinese Economy
"Potatoes are now considered as a high-valued crop and a vegetable in China. Demand for potatoes has been growing when other bulk commodities, such as rice and wheat, have seen demand declining," said Jikun Huang, a professor at the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Consumption has gone up by more than 40% over the past five years, compared with a 2.45% global rate during the same period. Domestic production has kept pace, making China the world’s largest potato grower and largest consumer by volume.
The rise in China's consumption of potatoes mirrors its adaption of convenience foods like fast food and potato chips. Just another factor in the country's obesity problem.
Posted by John at 4:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackWe-Think We'll Take Order From the Bottom Up
Charles Leadbeater is working on a book called We-Think, and he welcomes your collaboration. His method of producing the book is actually the subject of the book: the extend to which new innovations, services, and products are being developed by self-organizing groups of people:
Welcome to the world of We-Think. We are developing new ways to innovate and be creative en masse. We can be organised without an organisation. People can combine ideas and skills without a hierarchy.
The record industry has had its business model upended by hackers creating file-sharing systems that have as their common currency the MP3 file, an innovation given away by its creator, a publicly funded German computer scientist. . . .
Posted by John at 4:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackThe most successful computer games, such as Sim City, Ultima Online and Everquest, outsell Hollywood films because they allow players to tamper with and change the action, creating their own characters and storylines. These player-developers then contribute their innovations, free, back to the larger community playing the game.
The next wave of entertainment is entire immersive worlds — the likes of Neopets and Second Life — in which people can adopt a character, learn, trade, fight, make love and create the action together. More than 95 per cent of the content of Second Life — a world that has universities, stock exchanges, museums — is created by its inhabitants: the 800,000-plus players. More than 7,000 businesses make real profits by selling through Second Life.
The guiding ethos of this new culture is participation. The point of the industrial-era economy was mass production for mass consumption — the formula created by Henry Ford. We were workers by day and consumers in the evenings or at weekends. In the world of We-Think the point is to be a player in the action, a voice in the conversation — not to consume but to participate.
In the We-Think economy people don’t just want services and goods delivered to them. They also want tools so that they can take part and places in which to play, share, debate with others.
Traditionally, workers can be instructed, organised in a division of labour. Participants will not be led and organised in this way: the dominant ethos of the We-Think economy is democratic and egalitarian. . . .
These collaboratives change the way in which people come up with new ideas. Innovation and creativity were once elite activities undertaken by special people — writers, designers, architects, inventors — in special places — garrets, studies, laboratories. The ideas they dreamt up would flow down pipelines to passive consumers. Now innovation and creativity are becoming mass activities, dispersed across society. Largely self-organising collaborations can unravel the human genome, create a vast encyclopaedia and a complex computer operating system. This is innovation by the masses, not just for the masses.
My book We-Think is an effort to understand this new culture; where these new ways of organising ourselves have come from and where they might lead. They started in the geeky swampland — in open-source software, blogging and computer gaming. But they are so powerful that increasingly they will become the mainstream by challenging traditional organisations to open up. They could change not just the ways in which the media, software and entertainment work but how we organise education, healthcare, cities and, indeed, the political system. . . .
We are still told that to be organised we need an organisation. Yet the examples above are complex and highly organised activities in which no single organisation is in charge of all that goes on.
We are told that for order to be maintained someone has to be in control. Yet these activities seem ordered precisely because no one seeks to be in control, so people have to exercise their sense of responsibility — adjusting to one another, sorting out disputes as they go. The order comes from within, not from the top. . . .
[From the Times of London; thanks to Smart Mobs for the pointer.]
Motorola Tries to Find Chinese Ventures Investments--Without Much Success
In the three years since its first China venture investment, Motorola has made only six venture investments. Ruey Bin Kao, president of Motorola (China) Electronics Ltd., blames the small amount on the scarcity of "transparent risk evaluation."
Posted by John at 4:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQuote of the Day for Sunday, October 15, 2006
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October 14, 2006
Chronic Diseases a Much Bigger Problem Than Infectious Diseases, Even in Developing Countries
From the same World Health Organization study we referenced earlier, a graphic representation of how much bigger the problem of heart disease is globally compared to infectious diseases:
One of the study's co-authors, Robert Beaglehole, observes: "All governments must be prepared to deal with the infectious diseases because they could be overwhelming this year or next year, but the long-term problem is with the chronic diseases."
Posted by John at 12:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackThe Fiscal Burden of China's Chronic Disease Epidemic
A recent World Health Organization study measures the economic impact of chronic diseases like strokes, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in developing countries over the next decade. China is the unfortunate leader in this cost:
Russia's problem is particularly acute, as the projected cost ten year cost per capita of chronic disease is over $2,100, while China's per capita ten year cost is around $430.
Posted by John at 12:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackHaier Goes Green . . . and High-Tech
Chinese manufacturer Haier, maker of washing machines and other appliances, is going green and high-tech. The company is producing a washing machine that does need detergent, which makes the machine environmentally friendly:
Posted by John at 3:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackThree years ago, Haier produced the first such washing machine in the world, acquiring 32 proprietary patents for its new offerings.
But there has been mounting difficulty in selling the washers, as people can’t believe clothes can be washed without detergent.
"When Haier was applying for a national certificate in 2004, even the experts in the review committee did not buy the concept, so you can see the difficulties in convincing ordinary consumers," says Hao Chun, deputy secretary general of the China Environmental Protection Industry Association and a member of the expert committee. . . .
The detergent-free technology is based on a similar mechanism to detergents: it uses the interaction of acidic and alkaline ions to clean dirty substances. But the detergent-free washers need to first electrolyze water to generate such ions, just as alkali in soap is used to neutralize the acid in clothes.
Ding Laiguo, general sales manager of Haier’s washer business, believes the product is reaching a tipping point at which it will change from a concept to a heavily purchased item.
One reason, he says, is Chinese consumers are becoming more conscious of environmental protection and are willing to try something new to reduce the pollution costs of using detergents. . . .
Haier also brought the products to the United States, Europe and South-East Asia. In Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore, 40,000 washers were sold this year. . . .
Quote of the Day for Saturday, Ocotober 14, 2006
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October 13, 2006
The World's Leader in Muslim Products is a Chinese Company
Xinhua reports that the Qinghai Yijia Ethnic Commodities Company Ltd. is not only the world's largest supplier of Muslim products, but has achieved this position after only eight years of existence as a company. Chairman Isa Han was a poor farmer before starting the company.
Posted by John at 4:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackWhat Seaport Development in Fujian May Augur For Trade Relations with Taiwan
The mainland China province of Fujian plans to spend $3.7 billion over the next five years on a chain of seaports on its coast. The significance of this development may be that Taiwan is located directly across the Taiwan Strait from Fujian. This Asia Times article speculates that this investment may presage a significant increase in economic ties between the Mainland and Taiwan:
Current Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian and his pro-independence ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) strongly oppose direct links with mainland China, for fear the island's security would be jeopardized.
However, public support for Chen and his DPP has dropped since he began his second term in 2004, troubled by scandals involving Chen's family. Public support for the DPP sunk to below 20% after Chen's son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, was detained on suspicion of insider trading. It is now widely anticipated that the KMT will oust the DPP in the 2008 presidential election on the island.
In an earlier visit to Beijing, former KMT chairman Lien Chan signed an agreement with Chinese President Hu Jintao, in his capacity as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, on strengthening economic ties between the two sides.
Afterwards, Beijing made a decision to develop the coastal area of Fujian, called the Western Shore of the Taiwan Strait, to prepare for direct economic exchanges, or even free trade, with Taiwan.
Thanks to the Chief Asia Inspector blog for this pointer, who comments further:
Posted by John at 4:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackChinese leaders have time on their side (arguably because they’re not stuck in any short-term electoral cycle) and they would rather achieve reunification peacefully in 50 years rather than through war in the coming 10. Tellingly, when I talk to businesspeople – not necessarily politicians – anywhere near Southern China, including in Hong Kong and Taiwan, they all feel that re-unification will happen. But slowly, smoothly – the Chinese way.
Quote of the Day for Friday, October 13, 2006
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October 12, 2006
Delta Airlines' China Opportunity Comes in 2008
A couple of weeks ago, I wondered aloud, in commenting on a Washington Post story on which U.S. airlines might get awarded new China routes next year, whether Delta Airlines was even in the running to get the Atlanta-Beijing route it covets. The article mentions American, Continental, Northwest, and United, but not Delta.
At a Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce meeting I attended earlier this week, the issue was clarified. The routes to be awarded next year are only for carriers with existing China routes. Carriers such as Delta, who do not have any existing flights to China, will be considered for awards occurring in 2008.
For those of us in the Southeast who travel to China, that's not only a relief, but a call to action. If this issue is important to you, make sure your elected representative knows it as well. This election season is a wonderful time to press the point.
Posted by John at 6:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackThe Power of India's Entrepreneurs Overcome the Drag of the State
Gurcharan Das, former CEO of Procter & Gamble India and author of India Unbound, writes in a Financial Times commentary that the story of India is the story of an entrepreneurial class triumphing over a "bungling state":
India today stands at the cusp of something big. Growth should not only continue, but accelerate because half the population is below the age of 25, and this can yield a demographic dividend. But it will only happen if it continues to reform. There is a vast, unfinished reform agenda. Public debt is too high, which discourages investment in needed infrastructure. The public sector is still too large (even though much smaller than China’s) and uses resources inefficiently, diminishes the potential for employment, and is a drag on growth. Severe labour laws cover only 10 per cent of workers but, once hired, they cannot be fired.
Posted by John at 4:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackWhat does all this mean for international investors? Unlike China, the Indian state is not particularly friendly and businessmen do not get the red carpet treatment. In fact, they have to put up with a frustrating bureaucracy and miles of red tape. It is true that in recent years competition between the Indian states for investment has reduced some of the earlier bureaucratic irritations. While the judiciary may be slow, there is justice at the end. Corporate governance has improved amazingly. Because India opened up late, competition in the marketplace is still not severe. Investors report that, once established, the rewards are large, enduring and more certain. Some companies have said they are more likely to make profits in India than in China.
What most impresses investors, however, is India’s vibrant, positive and innovative middle class, and this contrasts with the bungling state. International companies have discovered that English-speaking Indian employees are highly skilled and their biggest asset. This is why Indian employees have been steadily climbing to the top in many multinational companies.
India’s rise is obviously good news for its people. But it is also good news for investors abroad who can benefit from a society which has triumphed over the state. This is a more durable environment for private enterprise. India’s rise teaches that rapid economic growth is attainable in a democracy if you get the policies right. Until 1991 India’s policies were wrong. India’s greatness lies in its self reliant and resilient people, who responded to the reforms. And when the state fails them today, they do not complain.
When teachers and doctors do not show up in government primary schools and health centres, they open up cheap private schools and clinics in the slums, and get on with it. The simple lesson is that open societies, free trade and multiplying connections to the global economy are the pathways to lasting prosperity.
Quote of the Day for Thursday, October 12, 2006
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October 11, 2006
Quote of the Day for Wednesday, October 11, 2006
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October 10, 2006
The Growing American Frontier
With the U.S. population now at 300 million, the Christian Science Monitor takes a look ahead at what the country will look like in 2043. That's the year the Census Bureau expects the U.S. population will surpass 400 million.
Even with a steadily increasing population, the American frontier is actually growing:
Posted by John at 5:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack. . . Americans are expected to continue to gravitate west and south. Today, the Top 10 fastest growing states, cities, and metropolitan areas are all in those regions, mostly in the West. In general, the West and South have been growing two to three times as fast as the Northeast and Midwest.
The great American midsection, meanwhile, will continue to empty out.
When historian Frederick Jackson Turner declared the American frontier "closed" in 1893, he was using the Census Bureau definition of "frontier" as areas having no more than six people per square mile. By that same density definition, the number of such counties actually has been increasing: from 388 in 1980 to 397 in 1990 to 402 in 2000. Kansas has more "frontier" land now than it did in 1890.
Heart Disease More Potent in Asia than the West
Professor Mark Woodward of the University of Sydney and Professor T. H. Lam of the University of Hong Kong with some alarming comments on how much more potent strokes and cardiovascular disease are in Asia relative to the West:
Obesity was shown to have at least as great an effect on Asian populations as smoking, and the dangers of raised blood pressure were also highlighted. "Blood pressure appears to be even more of a risk factor [than in the West], and this is thought to be due to high salt intake. It is more of a problem in rural areas where there is no refrigeration and salt is used to preserve food," said Professor Woodward.
The incidence of stroke in China is four times that in Western countries, and cardiovascular disease tends to strike Asians 10 years earlier than it does their Western counterparts, the data showed.
"Heart disease is striking earlier because of the rapid rate of change of lifestyle. Another hypothesis is that a sudden increase in obesity has an even greater effect on a population that was not well nourished in the first place," said Professor Lam.
"There is no sense of urgency at government level and a very low level of awareness among the public. We are not being alarmist when we say that the fattier diet, reduction in physical activity, and smoking are extraordinarily worrying."
This dim perception among the Chinese about the severity of the problem of cardiovascular disease is further confirmed here.
Posted by John at 4:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack