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June 30, 2007
Chinese See Environmental Problems as "Top Global Threat"
In the same Pew Global Attitudes survey we referenced earlier, 70% of Chinese surveyed see environmental problems as the top global threat. This result compares to 37% in the United States, 49% in India, 46% in Britain, and 45% in Mexico, just to pick out a few to compare. This survey underscores why this issue has become a serious area of emphasis for China's leaders; if you're in the pollution control business and not in China, at a minimum you should be investigating opportunities there.
Posted by John at 8:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAs Global Anxiety Toward China Rises, So Will Outbound Investment
In the latest Pew Global Attitudes survey, attitudes toward China around the world are falling overall. In Western European countries such as Spain, France, and Italy, opinions of China's growing economic power are overwhelmingly negative. In Asia, opinions on China's rise have grown slightly more unfavorable in India, and in Japan a two to one majority view China negatively.
In contrast, majorities in African countries are positive toward China and very high on its economic power. Such a finding is not surprising given China's investment interest in the continent, which includes a $1 billion investment fund announced earlier this week.
The connection is hardly coincidental and not lost on China's leaders, in my view. It's just one reason why China will encourage outbound investment in Western countries, particularly the United States, in coming years.
Posted by John at 8:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQuote of the Day for Saturday, June 30, 2007
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June 29, 2007
Quote of the Day for Friday, June 29, 2007
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June 28, 2007
Rising Phoenix
Phoenix, a city which in 1950 had barely 100,000 people and ranked 99th in population among all U.S. cities, has just passed Philadelphia to become the nation's fifth largest city with 1.5 million. [Source: U.S. Census Bureau]
The alliterative Phoenix-Philadelphia comparison is one facet of a major trend captured in this interesting U.S. demographic fact from the Census Bureau:
Posted by John at 10:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackNearly a century ago, in 1910, each of the 10 most populous cities was within roughly 500 miles of the Canadian border. The 2006 estimates show that seven of the top 10 — and three of the top five — are in states that border Mexico.
Funding Singles to Make the Home Runs in Cancer Research Possible
Stephen Dubner at Freakonomics interviewed surgeon and author Atul Gawande and asked Gawande his views on a cure for cancer:
Well, there won’t be one cure. Cancer is in fact many diseases: a breast cancer is not the same as a skin cancer is not the same as a cervical cancer. So there will be many cures and the breakthroughs will come incrementally. We now cure 70% of cancers. I suspect we will gradually push that number upward through a combination of better prevention (the HPV vaccine is just one example), better treatments for specific cancers, and better detection of cancers when they are small and most easily cured.
Our work at Golfers Against Cancer is funding research which brings incremental progress important in finding an ultimate cure or method of detection. Incremental implies "slow and plodding" to some, yet it is anything but.
Successful research is a series of building blocks of knowledge, gained through trial and error of multiple projects. This progressive gain in knowledge and insight into the behaviors of a particular cancer leads to those "ah ha" moments that researchers--and the rest of us--live for. Thanks to better research techniques and technologies, along with improved communications between researchers themselves, breakthroughs are now coming faster. They don't come, however, without steady, cumulative progress over time.
It's similar to baseball. While home runs may bring fans to their feet and receive the favored treatment when game highlights are shown on television, singles drive baseball. If you look at the top ten hit leaders of all time in major league baseball, seven of those ten are among the career leaders in singles. Without singles, it would be pretty hard for those sluggers to win the game with a three run homer or a grand slam.
The projects we fund at Golfers Against Cancer may seem small and insignificant. In fact, they are the singles which make the home runs possible.
By the way, the rest of the brief interview with Gawande is worth your time; Gawande is a talented writer whose most recent book is Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance.
Posted by John at 9:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQuote of the Day for Thursday, June 28, 2007
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June 27, 2007
Leave These Two Media Mice Alone
Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman pegs it perfectly in explaining why FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and many members of Congress, in objecting to the proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio--Sirius Satellite Radio, are completely wrong:
The key government error is defining the market as a narrow sector isolated from other sectors that provide reasonable substitutes. That same mistake explains the FCC chairman's aversion to the satellite radio deal, as well as the letter from 72 members of the House of Representatives claiming it would have "devastating" consequences for listeners.
As it happens, the alternative to one satellite radio company may not be two companies but none. The existing ones have accumulated some $7 billion in losses between them. The merger may allow them to reduce costs, so they can eke out a profit and stay in business. Raising prices would not be easy, because consumers have plenty of affordable options. Music fans can listen to terrestrial radio, pop in a CD, find an Internet feed, turn on an iPod, flip to the cable TV music station or check out unknown talents on YouTube.
Web radio may not get as much attention as Howard Stern, but it has four times as big an audience as XM and Sirius combined. In his alarm about the proposed merger, Martin has mistaken a mouse for a moose.
Indeed, the competition is all the seemingly endless media alternatives we as consumers have. Given the losses this two companies keep accumulating operating separately, the denial of this merger could mean the end of satellite radio.
Posted by John at 5:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackMarx in China: "It's Something Like Fiction"
"Compared to my normal opinions about the world . . . it's something like fiction"
"No matter who teaches this class, it's always boring. Philosophy is useful and interesting, but I think that in philosophy education in China, they just teach the boring parts."
Those are the few students actually paying attention in mandatory classes on Marxism in China, quoted in an L.A. Times story. No matter how engaging the professor may be, the attention span among students is not just short, it's non-existent:
Posted by John at 3:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackYoung men spread newspapers out on their desks and pored over the sports news. A couple of students listened to iPods; others sent text messages on their cellphones. One young woman with chic red-framed glasses spent the entire two hours engrossed in "Jane Eyre," in the original English. Some drifted out of class, ate lunch and returned. Some just lay their heads on their desktops and went to sleep.
Quote of the Day for Wednesday, June 27, 2007
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June 26, 2007
America's Generosity Shines
Americans contributed nearly $300 billion to charities in 2006, a record and up 3% from 2005. It's a remarkable accomplishment, in that giving in 2005 surged due the urgency of causes like aid to victims of hurricane Katrina:
"It tells you something about American culture that is unlike any other country," said Claire Gaudiani, a professor at NYU's Heyman Center for Philanthropy and author of The Greater Good: How Philanthropy Drives the American Economy and Can Save Capitalism. Gaudiani said the willingness of Americans to give cuts across income levels, and their investments go to developing ideas, inventions and people to the benefit of the overall economy.
Gaudiani said Americans give twice as much as the next most charitable country, according to a November 2006 comparison done by the Charities Aid Foundation. In philanthropic giving as a percentage of gross domestic product, the U.S. ranked first at 1.7%. No. 2 Britain gave 0.73%, while France, with a 0.14% rate, trailed such countries as South Africa, Singapore, Turkey and Germany.
[Source: USA Today]
It's great to see this story reported around the world (here's the story in China Daily). Our giving to causes around the world does more good to promote the real values of American's citizens than any Karen Hughes propaganda tour could do.
Posted by John at 7:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackHouston's Invigorating Dynamism
Joel Kotkin, in an essay published in the Houston Chronicle, notes that Houston, a city most urban planners and "smart growth" advocates loves to hate, continues not only to grow but to develop the core of the city:
Houston's tradition as a market-based urban innovator also extends to its rapidly recovering inner ring. As the city's population grows, it will inevitably become denser both in its periphery and closer to the central core. New urbanists and planners need not legislate this change. Demand will be created by many factors: the overall rise in population and immigration; energy-related concerns; desire for shorter commutes; and rising land costs.
The evidence shows that Houston's more pragmatic approach — essentially allowing development to follow market demand — has worked better to drive inner ring development than the models beloved by many planners. Since 2000, only 2.5 percent of all population growth in greater Portland, Ore., occurred in the city; in Houston, the city accounted for more than 10 percent. Other cities often praised by "smart growth advocates," — cities such as Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis — all lost population.
In other words, Houston's inner-city boom, while less controlled and heralded, is doing the job of increasing density — the summum bonum of "smart growth" — over wider areas than most traditional cities. Places like Chicago, San Francisco or Boston may be gentrifying closer to their core, but they are also losing people, particularly families with children, in many neighborhoods.
Posted by John at 7:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackBy contrast, Houston's urban evolution appears to be attracting — if not families — then significant numbers of educated workers. In fact, despite local critics' constant carping about the city's landscape, Houston has been experiencing a net gain of such workers over the past few years while "creative" meccas, such as Boston, San Francisco and New York, have been suffering a net out-migration.
Lack of rigid land-use controls and the sheer expanse of available land also have opened the Houston inner ring's urbanization not only for big national players, but lots of local smaller developers. Jason McLemore, executive director of the Greater Southeast Management District, located in the traditionally African-American Third Ward, credits Houston's relatively low "cost of entry" for allowing firms like his to get their "bite at that apple.". . .
Quote of the Day for Tuesday, June 26, 2007
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June 25, 2007
More Out with the Old, In with the New in Media
Another signpost in the changing media world: Hitwise reports that YouTube is poised to overtake the BBC's site in share of U.K. visits.
Posted by John at 5:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackGetting Aced in Zimbabwe
While getting a hole in one is every golfer's dream, it could be quite costly in Zimbabwe, given the tradition of a player who cards an ace buying drinks for his playing partners at the end of the round. Zimbabwe's inflation is so bad (officially 4,500%, but estimated by retailers at 11,000% and climbing) that golfers buy drinks for the end of their round before they tee off. [Source: The Guardian; thanks to Chronicle of the Conspiracy for the link.]
Posted by John at 3:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQuote of the Day for Monday, June 25, 2007
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June 24, 2007
Our Changing Media World
With recent news items like these, why are some members of Congress worried about a XM Satellite Radio--Sirius Satellite Radio merger?
--iTunes is now the country's third largest music retailer, surpassed by only Wal-Mart and Best Buy. [Source: InformationWeek]
--For the first time ever, game maker Nintendo has surpassed Sony in market value. [Source: Reuters]. Both companies, by the way, individually are valued more than the top ten publicly-traded U.S. newspaper companies combined.
The real competition is the fight media companies of all genres have to get consumer attention for any extended period of time.
Posted by John at 11:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackEconomic Development Subverts the Indian Status Quo
Led by the technology industry, freer enterprised based economic development in India is disrupting the caste system, reports the Wall Street Journal:
For thousands of years, advancement in India has been restricted by its caste system, which is enshrined in the country's dominant Hindu religion. While Brahmins, the highest caste, are said to stem from the mouth of Purusha, or Universal Man, Dalits were considered so impure they were left outside the structure altogether. Castes -- which often can be identified by a person's last name -- reach into every part of Indian society.
But India's rapid economic expansion -- and its booming high-tech sector -- are beginning to chip away at the historical system that reserved well-paying jobs for upper castes and menial jobs for Dalits. With annual gross-domestic-product growth exceeding 9%, companies that have hired tens of thousands of workers in recent years are looking beyond their traditional sources of employees. High-tech firms, both foreign and domestically based, are at the forefront of that search. As a result, some Dalits are rising into India's middle class. . . .
Jane Jacobs would be proud; this story reminded me of this quote of hers we used in Tidbits last year.
Posted by John at 1:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQuote of the Day for Sunday, June 24, 2007
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June 23, 2007
Charles Koch on Success
C.S. Hayden has an interview with Charles Koch, Chairman and CEO of Koch Industries, which bought Georgia Pacific a little over a year ago. Several of Koch's comments stand out, including one on how studying business in school is "way overrated", while "understanding reality and having good values" enables you to "create real value".
Koch's comments on success are wise words for any company management and explain his company's growth and prosperity:
Posted by John at 4:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQ: What is your definition of success?
Mr. Koch: It goes back to the philosophy of happiness derived from Aristotle. Fully develop your capabilities and use them to make the maximum contribution possible. This is an ongoing process since things always change.
Being successful requires the process of trial and error. As Hayek says, the market economy is experimental. This means we are going to fail; we can never be sure about outcomes. You must not set yourself up to avoid all failure on specific initiatives, as this is the cause of overall failure. You must innovate and improve faster than your competitors. Otherwise, you are liquidating yourself, perhaps without realizing it. Consider this scenario: You and your competitor both have a 10% return, during the next year your competitor improves by 10% in every area and maintains only a 10% return, and you don't improve at all; what is your return? Zero! We must not only improve, but improve faster than the competition.
Georgia's Gain, Florida's Loss, Thanks to Insurance Costs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on how the rising cost of insurance in Florida is the last straw for many residents who are moving to Georgia. Interesting fact: One-third of all buyers of Midtown Atlanta condos over age 55 are from Florida.
Posted by John at 3:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackHispanic Radio Continues to Prosper
Arbitron has just released its 2007 version of "Hispanic Radio Today" (pdf), and it reveals continued growth in Spanish-language radio against the backdrop of a lackluster industry environment overall.
The number of stations with Hispanic programming increased 4% in 2006, rising to 730, a new record. This figure is 37% greater than 1998's tally of 533 stations.
Time spent listening has generally risen among both men and women, and away from home listening is increasing as well. Specific details can be found in the report.
Posted by John at 3:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackRewinding U.S. History on Immigration
One of several interesting facts in a look at U.S. historical experience with immigration and migration since the country's founding, courtesy of The Globalist: if immigration had stopped after the Declaration of Independence was signed, the U.S. today would have about 124 million people, compared to 300 million currently. This country would be about the same size as Japan. Assuming no further immigration until the middle of this century, the U.S. would have about 320 million people instead of the 420 million it is likely to have at that time.
Posted by John at 3:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQuote of the Day for Saturday, June 23, 2007
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June 22, 2007
Let's Light This Candle!, China Version
Based on the way retail investors buy stocks in China, Red Hat should seek a Shanghai listing and Four Seasons will have to change their name:
They look companies with the number eight in their names (or in their share price, or ticker symbol), because the Chinese word for eight sounds like the word for "wealth" (also translated "fortune"). They stay away from companies with four in their names, share price, or ticker symbol because four sounds like death. And they like stocks that are associated with the color red - the color of prosperity in Chinese culture.
If you're in the U.S., it brings back memories of Stuart. Go back in time with this video to 1999:
Posted by John at 5:06 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
New Job Classification in China: Professional Sniffer
In China, "professional noses" are being trained and hired to sniff out pollutants and noxious gases in the atmosphere; they will be initially deployed in Guangzhou. [Source: China Daily]
Posted by John at 4:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackDetroit's Becoming a Jungle. . .
. . .literally. Some abandoned parts of the city are being reclaimed by nature, as vegetation and wild animals are taking over. Detroitblog has the story here. [Thanks to Daily Dose of Optimism for the pointer.]
Posted by John at 4:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackNow Here's a Good Place to Build a Wall
Let's put one around Washington, DC, suggests the president of the McAllen, Texas Chamber of Commerce, Steve Ahlenius:
"We feel the need to protect ourselves from bad legislation, bad ideas and a waste of tax money," Ahlenius wrote.
"A wall around their homes and businesses will give the legislators and Washington bureaucrats a better understanding of what kind of message this action will send.
"Let’s see if they decide to climb over it, tunnel under it, or walk over it." . . .
Posted by John at 4:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackAhlenius, who has been vocal about the negative impact the fence could have on McAllen’s burgeoning retail sector, said he wrote the e-mail to try to garner more attention for the issue.
"It’s really a tongue-in-cheek thing to bring some focus in on how silly their proposal is," he said.
"In Washington (D.C.) they don’t speak the language and understand the culture down here." . . .
Quote of the Day for Friday, June 22, 2007
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June 21, 2007
(Dis)Approval Ratings
The current percentages of the American people who have confidence in the Congress (14%) and President Bush (25%) added together come no where near the numbers who have confidence in small business (59%). (See this story.) Maybe that's because Americans understand that small business actually creates jobs and prosperity in this country.
Posted by John at 9:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackSupply Chain (and FedEx) Fact of the Day
My friend John Daly sent me a executive summary on Peter Fingar's Extreme Competition: Innovation and the Great 21st Century Business Reformation. One of the facts in it which jumped out at me was that FedEx connects 95% of the world's GDP in two business days. I'm sure UPS is not much different. The world is indeed small.
Posted by John at 2:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackNo Sun in China
This concise post at Postcards from the Middle Kingdom speaks volumes about China's pollution:
There is no sun in Chengdu. Or in Ningbo, where I am tonight. The humidity and the coal-burning power plants blot out the sun. There is light, but it is never sunny. It is my understanding that I shall not see the sun except when we are in an airplane.
I miss the sun. When we saw it today in the plane, I waved to it.
[Thanks to Marginal Revolution for the pointer.]
Posted by John at 8:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackMetro Atlanta Chamber One of the Nation's Best
Well-deserved congratulations go to the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, which has been selected one of the top economic development organizations in the country by Site Selection magazine. Criteria for the selection included job creation, new investment, innovation, and customer service.
I've had the pleasure of working with a variety of people at MACOC, and this group is talented, professional, hard working, and a delight to deal wtih. They do a great job representing this region, and they deserve all the accolades they get.
Posted by John at 6:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQuote of the Day for Thursday, June 21, 2007
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June 20, 2007
Quote of the Day for Wednesday, June 20, 2007
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June 19, 2007
Immigration Reform and Hispanic Media
Julio Rumbaut on how immigration reform will help Hispanic media:
. . . while a sizable number of Hispanic individuals may be in legal limbo for some time, they will certainly be protected under the law and will logically and naturally aspire and achieve better and more economically rewarding employment, as well as enter into entrepreneurial undertakings. In particular, the legalization of many young people who have been precluded from attending colleges and universities because of residency requirements will significantly enhance the human capital of the Hispanic population, their access to better-paying jobs, their future earnings, and the tax base of their communities.
Media serving the Hispanic market's rapidly expanding population will be extremely well positioned to capitalize on an expansion of this consumer base, which will yield higher disposable income and more permanent aspiration factors due to more open and more rapid legitimization of legal status- and the trust and acceptance that comes with it.
This is especially the case when one of the major challenges faced by Hispanic media is the geometric upside of convincing new and present advertisers to spend more dollars and at higher cost per points against the market. . . .
Rumbaut goes on to point out that better audience measurement should occur as well, which will almost certainly result in a larger audience than currently being reported.
Posted by John at 5:41 AM
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Quote of the Day for Tuesday, June 19, 2007
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June 18, 2007
Chinese "Click" Shops
The New York Times Magazine reports on small businesses in China in which workers spend twelve hours a day playing role-playing games like World of Warcraft to collect virtual coin money which will eventually be sold to gamers in the U.S. and Europe.
These workers earn the equivalent of 30 cents an hour; before your preconceptions rise too high, read the article. One of these workers just earned a degree in law and is waiting to take his test to receive his certificate to practice.
Posted by John at 4:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQuote of the Day for Monday, June 18, 2007
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June 17, 2007
Quote of the Day for Sunday, June 17, 2007
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June 16, 2007
Quote of the Day for Saturday, June 16, 2007
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June 15, 2007
Hispanic Media Loyalties: Keeping the Radio and Loving Cyberspace
In a survey focused on radio usage among Hispanics, Edison Research found that 24% of Hispanics view radio as "most essential" relative to television, the Internet, and newspapers. Only 17% of the general market places such importance on radio.
For those still laboring under the misconception that the Hispanic demographic is not wired, 29% of Hispanics surveyed view the Internet as "most essential", only slightly less than 33% in the general population. Further, 41% of Hispanics surveyed see the Internet as the "most cool and exciting" medium.
The complete Edison report can be found here (pdf).
Posted by John at 7:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackOne Reason to Be An Optimist on America's Future: Teenage Entrepreneurs
The U.S. is unusual in the developed world in that the start-up rate among 18-24 year olds is higher than that of 35-44 year olds; Tyler Cowen comments in the New York Times on why America's teenagers are so entrepreneurial:
Posted by John at 3:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackThe fact that American schooling is less disciplined than that in other countries gives young creators the time and the energy to accomplish something outside their formal education. . .
The longstanding criticism of the American school system is that even in the better schools, too many students just "get by" rather than engage in a rigorous curriculum. This academic leniency is bad for many average or subpar students, but it also allows some students to flourish. Relatively loose family structures have similar effects; American children are especially likely to be working on their own projects, rather than being directed by parents and elders. . .
Quote of the Day for Friday, June 15, 2007
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June 14, 2007
China's ICBC Seeks to Enter the U.S. and Russia
It's a development we've been expecting for some time: China's banks seeking to expand to the United States. Sure enough, ICBC has announced that it has applied not only to U.S. banking regulators to expand here, but is seeking to enter Russia as well. (The Financial Times reports here.)
As subject to the political winds as U.S. banking regulators can sometimes be (just ask Wal-Mart), it will be extremely interesting to see how this application will be treated.
Posted by John at 10:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBackWhere the Illegal Immigration Debate Should Be Focused . . . and Isn't
Jeff Jacoby gets it right on where the debate on illegal immigration should be focused:
The great majority of immigrants who enter the United States lawfully qualify for visas because of family ties: They are lucky enough to be related to a US citizen. For them, there is indeed a line -- the waiting time for a family-based visa can take upward of 10 years. A smaller number of legal immigrants are granted visas because they have advanced degrees or specialized skills and a job is waiting for them.
For most illegal immigrants, a legal option simply doesn't exist. Under current law, a young Mexican or Salvadoran who wants to improve his life by moving to America and working hard at a useful job generally has just two options: (a) Enter illegally, or (b) stay out forever. Several hundred thousand a year choose option (a).
To . . . the Pat Buchanans, the Lou Dobbses, the conservative talk-show hosts and their riled listeners -- the illegal entry is all that matters. They don't ask whether it makes sense to bar industrious and productive go-getters who value America as a land of opportunity and who supply labor for which there is a yawning demand. As far as they're concerned, illegal aliens are "immigration criminals," and the only issue on the agenda is how to keep them out. . .
The national debate should be focused on real issues -- how many annual newcomers our economy can absorb, the best way to encourage immigrants to assimilate, what to require of illegals so they can get right with the law, how to protect national security without undermining the open character of American society. Instead we are saddled with hysterical condemnations of "amnesty" and delusional demands for a 2,000-mile barrier along the Mexican border. . . .
Read his entire commentary here.
Posted by John at 3:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackQuote of the Day for Thursday, June 14, 2007
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June 13, 2007
A $150 Billion U.S. Company Built With Talent Acquired Worldwide
Google's Vice President for People Operations, Laszlo Bock, recently testified before a Congressional committee on immigration policies and the "fierce, worldwide battle for talent" which Google and other companies find themselves in. Bock, himself a Romanian immigrant, gives specific examples and a stirring explanation of the very practical and direct benefits of immigration. Take a moment and watch this video:
Quote of the Day for Wednesday, June 13, 2007
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June 12, 2007
Immigrant Entrepreneurs in Technology Got Their Start as Students or Job Seekers First
A Kauffman survey of immigrant entrepreneurs in technology and engineering companies, a follow up to a report released earlier this year, offers some interesting additional findings, and one in particular which stood out to me:
More than half of the foreign-born founders of U.S. technology and engineering businesses initially came to the United States to study. Very few came with the sole purpose of starting a company. Almost 40 percent of immigrant founders entered the country because of a job opportunity, with only 1.6 percent entering the country with the sole purpose of entrepreneurship. They typically founded companies after working and residing in the United States for an average of 13 years. [emphasis mine]
The mixing of the ingenuity and talent of these individuals in America's entrepreneurial kettle produces, unplanned, entrepreneurs who spur innovation and create jobs. It can't happen, however, if we don't allow and encourage these individuals to come and to stay here.
Posted by John at 7:37 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackStanding in Line to Learn English
The Wall Street Journal reports that the demand for publicly-funded English as a second language (ESL) classes is likely to explode if Congress passes immigration legislation which would require English proficiency to earn legal permanent residency. Even now, though, ESL classes are overwhelmed with willing students; over half of all ESL programs maintain waiting lists, according to one survey.
Contrary to what Congressional nannies apparently believe, it sounds as if immigrants already understand the economics of learning English.
Posted by John at 5:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackHispanic Oklahoma
By 2020, one in four children in Oklahoma will be Hispanic; Tulsa World reports on the changing Hispanic demographic in the Sooner State.
Posted by John at 4:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBackHappy Birthday, Junior Brown
Happy Birthday to Junior Brown, one of the best guitarists--of any genre--extant. If there's a guitarist in better control of his instrument, then I'd love to hear them. If you're unconvinced or have never heard of Junior, then you owe to your ears to listen to his verson of Jimmy Martin's "Free Born Man":
Quote of the Day for Tuesday, June 12, 2007
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June 11, 2007
Quote of the Day for Monday, June 11, 2007
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