Breaking Waves
- Don’t know why these things surprise me, but it turns out that China’s water pollution stats are useless because they forgot to include agricultural runoff in the numbers. With China’s huge agrarian sector and aggressive fertilizer, fungicide and pesticide use, that means that we can double the water pollution that Beijing claims as official. See the New York Times. Or the Wall Street Journal. Hawaii’s water resource engineering companies have been trying to break into the China market for several years, with only middling success. With their experience in the sugar and pineapple industries, maybe they are finally positioned to make some money (and do some good) in China.
- It’s easy to find lists of the best hotels, resorts, airlines and so forth, but rare to see lists of the worst. TripAdvisor has published their 2010 lists of the Top 10 Dirtiest Hotels in the world. There are separate lists for the Top 10 in the United States, Canada, Asia, Britain, France, Italy and an overall list for Europe. Be warned.
- Old Singapore hands are still amazed. The first of Singapore’s casinos opened just a couple hours ago as this is published, taking an auspicious start with the Year of the Tiger. It’s not simply a casino, but four new hotels and a theme park, too. And I remember when Sentosa Island was still somewhat empty, and I had delightful times at the Beaufort Hotel. Guess I’ll have to take a look.
- Business occasionally trumps politics. Taiwan ended long-standing restrictions this week to let its manufacturers of flat screen panels open production facilities in China. China is on track to become the world’s top market for flat-screen televisions next year, and Taiwan’s Korean competitors have been gobbling up market share using factories in China.
- Good news from NAFTA. Canada and the United States have resolved a trade dispute over government procurement practices, Canada agreeing to open up government construction contracts and the U.S. allowing Canadian firms to compete for Stimulus Package business. The two countries handled this through the WTO’s dispute settlement process. And, word is out that the United States and Mexico are near agreement on the long-term problem of allowing Mexican 18-wheelers to operate on U.S. soil. This one has soured relations for years now.
Monday is President’s Day in the United States, a national holiday. That seems an appropriate time to work on my income taxes, so I may not post this Monday. Of course, if some irresistible topic arises … Otherwise, I hope to see you here on Tuesday.
