ChinaWatch: Lessons In Life

U.S. Education Valued

Dozens of U.S. colleges and universities are seeing a surge in applications from students in China, where a booming economy means more families can pursue the dream of an American higher education, the New York Times reports.

But that success — following a 30 percent increase last year in the number of Chinese studying in the United States — has created a problem for admissions officers.

At Grinnell College in Iowa, for example, how do they choose perhaps 15 students from the more than 200 applicants from China? After all, the 11-member admissions committee cannot necessarily rely on the rubrics it applies to American applications (which are challenging enough to sort through).

Consider, for example, that half of Grinnell’s applicants from China this year have perfect scores of 800 on the math portion of the SAT, making the performance of one largely indistinguishable from another.

But the most accomplished applicants will have grades in the 70s or 80s, because Chinese schools tend to grade on a far less generous curve than American high schools.

Few will have had the opportunity to take honors or Advanced Placement courses to demonstrate their ability to do college work, since such courses are rare in China.

Foreign Investors Watched

China will launch a state-level investment review body to check that merger and acquisition deals struck by foreign firms in one of the world's fastest-growing economies do not endanger “national security,” says China's State Council, the cabinet, Reuters reports.

The new regulation, which will come into effect in March, is set to install a new red-tape barrier for doing business in China, the world's second largest economy where double-digit growth has attracted more than $105 billion in foreign direct investment last year.

Foreign investments in military, agriculture, energy and resources, key infrastructure, transport systems, key technology sectors and “important equipment manufacturers” may be subject to reviews, according to a statement published on the central government Internet portal.

Vying For Workers

China’s coastal and inland cities are fiercely competing to attract migrant workers as the nation’s labor shortage spreads to less-developed central and western regions, according to straitstimes.com.

In south-west China's Chongqing, many firms have set up booths at railway and bus stations to persuade workers to stay home instead of returning to the coast. Tens of millions of migrant laborers travel by train or bus during the Spring Festival break, which ends Feb 17.

At the city's North Railway Station, about a dozen workers told the China Daily that they will stay in their hometown if they can get similar wages.

Jiang Haitao, 21, who worked at Foxconn Technology Group's Kunshan plant in East China's Jiangsu province last year, says the corporation's Chongqing operation offers a base salary that is only “slightly less.”

“I'd feel happier working in my hometown,” he says, adding that earning 200 yuan ($38) more outside “cannot buy the same happiness.”

Migrant workers in the east earned an average of 5 percent more than those in western regions in 2009, yet the disparity was 15 percent five years earlier, show figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.

ChinaWatch

Health Reform: Cure Vs. Care

There’s a new twist in the health care debate: cure or care? Which do you think is going to cost less and is preferable: a cure for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, or caring for people after they are diagnosed with these illnesses?

It’s better medical and public policy to direct more resources toward finding a cure for diseases that cost a lot to treat, instead of relying on government insurance programs, such as Obama Care, which seeks mainly to help pay bills for people after they become ill.

This is a no-brainer, especially in a recession-drained U.S. economy struggling to increase employment, drive down debt, maintain services and improve the quality of life for Americans.

But many politicians are locked into an “old school” paradigm that focuses too much on hospitals, doctors and prescription drugs and too little on medical research and preventative care, so people will not need hospitals, doctors, or drugs.

Obviously, we need another prescription for true health care reform.

Change Status Quo

As syndicated columnist Cal Thomas notes, the pursuit of cures as a priority will be thoroughly explored in “Serious Medicine Strategy,” a forthcoming book by James Pinkerton, a former senior advisor to the Mike Huckabee for president campaign.

Pinkerton, a former Newsday columnist , asserts it’s not a failure to fund research to cure diseases that ends lives prematurely but, rather, it’s absent the commitment by political leaders to make research a priority in their speeches and policy statements.

More than 50 years ago, political and medical communities rallied and led the public to a cure for polio and the elimination of the need for “iron lungs.” This feat was the medical equivalent of walking on the moon.

One has to wonder why we can’t develop a united front to find cures for diabetes, Alzheimer’s, cancer, and other major illnesses.

Pinkerton says it’s because of the “baneful influence of the (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration and trial lawyers.

Reforms We Need

WMB believes that if the government would protect the ability of entrepreneurs and scientists to create products without the risk of being sued into oblivion, capital would come pouring into the pharmaceutical sector from global investors.

WMB suggests opponents to Obama Care pick up on this strategy of cures before care. Instead, most politicians almost are singularly focused on repealing the entire health care “reform” law.

The health care package should be repealed, or at least experience an extreme makeover; Obama Care law doesn’t cure anyone of anything. Finding cures for diseases helps people live longer, and it’s cost-efficient for our society.

Consider all the money that has been saved by no longer having to treat victims of polio, smallpox and tuberculosis. Imagine the savings when a cure is eventually found for cancer!

Additionally, the retirement age could easily be raised since older people could work longer and live more vigorous and productive lives. More tax-generating citizens can help fuel the economy.

Sure, there are many promising research programs under way, ranging from stem cell research to genetic engineering. Researchers need to focus on diseases we are closest to curing and prioritize accordingly.

The question remains: Would you rather be healthy and fit and live a long life, or be taken care of in your illness by a government health system that sees you as a burden and is constantly trying to reduce care and lower costs?

The problem is that once a nation has made a wrong turn, it is difficult, if not impossible, to reverse the course.

WMB believes America still has time to make the right choices and move in the direction of cures. Now, all we need is decisive political leadership to provide the pathway for a much more productive society, with a better quality of life for its citizens.

This post is by TechMan, WMB co-author who blogs about trends, issues and ideas affecting business, industry, technology and consumers. If you like this post, please share it.

Riding Energy’s Next Wave

New worldwide companies are being formed in a quest to learn how to capture the power of oceans and seas.

Wave power is the transport of energy by ocean surface waves, and the capture of that energy to do useful work – for example, for electricity generation, water desalination, or the pumping of water into reservoirs, according to Wikipedia.

The world’s first commercial wave energy farm was launched in 2008 three miles off the north coast of Portugal. Agucadoura Wave Park consists of three devises which can each produce 750 kilowatt hours of power. While this state-of-the-art wave farm may be considered a novelty for now, we at WMB don’t think that will be the case for long.

Waves are the result of wind blowing over the surface of the ocean. In many areas of the world, the wind blows with consistency and enough force to provide continuous waves. There is considerable energy in ocean waves. In turn, wave power devices extract energy directly from the surface motion of ocean waves or from pressure fluctuations below the surface.

About 70 percent of the earth is covered with water, and this water is the largest single repository of solar energy. One only need watch waves crashing into a rocky shore to appreciate the potential energy and force that is produced.

If just 2 percent of the ocean’s energy were converted to electricity, it would meet the entire world's power needs, according to the Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center in Washington state.

Even better, waves are predictable unlike solar power; this makes grid requirement more practical. Since greater numbers of people are living within 50 miles of oceans, power would not need to be transported long distances.

Wave energy has lagged solar and wind energy development mainly because of technical reasons. But now many of these problems have been solved. Oceans can be unforgiving, hostile and difficult to control, and salt water is corrosive. Creating devices that can withstand these conditions has been a challenge for years.

Most government money and private and industrial development were instead funneled to solar and wind power development. Big oil and gas companies have in recent years devised technologies adaptable to deeper and rougher waters. Even the BP oil disaster has taught engineers how to better understand deep water currents and waves.

Wave energy, more so than tidal energy, offers readily accessible ocean power. Tidal energy uses the currents in the sea, and wave energy draws power from the rise and fall of waves on the surface.

The Electric Power Research Institute, with offices and laboratories in California, North Carolina and Tennessee, conservatively estimates wave energy could provide about 6 percent of America’s electric needs, while tidal power could produce another 3 percent. To put this into perspective, hydroelectric power currently produces 6 percent of our power.

Wave devices come in a variety of designs, but all work to transform energy from the rolling motion of waves of water to electricity. Usually the aquatic motion is converted into mechanical energy that runs a turbine or generator.

Machines used in Portugal were designed by Pelamis Wave Power Co. of Scotland. Worldwide, there about 100 competing designs for wave and tidal converters. But as this industry matures, it will be necessary to weed out designs that are either too costly or inefficient.

Other designs include Aquamarine Power's Oyster and perhaps the most unusual wave energy converter, the Anaconda.
Developed by Great Britain’s Checkmate Seaenergy for use in deeper waters about 5 miles from shore, the Anaconda is a long sealed tube filled with water. It is attached to the seabed and pointed at incoming waves.

As each wave rolls over the tube, it creates and pushes a growing bulge within the length of the tube and builds pressure that operates a turbine at the other end. Such a devise may be 23 feet in diameter and 600 feet in length, and capable of generating 1 MW of power. The devise is constructed of a type of rubber and can survive years of use in seawater.

Costs for marine power are high but may drop rapidly as capacity and demand grow. Manufacturers predict this technology will produce power at 5 cents to 10 cents per kilowatt hour. But marine energy will need government support in the early stages, just like solar and wind-turbine. Wave energy is currently eligible for a 1.1 cent per kwh tax credit.

Pelamis officials say, “No new energy is competitive right out of the box,’’ but they claim that each doubling of capacity could bring down costs by 15 to 20 percent.

At WMB, we think government incentives could encourage private investors to back these new marine technologies because they help ensure the likelihood of return on investment.

K.P. Yue, a professor of ocean engineering at MIT, says, “It’s not ready for prime time – it needs about five to 10 years of development. But it could have a huge impact in 20 years.”

This post is by TechMan, WMB co-author who blogs about trends, issues and ideas affecting business, industry, technology and consumers.

Playing The Blame Game

The U.S. government’s lawsuit against Wall Street investment giant Goldman Sachs for alleged fraud raises serious questions about financial ethics in this country but also about the role of regulators in our lives.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently charged Goldman Sachs with "defrauding investors" over subprime mortgage securities, which were largely blamed for the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The government agency responsible for regulating the U.S. financial market alleged that Goldman Sachs failed to disclose crucial information to investors who ultimately suffered a loss of some $1 billion.

Some media reports say the SEC, blamed previously for not discovering the $50 billion Ponzi scheme of former stock broker and investment adviser Bernard Madoff in a timely fashion, was determined to crack down on Goldman Sachs in a bid to bolster its reputation and restore public confidence in the agency.

Goldman Sachs, in denying the SEC allegations, vowed to fight for its reputation. "The SEC's charges are completely unfounded in law and fact, and we will vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation," the investment bank said in a statement.

GS Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein is required to attend an April 27 inquiry of the U.S. Senate's standing investigation committee, which also is launching an investigation into the role of American banks in the subprime mortgage crisis, according to reports.

So what’s wrong with the U.S. government doing some much-needed policing of Wall Street, especially since taxpayers bailed out the so-called “too big to fail” investment banks?

In theory, there isn’t anything wrong with a thorough review, but it’s just not that simple. The financial crisis that led to the Great Recession’s start in December 2007 is not a black-and-white issue. It’s fine shades of gray, with shared responsibility (blame) at all levels of society.

A review of recent headline stories from the Associated Press expands the blame game:

•Report: Health overhaul will increase nation's tab

•SEC staffers watched porn as economy crashed

•Democrats set showdown vote on Wall Street bill

While it’s reassuring to know politicians want to clamp down on Wall Street’s excesses – long after the damage has been done but continues to haunt us – it’s still disturbing to read about the SEC staffers (maybe the unemployed would like those jobs?) and health care reform (does anybody understand what this overhaul really will do for us?).

Why should we trust the U.S. government to get it right this time when it didn’t get a handle on things before and after the recession began? Aren’t Obama and his predecessor,
George W. Bush, opposite sides of the same coin – each spending money we don’t have and leaving the tab for generations not yet born?

Forget the party labels because these days they are almost meaningless. Most folks, especially those who built businesses from dust, just want results. Neither Bush nor Obama, at least so far, showed anything in the way of fiscal restraint.

As for Goldman Sachs, (some of my retirement funds are with GS), if the firm did what it’s accused of, then it should be penalized. But we also should have reservations if the government’s main purpose is making an example out of the investment bank in targeting financial abuse and excess.

Bottom line: There’s plenty of blame to be shared all around – from Wall Street to Main Street, and all points in between.

Many of us overused plastic, knowing full well we couldn’t pay the credit debt, never mind the interest. We also took out home equity loans, treating our price-inflated houses like cash cows, which allowed us to live well beyond our means. We partied, along with the pols and Wall Street, until the bubble burst in a sea of job losses, home foreclosures and crushed retirement plans.

Mark Britton, founder of lawyer ratings Web site avvo.com, said that if the Goldman Sachs fraud case went to a jury, the investment giant would try to persuade the panel that the firm was a political victim. Hate to admit it, but it sure looks that way.

If U.S. authorities want to speed up financial supervision reforms, do so across the board, skip the political posturing, and get back to fixing our ailing economy, so people can find decent-paying jobs again.

But let’s not use Goldman Sachs as the lightning rod for all that went wrong in the financial markets. Fairness would dictate an even-handed approach – new safeguards aimed at protecting American consumers regardless of who they do business with should be the ultimate goal, not another taxpayer-funded witch hunt.

The problem is some business and government leaders continue to do things the way they’ve always been done and, somehow, they expect different results. Anyone can tax and spend, and then find scapegoats when things turn sour.

We need creative solutions to critical problems, not more lip service, and definitely not more media talking heads slanting stories to suit their personal agendas. We need real leadership -- at all levels -- to restore trust in our institutions, the country and in ourselves.

As for me, I practice what I preach at writenowworks.com.