China to Require Web Site Registration
China recently released regulations requiring the registration of all web sites before they can be seen in China. Beijing already blocks many sites thus creating a government “blacklist.” Not content with this form of censorship, the new system will create a “whitelist” of registered sites that will be available for viewing in China. So, if you want people in China to be able to view your web site, you will have to register it with the Chinese government—assuming they accept your site for registration.
Will these regulations actually be enforced? No one really knows, but government officials certainly have the will and the capability to do so. Right after the rioting in Xinjiang last July, they cut that region off from the outside world—including blocking both email and the Internet. This embargo is still in effect today.
Technically, it is simple to accomplish in China, because the central government controls China’s communications with the rest of the world and they can impose a Xinjiang-like shutdown on the whole of China by flipping a few switches.
Some speculate that President Hu Jintao’s long-running crackdown on human rights may include his intention to take China completely off the Internet.
Time will tell, but this makes the squabbles we have with our U.S. government pale in comparison. Kinda’ makes one glad not to live in China, doesn’t it?
NOTE: This information is a synopsis of a recent article in Forbes magazine, written by Gordon G. Chang
China Overtakes U.S. Car Market
The Associated Press recently published a report saying that the Chinese now buy more cars and trucks than Americans. It appears that over 12.7 million new cars will be sold in China compared to about 10.3 million projected to be sold in America. This is the first time ever that any country has surpassed the U.S. in new car sales.
This could have been good news for the U.S. because China loves GM’s Buick…they consider it a luxury car. But alas, China requires that Buick build it’s cars in China—not the United States. Interesting concept.
Well, that at least should help GM’s bottom line even if it doesn’t make any new jobs in the U.S.
Global Competition
The July 20, 2009 issue of Fortune magazine published its annual Global 500 special section, giving information on the performance of the 500 largest companies in the world. Some interesting things can be interpreted from this special report. Let’s take a look.
Top 7 corporations in the world, by Revenue:
- Royal Dutch Shell – Netherlands
- Exxon Mobil – U.S.
- Wal-Mart Stores – U.S.
- BP – Britain
- Chevron – U.S.
- Total – France
- ConocoPhilips – U.S.
Note that Wal-Mart Stores is the only non-oil company on this list. Is oil a really big business in the world, or what? Do we really think that big oil will support alternative energy?
Top 6 most profitable corporations in the world:
- Exxon Mobil – U.S.
- Gazprom – Russia
- Royal Dutch Shell – Netherlands
- Chevron – U.S.
- BP – Britain
- Petrobras – Brazil
Well, apparently, oil pays well, since the six most profitable businesses in the world are all oil corporations.
Interesting Observations:
• Of the top 100 largest corporations in the world, there are only 5 American manufacturing companies.
- General Motors – no. 18
- Ford – no. 19
- Hewlett-Packard – no. 32
- IBM – no. 45
- Proctor and Gamble – no. 68
• The two most profitable banks in the world are Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, and China Construction Bank.
• America has 6 of the top 10 money-losing companies in the world, and only two of them are financial institutions.
• Since 1998, the number of American companies in the Global 500 have dropped from 185 to 140, a 24% decrease.
• Since 1998, the number of Chinese companies in the Global 500 has risen from 6 to 37, a 616 % increase.
What can we learn?
First, it is obvious that big business in America has trouble competing in the world market. If it wasn’t for U.S. oil companies, our position would be even more abysmal. Considering the declining number of U.S. companies on the Global 500 list, it is easy to conclude that the future for big business in the U.S. is pretty dismal.
The good news is that small business can pick up the slack in world trade left by the big guys. Every small business in America should be factoring world-wide trade into their business plans. From a sales and marketing standpoint—think globally!
Foreign Lending to the United States
Have you ever wondered which countries have loaned money to the U.S.? We hear a lot about China loaning us money, and before that it was Japan. But, that is not where the foreign lending ends—take a look:
- China – $767.9 Billion.
- Japan – $686.7 Billion.
- Caribbean banking centers – $213.6 Billion. (Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Netherlands Antilles, Panama.)
- France, India, Korea, Turkey – $204 Billion.
- Oil exporters – $192 Billion. (Algeria, Bahrain, Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Venuzuala.)
- Russia – $138.4 Billion.
- Channel Islands, Isle of Man (U.K.) – $128.2 Billion.
- Brazil – $126.6 Billion.
- Egypt, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Thailand – $124.3 Billion.
- Luxembourg – $106.1 Billion.
- Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sweden – $89.5 Billion.
- Hong Kong – $78.9 Billion.
- Taiwan – $74.8 Billion.
- Switzerland – $67.7 Billion.
- Germany – $55 Billion.
- Ireland – $54.7 Billion.
- All other countries combined – $156.7 Billion.
This adds up to almost $3.3 Trillion, or almost a third of the U.S. debt. With the U.S. economy on the rocks, and more money needed to pay for Congressional spending, about the only place the U.S. can get that money is from foreign investors—thus raising the stakes in foreign ownership of America.
Just one more thing for business owners and individuals alike to think about.
China’s Continued Growth
I just read an interesting article about China’s economy in a recent issue of Newsweek. It is expected to only grow by about 7% in 2009, while the other Big 5 economies in the world are expected to slow to a near standstill—or worse. Of course, China is only a semi-free economy since the government still exerts a strong and stabilizing hand.
There are several reasons for China’s continued growth presented in the article, but I found one thing especially interesting—most of the government leaders are engineers; they know how to work from a plan.
Could we have too many lawyers in Washington…and not enough engineers?
What do you think?
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