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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: THE ANT who wrote (98504)	2/20/2013 11:34:21 AM
From: elmatador	1 Recommendation Respond to of 217567

China Continues to Raise Minimum Wage The Chinese government has released a plan aimed at increasing urban minimum wage by 6% annually or 13% totally through the end of 2015. Twenty-four provinces and cities raised their minimum wages in 2012, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The latest announcement came after a decision made by electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn to allow its workers to choose their representatives to the labor union. This decision is viewed as a big step forward as labor unions in China are controlled by the government and weld extremely limited power of collective bargaining. Chinese factory workers have been better off being informed of their rights over the past five years, thanks to a national labor contract law passed in 2008. Foxconn will set an example for other companies – especially apparel and footwear makers – to improve workplace conditions and raise pays, Citi Research argues in a report on the issue, adding that the change is likely to be slow as independent labor unions are still banned by the government. Labor costs make up 20-25% of total expenses for apparel and footwear manufacturers in China, and raw materials account for around 60%, according to the Citi Research report. China was the United States' largest footwear supplier responsible for 86.2% of total imports in 2011. However, rising labor costs and import restrictions are prompting global manufacturers to relocate plants to Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Cambodia, and even back home to the United States, where footwear production increased 7.9% in 2011, as manufacturers sought to take advantage of quicker logistics. List of China Minimum Wage Per Month Note: The numbers do not include employer's contribution to social welfare, which is compulsory in Shanghai but not in other regions. Shenzhen, Guangdong: ¥1500 Zhejiang: ¥1470 Shanghai: ¥1450 Beijing: ¥1400 Xinjiang: ¥1340 Jiangsu, Hebei: ¥1320 Tianjin: ¥1310 Shandong: ¥1240 Fujian and Inner Mongolia: ¥1200 Hunan and Heilongjiang: ¥1160 Shaanxi: ¥1150 Shanxi: ¥1125 Ningxia, Yunnan: ¥1100 Qinghai: ¥1070 Sichuan: ¥1050 Guangxi: ¥1000 Gansu: ¥980 Jiangxi: ¥870 $1 = ¥6.24

To: THE ANT who wrote (98504)	2/26/2013 9:52:08 AM
From: elmatador	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217567

Scientists Claim 72 Is the New 30 Published: Tuesday, 26 Feb 2013 \| 1:55 AM ET Human longevity has improved so rapidly over the past century that 72 is the new 30, scientists say. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany, said progress in lowering the odds of death at all ages has been so rapid since 1900 that life expectancy has risen faster than it did in the previous 200 millennia since modern man began to evolve from hominid species. The pace of increase in life expectancy has left industrialized economies unprepared for the cost of providing retirement income to so many for so long. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, looked at Swedish and Japanese men – two countries with the longest life expectancy today. It concluded that their counterparts in 1800 would have had lifespans that were closer to those of the earliest hunter-gatherer humans than they would to adult men in both countries today. Those primitive hunter gatherers, at age 30, had the same odds of dying as a modern Swedish or Japanese man would face at 72.

To: THE ANT who wrote (98504)	3/5/2013 12:54:20 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 217567

West is looking to China to boost global demand, China is counting on a pickup in the West as 2013 unfolds to help exports and revive corporate investment. Brazil just have to make internal adjustments to keep growing. In fact the weakening of Europe, Japan and China growth at about 7.5%, which slows down Brazilian exports, is good for Brazil. Forces Brazil to invest heavily in infrastructure, which in its turn remove bottlenecks which in its turn make the economy more efficient. The oil in the US is also good news for Brazil. Had the US not triggered its own internal oil and gas production, Brazil would be (along Africa) the only game in town and easy money would be pouring in com gusto, inflation would be skyrocketing and Brazilian Real would go parity with the USD.

To: THE ANT who wrote (98504)	3/11/2013 12:20:48 PM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217567

Two developments: Developed countries need to tax their people and businesses higher. Emerging markets need to tax their people and businesses lower taxes. Why? For the past 50 years, developed countries were gorging in taxes on their citizen’s consumption. Citizens were experiencing wealth because there was less taxes on a big pool of consumers In emerging markets the opposite was happening: The pool of tax payers was too shallow. Individuals and businesses were highly taxed. As emerging markets needed to impose a lot of taxes on its businesses and middle classes, they did not consumed as much as developed countries’ citizens Then demographics hit: As more people retired in the developed countries. Two things happened at the same time: There was less consumption and a bigger burden to governments. Government of developed countries did not adjust to that. They tried to keep the status quo for too long and now need to tax heavier than if they had gradually increased the taxes overtime. In the merging markets, the opposite was happening. Almost without being perceived, the average citizen was getting wealthier. Demographics again. They had less youngster to take and that meant more disposable income. They did not start consuming. They still though themselves poorer. Banks did not lend money to them. Banks did not know they had more money than before. Then the perception hit. They started consuming. As more people enter the middle class in emerging markets, governments are gorging in taxes. They now can support the poor people and at the same time they can lower taxation on business. Those businesses free of the tax burden will become more competitive. Brazil Slashes Ethanol Tax 247wallst.com Brazil to scrap federal taxes on food staples to lower inflation en.mercopress.com Emerging markets will live henceforth the decades that the developed countries lived post war. Give credit to no one. It is just demographics playing its part.