http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051101/sc_afp/chinaenvironmentwater_051101041159 So much for no enviromental costs associated with production.
Ok, i'm not a stock guru so please enlighten me what the Chinese water issue has to do with Wal mart stocks specifically?
Dude, what are you doing? Are you nuts?! You KNOW us "unsubscribers" aren't supposed to be talking about things like this!!!
Over 50% of Walmart stock is manufactured in China, half of the economic model of producing in China is their lack of enviromental regulations. Manufacturers reap large savings not having to abide by US or European enviromental laws, saving they pass onto WalMart, which makes WalMart more competitive (cheaper) in the market place. Now China is polluted, the very safety of their people has been put at risk for imperial profits, all from a populace that believed in communism until a decade ago. The Chinese government risks losing control of its people, a major problem in a society that was always dominated by strict discipline. While some in China have enjoyed capitalism, the vast majority of people are still hourly employees. The Communist Revolution that started in Moscow in 1917 was the result of haves surpressing the have nots, it would appear the have nots in China today may be organizing for a move of their own. The Chinese government is openly admitting the polution issue, this is rare, their normal policy is to deny anything and everything. The admissions by the gov't show that they are scared and attempting to squelch the issue before it gets out of hand. If the Chinese gov't could surpress the pollution issues and imprison a few thousand trouble makers, they would, this problem is obviously too well known at home for such a course of action. So China's day in the sun maybe coming to a quick end, the people are demanding higher wages and a cleaner environment. The people are killing the two competitive advantages their country offered the world, so now we have to find other countries to pollute and exploit to continue to enjoy WalMarts cheap prices.
they better keep everyone in control. many rich guys are on forbes, many just as rich but not on forbes for various reasons.... 70 to 80% people are poor, lives like in third country, uneducated, unemployeed, and there are significantly more male than female. try to image half of that 70% ish population starting a riot...... i don't think there will be any places near by for people to exploit for a long time......
China will not take any action quick and/or drastic enough to negatively effect Wal/Mart anytime soon.
What large publicly traded company builds massive desalination plants? I think perhaps its time for the Chinese to spend a few dozen $ Billion of the dollars they are holding on some good water treatment plants and desalination plants. Heck, if we payoff the right politicians we can probably get US Grant money to fund the production and then sell the stuff to the Chinese! Terry
Their problem isn't not-enough-water, it's too-many-people. And a government that would rather cover up a crisis than solve it. If that bird flu strikes, China is going to be a disaster.
I just returned this past PM from the Water Environment Federation's annual conference/expo in DC. It's an international event focusing on wastewater treatment that I have attended for years. There were always some Chinese, but this year there were more. The Chinese Gov. had a booth for parties interested in doing business in China that was never there before.
