Take the Bus:

Will Americans learn to ride the bus or take the train? Gasoline prices have been well over $4 a gallon in Europe for a long time, but Europeans have a long tradition of plentiful and excellent mass transit. Cars in Europe, for the most part, come under the heading of a luxury. But American freedom has, since World War II, been defined as the ability to have a private car and to drive it anywhere you want.

Now gasoline prices in the U. S. are rapidly heading toward the $4 a gallon price, and suddenly many Americans have discovered the price of freedom. Mas transit ridership is climbing back into favor. According to The New York Times, ridership in places like New York City and Boston, where mas transit has long had a popular appeal, is up 5 percent. In other places where the car culture has been a way of life, like Denver, it is already up 8 percent.

Questions:

(1.) Will capacity need to be increased?
(2.) Will this slow the rise in energy costs?
(3.) Will this have an adverse effect on the automotive industry?

China's Boom on the Backs of Children:

The New York Times explores the use of child labor in China where the goods Americans buy for their own children are often made by children as young as twelve:

Residents (of Liangshan, China) say children as young as 12 have been recruited by child labor rings, equipped with fake identification cards, and transported hundreds of miles across the country to booming coastal cities, where they work 12-hour shifts to produce much of the world’s toys, clothes and electronics.

One teacher reports,

“Last year I had 30 students. This year there are only 14. All the others went outside to find work,” said Ji Ke Xiaoming, 35, a primary school teacher whose students in Erwu Village are mostly ages 12 to 14. “You know, we are very poor. Some families can’t even afford a bag of salt.”

Chinese officials are downplaying the situation, stating that there are actually very few incidents of this activity, and a recent raid of some 3,000 factories revealed only a handful of violations, but it is also likely that officials tipped off the factories prior to the raids.

For two decades, the engine than has powered the Chinese economy has been cheap labor. As the country grows economically, the labor force has become more expensive.

China Facts: "Cell phones in China have grown from 87 million in 2000 to 432 million today." (Source: ngm.com)

The Dude as prophet: "There's no question that the minute I got elected, the storm clouds on the horizon were getting directly overhead." — George W. Bush, Washington, D. C., May 11, 2001.