A leading government official informed yesterday that the Government of China has decided that they will go for liberalization of up 90% of the manufacturing items to mainland Chinese investors. This decision involves liberalization of mainland Chinese investments in Taiwan, the contents of which were presented at the meeting of the National Security Council.
Almost or 50% of the public construction projects, will be kept open for mainland Chinese investments. There are around 23 liberalization items like rapid transit system, light-rail system, service stations of freeways, bridges as well as park and green space.
The government has divided the liberalization of 247 items of mainland Chinese investments in two stages, including manufacturing sector and public construction. The pace of the third-stage liberalization will be enhanced after the President Ma Ying-jeou wins the election for the second term.
The third stage will not only include opening up of at-least 100 manufacturing items to mainland investors, but also authorization for them to buy into LED firms. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has permitted the mainlanders to invest in travel agencies on a give-and-take basis. The statistics of MOEA show that 204 mainland Chinese enterprises have invested in Taiwan, the total investment value of which is US$175 million.

As most of the world is striving to regain economic stability and growth, it's interesting to see some new industries that can really boost economic viability. One such industry is recycling. More widespread efforts than ever before are being made not only to recycle the usual glass, paper, and plastic, but an ever-expanding range of products. For example, there are even programs specific to recycling carpeting. Companies like Empire Today, which people also know as Empire Carpett, participate in such programs as CARE, (Carpet America Recovery Effort), and CLEAR (Carpet Landfill Elimination And Recycling). The expansion of recycling into different markets creates jobs as well as ventures that can be less risky than some others. There's a constant piling-up of materials discarded as waste, so there's no shortage of raw material, so to speak, for the industry of recycling. In addition, there's an ever-increasing awareness in businesses and in consumers about the value of using recycled materials. Recycling helps us advance our efforts to get ourselves onto a more sustainable use of resources and to better care for our environment. For students, this is a rewarding area to focus on. There is plenty of room for new ideas on what we can recycle, how best to recycle, and what new uses for recycled materials there may be. There's lots of room for development in this field, so with the energy and inventiveness of students, this field could really boom.

One of the globalization effects most criticized in the US is the fact that US-based multinational corporations, who employ approximately 1/5 of the US workforce, have been cutting back their hiring in the US while hiring more overseas. New data from the US Commerce Department indicates that during the last decade US companies cut their domestic work forces by 2.9 million while they increased overseas employment by 2.4 million.

This is in sharp contrast to the 1990s where US corporations created many jobs overseas but even more jobs at home. This trend toward outsourcing is highlighting the importance of other rapidly growing economies to large US companies like Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Caterpillar and GE. This data has led some to call for US government intervention to hinder companies from exporting work overseas. While explicit protectionist laws are unlikely, implicit tools like currency depreciation may have some effect.