January 2003 Edition
ONLINE
The Internet was supposed to make the world smaller, helping businesses in rural areas find a niche in the global market. But a study in 11 communities in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces has found that the ease of ordering products or services online has caused some companies in rural areas to lose business to firms in urban centres. Also, it found that the Information Technology field spawned by the Internet is largely a city-based industry. This means that people in rural areas who want to work in the IT field are leaving home, further hurting small communities.
COMPETITIVENESS
Canada lost its high ranking in an annual survey of the world's most competitive economies, slipping to eighth spot from third. Despite Canada's stellar economic performance last year, the slide was caused by a fall in this country's technology ranking. The United States was first followed by Finland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden.
TAXES
Unable to collect more than US$200 billion in back taxes, the Internal Revenue Service is considering using private collection agencies to get taxpayers to pay the government. The IRS has circulated a detailed document asking some of the same firms that track down credit card deadbeats to help it design a plan for private collectors to go after taxpayers. The IRS is still deciding whether bill collectors should be paid a flat fee, or keep a percentage of the taxes collected.
BLOOD
A powder made from potatoes can clot blood instantly and could be useful in surgeries and on the battlefield for stopping life-threatening bleeding. The powder, made of purified potato starch, essentially acts like a sponge soaking up water in the blood. Tests on volunteers found that powder plus pressure on the wound reduced clotting time by five minutes compared with pressure alone.
DRUGS
Over the past two decades, taking drugs to treat depression has increased significantly. Researchers in Toronto analyzed prescription habits in Canada between 1981 and 2000. During that period, the total number of prescriptions for anti-depressants jumped to 14.5 million a year from 3.2 million. This 353 per cent increase occurred while the Canadian population increased one per cent annually. The total amount spent on these drugs grew to $543 million in 2000 from $31.4 million in 1981.
MUD
Mud homes are to be built in Britain for the first time in centuries. A housing association is to construct bungalows and then cover their flat roofs and three of their four walls with a two-foot layer of earth in an attempt to cut heating bills. The walls and roofs of the two-bedroom homes will be planted with flowers and shrubs to make them look nice. Rooms will have ceiling-to-floor, south-facing windows to provide light and to absorb heat.
ACCOUNTING
The Economist reports that a worldwide accounting standard has come closer after U.S. and European regulators agreed to harmonize rules by 2005. The U.S. had insisted that any global agreement would have to follow its own accounting principals, but in the wake of Enron and other accounting scandals, it was forced to soften its attitude to European practices.
CRYING
A Spanish electronic engineer spent three years visiting nurseries and analyzing the frequencies and patterns of babies' cries. Now he has invented a gadget, about the size of a calculator, that takes 20 seconds to analyze the volume, pattern and interval of a child's crying. It then interprets the wails as one of five emotional states: uncomfortable, stressed, hungry, tired or simply bored. Manufactured by Sharp, the electronics giant, it claimed a 98 per cent reliability rate in clinical tests.
ROTTEN
A simple plastic disc designed to sit inside food packaging changes colour when exposed to the noxious vapours given off by rotting food. Its developers hope it will provide a simple way for consumers to tell whether food has gone off. The first disc to be launched will be an indicator for fish and shrimps. Frozen vegetable will be next.
JOBS
An inexplicable surge in farm jobs has played an important part in keeping the U.S.unemployment rate down in recent months. Since last June, some 415,000 jobs have been created in agriculture--a rise of 13 per cent and the fastest growth in decades. The strength baffles analysts and statisticians alike and could reinforce financial market scepticism on the unemployment figures as a reliable indicator of the economy.
OPEN SKIES
Europe's highest court has ruled that eight EU countries acted illegally when they signed bilateral air deals with the U.S. offering advantages to their national flag carriers. The ruling gives the EU the opportunity to try to negotiate new transatlantic airline treaties with the U.S. on behalf of all of Europe. For consumers, greater competition could lead to lower ticket prices and more choices.
QUALITY
Supermarkets in Britain are being accused of driving British fruit growers out of business by insisting on cosmetically perfect apples and pears at the expense of quality and other consumer demands, such as lower pesticide levels. A survey of 100 growers found that although supermarkets make a show of supporting and promoting British fruit, they routinely reject produce for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the fruit.
NAMES
Chilean sea bass has become such a popular menu item that the species is on the brink of being fished out of existence. The fish is prized because its flaky, snow-white flesh has a high oil content, making it hard to overcook. Until recently, it was called the Patagonia toothfish.
GROANS
Australian scientists have produced garments they hope will prevent injuries. An "intelligent fabric," to be used in a range of clothing, emits a groaning sound to warn sportspeople of a body movement or stretch too far that could prove harmful.
BULBS
A new generation of "bulbs" now being tested in traffic lights and a handful of designer homes will last almost 70 years. The new light-emitting diodes burn for 100,000 hours, 100 times longer than a domestic light bulb. Light bulb manufacturers are now spending millions of dollars on research and development to prepare the technology for domestic use.
STANDARDS
Developing countries face significant standardization challenges. Many are not able to participate adequately in international standards development and lack the basic infrastructure for conformity assessment activities. Canada is to provide technical assistance aimed at strengthening the institutional capacities of developing countries to enable them to effectively participate in global trading activities, to become signatories to international agreements and develop a strong base.
AFRICA
Canada has just completed a trade mission to Sub-Saharan Africa considered by the government to be an area of unrealized potential for the Canadian trade community. In 2001, Canada-Sub-Saharan Africa bilateral trade in merchandise totalled $1.69 billion; merchandise exports to the region grew to $690-million and imports totalled $1-billion. For the year 2000, sales of services added $629- million to Canadian exports.
SIGHT
Eye specialists the world over are just beginning to recognize the gender issue in blindness. Whether in Asia, Africa or North America, women constitute two of every three patients who have lost much of their eyesight. Researchers say the difference in vision loss cannot be fully explained by the fact that women live longer.
LABOUR
Radical vegens, who don't eat any animal products, are calling for an end to the oppression of honeybees; they claim the production of honey involves forced labour.
CAMERAS
These are good times for the five Japanese manufacturers of digital cameras. It's estimated that digital camera sales will have reached 22 million in 2002, up 49 per cent from 2001, and will approach 35 million units this year. In value, digital cameras now make up 87 per cent of total camera shipments in Japan and 75 per cent elsewhere.
CARTS
Safeway is testing a shopping cart that uses a wireless device to monitor customers as they move through the aisles. The carts allow supermarkets to make pitches to customers as they're choosing what to buy. After emitting a soft chime, the cart computer displays an item--along with its discount offer--that's located in the aisle. A panel attached to the shelf points out where the product is located. The screen also includes news, weather, recipes and a list of where the product is located.
GIVING
Canadian taxfilers gave more to charity in 2001, continuing a decade long trend of growth in charitable donations. In 2001, 5,521,800 taxfilers reported donations of $5.51 billion, compared with 5,516,400 taxfilers giving almost $5.44 billion in 2000. The median donation nationally in 2001 was $200. This means that half of the donations by taxfilers were above $200, and half were below. Nunavut taxfilers had the highest median at $360, followed by Prince Edward Island at $320 and Newfoundland and Labrador at $300.
OUTLOOK
In its latest Economic Outlook, the OECD forecasts that growth in the rich industrialized countries will remain muted in early 2003, but pick up in the second half of the year. In both 2003 and 2004, it expects the U.S. economy to continue to outpace the economies of Japan and the Euro area.
FAKES
Nokia mobile phones and Nintendo game consoles were the runaway favourites of smugglers caught bringing fake goods into the European Union in 2001. Customs officers seized about 530,000 counterfeit Nokia products in 2001, or 52 per cent of electrical items intercepted. Fake Nintendo products made up 48 per cent of all toys and games seized, or about 750,000 items.
LOST
Despite searching with helicopters, land rover patrols, and foot soldiers, they have failed to find an inflatable tank lost during recent gales in Britain. The rubber, life size decoy tank, officially a "pneumatic deception device," is the size of three cars and costs about $25,000. In 1992, after a war games exercise involving 88 inflatable tanks, three went missing and have never been recovered.
SAFETY
German scientists reported recently that instead of snuggling up to their mothers for warmth in their cold pigsties and running the risk of being crushed--a common cause of early porcine death--waterbeds could be a safer alternative. Comparing the number of injuries while scrambling for a feeding position, piglets on waterbeds had fewer injuries and gained more weight than piglets kept on concrete.
FINES
In Finland, speeding fines are based on income. Recently a Nokia executive, with earnings of $5.2 million, was fined $103,000 for speeding, later reduced to $5,245.
Thank you for reading the A & A Economic News Digest. For more information visit our website www.aacb.com or contact A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd. at strehler@aacb.com.
Past issues of the A&A Economic News Digest can be found at http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/index.asp
The Internet was supposed to make the world smaller, helping businesses in rural areas find a niche in the global market. But a study in 11 communities in Quebec and the Atlantic provinces has found that the ease of ordering products or services online has caused some companies in rural areas to lose business to firms in urban centres. Also, it found that the Information Technology field spawned by the Internet is largely a city-based industry. This means that people in rural areas who want to work in the IT field are leaving home, further hurting small communities.
COMPETITIVENESS
Canada lost its high ranking in an annual survey of the world's most competitive economies, slipping to eighth spot from third. Despite Canada's stellar economic performance last year, the slide was caused by a fall in this country's technology ranking. The United States was first followed by Finland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden.
TAXES
Unable to collect more than US$200 billion in back taxes, the Internal Revenue Service is considering using private collection agencies to get taxpayers to pay the government. The IRS has circulated a detailed document asking some of the same firms that track down credit card deadbeats to help it design a plan for private collectors to go after taxpayers. The IRS is still deciding whether bill collectors should be paid a flat fee, or keep a percentage of the taxes collected.
BLOOD
A powder made from potatoes can clot blood instantly and could be useful in surgeries and on the battlefield for stopping life-threatening bleeding. The powder, made of purified potato starch, essentially acts like a sponge soaking up water in the blood. Tests on volunteers found that powder plus pressure on the wound reduced clotting time by five minutes compared with pressure alone.
DRUGS
Over the past two decades, taking drugs to treat depression has increased significantly. Researchers in Toronto analyzed prescription habits in Canada between 1981 and 2000. During that period, the total number of prescriptions for anti-depressants jumped to 14.5 million a year from 3.2 million. This 353 per cent increase occurred while the Canadian population increased one per cent annually. The total amount spent on these drugs grew to $543 million in 2000 from $31.4 million in 1981.
MUD
Mud homes are to be built in Britain for the first time in centuries. A housing association is to construct bungalows and then cover their flat roofs and three of their four walls with a two-foot layer of earth in an attempt to cut heating bills. The walls and roofs of the two-bedroom homes will be planted with flowers and shrubs to make them look nice. Rooms will have ceiling-to-floor, south-facing windows to provide light and to absorb heat.
ACCOUNTING
The Economist reports that a worldwide accounting standard has come closer after U.S. and European regulators agreed to harmonize rules by 2005. The U.S. had insisted that any global agreement would have to follow its own accounting principals, but in the wake of Enron and other accounting scandals, it was forced to soften its attitude to European practices.
CRYING
A Spanish electronic engineer spent three years visiting nurseries and analyzing the frequencies and patterns of babies' cries. Now he has invented a gadget, about the size of a calculator, that takes 20 seconds to analyze the volume, pattern and interval of a child's crying. It then interprets the wails as one of five emotional states: uncomfortable, stressed, hungry, tired or simply bored. Manufactured by Sharp, the electronics giant, it claimed a 98 per cent reliability rate in clinical tests.
ROTTEN
A simple plastic disc designed to sit inside food packaging changes colour when exposed to the noxious vapours given off by rotting food. Its developers hope it will provide a simple way for consumers to tell whether food has gone off. The first disc to be launched will be an indicator for fish and shrimps. Frozen vegetable will be next.
JOBS
An inexplicable surge in farm jobs has played an important part in keeping the U.S.unemployment rate down in recent months. Since last June, some 415,000 jobs have been created in agriculture--a rise of 13 per cent and the fastest growth in decades. The strength baffles analysts and statisticians alike and could reinforce financial market scepticism on the unemployment figures as a reliable indicator of the economy.
OPEN SKIES
Europe's highest court has ruled that eight EU countries acted illegally when they signed bilateral air deals with the U.S. offering advantages to their national flag carriers. The ruling gives the EU the opportunity to try to negotiate new transatlantic airline treaties with the U.S. on behalf of all of Europe. For consumers, greater competition could lead to lower ticket prices and more choices.
QUALITY
Supermarkets in Britain are being accused of driving British fruit growers out of business by insisting on cosmetically perfect apples and pears at the expense of quality and other consumer demands, such as lower pesticide levels. A survey of 100 growers found that although supermarkets make a show of supporting and promoting British fruit, they routinely reject produce for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the fruit.
NAMES
Chilean sea bass has become such a popular menu item that the species is on the brink of being fished out of existence. The fish is prized because its flaky, snow-white flesh has a high oil content, making it hard to overcook. Until recently, it was called the Patagonia toothfish.
GROANS
Australian scientists have produced garments they hope will prevent injuries. An "intelligent fabric," to be used in a range of clothing, emits a groaning sound to warn sportspeople of a body movement or stretch too far that could prove harmful.
BULBS
A new generation of "bulbs" now being tested in traffic lights and a handful of designer homes will last almost 70 years. The new light-emitting diodes burn for 100,000 hours, 100 times longer than a domestic light bulb. Light bulb manufacturers are now spending millions of dollars on research and development to prepare the technology for domestic use.
STANDARDS
Developing countries face significant standardization challenges. Many are not able to participate adequately in international standards development and lack the basic infrastructure for conformity assessment activities. Canada is to provide technical assistance aimed at strengthening the institutional capacities of developing countries to enable them to effectively participate in global trading activities, to become signatories to international agreements and develop a strong base.
AFRICA
Canada has just completed a trade mission to Sub-Saharan Africa considered by the government to be an area of unrealized potential for the Canadian trade community. In 2001, Canada-Sub-Saharan Africa bilateral trade in merchandise totalled $1.69 billion; merchandise exports to the region grew to $690-million and imports totalled $1-billion. For the year 2000, sales of services added $629- million to Canadian exports.
SIGHT
Eye specialists the world over are just beginning to recognize the gender issue in blindness. Whether in Asia, Africa or North America, women constitute two of every three patients who have lost much of their eyesight. Researchers say the difference in vision loss cannot be fully explained by the fact that women live longer.
LABOUR
Radical vegens, who don't eat any animal products, are calling for an end to the oppression of honeybees; they claim the production of honey involves forced labour.
CAMERAS
These are good times for the five Japanese manufacturers of digital cameras. It's estimated that digital camera sales will have reached 22 million in 2002, up 49 per cent from 2001, and will approach 35 million units this year. In value, digital cameras now make up 87 per cent of total camera shipments in Japan and 75 per cent elsewhere.
CARTS
Safeway is testing a shopping cart that uses a wireless device to monitor customers as they move through the aisles. The carts allow supermarkets to make pitches to customers as they're choosing what to buy. After emitting a soft chime, the cart computer displays an item--along with its discount offer--that's located in the aisle. A panel attached to the shelf points out where the product is located. The screen also includes news, weather, recipes and a list of where the product is located.
GIVING
Canadian taxfilers gave more to charity in 2001, continuing a decade long trend of growth in charitable donations. In 2001, 5,521,800 taxfilers reported donations of $5.51 billion, compared with 5,516,400 taxfilers giving almost $5.44 billion in 2000. The median donation nationally in 2001 was $200. This means that half of the donations by taxfilers were above $200, and half were below. Nunavut taxfilers had the highest median at $360, followed by Prince Edward Island at $320 and Newfoundland and Labrador at $300.
OUTLOOK
In its latest Economic Outlook, the OECD forecasts that growth in the rich industrialized countries will remain muted in early 2003, but pick up in the second half of the year. In both 2003 and 2004, it expects the U.S. economy to continue to outpace the economies of Japan and the Euro area.
FAKES
Nokia mobile phones and Nintendo game consoles were the runaway favourites of smugglers caught bringing fake goods into the European Union in 2001. Customs officers seized about 530,000 counterfeit Nokia products in 2001, or 52 per cent of electrical items intercepted. Fake Nintendo products made up 48 per cent of all toys and games seized, or about 750,000 items.
LOST
Despite searching with helicopters, land rover patrols, and foot soldiers, they have failed to find an inflatable tank lost during recent gales in Britain. The rubber, life size decoy tank, officially a "pneumatic deception device," is the size of three cars and costs about $25,000. In 1992, after a war games exercise involving 88 inflatable tanks, three went missing and have never been recovered.
SAFETY
German scientists reported recently that instead of snuggling up to their mothers for warmth in their cold pigsties and running the risk of being crushed--a common cause of early porcine death--waterbeds could be a safer alternative. Comparing the number of injuries while scrambling for a feeding position, piglets on waterbeds had fewer injuries and gained more weight than piglets kept on concrete.
FINES
In Finland, speeding fines are based on income. Recently a Nokia executive, with earnings of $5.2 million, was fined $103,000 for speeding, later reduced to $5,245.
Thank you for reading the A & A Economic News Digest. For more information visit our website www.aacb.com or contact A & A Contract Customs Brokers Ltd. at strehler@aacb.com.
Past issues of the A&A Economic News Digest can be found at http://www.aacb.com/publications/ed/index.asp
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