‘Ms Jorgensen reckons that between her and her rivals the total number of limos in Copenhagen next week has already broken the 1,200 barrier. The French alone rang up on Thursday and ordered another 42. “We haven’t got enough limos in the country to fulfil the demand,” she says. “We’re having to drive them in hundreds of miles from Germany and Sweden.”

And the total number of electric cars or hybrids among that number? “Five,” says Ms Jorgensen. “The government has some alternative fuel cars but the rest will be petrol or diesel. We don’t have any hybrids in Denmark, unfortunately, due to the extreme taxes on those cars. It makes no sense at all, but it’s very Danish.”‘

No more comment is necessary. Here is the link: Climate Conference and Carbon Dioxide

“But social experiments always have unintended consequences. In the case of China’s One Child Policy, these consequences are now becoming evident, and are no less breathtaking in scale than the dreams entertained by the coercive visionaries in Beijing who set this scheme in motion. Inexorably—and by now inescapably—a host of new and unfamiliar demographic problems have arisen, all of which will plague China’s next generation. These problems will compromise economic development, strain social harmony and place the traditional Chinese family structure under severe pressure; in fact, they could shake Chinese civilization to its very foundations.”

The above comes from a wonderfully thought provoking article on China in the Far Eastern Economic Review by Nicholas Eberstadt. The data and the implications to China are damning. First their workforce is going to age rapidly:

“According to the UNPD’s projections, China’s 65-plus age group currently numbers around 110 million. Over the coming generation, this group is set to rise to 280 million—growing at a pace of almost 3.8% per annum. By 2035, nearly one in five Chinese will be 65 or older, constituting a staggering 280 million senior citizens.”

And the amount of 15-29 year olds as a percentage of the population is plunging:

“In 1985, 15- to 29-year-olds accounted for 47% of China’s working age population. Today that proportion is down to about 34% of the workforce. By Census Bureau projections, 20 years from now it will have fallen to just barely 26% of China’s conventionally defined labor force.”

But even worse is that the China One Child Policy has caused the Chinese to abort daughters and try as hard as possible to only have boys. This is resulting is a surge of unmarried men as the number of men dramatically outnumber women:

“Today, roughly 5% of Chinese men in their late 30s have never married. By 2020, that fraction could exceed 15%, and may reach 25% by 2040. The situation will be more extreme in the countryside, since rural men are more likely to lose out to more affluent and educated urban suitors in the national marriage race. By these same calculations, in 2020 about 20% of China’s rural men between the ages of 35 to 44 will never have taken a bride, and the proportion rises above 30% by 2040.”

And the author asks this very scary question:

“How will Chinese government and society function in the face of this rising tide of unmarriageable young men, an able-bodied but very likely disaffected cadre drawn disproportionately from the countryside and the urban poor?”

Here is the link to this must read article and hat tip to Paul Kedrosky for finding it: Demographics of China’s One Child Policy

I just watched a haunting and disturbing documentary on the terrorist attacks in Mumbai from HBO that is a must watch for everyone. Terror in Mumbai is stunning because it not only shows you what happened and how it happened, but they play recorded cell phone conversations between the terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan.

My conclusions from watching this documentary is:

1)We must fight fanatical Islam with every ounce of strength and never give in. We must give them no quarter. That we cannot give up no matter how hard the fight. And that we cannot negotiate with fanatical Islam. Just listen to the cell phone conversations and you will begin to understand there is no negotiations here.

2)Any tourist in a foreign country is not safe and that you should avoid tourist attractions and hotels.

3)I pray that US police forces make this documentary a must watch, but I am fearful that we are just as clueless in dealing with these kinds of terrorists as the Indian forces, who were hapless.

4)We must actively boost intelligence, because the terrorists responsible here have promised that the Terror in Mumbai is “just the beginning of the film.”

Here is short trailer for the film:

While I just knocked the President for his shirking the moral high ground in China, I do commend him for responding to Cuban blogger, Yoani Sánchez. Ms. Sanchez has been highlighting how tough and bad life is in Cuba and she recently got beat up by Cuban security people for it. Good for the President, I would like to see more actions like this.

Obama responds to Cuban blogger

“Imagine living in a prime area of California and watching your house decline by 40%, your houshold income knocked for an initial 30%, and the after-school programs and town services get cut. Now throw some fees and tax hikes on top that mess. For the coup de grace, imagine Calfornia voters sitting down each night to another wave of bailouts from Washington to financial corporations. Under those circumstances it seems quite unlikely Washington can say no, to the States.”

Read more:

Washington’s Dilemma