Back to some business

After spending time learning Chinese and getting accustomed to my new home, friends, place and language, there comes a time where you have to go back to business thought. For that reason, articles are a good way to catch up with the world and so, I ran into a very interesting article from The McKinsey Quarterly titled "Ten trends to watch in 2006"

Here is the link if you want to read it:
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_abstract.aspx?ar=1734&L2=21&L3=114&srid=246

As part of the article, they put together a series of statistics, facts or predictions that will scare you, make you think or just provide an interesting read.



Total world cross-border trade as a percentage of global GDP1990: 18%2015 (estimated): 30%
Number of regional trade agreements1990: 502005: 250
Change in Germany's population over the age of 75 from 2005 to 2015: 33%
Increase in tax burden needed to maintain current benefit levels for Germany's future generation: 90%
Change in Japan's population over the age of 75 from 2005 to 2015: 36%
Change in Japan's population under the age of 5 from 2005 to 2015: -13%
Increase in tax burden needed to maintain current benefit levels for Japan's future generation: 175%
Computational capability of an Intel processor, as measured in instructions per second1971: 60,0002005: 10,800,000,000
Multiple by which e-mail traffic has grown from 1997 to 2005: 215
Number of US tax returns prepared in India2003: 25,0002005: 400,000
Combined market cap of top 150 mega-institutions1994: $4 trillion2004: $11 trillion
Total capital under management by private equity firms in 2003 in the United States and Europe: $1 trillion
Market cap of the NYSE in 2003: $11 trillion
Growth rate of the total wealth controlled by millionaires in China from 1986 to 2001: 600%
Estimated number of Chinese households to achieve European income levels by 2020 (assuming real income grows at 8 percent annually): 100 million
Total number of workers in China: 750 million
Number employed in China's state-owned companies: 375 million
Year when the income gap in the United States between the wealthiest 5% and the bottom 10% was the widest ever recorded: 2004
Part of national GDP spent on the public sector in the United Kingdom in 2004: 20%
UK public-sector spending as a ratio of GDP when transfer payments (for example, pensions) are included: 40%
Proportion of Latin Americans who would prefer a dictator to democracy if he improved their living conditions: 50%
Muslims as a percentage of the global population2000: 19%2025 (estimated): 30%
Number of major violent conflicts1991: 582005: 22
Number of coal-fired power plants China plans to build by 2012: 562
Estimated year China will overtake the United States as the number-one carbon emitter: 2025
Estimated year CO2 levels will hit 500 parts per million: 2050
Years since CO2 levels last hit 500 parts per million: 50 million
Average years it takes a CO2 molecule, once produced, to degrade: 100
Global CEOs who think overregulation is a threat to growth: 61%
Probability that a company in an industry's top revenue quartile will not be there in five years: 30%

Today's word is: 做生意(zuò shēng yi) = Do business