|
|
ONLINE FEATURES
Book Reviews
BW Video
Columnists
Interactive Gallery
Newsletters
Past Covers
Philanthropy
Podcasts
Special Reports
BLOGS
Auto Beat
Bangalore Tigers
Blogspotting
Brand New Day
Byte of the Apple
Economics Unbound
Eye on Asia
Fine On Media
Green Biz
Hot Property
Investing Insights
Management IQ
NEXT: Innovation
NussbaumOnDesign
Tech Beat
Working Parents
TECHNOLOGY
J.D. Power Ratings
Product Reviews
Tech Stats
Wildstrom: Tech Maven
AUTOS
Home Page
Auto Reviews
Classic Cars
Car Care & Safety
Hybrids
INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | |
MAY 24, 2004
Two Takes On China's Bubble Economy "Headed for a crisis?" (Cover Story, May 3) analyzed China's problems, based on China's own statistics. The reality is much worse than your otherwise excellent analysis. It is well known that China's statistics are not reliable, tending to exaggerate the "good" numbers and reduce the "bad" numbers in all levels of the reporting systems, and the final numbers usually are quite apart from reality. These questionable statistics are in all areas, including [such public-health issues] as AIDS and SARS (getting better, I should add). There are other reasons to be worried, among them widespread corruption, huge bad bank loans, and a backward and dysfunctional financial system that is simply unable to cope with the current situation. Yet the banks keep lending. These require a drastic economic reform, but the current political system (one-party rule without election) will not allow it. One needs political reform first. John C.M. Lee Hong Kong Under the heading "Runaway consumption," your table characterizes China as "devouring" (i.e., greedily consuming) 7% of the world's oil supply. China, with about 20% of the world's population, is running a substantial trade surplus -- it produces more than it consumes. How, then, would you characterize the U.S., with less than 5% of the world's population, which consumes 26% of the world's oil supply and had a trade deficit (i.e., consumes more than it produces) in 2003 of around $490 billion? Bill Vogt Henderson, N.C. Charley Ellis Is Good News For Investors "Teaching the rules of a stacked game" (Finance, Apr. 26) questioned the independence of Charles D. Ellis, recently appointed to head the Securities & Exchange Commission's newly created investor education program. Charley Ellis is renowned for importuning and counseling the investment community to focus on the interests of investors. For more than three decades, he has been a volunteer and leader in the development of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) education and ethics program and has been outspoken in his criticism of Wall Street firms for their lack of participation in the CFA and other ethics-based programs. Like Warren E. Buffett, Ellis is a strong champion of the fairness of markets and protection of the rights of investors. He will be unbiased and untiring in his efforts to educate and enlighten investors. John L. Maginn CFA Chief Investment Officer (retired) Mutual of Omaha Insurance Company Omaha   Hospitals Must Take A Scalpel To Excessive Costs The real attention getter in "Weaker vitals signs at hospitals" (News: Analysis & Commentary, May 3) is not unpaid bills but the size of this bill: $7,300 for a few hours in the hospital for diagnosis from a couple of CAT scans and a prescription for painkillers. Unless the decimal was in the wrong place, turning $730 into $7,300 by mistake, we are all in trouble today, not just the hospital industry. Mabelle Alexander Littleton, N.H. One practice that can dramatically affect some patients' bills is the unnecessary and sometimes excessive use of diagnostic imaging studies by physicians practicing defensive medicine. A frequent example I've encountered is the overuse of head computer topography (CT) scanning in adolescents and 20-year-olds who come to the emergency room with headaches. The rule, rather than the exception, is that these patients get a head CT even when they lack any focal neurologic deficits to warrant the study and generally in the absence of a neurology consultation (specialist in headache syndromes). This can add hundreds or thousands of dollars to one's bill. James Bradley Summers, M.D. Mobile, Ala. Industrial Engineers: The Unsung Heroes Of Six Sigma I was disappointed not to see the field of industrial engineering mentioned in "How Xerox (XRX ) got up to speed" (Industries, May 3). Industrial engineers invented both lean manufacturing techniques and the Six Sigma approach to process quality. Toyota (TM ) developed lean manufacturing in the 1950s based on the work of Frederick Taylor and W. Edwards Deming, both industrial engineers. Similarly, Motorola Inc.'s (MOT ) Six Sigma methodology emerged in the 1980s from Total Quality Management, a core element of industrial engineering. You quoted Deborah Nightingale of Massachusetts Institute of Technology but never mentioned that she is the former president of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, the premier professional society for industrial engineers and an authoritative source of information and training for both lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. Much of the credit for Lean Six Sigma must be assigned to the insight and hard work of the industrial engineers that General Electric Co.'s (GE ) program is based on. That was a fundamental omission from an otherwise excellent article. Marc Resnick Miami Editor's note: The writer is Secretary, Board of Trustees, Institute of Industrial Engineers. "An Attitude Of Gratitude" For A Vaccination Push Hardy Green reviews The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz in a succinct and entertaining manner ("Clobbered by the Cornucopia," Books, Apr. 26). The challenges associated with an abundance of choice pale to insignificance when contrasted with the realities highlighted in "Vaccinating the world's poor" (Science & Technology, Apr. 26). The vision and collaboration behind efforts by GlaxoSmithKline PLC's (GSK ) Dr. Jean Stephenne, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and public-health agencies appear to be making fundamental changes for the better. Perhaps those struggling to maximize minor consumer choices could redirect their energy. Schwartz suggests an "attitude of gratitude" as one cure for the negative effects of too many choices. My gratitude certainly extends wholeheartedly to Stephenne and his partners. Dennis J. Crane Covington, Ky.
| | |
 Copyright 2004, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of Use | Privacy Notice |
Printer-Friendly Version
