Wealthy Chinese are Spending Luxuriously – Companies and businesses around the world have reported a 2011 year-end trend of giant increases in Chinese spending on luxury goods. Research by Wang Xiaolu, deputy director of the National Economic Research Institute in China, suggests that the increased spending is a result of concealed wealth within the country’s underground economy. This hidden economy has grown significantly since China began rolling out a multi-trillion renminbi economic stimulus package in late 2008.
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NY-NJ Port Authority Shows No Tolerance for Discrimination – The newest executive director of the Port Authority for New York and New Jersey, Patrick Foye, is making diversity on the waterfront a priority. According to Waterfront Commission’s statistics of longshore workers in New York, about 85% are white and about 90% are male. This statistic contrasts with the diversity of the population in communities surrounding the ports. Foye plans to end “deliberate discrimination” by leveraging leases, and creating a solid, enforceable diversity hiring plan.
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Obama Seeks Supply Chain Security – Department of State and Homeland Security officials have been directed by President Obama to work together with state, federal, and international government agencies and private industries to discuss a national supply chain security strategy. Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and criminal activity have all negatively impacted U.S. economic growth and productivity through disturbances in the international supply chain within the last decade. President Obama wishes to address these supply chain disruptions by strengthening our national and international policies accordingly.
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Cooperation Between Port of Philadelphia and Port of Klaipeda – The Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Republic of Lithuania in hopes of revitalizing the Port of Philadelphia and expanding trade opportunities. The Port of Klaipeda is an ice-free port on the eastern coast of Lithuania that serves as a main shipping line to ports in Western Europe and Southeast Asia. The MoU opens up the Philadelphia gateway to European and Asian trade through Klaipeda.
Read more from Eye for Transport
