Shameful Pollution

(12/15/2013) The world largest semiconductor assembling and testing firm, ASE (Advanced Semiconductor Engineering), was shut down recently due to water pollution. They discharged wastewater (without processing) directly into the Houjin River in Kaoshiung City, which is located in southern Taiwan. ASE's K7 plant has seriously polluted the river, which the government spent $100 million USD years ago in order to cleanse the previous pollution. However, the penalty from the the government is merely $20,000 per day if the wastewater exceeds the standard (the discharged wastewater is more than four times higher than the acceptable level.) After the K7 plant pollution was revealed, another ASE's plant in Chung-Li city was caught again for discharging wastewater though ASE said the operations in Chung-Li is unaffected.

So far, the semiconductor and electronics industries remain alert for further development in case the Taiwan Government forces a more large scale shutdown. One CEO from another Taiwanese said that if ASE is totally shutdown, around 1/3 of the global semiconductor production will be impacted (news in Chinese) since ASE is the largest semiconductor assembling and testing firm. I feel ashamed of this company's greed and the inability of our government. However, Taiwan recently has experienced several business scandals (intentionally mislabled cooking oils and mixing with inedible oil, and other industry-grade ingredients used in food). Business consciousness is very underdeveloped in Taiwan as well as many Asian countries since the economic growth has been #1 goal of many governments and getting rich is #1 goal for many people. Consumers in the developed countries are rarely aware of this dark side of global supply chain and hidden costs of global economic growth. Try to google this news, you won't get many returns.

Death Spiral? Chinese Car Obsession

(1/31/2013) China has overtaken U.S. as the largest car market. Owning a car is a symbol of social status in China even though driving in many cities in China is not a exciting experience at all. The traffic congestion in China is pretty well known (Look at this historical gridlock near Beijing in 2010). Recently, Beijing is experiencing severe smog for days. How bad was it? You cannot see the Sun in Beijing when you are in a sunny day (See CNN's report below). People say "The More The Air Is Polluted, The More I Prefer To Drive." Is it another new paradox smilar to Prisoner's dilemma or Paradox of thrift in the Economics?