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From the
Americas
33
Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2007
the war in Iraq. The change has slowed Nissan’s profits.”
(‘Nissan Plans Diesel for US Market,’ 18
th
April).
Of related interest . . .
According to an official of the Paris-based International
Energy Agency, which advises developed countries on
energy policy, China is poised to surpass the US as the
world’s biggest source of greenhouse gases this year.
China had been forecast to pull ahead of the US as a
polluter in 2010 but its surging economic growth has
pushed the date forward, the IEA’s chief economist,
Fatih Birol, was quoted as saying.
In an interview appearing in the Wall Street Journal
for 24
th
April, Mr Birol also said that China’s rising
emissions will cancel out the good effects of attempts
by other countries to reduce their own pollution of
the atmosphere.
China is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol which assigns
mandatory emission limitations for the reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions, but is exempt from its
restrictions because it is still considered a developing
country.
Telecom
A decade later than the US,
Canada opts for deregulation
Deregulation of its telecommunications industry is a
contentious issue in Canada, with opponents – including
some consumer groups and cable companies – claiming
that the removal of restrictions would enable established
telephone companies to trump the competition in the near
term, only to raise their prices later on.
Rejecting this argument, Canada’s government announced
on 4
th
April that it was largely deregulating the country’s
telephone market.
Local markets served by at least three operators with their
own networks – including existing telephone companies,
cable system operators, and cellphone service providers
– were to be eligible for deregulation after 18
th
April.
Unlike their counterparts in the US, telephone companies
in Canada were not separated into separate local and
long-distance operations to alleviate antitrust concerns.
Thus, at the end of 2005 about 90% of Canadian local lines
were under the control of established telecom.
Service in eastern Canada has been dominated by Bell
Canada and other units of Montreal-based BCE; in much of
western Canada, by Telus (Vancouver, British Columbia).
The new Canadian plan will not require legislative
approval. But the industry minister, Maxime Bernier, did
adopt some of the suggestions of the Parliamentary
committee whose objections were overruled.
These include the establishment of an independent
telecommunications ombudsman for consumer complaints,
to be financed by the industry.
❖
Congress
A House committee denounces
Mr Bush’s proposals for cuts
to federal small-business programmes
A report issued on 4
th
April by the House Committee on
Small Business asserts that the budget recently proposed
by President George W Bush, a self-styled champion of
the American entrepreneur, calls for an 80% cut for small
business programmes.
The budget proposal for fiscal year 2008 would reduce
or terminate 90 of the 110 federal programmes aimed at
helping entrepreneurs start or expand small businesses,
a reduction of nearly $800 million.
The report, which reflects the strong partisan bent of the
opposition Democrats newly in control of the House of
Representatives, observes that the amount allotted for small
businesses by the Republican administration constitutes
less than 1% of the proposed fiscal 2008 budget.
It says, “In comparison, the proposed payments on net
interest for the nation’s debt are over $260 billion, nearly
10% of total federal expenditures.”
The report claims that nearly 15% of the reductions deal
with technology and innovation-orientated companies,
several of them slashed by as much as 50%.
In addition, the president’s budget proposal does
not provide additional funding for the Small Business
Administration’s popular 7(a) loan programme, which
brought in $2.4 billion in funding for California businesses
alone in fiscal year 2006.
While the proposed budget reductions highlighted by the
House committee may be taken as a bellwether of White
House attitudes, Brian Wingfield of Forbes.com pointed out
that they do not necessarily indicate what the programmes
will eventually receive. That will be determined when
Congress finalises appropriations later this year. (‘Funding
for the Little Guy,’ 5
th
April).
Mr Wingfield also noted that Capitol Hill is not the only
Washington venue where small business interests are being
examined.
He wrote: “The Securities and Exchange Commission and
other federal regulators are currently considering revising
auditing standards adopted five years ago in the Sarbanes-
Oxley Act. Industry groups say the standards, put in place
to discourage corporate fraud, are too cumbersome for
small and medium-sized businesses.”
Dorothy Fabian
Features Editor