Good News for Wal-Mart Shoppers

Here is gem from this week's Retailing Today Wal-Mart report.

New research shows that proximity to a Walmart store and access to low prices does not contribute to obesity. Apparently the issue was the subject of debate within the scientific community, so Art Carden, a professor of economics and business at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. and Charles Courtemanche at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, undertook a statistical analysis and discovered that greater consumer access to a Walmart store was associated with lower body-mass indexes and a lower probability of being obese. That's good news for Walmart, which can use all the help it can get when it comes to refuting some of the more absurd claims about its impact on society.

In this case, Carden noted in an article on Forbes.com that, the findings carry weighty implications. "Evidence we have accumulated suggests that Walmart does not have the sort of harmful effect on American society that its more heated detractors assert is the case."

Carden doesn't go into detail about the methodology used to arrive at that determination, but it is irrelevant anyway, since personal responsibility is the most important factor when it comes to determining weight. Let's hope funding for the study didn't come from the economic stimulus package.

Bridging the Strait?

Had to share this from yesterday's Los Angeles Times. And to think less than a year ago you could not fly between Taiwan and China.

Chinese officials urges mainland businesses to invest in Taiwan, plan purchasing mission

By Associated Press

May 18, 2009

SHANGHAI (AP) — China has outlined plans for encouraging mainland Chinese businesses to expand their investments in Taiwan, and has scheduled several purchasing missions to buy food and consumer products.

Top officials in charge of Taiwan affairs outlined Beijing's policies aimed at boosting trade and investment with the island in a forum held over the weekend in the southeastern port city of Xiamen.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, and while Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's policy of allowing more investment by mainland Chinese in the island has won favor with Beijing, it has sparked protests in Taiwan.

Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators marched Sunday in Taiwan's capital Taipei to protest the plans. The opposition says Ma's overtures to Beijing weaken Taiwan's sovereignty and might even force the island to accept eventual unification with the mainland — a charge the president denies.

The guidelines outlined Sunday by Wang Yi, Beijing's Taiwan affairs director, urge mainland businesses to visit the island and expand their activities there.

Two mainland purchasing groups will visit Taiwan to buy fruits, vegetables, aquatic products and processed farm products, according to a copy of Wang's speech posted Monday on the Taiwan Affairs Office Web site. Three other missions in coming months will focus on buying consumer goods, foods and craft products, it said.

The aim, Wang said, was to help Taiwan weather the world economic crisis.

"We are concerned about the state of Taiwan's economy and are willing to do our best to help," Wang said.

"With the expansion and deepening of exchanges, we will make unremitting efforts to do more good and concrete things for the people of Taiwan," he said.

Industries encouraged to invest in Taiwan include electronics, telecommunications, biopharmaceuticals, marine transport, public works, trading companies and manufacturers of textiles, machinery, vehicles and others, he said.

Taiwan-funded companies, meanwhile, will be welcomed to invest in construction projects on the Chinese mainland, and tourism from the mainland to Taiwan will also be expanded to more than 600,000 visitors a year, he said.

Wang said China will also expand the number of professional fields on the mainland open to qualified Taiwanese, such as auditing, corporate legal advisers and various types of engineers, among others.

Taiwan law firms will be allowed to open branches in Fuzhou and Xiamen, two cities in Fujian province, which faces the island across the Taiwan Strait, he said.

Taiwan's president, Ma, has worked hard to reduce tensions with China, lifting long-standing bans on regular, direct transportation links across the 100 mile (160 kilometer) wide Taiwan Strait and relaxing controls on Taiwanese investment on the mainland. His administration also plans to allow Chinese to invest and buy property in Taiwan.

The two sides are working on an "economic cooperation" agreement that Taiwan has long sought, hoping to cut tariffs and expand trade.

The Best Label Ever?

Happy ten year anniversary to Ropeadope, the world’s best record label and a treasure trove of goodness on the Internet.

Founder Andy Hurwitz runs a must read daily blog that, in my experience, generally is not accessible through the China Firewall. With the same spirit in a different place Andy also operates the essential Baby Loves Music venture producing children’s music and the famous Baby Loves Disco parties.

Thanks Ropeadope and Andy for ten years of passion and inspiration.

Here are my top three albums. I would purchase each of these immediately if I were you.

The Word. A supergroup performance of John Medeski, the North Mississippi All-Stars and prodigy Robert Randolph building on the Sacred Steel music of the House of God church. This album is inspirational and awing.

The Philadelphia Experiment. An early Ropeadope offering teaming Philly heavy weights Uri Cane, Ahmir Thompson (aka ?uestlove), and Christian McBride. This will never leave your car.

Project Logic. A mind blowing whirlwind of sound based around turntable pioneer DJ Logic. I think this is now out of print, so check out the live release of Project Logic Live at Wetlands, NYC for a listen. This band begins with the feel of On the Corner or A Tribute to Jack Johnson and takes it to a whole other place.