Fit To Print

Years ago, when I was young and antiestablishment, I never considered the business section of a newspaper or broadcast of any value to me whatsoever. The stories of mergers and acquisitions and stock market activity bored me to death. Besides it was hip to be anti-capitalist in those youthful days in university.

But my tune has changed. I'm still antiestablishment, pro-worker, but I take heed and read the business stories from time-to-time. Often, the insight of business stories, that occasionally make headlines, are real indicators of what's going on in the world. They usually involve business deals that governments make without any democratic scrutiny or corporations that operate outside the system.

Case in point: China's deal to increase trade with India.

In a story released on November 21st by the Associated Press, China and India have agreed “boost trade by $40 Billion by 2010.” The deal covers “trade, finance, information, energy, science, technology, agriculture and education ties.” The key ingredient is the energy part. While details were few at the time of publication, you can guess that it includes Natural Gas and Oil.

China is clearly moving in the direction of distribution to India, one of the largest consumers of oil and oil-based products. Back in March of this year, for instance, Russia signed a deal with China to supply Natural Gas to China by 2011.

Just last week, China signed a deal with Iran for 3 million tons of LNG or Liquified Natural Gas annually, beginning next year. The agreement was made by the CNPC or China National Petroleum Corporation. This same corporation has also signed oil deals with Venezuela and Canada over the past 18 months.

So what are we to make of all this? Are the issues of the Iraq War really making the world go round or is it all just a distraction for businesses to make deals without the publicity?

If we want to stay informed, perhaps we should open the business section first, before we get to the headlines.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.