Introduction:

In this paper I discuss the phenomenon of native English teachers in the Middle East, particularly in the United Arab Emirates as part of the EFL public po hikoolid. In this discussion I shall examine the reasons that such a phenomenon. I will also examine the attitudes of local and non-native speakers of English Teachers of older students with learning environments. In addition, I link to the communicative imperialism “(Phillips, 2006) and with the role of the media in the context of EFL in the Middle East region. Since my work is natural to expect, “thoughtful” (Pennycook, 2001: p. 1), and previous experience in other countries are present.

ELT in United Arab Emirates has witnessed an extraordinary revolution in the last 6 years. My interest of this issue emerged simultaneity with the appearance of a new type of schools which are gradually replacing the ordinary public schools in UAE. This type is called (Al-Ghad schools) which literally means “tomorrow schools” in Arabic. It clearly indicates the main purpose of these schools is to produce more sophisticated, moderated and competitive students. The vision of ministry of Education and Youth in UAE as what they declared is “to have a new generation who is more capable of English language and its vocabulary and grammar skills”, in other words “we need a generation who speaks English as it is his or her first language”, thus to achieve this goal teachers who “have a better command of fluent, idiomatically correct language forms, are more knowledgeable about the cultural connotations of the language” (Braine, 1999: p. xiv) are needed. In order to make this vision alive, a huge number of native English teachers had been brought from areas such as “North America, Britain, new Zealand and Australia which claim ownership over English”( Canagarajah, 1999: p. 79). Furthermore, to support this vision, some authorized sources in the government argue that this new methodology of teaching is the best in teaching English which enables the students to acquire the language very easy and smoothly. Schiitz (2007) cites Krashen’s (1987) view that acquisition any language requires meaningful interaction in the target language (natural communication) thus, language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules because learners grow up learning the language as it is something very natural in their life without an effort, especially at the beginning levels of their life. Moreover, Boyle (1997) illustrates that native speaker teachers have a range of advantages over the non-native speaker teachers because (a) English learned from birth and developed through his/her life as primary language which been used in his/her life (b) the intricacies of the grammar of the language are learned instinctively and can be employed with speed and certainty (c) native speaker of English engages with other native speakers of English as something natural in his/her social context, so he/she uses the language all the time as the dominant language, thus it is better to use native speaker teachers of English to teach their first language. Additionally, McNeill (1994) in his study about the characteristics of native and non-native speaker teachers of English argues that native speaker teachers have the advantage when it comes to learners’ vocabulary needs. It is sensible to point here; the government is replacing non-native speaker teachers with native speaker teachers of English gradually in order to provide their students with the opportunity to hold conversations with teachers in English, and only in English.

On the other hand, Al-segair (2007) who works as a teacher in a prestigious university in the Middle East illustrates that in his investigation about native speaker teachers in the Middle East, “I found some of them used to work as dog-trainers back in Chicago” (paragraph, 2). He also pointed out that some teachers were “a bunch of former company employees and some had worked in western embassies” (paragraph, 2) who did not work as teachers before. Al-segair thus explains that not because you are a native speaker of a language qualifies you to teach it! Teaching a language requires “skills, competence, training and knowledge” (paragraph, 3). Going further in this issue, Al-Osaimi (2007) illustrates that some schools do not bother to recruit qualified English teachers, however, parents usually more impressed by where did teachers come from and the fact that their accent sounds more ‘American or British’ considered to be enough to convince them that they are the most suitable teachers to teach their children, regardless what they have of qualifications or experiences. Such criteria forced me to wonder why such thinking is dominant in the region.

America and its Politics play a major part in all of this. The American tenet that “the current educational systems in place in the Muslim world were partly responsible for motivating the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the pentagon. In June 2002” (Karmani, 2005:p. 262), thus in order to change their attitude towards the western and the American culture, a new concept should be replaced with what is described as a “combination of intolerance, ignorance, anti-Semitic, anti-American, and anti-Western views” (Karmani, 2005: p. 262) by using native speaker teachers as means to apply this project.   By importing native speaker teachers of English from what Kachru calls “inner circle countries” (Kachru & Nelson, 1996: p. 78) with westerns’ beliefs and values, a new Americanized generation would be the total outcome. In simple words, educational or mind colonialism and “linguistics imperialism” (Phillipson, 2006: p. 346) are the main goals in such invasion of native speaker teachers at the Middle East region.

Searching for its alleged security:

Handley (2004) mentions that in the late 1700s, America was surrounded by great European superpowers, thus America was “economically and militarily disadvantaged” (Hadley, 2004). Therefore, to build a strong and superpower nation, America must expand its borders by negotiation or war. The American citizens had been convinced that the world and America’s national security always in danger, so in order to protect the world and America, any country that threats us should be attacked. Furthermore, “lack of expansion implies the possibility of defeat” thus, “American insecurity was an important factor in the invasions of Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the Philippines” (Hadley, 2004) in the past. Other form of such American fears is the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) which was a proposal by the American president Roland Reagan in March 23, 1983. The main goal of this proposal as what Wikipedia illustrates is “to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles”. This proposal carried the popular name “Star Wars” in 1977 after movie by George Lucas. According to Handley, the Star Wars program is an expansion of America’s continued need searching for its national safety “by now expanding its borders into outer space” (Handley, 2004 cited Mauk and Oakland, 154), moreover, the recent invasions on Iraq and Afghanistan interpreted by a large number of American citizens is they had been convinced that America’s national security was threatened. Thus, in order to assure that no one threats America’s security in the future, a new ways of domination and controlling should take place in areas such as Eastern Asia, Africa and the Middle East not only military, but also as media and academic occupation.

The role of Media in the Middle East:

Nobody can deny the significant role played in the media throughout the world. America is trying to enforce their policies and ideologies in the Middle East, whether violent or not. In order to dominate the region, America should promote beliefs about the region. Phillips (2006) argues that the development of communications networks is relatively important to the emergence of a new world order. He explains that “the movement organized by multiplying the communication and structuring of the compounds of networks” (p. 352). So, I am speaking in particular country and its culture, you should check your media and people have lost their homes. The controversial television channels such as MBC Group (Middle East Broadcasting Center), and the Alhurra (using the “Free” in Arabic) was from the Middle East, and trimmed hendavad lion’s share of the Middle East & K # XF6; pfen and real estate. These channels can be seen in some people’s plans and principles of the American media, which are further divided into the region also means the tanks and missiles. Alhurra is a commercial-free Arabic satellite television network in the Middle East operated and funded by the United States. This channel is funded by the American people of their duties by the Board of Governors of the Broadcasting Act and the U. S. Congress. Many Arab political critics argue that this channel for the views of Arabs and Muslims all over the world against the West and America show that the change of football hommikusö explains the dimensions of the acetic acid sine airing documentaries on baseball and the “fence” with a dose of modern Palestine. Alhurra its official Web site claims that:

“We are devoted primarily to news and information. In addition to reporting on regional and international events, the channel broadcasts discussion programs, current affairs magazines and features on a variety of subjects including health and personal fitness, entertainment, sports, fashion, and science and technology” (Alhurra official web site).

Give me a break! In order to facilitate TESOLers’ jobs who came from inner circle countries, an anesthetization of Middle Easterners’ hearts and minds must be done so people can accept these teachers with a positive attitude and a wide smile on their faces. People in the Middle East must be convinced that they are not proficient enough to teach English, thus teachers their first language is English must take over and teach English for your child’s own benefit. According to Phillipson (2006) media is not only organize production on a new scale and force a new structure sufficient to global space, but also make its justification inherent power, as it “produces, organizes, as it organizes, it speaks and expresses it self as authority” (p. 352). Why I would pay my good money to fund an Arabic channel such as Alhurra when I cannot earn money from it. Alhurra in its web site mentions that “Alhurra is operated by non-profit corporation, The Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc. (MBN)” (Alhurra official web site). The Arabic satellite dish contains more than 300 free entertainment channels which can be accessed by Arabs from any place in the Middle East with more than 6 news channels such as Al-jazeera, CNN and BBC. Therefore, the purpose of such channels is that the American government can trade its citizen’s money with its future security by dominating and directing Arab youths’ minds and beliefs toward its own interest, by providing ‘a purely American Arabic speaker’ channel. The other case is MBC group channels which “started in London as the first satellite, free-to-air multi-channel media group of its kind in the Arab world” (MBC official web site). Al-Arabiya (means the ‘Arabian channel’ in Arabic) which is one channel from the MBC 6 free channels specialized with news and press. The reason behind the emergence of such channel has been declared by the people work there is to have a democratic channel which fights Aljazeera’s thoughts (an Arabic news channel) and its anti-democratic trends. Since Al-jazeera has been described by many Westerner politicians as anti-American bias, thus we need a channel against any anti-American thoughts in the Middle East region. According to Ryan (2005) Donald Rumsfeld has accused the station of persuading people that the US is an occupying force in Iraq, which he describes as a lie! On the contrary, the expansion into Iraq was to “brought freedom, economic growth, education and democracy to people who have suffered under years of oppression and mismanagement” (Hadley, 2004 quoted Assistance for Iraq). As a result, America is trying to Americanize the Arabic society the same way as she Americanized the Japanese society after the World War ll. Therefore, the road will be paved for native English teachers when they come to teach the ‘Western values’.

The world of TESOL and the native speaker teacher of English:

To impose the American ideologies in the Middle East, America promoted very well the teaching job for the native speaker teachers of English by promising them with “ good salaries and an exotic overseas adventure” (Hadley, 2004). According to Hadley many scholars such as Troike and Crystal have linked the expansion of TESOL to the expansion of former British and present American empire. Furthermore, native English teachers serve as “part of the educational aid packages exported to countries throughout South America, South East Asia, Africa and the Middle East” (Hadley, 2004) who work as colonial administrators. Handley in his paper cited Edge’s view that EFL teachers have become an academic army that satisfies intellectual conflict and occupies the linguistic dominions of an Anglophonic empire:

“…it is now possible to see us, EFL teachers, as a second wave of imperial troopers. Before the armoured divisions have withdrawn from the city limits, while the solders are still patrolling the streets, English teachers will be facilitating the policies that the tanks were sent to impose. And whether, and to whomsoever, I teach EFL, I am part of that overarching system” (Hadley, 2004 quoted from Edge, 10)

 Karmani (2005) argues that an extraordinary pressure has been put on Muslim governments to reform their educational curricula.  A very interesting article by Glasser (2003) who works for the Washington Post illustrates that many Arabic Gulf countries reshape their schools and put English over Islam, so in order to make way for more hours of English, classes in Islamic studies and Arabic are being reduced. A new stuff of native English speaker teachers has been brought into the schools of United Arab Emirates to teach the students from early ages. What is interesting is that the native speaker teachers are brought from inner countries as experts who do not need any preparing or training. They are who design the textbooks, monitoring the non-native speaker teachers and deciding who should stay and who should not stay in the school. However, American policies had succeeded in this country. Almost every non-native speaker teacher convinced that the native speaker teachers are better than non-native speaker teachers in English and this system is the best to teach the students this language even if they do not have the required qualifications, because English is their first language. This persuasion created negative outcomes with less positive results. In such schools a world full of racial discrimination in job opportunity, payment and respect has emerged. Non-native speaker teacher is no longer trusted by parents and his or her students. The native speaker teacher’s salary must be double than the non-native speaker teacher as one condition to import these teachers. Moreover, they must be provided with luxury accommodations, free transportations and first class annual flight tickets to their mother land. Of course, these conditions had been set by the American government to ensure that their citizens are treated well. Such conditions are imposed against governments’ wish in the Middle East region. What is ironic is that even if you have an American passport or you are a citizen from inner countries and you were not white or you were originally from Arabic country, you may not have these facilities! In some cases your contract might be cancelled even after you have signed the contract if your original identity has been discovered.

Conclusion:

In order to achieve the maximum domination on the Middle East and to make sure that no anti-American bases are exist in the region. Moreover, to insure that what happened in September 11, 2001 is not going to happen again, an American political equation must be applied, first, using the tank to impose the power. Second, programming youth’s minds and their views on what America ‘believes in’ is right. Third, teach the child what is against America is against you in the classrooms. It is not a coincidence that the emergence of (Al-Ghad) schools was after only one year from the dramatic events of September 11, 2001. It is not a coincidence that the reform of the educational curricula implemented after September 11, 2001. It is not also a coincidence that, channels like Alhurra and Al-Arabiya had been lunched after what happened in September 11 in 2001 which they are now based in Dubai, in United Arab Emirates. However, no one can disagree that Middle East countries need skilled and experienced workers and teachers from developed countries such as America, and Britain, but a direct supervising to those employees must be done by Middle Eastern countries that brought those experts and pay their salaries from their money for a preset goal. According to Fields (2005) who is a native speaker teacher of English works in Abu-Dhabi, UAE, teachers should be hired based on their qualifications to work in an atmosphere of fairness and respect, free from fear of discriminatory treatment or arbitrary dismissal because of their ethnicity, whether they were native or non-native speaker teachers of English.

————————————————————————————————————-

Reference:

Alhurra, 2005, ‘About us’. Available from: http://www. alhurra. com/sub. aspx?id=266 [Accessed 12 Jun 2008]

Al-Osaimi, N. , 2007. English Teachers Not Always Qualified [online]. Arab News. Available from:http://www. arabnews. com/?page=1§ion=0&article=104142&d=30&m=11&y=2007. [Accessed 17 May 2008]

Al-Segair, K. , 2007. Only Native Speakers as English Teachers! [online]. Arab News. Available from:

http://www. arabnews. com/?page=13§ion=0&article=101526&d=22&m=9&y=2007. [Accessed 17 May 2008]

Boyle, J. , 1997. ‘Native-speaker teachers of English in Hong Kong’. Language and Education vol. 11, No. 3

Braine, G. , 1999, Introduction, in G. Braine (Ed), Non-Native Educators in

English Language Teaching, Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum,

pp. xiii-xx

Canagarajah, A. S. , 1999, Interrogating the “Native Speaker” Fallacy:

Non-Linguistic Roots, Non-Pedagogical Results, in G. Braine (Ed), Non-Native

Educators in English Language Teaching, Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence

Erlbaum, pp. 77-92

Fields, M. , 2005. If students can learn who is the better teacher, why can’t employers? [online]. Guardian Weekly. Available from:

http://www. guardian. co. uk/If students can learn who is the better teacher, why can’t employers  TEFL  EducationGuardian_co_uk. mht. [Accessed 16 May 2008]

Glasser, B. , 2003. Qatar reshapes its schools, putting English over Islam [online]. Washington Post Foreign Services. Available from:

http://www. english. education. gov. qa/files/886_WPOST. pdf. [Accessed 16 May 2008]

Hadley, G. , 2004, ‘ELT and the New World Order: Nation Building or New Reconstruction?’, in TESOL Islamia, Niigata University of International and Information Studies. Available from: http:/tesolislamia. org/articles. html [Aaccessed 11 Jun 2008]

Kachru, B. , & Nelson, C. , 1996, ‘World Englishes’, in S McKay & N

Hornberger (eds), Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 71-102

Karmani, S. , 2005, English, ‘Terror’, and Islam. Applied linguistics 26(2) 262-267

MBC group, 2008, ‘About MBC group’. Available from: http://www. mbc. net/about-mbc-en/ [Accessed 12 Jun 2008]

McNeill, A. , 1994. ‘Some characteristics of Native and non-Native speaker teachers of English’. International language in Education conference.

Pennycook, A. , 2001, Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Introduction,

Mahwah, New Jersey: Erlbaum

Phillipson, R. , 2006, Language Policy and Linguistic Imperialism, in T. Ricento (Ed. ), An Introduction to Language Policy: Theory and Method, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 246-361

Ryan, P. , 2005, ‘Middle East ‘Media War’, Middle East window. Available from: http://middleeastwindow. com/node/975 [Accessed 12 Jun 2008]

Schiitz. R. , 2007. ‘Stephen Krashen’s Theory of Second Language Acquisition’. Available from:

http://www. sk. com. br/sk-krash. html. [Accessed 19 May 2008]

 


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Ok I am going to start this piece with a few riders. One, donâ??t shoot the messenger Iâ??m just telling you how it is. Two, I know we Brits arenâ??t that great at selling into the USA either, I know Iâ??ve tried it and three, there are always exceptions. But as a general rule American companies arenâ??t very good at selling directly overseas. The successful global companies normally have their international HQ in Europe. There Iâ??ve said it.

See if this scenario rings a bell. Company X from Boston or Dallas or Kansas decides that they are ready to break into Europe/APAC/Middle East et al as they have a software/hardware thingy that is compatible with lots of other software/hardware thingyâ??s and is the next big thing as it can save companies a fortune. No brainer eh? So they find a serviced office in London/Singapore/Dubai and one or more lucky executives called Doug or Jim or Randy win the lottery and are posted to start it all up. Like the Lone Ranger they ride in to save the world only to find that the locals actually arenâ??t that interested/are too busy/have no money/have money but wonâ??t spend it/itâ??s harder than they thought etc.

So after a jolly 6 â?? 9 months holiday there is little to show except war stories about the local food and that the European/Asia Pacific/ Middle East market isnâ??t ready for their must have thingy. Donâ??t believe me? Seen it, got the T-shirt. A short while ago I was sat with the head of a major Asian telco carrier and he said something that was a real eye opener. His comments went like this. â??Iâ??ve heard it all before, same old story. These American companies breeze in telling me how they are going to save me millions. How can I live without them? They send people who have no knowledge of my market, talk at me loud like I am a schoolboy and then they are gone. Most of them see it as an opportunity for a nice trip overseas. They have no idea, no interest in what my problems are and no humility. â? An actual conversation Iâ??m afraid.

Let me explain why the British are pretty good at selling overseas. Britain is a small island. In Britain if you travel 25 miles from our coastline you are in a totally different world where they speak strange languages and have strange ways of doing business. Out of necessity weâ??ve had centuries of building boats, sailing the world and pillaging. Weâ??ve gotten pretty good at leaving home and making money abroad. Weâ??ve even learnt how to handle ourselves in far distant lands. Travel a thousand miles from London and you are either in the middle of the Atlantic or in Budapest having crossed numerous other diverse countries and cultures . Go a thousand miles from Boston and you are either in the middle of the Atlantic or in Chicago. Two thousand miles itâ??s either Albuquerque for you Damascus for us. Now I know they talk with a different accent in Chicago but itâ??s hardly Taipei.

Grass-roots level of sales, most American companies 30 days of the mentality of the compensation of its sales people are One? The awards for achieving the objectives of each month and the seller is a life after that. Asia can take when you start a new international expansion, it is time to create their first meetings, and believe me Asiana? S active until you check out the rare, comfortable with you and trust you. British are much more conservative and flexible benefits, such as the international sales of a variety of incentives for people, not everything has already been commissioned / revenue recognition have been designed and paid quarterly võij & # xE4; year.

Now on the defence side America is huge. Itâ??s got everything. In the USA you have anything any country could want by way of great companies, resourcefulness, inventiveness, really good talented people and a large home market so why on earth should you be good at selling overseas. Why bother. Why on earth would you take that chance, dig that big money pit. Easy answer.   Itâ??s because suddenly the rest of the world has caught up and in many cases has overtaken the establishment. The big markets arenâ??t in the US or even necessarily Europe any more. Oh no.

Economists are predicting the future success of the Asian crown jewel of economic growth and long-term sustainability of the majority of companies in almost every area. Companies that manage to win the fast-growing competitors in Asia today, and not used for attacking? S efficiency, competence and capital sources and markets.

With Asiaâ??s hunger for innovative products being the highest it has ever been it is therefore opportune for technology companies in the West to seize the initiative, but beware â?? the more advanced the Asianâ??s become the more self-reliant they will be. If you are not active in the Asian markets you will be leap-frogged by your Asian competitors.

With me so far? Ok so hereâ??s the dilemma. You can choose whether to leverage Asiaâ??s momentum or be flattened by it. The six million dollar question being how do you do it and avoid throwing all those sacks of dollars into the aforementioned money-pit. Simple. When setting up in Asia work with those who know what theyâ??re doing and have already done it successfully many times.

Before the sales pitch these are some of the benefits I believe Western companies can achieve by entering Asian markets early in their development:

1. Stakeholder value. Asia is probably the largest potential for revenue growth, especially now with the current downturn of the US domestic market. Check out the stats about the growth of Asian markets. Investors are keen to participate in this growth. Indeed when going for IPO or additional funding, a strong Asian story can make a huge difference to a companyâ??s valuation.

2nd Winning in Asia, other markets can be more effective. ITA? S is an old story? Ministry of Economic Affairs Scalea? and reduce costs. Â I have worked with companies that were late to invest in Asia and their customers and their competitors were going to Asia, they did fly Malaysia implementations of consultants in San Diego, where the baby was? When they were done with equipment such as www. Expandinternationally. com and have invested in the past they could do to Asian projects in Asia, and then the same resources could be used for projects outside the Asian markets.

3. Being present in Asia helps you build world class products. Remember when Made in Hong Kong was a joke, Forget it. If your competitive edge is quality and your products sell well in Japan, you can sell them anywhere. If your competitive edge is price and your products sell well in India or China, you can sell them anywhere. If your products and services are good enough to compete against Asian competitors in Asian markets, you will be in much better shape to compete against them in your home market. Makes sense doesnâ??t it.

4. If you are in Asia it can actually help you sell more in the West. Many Western multinationals wonâ??t standardize on your product if they canâ??t use it globally. Asia is an increasingly strategic region for every Western multinational.

5. Setting up in Asia can get you government financing. As I understand it there are both federal and state programs across the US that offer local entrepreneurial companies financing for expansion overseas. There are even some governments in Asia which will provide direct investment in your company, subsidized rent and subsidized payroll if you establish their country as your Asia Pacific HQ. Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Australia are pro-active in these areas.

6. Export to Asia and it can get you good PR. If you close a deal to a company in Beijing, Tokyo or Mumbai, your local press will be much more compelled to tell the story.

7. Being present in Asia can get you great talent. Both young graduates as well as experienced professionals with global vision want to work with companies that offer international opportunities for professionals and global exposure.

Those are some of the reasons entrepreneurial American companies should sell in Asia earlier in their lifecycle than was the case 10 or 15 years ago. All of that is the good news. The bad news is as I said at the beginning. In general, American entrepreneurs and their companies are woefully unprepared for success outside the United States.

For a very long time now America has been the strongest, richest, most protected, most secure, and most predictable market on Earth. One language. One legal system. One currency. How much simpler can it be? A Shangri la.

The world has changed. The absolute necessity of succeeding outside their own national market is nothing new to entrepreneurs in other countries. How many British entrepreneurs do you think have a UK-only view of the world? Ask Branson! Entrepreneurs from almost every other country in the world had world markets in mind the very day they conceived their business.

OK, now the pitch. At www. Expandinternationally. com is one of our people work with U.S. businesses wishing to expand internationally and to the world by focusing on the Asia / Pacific region. We will work with you to identify and meet the best strategy to reach the market, contributing to market products or services and the most lucrative market (s), if 3rd Party goes directly to the channels, agents, licensing, JV, etc. We have an extensive network of overseas partners and our own team members, created for years, and we will implement it into their products or services market in the shortest possible time and at a lower cost of entry, as you can reach.

We are also able to assist companies wanting to move their manufacturing base overseas with linking them to key, well founded and secure sources.

Contact us at www. expandinternationally. com or of course you could always send Doug, Jim and Randy on a long, expensive Asian holiday.


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Summary: In the face of Asian competition and possible supply shocks to the uranium market, UxC president Jeff Combs urges U. S. utilities to “support the expansion of production in the United States. ” He believes there’s a good chance for $50/pound uranium this year. “Any shock to supply could send prices much, much higher. ”
StockInterview: How would you sum up the uranium market right now?
Jeff Combs: There’s a very tight supply/demand situation that exists now for deliveries over the next several years. If you were going out today to buy uranium for 2007, 2008, and 2009, there’s not that much available supply. The supply/demand balance is very tight, and I think that’s going to be reflected in prices continuing to rise for a while as utilities seek to fill demand for those delivery years. Since most contracting in uranium is done on a term basis, you’re always looking out several years. By the time you reach 2009, for example, you’re looking to fill needs in 2012 and beyond. By that time, supply might have responded sufficiently, or even “over-responded. ” Of course, whether or not the supply/demand balance is tighter then depends on how nuclear power expansion is progressing at that point and what happens with respect to the HEU deal. But, in the meantime, production will have had more time to react to higher prices, and this could alleviate some of the supply/demand pressures.
StockInterview: How are escalating market-related contracts impacting the uranium price?
Jeff Combs: It’s pretty much a sellers’ market right now. You have escalating floor prices that are maybe not too much lower than the current spot price. If you have ceiling prices, they’ll be much higher than the current price, and those will also escalate. In some cases, you don’t even have ceiling prices. In rare cases, you don’t have either ceiling or floor prices. Most producers are looking to sign market-related contracts and not fix the price even on an escalated basis in the future, although they would want floor protection. To a large extent, the utilities don’t have too much choice in the matter except to wait and hope that the competitive landscape changes in the future. However, in many cases they need to procure uranium now and can’t afford to wait. Thus, they must accept what is being offered.
StockInterview: Do you continue to see a speculative frenzy in the market?
Jeff Combs: There’s still some speculative activity in the market, but I wouldn’t call it so much a frenzy. The importance of this speculative buying has been somewhat over-blown. Total hedge fund/investor volume to date is about 11 million pounds. This buying started towards the end of 2004. The bulk of it was during 2005, and it has continued into this year. It will be much less over the first part of this year versus the first part of 2005; about a half a million pounds so far this year versus 5. 5 million pounds through May of 2005. There is probably too much emphasis put on the role of hedge funds or investment funds in the market. If you look at the market, the price – especially the long term contract prices – has been leading the spot price up. The speculators really aren’t involved in that part of the market. Over the same time the hedge funds/investor funds were buying, you’ve probably had a third of a billion pounds transacted under long-term contracts. If you go forward several years from now, you see a very tight supply/demand situation in the market. If you wanted a pure base-escalated contract, the base price for this might be close to $50 today, a good bit higher than the spot price and about a third or so higher than the long-term price at the beginning of the year.
StockInterview: We’ve been led to believe the HEU deal with Russia will not be renewed. What is your feeling?
Jeff Combs: You need to consider how much things have changed from when the current HEU deal was signed. At that time, the Russian economy was struggling, as was Russia’s nuclear power program. Now Russia’s economy is much more robust, thanks to energy exports. Russia is experiencing a nuclear power renaissance of its own. From this perspective, I think it’s quite unlikely that the HEU deal will be renewed. When I say that, I’m referring to the deal between an agent acting for the Russian Government and an agent acting for the U. S. Government. I don’t think that necessarily means that there will not be any HEU blended down after the current deal is over, but that could be done for internal consumption in Russia or be used as supply for countries where Russia is exporting fuel for Russian-supplied reactors.
StockInterview: The trading volume on the spot uranium market has fallen off after what transpired in 2005.
Jeff Combs: The volume now is certainly less than what it was last year. Volume so far for the year is 6. 3 million pounds on the spot market. If this rate were maintained, it would put volume close to 20 million pounds for the year. This would make it more of a typical market in terms of volume from the standpoint of recent history before 2005. Whether or not volume is higher than this depends a lot on the extent to which utilities that are out in the long term market, right now, are able to get offers to cover requirements in 2007, 2008, and 2009. If they’re not successful, they might come back into the spot market. That could boost spot buying somewhat later in the year. Also, some producers have been buying on the spot market. If this buying picks up, it could add to volume as well
StockInterview: Do you believe we’re going to see $50/pound uranium in the near term?
Jeff Combs: Oh yes, I think there’s a good chance that we’ll see $50 per pound uranium this year, more likely in terms of long term contracts. I think the highest prices may be reached within the next couple of years. I think that’s when supply will be the tightest. In our uranium market report, we develop three price scenarios – a base case, a high-price case, and a low-price case. Price spikes or overshoots its long-run equilibrium in all three scenarios. In the high case, which would be the most dramatic spike, I would say it would be somewhere in the $60 – $70 range. Price certainly could be higher than this if the wheels come off the wagon. I think you’re definitely looking at price going into the $50s. It’s not too difficult to see a scenario where price goes into the $60s. And then it would come down from there.
StockInterview: What goes up must come down?
Jeff Combs: I don’t think these higher prices are sustainable in the long term. You also have the situation now where utilities are going out to buy uranium, and they’re not finding what they want over the 2007-2009 period. It might be the case that some of these newer producers, or producers in the process of expanding production, really aren’t in a position to offer the supplies in those years. Ultimately, they will have the supply to offer in maybe 2009 or 2010. Since they’re not offering it right now, price can be pushed up a fair amount, setting up the possibility for a correction in a few years when more of these supplies become available to the market. In the short term, uranium supply and demand are very inelastic. This sets up the potential for an explosive response in price, as witnessed by the recent behavior in price. I have to admit we’ve had to adjust our price projections upwards on more than one occasion.
StockInterview: What would be on your checklist of “shocks to the market” or the “wheels coming off the wagon”?
Jeff Combs: What we’ve pointed out for a while is that you have the vast bulk of supply coming from a few major production centers and blended-down HEU. If you have a problem with any one of those, it can have a large impact on the market. Obviously, we’ve already had problems at Olympic Dam and McArthur River, and now Cigar Lake, even before it gets into production. If you have problems at any of these in the future, or at Rossing or Ranger, it’s going to impact the market. If you had some problem with the HEU deal between U. S. and Russia, it could have a devastating impact on the market. In the past, these problems have been caused by fire and floods, but other factors such as trade policies or the shortage of equipment could negatively impact supplies going forward.
StockInterview: But then why did the Cigar Lake delay seem to pass by unnoticed?
Jeff Combs: It hasn’t seemed to have gotten a lot reaction in the market. I think it depends on how people look at it. I’ve heard somebody say, “Well, it just means that it just takes 2. 5 million pounds of production out of the market because it gets delayed 6 months. ” Unless Cameco increases the rate at which it ramps up Cigar Lake, then it’s going to take more than 2. 5 million pounds out of the market, because it’s not going to get to its desired production level until half a year later. Production will be lower in the intervening years, as well. The problem is that this delay in production is coming at a time when supplies are very tight in the market, the 2007-2009 timeframe. I think it could also impact the market by increasing the levels of inventories held because you really don’t know when the next flood or next problem is going to occur. Until production expands more, any shock to supply could send prices much, much higher.
StockInterview: What should U. S. utilities do to protect their supply channels in the face of possible market shocks and especially in light of the aggressive Asian appetite for uranium?
Jeff Combs: That’s a good question. I think that U. S. utilities should support the expansion of production in the United States, in addition to maintaining their supply channels to major uranium producing countries, or perhaps developing them in the case of Kazakhstan. I think it’s more of a case that U. S. utilities should look at what all their options are, try to stimulate additional supply options, and in the process promote domestic production. Right now the market is fairly concentrated. There are not a lot of suppliers. While foreign utilities haven’t been, to date, looking at the U. S. as a supply source, they also have a desire to promote supply diversity, and could look to the U. S. for supply in the future.
StockInterview: To be blunt, are U. S. utilities going to get caught “with their pants down,” at some point during this decade?
Jeff Combs: If you had some kind of supply interruption or shock as we were talking about before, certainly that would create problems, not just for U. S. utilities, but for any utilities that were uncovered or have contract payment terms that relate to the market price with no real ceiling price protection. If you have really aggressive nuclear expansion in China, if India is allowed to play in the market, and if Russia goes ahead with its reactor expansion program, this makes the chances of price getting out of control somewhat greater down the road. We’ve been warning of these issues for a while. I clearly don’t think we’re out of the woods yet. When I say that we’re not out of the woods yet, I still believe that some utilities may be putting too much faith in current prices in that they believe that the now higher prices will take care of the problem of future supplies. While higher prices will certainly stimulate more production, I think that you must ask the question whether these prices are the antidote for the supply problem, or whether they are more a symptom of a severe deficit of supply that the market is facing. The answer to this probably determines how proactive utilities will be in securing future supplies. We wrote an editorial in 2003 that I think pretty well captured the state of the market at that time and the market environment we have seen since.


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Outsourcing cannot be considered a new phenomenon even though the rising attention toward this subject has brought lots of important issues into the daylight. Lots of service and even manufacturing companies started creating jobs overseas to gain wider access to foreign markets. They act as consultants auditors and perform other functions where their customers are. Putting it in other words, they have found customers and came to serve them. Another reason for a big number of emerging foreign companies oversees is saturation of the domestic markets. Approximately 60% of the profits of American information technology companies are estimated to come from overseas. This practice is not unique in number of industries ranging from banking to consumer products to. The leading firms in foreign markets state that their overseas revenues exceed their domestic sales. Read More

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Outsourcing is nothing new as a phenomenon, although more and more attention to this theme several important issues have emerged. The high culture of servicing the manufacturing companies started creating jobs in foreign countries to expand access to foreign markets. They are consultants auditors and perform other functions where their customers are. To put it in other words, they have found customers and came to them to serve. Another reason that many new foreign companies have managed to saturation of the domestic market. About 60% of the profits of American IT companies are estimated to come from abroad. This practice is not unique in many industries from banks to consumer products. Leading the country in foreign markets that their sales abroad than their domestic sales. Most F & # xE4; fill in many companies focus on their core competence, in other words, what they do better than their competitors. They delegate most of their activities to domestic suppliers. Looking at this issue in perspective, overseas sourcing is not a large part of the trend to decentralize business operations. Outsourcing often helps a company operates in an increasingly competitive global market. The crucial factor in the company’s position in today’s global economy is able to keep costs low. Another positive aspect of outsourcing is that the company’s 24 / 7 contact with the customer, especially for those in need around-the-clock support. This is one of the key issues in today’s business world, AOS who will win the customer happy. AOS client secret love and affection is good and important to always use & # XFC; gbar customer service. Regardless of what industry a company’s customer care expertise. With growing global competition, new technological innovations and constantly improving services and products that consumers have attacked a number of attractive offers, and it is important for the company to ensure customer loyalty programs implemented to gain . He, AOS important to understand that acquiring new customers is important for the existing approval is crucial. It is obvious that if existing customers are happy to spread the word about your business, excellent customer service, the AOS. Some of the most important issues are unresolved complaints from customers, pricing issues, competing companies are offering better deals, or simply feel that it is just that they are not V & # xF5; ETA seriously enough. Therefore, companies are continuously optimized for the client. Determining what they want, is an important factor in business success. As the market has been in constant movement a consistent and committed approach is necessary to identify and understand the changing consumer attitudes. The problem arises when companies lack of customer service is one of the main activities of AOS, as so often, to ensure that the company’s expertise, resources and finances in good customer service. Then the outsourcing of qualified and dedicated customer service professionals would be a good choice, one that many companies have adopted. While outsourcing is generally sound, and yes, there are many problems that American businessmen have been taken into account. They are clearly difficulties in dealing with unfathomable legal systems in protecting their intellectual property and the requirements of different bump the tax and regulatory authorities. Corruption in the public sector could also be a problem. Many people have speculated on the general concerns about the adverse impact of outsourcing on the national economy. Looking at this issue in depth, however, provided a different picture. The visible part of the concern being discussed widely by the masses, and it becomes that the U.S. workers lose their jobs or stream the beach is less desirable locations. In recent years, as the popularity of outsourcing is such that this issue can be gained lost its true origin. Any serious investigation of this matter must be based on different levels, which were all the pros and cons are appreciated. In fact, many American workers keep their jobs because outsourcing helps the company stay competitive in today’s no ; udliku AOS market. Under such as call centers, such as a combined place of business by telephone and the central database, and automatic call distribution system must be defined. Call centers have experienced a recent increase in commercial facilities, which included critical success in the companies they serve have been created. Major call centers, AO aims to promote the transformation of the business has changed over the press release companies from a number of routine tasks to concentrate on their core business. If a large call centers, airlines reservation center or hotel, or a big telemarketing center is often assumed that people who are accustomed to these areas provides the T & # xF6 o can be easily dismissed. In fact, although many of them are new and even better position as the company raised the financial strength and focus on competitive advantages. For example, businesses upgrade their software, you can reduce the local demand for basic programmers, but more better paid systems integrators. change in most cases, companies simply mix their business skills. Currently, they emphasize more managerial experience, advanced knowledge and understanding of business processes to residential customers, an important point which can not be outsourced abroad, but must find a place. costs of outsourcing are also opening up new opportunities for U.S. businesses and create more jobs here at home. Indication of the benefits of outsourcing services to a common path leading to more resource-intensive business, it can improve its performance. Implementation of outsourcing and the reserves it produced at the beginning of a change in the company. Outsourcing allows companies to purchase new equipment and expand training programs for workers to invest a further development and growth of the company. Higher wage costs and the American worker is compensated for by higher productivity. Outsourcing & brings not only the immediate results of each individual company in terms of lower cost and with h # XF6; herer productivity, it is generally a positive impact on the industry. For example, the service outsourcing brings positive feedback from a number of ways. As developing countries such as China and India, their economy, and new markets for U.S. products and services designed to construct. China has in the past two decades, a major importer of industrial and consumer goods and soon India is likely to do the same thing. Another reaction to the economic growth of wages in these countries for outsourcing companies to pay. For example, the benefits of IT personnel in India is growing 15-30% a year, a rapid reduction in the difference between cash reported in Asia and the Americas. In recent years, many new jobs, outsourcing, Tze was created as the United States. The labor market is one of the most open and this is the main cause of the people, AOS economic strength. Ca. 1000000 workers quit each week and only about as much as their designated place. Unlike the European and Asian labor market, many U.S. employers are more willing to hire new job ; tajaid, because he can not stand their business quietly. Many foreign companies hire professionals to its U.S. offices, work on the construction of new businesses abroad, or other functions . It is clear that the outsourcing to clients primarily in the service sector can not possibly lead to a stagnating American labor market. If they have a professionally designed activities and trained staff headed by locations, Americans only win freedom for further development of the company’s new strategies. , Are also examined a large number of dismissals to the injury and the recruitment of new technological breakthrough. Through innovations and their implementation on the market many jobs have been eliminated, although many of the new set up. Again, we point to the continuous flow of returning to employment is the best coordinator of resources, and if someone is fired, another is appointed. He, AOS will bring an endless process, which acts as a positive outsourcing.


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“I was Born in The USA”

China manufacturing firms have found a way to make headline news again due to the possibility of toxic toys. Not Again!

Without naming the actual products, all of the negative press got me thinking about my own experiences in dealing with overseas companies. The adage that ”you get what you pay for” is the only way I can describe my experience in dealing with companies in China. The headache was simply not worth it in the long run.

During the mid 80′s there was a big “Buy American” campaign launched in an attempt to balance out the trade deficit and save American jobs. It was no surprise that the main advocate for Buy American was the Auto Industry as a result of the butt-kicking that was being handed out by Toyota.

Buy American is now back, but only after several public relation disaster’s which involved American Manufactures who outsourced the production of their products to China. It’s becoming more apparent that the amount of money a corporation saves in the cost of production is very quickly devoured by product recalls. All we really have to do is examine Mattel in order to better understand what not to do when dealing with overseas manufacturers.

Anytime your getting a product produced at a ridiculously low rate then you have to ask yourself why is it so cheap? Are they saving me money at the expense of quality? Or are they saving me money at the expense of impoverished labor. Either way you have you have to ask yourself one or two of these very important questions if you truly care about your clientele.

 Sure you might say in response to my previous sentence, why should I care especially since outsourcing is adding to my bottom line?   Mattel had truly accomplished it’s goal of reducing their cost of manufacturing toys by allowing China to handle 60% of their production. Everything ran smoothly until one day a consumer protection group held a press conference charging Mattel with producing toxic toys. In this example Mattel was able to save money but it was at the expense of consumer safety which eventually cost them consumer trust.

 The next defendant I call to the stand is Nike. Another major corporation, Nike also joined the industrial migration to China in order to save on cost. This decision proved to be disastrous for the company’s spotless reputation when it was discovered that many of the factories that Nike contracted were accused of exploiting children in sweat shops. Once again we find a major corporation in an attempt to save money entered into a manufacturing agreement that cost them tremendously in the arena of public opinion, and public relations.

What does all of this have to do with birthday party rentals you may ask? There are many inflatables manufacturers in china that have very recently begun to target American markets. Many of these units are lacking the quality craftsmanship of American made inflatables. I am not making the charge that all inflatables manufactured in China are of poor quality, but I have recently encountered units from China that were so poorly constructed that I would be surprised if they even lasted a month. Without seeming overly patriotic I have listed a few reasons why you should invest your start up inventory in American Made Units.  

 

 

 

Like I said before there are companies in China and India that produce exceptional work and I am very proud to have a partnership with several of them. At the same time there are also companies that cut corners at your expense, consequently risking the safety of your clients.  

One other point I would like to make in keeping this article fair is that many of the American Companies outsource their manufacturing to companies in China while publicly criticizing the China companies.  If your interacting with a sales representative and he spends the majority of his time criticizing another company rather than highlighting the benefits of his product then chances are he also benefits from outsourcing.  

This article is not design to endorse any American Company, or Foreign Manufacturer, but rather to inform you of the potential cost of investing in foreign produced products with out a domestic representative. Take it from me, someone who has lost money on castles manufactured in China (Inflatable Sunway), the lack of quality of many of these units is not worth the savings. Always remember, you are what you inflate.

Tyronne Jacques – Bouncer Boss


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In 2009 over 200,000 U. S. manufacturing jobs vanished to foreign competitors overseas. As companies continue to source products from overseas it is hard to fine “Quality Products “Made in the USA. Most Americans don’t really seem concerned as to why I purpose we Americans should purchase products “Made in the USA”. These are the majority of middleclass, they are the ones being most affected. For example: loss of wages and loss of jobs.

As consumers we need to look at products we have in our homes, then do our homework. If not made in the USA, search the internet or ask around and also check with your local retailers and ask questions.

Then when Americans start buying products made in the USA, the demand for American made products will increase. As a result more factories or small businesses will increase. Many good job opportunities will then come available. All of this will keep the U. S. economy financially healthy.

Reasons to buy high quality products produced in the U.S.

No matter if you were born and raised  in the USA, but live here, let’s support our struggling companies that work hard to make quality products. Therefore, there is no better time than today to start being proud of where you live! That’s why I purpose we Americans should buy more products “Made in the USA”. Stand up for America!


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I am amazed at how many of his supporters are victimized by this administration. Read More

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If taxes have not gone up how are taxes proactively sending businesses overseas when they didn’t back when taxes were higher?
Why would being more “business friendly” help the country when the same battle was waged between US states with disastrous results? Ohio is an employment at will state with a low minimum wage yet its now part of the rust belt. When states competed for business we all lost, why would it be different for countries? If the market determines value and value determines price than how does overhead dramatically affect price unless their is a monopoly? Read More

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