Actually, despite the Chinese governments attempt to limit access to the outside world. Many workers know how crappy they have it in china now. Suicides are on the rise, as are wage increases. The wage increases are pretty small so far but it's enough to push some manufactures to areas in Asia where wages are lower.

Ichiro, the graph is the "rest of the world" as I stated above.

Second; your numbers are wrong for USA capital gains tax. It is not limited to 15% it can go as high as 35% for short term capital gains vs long term capital gains. Go look it up.

My point is that labor is cheaper in China and so are taxes. Both of these things are facts. It is cheaper to do business in China then in the United States.

Sam, whats the beef? How is mentioning the tax rate and labor costs mean that I'm championing China as a libertarian bastion? I think you are way off the mark with this hyperbole. All I'm stating is a simple fact. Building solar panels in the USA is stupid; because you cannot produce it for lower costs then the Chinese do.

When ever I mention a point; the usual suspects jump up to prove me wrong without ever looking at my evidence. At least do the due diligence before claiming that I'm not right. In fact; after re-reading the article; it even mentions that the companies failures are due to decreasing prices associated with Chinese competition. So I guess both me and the author of the article are wrong then.

Ichiro, you mention VAT and personal income tax. Please explain how this has any relevance... You are quoting costs that a zero impact on the export of solar panels. Just read the article; not everything I say needs a reflexive "nah uh" from you guys.

i personally dont get, how being profit-oriented goeas along with "green"

omg going green? like trying to end our dependency on foreign energy sources???? that's COMMUNISM!

KKKCCC: Depending on how you define profit and what period of time you evaluate, going green can be very profitable in terms of surviving and giving your offspring a good place to live in. Shortterm money oriented thinking green will not be that profitable.

Without having any taxnumber from Germany, I heard a speech once. The person said, the biggest exporter of electronic products is Malaysia with an average wage of 0,70 Euro an hour. Germany has a wage of 70,0 Euro/h (don't fix me on those numbers, they were mentioned, I didn't check - point is, there is a big difference). Of course living standards are different. Unless we find products to sell to the world that justify the difference between 0,70 and 70,0 we will have to adjust the living standard. That's very simple and simplified, but that's where it will end up more or less, sooner or later. For the time being I'm happy we do find a way to finance the current standard - lowering living standards is usually not causing peaceful living...

i meant profit which you can write about in your annual report as a company, not the effects onto the society in the future.

And yeah you sjoud be hsppy about that your
"wirtschaftsinteressen in afghanisten verteidigt werden"

KKKCCC what makes you think that "green" businesses should be not-for-profit?

KKKCCC if you want to use that primitive arguments, there is no country on this planet the US army has ever entered that is not having Coca Cola. So why do you complain about defending somebodies interest when you are dying for Coke in the first line?

louis: my primitive argument was a reply to "For the time being I'm happy we do find a way to finance the current standard "

dasfury, im not saying non profit, just that "green" and maximum profit is not compatible.
And i wouldnt invest in a company who has being "green" instead of maximum profit as their goal