The Horse That Leaps Through Clouds is the Chinese name for Baron Gustaf Mannerheim who was sent by the Tsar of Russia to travel to Beijing along the Silk Road and report back on the countries. It took him 2 years to do the journey and later he settled in Finland (as he born there) and his trip was incorporated in the university studies. One of the students who studied the reports was the author Eric Enno Tamm who decided to recreate the steps in 2006 (the 100th anniversary) and wrote the book The Horse that Leaps Through Clouds, published by Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver, 2010. The journey takes place through the old USSR and China and both countries (among many others) in the past moved water from where it was seemingly abundant to more fertile areas. In many analysis this can be seen as doing a good thing – it was a massive infrastructure project – there was water in the north – the people are in the south. In both cases, the effects were to grow more cotton and wheat and population in the area was better off. In the second journey, Mr. Tamm reports the water sources are in a process of drying up which makes the land less fertile. The population was near a desert and the desert blooms, without water (in one place 13 months without rainfall) the desert races back to reclaim the land. The dust storms are bigger which results in more damage. There is salt in the earth and with less water to flush it, the land becomes even less productive and the cycle continues. What does a country do?

Linking to dividend paying stocks, for many companies, they had or have the goodwill of the government and for many years it was good. Now that things are changing, who should pay? who bears responsibility when in reality people believed they were making their lands more progressive and giving opportunity to the people? Government? Companies? Profitable companies? There is no answer that is easy, but there will be pressure on profitable companies. Has you company thought about it? made plans or can it easily move its operations if it is near the declining areas? Companies may try to do the right thing by taking advantage of opportunities in the marketplace, but every once in a while there are unintended problems.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

Trying to do the right thing is easier said than done, for every company can always do better. One example is parts of China and the old USSR tried to irrigate lands to grow more cotton and wheat, which can be a good thing. The effect is over the years, water supplies are draining and areas near the deserts are fast becoming deserts again