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The volume of world trade since 1950 has increased by twenty-fold from $320 billion to $6.8 trillion.

The sum of U.S. exports and imports, $3.277 trillion, represents the total of U.S. international trade for 2005. That total translates into the movement of about $9 billion in goods and services into and out of the United States every day, or roughly $375 million every hour. Each day, in fact, Americans buy and sell more foreign goods and services than are produced annually in more than 80 countries around the world.

If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

India is the world's second most populous country, with a population of more than one billion. The world's third most populous country, the United States, has a population less than 30% of that of India.

China's labor force stands at 706 million people, almost three times that of Europe and twice that of North and South America combined

Former Maine Governor Angus King presentation - http://web.mac.com/northeastleadership/iWeb/Angus_King/Podcast/A19C541A-7E2C-4BB3-A581-63EA068369CE.html

Worldwide minimum wages

The first mobile phone was released in 1983 for $$3995. The Motorola DynaTAC. It was 13 inches tall and 3.5 inches wide.

The first transatlantic telegram took 17 hours to receive. It transmitted 1letter per 2 minutes.

It is estimated that a worldwide total of 1 trillion text messages were sent in 2005.

Wal-Mart Stores bought $18 billion of goods from China last year. With China’s annual exports amounting to $583 billion, that means Wal-Mart ranks as its eighth-largest trading partner, ahead of Australia, Canada and Russia.

McDonalds Global Sales (Total Revenue) - McDonald's revenues by geographic segment in 2005:
- Europe ... $7,072 (35% of total company revenues)
- United States ... $6,955 (34%)
- Australia/Asia-Pacific ... $2,815 (14%)
- Latin America ... $1,327 (6%)
- Canada ... $948 (5%)
- Other ... $1,343 (6%)
- *Amounts are in US$ million. The percentage of total company revenues shows in parentheses
  - http://internationaltrade.suite101.com/article.cfm/mcdonalds_global_sales
The Coca-Cola Company, including the bottling entities we own, employs approximately 55,000 people. More than 44,000 of those employees work for the Company outside of the United States.

We are the largest private-sector employer across all of Africa. And in the country of South Africa, for every one job created by the Coca-Cola system, 16 jobs are created in the informal retail sector.

The Coca-Cola Company has long been a worldwide business. Our first soda fountain sales to Canada and Mexico were recorded in 1897. Our first international bottler -- in Panama -- was established in 1906. We entered China in 1927 and our 100th country -- Sierra Leone -- in 1957.

Approximately 72 percent of our (Coca – Cola) unit case volume is from operations outside of North America.

Trade has been the engine of globalization, with world trade in manufactured goods increasing more than 100 times (from $95bn to $12 trillion) in the 50 years since 1955, much faster than the overall growth of the world economy.
US exports to China since 2000 have grown at a faster rate than US exports to any other major export market and have grown 240% from 2000 - 2006.

http://www.uschina.org/public/documents/2007/04/uscbc_us_exports_china_by_state_2000-06.pdf

In 1956 the first standardized shipping container was used to ship goods. Today, more than 95% of cargo moves by ship in the bulk of containers.

As of 2005, some 18 million total containers make over 200 million trips per year.

A hundred thousand semitrailer-sized containers, loaded with goods, wait for departure from Yantian International Ltd., the biggest shipping port in Shenzhen, China. The ports of Shenzhen didn't exist 10 years ago. Today, Shenzhen and its adjacent city Hong Kong comprise the world's biggest locus of dockyards. Port officials say their success derives from China's role as the "workshop of the world."

Price comparisons reflect historical prices of products sourced globally by YourBuyer Worldwide that were purchased for a highrise development in Las Vegas, Nevada in Q1 and Q2 2007.
America’s standard muscle Car, the Ford Mustang is made from only 65% of American parts.