Although the economy has been surging forward at the rate of 9% per year in China, the country's health and pension systems have steadily deteriorated. A recent estimate by the US-based Centre of Strategic and International Studies showed that only 25% of the Chinese workforce was covered by formal retirement schemes.

Most of the 100 million migrant workers in China are reluctant to pay into pension systems that they may not be able to transfer to their home provinces.Their concerns are backed up by demographic statistics: currently three workers support every retiree, but by 2020 the ratio will have fallen to 2.5 adults for every retired person.

 

Eurotunnel's share price has plummeted by 9O% since1987, when the world's biggest privately-funded infrastructure project begin. The company last year made record losses of $1.3 billion. the company has reached crisis point because it is not making enough money to repay the interest on its debt. The company has been hit by a fall in travel because of the economic downturn, fierce competition and discount airlines.

Traffic has hardly lived up to expectations: Eurotunnel made wildly overoptimistic forecasts. The company's 'board would charge freight companies more to use the tunnel in a bid to boost revenues, and would also pressure the banks to reschedule the company's debt.