Wall Street Journal (August 1)
“There is an irony in Detroit right now: The automaker most reliant on U.S. manufacturing is among the hardest hit by tariffs.” Of any automaker, Ford manufactures the most vehicles in the U.S. “Some 80% of the cars Ford sells in the U.S. are built there,” but Ford is being “put it at a disadvantage with foreign rivals. Those deals now set a 15% tariff rate.” Ford which paid $800 million for tariffs in Q2 has been particularly hard hit as it “faces steeper tariffs on many parts as well as higher costs for imported aluminum, which is subject to 50% duties.”
Tags: $800 million, 15%, 50, Aluminum, Automaker, Detroit, Disadvantage, Ford, Foreign rivals, Irony, Manufacturing, Parts, Q2, Reliant, Tariffs, U.S., Vehicles
The Economist (September 27)
With the Scottish issue solved, the UK now turns to the sticky English question which gives Scottish representatives votes on English issues, without any reciprocity. “It is simply not fair to disadvantage English voters in this way. The system must be changed, ideally in a way that enhances democracy, buttresses the union and does not increase bureaucracy. Sadly, these aims clash.”
Tags: Bureaucracy, Democracy, Disadvantage, England, Reciprocity, Scotland, UK, Union, Voters
Financial Times (August 4)
In what’s regarded as “a notorious feature of the world’s second-biggest equity market,” the Nikkei newspaper somehow very accurately “previews” earnings results days or weeks before they are officially reported. Authorities in other jurisdictions might worry “about disclosure violations, or a lack of equal access to price-sensitive information…. In Japan, regulators seem to have turned a blind eye to the ‘Nikkei previews.’” As these are only available in Japanese, they may place “non-Japanese readers at a disadvantage,” along with those who don’t read the newspaper and rely instead on the company’s official public results announcements.
Tags: Authorities, Blind, Disadvantage, Disclosure violations, Earnings results, Equal access, Equity market, Japan, Nikkei newspaper, Notorious, Previews, Regulators
