Star Tribune (March 31)
Chile “appears poised to be among the first in the world to reach herd immunity. But experts say the country’s speedy and efficient vaccination drive—only Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Seychelles have vaccinated a larger share of their populations—gave Chileans a false sense of security and contributed to a sharp spike in new infections and deaths that is overloading the health care system.”
Tags: Chile, Deaths, Efficient, Experts, Herd immunity, Infections, Israel, Security, Seychelles, Speedy, Spike, UAE, Vaccination drive
Institutional Investor (August 14)
“There are about 5,300 public pension funds in the U.S. today, overseeing some $4 trillion in assets. The 25 largest account for more than half the total. The rest of the market is highly fragmented, with thousands of public pension portfolios managed independently and locally. Fragmentation results in less efficient portfolios and higher operating costs…. There must be a better way.”
Tags: Assets, Costs, Efficient, Fragmented, Pension funds, Portfolios, Public, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (December 4)
“A carbon tax is in theory a more efficient way than regulation to reduce carbon emissions. But after decades of global conferences, forests of reports, dire television documentaries, celebrity appeals, school-curriculum overhauls and media bludgeoning, voters don’t believe that climate change justifies policies that would raise their cost of living and hurt the economy.”
Tags: Carbon tax, Climate change, Conferences, Cost of living, Economy, Efficient, Emissions, Regulation, Reports, Voters
The Economist (August 11)
“Today’s tax systems are not only marred by the bewildering complexity and loopholes that have always afflicted taxation; they are also outdated. That makes them less efficient, more unfair and more likely to conflict with a government’s priorities. The world needs to remake tax systems so that they are fit for the 21st century.”
Tags: Bewildering, Complexity, Conflict, Efficient, Loopholes, Outdated, Taxation, Unfair
The Economist (January 2)
“India is taking the idea of a universal basic income seriously.” Few expect the current proposal, which “would cut absolute poverty from 22% to less than 0.5%” with a proposed annual income of slightly over $110 income, to be adopted soon, but “the idea will not go away. It may seem folly in a country home to over a quarter of the world’s truly poor to give people money for nothing. But it would be a swift, efficient way to make it home to far fewer of them.”
Financial Times (November 8)
Stung by the strong yen, over 100 TOPIX-listed manufacturers have issued profit warnings. Conventional cost cutting is no longer doing the trick. “After decades of building plants overseas and trying to make production leaner and more efficient to address the currency vulnerability, analysts say Japanese companies are facing a sobering reality: the urgency to sell underperforming businesses and join hands with rivals to survive brutal market conditions.”
Tags: Analysts, Cost cutting, Efficient, Japan, Leaner, Manufacturers, Overseas, Plants, Production, Profit warnings, Topix, Underperforming, Vulnerability, Yen
Bloomberg (August 6)
“Efficient and incorruptible as the government has been, though, it would benefit from a bit more dissent.” As Singapore turns 50, the biggest danger is groupthink. “After 50 years of ceaseless striving, Singapore can afford to relax just a little. If it wants to keep amazing the world, and to extend its miracle into a new era, it may have to do just that.”
Tags: Ceaseless striving, Dissent, Efficient, Government, Groupthink, Incorruptible, Relax, Singapore
The Economist (September 6)
“Connected cars will make driving safer, cleaner and more efficient. Their introduction should be speeded up.”
Tags: Clean, Connected cars, Driving, Efficient, Safe
