Financial Times (June 11)
The rumbling in the world’s “assembly plant” is healthy. Striking Chinese workers are merely doing what has been done in “every successful east Asian country.” Rising wages are “a natural consequence of the country’s development and of the operation of labour markets.“ Both worker skill and productivity have increased throughout China, making it “entirely natural for pay… to rise to reflect those returns.”
Tags: China, Productivity, Strikes, Wages
The Economist (June 10)
Rather than stimulus, G20 leaders are now speaking fiscal restraint. But belt tightening, especially in Europe, could cause the economy to flounder or result in a double dip. The Economist points out, however, that the reality is not as bad as the talk. Much of the belt tightening is minimal and scheduled to begin from 2011. “A calm look at the numbers, then, suggests that the odds of a collective G20 blunder towards recovery-wrecking austerity this year are low.”
Tags: Double-dip, Europe, Outlook, Stimulus, Tightening
Businessweek (June 9)
To drill offshore in the U.S., top oil executives will now be required to personally sign, certifying their operations are in full regulatory compliance and that they are capable of shutting down wells in emergencies. The new requirements come in light of BP’s continuing oil spill which has become America’s worst environmental disaster. The pledges are reminiscent of Sarbanes-Oxley rules implemented after Enron. Since then, CEO’s and CFO’s must personally sign certain financial reports to verify accuracy.
Tags: BP, Offshore drilling, Oil, Sarbanes-Oxley
New York Times (June 8)
“Can BP Ever Get It Right?” While musing on this question, the New York Times asserts BP is a “feckless outfit” with “shaky credibility” that is ill prepared to cope with the Gulf oil disaster. Based on “serial failures,” the answer is obvious. BP “clearly can’t be trusted to figure out what is needed on its own.”
“Can BP Ever Get It Right?” While musing on this question, the New York Times asserts BP is a “feckless outfit” with “shaky credibility” that is ill prepared to cope with the Gulf oil disaster. Based on “serial failures,” the answer is obvious. BP “clearly can’t be trusted to figure out what is needed on its own.”
Newsweek (June 7)
Bernie Madoff is serving 150 years in prison for defrauding investors of billions in the world’s biggest Ponzi scheme. According to his prison mates, Madoff isn’t feeling sorry for what he did or those he wronged. Madoff is reported as saying, “F–k my victims…. I carried them for 20 years, and now I’m doing 150 years.” He told others his clients were “rich and greedy and wanted more,” and that his only crime was taking their money.
Tags: Madoff, Ponzi scheme
Bloomberg (June 7)
How much for the Buffet lunch? At least $51,000. That’s only the current bid. The price is expected to rise by two figures over the remaining three days. To benefit a San Francisco charity, lunch with famed investor Warren Buffet is being auctioned on EBay. In 2009, the Buffet lunch brought $1.68 million. The record was $2.11 million in 2008 from Chinese hedge-fund manager Zhao Danyang. The Glide Foundation, where Buffet’s first wife Susan volunteered, will receive the “lunch money.” Buffet called Glide “one of the great organizations I’ve seen for helping people that are really down and out…. It takes people who have hit bottom and brings them back.”
Tags: Charity, EBay, Lunch, Warren Buffet
Time—Asian Edition (June 7)
Despite the tragic sinking of the Cheonan, “the resumption of hostilities is too terrible to contemplate.” The South can only posture and resort to diplomacy and sanctions. “The simple fact is that while the North’s ground forces are no match for those of South Korea or the U.S., Pyongyang has an armory of long-range missiles and artillery that could easily target the South’s largest population centers to cataclysmic effect.”
Tags: Cheonan, North Korea, South Korea
The Times—London (June 4)
“BP, not to mention its market capitalisation, is disappearing in the Gulf of Mexico” as its offshore oil well uncontrollably gushes oil. Yet, BP’s chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg “has gone missing.” Most people don’t even recognize his name. A low profile is not appropriate during a saga which has claimed 11 lives and become America’s largest disaster. “BP is one of Britain’s most important companies. Its future is in danger.” BP needs “a heavyweight public diplomat rather than the absentee who is presiding over a disaster in silence.”
Wall Street Journal (June 3)
An opinion piece declares the sinking of the South Korean naval warship Cheonan qualifies as a war crime and should be prosecuted. “Kim may have exposed himself for the first time to international justice” and deserves to be tried by the International Criminal Court. In 1953, North Korea signed an armistice promising to cease hostilities with South Korea. Since the North did not first warn the South that it would break the peace agreement, the deadly torpedo strike against the Cheonan qualifies as treacherous act meeting the war crime definition.
Tags: Cheonan, Kim Jong Il, North Korea, South Korea, War Crime
The Economist (June 3)
For the first time in the 80-year history of the World Cup, an African nation will play host. South Africa has spent 4 years preparing, spending billions of dollars to build and upgrade stadiums, improve airports, expand roads, and complete Africa’s first high-speed train. “South Africa is rightly proud of its achievement,” but The Economist adds that after the World Cup finishes, the nation still has numerous issues to tackle, including the world’s highest unemployment rate.
Tags: High-Speed Rail, South Africa, Unemployment, World Cup
