Boston Globe (May 10)
The U.S. is shrinking. “Just since 2000, the estimated area of the 50 states has declined by about 5,500 square miles, more than the size of Connecticut.” Since 1940, the U.S. has generally been shrinking. Coastal erosion, hurricanes, rising sea levels and improved mapping are to blame. Perhaps this bad news is good news for U.S. property owners. Could the decrease in supply help raise property values?The U.S. is shrinking. “Just since 2000, the estimated area of the 50 states has declined by about 5,500 square miles, more than the size of Connecticut.” Since 1940, the U.S. has generally been shrinking. Coastal erosion, hurricanes, rising sea levels and improved mapping are to blame. Perhaps this bad news is good news for U.S. property owners. Could the decrease in supply help raise property values?
Tags: Erosion, Hurricanes, Rising sea levels, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (May 10)
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel in Tokyo survived the great Kanto earthquake of 1923. Nearly a century later, Toyo Ito’s Mediatheque in Sendai is also winning accolades as a “legendary earthquake survivor.” The airy, glass building could not be more stylistically removed from Wright’s Hotel. Yet both architects employed innovative designs, working closely with engineers to ensure structural stability. The inspiration for Mediatheque was “a virtual world of indeterminate, seaweed-like tubes swaying freely as they supported floor plates, as though the architecture were without weight or dimension.” In 2002, a Harvard Graduate School of Design publication stated, “no building has pushed architectural or structural thought further than the Sendai Mediatheque.” Withstanding the quake proves the resilience of this design.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Imperial Hotel in Tokyo survived the great Kanto earthquake of 1923. Nearly a century later, Toyo Ito’s Mediatheque in Sendai is also winning accolades as a “legendary earthquake survivor.” The airy, glass building could not be more stylistically removed from Wright’s Hotel. Yet both architects employed innovative designs, working closely with engineers to ensure structural stability. The inspiration for Mediatheque was “a virtual world of indeterminate, seaweed-like tubes swaying freely as they supported floor plates, as though the architecture were without weight or dimension.” In 2002, a Harvard Graduate School of Design publication stated, “no building has pushed architectural or structural thought further than the Sendai Mediatheque.” Withstanding the quake further proves the resilience of this design.
Bloomberg (May 10)
In the U.S., “once-ailing manufacturers are enjoying a robust rebound as cost-saving moves from job cuts to a greater reliance on technology help drive stronger-than-forecast growth.” Some analysts predict a “manufacturing renaissance,” with industry leading expansion in the U.S. economy and stock markets. Manufacturing productivity increased 5.9% during 2010, the third largest gain since the Labor Department began tracking in 1987. U.S. manufacturers are also benefiting from strengthened exports on the back of a weaker dollar. Companies like Siemens are even expanding manufacturing in the U.S. because this can be more cost efficient than importing from China.
In the U.S., “once-ailing manufacturers are enjoying a robust rebound as cost-saving moves from job cuts to a greater reliance on technology help drive stronger-than-forecast growth.” Some analysts predict a “manufacturing renaissance,” with industry leading the U.S. economy and stock markets into expansion. Manufacturing productivity increased 5.9% during 2010, the third largest gain since the Labor Department began tracking in 1987. U.S. manufacturers are also benefiting from strengthened exports on the back of a weaker dollar. Companies like Siemens are even expanding manufacturing in the U.S. because this can be more cost efficient than importing from China.
Tags: China, Economy, Manufacturing, Markets, U.S.
The Independent (May 9)
The closure of the Hamaoka nuclear facility will affect the future of a nuclear fuel plant at Sellafield in Cumbria. Hamaoka was scheduled to become Sellafield’s biggest customer for mixed oxide (Mox) nuclear fuel. The UK has more spent plutonium fuel than any other country and Sellafield was designed to reprocess this plutonium as nuclear fuel. Little has gone according to plan. Since 2001, the “Sellafield Mox Plant has been beset by problems. Instead of producing 120 tonnes of fuel a year, it has managed just over 13 tonnes in eight years, at a total cost to the taxpayer of £1.34bn – and a further £800m in future running costs expected this decade.”
The New York Times (May 7)
The U.S. added 244,000 jobs in April, but the jobless rate rose because even more people left or lost jobs. The “contradictory employment data raise questions about the economy’s momentum,” demonstrating the need for additional job creation programs, rather than government budget-cutting. “Job growth is not taking off. At the current monthly rate, it would take more than five years to return to the pre-recession unemployment rate of 5 percent in December 2007.”
Tags: Budget, Jobs, U.S., Unemployment
Time (May 6)
Over the past year, Britain’s first coalition government since World War II has performed better than many expected, exemplified by compromise and common ground. But the honeymoon may be coming to an end. Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party did well in recent local elections while Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats fared poorly. Both leaders campaigned on opposite sides of the Alternative Vote referendum, which voters rejected. Time writes “What is certain is that the year-long honeymoon enjoyed by Clegg and Cameron after they sealed their union in the rose garden of 10 Downing Street last May is well and truly over. The question now is whether they can avoid divorce.”
Over the past year, Britain’s first coalition government since World War II has performed better than many expected, exemplified by compromise and common ground. But the honeymoon may be coming to an end. Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party did well in recent local elections while Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats fared poorly. Both leaders campaigned on opposite sides of the Alternative Vote referendum, which voters rejected. Time writes “What is certain is that the year-long honeymoon enjoyed by Clegg and Cameron after they sealed their union in the rose garden of 10 Downing Street last May is well and truly over. The question now is whether they can avoid divorce.”
Tags: Cameron, Clegg, Coalition, Conservatives, Liberal democrats, UK
Financial Times (May 6)
In a single trading session, commodities prices came crashing down on Thursday, with silver falling 13%, oil 10% and gold 4%. While the sharp correction was not predicted, a slew of rationale has subsequently been offered to objectively explain the dip. The Financial Times finds most of this reasoning specious, writing “the ease with which we explain price swings – in any direction – suggests that we do not really understand them at all.” Instead, the FT opts for a simpler explanation. “Last week’s slide probably just means that a self-inflated bubble self-deflated a little, in accordance with its own internal mass-psychological dynamics. Put simply, investors took fright.” Trying to explain what caused the fright or predict where it may lead is a fool’s game. Commodities may go up or they may go down. We cannot know.In a single trading session, commodities prices came crashing down on Thursday, with silver falling 13%, oil 10% and gold 4%. While the sharp correction was not predicted, a slew of rationale has subsequently been offered to objectively explain the dip. The Financial Times finds most of this reasoning specious, writing “the ease with which we explain price swings – in any direction – suggests that we do not really understand them at all.” Instead, the FT opts for a simpler explanation. “Last week’s slide probably just means that a self-inflated bubble self-deflated a little, in accordance with its own internal mass-psychological dynamics. Put simply, investors took fright.” Trying to explain what caused the fright or predict where it may lead is a fool’s game. Commodities may go up or they may go down. We cannot know.
Tags: Commodities, Gold, Oil, Price Swings, Silver
The Economist (May 5)
The U.S. Patent Office issued 244,358 patents in 2010. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there is a back log of over 700,000 applications. “On average, hopeful inventors wait for two years until their applications are even considered. Ten months more may go by before they learn whether they have been successful.” As Congress has further cut spending, the backlog is expected to worsen. The Economist believes the wait stymies innovation. “While they wait for a decision, the American economy is losing out.”
The U.S. Patent Office issued 244,358 patents in 2010. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there is a back log of over 700,000 applications. “On average, hopeful inventors wait for two years until their applications are even considered. Ten months more may go by before they learn whether they have been successful.” As Congress has further cut spending, the backlog is expected to worsen. The Economist believes the wait stymies innovation. “While they wait for a decision, the American economy is losing out.”
Tags: Congress, Economy, Innovation, Patents, U.S.
Washington Post (May 5)
Was it legal for U.S. Special Forces to kill Osama bin Laden? The Post argues both the killing and the raid, which was conducted without Pakistani approval, were legal under the authorization for the use of military force (AUMF). Passed by Congress one week after September 11, AUMF essentially declared war on al-Qaeda and the Taliban, giving the president broad powers to conduct the campaign. “The covert military operation that brought down the most wanted terrorist in the world appears to have been gutsy and well executed. It was also lawful.”
Tags: Congress, Legality, Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, U.S.
New York Times (May 4)
Harvard Professor Martin Feldstein writes that raising the income tax rate is unnecessary. Limiting tax deductions, allowances and other credits is, however, essential. Feldstein proposed capping these at 2% of each tax payer’s adjusted gross income. This alone, “would raise tax revenue by $278 billion — nearly 30 percent of total projected income tax revenue for this year.”
Tags: Deductions, Rate, Revenue, Tax, U.S.
