LA Times (December 11)
Moving “back to an electric future for cars” may take a decade, but it could again spell the end of smog, which arose with gasoline-powered cars. “In 1900, more battery-powered electric cars ran on the streets of New York City than cars with internal combustion engines…. But the arrival in 1908 of Henry Ford’s Model T turned the gasoline-powered car into an affordable mass-market product and made the electric car a historical curiosity.”
Tags: Cars, Electric, Gas, Henry Ford, Smog
Financial Times (December 11)
Congress should extend the payroll tax cut. “US growth is too fragile at this stage to risk fiscal contraction. If the payroll cut expires, it would withdraw almost $1,000 from the average middle-class pay packet.” Unemployment benefits should also be extended. Congress should “not punish those who are trying to find work.”
Tags: Congress, Growth, Payroll tax, U.S., Unemployment benefits
Wall Street Journal (December 9)
Many still blame an artificially high yuan for ongoing economic woes in the U.S. Markets say otherwise. “The yuan has traded at the softer edge of the narrow band around which Beijing allows its exchange rate to fluctuate, notwithstanding Beijing’s effort to push the reference rate stronger.” Other facts also point to an overvalued, not undervalued, Chinese currency. October marked China’s first net outflow of capital since 2007. Wealthy Chinese, importers and exporters are increasingly retaining dollars or moving money offshore. “Insiders are wary of the currency’s—and the economy’s—near-term future.”
Los Angeles Times (December 8)
North Korea’s hope of “strategic partnership with the United States has run its course. In its place, the focus of Pyongyang’s policies has decisively shifted to Beijing.” In less than a year, Kim Jong Il made three trips to China. Both countries appear to want a stable 2012. In exchange for aid, China has extracted promises of no new turmoil from Kim. “We believe that this pivot toward Beijing is no routine oscillation in North Korean policy…. we expect the North in the near to medium term to make far less overt trouble.”
Tags: 2012, China, North Korea, Trouble, U.S.
Institutional Investor (December 7)
“The Indian rupee has declined 12.8 percent against the U.S. dollar since the beginning of the year, making it the worst-performing currency in Asia.” Due to both domestic and external pressures, the Indian rupee looks unlikely to strengthen despite possible intervention by the Reserve Bank of India.
New York Times (December 6)
The latest Merkozy solution demanding Euro nations work to balance budgets or face sanctions is “the wrong fix…. The Franco-German recipe will exacerbate Europe’s fundamental problem: lack of growth.”
Washington Post (December 5)
With world leaders gathered in South Africa, global attention is on climate change. However, the president of the World Wildlife Fund “argues that the leading environmental challenge of this century won’t be global warming. It will be feeding people.” Global population could hit 10 billion people by 2100 and 70% of arable land is already used for food production. The scale of the challenge is enormous.
Forbes (December 4)
“Cyber Monday” (November 28) “was the heaviest online spending day on record at $1.25 billion.” The rest of the week brought 2 more days (November 29 & 30) with cyber sales exceeding $1 billion. All told, “online sales for the first full week of what is considered the true holiday shopping season grew 15 percent to a record $5.96 billion.”
Tags: Cyber Monday, Online, Record sales, Shopping
The Economist (December 3)
As the European “crisis deepens, an alarming prospect looms: that France’s own status could lapse, and thus its clout at the heart of the euro zone. France is by far the most vulnerable of the zone’s six AAA-rated countries.” Many French officials are still pretending a downgrade is unthinkable, but Moody’s has placed France’s rating on watch. In another worrying move, the OECD “cut its 2012 GDP growth forecast for France from 2.1% to just 0.3%, well below the 1% on which the government based its latest austerity plan.” With some forecasting recession, the French could find themselves in the vice of decreased revenue and increased financing costs.
As the European “crisis deepens, an alarming prospect looms: that France’s own status could lapse, and thus its clout at the heart of the euro zone. France is by far the most vulnerable of the zone’s six AAA-rated countries.” Many French officials are still pretending a downgrade is unthinkable, but Moody’s has placed France’s rating on watch. In another worrying move, the OECD “cut its 2012 GDP growth forecast for France from 2.1% to just 0.3%, well below the 1% on which the government based its latest austerity plan.” With some forecasting recession, the French could find themselves in the vice of decreased revenue and increased financing costs.
Tags: Credit rating, Europe, France, Moody's, OECD
Washington Post (December 2)
“The health of the world economy, including our own, increasingly depends on the vision and decisiveness of a cautious German leader.” The European monetary union was poorly constructed. Either “Europe will dramatically strengthen its fiscal and political union or it will break into pieces. In recognizing this imperative, the Germans are right. Now they must also be decisive, creative and unifying.”