Financial Times (September 18)
“With their economies struggling and domestic politics in disarray, the last thing leaders in China and Japan need now is a foreign policy crisis. Sadly, that is what they are getting into.” The dispute over the Senkaku islands has entered “a more dangerous phase.” A number of circumstances conspired to create the crisis, but there is “no reason for China and Japan to allow further escalation. It is inconceivable that Asia’s two economic giants, joined at the hip commercially, should get into a prolonged confrontation, let alone a military conflict, over these islands. The crisis has already exacted a heavy toll on both countries.”
“With their economies struggling and domestic politics in disarray, the last thing leaders in China and Japan need now is a foreign policy crisis. Sadly, that is what they are getting into.” The dispute over the Senkaku islands has entered “a more dangerous phase.” A number of circumstances conspired to create the crisis, but there is “no reason for China and Japan to allow further escalation. It is inconceivable that Asia’s two economic giants, joined at the hip commercially, should get into a prolonged confrontation, let alone a military conflict, over these islands. The crisis has already exacted a heavy toll on both countries.”
Tags: China, Confrontation, Crisis, Japan, Military conflict, Senkaku islands
The Guardian (September 17)
“Sometimes, the future arrives with alarming speed.” In 2000, scientists warned urgent action was needed; otherwise summer sea ice would disappear from the Arctic Ocean by 2050. The actual results have been “far more dramatic….The summer Arctic could be an open sea within a decade.”
Tags: Arctic Ocean, Climate change, Sea ice, Summer
Wall Street Journal (September 16)
“The U.S. is increasingly worried that territorial disputes in the Pacific could inadvertently erupt into a conflict.” En route to Japan, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, “What we don’t want is any kind of provocative behavior on the part of China or anybody else, resulting in conflict….That conflict would have the potential of expanding.”
New York Times (September 16)
“On the most basic level, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is responsible for saving and creating 2.5 million jobs. The majority of economists agree that it helped the economy grow by as much as 3.8 percent, and kept the unemployment rate from reaching 12 percent.”
The Economist (September 15)
With the tighter capital requirements of Basel III and more stringent regulations, investment banking has been radically downsizing. “The financial industry in London, the world’s most international banking hub, will probably have shed 100,000 jobs by the end of this year from its peak of 354,000 in 2007.” While “some of the industry’s shrinkage is overdue” and “this is broadly a good thing,” politicians and regulators need to be careful about moving to the other extreme and “regulating too fiercely.”
Time (September 13)
“On Thursday the New York City Health Department became the first in the nation to ban the sale of sugared beverages larger than 16 oz. at restaurants, mobile food carts, sports arenas and movie theaters.” Mayor Bloomberg was a strong proponent of the ban. Despite many objections, the health board is “convinced that banning mega-sized drinks would be an important step toward helping consumers not only to drink fewer calories, but also hopefully to make healthier changes to their diet more broadly.”
Tags: Calories, Diet, Drink ban, Health Dept., New York
Los Angeles Times (September 12)
In the U.S. a fiscal cliff is approaching when tax cuts expire on January 1, government spending is scheduled for automatic reduction and limits on government borrowing will be reached. “The message from the analysts at Moody’s and S&P is that lawmakers can’t keep putting off the day of reckoning. Moody’s set a reasonable condition for avoiding a downgrade: adopting policies that stabilize, then reduce the debt as a percentage of the U.S. economy over the next several years.”
New York Times (September 12)
“Teachers’ strikes, because they hurt children and their families, are never a good idea. The strike that has roiled the civic climate in Chicago — and left 350,000 children without classes — seems particularly senseless.” Chicago had offered the teachers, who make an average annual salary of $75,000, a 16% pay raise over a 4-year period.
Financial Times (September 11)
“Xi Jinping was being groomed to become the next general secretary of the Communist party and hence president of China. The only thing that remained was to set the date for the 18th party congress and anoint him. There is just one problem with this well-choreographed transition: Mr Xi has disappeared.” Missing for more than a week, Chinese authorities are acting as if nothing is wrong and denying the existence of Mr. Xi’s previously scheduled meetings. Did he have a heart attack? A car accident? Rumors are swirling and internet searches for “back injury,” the official excuse for his absence, are being blocked by government censors.
Tags: China, Communist party, Party congress, President, Xi Jinping
Wall Street Journal (September 10)
“Mario Draghi laid out the European Central Bank’s latest bond-buying venture Thursday, and we suppose the good news is that it isn’t as sweeping as it might have been.” Still, it amounts to “another giant step into fiscal policy. This is far from the original vision of the euro, and the costs to the central bank’s political independence will be steep.” Furthermore, the benefits are marginal. “At best, the new program will give Messrs. Monti and Rajoy more time to promote the reforms in labor markets, taxation and other things their countries so desperately need to grow again.”
Tags: Bond-buying, ECB, euro, Fiscal policy, Italy, Mario Draghi, Monti, Rajoy, Spain
