The Economist (July 20)
European leaders are beginning to address the youth unemployment crisis, but the measures they are introducing “suffer from the same flaws that have plagued the European Union’s response to the crisis over the past three years: a lack of boldness, an incomplete analysis of the problem and an excessive faith in copying German policies.” With nearly 8 million European youth not in work, education or training, the problem is massive and the proposed measures “not nearly enough.”
Tags: Analysis, Boldness, Crisis, Europe, German policies. Education, Leaders, Training, Youth unemployment
Euromoney (July issue)
“Market share of financial businesses vital to supporting global economic growth is concentrating rapidly into the hands of a small group of the world’s biggest banks.” During the first half of 2013, the top 10 banks commanded 56% of all investment banking fees. This “does not look a particularly welcome development, increasing as it does, the dependence of corporations, governments, large investors and other banks on just a few providers and along with it the exposure of the global financial system to risk of failure at any of these top 10.”
Tags: Banks, Economic growth, Exposure, Fees, Global financial system, Investment banking, Investors, Market share, Risk
Detroit Free Press (July 19)
Detroit became the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, hoping to escape nearly $20 billion in debt. “The word bankruptcy provokes an intense emotional response. Instinctively, many Detroiters feel the news is horrible and is synonymous with defeat. Fear kicks in as we envision our city being shut down and sold for scrap…. In fact, it is the exact lifeline we need to unshackle our town from the mismanagement, corruption and incompetence of the past in order to get on with the real work of rebuilding Detroit.”
Tags: Bankruptcy, Corruption, Debt, Detroit, Incompetence, Lifeline, Mismanagement, Rebuilding, U.S.
Bloomberg (July 18)
Japan needs to mend relationships with its neighbors. After the upper house Diet elections, “LDP leaders would be wise to focus their resources on overcoming opposition to the most difficult structural reforms. That doesn’t mean Japan can’t take measures it deems necessary to bolster its defenses, such as increasing its military budget, or even making cosmetic changes such as renaming its military the ‘National Defense Forces.’ Such decisions should be based on strategic concerns, not a desire to fire up patriotic fervor. They should be communicated to Beijing quietly but transparently, well in advance.”
Tags: Asia, China, Communication, Defense, Diet, Elections, Japan, LDP, Military, Relationships, Resources, Structural reforms
Washington Post (July 17)
With China’s economy decelerating, “ the world waits to see if it will make hard reforms. “Most big developing countries — China, India, Brazil, South Africa — have slowed down in the past few years. In almost all cases, the cause was the same. When their the economies were booming, these countries’ leaders avoided tough decisions. China had been the exception to this rule. But now it faces its biggest test…. If it fails, well, China becomes just another emerging market with a model that worked for a while.”
Tags: Boom, Brazil, China, Decelerating, Decisions, Developing countries, Economy, Emerging market, India, Leaders, Reforms, South Africa
Wall Street Journal (July 15)
“India’s state-run telephone company delivered its last telegram on Sunday. We are told an era is ending, as if mankind’s desire to communicate isn’t ageless.” For 163 years, telegrams served a purpose in India, but e-mail, SMS and Twitter are increasingly filling the need. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited had been losing approximately $23 million annually on telegrams since volume dropped to 5,000 daily “from 160,000-odd before smart phones and email.” In the U.S., Western Union eliminated telegrams in 2006 for similar reasons. Ironically, the short Twitter format of “140 characters pushes the limits of verbosity in a telegram,” but of course at greater speed and zero cost.
Tags: Cost, E-mail, End, Era, India, Smart phones, SMS, Speed, Telegram, Telephone, Twitter, U.S., Volume, Western Union
New York Times (July 14)
“The median compensation of chief executives at 200 of the nation’s biggest public companies came in at $15.1 million last year, a 16 percent jump from 2011…. The pay packages — including salary, bonus, benefits, stock and option grants — ranged from $96.2 million at Oracle to $11.1 million at General Motors.” Until the SEC determines rules for Dodd-Frank disclosure requirements, however, we won’t know just how excessive these packages are. Corporations should disclose pay gap information so investors, consumers, economists and others can monitor the ratio of C.E.O. pay to regular employee pay, which by some estimates now stands at between 200 and 300 to 1 in the U.S.“The median compensation of chief executives at 200 of the nation’s biggest public companies came in at $15.1 million last year, a 16 percent jump from 2011…. The pay packages — including salary, bonus, benefits, stock and option grants — ranged from $96.2 million at Oracle to $11.1 million at General Motors.” Until the SEC determines rules for Dodd-Frank disclosure requirements, however, we won’t know just how excessive these packages are. Corporations should disclose pay gap information so investors, consumers, economists and others can monitor the ratio of C.E.O. pay to regular employee pay, which by some estimates now stands at between 200 and 300 to 1 in the U.S.
Tags: Benefits, Bonus, Compensation, Disclosure, Dodd-Frank, Executive, General Motors, Options, Oracle, Pay gap, Requirements, Salary, SEC
The Economist (July 13)
“Roughly two-and-a-half years after the revolutions in the Arab world, not a single country is yet plainly on course to become a stable, peaceful democracy.” The Arab spring appears “doomed” to some. Yet, “despite the chaos, the blood and the democratic setbacks, this is a long process. Do not give up hope.”
Tags: Arab spring, Blood, Chaos, Democracy, Hope, Peace, Revolution, Setbacks
Bloomberg (July 11)
“Fewer than one percent of the 500 largest cities in China meet the air-quality standards recommended by the World Health Organization. Seven are ranked among the 10 most-polluted cities in the world, according to a 2012 report by the Asian Development Bank.” But increasing protests suggest, change may be in store. “In China, the authorities aren’t deaf to the protests.”
New York Times (July 11)
“With two bad rules adopted on Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission has all but invited hucksters, rip-off artists and other bad actors to prey on individual investors. The new rules are another disturbing sign that under the leadership of the new chairwoman, Mary Jo White, the S.E.C. will pursue deregulation at the expense of investor protection.”
