The Economist (August 31)
Syria’s President Bashar Assad apparent use of chemical weapons to kill civilians has gone too far. The international community should “hit him hard.” But first the U.S. and other coalition countries must “present the proof and “deliver an ultimatum” that Assad hand over all remaining chemical stockpiles.
Tags: Bashar Assad, Chemical weapons, Civilian International community, Coalition, Kill, Proof, Stockpiles, Syria, U.S., Ultimatum
Euromoney (August Issue)
“Singapore’s long drive to become the world’s leading centre for private asset management is gaining momentum as Asia’s wealthy exert greater influence and overseas investors flock to the city state.” Singapore is now a “legitimate rival to Switzerland,” with estimates the island state will overtake the Alpine nation in terms of assets under management by 2015.
Tags: Asia, Asset management, AUM, Influence, Investors, Momentum, Singapore, Switzerland, Wealthy
Wall Street Journal (August 29)
“In 1950 France had five people of working age per retiree. Today it has 1.4, and the ratio is expected to fall to 1.2 by 2050.” France’s newly unveiled pension reform will not “defuse” the pension bomb. “Paying for a growing number of retirees with a pay-as-you-go system that invests little for the future is a losing game. It will ultimately require much smaller pensions or much higher taxes, a fact that French businesses understand well even if the political class won’t admit it.”
Washington Post (August 27)
Governments need to rapidly “head off the ample risks of continuing to release huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the air and to set about it with speed and ambition.” A draft report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) concludes “the increasing amount of greenhouse gases that humans have emitted into the atmosphere has almost certainly been the chief driver of the warming of the planet over the past half-century…. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the IPCC notes, has shot up by 40 percent since 1750, with concentrations of the gas now increasing at a faster rate than at any time in the last 22,000 years.”Governments need to rapidly “head off the ample risks of continuing to release huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the air and to set about it with speed and ambition.” A draft report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) concludes “the increasing amount of greenhouse gases that humans have emitted into the atmosphere has almost certainly been the chief driver of the warming of the planet over the past half-century…. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the IPCC notes, has shot up by 40 percent since 1750, with concentrations of the gas now increasing at a faster rate than at any time in the last 22,000 years.”
Tags: Atmosphere, Climate change, CO2, Global warming, Governments, Greenhouse gases, IPCC, Planet
Financial Times (August 27)
There is a “moral case for intervention in Syria.” Bashar al-Assad’s “battle to hold on to power at any cost–including the lives of some 100,000 Syrians–is founded on the assumption the international community is too divided to act with conviction. He has exploited the divisions to take the war on his own people to terrifying extremes…. But this is a gamble he cannot be allowed to win.”
Tags: Bashar al-Assad, Conviction, Divided, International community, Intervention, Moral, Power, Syria, War
New York Times (August 26)
In a series of tweets, Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, “has given reason to hope that he is serious about resolving disputes with the United States and other major powers, most urgently about Iran’s nuclear program.” One such tweet reads, “We don’t want further tension. Both nations need 2 think more abt future & try 2 sit down & find solutions to past issues & rectify things.” While promising, “it would be naïve to assume that the path to ending Iran’s isolation is now clear.”
Tags: Disputes, Hassan Rouhani, Hope, Iran, Isolation, Nuclear program, Solutions, Tension, United States
The Economist (August 24)
Since the U.S. Federal Reserve intimated that it would begin tapering its quantitative easing program in 2013, “there has been a great sucking of funds from emerging markets. Currencies and shares have tumbled, from Brazil to Indonesia, but one country has been particularly badly hit.” India is looking less like “an economic miracle” and more like a country teetering on the verge of a full-blown crisis. “The rupee has tumbled by 13% in three months. The stockmarket is down by a quarter in dollar terms. Borrowing rates are at levels last seen after Lehman Brothers’ demise. Bank shares have sunk.”
Tags: Banks, Brazil, Crisis, Currencies, Emerging markets, Fed, India, Indonesia, Lehman Brothers, Miracle, Quantitative easing, Rupee, Shares, Stockmarket, Tapering, U.S.
Euromoney (August Issue)
In the U.S., it seems everyone is becoming an entrepreneur. “Some 6 million businesses were created in the U.S. in 2012. The country is experiencing a start-up boom…. Since the financial crisis, the number of businesses being started has rocked.”
Tags: Boom, Businesses, Entrepreneur, Financial Crisis, Start-ups, U.S.
Washington Post (August 22)
“Watching Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Gulf states line up behind the bloody counterrevolution in Egypt, you can’t help suspecting that these conservative monarchies are ready to fight to the last Egyptian against the Muslim Brotherhood — waging what amounts to a proxy war against the regional threat of Islamist extremism.”
Tags: Counterrevolution, Egypt, Gulf states, Islamist extremism, Monarchies, Muslim Brotherhood, Proxy war, Regional threat, Saudi Arabia
Chicago Tribune (August 22)
In light of the growing prosperity of farmers, Congress should reduce subsidies. “It’s time to draw the line. It’s time to pass a farm bill that eliminates the costly and unnecessary $5 billion a year in direct payments to farmers and landowners. Farm income has soared from $75.6 billion in 2009 to $99.4 billion in 2010, $134.7 billion in 2011 and $135.6 billion in 2012.”
