Chicago Tribune (December 9, 2013)
“The world’s biggest airline opens for business on Monday. Chicago has a huge stake in its success.” American Airlines Group Inc. will be formed from the merger of American Airlines and US Airways. The new group will complete against United-Continental and Delta-Northwest in what many see as a more stable competitive sphere. As “the only city in the country with three airline hubs” (American, United and Southwest), Chicago looks poised to benefit from this consolidation.
Tags: American, American Airlines, Chicago, Continental, Delta, Hubs, Merger, Northwest, Southwest, United, US Airways
Wall Street Journal (December 9, 2013)
Former Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban and the protesters he leads have shown a remarkable “capacity for self-delusion. They dismiss anyone who supports the government as either ignorant or in the pay of Ms. Yingluck and her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra…. The country will continue to pay the price as Mr. Suthep defies the will of the majority. It’s hard to escape the suspicion that a revolution is coming in Thai politics, but it won’t be one to the opposition’s liking.”
Tags: Government, Opposition, Politics, Prime minister, Protesters, Revolution, Self-delusion, Suthep Thaugsuban, Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra
Los Angeles Times (December 8, 2013)
“Between 2000 and 2010, as newspapers lost readers of their print editions, some 120 paper mills were closed in the United States and Canada, with a loss of 240,000 jobs, or about a third of the paper industry’s workforce.” But paper still has a future. In fact, paper has about 20,000 uses, including cardboard and bags, according to a British association of paper historians. We won’t become a paperless society overnight.
Tags: Canada, Cardboard, Historians, Jobs, Newspapers, Paper mills, Paperless society, Print editions, Readers, U.S., Workforce
12/9 Issue
“Why?” That’s what everybody, except Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron, seemed to be asking about China’s unilateral move to declare an air defense identification zone. The Financial Times asserts this move is not in the interest of China or its people, and risks repeating the mistakes Germany made leading up to the First World War.
In contrast to David Cameron, who was pilloried for pandering during a sales trip to China in which prickly issues were fastidiously avoided, the media mourned the passing of South Africa’s great leader. Despite his age, Nelson Mandela was the glue keeping South Africa together. USA Today wonders if this will last. “As long as Mandela survived, even with his capacity ravaged by his age and the harshness of his life, the simmering South African cauldron could not bubble over. No one dared upset their beloved Madiba.” The future looks less certain.
Patents are critical to innovation and protecting corporate profits. Yet, they can also be an encumbrance. The New York Times reports that patent applications have tripled in recent years, leading to frivolous lawsuits. In the U.S., possible legislation may bring some relief from patent trolls, but so far the lawmakers have failed to get to the heart of the matter: granting patents that are overly broad or vague.
As China seeks to move up the value chain, the Government is vigorously promoting innovation. According to the Wall Street Journal, however, China’s leaders have failed to address the main issue. The kind of innovators they seek to attract don’t care to live where the political environment is repressive.
Based on test scores alone, Japan, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan look set to leave the U.S. in their wake. Yet the U.S. seems to excel at innovation. As the Washington Post observes, this may be because the top one percent of U.S. test takers achieve so much, they more than compensate for the overall mediocrity.
Genetically modified (GM) crops provide hope that the world will remain able to feed its expanding population. Though GM crops have never been shown to be harmful to humans, many environmentalists harbor an irrational aversion to them. The Economist urges greens to look at the facts, cautioning that the kind of organic farming favored by greens is vastly inferior to the challenges we face. Organic farming “uses far too much land. If the Green revolution had never happened, and yields had stayed at 1960 levels, the world could not produce its current food output even if it ploughed up every last acre of cultivable land.”
Perspective can be everything. In Detroit some citizens are getting excited about events that might leave others depressed. The city just made history as the biggest public U.S. bankruptcy filing. As the Detroit Free Press notes, this provides citizens with hope that the city will be able to rapidly remove urban blight and begin improving basic services.
The Economist (December 7, 2013)
Despite frequent assertions, there is no evidence that genetically modified (GM) crops are bad for people. On the other hand, copious evidence demonstrates how GM crops “benefit the health of the planet. One of the biggest challenges facing mankind is to feed the 9 billion-10 billion people who will be alive and (hopefully) richer in 2050. This will require doubling food production on roughly the same area of land, using less water and fewer chemicals.” GM crops provide the hope that we will be able to meet this challenge.
USA Today (December 6, 2013)
“No one will soon forget Nelson Mandela, if not the greatest man of the 20th century, certainly the most extraordinary.”
Washington Post (December 5, 2013)
The U.S. does not test well. In contrast, Japan, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan swept top places for math, reading and science in the recent PISA global educational survey. Nevertheless, “the United States has done very well in harnessing the talents of its top 1 percent and in attracting the top 1 percent from the rest of the world to live and work here. These are the engines of innovation, growth and dynamism.” Whether they will keep the U.S. from falling behind, however, remains to be seen.
Tags: Dynamism, Education, Growth, Hong Kong, Innovation, Japan, Math, Reading, Science, Shanghai, Singapore, Taiwan, Talent, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (December 5, 2013)
Chinese “leaders are attempting to create an innovation ecosystem whereby government ministries funnel money through universities, think-tanks, businesses of all sizes, cities, real-estate developers and venture-capital investors.” Despite massive governmental support, “China still has trouble retaining its best and brightest talents onshore…. A growing number of Chinese scientists who had returned to China from the West are now leaving again.” While there are many reasons, including environmental pollution, the stifling political environment seems to be the largest factor. Innovative people generally don’t want to live where “they can’t network on Facebook or voice freewheeling opinions on any topic, business or political, under the sun.”
Tags: China, Chinese, Environment, Facebook, Government, Innovativon, Investors, Ministries, Network, Opinions, Politics, Pollution, Real estate, Scientists, Talent, Think-tanks, Venture-capital, West
Financial Times (December 4, 2013)
“Beijing, in its dispute with Japan, risks repeating the errors of an earlier era that led to war.” Though war is not inevitable, the risk has risen in a manner eerily reminiscent of how Germany set tinder that ultimately ignited, propelling Europe into the First World War. “One wonders why the Chinese leadership thinks asserting sovereignty over a few rocks worth the risk. Yes, China may get away with it this time and the next, and the time after that. But each throw of the dice renews the risks. What gains can justify the possible losses?” With tension and mistrust rising and “for the sake of the longer-term interests of the Chinese people, Mr Xi should think again – and halt.”“Beijing, in its dispute with Japan, risks repeating the errors of an earlier era that led to war.” Though war is not inevitable, the risk has risen in a manner eerily reminiscent of how Germany set tinder that ultimately ignited, propelling Europe into the First World War. “One wonders why the Chinese leadership thinks asserting sovereignty over a few rocks worth the risk. Yes, China may get away with it this time and the next, and the time after that. But each throw of the dice renews the risks. What gains can justify the possible losses?” With tension and mistrust rising and “for the sake of the longer-term interests of the Chinese people, Mr Xi should think again – and halt.”
Tags: ADIZ, Beijing, China, Europe, Gains, Germany, Interests, Japan, Losses, Mistrust, Risks, Sovereignty, Tension, WWI, Xi
Detroit Free Press (December 3, 2013)
Detroit became the biggest municipality—in fact the biggest public entity of any type—to file for bankruptcy in the U.S. after a federal judge approved the city’s application. With estimated debts of $18 billion, the city is hardly functioning. It takes nearly an hour for police to respond to calls, versus about six times longer than the national average. For many, the bankruptcy filing marks the first painful step to a comeback. Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr hopes to achieve improvements in basic services and the removal of 78,000 blighted homes and structures within three years. “That may sound like elementary stuff to people who are used to living in less-dysfunctional cities. In Detroit after decades of distress, however, it’s what dreams are made of.”
Tags: Bankruptcy, Basic services, Blight, Comeback, Debts, Detroit, Distress, Dreams, Dysfunction, Kevyn Orr, Police, U.S.
