The Economist (February 7)
“Despite their flaws and excesses, activists are a force for good.” These investors “are often loathed by public-company bosses for their belligerence and opportunism. But the bosses are wrong. Activists are in fact the public company’s unlikely saviours.” Activist investors “fill a governance void that afflicts today’s public companies,” which are increasingly held by passive investors. They wake “lazy investors” up with their activist complaints, making “it harder for investors to stay on the sidelines.”
Tags: Activists, Excesses, Flaws, Governance, Investors, Opportunism, Passive investors
Wall Street Journal (February 6)
“The Greek effort to divide and conquer by negotiating individually with other EU members instead of with the bloc as a whole is going nowhere.” Nevertheless, there may still be “room for a prudent compromise that might involve a bridge deal to allow time for a permanent agreement, followed by some easing of the terms of bailout loans in exchange for a commitment to economic reform.”
Tags: Bailout, Compromise, Economic reform, Effort, EU, Greek, Loans, Negotiations
Bloomberg (February 5)
Slowdowns at West Coast ports have already disrupted the operations of Honda, Subaru, Toyota and McDonalds. Now it looks like the “union-led work slowdowns could shut the U.S. West Coast’s 29 ports in five to 10 days” unless a new contract deal is accepted. Excepting Toyota, all of the mentioned companies have resorted to the expensive airlifting of some cargo.
Tags: Airlifting, Cargo, Honda, McDonald's, Ports, Slowdowns, Subaru, Toyota, U.S., Union, West Coast
Los Angeles Times (February 4)
“To say that the truce in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed breakaway ‘republics’ are battling the pro-Western Kiev government, isn’t holding is like saying the Titanic sprung a leak. The cease-fire signed in September is a dead letter. There’s a full-blown war afoot.” This does not, however, mean that the U.S. should arm the Ukrainians. “The presumption that Putin will back off once Kiev gets U.S. weaponry is not based on evidence but hope. And hope is not a strategy.”
Financial Times (February 3)
“The killings of Mr Goto and Mr Yukawa show that no nation — however pacifist its culture — is immune from the mindless violence of Islamist militants. Japan’s response at this moment must be one rooted in international engagement, not renewed isolation.”
Tags: Culture, Engagement, Goto, Islamist militants, Isolation, Japan, Killings, Pacifist, Violence, Yukawa
New York Times (February 2)
“Modest growth has never been enough to overcome the damage of the Great Recession and, from there, to reach new levels in terms of output, employment and wages.” Unfortunately, the U.S. is still stuck with modest growth. “For all the talk about accelerating growth, the economy grew last year at a rate of 2.4 percent, basically in line with growth over the past several years.”
Tags: Economy, Employment, Great Recession, Growth, Output, U.S., Wages
The Economist (January 31)
America’s “favourite entertainment faces many charges. One of them will finish it.” Despite soaring popularity, the Economist believes football is due for a fall now that the “maiming of so many of football’s professional players” is no longer a secret. Roughly one third of ex-pros go onto suffer from brain injuries and this ugly fact will cause the sport’s popularity to wane. Though it seems unthinkable, “football will go the same way” as boxing and westerns, which once also enjoyed broad appeal.
Wall Street Journal (January 30)
“Trouble has been looming over the oil patch since crude prices began falling last summer, from over $100 a barrel to under $50 today. But only now are the long-feared effects of a bust starting to ripple through the complex energy ecosystem, affecting Houston executives, California landowners and oil old-timers in Oklahoma.”
Tags: Barrel, Bust, California, Crude prices, Energy ecosystem, Falling, Houston, Oil, Oklahoma, Trouble
