Financial Times (April 9)
Japan’s corporate culture “had a certain rationale in the catch-up era” of the 1960s and 1970s. Today, however, “it makes no sense at all.” Today, Japan needs “a multidisciplinary workforce capable of switching mid-career, not only between different companies but also between entirely different fields. It needs to bring more women into the workforce, not to make up the numbers but to usher in new thinking.”
Tags: Corporate culture, Japan, Mid-career, Multidisciplinary, New thinking, Rationale, Women, Workforce
Washington Post (April 8)
A recent study from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) “confirms that the investment bust is a global phenomenon. It’s not just the United States but also Europe, Japan and most advanced countries. As important, the main cause of the investment slump is clear-cut: Businesses aren’t expanding because they can already meet most demand with existing capacity.”
Tags: Businesses, Demand, Europe, Existing capacity, Expanding, IMF, Investment, Japan, Slump, U.S.
New York Times (April 7)
“Greece cannot count on Russia to ride to its financial rescue. The sharp drop in oil prices and, to a lesser extent, Western sanctions have damaged the Russian economy and limited Mr. Putin’s ability to dole out aid to other countries.” The Greeks can, however, be sure that Putin will try to exploit any chinks in the EU’s armor. “Mr. Tsipras should be careful not to let himself be used to undermine European unity.”
Tags: Economy, EU, Financial rescue, Greece, Oil prices, Putin, Russia, Tsipras, Unity, Western sanctions
Washington Post (April 6)
“Climate-change deniers are in retreat.” Funding is being cut off for groups that once tried to justify the increasingly untenable position that human activities are not causing climate change. “For politicians and climate-denial groups, the elixir of life is money. Now that corporations are becoming reluctant to bankroll crazy theories, the surrender of climate-change deniers will follow.”
Tags: Climate change, Corporations, Deniers, Funding, Money, Politicians, Retreat
LA Times (April 5)
“Cybersecurity is a top national priority because of the incessant attacks on computer networks and stored data by hackers around the world, many under the auspices of foreign governments. According to a recent estimate, the toll from cybercrimes in 2013 was more than $100 billion in the U.S. and roughly half a trillion dollars globally.”
Tags: Attacks, Cybersecurity, Data, Foreign governments, Hackers, Networks, Priority, U.S.
The Economist (April 4)
“Poor land use in the world’s greatest cities carries a huge cost.” There isn’t much real shortage of land in even the most heavily populated areas. Instead poor regulations stifle efficient land use. “In the West End of London,” these regulations “inflate the price of office space by about 800%; in Milan and Paris the rules push up prices by around 300%.” But the effect on economic growth is even more profound. “Lifting all the barriers to urban growth in America could raise the country’s GDP by between 6.5% and 13.5%, or by about $1 trillion-2 trillion.”
Tags: Barriers, Cities, Economic growth, GDP, Land use, London, Milan, Paris, Regulations, Shortage, U.S., Urban growth
Wall Street Journal (April 3)
“It’s fashionable to despair over American progress against cancer, but the reality is that every year medicine makes steady and durable gains…. The mortality rate fell 1.5% a year on average for all cancers from 2002 to 2011, while new cases of cancer dropped 0.5% a year over the same period.”
Institutional Investor (April 2)
Expectations are low as U.S. companies prepare to report first quarter results. Consensus forecasts “show a decline in first quarter earnings of more than 4 percent, with anticipated shortfalls across all sectors. This represents the largest downward revisions since the first quarter of 2009.”
Tags: Decline, Downward revision, Earnings, Expectations, Forecasts, Results, Sectors, Shortfalls, U.S. Q1
New York Times (April 2)
America’s immigration policy lies in tatters with one state’s ad hoc measures often at odds with those of others. There needs to be a sensible and unified policy, which recognizes that “laws and policies that deny rights and promote exclusion have been the source of shame and regret throughout American history. Integration and assimilation are the core values of a country that is in danger of forgetting itself.”
Tags: Assimilation, Deny rights, Exclusion, Integration, Laws, Policies, Shame, U.S. Immigration
Washington Post (April 1)
“Deal or no deal, the Iran talks have borne fruit” by engaging Iran with the outside world. “Iran is now a diplomatic and political factor in regional and world politics, for better or worse. The right U.S. strategy was to prevent this rising Iran from getting nuclear weapons, not to pretend that it didn’t exist.”
Tags: Deal, Diplomatic, Engaging, Iran, Nuclear weapons, Political, Pretend, Strategy, U.S.
