Financial Times (May 11)
“The global trend has turned against title-hogging corporate leaders.” In 2002, the majority of incoming CEOs in Europe and the U.S. also held the Chairmanship. Last year, only 10% did. “Sometimes a species reaches the end of its natural existence…. The last survivors of the doomed herd become objects of curiosity and pity. This is happening to chief executives who are also chairmen—but with none of the pity.”
Washington Post (May 11)
“China has shown signs of exasperation with North Korea’s enigmatic leader, Kim Jong Un, and if China possesses about 250 nuclear weapons, then its leaders should be unsettled to hear from their own experts that North Korea is ramping up to 50 or even 100 in the next decade. Certainly, China—and only China—has the leverage to halt North Korea’s steady climb to becoming a nuclear power.”
Tags: China, Kim Jong Un, North Korea, Nuclear weapons
The Economist (May 9)
“Powerful computers will reshape humanity’s future.” Many experts warn artificial intelligence could also threaten humanity’s existence. We must and can “ensure the promise outweighs the perils.” This will require putting constraints “in place without compromising progress. From the nuclear bomb to traffic rules, mankind has used technical ingenuity and legal strictures to constrain other powerful innovations.”
Tags: AI, Constraints, Humanity, Innovation, Perils, Power, Progress, Promise, Rules
USA Today (May 8)
Though it may seem preposterous, a labor shortage will strike the U.S. “America is about to run short of workers for the simple reason that people are retiring.” In the coming decade, the retirement age population is expected to expand by 37.8% while the working age population will only increase by 3.2%. Those set to retire “will leave jobs while continuing to buy things—food, shelter, haircuts, airplane tickets health care and more—which will have to be produced by the remaining workforce.”
The Guardian (May 7)
Everyone “had predicted a dead heat” in the UK election. “If the exit survey is right, they weren’t even close.” The conservatives now appear to be running away with the election. “It’s fair to say no one was expecting that. Not the political parties, not the punditocracy and – least of all – the pollsters.”
Tags: Conservatives, Dead heat, Election, Exit survey, Parties, Pollsters, UK
Wall Street Journal (May 7)
As its economy slows, China is taking “tentative steps toward crucial financial reform.” These steps may leave some firms without the comfortable support of the Government’s safety net. “A few bankruptcies and defaults in recent months suggest that the bailout culture may give way to creative destruction. The year ahead should show whether China has reached a reform turning point.”
Tags: Bailouts, Bankruptcies, China, Creative destruction, Default, Economy, Financial Reform, Government, Turning-point
New York Times (May 6)
“In recent years, the number of patent-infringement lawsuits has increased sharply, by 25 percent just in 2013.” This explosion of frivolous lawsuits has “made a mockery of the protections the government grants to inventors.” Fortunately, Congress looks poised to pass legislation that could reduce some of the worst abuses.
Tags: Abuses, Congress, Frivolous, Government, Infringement, Inventors, Lawsuits, Legislation, Patents
Institutional Investor (May 5)
“The long-lasting oil price slump is reverberating through macroeconomic data points and this earnings season.” Oil and gas exploration companies are getting hammered. And “the impact of lower investment and employment in the energy sector was also reflected in disappointing first-quarter U.S. GDP data.”
Tags: Earnings, Employment, Energy, Exploration, GDP, Investment, Macroeconomic, Oil price, Reverberating, Slump, U.S.
Financial Times (May 4)
EU policy makers’ now have their “sights have fixed upon ‘Gafa’ — the acronym used to denote Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon.” The regulators do not hate technology. “They understand that digital services invigorate the economy. But…. Europe has recently felt itself to be more on the losing side; however measured, not one of the world’s largest internet companies is European.”
Tags: Amazon, Apple, Digital services, Economy, EU, Facebook, Gafa, Google, Technology
The Economist (May 1)
Since 2010, foreign creditors “have extended the equivalent of more than $5 billion of 100-year bonds to Mexico in three currencies: dollars, sterling and now euros.” Moreover, Mexico has received exceedingly good terms (4.2%-6.1%) given its “distinctly spotty credit record.” This speaks volumes about the intensity of the global search for yield, but raises the inevitable question “what are the chances of investors, or their grandchildren, getting their money back?”
