Financial Times (December 30)
“Faced with the choice between the romantic nationalism close to his heart, and the recognition that only bold economic and diplomatic measures can restore his country to prosperity, Mr Abe appears to have listened to his head and chosen the latter.”In reaching a final “comfort women” agreement, “both South Korea and Japan have showed courage, pragmatism and the willingness to risk a domestic backlash. The benefits of this rapprochement should not be underestimated, at a moment when east Asia confronts both opportunity and peril.”
Tags: Abe, Bold measures, Comfort women, Courage, Domestic backlash, Japan, Nationalism, Pragmatism, Prosperity, Rapprochement, Recognition, South Korea
Los Angeles Times (December 29)
“In an effort to move more cargo on less fuel, ocean freight carriers are in a race to build megaships with much larger capacities than the typical ships calling at U.S. ports. The average container ship being built now is nearly three times the size of the average a decade ago.”
Tags: Cargo, Container ship, Fuel, Megaships, Ocean freight, Ports, Race, Size
Bloomberg (December 28)
“The retaking of Ramadi by Iraqi security forces this past weekend was a blow to Islamic State. It’s less clear that it amounts to a major victory for the government in Baghdad, but it at least demonstrates that its U.S.-backed strategy for recapturing territory in Sunni-dominated parts of the country is sound.”
Tags: Baghdad, Iraqi security forces, Islamic State, Ramadi, Recapturing territory, Sunni, U.S.-backed strategy, Victory
Institutional Investor (December 28)
“U.S. earnings have declined for four straight quarters, and market participants are taking notice.” This decline in corporate profits may “signal a looming recession.”
Washington Post (December 27)
“On climate change, curb your enthusiasm. It’s not that the recent international conference in Paris didn’t take significant steps to check global warming. It did. Nearly 200 countries committed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The goal of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) from preindustrial times was reaffirmed. The trouble is that what’s being attempted is so fundamentally difficult that even these measures may be wildly unequal to the task.”
Tags: Climate change, Difficult, GHGs, Global warming, Paris, Preindustrial
New York Times (December 25)
“Evil is everywhere, and anger and hatred are loud. The shouting drowns out the quiet; tragedy and disaster block the view of the good. Yet there are always signs of progress toward a better future. Look, or you may miss them.”
Wall Street Journal (December 25)
“A long time ago in a country far, far away, America had less of everything and holidays were easier and more modest.” And more memorable. “These memories came with a declared or implied, ‘We didn’t have much, but . . .’ And this was said not with resentment or self pity but a kind of pride and wistfulness.”
Tags: Christmas, Holidays, Memorable, Modest, Pride, Resentment, Self pity, U.S., Wistfulness
Chicago Tribune (December 24)
“We missed it. Readers and I, along with almost everyone else, failed to foresee the rise and confounding political buoyancy of GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump, whose ride atop the polls was the nation’s biggest story in 2015.”
Tags: 2015, Buoyancy, Confounding, Donald Trump, Foresee, GOP, Polls, Rise
Bloomberg (December 22)
Rather than a battle to the death between “lumbering” automakers and disruptive Silicon Valley, the deal between Google and Ford proves “that Detroit and Silicon Valley are increasingly likely to collaborate rather than compete” to realize autonomous vehicles. Ford’s decision to collaborate “may accelerate the decline of the traditional industry, but by taking an early seat at the table right next to Google, the firm has secured a position of relevance in the new mobility paradigm.”
Tags: Automakers, Autonomous vehicles, Collaborate, Compete, Detroit, Disruptive, Ford, Google, Lumbering, New mobility paradigm, Relevance, Silicon Valley
Institutional Investor (December 21)
“The economy may be having more of an effect on corporate leverage than leverage is having on the economy. Given the economy’s modest recovery of 2.2 percent annualized growth since the end of the 2007-’08 financial crisis, companies haven’t had a great opportunity to invest in expanding operations. Instead, they are borrowing money to facilitate financial engineering: share buybacks, dividend payouts and mergers and acquisitions.”