Bloomberg (December 10)
“Investors betting that China’s near-insatiable appetite for industrial raw materials will drive global economic growth may want to skip the shipping news. For the first time in at least a decade, combined seaborne imports of iron ore and coal — commodities that helped fuel a manufacturing boom in the world’s second-largest economy — are down from a year earlier.”
Tags: China, Coal, Commodities, Global economic growth, Imports, Investors, Iron, Manufacturing, Ore, Raw materials, Shipping
Wall Street Journal (December 9)
“Rather than reform the markets, Beijing wants to inflict pain on the brokers to assuage public anger over the crash.” This sort of meddling by the government helps explain why China’s financial markets remain dysfunctional. “China’s largest brokerage is now missing six of its eight top bosses” who are widely assumed to to “have been detained by police.” Numerous others have disappeared under similar circumstances. “But political interference risks repeating the boom and boost cycle. Putting brokers in prison won’t strengthen markets unless it is part of a new commitment to consistently enforce the law.”
Tags: Beijing, Brokerage, Brokers, China, Crash, Dysfunctional, Government, Markets, Public anger, Reform
Institutional Investor (December 8)
“COP21 is an important turning point for the global economy and the financial markets that underpin it. Smart investors will not only examine the risks but also clearly appreciate the opportunities in this space, as our $100 trillion economy embarks upon a decarbonization trajectory over the next two generations.”
Tags: COP21, Decarbonization, Financial markets, Global economy, Investors, Opportunities, Risks, Turning-point
New York Times (December 7)
“Revelations of the extent of Volkswagen’s efforts to hide the true level of its automobile emissions just keep piling up, yet the company appears incapable of coming clean, responding to each new revelation with denial, feigned ignorance and weak apologies.”
Washington Post (December 6)
“So far, hacking has involved mostly commercial and criminal misdeeds.” Though costly, “they are a lesser danger. The real threat is hacking intended to destabilize entire societies.” Cyberwar and cyberterrorism could do unprecedented damage so “we need to think the unthinkable.” This “change in consciousness” will help us limit the risk that, for chilling example, an entity will intentionally crash the electric grid.
Tags: Commercial, Criminal, Cyberterrorism, Cyberwar, Damage, Destabilize, Electric grid, Hacking, Misdeeds, Unthinkable
The Economist (December 5)
Many aspects of Japan’s criminal justice system are admirable, “yet time and again innocent people have been shown to confess to crimes in the hope of a more lenient sentence—or simply to make the interrogation stop.” In fact, some estimate more than a tenth of convictions rests on false confessions. Changes need to be made, for example, “all interrogations should be filmed from start to finish.” Reforms like these “would give the innocent a better chance of keeping their liberty.”
Tags: Admirable, Crimes, Criminal justice, False confessions, Film, Innocent, Interrogations, Japan
Chicago Tribune (December 3)
“The drama never ends for Argentina, land of failed expectations and the setting for a great Broadway musical. Next week, a new leading man steps into the role of president with a chance to fix the broken economy and set a positive example for South American democracy.”
Tags: Argentina, Broadway, Broken, Democracy, Drama, Economy, Expectations, Musical, President, South America
Financial Times (December 3)
“For the average Japanese investor and consumer, inflation expectations have not budged. Japan needs to jump-start a wage-price spiral of the sort feared from the 1970s…. Such a cycle should be started by increasing nominal wages by 5 to 10 per cent in 2016.”
Tags: 2016, Consumer, Expectations, Inflation, Investor, Japan, Price spiral, Wages
Washington Post (December 2)
Pfizer’s planned tax inversion highlights a dilemma “of almost-impenetrable complexity and contentiousness: How to tax multinational companies?” To minimize their taxes, “large global firms…are becoming more aggressive.” At the same time, governments are “increasingly desperate to raise tax revenue to pay for aging societies and cover persistent budget deficits.”
Tags: Aging societies, Budget deficits, Dilemma, Governments, Inversion, Multinationals, Pfizer, Taxes
Institutional Investor (December 1)
A crackdown in China on the securities industry “is shaking confidence.” The crackdown includes “the disappearance of a top brokerage executive” who many presume has been removed for questioning. These and other events are “fueling worries that President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on alleged abuses in the securities industry is turning into a campaign against political rivals.”
Tags: Abuses, Brokerage executive, China, Confidence, Crackdown, Disappearance, Political rivals, Securities industry, Xi Jinping
