LA Times (August 8)
“Delta’s computer outage highlights the airline industry’s vulnerability.” On Monday, over 650 flights were cancelled and over 2,000 delayed when Delta’s system went down. These massive failures are becoming more common amidst airline consolidation and expansive systems. “Experts have blamed the rash of outages on massive, interconnected computer systems that lack sufficient staff and financial backing.”
Tags: Airlines. Vulnerability, Cancelled, Computer, Consolidation, Delayed, Delta, Flights, Outage
Chicago Tribune (August 8)
“For Japan, where there’s such pressure to maintain things the way they are, the decision to retire is even bigger. This has the making of an unmistakably modern moment: trying something new, even if it feels uncomfortable. Japan should thank Emperor Akihito for his unexpected decision and wish him a long, happy retirement.”
Tags: Decision, Emperor Akihito, Japan, New, Pressure, Retire, Uncomfortable, Unexpected
The Economist (August 6)
Japan is approaching “peak death,” which may arrive before 2040 when annual deaths near 1.7 million. Until then, “the funeral industry and other companies not hitherto associated with end-of-life issues sense an opportunity—a rare growth sector” in Japan where the death and dying industry approaches ¥2 trillion ($20 billion).
Tags: End-of-life issues, Funeral, Growth sector, Japan, Opportunity, Peak death
USA Today (August 4)
“The main non-athletic story line of the Rio Games has to be the utter folly of hosting these costly exercises in short-term gratification. Brazil is expected to spend as much as $20 billion on the Games, this after dropping $15 billion on the 2014 World Cup.” These excesses are “back-breaking” for host countries and the IOC should be ashamed of the “scarce money to be misspent” on the Games, money which is diverted from more pressing priorities.
Tags: Back-breaking, Brazil, Folly, Host, Host countries, IOC, Misspent, Olympics, Priorities, Rio, World Cup
Bloomberg (August 3)
Japan’s new proposal for stimulus “might win a few halfhearted cheers from Japan’s battered consumers, but it’s unlikely to have much of an effect. First, it’s just another in a long series of such moves, none of which have done much to jog the country out of its long, grinding stagnation.” While it “might keep the economy from falling into a recession…it’s unlikely to alter the anemic trends of recent years.”
Los Angeles Times (August 2)
Yesterday, this newspaper’s “editorial board said it was time for GOP officials to stop condemning Trump’s individual offenses as if they were gaffes and recognize that his ‘entire campaign is based on his ego, his intolerance and his disreputable world view,’” warning that “‘those who will not repudiate him are on the wrong side in this battle for the nation’s political soul.’” Today, it appears “as if prominent Republicans are starting to bail, convinced that their nominee’s [latest] ramblings…will weigh down the Trump campaign ship enough to sink it.”
Tags: Condemn, Disreputable, Editorial, Ego, Gaffes, GOP, Intolerance, Political soul, Republicans, Repudiate, Trump
Washington Post (August 1)
None positive, headlines focusing on Trump dominate the Opinions section: “There is something very wrong with Donald Trump;” “Is Donald Trump just plain crazy?” “By dishonoring the ultimate sacrifice, Trump has sunk to a new low;” “Dear Republican leaders: It’s not too late to dump Trump;” “The facts behind Donald Trump’s many falsehoods;” and “Will the GOP repudiate Trump’s cruelty to a fallen soldier’s family?”
Tags: Crazy, Cruelty, Dishonor, Falsehoods, GOP, New low, Opinions, Republican, Trump, Wrong
New York Times (July 31)
“Coming on top of the Zika epidemic, reports of terrible conditions in the Olympic Village, low ticket sales, police violence, a suspended president facing impeachment and a Russian team depleted by the doping scandal, the news of the contaminated waters certify that the Rio Olympics will be one of the most disorderly and woebegone in the 120 years since the modern Games began in Athens.”
Tags: Athens, Contaminated waters, Disorderly, Doping scandal, Epidemic, Impeachment, Olympic Village, Police violence, Rio Olympics, Russia, Ticket sales, Zika
The Economist (July 30)
When it comes to the three arrows of Abenomics, “the prevailing view is that none has hit home. Headline inflation was negative in the year to May. Japan’s public debt looks as bad as ever. In areas such as labour-market reform, nowhere near enough has been done.”
Tags: Abenomics, Inflation, Japan, Labor market, Public debt, Reform, Three arrows
