The Economist (December 1)
“Personal income tax accounted for only 8% of total tax revenue in China last year, compared with an average of 24% in the OECD, a group of rich countries.” This is largely because tax dodging is ubiquitous. Estimates suggest “only 2% of Chinese pay any income tax.” Since “China has run a budget deficit in 21 of the past 22 years,” however, the government is now making efforts to raise collection to 15%.
Tags: Budget, China, Collection, Deficit, Dodging, Government, Income tax, OECD, Revenue
South China Morning Post (November 25)
The unfolding truth “appears to be rather different” than “the narrative spun by Nissan and apparently condoned by Japanese authorities.” When the full story about Ghosn is revealed, “it threatens to do at least as much damage to the reputation of the government and industry alliance known as Japan Inc as to the man at the centre of the affair” for it increasingly appears “Nissan’s old guard struck back against their ‘gaijin’ savior.”
Tags: Alliance, Authorities, Damage, Ghosn, Government, Industry, Japan Inc., Nissan, Reputation, Truth, Unfolding
Wall Street Journal (November 18)
“As the British government convulses over Theresa May’s Brexit deal, its negotiating partners in Europe are watching with bewilderment and anxiety, tempered by a flickering hope that the U.K. Parliament might yet decide the pain of Brexit isn’t worth it.”
Tags: Anxiety, Bewilderment, Brexit, Convulses, Europe, Government, Hope, May, UK
Bloomberg (September 14)
“A government campaign to slash the influence of China’s celebrities” will also hinder the industry’s ability to compete with Hollywood. “China’s filmmakers, already struggling, will have trouble competing at home, let alone abroad, if they’re forced to use dull, ideologically pure actors and storylines. If China really wants to challenge Hollywood on a global stage, it’s going to have to let its biggest stars shine.”
Tags: Actors, Celebrities, China, Dull, Filmmakers, Government, Hollywood, Ideologically pure, Influence, Storylines, Struggling
Hidustan Times (August 30)
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to weed out black money through a ban on high-value currency notes haven’t yielded the desired results.” The Government estimated approximately one-third of the 15.4 trillion rupees in circulation on Nov. 8, 2016 “wouldn’t be returned to banks because it was stashed illegally to avoid tax.” In reality, 99.3% of the invalidated banknotes were returned. Only “107 billion rupees hasn’t yet been received by the Reserve Bank of India after the cash ban.”
Tags: Ban, Banknotes, Black money, Cash, Currency, Desired results, Government, Illegal, India, Modi, Rupee, Stashed, Tax
Wired (August 26)
In a remote location, China built the Five-Hundred-Meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), the world’s largest. To reduce radio-frequency interference (RFI), China “forcibly relocated thousands of villagers who lived nearby, so their modern trappings wouldn’t interfere with the new prized instrument.” Once FAST was completed, the government then built up a tourist mecca “just a few miles from the displaced villagers’ demolished houses” and now “plans to increase the permanent population by hundreds of thousands…. potentially undercutting its own science in an attempt to promote it.”
Tags: China, FAST, Government, Relocated, Remote, RFI, Science, Tourists, Undercutting
The Economist (July 28)
“No consequence of global warming is as self-evident as higher temperatures. Earth is roughly 1°C hotter today than it was before humanity started belching greenhouse gases into the atmosphere during the Industrial Revolution.” This summer the consequences are widespread: “Heat is causing problems across the world.” But if global warming continues, “the toll on human lives is hard to imagine.” The bright spot is that better government response appears to be saving some lives. “If only the world could take in a similar lesson about the importance of stopping climate change in the first place.”
Tags: Climate change, Consequences, Earth, GHG, Global warming, Government, Heat, Human lives, Industrial Revolution, Response, Temperatures
The Diplomat (June 19)
“Comparisons–both fair and unfair–will likely be drawn between this government’s response to the Osaka earthquake and the 3.11 triple disaster or the 1995 Hanshin earthquake to score political points. Abe will be under pressure to centralize command without micromanaging, to foster cooperation at the municipal level without overreaching. Though this natural disaster is not on the scale of either the 3.11 or Hanshin earthquakes, given Abe’s grim political outlook, he cannot afford any misstep under this kind of scrutiny.”
Tags: 3.11, Abe, Centralize, Cooperation, Government, Hanshin earthquake, Micromanaging, Misstep, Natural disaster, Osaka earthquake, Overreaching, Pressure, Response, Scale, Scrutiny
LA Times (March 13)
“Myanmar has lost its luster for U.S. investors, who say the military has relinquished little power and Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government has failed to loosen the grip that army generals and their cronies retain over key industries.”
Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Cronies, Elected, Generals, Government, Key industries, Luster, Military, Myanmar, U.S. investors
New York Times (January 21)
The Government shutdown spotlights Donald Trump’s major shortcoming. The current President proved “woefully inept at making tough deals…. Trump is an unrepentant, unremitting liar. That makes deal-making impossible. His word is meaningless and his policy principles are murky. He is mercurial and inconsistent. This may well have worked in business, to keep people off kilter, but it won’t work in politics.”
Tags: Deal-making, Government, Inconsistent, Inept, Liar, Meaningless, Mercurial, Shortcoming, Shutdown, Trump, Unrepentant
