Washington Post (May 11)
“Older people today seem as healthy as people who were several years younger a few decades ago. So why shouldn’t they work the same way, too?” In the U.S., the eligibility age for full social security benefits is scheduled to increase to 67 over the next decade, but a recent study suggests eligibility could reasonably be moved even higher “to somewhere between 68 and 70.”
Tags: Age, Benefits, Eligibility, Healthy, Old, Retirement, Social security, U.S., Work, Young
The Economist (January 23)
Oil price slumps usually do “the world a power of good. The rule of thumb is that a 10% fall in oil prices boosts growth by 0.1-0.5 percentage points.” This time, however, the abrupt 75% drop in the price of oil is testing the old paradigm. “Producers are suffering grievously. The effects are spilling into financial markets, and could yet depress consumer confidence. Perhaps the benefits of such ultra-cheap oil still outweigh the costs, but markets have fallen so far so fast that even this is no longer clear.”
Tags: Benefits, Consumer confidence, Costs, Growth, Markets, Oil, Price slumps, Producers, Suffering, Ultra cheap
LA Times (November 8)
“So are we better off with or without the TPP? If Congress ratifies it, that won’t turbocharge the U.S. economy. If Congress blocks the deal, that won’t stop globalization. And like any trade agreement, it creates winners and losers.” The strongest argument for the agreement may be its geopolitical role, but the costs to many Americans have become “clearer than their benefits…. The president still has a lot of persuading to do.”
Tags: Benefits, Congress, Costs, Economy, Geopolitical, Globalization, Ratify, TPP, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (May 21)
There’s a reason “why so many countries are open to U.S.-led trade pacts, like TPP and its European counterpart, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. History shows the U.S. trade agenda, while far from perfect, has nevertheless provided sizable benefits to its partners.”
Financial Times (December 24)
“The triumph and tragedy of space flight, manned and unmanned, have been on full view over the past year.” Funding both types of space exploration is essential, as each provides benefits. “Space exploration is a worthy activity for our modern industrial civilisation. It is the ‘manifest destiny’ of humanity to move beyond Earth.”
Tags: Benefits, Civilisation, Earth, Exploration, Funding, Humanity, Industrial, Manifest destiny, Manned, Space, Tragedy, Triumph, Unmanned
The Economist (October 4)
The modern digital revolution “is disrupting and dividing the world of work on a scale not seen for more than a century. Vast wealth is being created without many workers; and for all but an elite few, work no longer guarantees a rising income.” The revolution has brought many benefits and has many more to offer, but a bold government response is necessary to ensure workers will be able to benefit from the digital revolution.
Tags: Benefits, Digital revolution, Disrupting, Elite, Government, Income, Modern, Wealth, Workers
Financial Times (October 1)
“For too long, Britain’s mainstream politicians and business leaders have been reluctant to make the positive case for the UK’s membership of the EU. It has become the subject that dares not speak its name.” This must change lest the UK carelessly vote away the benefits the EU brings. “Britain’s pro-Europeans can no longer be silent.”
Tags: Benefits, Britain, Business leaders, EU membership, Mainstream, Politicians, UK, Vote
Washington Post (May 27)
The EU’s many achievements have been “accompanied by an ever-expanding bureaucracy and a loss of any purpose higher than crisis management, as if the powers that be in the European Union see ‘Europe’ as an end in itself, independent of its actual impact on the daily lives of ordinary people.” It is this disconnect that must be fixed, “otherwise, the very real benefits that union has brought will be at risk.”
Tags: Achievements, Benefits, Bureaucracy, Crisis management, Daily lives, Disconnect, EU, Fix, Higher purpose, Impact, Risk, Union
The Economist (February 22, 2014)
“If not championed by leaders who understand its broad benefits,” free trade “will constantly be eroded by narrow economic nationalism. Mr Obama now appears to be surrendering to protectionists within his own party. If he cannot drag Democrats back to their senses, the world will lose its best opportunity in two decades.” Estimates have placed the combined benefit from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) at $200 billion for the U.S. alone and $600 billion worldwide.
Tags: Benefits, Democrats, Free trade, Leaders, Nationalism, Obama, Opportunity, Protectionists, Surrender, TPP, TTIP, U.S.
New York Times (July 14)
“The median compensation of chief executives at 200 of the nation’s biggest public companies came in at $15.1 million last year, a 16 percent jump from 2011…. The pay packages — including salary, bonus, benefits, stock and option grants — ranged from $96.2 million at Oracle to $11.1 million at General Motors.” Until the SEC determines rules for Dodd-Frank disclosure requirements, however, we won’t know just how excessive these packages are. Corporations should disclose pay gap information so investors, consumers, economists and others can monitor the ratio of C.E.O. pay to regular employee pay, which by some estimates now stands at between 200 and 300 to 1 in the U.S.“The median compensation of chief executives at 200 of the nation’s biggest public companies came in at $15.1 million last year, a 16 percent jump from 2011…. The pay packages — including salary, bonus, benefits, stock and option grants — ranged from $96.2 million at Oracle to $11.1 million at General Motors.” Until the SEC determines rules for Dodd-Frank disclosure requirements, however, we won’t know just how excessive these packages are. Corporations should disclose pay gap information so investors, consumers, economists and others can monitor the ratio of C.E.O. pay to regular employee pay, which by some estimates now stands at between 200 and 300 to 1 in the U.S.
Tags: Benefits, Bonus, Compensation, Disclosure, Dodd-Frank, Executive, General Motors, Options, Oracle, Pay gap, Requirements, Salary, SEC
