Wall Street Journal (December 9)
President Trump promised “a manufacturing boom. He got one—in China.” Cementing its ”status as the world’s indispensable factory floor…. Chinese industrial production broke records this year as its factories churned out more cars, machinery and chemicals than ever before. Despite the disruptions of tariffs, the country’s trade surplus in goods has set a record, as growing shipments to Asia, Europe, Latin America and Africa offset the hit from Trump’s levies on direct sales to the U.S.”
Tags: Africa, Asia, Cars, Chemicals, China, Europe, Factories, Indispensable, Industrial production, Latin America, Machinery, Manufacturing boom, Shipments, Status, Tariffs, Trade surplus, Trump, U.S.
Seeking Alpha (May 27)
“Japan has lost its status as the world’s top creditor nation for the first time in 34 years, even as the country has maintained a strong investment appetite abroad. While its overseas assets topped JPY 500T ($3.47T) for the first time ever in 2024, it still trailed Germany’s international investments,” which rose to JPY 569.65T ($3.96T).
Tags: 2024, 34 years, Germany, Investment appetite, Japan, JPY500T, JPY569.65T, Nation, Overseas assets, Status, Strong, Top creditor
Bloomberg (December 4)
President Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law “sparked chaos… sending the won and South Korea-related exchange-traded funds sharply lower overnight. While extreme jitters dissipated as financial authorities swiftly vowed to provide ‘unlimited liquidity,’ damage has been done to investor perception of South Korea’s financial markets.” The episode is “a setback to the nation’s ongoing push for upgrades to developed market status in global indexes.”
Tags: Chaos, Damage, ETFs, Financial authorities, Financial markets, Global indexes, Investor perception, Jitters, Martial law, South Korea, Status, Unlimited liquidity, Won, Yoon
The Economist (March 29)
“Women’s lowly status in the Japanese workplace has barely improved in decades, and the country suffers as a result.” Though difficult to quantify, the cost of this lost potential is enormous. “Japan educates its women to a higher level than nearly anywhere else in the world…. But when they leave university their potential is often squandered, as far as the economy is concerned.” If Prime Minister Abe and “the country’s policymakers can find the right ways to help them, those women could boost the economy and reform corporate culture.”
Tags: Abe, Corporate culture, Economy, Japan, Lost potential, Policymakers, Status, University, Women, Workplace
Time (September 14)
“The generation that supposedly prizes meaningful work, flexibility and balance” is already showing signs of yearning for financial success and status. Will this reshape the generation’s priorities? Millennials “may well turn out to be different from the generation that spawned them, and live more balanced lives and find spiritual happiness in the difference between having what you want and wanting what you have. But we won’t know that for many more decades.”
Tags: Balance, Financial success, Flexibility, Generation, Happiness, Meaningful work, Millennials, Priorities, Spiritual, Status
