Britain needs a strategy to make the best use of its shrinking military capabilities. It isn’t getting one

Britain needs a strategy to make the best use of its shrinking military capabilities. It isn’t getting one

Mar 8th 2014 | From the print edition

WHAT kind of armed forces does Britain need? In a dangerous and unpredictable world, how should the country spend its shrinking defence budget? Worryingly, it has put off answering these questions—and time for thinking is short. The next 18 months could determine whether the country remains a global military power or settles for inexorable military decline and growing irrelevance to its French and American allies. Read more of this post

Nuclear power in Japan: Start ’em up; The government and voters are putting economics before atoms, opening the way for Japan to restart its nuclear power plants

Nuclear power in Japan: Start ’em up; The government and voters are putting economics before atoms, opening the way for Japan to restart its nuclear power plants

Mar 8th 2014 | TOKYO | From the print edition

JUST three years on from the catastrophic meltdown in March 2011 of three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, Japan is taking steps to revive its nuclear dream. A rush to restart some of the country’s 48 mothballed commercial nuclear reactors is well under way. Hundreds of technicians from utility firms are camped out in downmarket Tokyo hotels, working at the beck and call of the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA), the country’s new nuclear watchdog, in hopes of meeting new safety requirements. On February 25th the government published a draft energy plan which put nuclear power at the core. It is a sharp reversal of the previous energy strategy, devised by a former government in 2012, eventually to eliminate nuclear power altogether. Read more of this post

The smog of war: China’s prime minister opens parliament by declaring pollution the enemy

The smog of war: China’s prime minister opens parliament by declaring pollution the enemy

Mar 8th 2014 | BEIJING | From the print edition

THE annual session of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress, is rarely remarkable for the rhetorical flourishes of the leaders who address it. But at the opening on March 5th of this year’s nine-day meeting the prime minister, Li Keqiang, in his maiden speech, deviated at least a little from the usual stodgy fare. China, he said, must “declare war” on pollution. The blanket of smog that often shrouds much of the country, he said, was nature’s “red light”, warning about the risks of “blind development”. Growing public furore about pollution has at last goaded China’s leaders into admitting the urgency of the problem. Read more of this post

Infosys co-founder enters India politics with a bang as a candidate for the governing Congress party in Bangalore in the coming general election, a rare boost for a party whose popularity has collapsed after a decade in power

March 9, 2014 4:11 pm

Infosys co-founder enters India politics with a bang

By Victor Mallet in New Delhi

Nandan Nilekani, one of India’s best-known businessmen, will stand as a candidate for the governing Congress party in Bangalore in the coming general election, a rare boost for a party whose popularity has collapsed after a decade in power. Read more of this post

Currency Zone Defies Mainstream Economics Profession With Continued Controversial Policies

Why Euro-Zone Chiefs Buck the Trend

Currency Zone Defies Mainstream Economics Profession With Continued Controversial Policies

SIMON NIXON 

March 9, 2014 4:58 p.m. ET

The euro zone is used to being criticized by the mainstream economics profession.

Since the start of its debt crisis, the currency union has been attacked for imposing too much fiscal austerity, for failing to create jointly guaranteed euro-zone bonds and for refusing 
to directly recapitalize weak banks from common euro-zone funds. Read more of this post

Economists’ obsession over GDP gives the concept an unnecessary air of mystification

March 9, 2014 5:37 pm

‘GDP’, by Diane Coyle

Review by Samuel Brittan

Economists’ obsession over gross domestic product gives the concept an unnecessary air of mystification

GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History, by Diane Coyle, Princeton University Press, RRP$19.95/£13.95

What does an economist do? Ask this question in a normal gathering and one of the least offensive responses is that they obsess over gross domestic product. Yet the mere mention of GDP is enough to stir up a hornet’s nest of misunderstandings. To some it is a supreme goal of national policy; to others an obsession of a degenerate culture. In fact it is neither. Read more of this post

Drought, funding hurting Australia’s ‘food bowl to Asia’ dream

Drought, funding hurting Australia’s ‘food bowl to Asia’ dream

March 10, 2014 – 8:14AM

Australia’s lofty ambitions to become a “food bowl” for a rapidly growing middle-class in Asia are in danger of falling at the farm gate due to the country’s harsh, drought-prone climate and a lack of investment in agricultural innovation. Read more of this post

Car Makers Try to Make Bigger Profits on Smallest Models; Toyota, a brand known in most markets for solid, reliable cars, is taking a crack at humor in its campaign for the Aygo. The catchphrase: “Go fun yourself.”

Car Makers Try to Make Bigger Profits on Smallest Models

They Share Some Costs, Offer Customized Features

GILLES CASTONGUAY And DAVID PEARSON

Updated March 7, 2014 2:25 p.m. ET

Mini cars, such as the Renault Twingo, above, and the Toyota Aygo, were being showcased at the Geneva auto show the past week. The car makers are rolling out new versions but still trying to figure out how to make money on these vehicles, which often sell for less than $14,000. ITAR-TASS/Zuma Press Read more of this post

“When Does The Party End?”” – Goldman Finds Revenue Multiples Have Never Been Higher; the median company’s EV/sales ratio is now the highest in 35 years, surpassing even the dot com bubble

“When Does The Party End?”” – Goldman Finds Revenue Multiples Have Never Been Higher

Tyler Durden on 03/08/2014 13:23 -0400

With stocks rising to record high after record high, and with even Goldman’s clients now asking “When does the party end?” as noted by Goldman’s David Kostin overnight, the answer is simple: nothing has changed. Specifically, between the Fed’s ongoing monetization of tens of billions monthly in bonds, the missing piece to the equation is also a known one – corporate buybacks. In fact as Goldman admits, “February was the busiest month in our buyback desk’s history.” (which surely is Chinese walled off from Goldman’s prop trading desk). Why? Because as Reuters reported previously, this was the second-busiest week ever recorded for high-grade bond issuance. And with the use of proceeds certainly not going to capex, companies continue to buyback their shares in record amounts to mask the decline in actual cash earnings by lowering the amount of shares outstanding and thus keeping EPS rising or flat. Read more of this post

New Norm for Stock Investors: Performance Matters; Stocks Are No Longer Moving in Tandem With Broad Market

New Norm for Stock Investors: Performance Matters

Stocks Are No Longer Moving in Tandem With Broad Market

ALEXANDRA SCAGGS And DAN STRUMPF

March 9, 2014 1:49 p.m. ET

Stock pickers are starting to breathe a sigh of relief. Read more of this post

Caterpillar, Sany Heavy Take Digs at Each Other; Each Lays Claim to No. 1 Ranking in China, but It Depends How You Parse It

Caterpillar, Sany Heavy Take Digs at Each Other

Each Lays Claim to No. 1 Ranking in China, but It Depends How You Parse It

JAMES R. HAGERTY

March 7, 2014 2:57 p.m. ET

LAS VEGAS— Caterpillar Inc. CAT -0.56% reported progress in its long struggle to win a bigger slice of the Chinese market, the world’s biggest battleground for makers of construction equipment. Read more of this post

Asian Demand for Milk Shakes Up Market; U.S. Milk Exports to Asia Are on the Rise

Asian Demand for Milk Shakes Up Market

U.S. Milk Exports to Asia Are on the Rise.

KELSEY GEE

March 9, 2014 6:23 p.m. ET

Asia’s growing thirst for milk is spilling over into the U.S. market, pushing up prices for consumers and pressuring profits for some food makers. Read more of this post

Chinese Firm’s Bond Default May Not Be the Last

Chinese Firm’s Bond Default May Not Be the Last

Some See It as Injecting Some Discipline Into a Swelling Debt Market

LINGLING WEI, DINNY MCMAHON And WAYNE MA

March 9, 2014 3:28 p.m. ET

BEIJING—The first default in China’s corporate-bond market is unlikely to be the last.

The failure by a distressed Chinese solar-equipment maker to make a bond-interest payment on Friday signals Beijing’s willingness, however tentative, to let some weak companies fall—a move that analysts and investors said could inject some discipline into a swelling debt market long viewed as implicitly supported by the government. Read more of this post

A chilly welcome: Congress protects America from Canadian pensioners

A chilly welcome: Congress protects America from Canadian pensioners

Mar 8th 2014 | GULFPORT, FLORIDA | From the print edition

A CHORE combining carpentry with diplomacy awaits Gordon Bennett, a retired Canadian soldier, after his move to a larger mobile home near Florida’s Gulf coast. As commander of an overseas post of the Royal Canadian Legion, he likes to fly his national flag from a handy palm tree. But as a respectful guest—one of about half a million Canadian “snowbirds” who own winter homes in Florida, using special visas good for a total of 180 days in any 12-month period—he knows to follow strict protocol when mounting his flags, or face complaints from American neighbours. His Canadian flag cannot be flown on its own but must be paired with the Stars and Stripes (though never on the same pole). The American flag may not be smaller or fly lower, and must be flown in the position of honour (the right, as you emerge from a doorway). Read more of this post