‘Abenomics’ Battles for Word-of-the-Year Title

November 25, 2013, 11:16 AM

‘Abenomics’ Battles for Word-of-the-Year Title

ELEANOR WARNOCK

Even if Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pro-growth “Abenomics” strategy fails to turn the world’s third-largest economy around, it still has the chance to win one honor: 2013′s buzzword of the year. The premier’s last name with the suffix -nomics tacked on was one of 50 phrases nominated this week for the title by publishing house Jiyukokuminsha. The competition is stiff: Mr. Abe will have to beat out air pollutant “PM 2.5,” “big data” and Funabashi, Chiba prefecture’s androgynous pear-fairy mascot Funasshi in order to take home the top prize on Dec. 2. Read more of this post

The man who used to walk on water: How Barack Obama can get at least some of his credibility back

The man who used to walk on water: How Barack Obama can get at least some of his credibility back

Nov 23rd 2013 |From the print edition

AN AMERICAN president’s most important power is not the veto pen or the ability to launch missiles. It is the bully pulpit. When a president speaks, the world listens. That is why Barack Obama’s credibility matters. If people do not believe what he says, his power to shape events withers. And recent events have seriously shaken people’s belief in Mr Obama. At home, the chaos of his health reform has made it harder for him to get anything else done. Abroad, he is seen as weak and disengaged, to the frustration of America’s allies. Read more of this post

The Indian problem: Opposition to a global trade deal risks hurting the very countries India claims it is trying to protect

The Indian problem: Opposition to a global trade deal risks hurting the very countries India claims it is trying to protect

Nov 23rd 2013 |From the print edition

INDIA, home to a third of the world’s extremely poor people, takes pride in being a champion of the poor. But words are one thing, deeds another. Right now, India stands in the way of a deal that members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are hoping to do in less than two weeks’ time—and its stubborn opposition could deliver a serious blow to the poorest countries in the emerging world. Read more of this post

Local Chinese governments combat “corruption on wheels”

Local governments combat “corruption on wheels”

KUNMING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) — Clear labeling of government cars so that the public can easily identify them and spot their misuse has become a trendy practice among China’s local authorities in response to the country’s anti-corruption drive. Chen Xiaoming, deputy director of Yongsheng County Publicity Department of Lijiang City in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, posted photos of an official car painted with “No private use of government vehicles” and a hotline telephone number for public complaints on Sina Weibo under verified user account “Biantunliying.” Read more of this post

Reform in China: Let quite a few flowers bloom; Two proposals buried in a party document could help change Chinese government

Reform in China: Let quite a few flowers bloom; Two proposals buried in a party document could help change Chinese government

Nov 23rd 2013 |From the print edition

THE jury is in. After months of speculation and an initial summary last week, the final 22,000-character overview of China’s “third plenum” was published on November 15th. In the economic sphere the document turned out to be bolder than the initial summary suggested. The new party boss, Xi Jinping, wants to push through changes that have stalled over the past decade. As the document itself says: “We should let labour, knowledge, technology, management and capital unleash their dynamism, let all sources of wealth spread and let all people enjoy more fruits of development fairly.” Quite. Read more of this post

You break it, you own it: America should give global banking rules—and Europe’s dilatory regulators—one last chance

You break it, you own it: America should give global banking rules—and Europe’s dilatory regulators—one last chance

Nov 23rd 2013 |From the print edition

SOME wounds go on hurting for years after they were inflicted. For bank regulators, the trauma of the collapse little more than five years ago of Lehman Brothers is as raw as if it had just happened. Lehman had spanned the world, and was run as a single entity largely overseen in America. Its disintegration caused rancour almost everywhere. Britain complained that it had been allowed to snatch $5 billion in cash from its London operation just days before the bankruptcy. Germany fumed that the Bundesbank had been saddled with defaults on about €8 billion-worth ($11 billion) of loans the central bank had made to Lehman’s German subsidiary. Read more of this post

Asian shipyards: The deeper the better; Korean and Singaporean yards have adapted well to China’s challenge

Asian shipyards: The deeper the better; Korean and Singaporean yards have adapted well to China’s challenge

Nov 23rd 2013 | BUSAN |From the print edition

PLENTY of behemoths are being welded into shape in South Korea’s shipyards at the moment. Clustered around the southern city of Busan, the big three yards—Samsung Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, and Hyundai Heavy Industries—are churning out the world’s biggest container ships, 400 metres long; an oil barge whose length, at about 460 metres, or 1,462 feet, is almost half the height of Scafell Pike, England’s tallest mountain; and some of the largest oil rigs yet built. Read more of this post

A Growing Chill Between South Korea and Japan Creates Problems for the U.S.

November 23, 2013

A Growing Chill Between South Korea and Japan Creates Problems for the U.S.

By MARTIN FACKLER and CHOE SANG-HUN

TOKYO — In the courtly world of diplomacy, the meeting between Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and President Park Geun-hye of South Korea was something of a shock. Mr. Hagel was in the region to try to revitalize America’s faltering “pivot” to Asia and had one especially pressing request for Ms. Park: to try to get along better with Japan. The steely Ms. Park instead delivered a lecture about Japan’s “total absence of sincerity” over the suffering that imperial Japan caused Korea in the last century and finished with a request of her own: that Washington force Tokyo to behave. Read more of this post

An Open Letter to the FOMC: Recognizing the Valuation Bubble In Equities

November 25, 2013

An Open Letter to the FOMC: Recognizing the Valuation Bubble In Equities 
John P. Hussman, Ph.D.
To the members of the FOMC,

You’ve emphasized the tremendous burden placed on the Fed in recent years, and your dedication to collectively doing right by the country. It’s important to start with that recognition, because as concerned as I’ve been about the impact and economic assumptions behind the Fed’s actions, I don’t question your motives or integrity. What follows is simply information that may be helpful in realistically assessing the outcomes and risks of the present policy course, and perhaps to help prevent a bad situation from becoming worse. Read more of this post

Why are there so many tunnels under London?

Why are there so many tunnels under London?

Nov 24th 2013, 23:50 by E.H.

NO ONE knows quite how many tunnels have been burrowed under London. Some of the city’s many underground channels have been subject to the Official Secrets Act: the Kingsway tunnels were once used by a research arm of MI6, Britain’s foreign-intelligence service. Others are so old they have fallen into disuse and been forgotten. Nonetheless, anyone walking through central London can reckon that the busy streets around them are mirrored in criss-crossing tunnels below. The world’s first subterranean railway, the London Underground, opened in the city 150 years ago. Last month the first tunnel for Crossrail, an ambitious £15 billion ($24 billion) new railway project running across London, was completed. It lies 40 metres below th Read more of this post

Private military contractors: Beyond Blackwater; An industry reinvents itself after the demise of its most controversial firm

Private military contractors: Beyond Blackwater; An industry reinvents itself after the demise of its most controversial firm

Nov 23rd 2013 | NEW YORK |From the print edition

“WE WERE selling $1m a year in merchandise with the company logo on it,” says Erik Prince with a mixture of nostalgia and defiance. Blackwater, the company in question, rose to worldwide prominence as an outsourced branch of the American army during the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. It had plenty of admirers for the way it had pioneered a new branch of the defence industry, earning a total of around $2 billion from Uncle Sam for providing armed personnel to the Pentagon, the State Department and, secretly, the CIA. But the firm was overwhelmed by its more numerous critics, who said it was an undisciplined, unaccountable bunch of mercenaries. Read more of this post

Delaware’s corporate courts: A new judicial boss; Change is afoot in America’s leading forum for resolving business disputes

Delaware’s corporate courts: A new judicial boss; Change is afoot in America’s leading forum for resolving business disputes

Nov 23rd 2013 | NEW YORK |From the print edition

IT MAY be one of America’s smallest states but in corporate law Delaware punches well above its weight. Its Court of Chancery, which hears business cases, recently stymied Carl Icahn’s attempt to disrupt a buy-out of Dell. Next month Cooper Tire will try to get another of the court’s rulings overturned by the state’s Supreme Court, so as to hold an Indian rival to the letter of a $2.3 billion merger agreement. Read more of this post

Airbus’s big bet: Commercially, the A380 super-jumbo will struggle to reach cruising altitude

Airbus’s big bet: Commercially, the A380 super-jumbo will struggle to reach cruising altitude

Nov 23rd 2013 |From the print edition

THE new venue for Dubai’s international air show, which opened on November 17th, is yet another testament to the ambitions of the tiny Gulf state. Al Maktoum airport, when fully operational in 2027, will handle 160m passengers a year on five runways. And it will operate in tandem with Dubai’s older airport, which is closer to its centre and currently welcomes 60m travellers a year. The punt on continued growth in demand is also reflected in the big orders for new planes that the region’s airlines announced at this week’s show. Read more of this post

How other infrastructure projects can learn from London’s new railway

How other infrastructure projects can learn from London’s new railway

Nov 23rd 2013 |From the print edition

FOR the past 18 months Phyllis, a 1,000-tonne boring machine, has been whirring underground through London. Navigating its way past Victorian sewers and London’s labyrinthine Tube system, in October the bore (named after the woman who created London’s A-Z map by The Economist’s deputy editor in a competition) arrived at Farringdon station in north-east London, having tunnelled 13 miles through the city. The new tunnel marks the first stage of the ambitious Crossrail project, a £15 billion ($24 billion) new railway line. Read more of this post

TGI Fridays Chain Put Up for Sale; There are more than 900 owned and franchised TGI Fridays restaurants in nearly 60 countries world-wide and the chain has annual sales exceeding $2.5 billion

TGI Fridays Chain Put Up for Sale

DANA MATTIOLI

Updated Nov. 22, 2013 6:13 p.m. ET

TGI Fridays, the restaurant chain famous for its chicken wings, potato skins and burgers, is on the auction block. Hospitality firm Carlson, the chain’s owner, has hired investment bank Piper Jaffray to help conduct a strategic review of TGI Fridays, people familiar with the matter said. Carlson, which owns Radisson hotels and other hospitality and travel brands, began informing employees about the move Friday, one of them added. Read more of this post

Xi Fails to Earn Stripes as China ‘Tiger’ Corruption Hunt Underwhelms

Xi Fails to Earn Stripes as China ‘Tiger’ Corruption Hunt Underwhelms

By Adam Rose on 12:22 pm November 24, 2013.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has raised expectations he will tackle corruption much more forcefully than his predecessors, but official data on investigations suggests the crackdown so far is little different to previous years. Authorities have opened a similar number of corruption probes in 2013 to last year, data from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP), which oversees criminal investigations and prosecutions nationwide, shows. Read more of this post

Keeping it in the family: China’s express delivery industry

Keeping it in the family: China’s express delivery industry

Staff Reporter

2013-11-24

China’s major express delivery firms mostly originated in Tonglu County in Zhejiang province, and most were established by the same family, according to the Southern Weekly. The companies are Shentong Express, YTO Express, Yunda Express and ZTO Express, as well as Best Express and Tian Tian Express. When the Pudong district in Shanghai was established, trade companies whose goods needed to travel back and forth between Shanghai and Hangzhou faced obstacles, as their customs declaration forms often did not arrive on time and shipping might take three days. Read more of this post

“India and China are still question marks”; International Paper CEO Unsure of Value of Further China Expansion

International Paper CEO Unsure of Value of Further China Expansion

John V. Faraci Says Co Facing Extreme Competition

LAURA STEVENS, CAMERON MCWHIRTER and DENNIS K. BERMAN

Nov. 22, 2013 3:40 p.m. ET

International Paper Co. IP +0.39% is unsure of the value of further expansion into China due to extreme competition in the market, Chairman and CEO John V. Faraci said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal Friday. The Memphis, Tenn.-based company is now the No. 2 supplier by volume and revenue of coated paperboard in China after entering the market with a joint venture in 2006 and again with a $200 million acquisition in 2010. Read more of this post

Intense competition between internet firms, TV makers

Intense competition between internet firms, TV makers

Staff Reporter

2013-11-20

Following on from the success of personal computers, mobile phones and tablet computers, the smart television market is now a major battlefield between internet companies and traditional television manufacturers. Statistics show that the number of TV viewers who spent at least two hours per day watching TV has dropped by 2% per year, and the majority of TV viewers are aged over 40, according to the Chinese-language Global Entrepreneur magazine. Read more of this post

Tan Sri Andrew Sheng: Growing old before growing rich; Old-age dependency ratio to rise rapidly in Asia

Updated: Saturday November 23, 2013 MYT 7:02:46 AM

Growing old before growing rich

BY TAN SRI ANDREW SHENG

Old-age dependency ratio to rise rapidly in Asia

THE recent relaxation of the one-child policy in China recognises that demographics play a major role in a country’s economic fortunes.

Asian fast growth was built on favourable demographics, growing labour supply at relatively cheap rates and open economies. But in many parts of Asia, as the population begins to age rapidly, there is genuine concern that Asians may grow old before they become rich. Last year nearly 450 million or 11% of Asia’s population were 60 years and over. By 2050, these numbers will more than double to 1.2 billion persons or 24% of the population, not far behind projections of 27% in North America and 34% in Europe. Old-age dependency ratio will rise rapidly in Japan, South Korea, Greater China, Singapore and India. Read more of this post

Taboo-busting adverts tumble out of the closet in India

November 21, 2013 4:06 pm

Taboo-busting adverts tumble out of the closet in India

By Avantika Chilkoti

A bubblegum-pink cupboard trembles to a tune by Daft Punk. Out struts one ruffled young woman checking the time, followed by a second, distractedly zipping up her hot pants. They exchange a glance that dashes any suspicion this is simply the culmination of an innocent game of hide and seek. The tagline flashes on screen: “Come out of the closet – move on.”

Read more of this post

Former vice president Jusuf Kalla said he was led to believe that the controversial 2008 bailout of Bank Century was a necessary action

I Believed Century Mustn’t Fail: Kalla

By Rizky Amelia on 6:58 am November 22, 2013.
Former vice president Jusuf Kalla on Thursday said he was led to believe that the controversial 2008 bailout of Bank Century was a necessary action. Kalla said while he was serving as vice president he received a report saying that Bank Century was a failed bank and its collapse would trigger a domino effect that could cripple Indonesia’s economy. “It’s a failed bank because it was robbed, I received a report that the bank was troubled because of the stealing,” he said after being questioned by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday as a witness. Read more of this post

Indonesia Pain Threshold Looms on Rate Increases

Indonesia Pain Threshold Looms on Rate Increases

By Novrida Manurung & Andrew Janes on 7:49 am November 22, 2013.

Indonesia’s most aggressive rate-tightening in eight years has barely dented a current-account deficit, prompting calls for more increases and other measures before the Federal Reserve cuts stimulus. Bank Indonesia has raised borrowing costs by 1.75 percentage points to 7.5 percent since mid-June, the quickest since 2005. Following data last week showing the country recorded its second-highest current-account shortfall on record in the three months through September, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Standard Chartered Plc now see a further 50 basis points of increases in the first half of next year. Read more of this post

Thai capital tense as political rivals rally

Thai capital tense as political rivals rally

24 November 2013 | 07:54 | FOCUS News Agency

Bangkok. Tens of thousands of anti-government demonstrators massed in Bangkok on Sunday, with a major rival rally due later as Thailand faces its most significant political street action since bloody protests in 2010, AFP reported. Authorities expect at least 50,000 anti-government protesters to gather by Sunday afternoon, with thousands more “Red Shirts” set to mobilise in another area of the city on Sunday evening in support of prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s crisis-hit administration.
Both groups have vowed to remain in the capital overnight. Read more of this post

Johor Sultan decrees weekends will be on Fridays and Saturdays

Johor Sultan decrees weekends will be on Fridays and Saturdays

POSTED: 23 Nov 2013 21:01
The Sultan of Johor has ordered that weekends in the state be changed to Fridays and Saturdays effective January 1 next year. MUAR — The Sultan of Johor has ordered that weekends in the state be changed to Fridays and Saturdays effective January 1 next year. He said Friday was the most auspicious day of the week and Muslims should take advantage of the day to perform more religious deeds. Read more of this post

How EPF makes money for dividend payment; CEO reveals EPF’s strategies

Updated: Saturday November 23, 2013 MYT 12:45:20 PM

How EPF makes money for dividend payment

BY JAGDEV SINGH SIDHU

IT’S probably the one dividend rate most Malaysians will scrutinise. The rate will be dissected, debated and then the verdict from the people will be whether it’s satisfactory or poor. That single dividend is what the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) announces yearly. Last year’s 6.15% was the highest in a decade but the challenge that the EPF faces is how to keep that going. Read more of this post

‘I can’t look at myself in the mirror’: Eclectica’s Hugh Hendry reveals why he has turned bullish

‘I can’t look at myself in the mirror’: Hendry reveals why he has turned bullish

22 Nov 2013 | 14:41

Dan Jones

Eclectica hedge fund manager Hugh Hendry has said he has been forced to leave his bearish outlook behind as he faces up to a market “which only makes sense through the prism of trends”. Speaking at Harrington Cooper’s 2013 conference this morning, Hendry (pictured) said he is no longer fighting the “two-way feedback loop” which is continuing to boost risk assets. That centres on the currency war being played out between the US and China, in which US QE prompts dollar-denominated investment to head to China, and China fights the resulting upwards pressure on its currency by manufacturing an investment boom. Read more of this post

Regulator Sanctions New Jersey Audit Firm; PCAOB Says Company Didn’t Properly Audit Firms From China, Hong Kong

Regulator Sanctions New Jersey Audit Firm

PCAOB Says Company Didn’t Properly Audit Firms From China, Hong Kong

MICHAEL RAPOPORT

Nov. 23, 2013 10:44 a.m. ET

The U.S. government’s audit regulator sanctioned a New Jersey firm Friday, saying it hadn’t properly audited companies from China and Hong Kong. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board barred Acquavella Chiarelli Shuster Berkower & Co., an Iselin, N.J., firm, from auditing public companies for at least two years, after which the firm can reapply to the board. The PCAOB also fined the firm $10,000. Read more of this post