Early Bird Headlines 27 August 2015
Econintersect: Here are some of the headlines we found to help you start your day. For more headlines see our afternoon feature for GEI members, What We Read Today, which has many more headlines and a number of article discussions to keep you abreast of what we have found interesting.
Global
- Setting aside half the Earth for ‘rewilding’: the ethical dimension (The Conversation) A new proposal conflicts with the human-centric view on the value of life. Should humans make accomodations that inconvenience their kind to preserve diversity of life on this planet? Here is some background from this article:
A much-anticipated book in conservation and natural science circles is EO Wilson’s Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life, which is due early next year. It builds on his proposal to set aside half the Earth for the preservation of biodiversity.
The backdrop for this discussion is that we are in the sixth great extinction event in earth’s history. More species are being lost today than at any time since the end of the dinosaurs. There is no mystery as to why this is happening: it is a direct result of human depredations, habitat destruction, overpopulation, resource depletion, urban sprawl and climate change.
U.S.
- Wall Street is for sale – but is it cheap? (The Wall Street Journal) During more than a week of stock market sell-offs, investors have been exhorted to use declines to pick up bargains – and with a 7.7 percent drop on the S&P 500 since August 17, stocks have certainly gotten less expensive. To determine how cheap they are, investment pros look at yields, earnings and more. By several of those metrics, the bottom line is this: U.S. stocks are not wildly expensive, but they are not the screaming bargains that might pull value-minded investors back into the market.
- The corruption of American freedom (Newt Gingrich, The Washington Times) Hat tip to John Mauldin, Outside the Box. Newt says that the prominence being gained in the early presidential campaign by Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump is a reflection of the opinion by 75% of Americans that their federal government is corrupt (Gallup Poll).
UK
- Manufacturers: Green burden is out of control (City A.M.) A report for the EEF implies that the government is hindering the “greening” of UK manufacturing with red tape. EEF chief executive Terry Scuoler said:
“Manufacturers remain committed to addressing environmental and climate concerns, but are still having to wade through unnecessary levels of complexity and red tape in order to do so, which in too many cases is holding them back.”
Spain
- What Don Quixote has to say to Spain about today’s immigrant crisis (The Conversation) Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, lived and wrote at the time and right after the Muslim Moors (moriscos) were expelled from Spain. He reveals many multi-cultural tendencies in his writing and this author suggests that current Spanish policy toward descendants of the moriscos would not meet with his approval. Here is the history:
In 1492, the Spanish Inquisition forced Jews to convert to Christianity or to leave the Iberian peninsula – on pain of death. Some five centuries later, in June 2015, the Spanish Parliament invited the descendants of those Jewish exiles to apply for Spanish citizenship without having to give up their current passports.
As the Catholic Church continued to establish its primacy at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century, Spain’s Muslims, too, were forced to convert.
Called moriscos, these Muslims made up, by some estimates, approximately 4% of the country’s population. But they were not to be there for long.
By 1609, the royal expulsion had been decreed – the moriscos were ordered to leave Spain. And they did, in waves, between 1609 and 1614. To this day, their descendants have been denied the “right of return.”
In 1492, the Spanish Inquisition forced Jews to convert to Christianity or to leave the Iberian peninsula – on pain of death. Some five centuries later, in June 2015, the Spanish Parliament invited the descendants of those Jewish exiles to apply for Spanish citizenship without having to give up their current passports.
As the Catholic Church continued to establish its primacy at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century, Spain’s Muslims, too, were forced to convert.
Called moriscos, these Muslims made up, by some estimates, approximately 4% of the country’s population. But they were not to be there for long.
By 1609, the royal expulsion had been decreed – the moriscos were ordered to leave Spain. And they did, in waves, between 1609 and 1614. To this day, their descendants have been denied the “right of return.”
Japan
- Japan govt downgrades consumer spending, exports as economy stutters (The Business Times) Japan’s government lowered its assessment of consumer spending and exports in August, a worrying sign that the economy is seeing just a tepid recovery from a contraction in the April-June quarter. The government stood by its assessment that Japan’s economy is on track to recover but acknowledged the pace of improvement is patchy.
- Japanese Nikkei Gaps Higher, then Fades. (Investing.com) At the close the Nikkei 225 was a respectable 1.8% higher after being up over 3% earlier.
Click on chart for latest streaming data from Investing.com.
China
- China interbank liquidity crunch eases, but relief may be fleeting (The Business Times) Rising short-term funding stress in the interbank market, which has complicated Beijing’s efforts to support the stock market, appears to have eased after Tuesday’s aggressive policy easing. The central bank cut interest rates and bank reserve ratios late on Tuesday to shore up the economy. This may also shore up support for Chinese stocks. But the effects may be short-lived if China cannot stem the large capital outflows arising from fear of further devaluation of the yuan renminbi.
- China needs a Mario Draghi of its own (China Spectator) Western leaders have been conspicuously silent during and after the Great Financial Crisis. Econintersect: Disengaged with matters monetary, you might say. Peter Cai says in this article that it is now China’s turn for silence. He quotes Neil Irwin who says that “Chinese central bankers enjoy relatively low positions in their country’s power hierarchy compared to their US counterparts“. Cai says the PBoC (Peoples’ Bank of China) needs more power and better leadership:
If the central bank governor Zhou Xiaochun, a much respected technocrat, had the same independence and authority as his counterparts elsewhere, he could do a Mario Draghi over the weekend and utter these magical words. “Within our mandate, the PBoC is ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the stability of the market. And believe me, it will be enough.”
- Shanghai Gains 5.4% (Investing.com) The Shanghai Composite closed near the high of the day to end a 7-day blood bath.
Click on chart for latest streaming data.
Australia
- The US and China force our hand on carbon (Climate Spectator) Australia has the highest per-capita carbon emissions in the world. While the government would like to make the impression that they are exercising good global citizenship with the commitment to cut carbon emissions by 26-28%, in fact the commitment is the very minimum that could be made compared to the commitments made by the U.S. and China. What has been committed will still leave Oz at the bottom of the “cleaner world” list.
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