Labor’s Digital Displacement

The problem with TTIP

The TPP is a deep international integration arrangement between the US and 11 other Pacific states, which would cover 40% of world GDP and over 30% of world trade. It seeks to address as series of issues that 21st century commerce, but arguably its most obvious feature is that it excludes China – the world’s largest international trader and before long the world’s largest economy. There are, of course, the ritual genuflections towards ‘open regionalism’ – China can join if only it will agree to the necessary policy requirements – but this is about as much use as saying the Chief Rabbi can dine with you while insisting that the menu contains pork.

By signing TTIP Europe would be tying itself to a static rather than a dynamic part of the world economy and substantially reinforcing the US’s exclusionary policies.

The subcommittee said that Apple had “exploited a difference between Irish and American tax residency rules” but had not broken any laws.

Among the ideas under consideration are strict rules for defining where a company has a permanent presence and measures to limit the practice of so-called transfer pricing — the shunting of profits and losses between subsidiaries by disguising them as internal corporate payments for goods or, as is increasingly common, for copyright or patent royalties.

Mr. Balter calls Apple a financial “Rock of Gibraltar"— it is sitting on $150.6 billion of cash

Chief among them is a reliance on small creative teams whose membership remains intact to this day

And Mr. Ive pointed to another enduring value: a complete focus on the product.

Silicon Valley Tries to Remake the Idea Machine

The federal government now spends $126 billion a year on R. and D., according to the National Science Foundation. (It’s pocket change compared with the $267 billion that the private sector spends.) Asian economies now account for 34 percent of global spending; America’s share is 30 percent.

Officials say Johnson South Reef, which China seized in 1988 after killing about 70 Vietnamese soldiers or sailors in a skirmish, is the most developed of the islands so far.

The gas flowing into Ukraine as of Monday was meant only to transit the country to Europe. “Gazprom supplies to Ukraine only the amount that has been paid for, and the amount that has been paid for is zero,” Gazprom’s spokesman, Sergei Kupriyanov, told reporters.

Gazprom, which has sought for the past decade to convince the Europeans that it is a reliable supplier and not an arm of Russian foreign policy, painted the dispute as strictly commercial.

Second, Gazprom has provoked economic ire in Europe over its plans to build an alternative gas route under the Black Sea for the company’s exclusive use, contradicting Europe’s open access laws. That has put the future of what is known as the South Stream pipeline in doubt.

Why the euro crisis still isn’t over, in 1 chart

So why hasn't Europe gotten a real — or any — recovery? Well, it's the debt, stupid.

Every euro that the private sector spends on paying back what it owes is a euro that gets sucked out of the economy.

As LED Industry Evolves, China Elbows Ahead

“LED lighting could see itself become the next solar, wind or other future opportunity that the U.S. will have given away by failing to address Chinese industrial policies and unfairly traded products,”

SolarWorld, a solar panel maker that complained to the American government about what it considered unfair advantages for Chinese competitors, was later the victim of a cyberattack by Chinese military officials, according to a recent indictment by the Justice Department.

Russia pressures Moldova and Ukraine ahead of signing of E.U. Association Agreement

And in September, Russia declared that Moldovan wines did not meet Russian food-safety standards, removing access to a major export market for a key Moldovan industry. (Wines from pro-Russian autonomous regions of Moldova have been deemed safe for Russian palates, however.) Many Moldovans are convinced that the apples and grapes that grow on their nation’s gently rolling hills are the next targets. Russia is their main export market, and E.U. regulations will keep most of the fruits out of Europe even after the agreement is signed

Overall, 26 percent of Moldova’s exports go to Russia and 47 percent to the E.U.

Panama Adding a Wider Shortcut for Shipping

Making Everything Shipshape

The ports in Tacoma, Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles, Long Beach and elsewhere offer much shorter sailing times than Gulf Coast and East Coast ports. But for shippers of some goods, the web of logistics, including trucks and railroads, ends up being less expensive if they go through the Panama Canal.

While the widened Panama Canal will allow an all-water route for big ships to the East Coast, the project — originally scheduled to open this year — has been plagued with construction delays. And the authorities have yet to announce toll charges for passing ships. In the end, it might be too expensive for some ships to use.

Nicaragua approves route for $40 billion canal linking oceans

Picking Lesser of Two Climate Evils

ound for pound, methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. But in stark contrast to CO2, methane breaks down quickly in the atmosphere.

He argues, essentially, that the world has yet to mount a serious effort to control carbon dioxide, which will be vastly more harmful in the long run, and that methane and other short-term pollutants should largely be ignored until that bigger problem is fixed.

Blueprints for Taming the Climate Crisis

Within about 15 years every new car sold in the United States will be electric. In fact, by midcentury more than half of the American economy will run on electricity. Up to 60 percent of power might come from nuclear sources. And coal’s footprint will shrink drastically, perhaps even disappear from the power supply.

“This will require a heroic cooperative effort,” said Jeffrey D. Sachs, the Columbia University economist who directs the Sustainable Development Solutions Network at the United Nations,

The Tacit-Knowledge Economy

France Banned Free Shipping. So Amazon Made It Cost One Cent.

France's fun didn't last long. With the law officially in effect, Amazon announced that it is indeed complying with the terms and charging for shipping—a full one cent.

Where Amazon can't shirk the law so easily is in its second provision: that online retailers can no longer legally discount the price of books.

A Multibillion-Dollar Question for Airbus and Its A330

While the A330 continues to generate around 40 percent of Airbus’s civilian aircraft profits, new orders for the plane have slowed significantly in recent years.

But with the wait times to receive new planes now stretching to more than six years, airlines have been slower to reach for their checkbooks.

July 23, 2014 6:40 pm EU energy saving plan targets Russian gas links

According to EU estimates, a 25 per cent target would cut EU gas imports by about 9 per cent, while a 35 per cent target would slash gas imports by 33 per cent by 2030.

Eastern European nations fear they will shoulder a disproportionate burden in reaching tough targets because of how costly it would be to overhaul inefficient Soviet-era central heating systems that dominate their cities.

The Mismeasure of Technology

As Moses Abramovitz aptly noted in 1956, this residual is not much more than “a measure of our ignorance.”

As the scientist and philosopher Michael Polanyi would say of such tacit knowledge, we know more than we can tell. CommentsView/Create comment on this paragraph