MaRS

women are still under-represented at the top of companies. Only 2% of the bosses of America’s largest companies and 5% of their peers in Britain are women.

juggling work and child-rearing is difficult

Many women feel they have to choose between their children and their careers. Women who prosper in high-pressure companies during their 20s drop out in dramatic numbers in their 30s and then find it almost impossible to regain their earlier momentum. Less-skilled women are trapped in poorly paid jobs with hand-to-mouth child-care arrangements. Motherhood, not sexism, is the issue: in America, childless women earn almost as much as men, but mothers earn significantly less. And those mothers’ relative poverty also disadvantages their children.

the shift towards women is likely to continue: by 2011 there will be 2.6m more female than male university students in America.

All this argues, mostly, for letting the market do the work.

Norway has used threats of quotas to dramatic effect. Some 40% of the legislators there are women. All the Scandinavian countries provide plenty of state-financed nurseries. They have the highest levels of female employment in the world and far fewer of the social problems that plague Britain and America.

there are plenty of cheaper, subtler ways in which governments can make life easier for women

Some popular American charter schools now offer longer school days and shorter summer holidays.

That won’t happen.

None of these factors, however, can sustain strong growth past 2010 without a self-sustaining cycle of private spending and income growth. Several obstacles stand in the way of that transition. Through to mid-2009 households had lost $12 trillion, or 19% of their wealth, because of the collapse in house and stock prices. That saps their purchasing power and pushes them to save more, especially those nearing retirement. Though they’ll boost their saving only gradually, that still means consumer spending (about 70% of GDP) will grow more slowly than income, after two decades in which it usually grew more quickly. High unemployment will hold back wage gains (see chart); wage cuts are already commonplace. Leaving aside swings in energy prices, inflation, now about 1.5%, will slip to zero and may turn to deflation in late 2010. Deflation drives up real debt burdens, further sapping consumer spending.

The government won’t let any more big banks fail, but the survivors are neither inclined nor able to expand their lending much. Residential- and commercial-property values fell by $8 trillion, or almost 20%, through to mid-2009, impairing existing loans and eroding the collateral for new ones. Regulators are also proposing to raise capital requirements, which will further encourage bankers to turn down borrowers.

the rest of the world isn’t big or healthy enough, and a steeply falling dollar would inflict deflationary harm on others.

The list of roadblocks is depressing, but America will not slip back into recession or a lost decade akin to Japan’s in the 1990s. It did not enter its crisis with as much overinvestment as others, Japan in particular; its population is still growing (Japan’s is shrinking). It took two years to tackle its banks’ problems; Japan took seven. Boom times will be back. Just not very soon.

They secured the removal of language contained in early drafts that spoke of a Copenhagen deal as a step on the road to a legally binding treaty. As the world’s largest emitter (without which any agreement is dead), China was in a strong position, and it took full advantage.

China also gave some ground. It satisfied the Americans on one sticking-point: the principle of “monitoring, reporting and verification” of actions promised by developing countries.

Unless China, in particular, can be shown to live up to its promises, it will be very difficult to get a climate bill through America’s Senate.

And there is money on the table: an initial promise of $10 billion a year, for three years, from developed countries to help poorer states mitigate climate change and adapt to it.

Copenhagen Green Climate Fund

A bid to reinsert the notion of a future binding treaty was firmly quashed by China, India and Saudi Arabia.

the next full conference will be in Mexico on November 29th

some economists predict it will be years, not months, before employees regain any semblance of bargaining power

this recession's unusual ferocity has accelerated trends—including offshoring, automation, the decline of labor unions' influence, new management techniques, and regulatory changes

forecast for the next five to 10 years: more of the same, with paltry pay gains, worsening working conditions, and little job security. Right on up to the C-suite, more jobs will be freelance and temporary, and even seemingly permanent positions will be at greater risk

We're all temps now.

the brutal recession has prompted more companies to create just-in-time labor forces that can be turned on and off like a spigot

Employers are trying to get rid of all fixed costs

Everything is variable

people who graduated from college in a recession earn 2.5% less than if they had graduated in more prosperous times, research has shown

Diminishing job security is also widening the gap between the highest- and lowest-paid workers. At the top, people with sought-after skills can earn more by jumping from assignment to assignment than they can by sticking with one company. But for the least educated, who have no special skills to sell, the new deal for labor offers nothing but downside.

All the employees had just stopped working

In a letter Mr. Villaraigosa sent to Mr. Beutner when hiring him, the mayor said, "I recognize we need a top to bottom revitalization and refocus of our economic development team here at City Hall to make certain job creation is the overarching focus at all levels and in all offices and departments."

Chief Deputy Mayor Jay Carson. "We have to view every decision we make through the prism of job creation."

Southern California's economy has been among the hardest hit in the country. The area's housing market was one of the first to collapse. And in Los Angeles, mainstays such as the film industry have suffered as other states woo productions away with rich tax incentives

Last week, the city was dealt a psychological blow when Northrop Grumman Corp., the last major firm of the region's once-dominant aerospace industry, announced it was moving its headquarters to the Washington, D.C. area

Los Angeles has slashed services as it tries to close an $80 million budget gap

His annual salary is $1.

Some major stores that sell big-ticket items have moved to neighboring cities to avoid the high cost and difficulty of doing business there, such as delays in obtaining building permits, and a range of fees and taxes higher than most other cities in the area, business leaders said.

"The hardest thing is going to be to change the mindset here," Mr. Beutner said. "For the first time in a long time the city is going to be forced to change the way it does things. The most fundamental thing is to change the mindset of those who work in the city [government]. We serve business. They're our customers as opposed to the other way around."