Month: September 2012

Why China’s slowdown may get permanently worse — Quartz

For years, global economists have forecast a slowdown in China’s breakneck growth. Now that the deceleration is actually here, rich-world investors, companies and government officials, reliant on the Chinese juggernaut for their financial well-being, seem impatient for the revelry to resume, and are hoping that the Chinese government will follow up its stimulus of package of 2008-2009 with another generous injection of capital.

Source: Why China’s slowdown may get permanently worse — Quartz

 

Does an economy of 1.3 billion people with GDP of $5,500 per capita that needs half a trillion dollars in ‘surprise’ government spending on largely unnecessary infrastructure every four years in order to keep growing still count as ‘emerging?’

— Michael Parker, analyst with Bernstein Research

Why I Refuse to Vote for Barack Obama – The Atlantic

The case against casting a ballot for the president — even if you think he’s better than Mitt Romney

If two candidates favored a return to slavery, or wanted to stone adulterers, you wouldn’t cast your ballot for the one with the better position on health care.

Source: Why I Refuse to Vote for Barack Obama – The Atlantic

 

I think the concept that everyone has a line past which they would in fact vote for neither of two choices is quite interesting. Also, is voting for Obama better than voting, for example, for Gary Johnson (or any other candidate that has a statistically insignificant chance of winning the election)? Does voting for a “loser” (e.g. voting non-Republican in Texas or non-Democrat in Rhode Island) send a message about being dissatisfied with the going-to-win party’s platform without risking them actually losing, assuming you feel the other guy is even worse?

Q

If I argue for a position and you agree with my conclusion, does it matter if you know who I am or why I want that conclusion? Why/Why not?

United workers of the world | The Economist

Unbalanced skill levels could make the world more unequal

McKinsey estimates that over the next decade rich countries and China will need 40m more college-educated workers than they will be able to produce. At the same time, employers across the world may find themselves with 90m more low-skilled workers than they need.

Source: United workers of the world | The Economist

 

What do you do with 90M unemployed, working-age people possessing only a primary/elementary or sometimes secondary/high school education?