Falling Off Fiscal Cliff: Good for the Environment? Tumbling from the fiscal cliff would likely be a disaster for the United States. Some economists fear it could send the country back into recession with repercussions shaking the global economy. But the effects of a renewed recession could have some positive (and negative) effects on the environment.
Lucius Fox
Chief Executive Officer of Wayne Enterprises
The WEF defines competitiveness as the “set of institutions, policies, and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country. The level of productivity, in turn, sets the level of prosperity that can be earned by an economy. The productivity level also determines the rates of return obtained by investments in an economy, which in turn are the fundamental drivers of its growth rates. In other words, a more competitive economy is one that is likely to sustain growth.”
To determine these rankings, global economies were rated according to 12 pillars: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication, and innovation.
This year saw Gabon, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Seychelles included in the rankings with a return by Libya after a year of non-inclusion. Angola and Tunisia were not included this year due to research problems. Below is a summary of the top three and bottom three ranking African countries.
…as the New York Times put it in a banner front-page headline today, by putting Ryan on the ticket, Romney is “pushing fiscal issues to the forefront.” But if that kind of clarifying, substantive debate is in fact to materialize, Ryan (and Romney) will need to be a lot more explicit, and a lot more honest, about what their budget proposals would actually do to the U.S. government.
That may sound a bit strange, since so many stories about Ryan emphasize how serious and wonky he is, and insist that, unlike most politicians, he’s actually willing to talk in detail about the policies he’s advocating. Yet the reality of Ryan’s approach is actually very different…
Click-through to continue reading James Surowiecki on Paul Ryan’s budget games: http://nyr.kr/MQ2SMG
John Cassidy says the voters are right to be skeptical of Romney’s economic plan: http://nyr.kr/Nj9Ua0 (via newyorker)
“
What is worrying Republicans is that, despite three months of poor economic news, their man hasn’t raced into the lead. The new poll reveals a major reason for this failure: voters are still waiting for Romney to unveil a credible plan to create jobs and restore prosperity. While many of them have lost confidence in Obama’s ability to turn around the economy, Romney still hasn’t given them sufficient reason to believe he could do better.
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Reblogged from theatlantic|191 notes
Europe Agrees: Greece Is the Laziest, Most Incompetent Nation in the EU
Greece is the hardest-working country in the EU! According to Greece. And only Greece.
According to Britain, Germany, Spain, Poland, and the Czech Republic, it’s the laziest country in Europe.
Meanwhile, Germany is the most respected EU country, according to the Pew Global report,European Unity on the Rocks. And Greece appears to be living in a bizarro universe where 78% of its respondents held negative views of Germany. Three in five Greeks said their country had Europe’s hardest working citizens. Half of the rest of the respondents from the other seven nations said Greece had the laziest workforce in Europe.
Read more. [Image: Pew Research Center]
![theatlantic:
Europe Agrees: Greece Is the Laziest, Most Incompetent Nation in the EU
Greece is the hardest-working country in the EU! According to Greece. And only Greece.
According to Britain, Germany, Spain, Poland, and the Czech Republic, it’s the laziest country in Europe.
Meanwhile, Germany is the most respected EU country, according to the Pew Global report,European Unity on the Rocks. And Greece appears to be living in a bizarro universe where 78% of its respondents held negative views of Germany. Three in five Greeks said their country had Europe’s hardest working citizens. Half of the rest of the respondents from the other seven nations said Greece had the laziest workforce in Europe.
Read more. [Image: Pew Research Center]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4shgajQUr1qcokc4o1_500.png)
The unemployment rate slipped a notch to 8.1 percent in April, but not because employers went on a hiring spree.
Instead, the jobless rate appeared to improve because fewer people were applying for positions. Last month, the civilian labor force shrank by 342,000 people.
Economists say many of those workforce dropouts were “discouraged” workers who moved to the sidelines after months, even years, of trying to nail down jobs.
Inside America’s Poorest County
The richest counties got richer and the poorer got poorer in the last decade, according to 2010 census reports.
The poorest county turns out to be in the heart of Appalachia — Owsley County, Ky. Owsley had the lowest median household income outside of Puerto Rico, according to census results. In Owsley, the median household income is $19,351.
Over 41 percent (41.5) of residents fall below the poverty line.More images here
Top photo: Johnny Noble, 9, sits in his Uncle Mose’s trailer.
Bottom photo: Dates Coty Shouse (L) and Destiny Duff pose in front of the vehicle they will take to the Owsley County High School prom in Booneville, Kentucky.
Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images
This is gorgeous.
These young people deserve every opportunity and chances to take those opportunities.
The Treasury Department released a bunch of recession charts on Friday. (We’ll post a few more throughout the day.) Above: a stark illustration of how far GDP has fallen since its peak — especially versus past recessions.
Reblogged from theeconomist|221 notes
Daily chart: internet economies. Britain’s internet economy is now bigger than its construction and education sectors. But Europe as a whole punches below its weight, mainly because its internet economy is held back by a lack of a single digital market.
Reblogged from theatlantic|35 notes
China Takes Aim at the Profitable Heart of U.S. Manufacturing
For a long time, Americans have channeled their fear about China’s factories into an exasperated, four-word refrain: They’re stealing our jobs! By offering low-wage competition to U.S. workers, the Chinese picked off low-end manufacturing work for multinational corporations, whether it was stitching shoes for Nike or assembling iPads for Apple.
In the last few years, though, the anxiety has shifted a bit. Instead of worrying we’ll be undercut on the price of manual labor, the concern is we could actually be out-competed in higher-end markets. You hear it when Democrats like President Obama talk about China winning the race on green jobs. And it came to my mind this week, thanks to a piece in Bloomberg Businessweek on China’s growing prowess in heavy industry.
While China transformed itself into the world’s top exporter by building light goods and electronics, the biggest chunk of its exports are now large, high-margin goods such as ships, locomotives, and construction equipment, as illustrated in the Businessweek graph above.
Not only are China’s capitalists moving in this direction, but they’re getting a hand from the government. As Businessweek reports, “Equipment manufacturing, shipbuilding, and cars are among the industries slated to receive $2.5 billion from the government this year to improve technology and product quality.”
This should be of some concern to U.S. policy makers. Heavy machinery and transportation equipment are at the heart of the U.S. industrial base. They’re part of our Big Six manufacturing sectors, along with food, chemicals, electronics, and metal products. These are businesses where labor is a relatively small part of the overall cost of making the product, and where America’s technologically advanced factories have traditionally given us an edge. If they founder, there’s not much left to replace them.
Read more. [Image: Bloomberg Businessweek]
![theatlantic:
China Takes Aim at the Profitable Heart of U.S. Manufacturing
For a long time, Americans have channeled their fear about China’s factories into an exasperated, four-word refrain: They’re stealing our jobs! By offering low-wage competition to U.S. workers, the Chinese picked off low-end manufacturing work for multinational corporations, whether it was stitching shoes for Nike or assembling iPads for Apple.
In the last few years, though, the anxiety has shifted a bit. Instead of worrying we’ll be undercut on the price of manual labor, the concern is we could actually be out-competed in higher-end markets. You hear it when Democrats like President Obama talk about China winning the race on green jobs. And it came to my mind this week, thanks to a piece in Bloomberg Businessweek on China’s growing prowess in heavy industry.
While China transformed itself into the world’s top exporter by building light goods and electronics, the biggest chunk of its exports are now large, high-margin goods such as ships, locomotives, and construction equipment, as illustrated in the Businessweek graph above.
Not only are China’s capitalists moving in this direction, but they’re getting a hand from the government. As Businessweek reports, “Equipment manufacturing, shipbuilding, and cars are among the industries slated to receive $2.5 billion from the government this year to improve technology and product quality.”
This should be of some concern to U.S. policy makers. Heavy machinery and transportation equipment are at the heart of the U.S. industrial base. They’re part of our Big Six manufacturing sectors, along with food, chemicals, electronics, and metal products. These are businesses where labor is a relatively small part of the overall cost of making the product, and where America’s technologically advanced factories have traditionally given us an edge. If they founder, there’s not much left to replace them.
Read more. [Image: Bloomberg Businessweek]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2bhwd76Ul1qcokc4o1_500.png)
Reblogged from discoverynews|52 notes