March, 2016

• 19 March

  Good times, not anger, led to Trump’s rise

  A Catch of the Day to Kevin Drum at Mother Jones for pointing to polling showing that, no, Republicans in 2016 aren’t especially angry about the economy. And HuffPollster notes that Republicans aren’t really angry, period, at least compared with the 2012 cycle. Drum puts it this way: People aren’t more angry, or more bigoted, or more scared than usual. ...

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• 19 March

  Should America fear China’s alternative to the TPP?

  One of the key arguments used by the Obama administration to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is that if the United States doesn’t write the rules on trade, China will. There’s some truth here: China is, in fact, leading an effort to negotiate a massive trade agreement across the Asia-Pacific – one that excludes the United States and that will ...

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• 19 March

  Why China is foot-dragging on economic reforms

  

  In late February, hundreds of coal miners in Anyuan, where Mao Zedong first organized workers for the Great Strike of 1922, protested against their state employer over low wages and even poorer working conditions. On Wednesday, China wrapped up its most important legislative meeting of the year, announcing sweeping free market initiatives for economic recovery and long-term growth. Though clearly ...

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• 19 March

  Boomtowns are where the recovery is happening

  I spend a decent amount of time traveling around the U.S. speaking at conferences and visiting clients. Doing this is a visceral form of economic research — you can witness just how various regions are recovering and expanding with your own eyes. It doesn’t take much to realize that, to paraphrase science fiction writer William Gibson, the recovery is here, ...

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• 19 March

  Why Canada is dumping its gold — and China isn’t

  

  Canada, home to some of the world’s largest gold-mining companies, recently announced that it had effectively liquidated all of the country’s holdings of the shiny metal and is moving to what a government spokesperson described as “easily tradable” assets. It has been a long process. Canada held 1,088 tons of gold in 1955. By 2000, it was down to 46 ...

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• 19 March

  Prologis Inc. delays UK deals as buyers seek ‘Brexit’ vote get-out

  

  Bloomberg Prologis Inc., the world’s largest owner of industrial real estate, would like to buy more property in the U.K. That’s unlikely to happen until the country decides whether it wants to stay in the European Union in June. “For the sake of another quarter, let’s just wait,” Ben Bannatyne, president of Prologis in Europe, said in an interview at ...

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• 19 March

  Qatar tenants get no respite on rents

  

  Dubai / Emirates Business A slowing economy hasn’t had any sort of impact on Qatar’s residential rental market, with a 7 per cent gain last year following on from the 14 per cent annual growth experienced in 2014. But rental growth numbers are starting to pick up some slack, according to a CBRE report. Growth “during the second half of ...

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• 19 March

  Eight pre-qualified firms vie for three water projects in Oman

  

  Muscat / Emirates Business As many as eight international companies have been pre-qualified to bid for developing independent water projects (IWPs) at Salalah, Shaqiyah and Duqm. The Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) , which oversees the procurement of all new electricity generation and water desalination capacity in the country, said that these firms comprise a consortium of International ...

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• 19 March

  Hilton Garden Inn, Urban Park to open in Al Khuwayr by 2019

  

  Muscat / EMIRATES BUSINESS Muscat National Development and Investment Company (ASAAS) unveiled its second mega-project this year announcing its plans to build a four-star hotel and an Urban Park, managed and operated by Hilton Worldwide under the brand Hilton Garden Inn. The project, a result of an agreement with Muscat Municipality will come up in a 16,000sq m plot in ...

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• 19 March

  Starwood Hotels gets $13.2 billion bid, pressuring Marriott

  

  Bloomberg Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., owner of brands such as Westin, Sheraton and W, said it plans to accept a $13.2 billion takeover bid by China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co. and gave suitor Marriott International Inc. a deadline to make a counteroffer. Anbang and its partners will pay $78 a share in cash for Starwood, according to a ...

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