March, 2019

• 19 March

  Ex-worker’s unit head charged in Fiat scandal

  

  Bloomberg The former head of the United Auto Workers’ unit representing workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV department was charged by federal prosecutors in Detroit with conspiracy to violate the Labor Management Relations Act, becoming the highest-ranked union official yet caught up in the investigation. Norwood Jewell is the latest former UAW or company official charged by the US over ...

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• 19 March

  UK labour market defies slowdown on job gains

  

  Bloomberg The UK labour market remained in robust health in the three months through January, despite a Brexit-induced slowdown in the overall economy. Employment hit a record high after the biggest jump in more than three years and underlying pay growth maintained its fastest pace in more than a decade as companies struggled to fill vacancies, Office for National Statistics ...

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• 19 March

  Vale dam crisis deepens with mine closure

  Bloomberg Vale SA’s shares declined as the world’s biggest iron ore producer faced continued backlash from Brazilian authorities after a deadly mining accident in January. Rio de Janeiro-based Vale was ordered on March 15 to shut its Timbopeba mine in Minas Gerais state, which produces 12.8 million tons of iron ore per year, due to safety concerns. A court ordered ...

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• 19 March

  Vodafone invests in GAM fund making money off late payments

  

  Bloomberg Big companies often leave their suppliers hanging for weeks without pay, but Vodafone Group Plc is taking this a step further: it’s investing in a fund that makes money off the delay. The British phone operator poured 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) into the 2.4 billion-euro fund run by beleaguered Swiss asset manager GAM Holding AG, which generates returns ...

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• 19 March

  The world is linked to the Brexit’s fate

  

  Those of us who have always thought that Brexit — Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union — was a bad idea should be feeling self-satisfied and vindicated now. Well, we’re not; at least this observer isn’t. The reason is obvious. Many of the things that we feared would happen have happened, or might still. Worse, the consequences aren’t confined to ...

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• 19 March

  Italy faces an impossible choice

  

  Italy’s populist rulers are famous for their contradictory positions. They’re against bailing out banks, but also oppose bailing in investors. They want to cut taxes, increase spending, but also want to keep public debt in check. They are in favour of infrastructure projects, but cannot make up their mind on whether a high-speed train link to France should go ahead. ...

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• 19 March

  Dirty money is creating schism in banking system

  The dirty money scandal engulfing Europe’s post-crisis banking champions is leading to a lot of finger-pointing inside the bloc. The EU’s bank supervisors are investigating possible regulatory failures at the national level, but national supervisors are pushing back. The latest evidence of local muscle-flexing comes from the Italian central bank, which has asked ING Groep NV to stop taking on ...

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• 19 March

  Trump’s border crisis is made in the USA

  The Trump administration says the US faces a “national security and humanitarian crisis” at its southwest border. The situation has indeed deteriorated — and President Trump’s approach to the issue is one reason why. His misguided policies have made a surge of asylum seekers from Central America harder to handle, and diverted attention and resources from a problem that has ...

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• 19 March

  We need a Green Marshall Plan, not a Green New Deal

  

  At the fourth United Nations Environment Assembly in Kenya this past week, experts and officials from around the world debated how to come up with the investment and innovation needed for countries to grow without dooming the planet. National leaders, NGOs and others discussed, among other things, how to create more “sustainable patterns of consumption and production.” What really struck ...

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• 19 March

  FAA let pressure overcome principles on decision of 737

  

  Public pressure is not a good reason for government to pull an aircraft out of service. Have we learned nothing from past panics? After an Ethiopian Airlines crash killed 157 passengers on March 10, and a Lion Air crash killed 189 last fall, the Trump administration issued an executive order to ground the Boeing 737 Max 8 and Max 9 ...

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