October, 2018

• 9 October

  Macron keeps France guessing on extent of cabinet overhaul

  

  Bloomberg Emmanuel Macron is keeping France in the dark about how extensive a cabinet overhaul he’s planning to give a new impulse to his presidency. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe spent almost two hours meeting with President Macron on Tuesday morning, with no announcement made afterwards. Philippe had been expected to tender his gove- rnment’s resignation, with the list of new ...

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• 9 October

  Macedonia pushes for ‘name change’ deal

  

  Bloomberg The Republic of Macedonia’s government moved forward towards changing the name of the country to clear the path to membership in NATO and the European Union, despite vows from the opposition nationalists that they’ll bloc the switch. The former Yugoslav state is at the center of the struggle between Russia and the West for sway over Europe’s most volatile ...

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• 9 October

  Bannon is punching bag in Europe populist divide

  Bloomberg France’s European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau accused nationalist leaders of being in thrall to the US and Russia, as she sought to turn the tide on the populist wave surging across Europe. Loiseau cited former White House strategist Steve Bannon as she suggested that Europe’s nationalists are open to undue foreign influence, saying they “have found their masters in ...

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• 9 October

  The end of coal could be closer than it looks

  

  Should we just give up now? The world’s electrical utilities need to reduce coal consumption by at least 60 percent over the two decades through 2030 to avoid the worst effects of climate change that could occur with more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) announced on Monday. Such a ...

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• 9 October

  Old tools can’t build China economy

  

  I suspect that long-time watchers of China’s reform efforts may not be that enthusiastic about yesterday’s decision by the country’s central bank to cut the required reserve ratios for banks. Although understandable as a short-term response to a more challenging growth environment, it risks being another attempt to crank up an old economic- model whose effectiveness has declined and whose ...

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• 9 October

  Weaponising the Bank of England is bad politics

  

  There were howls of outrage when the Labour Party said earlier this year that it would force the Bank of England (BOE) to set a target for productivity if it won power. The announcement by the Conservative government that Andy Haldane, the central bank’s chief economist, will head a new Industrial Strategy Council is similarly distasteful. The new body “has ...

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• 9 October

  The world’s climate goals aren’t ambitious enough

  In signing the Paris climate agreement, the world’s governments pledged to keep the global average temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius. Leaving aside that their collective efforts and plans to curb greenhouse gases are not enough to accomplish that — the goal itself turns out to be too modest to prevent disastrous warming. Today’s report from the United ...

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• 9 October

  This Indian innovation could transform Africa

  

  Over the last two decades, China has invested more than $125 billion in Africa to build ports, highways, airports, railways and other infrastructure. Chinese President Xi Jinping says funds, to the tune of $60 billion, will continue to flow because “inadequate infrastructure is believed to be the biggest bottleneck to Africa’s development.” China’s largesse has certainly benefited the continent. An ...

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• 9 October

  Emmanuel Macron’s privatisation plan

  

  Putting state assets into private hands was the boring consensus of the 1990s; now, it’s only for the brave. In Britain, Jeremy Corbyn is tapping into public anger at the poor quality of private railways and utilities, and promises to re-nationalise them. In Italy, the deadly collapse of a motorway bridge has led the government to try and revoke the ...

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• 9 October

  Tim Sloan is not turning around Wells Fargo at all

  

  What’s the appropriate board gift for a CEO’s two-year anniversary? If you’re Tim Sloan at Wells Fargo & Co., the correct answer is a short leash. Sloan took over the CEO role in mid-October 2016, which means the anniversary is this week. At the very least, Sloan badly underestimated the problems facing his bank. But he’s also been slow to ...

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