Remarkable stories from the web in a new, easier format.
Over in the auto world, for example, a stealth revolution is currently being waged on car dealers by manufacturers. Thanks to the internet, there’s simply no reason why car manufacturers can’t deal directly with customers. Orders can be gathered online, and customers — rather than being targeted by pushy salesmen — can take full control of the decisions they make.
So what’s a state to do? Protect old industry and the jobs that go with it in direct contradiction of any pro-capital free-market principles it deigns to have? Or, reward innovation at the cost of jobs, national advantage and progress?
US protectionism, or what happens when there’s too much of a good thing | FT Alphaville
The doors of the Las Vegas Convention Center closed on the Consumer Electronics Show 2014 this afternoon, and analysts had already been rushing back to Wall Street yesterday with their autopsies of what went on. Herewith, a sampling of what they thought and felt about the big show.
The Sony tennis sensor is a small Bluetooth tracking device that fits onto the bottom of any racquet and can help you improve your game whether you are an amateur or take the game a little more seriously.
Sony Tennis sensor review: Hands-on at CES 2014
JinkoSolar Holding Co. (JKS), a Chinese solar manufacturer, is considering a possible spinoff or public share sale for its project unit to help expand the business. Separating the unit from manufacturing operations will aid growth and benefit JinkoSolar shareholders, the Shangrao-based company said today in a statement. It expects the subsidiary to have 500 megawatts of installed capacity by the end of the year.
Jinkosolar Considers Selling Off Solar Project Business – Bloomberg
Some 300,000 residents of Charleston, W.Va., and environs are going into their fifth day without tap water for drinking, cooking, or bathing after a coal-processing chemical leaked into the local water supply from a plant on the Elk River. That plant is owned by a closely held company called Freedom Industries. Many West Virginians, not to mention state and federal investigators, have questions about Freedom Industries. Some preliminary answers
Meet Freedom Industries, the Company Behind the West Virginia Spill – Businessweek
Leading investment house Deutsche Bank has dramatically lifted its demand forecasts for the global solar industry — predicting that 46 gigawatts of solar PV will be installed across the world in 2014, before jumping by another 25 percent to 56 gigawatts in 2015.
It notes that the world’s three biggest solar markets — coincidentally located in the world’s three biggest economies, the U.S., China and Japan — are currently booming and are likely to deliver what market analysts describe as more “upside demand surprises.”
Deutsche Bank Predicts Second Solar ‘Gold Rush’ : Greentech Media
Goldman Sachs thinks talk of financial bubbles is misguided, and the firm is encouraging its wealthy clients to keep their money in relatively expensive sectors such as U.S. technology stocks and high-yield bonds.
Goldman says there’s no financial bubble in the stock market
On February 1, Janet Yellen will take over America’s central bank, a cash cow that makes the Fortune 500 look like peanuts.
The Last Office Taboo for Women: Doing Your Business at Work – The Daily Beast
Sweden and Denmark boast public debt loads that are less than half the euro-zone average. Norway’s $820 billion sovereign wealth fund means its government has no net debt. Yet in all three nations, stable AAA ratings have driven down borrowing costs and fed consumer borrowing sprees that the International Monetary Fund and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development argue pose a threat to stability.
Scandinavian Debt Crisis Waiting to Happen Puzzles Krugman – Bloomberg
If the balance tilts against the euro zone, investors will shift the composition of their portfolios and deteriorate its credit channel. Whether or not this triggers deflation of euro-zone prices depends on the role of euro‐denominated assets for collateral and in facilitating commercial transactions.
Deflation in Europe: On the road to double-dipped recession or deflation? | The Economist
Economists have long recognized that shareholders are not able to effectively monitor managers, including chief executives. Recent empirical research suggests that managers – or bosses in general – may be subject to a kind of power bias, a desire to remain in charge even when this is not in the best interests of the company.
Wanted: More Worker-Owners – NYTimes.com
Simply put, a solar panel works by allowing photons, or particles of light, to knock electrons free from atoms, generating a flow of electricity. Solar panels actually comprise many, smaller units called photovoltaic cells. (Photovoltaic simply means they convert sunlight into electricity.) Many cells linked together make up a solar panel.
How Do Solar Panels Work? | Photovoltaic Cells | LiveScience
In Hawaii, 10% of households have rooftop-solar systems, and the island’s grid is starting to become unstable. The utility has little incentive to try to resolve the issue. More rooftop-solar systems mean fewer customers who buy electricity.
Will Rooftop Solar Stand the Test of Time? – DailyFinance
A team of researchers at Argonne National Laboratory has figured out an efficient way to split hydrogen gas from water, using a low cost cobalt-based catalyst instead of pricey platinum.
For Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Blue Is The New Green | CleanTechnica
Royal Dutch Shell Plc and OAO Gazprom Neft began a drilling campaign to assess the potential of Siberia’s Bazhenov formation, reckoned to be one of the world’s largest deposits of shale oil.
Shell venture starts fracking giant Russian shale formation
The whole “Why is German solar about half the price of U.S. solar?” question is one of the most important solar questions of the day. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has probably most extensively studied this matter. In a recently updated version of its analysis, LBNL examines why a residential German solar system goes for $3.00/watt and a residential U.S. solar system goes for $6.19/watt.
Why German Solar Is So Much Cheaper Than U.S. Solar — Updated Study | CleanTechnica
It’s hard for China to get on top of its high local-government debt problem because it doesn’t really know the full extent of debt levels, the president of China Beige Book International said on Wednesday.
Can China contain high local government debt?
The World Bank raised its global growth forecasts as the easing of austerity policies in advanced economies supports their recovery, boosting prospects for developing markets’ exports.
World Bank Raises Growth Forecasts as Richest Nations Strengthen – Bloomberg
the world’s largest chipmaker, said it will delay opening a new factory in Arizona amid a slump in demand for personal-computer microprocessors, its main source of revenue.
Intel Puts New Arizona Processor Plant On Hold Amid PC Slump – Bloomberg
Remember when we wrote, in relation to the seemingly forgiving attitude to shadow banking on display in draft regulations, that “This begs the question, what was the PBoC trying to achieve with the cash squeeze? The guess is that it was using market forces to do what administrative diktat has been unable to.”?
Shadow banking in China: custody battle edition | FT Alphaville
There are plenty of companies with great stories, but when a major player in the same industry helps validate that story things become a lot more interesting.
Youth unemployment across the European Union remains unacceptably high, to the detriment of current and future generations. Addressing it requires understanding its causes and then relentlessly pursuing solutions.
Education to employment: Getting Europe’s youth into work | McKinsey & Company
The dire results of elite failures are not surprising. An implicit deal exists between elites and the people: the former obtain the privileges and perquisites of power and property; the latter, in return, obtain security and, in modern times, a measure of prosperity. If elites fail, they risk being replaced.
Failing elites threaten our future – FT.com
