Author Archives: Mart

Starbucks makes one of the emptiest threats in the history of business

Starbucks must think the British government is incredibly stupid. This is not necessarily a crazy assumption, but it’s hard to believe that David Cameron is going to abandon his mission to tackle tax-avoidance in Britain by large multinationals just because Starbucks threatens to suspend millions of pounds of investment in Britain.
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Insourcing is All the Rage

Rising wages and poorer productivity growth is shifting the global terms of trade, to the advantage of the West, as I pointed out in Bursting the Bubble of Chinese Competitiveness last year. But there are some interesting manufacturing synergies as well, which lie behind General Electric’s decision to move much of its far-flung appliance manufacturing operations back home and Apple' decision to start manufacturing in the US, as this article on the“in-sourcing” boom in the Atlantic explains.
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Hurricane Frequency – the Facts

Atlantic hurricane frequency has not increased since the late 1800s despite any warming of sea surface temperatures (Vecchi and Knutson 2011). Estimates of global and Northern Hemisphere Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) from 1971 to the present indicate that they are close to their lowest levels since the late 1970s. According to NOAA, this is the [...]
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A Series of Unfortunate Events: Scenario planning in an uncertain world

I wrote a white paper for Aberdeen Asset Management's investor conference in November 2011, on the big four themes dominating investor's thoughts: An American revival, a Chinese hard-landing, the West's lost decade, and the prospect of a euro-zone break-up. Still makes compelling reading a year on:
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Is a Global Aviation Trade War About to Break Out?

The EU’s emissions trading scheme could trigger a full scale global aviation trade war within weeks. A total of 30 countries which signed the Moscow Joint Declaration in February – including Russia, India, and the US - have threatened to retaliate. But China has upped the stakes by warning that it is prepared to impound European aircraft, if the EU punishes Chinese airlines for non-compliance, according to Reuters.
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Bloomberg Businessweek’s Brilliant Cover

Enough said.
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A Glut of Metal Stocks in China Spells Doom for Mining Companies and Australia

Chinese construction has sowed the seeds of its own destruction, and that of the commodity producers who have supplied it. The unprecedented build up of metal stocks in China suggests the global economy is in real trouble, Reuters reported yesterday.
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Damage to Business Forces British Columbia to Rethink Carbon Tax

Here is more evidence of the global retreat from climate change policies. British Columbia, which enacted a bold set of climate change policies designed to dramatically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions five years ago, has now called for an extensive review, National Geographic reports.
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Looming Electricity Shortages are Killing Jobs in Britain

Disadvantaged by carbon emissions regulations, the developed world is losing jobs to the developing world at an alarming rate. But nowhere is investment more threatened by energy policy than in Britain, the only country in the world which is committed to closing down virtually all of its economy, so that it can cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050.
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Weakening Metals Prices Presage Weaker Stock Markets

With Austerity in Europe and China’s property bubble deflating, it is not surprisingly that metals prices are weakening. But unless something drastically changes to push fundamental demand of metals higher, or the outlook for equities is not good, says Morgan Stanley.
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