By Paolo von Schirach May 1, 2013 WASHINGTON – The FT has a rather prominent story on how the state of New Mexico in the US plans to attract new investors via lowering corporate taxes. The article quotes Susana Martinez, the recently elected Republican Governor, speaking passionately about the need to be competitive, because investors, you [...]
By Paolo von Schirach February 24, 2013 LUSAKA, Zambia - As Africa is moving forward, South Africa, the Continent’s historic economic power house, seems to be falling behind, having lost its ability to modernize. The huge South African mining industry, the country’s main economic driver, is in trouble. Plenty of recent stories about violent labor unrest, in a few instances punctuated by violence and [...]
By Paolo von Schirach February 8, 2013 WASHINGTON – Democracy is great, as long as it works properly. Ideally we want to have the affairs of the nation managed by elected and accountable leaders. We want majorities that do not turn into tyrannies. We want total transparency and accountability, plus a rules based system upheld by an independent, [...]
By Paolo von Schirach February 6, 2013 WASHINGTON – Economist Tyler Cowen calls it “The Great Stagnation”. 2010 Nobel Prize winner for physics Andre Geim calls it the “tech crisis’ in a recent FT op-ed piece. (Be afraid, be very afraid of the world’s tech crisis, February 6, 2013). Others may call it more simply “lack [...]
By Paolo von Schirach January 30, 2013 WASHINGTON – The shale gas revolution is probably the best economic news for America in the last decade. The development of this new resource means large domestic investments, jobs creation, business for energy companies and for their vast networks of vendors and suppliers.
By Paolo von Schirach Related story: http://schirachreport.com/index.php/2013/01/17/boeing-787-dreamliner-grounded-all-over-the-world-due-to-serious-malfunctions-aerospace-giant-image-tarnished-has-america-lost-it-as-technology-leader/ January 25, 2013 WASHINGTON – I pointed out just a few days ago (see link above) that the worldwide grounding of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a public relations disaster, (on top of the economic damage), for America’s leading aerospace company.
By Paolo von Schirach January 24, 2013 WASHINGTON – The US stock market is buoyant. Investors seem to have a lot of confidence. And yet the country’s fiscal picture is a cloudy as ever. There is no agreement between Republicans and Democrats in Washington on a credible long term strategy involving taxes and spending that will bring [...]
By Paolo von Schirach Related story: http://schirachreport.com/index.php/2013/01/21/obamas-second-inaugural-address-focused-on-equality-issues-noble-goals-however-unless-the-american-economy-grows-while-washington-fixes-spending-and-taxes-there-will-be-nothing-to-redistribute/ January 22, 2013 WASHINGTON – President Obama’s priorities, as outlined in his Inaugural Address, (see above link to related piece), are in line with the political Zeitgeist that his first term contributed to create. And here they are: more government, strong defense of existing entitlement programs, more support for [...]
By Paolo von Schirach January 21, 2013 WASHINGTON – Nothing I have heard from Barack Obama since his November clear, (albeit not triumphant), re-election convinces me that this President has anything even close to a meaningful economic growth and fiscal reform agenda that can receive bipartisan approval. His Inaugural Address, if anything, would indicate that between growth [...]
By Paolo von Schirach January 3, 2013 WASHINGTON - Economics expert Sebastian Mallaby wrote a very hopeful analysis of Southern Africa’s prospects for The Financial Times, (Africa hooked on growth after 12 years of progress, January 2, 2012). Citing hard data Mallaby argues that growth in Southern Africa is no blip. It is about a long term [...]