Friday, May 29, 2015

Pimco Said to Have Considered Goldman’s Cohn for Top Job - Bloomberg Business

Pimco Said to Have Considered Goldman’s Cohn for Top Job - Bloomberg Business



Pimco paid El-Erian a bonus of about $230 million in 2013 as part of an executive profit-sharing plan as the firm’s assets approached $2 trillion. Cohn was awarded $26.9 million for 2013, according to the Bloomberg Pay Index, which values an executive’s compensation as of the company’s fiscal year end. Since 2012, he’s taken home about $61.7 million, which includes salary and cash bonuses, as well as vested stock and exercised options that were granted in previous years, the index shows.

Japan Unleashes a Robot Revolution - Bloomberg Business

Japan Unleashes a Robot Revolution - Bloomberg Business



Two years ago, Google acquired Schaft, a startup founded by two University of Tokyo professors who’d developed a robot that walks on two legs. Schaft failed to line up local venture funding before turning to U.S. giant Google. “If we don’t create a culture of [venture] investment, there will be a lot of similar examples,” says Waseda University mechanical engineering professor Atsuo Takanishi.
Japan has a built-in edge over its rivals, starting with a deep and sophisticated domestic robotics industry, says Hal Sirkin, a senior partner and managing director at Boston Consulting. In factory robotics, “they can pretty much easily produce what they need.” Cheaper sensors, motors, and computing power have driven the cost of some industrial robots to as low as $25,000, down from $100,000 just a few years ago. That means small and midsize companies can afford advanced machines. With Japan’s declining workforce, job displacement won’t be as much of a barrier to rolling out more machines as it would in the U.S. By 2025, Japan’s robots could shave 25 percent off factory labor costs, says BCG.

U.S. Saw Islamic State Coming, Let It Take Ramadi - Bloomberg View

U.S. Saw Islamic State Coming, Let It Take Ramadi - Bloomberg View



The U.S. watched Islamic State fighters, vehicles and heavy equipment gather on the outskirts of Ramadi before the group retook the city in mid-May. But the U.S. did not order airstrikes against the convoys before the battle started. It left the fighting to Iraqi troops, who ultimately abandoned their positions....

...The U.S. intelligence community had good warning that the Islamic State intended a new and bolder offensive on Ramadi because it was able to identify the convoys of heavy artillery, vehicle bombs and reinforcements through overhead imagery and eavesdropping on chatter from local Islamic State commanders. It surprised no one, one U.S. intelligence official told me.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

What's Really Driving Income Inequality - Bloomberg View

What's Really Driving Income Inequality - Bloomberg View



Consider Apple and McDonald’s. The Piketty perspective is that inequality rises because the top executives at both companies get much bigger raises than the rank-and-file. But the other possibility is that the average pay at Apple rises a lot relative to the average pay at McDonald’s, even as the wage gaps within each firm stay about the same.

Russia Is Using Mobile Crematoriums to Hide Ukraine's Dead - Bloomberg View

Russia Is Using Mobile Crematoriums to Hide Ukraine's Dead - Bloomberg View

Monday, May 25, 2015

Europe as a "Welfare Museum" + Greece

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-05-25/greece-is-playing-a-huge-game-of-chicken-von-pfeil






Friday, May 22, 2015

Breaking Eggs

The 10-Point: My Guide to the Day's Top News. - btbirkett@gmail.com - Gmail



The financial toll of the worst U.S. bird-flu outbreak in history is soaring. About 10% of the U.S. egg-laying flock has been wiped out. The egg-supply squeeze is pinching profits for some food makers, and prices at grocery stores are expected to rise as retailers pass along the higher costs. Egg-industry officials say that producers will be reeling for years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has allocated just under $400 million to cover claims from poultry farmers that have culled flocks to stem the spread of the disease.