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The Guardian, UK gives us a view inside Moscow. There is a picture below of a woman begging on the street outside of GUM, the indoor mall on Red Square. It reminds Pickerhead of similar scenes when he travelled there in the early 90′s. Then it was on Gorky Street, just up from the Kremlin, where bent old women offered things for sale. They stood in the lee of buildings stamping their feet, snow collecting on their clothes, while they offered pathetic things like a fork or a bar of soap. Meanwhile over on Arbat Street, young Russians attracted by the scent of hard currency, proclaimed themselves “businessmean” in an eerie prophesy of what was in store for Russia.
… Russia‘s dependency on oil is pushing the country’s economy into a tailspin. Oil peaked at $147 a barrel in July but has since plunged as low as $35 a barrel. As a result of the plummeting oil price and the global financial crisis, gross domestic product shrank by 8.8% in the 12 months to January, the rouble has lost one-third of its value since September and unemployment is expected to rise to 10 million by the end of the year. The Kremlin has spent more than $200bn of its reserves to cushion the devaluation of the rouble and avoid public panic.
Neil Shearing, emerging Europe economist at consultants Capital Economics, believes the situation is going to get much worse. “The news from Russia has gone from bad to worse in recent weeks. The economy looks likely to contract by 5% this year, which would be close to the drop in output witnessed during the 1998 rouble crisis,” he said, referring to the year when the government defaulted on its debts, sending shockwaves through the global financial system. “In contrast to the 1998 crisis, a weak external environment makes a sharp bounceback in growth unlikely.”
“The situation is worse than at the beginning of the 1990s,” said Ilya Roytman, president of IBR Consulting in Moscow, which helps companies such as Nestlé set up shop in Russia. “Before it was just in Russia. Around Russia there was a stable economic climate which helped us. But now there is a global economic crisis and because many governments have protectionist values it will not be possible to borrow resources.” …
The London Sunday Telegraph’s DC correspondent writes on Obama’s troubles. It is surprising to see the press turn on him so quickly. Most of the home team media has too much invested in him to start so soon, but the Brit press, especially after the gift gaffe, is pouring it on.
Barack Obama’s gaffe mocking the disabled by comparing his (inept but improving) 10 pin bowling skills to the “special Olympics” illustrates the problem he now has in communicating with the American people.
Obama seems incapable of balancing the need to be a national leader and his childish desire to retain his image as the uber cool dude he so clearly believes that he is.
The fact that he felt the need to go on Jay Leno at all to sell his stimulus plan, budget and banking bailouts shows that he has communications issues. The public are not buying his spending splurge, or his administration’s confused attempt to kill off executive bonuses.
Mike Allen and Jim Vandehei at Politico wrote a characteristically insightful piece on Thursday that began: “Of all the pitfalls Barack Obama might face in the presidency, here is one not many people predicted: He is struggling as a public communicator.” …
Richard Epstein writes on the problems caused by powerful public sector unions.
Each new day brings further evidence of a financial breakdown that stems in large measure from the inability of the federal and state governments to live within their means. Unfortunately, the endless attention focused on the ongoing Congressional spending orgy shields from scrutiny the intolerable budgetary pressures that face many of our states, most notably California and New York, which risk entering into bankruptcy on the installment plan.
Much of their distress is attributable to the rich labor contracts routinely extended to public employees as an ostensible quid pro quo for their giving up the right to strike. But the collective bargaining negotiations mandated under state law are always an unfair match. The state, county and local government officials don’t face the certain wrath of shareholders. Rather, they operate in uncertain political waters that allow them to escape voter wrath by granting public employees highly favorable, but less visible, pension packages that become payable only down the road. …
Forbes gives us some examples of the pensions that will bring state and local governments to their knees.
Don’t let anyone tell you the American dream has faded. the truth is the U.S. is still minting lots of millionaires. Glenn Goss is one of them.
Goss retired four years ago, at 42, from a $90,000 job as a police commander in Delray Beach, Fla. He immediately began drawing a $65,000 annual pension that is guaranteed for life, is indexed to keep up with inflation and comes with full health benefits.
Goss promptly took a new job as police chief in nearby Highland Beach. One big lure: the benefits.
Given that the average man his age will live to 78, Goss is already worth nearly $2 million, based on the present value of his vested retirement benefits. Looked at another way, he is a $2 million liability to Florida taxpayers.
“When I got the job at 21, I knew it was a dangerous profession but that I’d be rewarded on the back end,” says Goss. Even so, he adds, “The benefits back then weren’t anywhere near what they’ve become today.”
The problem with this picture is not Glenn Goss. By all accounts he was a good cop. The problem is that there are millions of Glenn Gosses from Highland Beach to Honolulu. So many that they pose a vast, debilitating burden to state and local finances. …
The Economist reports on advances in LED lighting.
“INCANDESCENT” might well describe the rage of those who prefer traditional light bulbs to their low-energy alternatives. This week, the European Commission formally adopted new regulations that will phase such bulbs out in Europe by 2012. America will do so by 2014. Some countries, such as Australia, Brazil and Switzerland, have got rid of them already. When a voluntary agreement came into force in Britain, at the start of the year, people rushed out to buy the last 100-watt light bulbs. Next to go are lower-wattage bulbs.
But what will replace the light bulb? Although obtaining illumination by incandescence (ie, heating something up) goes back to prehistory, it was not until 1879 that Thomas Edison demonstrated a practical example that used a wire filament encased in glass. Modern bulbs, the descendants of that demonstration, are cheap (around 50 cents) but inefficient, because only about 5% of the energy they use is turned into light and the rest is wasted as heat. A typical bulb also has to be replaced every 1,000 hours or so.
Without changing light fittings, the cheapest direct replacement for an incandescent bulb at the moment is a compact fluorescent light (CFL). These use up to 75% less power and last ten times longer, but they cost around $3 each. That price puts some people off, which explains part of the hoarding of incandescent bulbs. But others object not to the price but to the quality of the light, which has a different spectrum from the one they are used to. …
… The most promising alternatives are light-emitting diodes (LEDs). …
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