Brexit, Greece, Macedonia, China, 2026 World Cup, Plastic Straws
Marc Ross Daily
June 13, 2018
Curation and commentary from Marc A. Ross
Reporting from Alexandria, Virginia
Marc Ross Daily = Business News at the Intersection of Global Politics + Policy + Profits
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TOP FIVE
✔️ May plans Brexit bill amendment after Commons rebellion
✔️ Greece and Macedonia solve bitter 27-year name row
✔️ The unexpected winner from the Trump-Kim summit: China
✔️ Indian PM trots and treads in fitness video
✔️ US, Canada and Mexico to host 2026 World Cup
ROSS RANT
The gig is 9 to 5 and is the employment is formal
Last Thursday the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found less than 4 percent of workers--5.9 million persons--held contingent jobs.
Contingent jobs are those assignments which are temporary in nature.
In addition to contingent workers, the BLS survey also identified workers who have various alternative work arrangements or what many of us refer to as gigs.
In May 2017 the BLS data found there were 10.6 million independent contractors (less than 7 percent of total employment), 2.6 million on-call workers (1.7 percent of total employment), 1.4 million temporary help agency workers (0.9 percent of total employment), and 933,000 workers provided by contract firms (0.6 percent of total employment).
So roughly 10 percent of American workers in 2017 were employed in some form of what the government calls “alternative work arrangements."
This broad category includes Lyft drivers, freelance designers, and people employed through temporary-help agencies — essentially anyone whose primary source of work comes outside a traditional employment relationship.
As reported by the New York Times, this far from a boom in gig work and goes against conventional wisdom when to comes to employment.
“I think everybody’s narrative got blown up,” said Michael R. Strain, director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
The largest category of alternative workers, independent contractors, are disproportionately in their mid-40s or older and familiar in sectors like construction that have not been disrupted by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. They earn about as much, on average, as standard employees, and are relatively happy with their arrangements: Nearly eight in 10 say they prefer being an independent contractor to being an employee.
Outside of plumbers, roofers, and general contractors, most Americans work 9 to 5 in a formal work environment.
Don't believe the gig economy hype.
GEOECONOMICS
Trump in the UK: Trump will stay in London when he visits the UK – but might fly over the protests in a helicopter. Whitehall sources suggested that early searches had been unable to find accommodation outside the capital large enough for the president's vast entourage. When George W Bush visited in London in 2003 he brought 700 people with him, while Barack Obama sometimes travelled with as many as 900 staff. A Whitehall source said: "The Americans can't find anywhere big enough outside London for them all to stay. Not just the Trumps, but the circus that comes with him."
May plans Brexit bill amendment after Commons rebellion: FT reports, MPs to be given ‘real say’ over any proposal to leave the EU without a deal.
UK announces new ‘start-up visa’ for entrepreneurs: FT reports, move follows growing disquiet over impact of Britain’s restrictive immigration policies.
Italy vows migrant ship cannot dock as Paris-Rome clash escalates: Reuters reports, Italy said on Wednesday its decision to shut its ports to hundred of migrants aboard a charity ship was firm, as a clash between Rome and Paris over migrant policy heated up.
Greece and Macedonia solve bitter 27-year name row: AFP reports, the prime ministers of Greece and Macedonia say they have agreed on "Republic of Northern Macedonia" as the new name for the Balkan country, ending an acrimonious 27-year dispute.
OTD: In 1900 the Boxer Rebellion began in China.
WSJ: The unexpected winner from the Trump-Kim summit: China
China gets everything it wanted from Trump's meeting with Kim: Bloomberg reports, the biggest winner from President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un -- aside from Kim himself -- was unquestionably the government of President Xi Jinping, which had been advocating the very process that Trump has now embarked upon.
@marcorubio: One more thing about KJU. While I know @potus is trying to butter him up to get a good deal, #KJU is NOT a talented guy. He inherited the family business from his dad & grandfather. He is a total weirdo who would not be elected assistant dog catcher in any democracy.
Huawei patent case shows Chinese courts' rising clout: Reuters reports, a smartphone patent fight between Huawei Technologies and Samsung Electronics could reach a global resolution through a ruling by a Chinese court, a development that reflects the growing attractiveness of China as a quick and effective forum for intellectual property disputes. The case is being closely watched because it has set up a clash between the two judicial systems, with a US judge instructing Huawei not to enforce a ruling it won against Samsung in China, said Erick Robinson, a Beijing lawyer who previously was Qualcomm Inc’s Asia patent director.
Trump could slap China with tariffs as soon as Friday: Politico reports, Trump is expected to impose tariffs on Chinese goods as soon as Friday or next week, according to two sources briefed on internal deliberations, a move that is sure to further inflame tensions and spark almost immediate retaliation from Beijing. The administration on Friday is planning to publish a final list of Chinese goods that will take the hit.
Wall Street firms face a new $15 billion hurdle in China: WSJ reports, Beijing is expected to allow foreign firms to run their own securities businesses in China, but the devil is in the details. China’s leadership made a pledge to ease foreign ownership caps on domestic securities firms to 51% from 49%, in part to cool trade tensions with the US. The catch: China’s securities regulator is requiring that majority owners have at least 100 billion yuan (about $15.6 billion) in net assets.
China state planner and top bank set up US$47 billion fund to invest in emerging industries: SCMP reports, the National Development and Reform Commission and China Construction Bank are targeting sectors including new materials, biotechnology and new-energy vehicles. The initiative comes as China aims to nearly double the contribution of emerging industries to its economy to 15 per cent by 2020, up from 8 per cent in 2015, according to a state plan.
Australia agrees Solomons internet cable after China concern: AFP reports, Australia will help fund and build an underseas communications cable to the Solomon Islands, it was agreed Wednesday, after the Pacific nation was convinced to drop a contract with Chinese company Huawei. The impoverished country and Huawei inked a deal in late 2016 to construct the fibre-optic cable from Australia to Honiara to improve its often unreliable internet and phone services.
Indian PM trots and treads in fitness video: AFP reports, Narendra Modi, whose supporters boast of his physical prowess and indifference to sleep, has shared the secrets to his morning fitness regimen in a video where the Indian premier thrusts a staff, walks backward, and flexes over a boulder.
BRICs inventor says G7 ‘irrelevant’ because China and India are left out: Bloomberg reports, Trump was right to call for a shakeup in the Group of Seven membership. He just picked the wrong emerging market to add, according to Jim O’Neill. The former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, who famously coined the “BRICs” in 2001 to refer to the fastest growing emerging markets, said the G-7 can’t be taken seriously when it excludes China, whose economy is set to overtake the eurozone this year, and India, whose gross domestic product already eclipses Italy’s.
Share of global GDP (PPP):
1980
G7: 51%
China: 2.3%
India: 2.9%
2018
G7: 30.1%
China: 18.7%
India: 7.7%
Global economy to drive strong oil demand in 2019, says IEA: WSJ reports, the world’s appetite for oil should remain robust throughout next year even as US production continues to dominate supply growth, the International Energy Agency said.
AMERICAN POLITICS
Navarro on his Justin Trudeau comments: Says his job last Sunday was to send a signal of strength. "In conveying that message I used language that was inappropriate and basically lost the power of that message. I own that, that was my mistake, my words."
The glorious absurdity of American diplomacy under Donald Trump: The president spent the week offending his closest allies and praising a dictator.
FT - Roula Khalaf
Web of elite Russians met with NRA execs during 2016 campaign: McClatchy reports, several prominent Russians, some in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle or high in the Russian Orthodox Church, now have been identified as having contact with National Rifle Association officials during the 2016 US election campaign, according to photographs and an NRA source. The contacts have emerged amid a deepening Justice Department investigation into whether Russian banker and lifetime NRA member Alexander Torshin illegally channeled money through the gun rights group to add financial firepower to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential bid.
Senators see no Trump pushback on their move to kill ZTE deal: WSJ reports, ZTE again appeared to teeter on the brink of demise, as senior Republican senators signaled that President Trump was unlikely to block a congressional effort to derail a deal he brokered to resuscitate the Chinese telecom giant.
Reuters: Investors wipe $3 billion off China's ZTE as US settlement sinks in
Reuters: ZTE stocks plummet 40% after US sales ban
A radical trade prescription from the Federal Reserve: Stop complaining about China, and pay US workers better: One doesn’t normally look to the Federal Reserve System for radical economic prescriptions, but it’s a good place to find reasoned economic analysis. A recent economic brief from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis offers both: a solid explanation of the US trade deficit, and advice to stop blaming China for the decline in US manufacturing.
LAT - Michael Hiltz
In primary races, Republican voters rewarded loyalty to Trump: WSJ reports, Republican primary voters rewarded loyalty to President Trump in primary races, ousting South Carolina Rep. Mark Sanford, a vocal critic of the president, and nominating ally Corey Stewart for a Virginia Senate seat.
Radical plan to split California into three states earns spot on November ballot: LAT reports, the history of California, admitted to the Union on Sept. 9, 1850, has been marked by more than 200 attempts to either reconfigure its boundaries, split it into pieces or even have the state secede and become an independent country.
ENTERPRISE
NYT: AT&T takeover of Time Warner cleared, in blow to Justice Dept.
The approval of AT&T’s merger with Time Warner paves a clear path for Comcast to bid for 21st Century Fox assets.
DOJ may appeal the decision - developing
HSBC intends to upgrade its technology and expand into strategic Asian markets.
Marriott CEO on tech giants: ‘We are in an absolute war for who owns the customer’: Skift reports, Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson, along with his fellow hotel CEOs are right: It's not the "disruptors" like Airbnb that are the biggest threat, but the already established tech giants like Amazon, Google, Facebook, Tencent, Alibaba, and others that are the real competition for the hotel industry.
DraftKings is raising more money to launch a sports betting business.
SeaWorld, Ikea, and Royal Caribbean are getting rid of plastic straws and bags: WP reports, less than two weeks after a pilot whale died off Thailand with 80 plastic bags in its stomach, three major companies - SeaWorld, Ikea and Royal Caribbean - have vowed to remove plastic straws and bags from their properties.
FT: Toyota pours $1bn into ride-hailing group Grab
TRENDS
Chinese university exam: The University of New Hampshire will be the first flagship state school to accept scores from the Chinese university entrance exam as a basis for admission.
A chip in the windshield: China’s surveillance will soon track cars: WSJ reports, China is establishing a nationwide program to track cars using an electronic identification system, according to records and people briefed on the matter, adding to a growing array of its surveillance tools used to monitor its citizens.
The long wait for a productivity resurgence: Improvement in living standards depends almost entirely on rising output per worker
FT - Martin Wolf
"You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics.” Today, we could repeat this celebrated 1987 statement by Robert Solow, Nobel laureate founder of modern growth theory, with the substitution of “technology” for “computer”.
CULTURE
Daily Mail: Middle-classes care more about where their coffee comes from than their cocaine, says Tory peer
Air Force captain with top-secret clearance, who disappeared in 1983, is discovered living in California: WP reports, before he mysteriously disappeared and landed on the Air Force Most Wanted list, Capt. William Howard Hughes Jr. phoned home to tell his mother and father that he was going to the Netherlands. He told his parents he was supposed to come back from the Netherlands on Aug. 1. But no one ever saw him again. His family feared that he had been abducted. Others speculated that he had defected — possibly to the Soviets — with the highly classified information, a notion that fomented conspiracy theories for years.
SPORT
Today: FIFA selects the host for the 2026 World Cup. The US, Canada, and Mexico have submitted a joint bid; Morocco is the only other contender.
WSJ: US, Canada, and Mexico to host 2026 World Cup
NAFTA wins!
Spain fires coach: Julen Lopetegui was dismissed as Spain’s coach hours before the start of World Cup 2018. Earlier this week he was named the new coach of Real Madrid.
World Cup 2018: A guide to every team https://on.wsj.com/2l8p60J
China
- Population: 1.38 billion
- Did not qualify for World Cup
India
- Population: 1.32 billion
- Did not qualify for World Cup
USA
- Population: 325 million
- Did not qualify for World Cup
Iceland
- Population: 334,252
- Qualified for World Cup