Новости за 23.08.2018

IMAGINE two college friends whose careers have taken different paths. Simon is an investment banker. He works long hours, especially when his bank is advising on a big merger. His pastimes include potholing and skydiving. Chris works as a senior civil servant. Early each evening the lights in his office dim to remind his colleagues of the importance of work-life balance. His spare time is spent on long country walks, playing golf and going to the theatre.

GREECE’S third bail-out programme came to an end on August 20th. A look at the causes of the country’s near-decade of crisis illustrates how external imbalances can reflect underlying troubles. Gaps in public finances, as well as investments in property, were financed by borrowing from Germany and other northern European countries. Wages and costs were pushed up, making exports less competitive—within the euro zone, there can be no currency devaluation—and further widening Greece’s current-account deficit. Читать дальше...

WHEN Google announced in 2010 that it would no longer censor results on its Chinese service, a prerequisite for operating in the communist state, internet users laid flowers at the search giant’s Beijing headquarters to mourn its exit. People outside China praised Google’s decision, as it revealed attempts to spy on Chinese dissidents in Gmail, an assault on liberties that the company thought went too far.

SAMSUNG rarely talks in public about its corporate strategy. So when South Korea’s biggest chaebol (conglomerate) announced with much fanfare in early August that it would invest 180trn won ($161bn) over the next three years, on top of another boost in spending last year, observers noted that it came days after a meeting between Lee Jae-yong, the group’s de facto leader, and Kim Dong-yeon, South Korea’s finance minister. Was Samsung trying to commend itself as a good corporate citizen to a government... Читать дальше...

BUSINESS leaders often have a poor opinion of politicians, preferring to find their heroes elsewhere—in other boardrooms or on the coaching field. But running a country is an even greater test of leadership and character than running a corporation. Those who have passed through the fire surely have something to teach modern-day managers.

THE most ambitious signings this summer in Spanish football have been made not by the country’s clubs but by its top league. On August 16th La Liga announced plans to hold a regular-season match between two as-yet-unnamed Spanish teams in America, as part of a 15-year deal with Relevent, an American sports promoter. Two days earlier it emerged that it had sold the rights to show its games in South Asia to Facebook.

AUGUST is normally a sleepy month in Washington, DC. Not this year, especially for politicians and lawyers (and politicians’ lawyers). For trade negotiators, too, life is busier than ever. Talks to revamp the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are in full swing. As The Economist went to press, Mexican and American delegations were still haggling furiously, chiefly over new rules covering trade in cars. But a breakthrough looked possible.

THE Ford F-150 pickup truck has been America’s bestselling vehicle for years. In Dearborn, a city near Detroit, a factory that once produced Henry Ford’s Model A now cranks out one of these all-aluminium tributes to testosterone every 53 seconds. The F-150 is so profitable—informed rumours suggest each adds nearly $13,000 to Ford’s bottom line—that it is known around town as “the bank”.

IF FACEBOOK were represented on stage, it might take the form of a huge house party, where podgy babies, perfect prom queens and advertising executives jostle for attention. Twitter could be a tree filled with birds, chirping a discordant cacophony day and night.

ON AUGUST 22nd America’s bull market in equities turned 3,453 days old. Since hitting a low of 666 in March 2009, the S&P 500 index has increased more than fourfold, driven by strong corporate profits, low inflation, stable economic growth and a boatload of central-bank stimulus. Despite five corrections of at least 10%, the index has never entered bear territory, defined as a drop of at least 20%. Most commentators are declaring this to be the longest bull market in history.

Decisions, decisions

IN THE Dhahran headquarters of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, it is all change. The bankers working on what was supposed to be the world’s largest initial public offer (IPO) have not only gone home for the summer; they may never come back. In their place people are preparing for a possible takeover of Sabic, Saudi Arabia’s biggest petrochemicals firm.

After a Reuters report on August 22nd that listing plans had been called off, the kingdom... Читать дальше...

IT WAS the kind of moment that would crown the career of a reality-TV producer. While the president of the United States was on his way to a campaign rally, his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was found guilty of eight counts of tax and bank fraud; and his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to eight counts of tax evasion, fraud and breaking campaign-finance laws. Cable-news channels needed so many split screens to cover what was going on that they began to resemble a Rubik’s cube. Читать дальше...

ON THE afternoon of August 21st, Duncan Hunter, a Republican congressman from California, was indicted for filing false campaign reports and spending $250,000 of campaign funds on personal expenses. There were family trips to Italy and Hawaii; shots of tequila at a bachelor party; and “Hawaii shorts” that his wife suggested he should buy at a golf pro shop, so they could disguise the purchase as “balls for the wounded warriors”. Ordinarily, juicy details such as these could occupy cable news for a cycle or two. Читать дальше...

HALF-NAKED bodies writhe on the ground. A man lies in an empty bath, his eyes gazing into space. “No herbs, no medicine. They’ve mixed gutter water together—the eyes are now dirty,” cries out Olamide, a Nigerian rapper. His music video, “Science Student”, has been viewed millions of times.