US jobless rate seen rising; Australia's new vision; Samsung's success is its biggest weakness; Life after another reshuffle; The fine line of marriage

1 US jobless rate seen rising (Khaleej Times) The jobless rate probably rose in October as US employers kept a tight rein on payrolls with the nation closing in on the so-called fiscal cliff, economists said before a report this week. A net 125,000 workers were added to headcounts following an increase of 114,000 in September, according to the median forecast of 72 economists. The unemployment rate climbed to 7.9% last month from a three-year low of 7.8%, the survey showed.

“We’re just treading water, getting the labour market to grow fast enough to cover population growth,” said Joshua Dennerlein, a US economist at Bank of America in New York. The “drop in unemployment was probably not sustainable.” Hiring may stay restrained as concern mounts that an economy growing at a two per cent pace is not strong enough to weather the tax increases and spending cuts slated to take effect if lawmakers fail to act by year’s end. Prior to September, joblessness had exceeded eight per cent for 43 months, the longest such stretch since at least 1948. At 7.8%, unemployment last month matched the rate at the time Obama took office in January 2009.

2 Australia’s new vision (Khaleej Times) The down under is looking up to Asia. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, in a major policy shift, has decided to align the continent with Asia, in her endeavour to open up with the world’s most populous markets, China and India, and subsequently its enterprising business dynamics. 

In an appraisal of foreign policy, Gillard has made a realistic point of view by saying that Australia’s traditional inclination towards Europe had insulated its vibrancy and sense of accommodation with other countries and cultures of the world. The 312-page paper, Australia in the Asian Century, will serve as a landmark as the country readies to embrace multi-ethnicity and revises its domestic priorities. Gillard’s attempt is laudable as it would be inspirational in ending the so-called racist essence that had set in Australia, and which was squarely evident with the lack of accommodation with the Asian youth in academic institutions.

3 Samsung’s success is its biggest weakness (Aaron Back in The Wall Street Journal) Samsung's mobile-communications business accounts for more than half of revenue. The Galaxy S III, with its eye-popping 4.8-inch screen, has been one of the best-selling smartphones in the world and Samsung has become the global market leader for smartphone sales. 

But fashion is fleeting, especially for gadgets. A hot product today is no guarantee of future success. Just ask Samsung's rival HTC — its phones sold like hot cakes last year but have since fallen out of favor. HTC's revenue fell 48% from a year earlier in the third quarter. For phones like Samsung's that run on Google’s Android operating system, the only way to differentiate is through hardware and design. Samsung has done that mainly by producing phones with larger screen sizes. As rival phones get larger and rival tablets get smaller, Samsung's gizmos are starting to look less distinct.

Apple's iPhone 5, which has a bigger screen than its predecessors, was released late in the third quarter, and sales were held back by supply restraints. It will encroach much more on Samsung from here on. Plus, Apple's new iPad Mini with its 7.9-inch screen is aimed squarely at products like Samsung's 7-inch Galaxy Tab and its 5.3-inch tablet-phone hybrid, the Galaxy Note.

4 After boom & bust, a new vocabulary (Heather Stewart in The Guardian) For politicians weaned on boom and bust, recession and recovery, such a long period of pain will require a marked change of policies – and language. "Pre-distribution" is Ed Miliband's first stab at a response to an economic world in which growth is weak or non-existent and government is too busy paying down the debts of the past to borrow any more from the future.

Cameron's remark that “the good news will keep on coming” at prime minister's questions last week sounded distinctly like the clapped-out old politics of riding recovery to seal an election victory. But Osborne's more measured response to the GDP figures suggests that he's well aware the improvement may be short-lived; that even if it comes, it may not improve families' fortunes as much as they hope; and that in order to win over voters, he will have to stress instead the long-term, more nebulous project of building a better economy.

The panicked "back us or we'll turn into Greece" rhetoric of the 2010 election can hardly be applied to an economy that's been flatlining for years. Instead, expect to see politicians at both ends of the spectrum reaching for a different vocabulary – stressing aspiration, wellbeing and fairness over clear-cut, mathematically measurable concepts such as recession and growth.

5 Life after another reshuffle (MJ Akbar in Khaleej Times) I would be surprised, but not stunned since nothing is impossible in politics, if Rahul Gandhi joined Dr Manmohan Singh’s Cabinet in the latest reshuffle.   Barring one exception, no member of the Nehru family - now known as the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty - has served either at the regional level, or in some other leader’s government.

It was far from certain in 1937 that India would be free in 1947, but Jawaharlal Nehru, the most famous leader of United Provinces [the British name for the area now broadly Uttar Pradesh], did not ever consider the possibility of heading the first Congress government formed in the state, even as a stepping stone to post-Raj Prime Ministership. It is either the Delhi penthouse or nothing, no matter how long the wait or how bleak the political circumstance. The one exception was when Mrs Indira Gandhi became Lal Bahadur Shastri’s information and broadcasting minister. She quickly tired of this middleweight portfolio. She was born to fight in a higher division.

When Mrs Sonia Gandhi could not become Prime Minister in 2004, there was no question of serving instead as home or finance minister. Curiously, no heir has even been a member of a parent’s Cabinet. Mrs Indira Gandhi became Congress President when Jawaharlal was alive. Nor did Rajiv Gandhi believe that he ought to join his mother’s ministry, if only to train for her job.

At the moment Congress is leaking like an upturned water sprinkler. Rahul Gandhi’s attempts to add tar to the party’s keel by improving the Youth Congress base have mostly failed, but he needs to persist till the cadres understand. Mrs Gandhi saved Congress from 1977’s desolation because of two reasons: her own unparalleled relationship with the underprivileged, and the fact that the Congress organisation had not yet withered. Rahul Gandhi has neither of these advantages. It is going to be a hard life ahead, and no shuffle or reshuffle can ease its pain.

6 The fine line of marriage (Akif Abdulamir in Khaleej Times) It occurred to me only last week that the holy institution of marriage is mostly supported by a woman. Men enter it with different objectives although we may not like to admit it.  Husbands tend to loosen the knot when the pressure grips the nerves while wives like to tighten it to tidy up the loose ends. 

When anxieties hit a married life, men would readily blame their wives. Women, sensing the drawing of the curtains, would unwittingly take responsibility. With some matrimony, it is like a private war where the man acts like a general pushing the wife to the front line. In the line of fire, a woman takes the bullets and shelters her man from harm. Keeping the rocking boat steady has never been a man’s job in most marriages. Ironically, it is the same boat the man is supposed to steer to safety.  

Men would also try to exploit the maternal instincts of their wives to get more attention. It is all about them, isn’t it?  To a large degree, men want their wives to be an extension of their mothers. I guess that is where we men sometimes take advantage of the gentler side of a woman. 

A woman leaves her home to assume a new life as a wife and mother to her children. A man never leaves homes, he just change houses. He takes his set ways to his new life and being pampered by a younger woman is one of them. I think it is one of the perks of being married, as far as a man is concerned.  However, having said all that, it still takes two to make a successful marriage and men need to understand that better than their wives. In conclusion, I have no doubt that a woman plays a pivotal part in most marriages, whether men agree or not.