1 Japan launches ‘third arrow’ of reforms (Phillip
Inman in The Guardian) Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has outlined his
long-awaited growth strategy spearheaded by promises of expanded childcare to
bring more women into the workforce and an investment boom. Abe said his
"third arrow" of reforms would revitalise the economy and restore the
country's global competitiveness.
Abe has already fired his first two "arrows"
since taking office 18 moths ago, pushing through a series of spending cuts and
tax rises coupled with hiring a new central bank governor with a mission to cut
interest rates and drive down the exchange rate. But critics described the
latest measures as resembling a dart more than an arrow with few of the more
than 230 proposals likely to take effect, or have the desired impact, given
resistance to change in Japan's business world and bureaucracy.
Among the most important of the reform measures is a
cut to the corporate tax to below 30% from the current level of over 35%,
promised for next year. To counter labour shortages due to the aging population
and low birthrate, it also includes measures to promote greater gender equality
and greater use of foreign labour and robots. It also calls for looser restrictions
on white-collar overtime.
2 US home sales at six-year high (BBC) Sales of new
US homes surged to a six-year high in May suggesting the housing market is
beginning to recover from its recent slowdown. Sales increased by 18.6% to a
seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 504,000 - the highest level since May
2008, according to the Commerce Department. However, the S&P/Case-Shiller
index, also released on Tuesday, found house prices increases slowed in April.
A combination of higher mortgage rates and a surge
in prices due to a lack of properties available for sale have weighed on the US
housing market since the second half of 2013. However, recent data suggests the
housing market is beginning to improve again.
A report on Monday showed sales of previously owned
homes, the largest part of the US housing market, recorded their largest
increase in more than three-and-a-half years in May.
3 An Arabic Vietnam (Eric S Margolis in Khaleej
Times) Back in 2002-2003, over 80 per cent of Americans believed the big lies
spread by the Bush administration and its neo-con allies that Iraq had nuclear
weapons and was behind 9/11 and Osama bin Laden. This writer was one of the
first journalists to say on TV that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and
no ties to Al Qaeda.
President Barack Obama had the wisdom to pull most
US forces out of Iraq, though at least 5,000-7,000 military personnel remain in
civilian attire in the vast US embassy complex in Baghdad and two major air
bases. Hundreds more Americans remain, running Iraq’s oil industry.
Saddam Hussein nationalised Iraq’s oil and kicked
out its foreign owners. As soon as he was deposed, the US and other foreign oil
firms moved back in to pump Iraq’s black gold. As Cheney said, Iraq was invaded
for the sake of “Israel and oil.” Now, Obama faces an awesome decision. As
Baghdad’s army wavers before extremists’ assaults, he is under pressure to use
US airpower to blunt the Baathist advance. Obama knows that America must not be
seen as the champion of Iraq’s one sect against the minority.
Few remember that the Iraq War cost over $1
trillion, all financed by loans from China and Japan. Those neo-cons baying for
war have not so far offered to make personal contributions. Or that Vietnam
also began with small numbers of US “advisors.”
4 Tweets, likes don’t translate into buys (Kirsten V
Brown in San Francisco Chronicle) Back in March, the San Francisco food
delivery startup Eat24 staged a "breakup" with Facebook. The company
had poured $1 million into Facebook advertising in 2013 alone and picked up
more than 70,000 fans, but it wasn't clear the investment was really getting
anything. A new survey from Gallup confirms what Eat24 learned by trial: Social
media just doesn't hold much sway over consumer decision making.
US companies spent $5.1 billion on social media
advertising in 2013. Those efforts, though, may be in vain. "Social media
are not the powerful and persuasive marketing force many companies hoped they
would be," concludes Gallup, which released the research as part of its
State of the American Consumer report.
Of the more than 18,000 American consumers polled,
62 percent said social media had no influence on their buying decisions. Just 5
percent said it had a significant influence. Already some brands are shifting
gears, viewing places like Facebook and Twitter as a medium for conversation
with customers who are already fans, rather than a place to push brand
awareness.
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