1 Oil plunge is threat and boon (San Francisco
Chronicle) A renewed plunge in oil prices is a worrying sign of weakness in the
global economy that could shake governments dependent on oil revenues. Yet it
is also a bonus for consumers as prices fall at the pump, giving individuals
more spending money and lowering costs for many businesses.
Overall, the slide is a boon for consumers in
oil-importing regions like Asia, Europe and North America. But there are also
some possible negatives. The US economy will receive an outsized benefit from
lower oil prices because the US is the world's largest oil consumer. Canadian
consumers are also catching a break. In some regions, such as southern Ontario,
gasoline could fall below the important psychological barrier of $1 per liter.
The oil companies propelling a production boom in
Canada and the US won't be so happy. Crude produced in Canadian oil sands, deep
offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and in some US onshore shale formations is some
of the most expensive oil to produce in the world.
Many of Europe's economies are net importers of oil,
so lower prices are likely to give a welcome, if small, boost to growth. That
will be particularly useful in the 18-nation eurozone, where unemployment is
high. Declining fuel prices also, however, add to one of the eurozone's biggest
headaches: low inflation. The few European producing countries — mainly Britain
and Norway in the North Sea — face a drop in revenues that could balance out
the positives of cheaper fuel.
Russia gets about 50 percent of its state revenue
from oil exports, so the government's concerns are clear. The national economy
is already sliding into recession under the impact of Western sanctions and investors
are pulling money out. In China, cheaper fuel would ease financial pressure on
manufacturers and small businesses. China's economic growth has declined steadily
over the past two years.
2 India growth slows to 5.3% (BBC) India's economy
grew by 5.3% in the July-to-September period from a year earlier, down from a
rate of 5.7% in the previous quarter. Although the rate was slower than earlier
in the year, it was still better than many analysts had expected. The figures
cover the first full quarter under the government of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi.
Both the service sector and agriculture performed
better than anticipated, despite a weak start to the monsoon. Investors were
also encouraged by the news that the government is to cut its holdings in
state-run banks, such as State Bank of India.
Despite the slightly stronger-than-expected figure,
pressure is mounting on India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, to cut
interest rates, possibly as early as the next policy review meeting on 2
December. The benchmark interest rate has been kept at 8% since last January in
an effort to curb inflation. India has a history of high inflation, but
recently the rate dipped below 6%.
3 The ambition explosion (David Brooks in Straits
Times) The real contradiction of capitalism is that it arouses enormous
ambition, but it doesn't help you define where you should focus it. It doesn't
define an end to which you should devote your life. It nurtures the illusion
that career and economic success can lead to fulfilment, which is the central
illusion of our time.
To survive, capitalism needs to be embedded in a
moral culture that sits in tension with it and provides a scale of values based
on moral and not monetary grounds. Capitalism, though, is voracious. The
personal ambition it arouses is always threatening to blot out the
counterculture it requires.
Modern China is an extreme example of this
phenomenon, as eloquently described by journalist Evan Osnos in his book, Age
Of Ambition. As Osnos describes it, the capitalist reforms of Deng Xiaoping
raised the ambition levels of an entire society. A people raised under Mao
Zedong to be a "rustless screw in the revolutionary machine" had the
chance, in the course of one generation, to achieve rags-to-riches wealth. This
led, Osnos writes, to a hunger for new sensations, a ravenous desire to make
new fortunes.
It was the ambition explosion as much as anything
else that created China's prosperity. One woman who called herself
"Harvard Mum" had her daughter hold ice cubes in her hands for 15
minutes at a time to teach fortitude. Soon China was building the real estate
equivalent of Rome every fortnight.
But the fever, like communism before it, stripped
away the deep rich spiritual traditions of Buddhism and Taoism. Society
hardened. Corruption became rampant. People came to believe society was cruel
and unforgiving. They hunkered down. One day, a little girl was hit by a bread
truck in the city of Foshan. Seventeen people passed by and did nothing as the
child lay bleeding on the ground. The security video of the incident played
over and over again on TV, haunting the country.
China is desperately searching for a spiritual and
humanist nest to hold capitalist ambition. Those of us in the rest of the world
may not be searching as feverishly for a counterculture, but the essential
challenge is the same. Capitalist ambition is an energising gale force. If
there's not an equally fervent counterculture to direct it, the wind uproots
the tender foliage that makes life sweet.
