*Virtual Reality Classrooms Another Way Chinese Kids Gain an Edge
published Aug 9th 2016, 4:00 pm, by David Ramli (Bloomberg) — Deep within a building shaped like the Starship Enterprise, a little-known Chinese company is working on the future of education. Vast banks of servers record children at work and play, tracking touchscreen swipes, shrugs and head swivels – amassing
Sure, Invest Like a Billionaire, If You Are One: Barry Ritholtz
published Aug 8th 2016, 1:09 pm, by Barry Ritholtz (Bloomberg View) — Sell everything! That seems to be the advice coming from the moneyed set these days. Not just one or two cranky billionaires, but many of them; Warren Buffett seems to be a notable exception. In a commentary sent
China Isn’t Threatening to Overturn the World Order: Zhu Feng
published Aug 8th 2016, 4:00 pm, by Zhu Feng (Bloomberg View) — A bit of China-bashing is inevitable in any U.S. election year. Over the past month, though, after China roundly dismissed an arbitration ruling that rejected its claims in the South China Sea, a chorus of voices has angrily
Chicago Schools Budget Uses Pension Overhaul to Close Gap
published Aug 8th 2016, 6:23 pm, by Elizabeth Campbell (Bloomberg) — Chicago school officials presented a budget that relies on the state of Illinois passing an overhaul of its underfunded pension system and assumes that the teachers’ union will agree to pay more into their retirement funds. The $5.4 billion
World’s Least Miserable Live in Asia, Thanks to Disinflation
published Aug 7th 2016, 4:00 pm, by Masaki Kondo and Will Davies (Bloomberg) —The Land of Smiles really is the happiest place in the world, at least in terms of holding a job and keeping the rising cost of goods in check. The Misery Index, computed by adding inflation to
Big Government Keeps Getting Smaller by One Measure: Justin Fox
published Aug 5th 2016, 11:05 am, by Justin Fox (Bloomberg View) —Among the many contributors to what was generally a gangbusters employment report Friday was the government sector, which added 38,000 jobs in July (30,000 of them in local government). That hasn’t been the case very often during this recovery. There are almost 15
Door to Foreign Investors Only Half-Open in India: Mihir Sharma
published Aug 7th 2016, 3:45 pm, by Mihir Sharma (Bloomberg View) — Once again, India is in danger of sabotaging its own efforts to raise foreign investment to China-like levels. The latest salvo in this undeclared, self-defeating war is the government’s reported decision to block Tata Sons from paying what
Putting Principle First, But Not Regarding Trump: Albert R. Hunt
published Jun 19th 2016, 10:38 am, by Albert R. Hunt (Bloomberg View) — There have not been two more prominent conservative activists over the past quarter century than Grover Norquist, the anti-tax and anti-government advocate, and Ralph Reed, a leading strategist for the religious right. Both profess to put principles
Trump Campaign Tries to Get Its Act Together: Margaret Carlson
published Jul 18th 2016, 2:46 pm, by Margaret Carlson (Bloomberg View) — Finally, the Donald Trump campaign has something that resembles a headquarters: a pop-up office at the Westin Hotel in Cleveland. Walk through the lobby and they are all there, the people you were told existed — or would
Obama Says $400 Million Cash Payment to Iran Wasn’t Ransom
published Aug 4th 2016, 4:30 pm, by Justin Sink (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama said Thursday that $400 million in cash airlifted to Iran in January didn’t represent a ransom payment to secure the freedom of four detained Americans released the same day, and wasn’t a secret. “We were completely