The recent global economic crisis, which escalated rapidly in the second half of 2008, has contributed to jolting shifts in the manufacturing sector in the United States and China as well as many other developed and developing economies. Even so, China’s manufacturing employment continued to grow from a total of 97.91 million at the end of 2007 to 99.01 million at yearend 2008. Though manufacturing workers in China are earning more than ever before, average hourly compensation costs were only $1.36 in 2008. China’s hourly compensation costs remain far below those of many of its East Asian neighbors like Japan ($27.80) and Taiwan ($8.68), but are roughly on par with those of others like the Philippines ($1.68).

Manufacturing employment in China peaked in 1996.

Germany’s central bank will relocate 54,000 solid gold bars, worth about $36 billion, from deep underneath the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Banque de France in Paris to the safe confines of German soil — vaults at the Bundesbank’s Frankfurt headquarters.
The Bundesbank understandably offered few details as to the timing of or methods to be used in the move, which presumably will occur with secret, well-guarded trucks from Paris and in numerous small batches by plane from New York.

While we have gained some skill sets (multitasking, technological savvy), other skills have suffered: the art of conversation, the art of looking at people, the art of being seen, the art of being present.　Our conduct is no longer governed by subtlety, finesse, grace and attention, all qualities more esteemed in earlier decades. Inwardness and narcissism now hold sway. …
The ironic life is certainly a provisional answer to the problems of too much comfort, too much history and too many choices, but it is my firm conviction that this mode of living is not viable and conceals within it many social and political risks. For such a large segment of the population to forfeit its civic voice through the pattern of negation I’ve described is to siphon energy from the cultural reserves of the community at large. People may choose to continue hiding behind the ironic mantle, but this choice equals a surrender to commercial and political entities more than happy to act as parents for a self-infantilizing citizenry.

A country’s rise to economic dominance tends to be accompanied by its currency becoming a reference point, with other currencies tracking it implicitly or explicitly. For a sample comprising emerging market economies, we show that in the last two years, the renminbi has increasingly become a reference currency which we define as one which exhibits a high degree of co-movement (CMC) with other currencies.
In East Asia, there is already a renminbi bloc, because the renminbi has become the dominant reference currency, eclipsing the dollar, which is a historic development. In this region, 7 currencies out of 10 co-move more closely with the renminbi than with the dollar, with the average value of the CMC relative to the renminbi being 40 percent greater than that for the dollar.
We find that co-movements with a reference currency, especially for the renminbi, are associated with trade integration. We draw some lessons for the prospects for the renminbi bloc to move beyond Asia based on a comparison of the renminbi’s situation today and that of the Japanese yen in the early 1990s. If trade were the sole driver, a more global renminbi bloc could emerge by the mid-2030s but complementary reforms of the financial and external sector could considerably expedite the process.

The majority of international trade is done in US dollars. That means that every country aims to maximize the US-dollar surplus garnered from its export trade.
A strong US dollar allowed Americans to buy imported goods at a massive discount. … Here, finally, the US hit on a downside: the availability of cheap imports hit the US manufacturing industry hard, and the disappearance of manufacturing jobs remains one of the biggest challenges in resurrecting the US economy today.
There is another downside, a potential threat now lurking in the shadows. … If that trade shifts to a different currency, countries around the world won’t need all their US money. The resulting sell-off of US dollars would weaken the currency dramatically.

With ice melting in the Arctic Ocean, which is bordered by countries including Canada, Russia and the United States, more sea-faring traffic will appear there and more nations with economic interest in the region will arrive to exploit the resources there, said a panel of security experts during a forum.
“… area of responsibility is evolving and changing,” said Maj. Gen. Francis G. Mahon, J5, U.S. Northern Command. “The Arctic is receding … the northern coast is about to become a real coast; maybe not today, maybe not this year, but in a short time. We need to start thinking about that.”
Mahon said development in the Arctic “is going to happen.”
“We’re seeing now smugglers are turning to sea routes of entry and the littorals, and we’ve had to shift our efforts to more coast-watching,” Maj. Gen. Davis S. Baldwin said. “… an agile threat.”

Although for me the changes were clearly under way, some of the new directions I saw seemed unlikely at the time. I risked displeasing the experts, who could have argued that describing the world in terms of shift ing categories would be too simplistic. But I thought it was worth the risk. I felt that in a world where events and ideas were analyzed to the point of lifelessness, where complexity grew by quantum leaps, where the information din was so high that one had to shriek to be heard above it, people were hungry for structure. With a simple framework, we could begin to make sense of the world. And we could change the framework, as the world itself changed.
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The most reliable way to forecast the future is to try to understand the present.

例えばここに一人の共産党幹部がいると仮定しよう。彼はもはや、内心ではマルクス＝レーニン主義を信じておらず、共産主義革命が起こるとも起こそうとも思っていない。 
しかし彼自身は党の幹部として高給を貰い、住宅も保養施設も保証され、車も秘書もお手伝いも党から派遣され、更にマスコミには評論家としての活躍の場をもっている。もし彼が自己の内心の信に節を立て、もはや共産主義を信じず革命の必然も必要もないと宣言したら、彼はこの全てを失わねばならぬ。 
それは大変に苦痛であるだけでなく、自己の生涯と血の出るような苦難を無にすることになるから、彼にはそれができず、依然として共産主義者として振舞っている。簡単にいえば、こういった状態が対内的変節である。この状態は対外的には変節ではない。
彼がそのまま生涯を終えれば、一生、節を曲げなかった人ということになる。
対外的変節は、これと逆の生き方である。彼はマルクス＝レーニン主義も革命も信じられなくなった。信じられなくなったが故に、そう言明して党を追われ、それまで享受していた一切を失った。その彼のところに、多くの人が共産党の内情について聞きにきた。そこで彼は、ありのまま正直に語った。ところが彼は、変節漢・裏切者として党およびそれに同調する者からあらゆる罵詈讒謗をあびせられ、一般社会も彼を「変節漢」と見なすようになり、社会的に葬られた。では、彼は果たして「変節」したのであろうか。 
少なくとも彼は、己れ自らをも他をも欺いておらず、自らにも他にも誠実だったという意味では、変節したとはいえないであろう。
変節とはその人の外面的な生き方からは判断できない問題だと一応は言える。

In the real world of today, you can’t say, “It’s more of a computer science problem, so I’m going to bring in a computer scientist,” or “It’s more of an economy problem, so I’m going to bring in an economist.” You are expected to say, “Let’s look at the problem and let the problem dictate what needs to happen.” Then you go out and recruit whatever tools, knowledge, and people that you need to get the job done. That’s what I mean when I use the term anti-disciplinary.

Sandy Pentland, head of the lab’s Human Dynamics group, has coined the word anti-disciplinary to describe the style of research at the Media Lab. He contends that it is the only approach suited to tackling the complex challenges facing us in the twenty-first century. I couldn’t agree more. Today’s problem – from global poverty to climate change to the obesity epidemic – are more interconnected and intertwined than ever before, and they can’t possibly be solved in the academic or research “silos” of the twentieth century. In a world where problems are so complex and multidimensional, so must be the solutions, which is why the boundaries between discrete, insular disciplines as we have known them in the past must disappear. …
I believe it is extremely telling that ever since the new Media Lab building opened its doors, it has become the favorite destination on campus for meetings between high-level MIT administration, corporation members, and their distinguished guests.
MIT has put their money, and now their mindshare, behind the Media Lab’s proposition that one of the most important disciplines in the twenty-first century will be no discipline at all. I think that makes it a fair bet.

Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name.

(La démocratie participative selon Ségolène Royal)
Malgré un profil standard des nouvelles élites socialistes, la candidate du PS à l’élection présidentielle est parvenue ces derniers mois à s’inventer et à styliser une identité qui la fait apparaître comme une candidate extérieure à l’establishment. On lui fait crédit de bousculer les pesanteurs idéologiques, de faire bouger les lignes, de transgresser les interdits et le « politiquement correct ». Son « parler vrai », sa simplicité et son style participatif subvertissent les codes des professionnels de la politique. Elle a su distiller ses prises de parole pour  occuper l’agenda médiatique, lancer des débats autour de ses propositions, démontrant une capacité à « trianguler » des thèmes inscrits au patrimoine idéologique de la droite pour les acclimater à gauche (la sécurité). Elle a su occuper le terrain, nourrir la controverse et construire, chemin faisant, un subtil dosage idéologique autour d’un « ordre juste ». Elle invoque le blairisme tout en prenant pour porte-parole Arnaud Montebourg, plutôt classé à gauche du PS.
La promotion de la « démocratie participative » par la candidate est au centre de cette stratégie politique au point d’être devenue la marque distinctive du « royalisme ».

If you’re in a bad situation, don’t worry it’ll change. If you’re in a good situation, don’t worry it’ll change.

According to Darwin’s Origin of Species, it is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.

In any situation there are both driving and restraining forces that influence any change that may occur.
Driving forces are those forces affecting a situation that are pushing in a particular direction; they tend to initiate a change and keep it going. In terms of improving productivity in a work group, pressure from a supervisor, incentive earnings, and competition may be examples of driving forces.
Restraining forces are forces acting to restrain or decrease the driving forces. Apathy, hostility, and poor maintenance of equipment may be examples of restraining forces against increased production. Equilibrium is reached when the sum of the driving forces equals the sum of the restraining forces.
This equilibrium, or present level of productivity, can be raised or lowered by changes in the relationship between the driving and the restraining forces.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

>「変革より安定」、「政治とは距離を置く」といった、帝政ロシアやソ連さながらの感情
「強権的な政権」と、「もの言わぬ民衆」という、帝政以来の伝統

>An innovation that is disruptive allows a whole new population of consumers access to a product or service that was historically only accessible to consumers with a lot of money or a lot of skill. Characteristics of disruptive businesses, at least in their initial stages, can include: lower gross margins, smaller target markets, and simpler products and services that may not appear as attractive as existing solutions when compared against traditional performance metrics.

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The future is always present, as a promise, a lure and a temptation.

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