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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
July 7, 2015
The finance chief at Fortelus Capital Management LLP got an alarming phone call just as he was getting ready to leave work on a Friday.
The caller said he was from Coutts, the London-based hedge fund’s bank, and warned there may have been fraudulent activity on the account. Fortelus Chief Financial Officer Thomas Meston was reluctant, but agreed to use the bank’s smart card security system to generate codes for the caller to cancel 15 suspicious payments. He hung up just after 6 p.m., according to court filings.
When Meston logged on to the firm’s online bank account the following Monday, he saw that 742,668 pounds ($1.2 million) was gone. Coutts, a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, had no record of the Friday phone call. Meston had been conned.
Meston was terminated by Fortelus and is now being sued by the fund, which says he breached his duty to protect its assets. Details of the phone conversation, which took place in December 2013, were described in documents from the firm’s London lawsuit. Meston denies he was negligent and says he acted honestly, according to his court documents in the case. ............(more)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-07/friday-afternoon-scam-cost-hedge-fund-1-2-million-and-cfo-s-job
A London Hedge Fund Lost $1.2 Million in a Friday Afternoon Phone Scam
No honor among thieves.
The finance chief at Fortelus Capital Management LLP got an alarming phone call just as he was getting ready to leave work on a Friday.
The caller said he was from Coutts, the London-based hedge fund’s bank, and warned there may have been fraudulent activity on the account. Fortelus Chief Financial Officer Thomas Meston was reluctant, but agreed to use the bank’s smart card security system to generate codes for the caller to cancel 15 suspicious payments. He hung up just after 6 p.m., according to court filings.
When Meston logged on to the firm’s online bank account the following Monday, he saw that 742,668 pounds ($1.2 million) was gone. Coutts, a unit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, had no record of the Friday phone call. Meston had been conned.
Meston was terminated by Fortelus and is now being sued by the fund, which says he breached his duty to protect its assets. Details of the phone conversation, which took place in December 2013, were described in documents from the firm’s London lawsuit. Meston denies he was negligent and says he acted honestly, according to his court documents in the case. ............(more)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-07/friday-afternoon-scam-cost-hedge-fund-1-2-million-and-cfo-s-job
July 7, 2015
You could read the dread on both their faces when they were on serve. It's what separates Serena Williams from the rest of the field. For most of the other players in women's tennis, except for perhaps Kvitova, serving seems to be such a struggle.
SW19: Watching the serving in the Sharapova-Vandeweghe match was painful .......
You could read the dread on both their faces when they were on serve. It's what separates Serena Williams from the rest of the field. For most of the other players in women's tennis, except for perhaps Kvitova, serving seems to be such a struggle.
July 7, 2015
Greece Proves Again Why Democracy is the Criminal Classes’ Great Fear
By William K. Black
Quito: July 5, 2015
The people of Greece have just shown great courage, and even greater common sense, in voting “No” in overwhelming numbers against the troika’s war on the Greek people and labor throughout the EU. In recent days we have seen the spectacle of the major media shamelessly lying globally about the referendum and the Greek government – cheered on by the troika. The troika openly sought to depose a second Greek head of state for the high crime of favoring a democratic vote on the troika’s economic malpractice and effort to extort the Greek people by threatening to destroy their economy. The tone and content of the propaganda were extraordinary – and reversed reality.
If you read the media very closely, you can see how hard it would have been to craft this propaganda if it was supposed to have any basis in reality. First, the IMF now admits that its long suppressed studies show that it has known for years that the Greek debt is unsustainable. That confirmed the position of the Greek government (and what every financial specialist has known since 2009). The logical answer in the commercial sphere is (routinely) to write-down part of the debt in what is known as a troubled debt restructuring (TDR). TDRs are treated as having no moral content – they’re just smart business. In Greece’s case, however, the media is suffused with fake morality and is enraged that Greece is seeking a TDR. TDRs are less common for nation states, but they have been done hundreds of times in the modern era – including for Germany after World War II. Germany’s TDR was essential to its economic recovery. Note that there was a vastly stronger moral argument against Germany’s TDR than Greece’s request, but the major media overwhelmingly avoided these facts.
Second, austerity as a response to a Great Recession is economic malpractice akin to the medical malpractice practiced for centuries of bleeding patients. (I am delighted to note that Paul Krugman has just adopted this metaphor for malpractice that I have been promoting for years in a column celebrating the Greek “No” vote.) Economists have understood this for at least 75 years. The troika’s insistence on self-destructive austerity has gratuitously forced Spain, Italy, and Greece into worse than Great Depression levels of unemployment that persist seven years after the acute phase of the global financial crisis. The IMF – the mother of austerity demands – has admitted that fiscal stimulus policies not only proved (as theory and experience have long shown) far more effective than austerity – but that economists had greatly understated the predicted effects of fiscal stimulus.
So, the new Greek government was right on both of its key policies – as even the troika’s historic “deficit hawk” (the IMF) now admits it has known for years. That means that the troika has knowingly insisted on economically illiterate and self-destructive policies and caused immense human misery for no (desirable) reason. What is going on? The answer is the troika’s oxymoronic definition of “reforms.” When the troika uses the word the “reforms” it means three anti-reforms – reduced wages and rights for workers, destroying the safety net, and selling public assets to private buyers. The troika is deliberately, with the aid of the major media, generating a “race to the bottom” throughout the EU. The New York Times provided a reprehensible example of how the media aids and abets this assault on workers and those who need the safety net in a June 29, 2015 article entitled “Greece’s Troubles Attract Little Sympathy From Poorer Neighbors.”
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2015/07/greece-proves-again-why-democracy-is-the-criminal-classes-great-fear.html
Bill Black: Greece Proves Again Why Democracy is the Criminal Classes’ Great Fear
Greece Proves Again Why Democracy is the Criminal Classes’ Great Fear
By William K. Black
Quito: July 5, 2015
The people of Greece have just shown great courage, and even greater common sense, in voting “No” in overwhelming numbers against the troika’s war on the Greek people and labor throughout the EU. In recent days we have seen the spectacle of the major media shamelessly lying globally about the referendum and the Greek government – cheered on by the troika. The troika openly sought to depose a second Greek head of state for the high crime of favoring a democratic vote on the troika’s economic malpractice and effort to extort the Greek people by threatening to destroy their economy. The tone and content of the propaganda were extraordinary – and reversed reality.
If you read the media very closely, you can see how hard it would have been to craft this propaganda if it was supposed to have any basis in reality. First, the IMF now admits that its long suppressed studies show that it has known for years that the Greek debt is unsustainable. That confirmed the position of the Greek government (and what every financial specialist has known since 2009). The logical answer in the commercial sphere is (routinely) to write-down part of the debt in what is known as a troubled debt restructuring (TDR). TDRs are treated as having no moral content – they’re just smart business. In Greece’s case, however, the media is suffused with fake morality and is enraged that Greece is seeking a TDR. TDRs are less common for nation states, but they have been done hundreds of times in the modern era – including for Germany after World War II. Germany’s TDR was essential to its economic recovery. Note that there was a vastly stronger moral argument against Germany’s TDR than Greece’s request, but the major media overwhelmingly avoided these facts.
Second, austerity as a response to a Great Recession is economic malpractice akin to the medical malpractice practiced for centuries of bleeding patients. (I am delighted to note that Paul Krugman has just adopted this metaphor for malpractice that I have been promoting for years in a column celebrating the Greek “No” vote.) Economists have understood this for at least 75 years. The troika’s insistence on self-destructive austerity has gratuitously forced Spain, Italy, and Greece into worse than Great Depression levels of unemployment that persist seven years after the acute phase of the global financial crisis. The IMF – the mother of austerity demands – has admitted that fiscal stimulus policies not only proved (as theory and experience have long shown) far more effective than austerity – but that economists had greatly understated the predicted effects of fiscal stimulus.
So, the new Greek government was right on both of its key policies – as even the troika’s historic “deficit hawk” (the IMF) now admits it has known for years. That means that the troika has knowingly insisted on economically illiterate and self-destructive policies and caused immense human misery for no (desirable) reason. What is going on? The answer is the troika’s oxymoronic definition of “reforms.” When the troika uses the word the “reforms” it means three anti-reforms – reduced wages and rights for workers, destroying the safety net, and selling public assets to private buyers. The troika is deliberately, with the aid of the major media, generating a “race to the bottom” throughout the EU. The New York Times provided a reprehensible example of how the media aids and abets this assault on workers and those who need the safety net in a June 29, 2015 article entitled “Greece’s Troubles Attract Little Sympathy From Poorer Neighbors.”
“We are much poorer than the Greeks, but we have performed reforms,” Rosen Plevneliev, the president of Bulgaria, a northern neighbor of Greece, said in an interview...................(more)
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2015/07/greece-proves-again-why-democracy-is-the-criminal-classes-great-fear.html
July 7, 2015
BBC Propaganda War v. Greece Reaches New Low After “No” Vote
By William K. Black
Quito: July 6, 2015
If you want to know why economic policy has gone insane in the UK you simply have to read the work of the BBC’s “Economics editor,” Robert Peston. I showed one example of his failed effort to terrify the Greeks into voting “Yes” in favor of continuing the self-destructive policies that have forced Greece into worse-than-Great Depression levels of unemployment in my most recent column. Peston argued that the Greeks had to submit to the troika’s demands that it make these policies even more economically illiterate and self-destructive because the troika would otherwise ensure that Greece’s economy was “utterly crippled.” As you know, the EU stands for “ever closer union.”
But Peston has been moved to new depths of propaganda and rage by the Greek “No” vote. In his July 6, 2015 column entitled “Huge costs of Greece staying in or quitting the euro” he lies by commission and omission. I’ll begin with his deceptive description of the ECB, which provides a “target rich environment.”
This would be an excellent opportunity for the “Economics editor” of one of the world’s top publications to bring economic facts to bear. The ECB is the EU’s central bank. A key role of a central bank is to provide liquidity to its banks – which include the Greek banks. The ECB, in response to the Greeks daring to vote democratically on whether to succumb to the ECB’s blackmail, pulled the provision of liquidity to Greek banks. So, the principal starting point of any analysis of the ECB’s role is to know that they deliberately refused to meet their responsibility to provide liquidity to the banks in order to extort the Greeks to exacerbate policies that ensure that the troika will increase the harm to the Greek people and economy rather than “rescue the finances of the ailing Greek state.” ..................(more)
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2015/07/bbc-propaganda-war-v-greece-reaches-new-low-after-no-vote.html
Bill Black: BBC Propaganda War v. Greece Reaches New Low After “No” Vote
BBC Propaganda War v. Greece Reaches New Low After “No” Vote
By William K. Black
Quito: July 6, 2015
If you want to know why economic policy has gone insane in the UK you simply have to read the work of the BBC’s “Economics editor,” Robert Peston. I showed one example of his failed effort to terrify the Greeks into voting “Yes” in favor of continuing the self-destructive policies that have forced Greece into worse-than-Great Depression levels of unemployment in my most recent column. Peston argued that the Greeks had to submit to the troika’s demands that it make these policies even more economically illiterate and self-destructive because the troika would otherwise ensure that Greece’s economy was “utterly crippled.” As you know, the EU stands for “ever closer union.”
But Peston has been moved to new depths of propaganda and rage by the Greek “No” vote. In his July 6, 2015 column entitled “Huge costs of Greece staying in or quitting the euro” he lies by commission and omission. I’ll begin with his deceptive description of the ECB, which provides a “target rich environment.”
As for the ECB, it does not wish to be seen as Greece’s Judge Dredd. It will take its lead from any statement by eurozone government heads on whether there is a realistic chance of a new deal to rescue the finances of the ailing Greek state.
This would be an excellent opportunity for the “Economics editor” of one of the world’s top publications to bring economic facts to bear. The ECB is the EU’s central bank. A key role of a central bank is to provide liquidity to its banks – which include the Greek banks. The ECB, in response to the Greeks daring to vote democratically on whether to succumb to the ECB’s blackmail, pulled the provision of liquidity to Greek banks. So, the principal starting point of any analysis of the ECB’s role is to know that they deliberately refused to meet their responsibility to provide liquidity to the banks in order to extort the Greeks to exacerbate policies that ensure that the troika will increase the harm to the Greek people and economy rather than “rescue the finances of the ailing Greek state.” ..................(more)
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2015/07/bbc-propaganda-war-v-greece-reaches-new-low-after-no-vote.html
July 7, 2015
Oil Falls Off the Chart, Crushes Hopes
by Wolf Richter • July 6, 2015
Greatest oil glut in history exacts its pound of flesh.
The ugly data for oil – ugly for those who’ve been hoping for, and hyping, a quick rebound to Nirvana – keeps piling up. But for two months, the price of oil was immune to it, trading in a range of around $60 per barrel for the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate.
It stirred up false hopes that lured yield-desperate investors into plowing more money into the industry, which allowed companies to raise many billions in new debt and equity capital so that the permanently cash-flow-negative business model of fracking could soldier on.
But on June 24, reality did start to hit. From that day’s high of $61.50 a barrel, it has been one nasty ride. Currently, WTI trades for $52.67 a barrel, after a 7.5% plunge since Thursday (Friday had only limited trading) to settle at the lowest level since April 13, down 14.4% since June 24. This is what the swoon looks like in 5-hour increments:
OPEC, which is furiously fighting for market share, has no intention of cutting back production. While its limit has been 30 million barrels per day (bpd), reality has been making a mockery of it. In June, production rose 170,000 bpd to 31.28 million bpd, the fourth months in a row of increases, and the highest level since August 2012, according to Platts’ report released today. ..................(more)
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/07/06/oil-falls-off-the-chart-crushes-hopes/
Oil Falls Off the Chart, Crushes Hopes
Oil Falls Off the Chart, Crushes Hopes
by Wolf Richter • July 6, 2015
Greatest oil glut in history exacts its pound of flesh.
The ugly data for oil – ugly for those who’ve been hoping for, and hyping, a quick rebound to Nirvana – keeps piling up. But for two months, the price of oil was immune to it, trading in a range of around $60 per barrel for the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate.
It stirred up false hopes that lured yield-desperate investors into plowing more money into the industry, which allowed companies to raise many billions in new debt and equity capital so that the permanently cash-flow-negative business model of fracking could soldier on.
But on June 24, reality did start to hit. From that day’s high of $61.50 a barrel, it has been one nasty ride. Currently, WTI trades for $52.67 a barrel, after a 7.5% plunge since Thursday (Friday had only limited trading) to settle at the lowest level since April 13, down 14.4% since June 24. This is what the swoon looks like in 5-hour increments:
OPEC, which is furiously fighting for market share, has no intention of cutting back production. While its limit has been 30 million barrels per day (bpd), reality has been making a mockery of it. In June, production rose 170,000 bpd to 31.28 million bpd, the fourth months in a row of increases, and the highest level since August 2012, according to Platts’ report released today. ..................(more)
http://wolfstreet.com/2015/07/06/oil-falls-off-the-chart-crushes-hopes/
July 7, 2015
from truthdig:
Opposing Hillary’s Corporate Campaign: A Response to Joe Conason
Posted on Jul 6, 2015
By Scott Tucker
Editor’s note: The following is a response by Truthdig contributor Scott Tucker to a recent column by Joe Conason published in Truthdig.
Joe Conason’s article is not just a partisan puff piece, it is specifically a piece of Clintonista campaigning.
Conason charges The New York Times with a “longstanding animus against the Clintons,” and on this premise Conason questions the “liberal” reputation of the paper. Extraordinary!
Does Conason really believe the Clintons inherit the legacy of FDR and the New Deal? Or is he simply an apparatchik trying to sell Hillary as the next candidate of hope and change? Besides, the presence of a neo-Keynesian on the op-ed pages, namely Krugman, does not prevent the Clintonistas from getting some well-placed puff pieces in The New York Times.
Conason would do better to say in the first sentence, “Hillary Clinton deserves a chance to make history in 2016, and I’m here to give you the reasons why.”
.....(snip).....
I don’t give a damn if Hillary thinks Podesta should wear socks to bed to keep his feet warm. I do care that Hillary will be sold as a “feminist” candidate of war and empire. And “liberals” such as Conason will thereby prove they have learned nothing from Obama’s career in the White House. ...................(more)
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/opposing_corporate_campaigns_a_response_to_joe_conason_20150706
Opposing Hillary’s Corporate Campaign: A Response to Joe Conason
from truthdig:
Opposing Hillary’s Corporate Campaign: A Response to Joe Conason
Posted on Jul 6, 2015
By Scott Tucker
Editor’s note: The following is a response by Truthdig contributor Scott Tucker to a recent column by Joe Conason published in Truthdig.
Joe Conason’s article is not just a partisan puff piece, it is specifically a piece of Clintonista campaigning.
Conason charges The New York Times with a “longstanding animus against the Clintons,” and on this premise Conason questions the “liberal” reputation of the paper. Extraordinary!
Does Conason really believe the Clintons inherit the legacy of FDR and the New Deal? Or is he simply an apparatchik trying to sell Hillary as the next candidate of hope and change? Besides, the presence of a neo-Keynesian on the op-ed pages, namely Krugman, does not prevent the Clintonistas from getting some well-placed puff pieces in The New York Times.
Conason would do better to say in the first sentence, “Hillary Clinton deserves a chance to make history in 2016, and I’m here to give you the reasons why.”
.....(snip).....
I don’t give a damn if Hillary thinks Podesta should wear socks to bed to keep his feet warm. I do care that Hillary will be sold as a “feminist” candidate of war and empire. And “liberals” such as Conason will thereby prove they have learned nothing from Obama’s career in the White House. ...................(more)
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/opposing_corporate_campaigns_a_response_to_joe_conason_20150706
July 7, 2015
(In These Times) Less than six months after getting started, a grassroots campaign among Teamsters union retirees to protect their pensions appears to be picking up steam, attracting the support of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and threatening to influence the outcome of the union’s own leadership elections next year.
The retirees are demonstrating in the streets and barraging members of Congress in outrage over a slow-moving plan to cut their pension benefits. Such cuts were authorized by special legislation—the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA)—passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama late last year. One leader of the campaign against the cuts estimates that thousands of union retirees could see their pension slashed by as much a 30 percent by the end of this year.
The campaign against cuts has seen “a big change in the six months since we started,” says Bob Amsden, a retired truck driver from the Milwaukee area. Since organizing work began in January, some 23 local committees of pensioners have been formed across the Midwest, he says. The work has been strongly supported by the union reform organization Teamsters for a Democratic Union, he adds, as well as by the Washington, D.C.-based Pension Rights Center. Some support is also building in Congress to repeal the new pension law.
In the highest-profile action yet, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vt.) held a press conference June 18 to introduce repeal legislation.
“If we do not repeal this disastrous law, retirees all over this country could see their pensions cut by 30 percent or more. We cannot let that happen. Instead of asking retirees to take a massive cut in their pension benefits, we can make these plans solvent by closing egregious loopholes that allow the wealthiest Americans in this country to avoid paying their fair share of taxes,” Sanders said. ...............(more)
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/18141/teamsters-pension-cuts-bernie-sanders
Teamster Retirees’ Campaign Against Pension Cuts Draws Support from Bernie Sanders
(In These Times) Less than six months after getting started, a grassroots campaign among Teamsters union retirees to protect their pensions appears to be picking up steam, attracting the support of presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and threatening to influence the outcome of the union’s own leadership elections next year.
The retirees are demonstrating in the streets and barraging members of Congress in outrage over a slow-moving plan to cut their pension benefits. Such cuts were authorized by special legislation—the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA)—passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama late last year. One leader of the campaign against the cuts estimates that thousands of union retirees could see their pension slashed by as much a 30 percent by the end of this year.
The campaign against cuts has seen “a big change in the six months since we started,” says Bob Amsden, a retired truck driver from the Milwaukee area. Since organizing work began in January, some 23 local committees of pensioners have been formed across the Midwest, he says. The work has been strongly supported by the union reform organization Teamsters for a Democratic Union, he adds, as well as by the Washington, D.C.-based Pension Rights Center. Some support is also building in Congress to repeal the new pension law.
In the highest-profile action yet, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vt.) held a press conference June 18 to introduce repeal legislation.
“If we do not repeal this disastrous law, retirees all over this country could see their pensions cut by 30 percent or more. We cannot let that happen. Instead of asking retirees to take a massive cut in their pension benefits, we can make these plans solvent by closing egregious loopholes that allow the wealthiest Americans in this country to avoid paying their fair share of taxes,” Sanders said. ...............(more)
http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/18141/teamsters-pension-cuts-bernie-sanders
July 7, 2015
from The Transport Politic blog:
For rail services, downtown sometimes isn’t the right place for a terminus
[font size="1"]» For commuter rail, through-running is becoming increasingly popular in city after city looking to take advantage of faster travel times, direct suburb-to-suburb services, and more downtown stops. Leipzig, Germany, whose City Tunnel opened in 2013, is a case in point.[/font]
There’s a romantic notion of the downtown rail terminal in the American popular culture, often expressed in movies and books. It’s a scene that is easy to conjure up in one’s mind: The steaming locomotive comes slowly to a halt at the end of a track, passengers stream out into a giant waiting room, and from there they exit into the bustling metropolis. The railroad terminal is the physical manifestation of the end of a journey and the exciting moment of arrival.
For railroad companies and government agencies, the need to create this welcoming travel environment has inspired multi-billion-dollar station redevelopment schemes. The argument made has been that in order to achieve the appropriate travel experience, people should arrive for train travel—whether intercity or commuter—in one, massive facility where trains begin and end their trips.
But what if this orientation towards rail terminals is actually reducing the effectiveness of our rail system? What if we eliminated terminals downtown altogether and just replaced them with regular old stops on the line, leaving terminals for outer suburban places?
European cities from Basel to Brussels have done just that, replacing commuter rail services ending at central depots with through-running operations where trains stop at several places in the city rather than one thanks to new rail tunnels. They’re expensive investments, but they may make commuting a faster and more enjoyable experience. ...............(more)
http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2015/07/06/for-rail-services-downtown-often-isnt-the-right-place-for-a-terminus/
For rail services, downtown sometimes isn’t the right place for a terminus
from The Transport Politic blog:
For rail services, downtown sometimes isn’t the right place for a terminus
[font size="1"]» For commuter rail, through-running is becoming increasingly popular in city after city looking to take advantage of faster travel times, direct suburb-to-suburb services, and more downtown stops. Leipzig, Germany, whose City Tunnel opened in 2013, is a case in point.[/font]
There’s a romantic notion of the downtown rail terminal in the American popular culture, often expressed in movies and books. It’s a scene that is easy to conjure up in one’s mind: The steaming locomotive comes slowly to a halt at the end of a track, passengers stream out into a giant waiting room, and from there they exit into the bustling metropolis. The railroad terminal is the physical manifestation of the end of a journey and the exciting moment of arrival.
For railroad companies and government agencies, the need to create this welcoming travel environment has inspired multi-billion-dollar station redevelopment schemes. The argument made has been that in order to achieve the appropriate travel experience, people should arrive for train travel—whether intercity or commuter—in one, massive facility where trains begin and end their trips.
But what if this orientation towards rail terminals is actually reducing the effectiveness of our rail system? What if we eliminated terminals downtown altogether and just replaced them with regular old stops on the line, leaving terminals for outer suburban places?
European cities from Basel to Brussels have done just that, replacing commuter rail services ending at central depots with through-running operations where trains stop at several places in the city rather than one thanks to new rail tunnels. They’re expensive investments, but they may make commuting a faster and more enjoyable experience. ...............(more)
http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2015/07/06/for-rail-services-downtown-often-isnt-the-right-place-for-a-terminus/
July 7, 2015
...... but I haven't noticed a corresponding drop in prices at the gas station. Is it just me?
Oil prices have dropped almost 15 percent in a week and a half at the casino, err, Wall Street.....
...... but I haven't noticed a corresponding drop in prices at the gas station. Is it just me?
July 7, 2015
(Bloomberg) Half a century ago, the Tokyo Olympics ushered in a golden age for Japan’s capital, as industrial prowess made it the largest urban complex in history. Now the games are returning to mark the end of that growth.
“This will be the final festival,” says Yasunari Ueno, 52, Tokyo-based chief market economist at Mizuho Securities Co.
In Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, the ground has been cleared for a new national stadium, surrounded by a gymnasium, swimming pools, tennis courts and a baseball arena. Elsewhere, transport systems are being upgraded and new roads, apartments and hotels are being built. The whole infrastructure upgrade could cost 2.7 trillion yen ($22 billion) and together with the games create more than 200,000 jobs, according to Mizuho Research Institute Ltd.
Yet, once the 2020 games are over, Tokyo faces a bleak future. It is one of only four cities among the 71 most-populous urban centers ranked by the United Nations that are poised to shrink between 2014 and 2030, and the other three are also in Japan. The Tokyo metropolitan area that includes contiguous cities like Yokohama will see its population drop 1.7 percent to 37.2 million, according to the UN.
By 2030, it will be neck and neck with Delhi in the competition for the world’s biggest metropolis. Last year, it was more than 50 percent bigger than the Indian city. ..................(more)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-06/world-s-biggest-city-throws-final-festival-before-decline
World’s Biggest City Throws Final Festival Before Decline
(Bloomberg) Half a century ago, the Tokyo Olympics ushered in a golden age for Japan’s capital, as industrial prowess made it the largest urban complex in history. Now the games are returning to mark the end of that growth.
“This will be the final festival,” says Yasunari Ueno, 52, Tokyo-based chief market economist at Mizuho Securities Co.
In Tokyo’s Shinjuku district, the ground has been cleared for a new national stadium, surrounded by a gymnasium, swimming pools, tennis courts and a baseball arena. Elsewhere, transport systems are being upgraded and new roads, apartments and hotels are being built. The whole infrastructure upgrade could cost 2.7 trillion yen ($22 billion) and together with the games create more than 200,000 jobs, according to Mizuho Research Institute Ltd.
Yet, once the 2020 games are over, Tokyo faces a bleak future. It is one of only four cities among the 71 most-populous urban centers ranked by the United Nations that are poised to shrink between 2014 and 2030, and the other three are also in Japan. The Tokyo metropolitan area that includes contiguous cities like Yokohama will see its population drop 1.7 percent to 37.2 million, according to the UN.
By 2030, it will be neck and neck with Delhi in the competition for the world’s biggest metropolis. Last year, it was more than 50 percent bigger than the Indian city. ..................(more)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-06/world-s-biggest-city-throws-final-festival-before-decline
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