Economist, Apr 27, 2013

choi

I will complete other items tomorrow.

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(1) America and the second world war  | That Special Relationship; Why America dithered about joining the war.
http://www.economist.com/news/bo ... pecial-relationship
(book review on Lynne Olson, Those Angry Days; Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America’s fight over World War II, 1939-1941. Random House, 2013)

Note:
(a) Lynne Olson is American, not British.
http://www.lynneolson.com/
(b)
(i) The chips are down
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chips_Are_Down
(a French idiom used in cards, roughly meaning 'the plays are made')
(ii) when the chips are down
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/when_the_chips_are_down
(When the pressure is on; when the situation is urgent or critical)

(c) "In truth, for two terrifying years after it declared war on Germany, Britain did not know that America would come to its aid. Winston Churchill’s government [harbored] a suspicion that many in his [President Franklin Roosevelt's] government dreamed of scavenging the assets of a doomed British empire.

The last sentence means gobbled up the British empire's colonies and corporate assets.

(d) “'Those Angry Days' describes a divided America that is little remembered now, amid (well-earned) praise for the greatest-generation years that followed."

Greatest Generation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greatest_Generation
(a term coined by journalist Tom Brokaw [as the title of his 1998 book] to describe the generation who grew up in the United States during the deprivation of the Great Depression, and then went on to fight in World War II")

(e) "generals wore mufti to testify on Capitol Hill"

mufti (dress)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mufti_(dress)
(f) grandee (n)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/grandee
(g) "Even after the attack on Pearl Harbour, which was greeted with champagne by British officials in America, the president hesitated, detecting a 'lingering distinction' in public opinion between war with Japan and a second front with Germany. In the end, Hitler made the decision for him by declaring war on America."
(i) Germany declared war against US on Dec 11, 1941. That same day, US declared war against Germany.
(ii) World War II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_war_II

two consecutive paragraphs:

"On 7 December (8 December in Asian time zones), 1941, Japan attacked British and American holdings with near-simultaneous offensives against Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific.[140] These included an attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, landings in Thailand and Malaya and the battle of Hong Kong.

"These attacks led the US, Britain, China, Australia and several other states to formally declare war on Japan, whereas the Soviet Union, being heavily involved in large-scale hostilities with European Axis countries, preferred to maintain a neutrality agreement with Japan. Germany and the Axis states responded by declaring war on the United States.

choi

(5) America’s war of independence | Shots Heard Round the World; A fine account of a bloody early battle.
http://www.economist.com/news/bo ... s-heard-round-world
(book review on Nathaniel Philbrick, Bunker Hill; A city, a siege, a revolution. Viking, 2013)

Quote: "It was a time when public opinion in the 13 British colonies was split three ways. The 'patriots' were inclined to support rebellion, the 'loyalists' keen to remain faithful to the crown. Others were not sure where they stood. These, Mr Philbrick reckons, were perhaps the largest group of all. Winning over the don’t knows and don’t cares was crucial, and here the patriots outclassed the loyalists.

Note:
(a) Battle of Bunker Hill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bunker_Hill
("on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after the adjacent Bunker Hill, which was peripherally involved in the battle and was the original objective of both colonial and British troops")

For the map of Charlestown, Massachusetts that includes both Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill, see those in this Wiki page.
(b) The photo accompanying the article shows Bunker Hill Monument
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunker_Hill_Monument
(erected between 1827 and 1843 in Charlestown, Massachusetts; The Bunker Hill Monument is not on Bunker Hill but instead on Breed's Hill, where most of the fighting in the misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill actually took place)

Quote: "In front of the obelisk is a statue of Col. William Prescott, a native of Groton, another hero of Bunker Hill. During the battle, according to popular stories, he coined the famous Revolutionary War phrase, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes". However, it is uncertain as to who said it, since various writers attribute it to Putnam, Stark, Prescott or Gridley. Doubts have also been expressed as to how original it was, and whether it was said at all.
(c) Boston Tea Party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party
(section 1 Background; section 2 Tea Act of 1773)

choi

(4) China’s economy | Perverse Advantage; A new book lays out the scale of China’s industrial subsidies.
http://www.economist.com/news/fi ... -perverse-advantage
(book review on Usha CV Haley and George T Haley, Subsidies to Chinese Industry; State capitalism, business strategy, and trade policy. Oxford University Press, 2013)

"On their conservative calculations, China spent over $300 billion, in nominal terms, on the biggest SOEs between 1985 and 2005. This help often came in the form of cheap capital and underpriced inputs unavailable to international rivals. The glass industry got soda ash for a song, for example.

"Less obvious is the fact that these policies harm China as well, by nurturing unproductive and unaccountable behemoths. A recent study by Sea-Jin Chang of the National University of Singapore and Brian Wu of the University of Michigan found that new firms in China are more productive than incumbents but they are also more likely to fail. The authors blame 'institutional barriers.'

Note:
(a)
(i) Usha Haley is a woman.
(ii) Usha is a female given name in India. Usha or Ushas is a goddess of India.
(b) University of New Haven
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_New_Haven
(private; located at West Haven, Connecticut; Established  1920)
(c) soda ash is sodium carbonate, Na2CO3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_carbonate
(d)
(i) CHANG Sea-Jin was born and raised in S Korea.
(ii) Xun (Brian) WU  吳 迅, Assistant Professor of Strategy. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, undated.
http://www.bus.umich.edu/Academi ... io.asp?id=000868384

choi

(3) Mining in Chile | Copper Solution; The mining industry has enriched Chile. But its future is precarious.
http://www.economist.com/news/bu ... ous-copper-solution
(Copper "provides 20% of GDP and 60% of exports. * * * Escondida, the world’s biggest (and the source of over 5% of global supplies) is a 1,300km (800-mile) trek north [from the capital Santiago], in the middle of the Atacama desert. BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, operates two gigantic pits there. * * * Last year the mine disgorged 1m tonnes of metal. Overall, Chile produces a third of the world’s copper.
   
"Big deposits of copper ore are rare. Big copper-ore deposits in stable countries with business-friendly governments are even rarer. Zambia and Congo are not in the same league.

"Energy is costly and likely to get costlier. Chile has few domestic sources besides hydropower, and its dams are nowhere near its mines. Energy is costly and likely to get costlier. Chile has few domestic sources besides hydropower, and its dams are nowhere near its mines.

"An American driver of [copper] mining trucks makes around $60,000 a year; a driver at Escondida makes $10,000 more.

"The biggest threat to Chile’s copper boom comes from China. If the country that buys 40% of the world’s copper slows further, the price of the metal will fall again.


Note: Escondida "means 'hidden' in Spanish."  En.wikipedia.org

choi

(2) Cities and data |  By the Numbers; Cities are finding useful ways of handling a torrent of data.

Quote:

"Many cities in this country [US] * * * are accumulating data [such as cars towed, complaints about faulty lights in alleyways, and how long/how often a tourist-information website is down; some in real time] faster than they know what to do with. One approach is to give them to the public [through its apps or websites, in organized format] Another way of doing it is simply to publish the raw data and hope that others figure out how to use them. This has been particularly successful in Chicago, where computer nerds have used open data to create many entirely new services. Applications are now available that show which streets have been cleared after a snowfall, what time a bus or train will arrive and how requests to fix potholes are progressing.

"As cities also start to look back at historical data, fascinating discoveries are being made.

"Moreover, thesoftware Chicago plans to create will be made public, allowing other cities to use it to set up similar systems of their own (New York [City] keeps its analysis behind closed doors and uses proprietary technology).

My comment: There Is no need to read the rest.