Economist, Dec 7, 2013

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(1) Homelessness | Tales From the Streets. Homelessness has fallen. But will it stay low?
www.economist.com/news/united-st ... y-low-tales-streets

Note:
(a) About Pathway. Pathways to Housing DC, undated
pathwaystohousing.org/dc/
is the Washington DC branch of Pathways to Housing (since 1992, based in Manhattan; founder and CEO Sam Tsemberis, who, according to company website, "is widely credited as being the originator of the Housing First model of addressing homelessness among people with psychiatric disabilities."
(b) Annual Report 2012. Pathways to Housing, undated
pathwaystohousing.org/wp-content/themes/pathways/assets/files/2012_Annual_Report.pdf

Please read only page 3, whose heading is Consolidated Financial Statements.
(c) Sam Tsemberis, Ph.D. Curriculum Vitae, undated
works.bepress.com/sam_tsemberis/cv.pdf(New York University
(1949- ; Birthplace: Skoura, Greece; Citizenship: Canadian, US Permanent Resident; 2008-present Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center; 1978-1985 [age 29-36]: PhD, New York University, Psychology)

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(2) Elderly suicides in South Korea | Poor spirits. Loneliness and poverty are the killers
www.economist.com/news/asia/2159 ... illers-poor-spirits

Quote:

“That year [2011] more than 4,000 South Koreans over the age of 65 committed suicide: a rate five times higher than in 1990, and nearly four times the rich-country average (see chart).

“ Last year only a fifth of the rural elderly were living with their children. From the 1960s the country’s growing cities lured youngsters.

“Yet today half of South Korea’s elderly are in relative poverty, according to the OECD, which ranks the country’s seniors as the most destitute among its rich-country members. Cramped flats cannot accommodate three-generation households. And attitudes have changed: only a third of South Koreans think that children should support their ageing parents, down from 90% in 1998, according to the national statistics bureau. Yet in 2013 just a third of the old received a state pension, introduced in 1988. A basic old-age pension plan passed last month (set at 200,000 won a month for the poorest 70%) and is payable from the age of 65.

“The ten-session course on ‘well-dying’ at Mapo Senior Welfare Centre in Seoul includes a screening of the film to discuss approaches to death. Participants write a will and their own tombstone epitaph, visit a crematorium and have their funeral picture taken. Yet the firm hope is that they will choose to go a different way.

Note:
(a) Regarding quotation 1. The chart shows S Korea and China has the highest and second highest suicide rates (“Suicide rates by age group[;] 2011, deaths per 100,000 population*  *Age standardized”) among seniors (“65+”): ~72 and ~50 respectively (“Source: OECD;” OECD average for seniors: ~21).

*  Health at a Glance 2013; OECD indicators. OECD, Nov 21, 2013.
www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-iss ... t-a-glance_19991312

Check “Suicide” and the new Web page (section 1.6 Suicide for “2011” data) indicates at the bottom: “The rates have been directly age-standardised to the 2010 OECD population to remove variations arising from differences in age structures across countries and over time. The source is the WHO Mortality Database”)
* WHO Mortality Database
www.who.int/healthinfo/mortality_data/en/

classifies suicide rate by gender alone, without by age group.
* Suicide prevention (SUPRE). WHO, undated
www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en/

is the only World Health Organization’s Web page I can find that classifies suicide rate by age group (within each country, ie, one must comb through individual countries to compile the chart  shown in Economist.com).  No data for Taiwan, naturally.
(b) Late Blossomen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Blossom
(c) Today’s foreign exchange rate is $1= KRW (Korea won 圓) 1,059. So 200,000 won = $189.
(d) Mapo Senior Welfare Center is a welfare center in Mapo-gu 麻浦區 for the elderly. Its home page in Korean:
www.senior21.or.kr

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You may skip this because Economist.com does not allow one to read too many articles for free.

(3) Gays in Taiwan  | Going Nuclear. A move to legalise same-sex marriage provokes a surprisingly large backlash
www.economist.com/news/asia/2159 ... klash-going-nuclear
(“In conservative Asia, Taiwan has given the warmest embrace to gays and lesbians”)

Note: "Victoria HSU, head of the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, which pushed for it [the bill to legalize same-sex marriage]"

許 秀雯/ 台灣伴侶權益推動聯盟

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(4) Piano-makers Major Challenges, Minor Successes; Chopin’s piano-maker gives up but others are fighting Chinese rivals.
www.economist.com/news/business/ ... or-challenges-minor

(a) Quote:

(i) "The sad leitmotif of Europe’s piano-makers is a familiar one. Only nine remain out of around 300 that were in business in the first half of the 20th century.

(ii) "Cheap pianos from China dominate the market. Of 493,000 pianos made worldwide in 2012, nearly four-fifths were manufactured there. More than 100,000 were produced by Pearl River, the world’s biggest piano-maker. It exports to 100 countries, including Germany, where it uses the renowned Ritmuller name, which it acquired in 1999.

"Most Asian pianos are budget models, but some manufacturers have moved upmarket by luring skilled craftsmen from fading European workshops, and by entering partnerships with well-known brands. Pearl River now produces cheaper models with Steinway & Sons, a concert-hall favourite. Last year Bechstein of Germany teamed up with Hailun 海伦钢琴股份有限公司, based in Ningbo, to produce an affordable range in China.

(b) Note:
(i) Pearl River Piano Group  广州珠江钢琴集团有限公司
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_River_Piano_Group
(China's largest piano manufacturer and the largest piano factory in the world; established in 1956 in Guangzhou; Pearl River also manufactures three models for Steinway & Sons' "Essex" brand piano line, including two grand pianos and an upright (following a 2005 agreement)
(ii) Ritmüller Re-engineered for the 21st Century. Ritmüller USA, undated
www.ritmullerusa.com

Quote:

"Pearl River Piano Group has commissioned international master piano designer Lothar Thomma to start with the basics of German precision craftsmanship and create a new piano standard based on the latest in international music science and technology.

"The Ritmuller Piano Company was founded in 1795 and soon became one of Europe’s most innovative manufacturers.

* Elsewhere it is stated that Pearl River acquired Ritmüller in 1999.

(iii) Last year Bechstein of Germany teamed up with Hailun, based in Ningbo, to produce an affordable range in China.”
(A) C Bechstein Pianofortefabrik
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Bechstein_Pianofortefabrik
(established in 1853 by Carl Bechstein; Headquarters Berlin)
(B) Hailun  中国海伦钢琴股份有限公司

(iv) “Yamaha bought Austria’s upmarket Bösendorfer in 2007 but kept production in Europe.

Bösendorfer
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%B6sendorfer
(Bösendorfer, one of the oldest piano manufacturers, was established in 1828 by Ignaz Bösendorfer)
(v) “Steinway, which was sold in August to a Paulson & Co, a private-equity firm, offers piano-playing crash courses to the super-wealthy of the Persian Gulf, in an attempt to market its instruments as status symbols.”

Paulson & Co, Inc “was established by its founder and President, John Paulson, in 1994.” Wiki
(vi) “Petrof, Europe’s biggest piano-maker, decided to exploit Chinese demand for products with a pedigree, and focus solely on selling high-end instruments there after nearly going bust in 2004.”
(A) “Petrof is a Czech piano manufacturer. The company was founded in 1864 in Hradec Králové by Antonín Petrof (d. 1915), who had studied piano making in Vienna.” Wiki
(B) Hradec Králové
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hradec_Kr%C3%A1lov%C3%A9
(a city in Bohemia; “The original name of one of the oldest settlements in the Czech Republic was Hradec (the Castle); Králové (of the queen) was affixed when it became one of the dowry towns of Elisabeth Richeza of Poland (1286–1335), who lived here for thirty years having been the second wife of two Bohemian Kings, Wenceslaus II and then Rudolph I of Habsburg”)

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(5) Pawnbrokers | Hock and Sinker. The falling price of gold is hurting the pawnbroking business.
www.economist.com/news/finance-a ... ess-hock-and-sinker

Quote:

"The economic outlook is improving in most of the rich world, and gold prices have fallen by more than a quarter since January. This has dragged down the value of jewellery the brokers have bought in recent years

"Pawnbrokers offer those in need of a brief loan a relatively good deal in several respects. Pawning items does not normally require proof of income; neither does it imperil credit ratings. As items are forfeited when payments are not made, borrowers do not accrue ever more burdensome debts as interest builds up. And whereas payday lenders charge annualised interest of up to 6,000%, pawnbrokers are less gouging. British ones levy 96% on average; Singaporeans, less than 20%. That should redeem the industry in the long run.

Note:
(a)
(i) The title "hock and sinker" is a word play on the idiom "hook, line, and sinker."
(ii) hock (n; Dutch hok "pen, prison;" First Known Use 1883):
(iii) Another definition of hock (with a different etymology) is
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hock_(anatomy)

(b) "In November EZCORP, one of the world’s biggest, announced a 76% fall in its annual net income. The share price of H&T, Britain’s largest pawnbroker, has halved following a slump in its profits."
(i) EZCORP
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EZCORP
(public: traded in NASDAQ; "In 1974 Courtland L Logue, Jr, opened his first pawn shop in Austin, Texas [which remains headquarters]. He retired as an accountant to build his chain")
(ii) History of Harvey & Thompson. H&T, undated
www.handtpawnbrokers.co.uk/about/history-of-harvey-thompson/
("Established on 1 July 1897 by Walter Harvey and Charles James Thompson. The first store opened on Vauxhall Bridge Road, London and the first allotment of Harvey & Thompson shares were set out that same year"