PPCC: Pisitófilos Creditófagos. Invierno 2024

[Cadavre Exquis]

https://lectura.kioskoymas.com/el-pais/20240317/page/81/textview

Colonial y Merlin buscan su sitio en el nuevo ciclo del ladrillo

Saludos.

[sudden and sharp]

 

[sudden and sharp]

 

[Cadavre Exquis]

Dell Workers Can Stay Remote - But They're Not Going to Get Promoted
Posted by EditorDavid on Sunday March 17, 2024 @04:54PM from the remote-chances dept.

"Dell's strict new RTO mandate excludes fully remote workers from promotion," reports Business Insider.

The site calls it "one of the most abrupt changes to remote work policies," noting that Dell "has had a hybrid working culture in place for more than a decade — long before the pandemic struck."

"Dell cared about the work, not the location," a senior employee at Dell who's worked remotely for more than a decade, told Business Insider last month. "I would say 10% to 15% of every team was remote." That flexibility has enabled staff to sustain their careers in the face of major life changes, several employees told BI. It has also helped Dell to be placed on the "Best Place to Work for Disability Equality Index" since 2018. But in February Dell introduced a strict return-to-office mandate, with punitive measures for those who want to stay at home.

Under the new policy, staff were told that from May almost all will be classified as either "hybrid," or "remote." Hybrid workers will be required to come into an "approved" office at least 39 days a quarter — the equivalent of about three days a week, internal documents seen by BI show. If they want to keep working from home, staff can opt to go fully remote. But that option has a downside: fully remote workers will not be considered for promotion, or be able to change roles.

Workers have said Dell's approach might be intended to lower headcount without having to pay severance by inducing some employees to quit. But reached by Business Insider for a comment, Dell defended their approach as instead "critical to drive innovation and value differentiation."

But Professor Cary Cooper, an organizational psychologist and cofounder of the National Forum for Health and Wellbeing at work, tells the site Dell could be following a "pack mentality" among tech companies — or reacting to a sluggish world economy. "Senior execs somehow think that people in the office are more productive than at home, even though there's no evidence to back that up."

Business Insider added that Dell's approach "differs from founder and CEO Michael Dell's previous support for remote workers," who famously said "If you are counting on forced hours spent in a traditional office to create collaboration and provide a feeling of belonging within your organization, you're doing it wrong."

Saludos.

[Reiter]

¿Porqué Margarita Robles se posiciona tan obscenamente en un conflicto que afecta a dos países extranjeros?
¿Ésto es la diplomacia española y europea?
 

Están comprados y/o amenazados.
Sino no se explica.

No, simplemente respetan la jerarquía. Arriba ya está decidido. Esto es un poco como el mundo corporativo.

Por cierto, ¿Alguien sabe cómo acabo lo de los bonos de guerra de la IIGM?¿Hubo un simpa o algo parecido?.

Tengo pendiente "comprar" las memorias del segundo secretario general de la OTAN, Paul Heri Spaak (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul-Henri_Spaak, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/100books/en/detail/86/the-continuing-battle-memoirs-of-a-european-1936-1966?info=en). El libro debe ser un tostón pero me interesa un capítulo en concreto. Le escuché decir a Trevijano que en él desvelaba cómo fue interpelado por las autoridades rusas para iniciar un proceso de acercamiento, lo cual me resulta sorprendente porque este hombre ocupó el puesto entre 1957 y 1961. En sus memorias relataría que lo consultó con EEUU y la respuesta fue que no, era necesario tener un enemigo. Aquí me gustaría ver qué palabras usa exactamente para describir ese episodio.

Eso está en línea con lo que ya más o menos se conocía, Putín le comentó a Tucker Carlson en la reciente entrevista que le solicitó a Bush padre entrar en la OTAN y que esté se quedó sorprendido y le dijo que lo consultaría, tiempo después recibió una respuesta negativa. 

Esos a los que un secretario general de la OTAN y un presidente norteamericano tienen que consultar son los que están decidiendo nuestro futuro.

[R.G.C.I.M.]

Cuando tengo que posicionarme en algo y quiero estar cubierto y con buena excusa ante una respuesta en contra del peticionario, siempre lo tengo que consultar.
Y es probable que sea mi almohada y no con nadie que mande sobre mi.  Aunque me interesa que así lo crea el peticionario.


Sds.

[copo]

https://www.ft.com/content/8703874e-44cb-4197-8dca-c7b555da8aef

Brazil launches China anti-dumping probes after imports soar


   Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour.
   https://www.ft.com/content/8703874e-44cb-4197-8dca-c7b555da8aef

   Brazil’s industry ministry has launched a number of investigations into the alleged dumping of industrial products by China as Latin America’s largest economy reels from a wave of cheap imported goods.

At the request of industry bodies, the ministry has in the past six months opened at least half a dozen probes on products ranging from metal sheets and pre-painted steel to chemicals and tyres.

The Brazilian measures come at a time when the world is bracing for a flood of exports from China as the world’s second-largest economy struggles with excess capacity amid a property sector slowdown and weak domestic demand.

To stimulate its economy, China is investing in advanced manufacturing, especially in solar energy, electric vehicles and batteries.

In addition to Brazil, China’s steel exports to Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have risen sharply in recent months.

Developed markets have started taking extensive measures against imports from China, with the EU launching an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese EVs and the Biden administration recently raising security concerns over the Asian country’s vehicles.

China’s exports grew 7.1 per cent in the first two months of this year, far outpacing growth in imports.

“Prolonged declines in China’s export prices may cause trade tensions between China and some major economic powers to rise,” analysts at Nomura said in a research note on Friday.

China’s exports to and imports from Brazil both rose by more than a third in the first two months of the year, according to Chinese customs data.

“Last year saw one of the most critical situations in the entire history of the national chemical industry,” said André Passos Cordeiro, president of the Brazilian chemical industry association. “We see temporary increases in import tariffs as an indispensable regulatory tool for combating these predatory operations and preserving the domestic market.”

The trade tensions create a dilemma for leftwing president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who has sought to both nurture relations with Beijing and protect and develop Brazil’s national industries.

Since returning to the presidency for a third non-consecutive term last year, Lula has put industrial policy at the heart of his economic strategy.

But Brasília is also likely to try avoid a confrontation with Beijing, which is its largest trading partner and significant purchaser of commodities such as soyabeans and iron ore. Last year, Brazil exported more than $104bn worth of goods to China, while importing $53bn.

Of the 101mn metric tonnes of soyabeans shipped from Brazil last year, 70 per cent, worth about $39bn, went to China.

One of the most recent investigations was launched earlier this month following a request by CSN, a large Brazilian steel producer, which alleged that between July 2022 and June 2023 imports of particular types of carbon steel sheets from China rose almost 85 per cent.

In opening the probe, which is scheduled to take 18 months, the industry ministry said there were “sufficient elements that indicate the practice of dumping in exports from China to Brazil . . . and damage to the domestic industry resulting from such practice”.

Brazilian steelmakers have requested the government slap tariffs of between 9.6 per cent and 25 per cent on imported steel products. Overall imports of steel and iron from China rose from $1.6bn in 2014 to $2.7bn last year.


Soaring steel imports are a particular sore spot for the Brazilian government as the Latin American nation is one of the world’s largest exporters of iron ore — a primary ingredient in steel production.

Chemicals and tyres are also points of contention, with the industry ministry launching separate investigations in recent months. According to official data, imports from China of the chemical phthalic anhydride rose more than 2,000 per cent in volume terms between July 2018 and June 2023. In the same period, imports of tyres grew more than 100 per cent to 47mn units from 23mn units, with roughly 80 per cent coming from China.

Brazil is not the only emerging market to voice concerns about the surge in industrial products from China. In Thailand, the government has accused Chinese companies of evading anti-dumping duties, while industry groups have warned of big losses from cheaper steel in the market.

Vietnam’s government has launched investigations into dumping of wind towers and some steel products from China after complaints from the local industries.

Recommended

The Big Read
The looming trade tensions over China’s subsidies

In August last year Mexico imposed tariffs of 5-25 per cent on imports of hundreds of goods from countries with which it does not have a free trade agreement, with China being one of the countries most affected.

The tariffs were put in place amid increasing pressure from US officials, who have suggested that Mexico is not doing enough to clarify the origins of steel imports from third countries, in what trade experts say is a reference to China.

The Chinese government did not immediately reply to a request for comment. It has consistently attacked what it calls “protectionism”, particularly by the US and the EU.





Buen ejemplo de como afecta la política industrial China en el resto del mundo. Al final aboca a muchos países a perder la industria nacional con lo que eso conlleva y convertirse en exportador de materias primas, o a aplicar políticas proteccionistas.

Tiende a confundirse la política comercial con el imperialismo o control. Creo que es un error cuando la gente plantea que China quiere dominar el mundo, soló sigue el modelo económico vigente desde hace décadas y que tan bien le funcionó. El problema es que ahora, representando el 17%-18% del PIB mundial produce el 32% de las manufacturas mundiales, hecho que conlleva a graves distorsiones en el comercio y que terminará con que todos los países apliquen aranceles para proteger la industria local. En el caso de Brasil, según tengo entendido, es la principal economía de América del Sur y la que más industria tiene y es normal que quiera protegerla. A nivel interno choca con Lula y la política de acercamiento a China, ya veremos como termina, pero creo que aplicarán aranceles.

El comercio global funciona muy bien en equilibrio, sin distorsiones. Al final estas situaciones se arreglan con más proteccionismo, no general, pero sí aplicado a ciertas industrias clave en cada país. Pensad que recuperar la industria perdida cuesta mucho, se pierde el know how , la infraestructura y las redes comerciales tanto locales como internacionales. Brasil, al igual que muchos países no quiere convertirse en un exportador de materias primas sólo, y es entendible.

Que quede claro que China no quiere cambiar nada, no tiene aspiraciones sobre los demás, simplemente son las consecuencias de una política industrial terriblemente subvencionada en un país que son 1.400.000.000 de personas.

Hu Jintao ya vio hace más de una década el agotamiento del modelo Chino.

https://www.reuters.com/article/negocios-economia-china-modelo-idLTASIE6120AV20100203/

Por el momento no ha cambiado nada y eso ejemplifica lo difícil que es transicionar para un país, cambiar sus instituciones. En nuestro caso tenemos el problema de la pisitofia y estamos viendo lo difícil que es cambiar la situación dados los intereses creados.


Y es interesante ver la complejidad general para no caer en simplistas argumentos de preferencias políticas o sociales. Y que en muchos casos no se basa en amigos o enemigos. No existe un eje del mal.

Saludos

[Derby]

https://www.ft.com/content/ac3932ff-9b7c-4bff-b003-afa0ebbaddf5

The elusive search for economic transformation

The bigger the challenges the UK faces in restoring its fortunes, the more timid politicians seem to become

If the UK’s real gross domestic product per head had continued on its 1955-2008 path, it would now be 39 per cent higher. I made this point in a column on Jeremy Hunt’s recent Budget. This performance is dreadful. But it is far from unique. France has been doing about as badly.

In the long run, continued stagnation creates severe social and political challenges: higher taxes; worsening quality of public services; pervasive disappointment; and zero-sum struggles for advantage. The country definitely needs an economic transformation.

Fortunately, such shifts have happened in the past. The questions raised by Economic Transformation: Lessons from History, a new report from Policy Exchange by Roger Bootle and James Vitali, is what lessons can be drawn from them and whether they are relevant to the situation of the UK and many other high-income countries now.



Cross-country studies of this kind, which involve historical judgment, not mere manipulation of vast databases, have a distinguished history. One of the most influential was Industry and Trade in some Developing Countries, by Ian Little, Maurice Scott and Tibor Scitovsky. But this book’s chosen cases were even more heterogeneous: Thatcher’s Britain; postwar Germany and France; Ireland (the Celtic Tiger); post-communist Poland; South Korea after 1963; Hong Kong; and Singapore. We have countries recovering from war and those enjoying peace, countries with vast catch-up potential and those already quite close to the productivity frontier; autocracies and democracies; small countries and considerably bigger ones.

Can anything be learnt from such a variegated group? Is what can be learnt relevant to the UK?

The authors suggest 10 lessons: a strategy is needed; transformation requires a package of measures; fiscal prudence is a necessary, but not a sufficient, condition for success; low inflation, too, is helpful, but not decisive; tax can matter, but not always; high rates of investment are critical, which also necessitates high rates of saving; fierce competition; a focus on microeconomic measures; strong leadership, but with a team, rather than one individual; and, finally, both early success and a compelling vision, to retain political support.



This list is broad. But it is quite useful from the UK’s present viewpoint. Here are just four relevant points.

First, savings are staggeringly low. In 2023, for example, the share of national savings in GDP was 14 per cent. If investment is to rise, as it must, to deliver faster (and sustainable) growth, so must savings. Where is the strategy for that? One answer must be to raise substantially the standard contribution rate for pensions.

Second, competition does not seem to be anything like as strong as one would wish. A fascinating new paper on “The Shrouded Economy” from the Behavioural Insights Team provides compelling evidence that among the big problems is the (often deliberately created) inability of purchasers to compare value for money among available goods and services. Membership of the EU single market, a project that Margaret Thatcher championed as premier, improved competition in the UK economy.



Third, there is a list of microeconomic reforms that simply must be made. Among the most obvious is planning reform and, as a result, better use of land. Needless to say, the failure to deal with this binding constraint had nothing to do with membership of the EU. One consequence of these constraints is the high costs of building infrastructure. Yet another priority is reform of pension and capital markets, in order better to support innovation and expansion of dynamic new enterprises.

Finally, as the report rightly notes, significant reform demands leadership with a long-term strategic vision. Perhaps the most depressing aspect of the current debate is the huge gulf between the urgency of the situation and the response. The bigger the challenges, the more timid politicians seem to have become. Worse, Brexit and a host of cultural and identity issues have taken almost all the air out of the needed debate on the country’s economic future. Sir Keir Starmer presumably feels that leaving the governing party to conduct its circular firing squad is wise politics. But it is also likely to be foolish strategy. He is not going to have a mandate for the radical changes that are necessary.

I do not entirely agree with the authors. In retrospect, the Thatcher era proved far less transformative than they suggest: performance did not improve much in the UK; it rather worsened in peer countries, such as France. But their lesson is that big changes are possible, especially once things are bad enough. Are they not bad enough yet? I hope they are.

[Derby]

[Lem]

Estamos de nuevo en ese día del mes en RU en el que Rightmove anuncia que los vendedores suben los precios en los nuevos anuncios just because y los medios anuncian que sube la vivienda.

@emmafildes

Based on @rightmove House Price Index. Sellers misinterpret a 13% increase in sales and renewed buyer interest, up 8% on last year, by applying an average 1.5% increase on newly marketed asking prices in March 2024.

Optimism is highest amongst those with bigger properties, who hope to regain some of the value promised in 2022 after 2023 rates chipped away at their price. Sellers in this bracket increased their initial asking price by 2.9% on February listings. This misplaced confidence could lead to a drawn out marketing period, with numerous price reductions, before securing a buyer. This is demonstrated in the average time to agree a sale, currently sitting at 73 days in London and 71 out of the Capital.

For those looking to move, realism is best applied to asking prices when hoping to secure a buyer.



7:50 am · 18 Mar 2024 · 1,923 Views

[saturno]

Mientras aborden la demografia por el ángulo del conflicto de género no vamos a resolver nada, porque no vemos el problema-

la alternativa no es hijos o trabajo-
No se puede equiparar un dato biologico con un dato sociolaboral-

El ángulo correcto es recalificar el trabajo, no el género-

[Derby]

https://www.ft.com/content/77982158-7e3a-4646-afc0-78365ba5d973#post-ba4e1e08-131f-40e0-8576-e9354f82aeed

Eurozone monthly trade surplus rises to record high

The eurozone’s monthly trade surplus rose to a record high at the start of the year thanks to a sharp drop in the price of energy imports and an uptick in exports.

The balance of trade in goods for the single currency zone reached a surplus of €28bn in January, its highest level since the EU’s statistics agency Eurostat started tracking the data in 2002.

The rebound is good news for the European economy as it underlines how the massive terms of trade shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are being unwound.

Last year, the eurozone recorded a trade surplus of €64bn, a marked improvement from the record €335bn trade deficit it suffered in 2022.

[Derby]

https://www.ft.com/content/9d58ff6a-c6c4-4740-b3aa-5699a865c7f4

Fed will have to keep rates high for longer than markets anticipate, say economists

FT-Chicago Booth poll suggests bank will make two or fewer cuts this year, with the first between July and September

The Federal Reserve will be forced to hold interest rates at a high level for longer than markets and central bankers anticipate, according to academic economists polled by the Financial Times.

More than two-thirds of those surveyed in the FT-Chicago Booth poll think the Fed will make two or fewer cuts this year as it struggles to complete the “last mile” of its battle with inflation. The most popular response for the timing of the first cut was split between July and September.(...)

Vincent Reinhart, a former Fed official who is now chief economist at Dreyfus and Mellon, thinks the political calendar will influence rate-setters.

“The data say the best time to cut rates is September, but the politics say June,” said Reinhart, who did not participate in the poll. “You don’t want to start cuts that close to an election.”(...)

[Zugzwang]

Mientras aborden la demografia por el ángulo del conflicto de género no vamos a resolver nada, porque no vemos el problema-

la alternativa no es hijos o trabajo-
No se puede equiparar un dato biologico con un dato sociolaboral-

El ángulo correcto es recalificar el trabajo, no el género-

La incorporación de la mujer al mundo laboral (con los aumentos brutales de productividad de entonces) se hizo incorporando jornadas completas a lo que ya había (y ahí vemos el aumento del pisito en perspectiva). Se podría haber reducido la jornada laboral, pero ahí entró el Estado dando servicios o facilitando la iniciativa privada para acometer esos servicios (educación pública, guarderías, academias, extraescolares). Las políticas de género no son el fin, sino el medio. Como bien ha comentado Asustadisimos en alguna ocasión, todas las feministas de cuarta ola son pro-modelo (y las de tercera ola también). El tabernero y su señora son pura carcasa de fin de modelo, y sus gritos ideológicos, pura reacción a un quiero y no puedo seguir tal y como estoy. Hay que verlos en pasado, están acabados.

Y estoy de acuerdo contigo, la prioridad pasa por recalificar el trabajo, darle la importancia que precisa dentro del contexto actual. Las excentricidades de género caerán por si solas, son mera consecuencia de los tiempos que vivimos. La demografía corresponde a políticas a largo plazo, y son políticas de Estado. Si el nuevo modelo requiere de más natalidad, las políticas natalistas aparecerán en los próximos años muy marcadas. Que se haya puesto el foco de forma tan marcada ahora y no desde 2012, cuando se aceleró, podría indicarnos que el nuevo modelo sí dará importancia a la demografía desde la natalidad.

[sudden and sharp]

También es cierto que nos quejamos de vicio...

¿No han colgado hombres con la cabeza hacia abajo, los han ahogado en sacos, los han crucificado en tablas, los han enterrado vivos, los han aplastado con morteros?

¿No los han obligado a consumir las heces?

Y, después de haberlos desollado con el látigo, ¿no los han arrojado vivos para ser devorados por gusanos o sobre hormigueros, o los han atado a estacas en el pantano para ser devorados por mosquitos? ¿No los han echado en calderos de jarabe de caña hirviendo?

¿No han puesto hombres y mujeres dentro de barriles tachonados con púas y los han hecho rodar por las laderas de las montañas hasta el abismo?

¿No han consignado estos negros miserables a los perros que se comen al hombre hasta que estos últimos, saciados por la carne humana, dejaron a las víctimas destrozadas para ser rematadas con bayoneta y puñal?

La multimillonaria indemnización que Haití le pagó a Francia por convertirse en el primer país de América Latina en independizarse
https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/c258kgjp1ypo







Házselo a ella ellos...   





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Igualdad. También para las negras.