2007 October:   Business
Anchor:   Base Index
Other months:    September  November
Other areas:    Climate  computing  education  health  international  Internet  science  social  technology  Others
Topics:   Carbon  climate  competition  consumerism  copyright  corruption  economics  environment  fraud  free trade  globalism  management  manufacturing  marketing  media  money  newspapers  outsourcing  pay  policy  politics  privatism  publishing  social  television  trademarks  wealth
Carbon(see also in Climate) last  down  top   on  back

David Adam, Carbon output rising faster than forecast, says study, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 23 (global warming 'will come sooner and be stronger'; Chinese growth and loss of natural 'sinks' highlighted)
Matt McGrath, Ships' CO2 'twice that of planes', BBC, 2007 Oct. 19 (global emissions of carbon dioxide from shipping are twice the level of aviation, new maritime research says)
Thair Shaikh, Britons named world's biggest emitters of CO2 from air travel, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 10 (Britons produce more carbon emissions from air travel a head than any other country, a study reveals today, citing the country's predilection for low-cost airlines as a major factor)
George Monbiot, The new coal age, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 9 (the government says it wants a low-carbon economy; yet on a green hilltop in south Wales, despite huge opposition from locals, diggers have begun excavating what will be the largest opencast coal mine in Britain; who let this happen?)
Peter Forsyth, Carbon policies to hurt tourism, The Age, 2007 Oct. 4 (climate change costs will make travel to Australia more expensive)
Mathew Murphy, Raising needed for carbon conscience, The Age, 2007 Oct. 1 (investors, in particular fund managers, will increasingly look towards large companies that report their greenhouse gas emissions and incorporate strategies towards carbon neutrality)
Competition and Free Trade(see also Marketing) up  down  top   on  back

Larry Elliott, State funds put free trade at risk, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 15 (the ability of government-controlled sovereign wealth funds to buy stakes in important western companies is threatening to cause a backlash)
Tim Colebatch, Doha Round looks doomed, The Age, 2007 Oct. 12 (the troubled Doha Round trade negotiations hit a potentially fatal bump, after 110 developing countries unite in rejecting a draft text requiring sharp cuts to their manufacturing tariffs)
Katharine Murphy and David Rood, Doubt cast on cartel crackdown, The Age, 2007 Oct. 10 (political leaders fell in behind disgraced businessman Richard Pratt yesterday, as Prime Minister John Howard appeared to back away from his Government's longstanding policy of sending executives to jail if they are caught fixing prices)
Leonie Wood, Pratt: the confessions of a multi-billionaire, The Age, 2007 Oct. 9 (after years of denial, Melbourne billionaire Richard Pratt has admitted that he and his company, Visy Board, illegally colluded with rival Amcor to rig the market for cardboard boxes)
Christian Catalano, $30m fine likely for Pratt role in price fixing, The Age, 2007 Oct. 8 (an out-of-court settlement in Australia's biggest price-fixing prosecution could be struck today, with packaging giant Visy expected to agree to a fine of at least $30 million - the biggest penalty for breaching the Trade Practices Act)
Mathew Murphy, Gas and electricity price caps could be removed, The Age, 2007 Oct. 5 (a draft report on the gas and electricity market in Victoria indicates that retail price caps are likely to be removed soon on the grounds that competition is working)
Consumerism(see also Social and in Social) up  down  top   on  back

Richard Wray, Mobiles for the Masai as world goes crazy for gadgets, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 26 (from flat-screen TVs stacked up outside back street shops in Mumbai to Masai tribesmen clutching mobiles, evidence is everywhere that the desire to own consumer electronics devices has gone global)
Larry Elliott, Falling price of gadgets fuels a worldwide buying frenzy, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 26 (consumers everywhere are feeling the pinch from higher interest rates, paying more to fill their car with petrol, finding it harder to winkle an above-inflation pay rise out of their bosses, yet computers, music systems, TVs, mobile phones and every other gizmo imaginable are walking out of the stores)
Ian Dunlop, Climate change is a war that we must fight, The Age, 2007 Oct. 23 (it is blindingly obvious that we cannot continue conventional economic growth and rampant consumerism without destroying the planet)
Richard Adams, What is mechanism design theory?, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 15 (the gap in knowledge between buyers and sellers, and the costs and consequences for the efficient operation of a market, is at the heart of the groundbreaking research by the winners of this year's  Nobel  prize in economics)
Innnovation: Can dinosaurs dance?, Economist, 2007 Oct. 13 (Indian and Chinese consumers are forcing multinationals to design sophisticated products that more closely meet their needs, and this is making firms operating in Asia better innovators)
Katie Hafner, As digital grows, film businesses are shutting down, IHT, 2007 Oct. 9 (over the past four years, the sale of film has been dropping 25 percent to 30 percent each year; in 2006, 204 million rolls were sold, compared with the 800 million sold at the peak in 1999)
Reid Sexton, Are you being served? Not how you used to be, The Age, 2007 Oct. 7 (the way we shop is rapidly changing, but some consumers remain loyal to the old ways)
Attracta Lagan, Money not the only thing making the world work, The Age, 2007 Oct. 4 (one of the many contradictions in modern Australian society is the tension between the increasing focus on individualism and the higher-order need for society to pull together as one)
Ashley Seager, Food price inflation rising sharply, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 3 (surveys out today show that rising food costs are feeding through to higher prices on the high street, while take-home pay is slowing down)
Copyright and Trademarks(see also in Internet and Technology) up  down  top   on  back

Jamie Doward, Accusations fly as pro-life groups clash, Observer, 2007 Oct. 28 (anti-abortion campaigners threaten to sue rival group for copyright theft)
Kevin Anderson, Why was someone arrested over the TV Links website?, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 25 (last week a Cheltenham man was arrested for alleged violations of Section 92 of the Trade Marks Act, but the law governing the case is not clear)
Heath Gilmore, Win for the little guys, but what price?, The Age, 2007 Oct. 21 (two Melbourne designers have forced retail giant Kmart to recall and destroy thousands of toy backpacks and trolley cases ripped off from the designers' original creations; but the victory may be a pyrrhic one)
Firms seek online copyright pact, BBC, 2007 Oct. 19 (media and internet firms, including Viacom, Walt Disney, Microsoft and Myspace are setting guidelines to protect copyright material online)
Andrew Brown, Sue the libraries—they're letting people get content on the cheap, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 18 (as a means of getting music to rip, the local library is either free, or very cheap)
Online music: The slow death of digital rights, Economist, 2007 Oct. 13 (record labels wrestle with the internet)
Rachel Aviv, U.S. students fight copyright law, IHT, 2007 Oct. 11 (Students for Free Culture, a national organization, is sprouting up on university campuses and advocates loosening the restrictions of copyright law so that information - from software and music to research and art - can be freely shared)
US alleges Chinese trade barriers, BBC, 2007 Oct. 11 (the US seeks a World Trade Organization probe over whether Chinese rules over imports of copyrighted US goods break trade rules)
Danny Bradbury, The cost of copyright, The Age, 2007 Oct. 11 (as YouTube faces a $1billion lawsuit, technology to identify copyright material is becoming more sophisticated)
James Rose, China's IP breaches show how faking it can pay off, The Age, 2007 Oct. 10 (developing countries have a lot to gain by breaking the law)
David Edgar, Comment: You can't use the O-word, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 8 (believe it or not, use of 'Olympic' could be barred under copyright law; and maybe even '2012')
Nassim Khadem, Australia joins WTO China case, The Age, 2007 Oct. 8 (Australia will be part of a WTO investigation into complaints that China is failing to properly enforce intellectual property rights)
Liz Porter, An alfresco is the same by any name, The Age, 2007 Oct. 7 (accusations about the copying of an alfresco eating area design have triggered four Federal Court cases by a Melbourne-based project home builder against four of its fiercest competitors)
Bill Thompson, The obstacles in a DRM-free world, BBC, 2007 Oct. 1 (in the global market online sales shouldn't be limited to one country)
Economics and Policy(see also Money) up  down  top   on  back

Ross Gittins, Going for growth at any cost is a sure-fire recipe for bringing on recession, The Age, 2007 Oct. 22 (politicians always want to keep the foot to the floor, until it drives the economy off the road)
Economics focus: Intelligent design, Economist, 2007 Oct. 20 (a theory of an intelligently guided invisible hand wins the "Nobel" prize)
The World Economy: Only human, Economist, 2007 Oct. 20 (the turmoil in financial markets has posed hard questions for central banks; their reputations are now staked on their answers; first article of a special report, others: CSI: credit crunch: Central banks have played a starring role, Heroes of the zeroes: Central bankers are acclaimed for their part in taming inflation; they deserve to be, Talk is expensive: The message is the medium-term, Fast and loose: How the Fed made the subprime bust worse, Assets and their liabilities: Assets and their liabilities—and the difficulties of pulling it off, On credit watch: Financial supervision has been found wanting; but it needs an update, not an overhaul, Smash the glass: The last resort for liquidity, Amid the gloom: The credit crunch has cast a cloud over the world economy; thank goodness it started out so strong, Expect a lot . . . but not miracles)
Patricia Cohen, Economists debate value of their own Nobel award, IHT, 2007 Oct. 19 (unlike the original five prizes named in Alfred Nobel's will more than a century ago, the economics award—formally titled the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel—was created in 1968 by the Central Bank of Sweden to mark its 300th anniversary; but it is not so much bloodlines that have stirred up dismay as the kind of work that has often been honored)
Larry Elliott, Hurwicz wins "Nobel" prize for economics, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 15 (90-year-old professor becomes the oldest ever winner for his work on the effectiveness of markets)
Richard Adams, What is mechanism design theory?, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 15 (the gap in knowledge between buyers and sellers, and the costs and consequences for the efficient operation of a market, is at the heart of the groundbreaking research by the winners of this year's  Nobel  prize in economics)
Tim Colebatch, Economic policies key to world growth, says IMF, The Age, 2007 Oct. 11 (good economic policies have changed the world, the International Monetary Fund argues; it says growth is not only more rapid, but more consistent as the global business cycle has been transformed)
George Monbiot, Comment: In this age of diamond saucepans, only a recession makes sense, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 9 (economic growth is a political sedative, snuffing out protest as it drives inequality; it is time we gave it up)
Mathew Murphy, Smart meters may increase energy use, The Age, 2007 Oct. 5 (a proposed roll-out of energy smart meters may lead households to use more electricity rather than less, with economic modelling showing they can increase power use)
Mathew Murphy, Business Council calls for bipartisan plan, The Age, 2007 Oct. 4 (the Business Council of Australia is proposing sweeping changes to the country's infrastructure that it estimates could increase gross national product by 2 per cent)
Environment(see also in Health and Science) up  down  top   on  back

Rubbish charge pilots to go ahead, BBC, 2007 Oct. 30 (councils in England are to be given powers to pilot controversial "pay-as-you-throw" charges)
Marian Wilkinson and Mark Forbes, UN report exposes 'unprecedented' degradation, The Age, 2007 Oct. 26 (the most authoritative scientific report on the planet's health has found that water, land, air, plants, animals and fish are all in "inexorable decline")
Douglas Kent, Comment: Lime is a much greener option than cement, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 23 (carbon emissions could be cut if we used this ancient building material more widely)
Peter Hannam, Environmental, human rights recognition can improve investments, The Age, 2007 Oct. 22 (calibrating investment decisions to take into account environmental and social concerns may actually deliver above-average returns, according to a year-long review of academic studies led by HSBC, Europe's biggest bank)
Jon Gertner, Is economic development in danger of drying up?, IHT, 2007 Oct. 20 (diminished supplies of fresh water might prove a far more serious problem than slowly rising seas)
Tasmania: Bandicoots, beware!, Economist, 2007 Oct. 13 (trees mean votes: mainly in the cities)
David Adam, The unheralded polluter: cement industry comes clean on its impact, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 12 (plants release over 5% of carbon dioxide emissions; industry sees no chance of green-friendly future)
David Adam, Back to nature: £12m plan to let sea flood reclaimed land and recreate lost habitats, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 8 (scheme could reverse 500 years of British history; RSPB backs saltmarsh haven for rare wildlife)
Broads area 'damaged by neglect', BBC, 2007 Oct. 2 (conservationists say years of neglect have left one of the country's important wetlands damaged and vulnerable)
Ian Sample, Amazon jungle could be lost in 40 years, say campaigners, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 2 (development threatens world's oldest rainforest; conservationists attack plans for transport routes)
Fraud and Corruption(see also in Internet and Social) up  down  top   on  back

Sarah Boseley, Drug firms try to bribe doctors with cars, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 31 (developing world 'easy target' for multinationals; gifts and pampering now norm, says report)
Marc Moncrief, There's a sucker born every day, The Age, 2007 Oct. 30 (a former adviser to the late head of state of Nigeria needs your help to move $US45,000,000 out of his country; all he needs now is an "honest partner"; sound familiar?)
Ewen MacAskill, Mystery over $1bn of Iraq funding, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 24 (relationship between US and private contractors in Iraq is highlighted by investigation published into more than $1bn allocated for police training)
Antoinette Odoi, Corruption is rife in British business, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 16 (number of firms affected in UK is twice the average; up to 4% of GDP being lost to economic crime)
Katie Allen, Supplier jailed for £1.3m bribes to Ikea buyers, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 13 (a businessman supplying Christmas crackers, candles and other goods to the furniture chain Ikea was jailed yesterday after admitting paying £1.3m in bribes to two of its former UK employees)
Ian Munro, Scandal tests faith at TV preacher's university, The Age, 2007 Oct. 11 (Oklahoma-born evangelist Oral Roberts fits right in to that American tradition of perspiring, impassioned preachers who just happen to become very wealthy thanks to the generosity of their wide-eyed congregations)
Nick McKenzie, Probe uncovers corrupt police cells, The Age, 2007 Oct. 11 (corrupt Victorian police officers are operating in small syndicates tied to organised criminals, according to the state's top corruption fighter)
Paul Austin, New watchdog for police corruption, The Age, 2007 Oct. 9 (Victoria is about to get a new police corruption fighter, but Premier John Brumby is still refusing to establish an anti-corruption commission with broad powers to investigate other public office holders, including members of Parliament)
MPs call for identity fraud tsar, BBC, 2007 Oct. 6 (an "identity fraud tsar" should be appointed to oversee attempts to tackle the crime, a group of MPs has said)
Kerry-Anne Walsh, MPs told how to avoid bribing foreigners, The Age, 2007 Oct. 7 (Kelvin Thomson wasn't surprised to find yet another glossy government "information pack" in his mailbox on Friday; what did surprise the Victorian Labor MP was the pack's contents)
William Birnbauer, Big donations raise 'prospect of corruption', The Age, 2007 Oct. 7 (for both parties, private funding contributes more than 80 per cent of their multimillion-dollar budgets)
Ross Gittins, Caught in a psychological web, The Age, 2007 Oct. 1 (links with corporate clients mean auditors can often fall prey to 'self-serving bias')
Globalism and Free Trade up  down  top   on  back

Daniel Altman, Managing Globalization: Isolation is not the answer, IHT, 2007 Oct. 30 (when it's easier to get money, raw materials, goods, services or labor from abroad, it's more tempting to erode your own supply; as far as the productive capacity of your economy goes, there's nothing wrong with that erosion; you're simply using all the resources available to you, and more resources mean more output)
Larry Elliott, Globalisation fear for skilled work, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 16 (government action will be needed to minimise the adverse effects of globalisation as competitive pressures start to affect high-skilled as well as low-skilled UK workers, a committee of MPs said today)
Steve Harris, China's AFL link is kicking goals, The Age, 2007 Oct. 13 (if economics is increasingly to follow culture rather than the reverse, and our core cultural identity is sport, and our biggest sport is Australian football, so then "football diplomacy" can help open doors, relationships and economic engagement)
Innnovation: Revving up, Economist, 2007 Oct. 13 (how globalisation and information technology are spurring faster innovation)
John Garnaut, China investment radar hits home, The Age, 2007 Oct. 8 (Australia is more open to the Middle Kingdom than the US and Europe, and the feeling's mutual)
Charlemagne: The China trade syndrome, Economist, 2007 Oct. 6 (Europe's next big globalisation row will be over trade with China)
Robert Weisman, Weak dollar prompts record foreign buyouts of U.S. companies, IHT, 2007 Oct. 2 (European, Asian and Canadian companies are taking advantage of the weaker dollar to buy their U.S. counterparts at a record pace, increasing investment in the United States but also raising fears about a potential loss of jobs and autonomy)
John Garnaut, China may look to buy shares in BHP, Rio Tinto, The Age, 2007 Oct. 4 (some of China's $7.3 trillion in private and official savings could soon be channelled to the Australian sharemarket, analysts predict)
Management up  down  top   on  back

Leon Gettler, Accountability dilemma corners corporations, The Age, 2007 Oct. 30 (managers' inability to implement corporate responsibility makes it more PR than CSR)
Leon Gettler, Business chiefs told to dance to beat of a different drum, The Age, 2007 Oct. 24 (the business leader of the future will be much like a politician or diplomat, says the head of international consultancy the Oxford Leadership Academy)
Robin Wigglesworth and Simon Kennedy, Norway provides model on how to manage oil revenue, IHT, 2007 Oct. 17 (what makes the advice from Oslo valuable is Norway's record of managing $356 billion and earning returns that exceed its own goals while publishing regular reports on its holdings and performance)
Simon Caulkin, Internet could put the boss class out of a job, Observer, 2007 Oct. 14 (after From Higher Aims to Hired Hands, Rakesh Khurana's magisterial survey of how management drove itself into its gloomy cul-de-sac, strategy guru Gary Hamel starts waving a sat-nav showing the way out)
Corporate governance: Keeping shareholders in their place, Economist, 2007 Oct. 13 (bosses around the world celebrate a series of victories over shareholder activists)
Innnovation: The fading lustre of clusters, Economist, 2007 Oct. 13 (the main thing holding back continental Europe is that it is a lousy place to start a new company; it can cost a lot of money and it takes too long to set up a business)
Innnovation: A dark art no more, Economist, 2007 Oct. 13 (like management methods before it, innovation is turning from an art into a science)
BP chief unveils radical overhaul, BBC, 2007 Oct. 11 (BP is set for a dramatic makeover that will simplify the company's operating structure and lead to job cuts)
Victor Keegan, The office of the future is all around, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 11 (the latest generation of web-based companies is leading the remote working revolution)
Graeme Philipson, And, for your information, a few facts, The Age, 2007 Oct. 9 (the problems of information management are likely to get bigger before they get better)
Simon Caulkin, X factor meant business schools were sure to fail, Observer, 2007 Oct. 7 (what are business schools for?; and why should management studies be taught in publicly funded universities?)
Andrew Clark, On America: Inside the Googleplex, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 5 (Japanese massage chairs, scooter parking in the corridors, and a room dedicated to lego; it can only be the self-conscious wackiness of Google, which had an open day at its New York office this week)
Leon Gettler, Legal concerns hot up for company directors, The Age, 2007 Oct. 4 (most Australian company directors feel they need to develop strategies to deal with climate change)
Manufacturing up  down  top   on  back

Commodities: Material world, Economist, 2007 Oct. 20 (prices of raw materials are seeing widespread gains as talk of a "supercycle" is in the air)
Innnovation: Revving up, Economist, 2007 Oct. 13 (how globalisation and information technology are spurring faster innovation)
David Adam, The unheralded polluter: cement industry comes clean on its impact, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 12 (plants release over 5% of carbon dioxide emissions; industry sees no chance of green-friendly future)
Marketing(see also Competition and in Internet) up  down  top   on  back

Tamara McLean, Parties avoid the big issue on junk food, The Age, 2007 Oct. 30 (heavy-handed lobbying by Australian manufacturers has stopped politicians on both sides of the fence from supporting bans on junk food marketing to kids, a leading obesity expert says)
Kelly Burke, Drug firm tops ethical offender list, The Age, 2007 Oct. 30 (a drug company accused of marketing sleeping pills to children tops a list of multinationals found to have abused consumer rights)
Aileen Jacobson, Wealth boom creates rich pickings for US magazines, The Age, 2007 Oct. 27 (glossy productions with ads for luxury goods are achieving premium returns)
Suzy Freeman-Greene, Born to shop—the perilous business of tiny-tot marketing, The Age, 2007 Oct. 27 (got any Wiggles or Pooh Bear paraphernalia?; forget the "tweens", babies and toddlers are the latest targets in a multibillion-dollar brand industry)
Keith Stuart, Advice on making in-game adverts work, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 18 (advertising in games is now big business, or so the analysts tell us)
Bobbie Johnson, Online marketers aim for the kids, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 17 (children are going to need more protection online as unscrupulous advertisers switch from TV to the internet)
Melissa Viney, It's not just any crostini . . . it's an 'artisan-style' factory crostini, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 15 (is it just me or do others feel bewildered by the trend to market mass-produced food items as handmade and "gourmet"?)
Outdoor advertising: Visual pollution, Economist, 2007 Oct. 13 (advertising firms fret over billboard bans)
Leon Gettler, Valuable research, or a case of hit and myth?, The Age, 2007 Oct. 11 (according to researchers, the brain uses subconscious "rules of thumb" that can make it think that false information is true; things easily recalled are deemed to be true)
James Randerson, Food and health firms taken to task over sales pitches by science's 'warriors against claptrap', Guardian, 2007 Oct. 10 (report attacks loose words claiming health benefits; unproven claims mislead public says charity)
Carmel Egan, Retail giants 'trapping' consumers with credit, The Age, 2007 Oct. 7 (major retailers are being accused of entrapping society's most vulnerable consumers with sophisticated homeware promotions that bind them to high-interest credit cards)
Mobile advertising: The next big thing, Economist, 2007 Oct. 6 (marketers hail the mobile phone as advertising's promised land)
Jill Stark, Maccas takes out 'pester power' prize, The Age, 2007 Oct. 5 (McDonald's has been voted the most manipulative marketer of junk food to children for the third year running, in name-and-shame awards voted for by parents)
Victoria Shannon, Microsoft looks to become major player in ad world, IHT, 2007 Oct. 2 ("over time, all ad money will go through a digital ad platform," Steve Ballmer told a gathering of European ad agencies and clients; "all media goes digital, all advertising goes digital")
Media and Television(see also in Technology) up  down  top   on  back

Jim Schembri, Box office pulses to maniacal mindgames of horror movie, The Age, 2007 Oct. 30 (everybody loves a serial killer - if the opening weekend grosses of Saw IV are any guide; the film ruled the box office in the United States and Australia, again proving the adage that "if it bleeds, it leads")
Brian Stelter, Al Gore's other cause: Current TV, IHT, 2007 Oct. 29 (Current is something like having a cable channel dedicated to high-quality YouTube videos)
Naomi Klein, Comment: The business press and me: a case of unrequited love, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 25 (finance journalists have attacked my book, but I remain devoted to their papers; after all, they supplied the facts I used)
John Hartigan, Media must be vigilant in fighting for free speech, The Age, 2007 Oct. 23 (journalism is in good shape, but this cannot be said for information)
Martin Flanagan, Sobering truth of our attitude towards drugs, The Age, 2007 Oct. 22 (I'm not surprised that some West Coast supporters are angry with their club for sacking Cousins; it's easy enough to see the club as having been stampeded into its decision by politicians, the AFL and sections of the media)
Casey McKinnon, Will Hollywood kill the web-only stars?, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 16 (the 'new indie' internet media has become the industry standard)
Business television: Squawk boxes, Economist, 2007 Oct. 13 (a new business channel takes on General Electric's CNBC)
Paul McIntyre, Nine, Ten plan full shows online, The Age, 2007 Oct. 11 (the commercial TV networks have signalled expansive plans for full TV episode downloads based on an advertiser-funded model)
Abu Dhabi: Media oasis, Economist, 2007 Oct. 6 (an Arab statelet is spending huge sums to turn itself into a media hub)
Money(see also Economics and Wealth) up  down  top   on  back

David Cho and Thomas Heath, Cashed-up countries buy into US, The Age, 2007 Oct. 30 (Libya, flush with oil, has amassed $US40 billion and is ready to put it in play on Wall Street)
Patrick Barkham, Is this the work of the world's worst forgers?, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 24 (an international gang tried to defraud the Bank of England out of £28bn using fake £500,000 and £1,000 notes, Southwark crown court heard this week)
Exchange rates: Love the one you're with, Economist, 2007 Oct. 20 (the euro area should learn to embrace a strong currency)
Nils Pratley, Markets motor ahead—but never see the ice on the road, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 17 (cheap money has pushed thoughts of a crash out of bankers' heads, but could it happen again)
John Garnaut, China's Citic bearing down on Bear Stearns, The Age, 2007 Oct. 17 (a great wall of cash is clamouring to get out of China)
Simone Meier, As euro strengthens, fewer Swiss venture across German border, IHT, 2007 Oct. 11 (the Swiss franc's four-year slide against the euro - down 13 percent since the start of 2003 - means that the Swiss are cutting back on the 2 billion francs that they had been spending annually in trips across the border, taking a bite out of businesses all along the German side)
Remittances to Latin America: Counting the cash, Economist, 2007 Oct. 6 (less money is being sent home by migrants; that is not as bad as it sounds)
Banking: As bad as it gets?, Economist, 2007 Oct. 6 (banks on both sides of the Atlantic announce poor results)
Carter Dougherty, European urges U.S. to curb fall of dollar, IHT, 2007 Oct. 2 (Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the group of finance ministers from the 13-nation euro zone, criticized the perceived indifference in Washington toward U.S. policies that most economists believe are contributing to the intense downward pressure on the dollar)
David Gow, 'If you try to control everything it would probably kill capitalism', Guardian, 2007 Oct. 3 (Charlie McCreevy, EU internal market commissioner, on the credit crisis and how Europe can avoid a full-blown financial catastrophe)
Outsourcing(see also Pay and in Social) up  down  top   on  back

Steve Lohr, Bangalore butler is latest development in outsourcing, IHT, 2007 Oct. 30 (the second wave of outsourcing, according to some entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and offshoring veterans, will be the globalization of consumer services)
Outsourcing: Adding sugar, Economist, 2007 Oct. 13 (Indian computer-services companies await Japanese customers)
Anand Giridharadas, Internet revolution reaches India's poor, IHT, 2007 Oct. 10 (Babajob, an Indian start-up aiming to bring the Facebook/MySpace revolution to the world's poor, is just one example of an unanticipated byproduct of the outsourcing boom: Entrepreneurs and large multinationals are making India a hub of computer innovation targeting the poor)
New deals bolster Infosys profits, BBC, 2007 Oct. 11 (Indian outsourcing firm Infosys has seen a sharp rise in profits after winning a batch of new business and opening operations in lower-cost areas)
Pay and Wealth(see also Outsourcing and in Social) up  down  top   on  back

Will Hutton, Comment: These tycoons are stranger than fiction, Observer, 2007 Oct. 28 (a riveting book paints a portrait of the world's biggest deal-makers; it's not a pretty picture)
Aileen Jacobson, Wealth boom creates rich pickings for US magazines, The Age, 2007 Oct. 27 (glossy productions with ads for luxury goods are achieving premium returns)
Andy Beckett, Pass it on, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 12 (inheritance tax is suddenly the hottest political issue - and slashing it seems to be a vote-winner; but why, when it affects only 6% of estates, and is one of the fairest of taxes, has it become so widely hated?; and what does this tell us about the society we've become?)
Buttonwood: To infinity and beyond, Economist, 2007 Oct. 6 (contrary to popular belief, stocks do not always go up)
Privatisation and Private Equity up  down  top   on  back

John M Broder and David Rohde, Use of contractors by U.S. State Dept. has soared, IHT, 2007 Oct. 24 (over the past four years, the amount of money the State Department pays to private security and law enforcement contractors has soared to nearly $4 billion a year from $1 billion, administration officials said Tuesday, but they said that the department had added few new officials to oversee the contracts)
Business in Germany: Locusts in lederhosen, Economist, 2007 Oct. 20 (German bosses are learning from private equity)
Jenny Anderson, For private investment, the party isn't over, IHT, 2007 Oct. 10 (the forces that created private investment vehicles - large institutional investors with long-term plans to diversify away from simple stocks and bonds - are likely to continue pouring billions into alternative investments, a category that includes hedge funds and private equity firms)
Publishing and Newspapers up  down  top   on  back

Aileen Jacobson, Wealth boom creates rich pickings for US magazines, The Age, 2007 Oct. 27 (glossy productions with ads for luxury goods are achieving premium returns)
Dan Glaister, Publishers weigh into War and Peace battle, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 22 (US bookshops see salvoes exchanged between new versions of Tolstoy's epic)
Clare Dyer, Landmark libel ruling grants more freedom to journalists, Guardian, 2007 Oct. 12 (court of appeal rules that publishers of a book about police corruption could use defence of 'responsible journalism')
John Naughton, Wikipedia isn't perfect but it's very, very impressive - unlike those obituary writers, Observer, 2007 Oct. 7 (journalists should know better than to rely solely on an online encyclopedia written and edited by amateurs; still, Wikipedia is a remarkable phenomenon)
James Robinson, Economist rides out digital hurricane by sticking to its guns, Observer, 2007 Oct. 7 (John Micklethwait who, despite the growth of the internet, is leading his revered 'newspaper' to stellar circulation growth)
Social(see also Consumerism) up   first    top   on  back

Business and human rights: Doing the wrong thing, Economist, 2007 Oct. 27 (human-rights activists fall out over how to deal with companies)
Innnovation: The age of mass innovation, Economist, 2007 Oct. 13 (the best innovation policy is probably one that does the least; liberty is a powerful force)
Attracta Lagan, Money not the only thing making the world work, The Age, 2007 Oct. 4 (one of the many contradictions in modern Australian society is the tension between the increasing focus on individualism and the higher-order need for society to pull together as one)