On quantification of anything and its consequences

w/3 8 Oct 2017
source: Bloomberg, now excepting subscriber registration to read articles in their entirety.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Malta car bomb kills Panama Papers journalist  - Guardian

The journalist who led the Panama Papers investigation into corruption in Malta was killed on Monday in a car bomb near her home.

Daphne Caruana Galizia died on Monday afternoon when her car, a Peugeot 108, was destroyed by a powerful explosive device which blew the car into several pieces and threw the debris into a nearby field.

A blogger whose posts often attracted more readers than the combined circulation of the country's newspapers, Galizia was recently described by the Politico website as a "one-woman WikiLeaks". Her blogs were a thorn in the side of both the establishment and underworld figures that hold sway in Europe's smallest member state.

Her most recent revelations pointed the finger at Malta's prime minister, Joseph Muscat, and two of his closest aides, connecting offshore companies linked to the three men with the sale of Maltese passports and payments from the government of Azerbaijan.

jobs saved or created
LG to open Europe's biggest car battery factory next year

LG Chem plans to spend 5.9 billion zlotys ($1.63 billion)[EUR 1.3B, KRW 1.812T] on the factory near the southwestern city of Wroclaw, according to Polish state industry agency ARP. ... The factory will employ 2,500 people. LG Chem, a subsidiary of Korea's LG Corp, did not name the likely customers but said they would include top car companies.

"The company has chosen Poland as the most competitive location for production to satisfy the needs of European and global car producers," said Chang-Beom Kang, vice president at LG Chem.

comparative advantage
VW targets 400,000 annual EV, plug-in hybrid sales in China by 2020 Jan 2017
"The company hopes to achieve the target by introducing 15 EV and hybrid models in China over the next three or four years."
VW plans to build first EVs with JAC in 2018
"In 2016, Volkswagen sales in China rose 12 percent to 3.98 million vehicles - more than any other foreign automaker."
Bowing to Beijing, VW accelerates EV timetable Jul 2017
"The 5.1 billion yuan ($761 million) plant, due to start production in late 2018, will build up to 100,000 EVs at full capacity."
VW taps electric Golf to help meet China's EV quota
"[I]nstead of procuring batteries from its usual suppliers -- South Korea's LG Chem or Panasonic of Japan -- Volkswagen will buy the cells from China's Contemporary Amperex Technology."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

Private emoluments on parade.
Bill Clinton sought State's permission to meet with Russian nuclear official during Obama uranium decision

Bill Clinton instead got together with Vladimir Putin at the Russian leader's private homestead.

Can't wait for US public to "discover" how long US government has been buying rockets from Russian firms.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.