Here's my Top 10 links from around the Internet at 10.30 am today.
As always, we welcome your additions in the comments below or via email to bernard.hickey@interest.co.nz.
See all previous Top 10s here.
My must read today is #3 from the ODT on the need for regional development.
1. Take a botulism chill pill - The fevered and often panic-struck tone of the coverage around the Fonterra botulism scare is becoming detached from reality, I think.
Former Federated Farmers Chair Lachlan McKenzie has called for the resignation of Fonterra Chairman John Wilson.
Various media outlets are openly talking about an 'economic crisis' and worried whether it would hit the economic rebound.
Let's put some context around what we know right now. Less than 10% of Fonterra's exports to China has been suspended. The suspended portion represents less than 2% of New Zealand's overall dairy exports and less than 0.5% of total exports. The Russian ban applies to even less than that.
No one has been hurt and all the scientific commentary I've seen says that its unlikely given the length of time involved and types of products. Sure, Fonterra has been slow and inconsistent with its information release, it did announce pre-emptively.
The New Zealand dollar's reaction is a good measure of what the smart money is saying. It is now broadly back where it was before the announcement. Fonterra's unit price is flat today. Of course, all bets are off if someone gets botulism, but let's cool it a bit.
Just in case you might think I'm overstating the tone, here's the NZ Herald's thundering editorial full of dark and stormy nights.
The damage to New Zealand's reputation could hardly be worse. It will take more than testing to restore our food safety reputation in the rest of the world.
Countries where a scare makes headlines and subsequent checks find nothing will remember only the headlines. A lapse of hygiene on one pipe of one plant has put a cloud over our most successful export.
2. A taxonomy of the Middle Class in America - Here's a useful guide at The Atlantic.
3. A South Island party? - The Otago Daily Times published an impassioned editorial in favour of regional development on Saturday.
Enough is enough. Residents of the South have in recent months repeatedly heard myriad voices calling for regional development.
Time and again this newspaper has quoted MPs, government officials, local body politicians, business representatives and the like speaking about the importance of decentralisation and the advantages of economic growth in the provinces.
But as we said last Saturday, talk is cheap. There has been much talk; little real action.
Today, the ODT is calling on the people of the South to try to save jobs and services that are shifting out of regional New Zealand - and in many cases being transferred to two main centres.
4. 'Let me have a go' - Ian Taylor takes up the ODT call and suggests a political party.
Mr Taylor told the ODT public dissatisfaction meant any new party could snap up seats in Dunedin, Southland and Waitaki and ''bowl in'' to Parliament.
Once there, it could be a voice for regional development in the corridors of power.
''Now is the time to take our future in our own hands and do something about it ... [to] come together and force the politicians to take notice. No-one else will.
''It is up to us to stand up and be counted and the best way to do that is from the inside,'' he said.
6. Staying at home - Pew research shows a much larger percentage of American 'millenials' are now living at home in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis.
In 2012, 36% of the nation’s young adults ages 18 to 31—the so-called Millennial generation—were living in their parents’ home, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. This is the highest share in at least four decades and represents a slow but steady increase over the 32% of their same-aged counterparts who were living at home prior to the Great Recession in 2007 and the 34% doing so when it officially ended in 2009.
Daniel Alpert, a managing partner at Westwood Capital, pointed out in a note last week that nearly 70% of jobs created during the second quarter were in the lowest-paying sectors or subsectors such as retail trade or leisure and hospitality.
They account for just a third of overall jobs combined, so the jump is disproportionate. The average hourly pay for these jobs is $15.80, while that for the remaining two-thirds of jobs is $27.16 an hour.
8. Watch what they do, rather than what they say - Saudi Arabia's plans to spend US$109 billion on solar panels suggests they aren't that confident in the long term future of their oil reserves. HT PDK.
Saudi Arabia is planning to invest $ 109 billion over the next 20 years in order to take advantage of its excellent solar resources and diversify its energy mix, according to Alexander Lenz, president — the Middle East and Southeast Asia region, Conergy Asia & ME Pte. Ltd. This is because the “Kingdom believes sustainable energy is imperative for its future growth,” Lenz told Khalil Hanware of Arab News in an exclusive interview.
“They (the Kingdom) plan to purchase electricity generated not only from solar resources (PV and solar thermal) but also wind, geothermal and waste-to-energy plants. Their cumulative target of renewable capacity is anticipated to be more than 54,000 megawatts by 2032 with 41,000 coming from solar,” said Lenz, who previously held senior corporate management roles with Conergy AG as VP of business development.
9. How China's leaders are listening - There's a misconception that China's leaders are technocrats who don't care about public opinion. Maybe New Zealand's political opinion polling firms could do some exporting of services? ;)
This Washington Post piece on how Chinese public opinion is measured is useful:
Every comment made by the 591 million Chinese “netizens” is analyzed at the People’s Daily Online Public Opinion Monitoring Center, with summaries sent in real time to party leaders
Thepractice of collecting information on its citizens is as old as China itself: The nation’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, maintained a massive network of spies. The Communist Party’s own journalists have long funneled to party leaders classified reports on what is really happening at ground level.
But now, the government is trying to understand public opinion on an unprecedented scale. In response to government demand, opinion monitoring centers have sprung up in state-run news organizations and universities to mine and interpret the vast rivers of chatter on the Internet. At the same time, the authorities are hiring firms to poll people about everything from traffic management to tax policy.
10. Totally John Oliver on the push by fast food workers for higher wages.
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