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Posted on Jan. 5, 2019 - 1:01 p.m.
heart of issues is particularly evident in his chapter on the Middle East.
distinctiveness so that they have no choice but to adjust to its requirements."
not throwing its might around and provoking a coalition of its rivals.
The latter could drive China and Russia together again.
well as between the "globalized" and the "backward" sectors within countries).
inevitably incomplete in terms of the ultimate goal."
all that isn't pure Realpolitik.
here to map possibilities of cooperation with President Vladimir Putin's regime.
no strategic American security interest there--is a cop-out.
them back into the bottle.
negotiations with North Vietnam in 1968, and at the end of the Gulf War in 1991.
communications. The map of passions must be added to that of bases and resources.
States to formidable resentments that it is in the nation's interest to deflect.
domestic affairs of other states was "the human rights slogan of the day."
this he deems unacceptable. Why?
outcome could in no way affect any historic definition of American security."
almost insoluble problems of internal reconciliation and nation building.
Rwanda--nothing was done, and in others--Chechnya--little can be done.
justifies giving up on law and law enforcement?
in a less convulsive fashion" seems very much like wishful thinking.
"limited military intervention" might have been a duty, and a success, in Rwanda.
throes of politics, often untempered by norms.
monsters to destroy... . She is the champion and vindicator only of her own"
interest of mankind" is not so easily ignored.
unrealistic in the emerging world society.
case of state survival and security, has always had a variable content. "Fate,"
Vietnam "proved" was a very Kissingerian point--the need to know some history.
go way beyond the strictly geopolitical. The alphabet of realism is too short.
international affairs to the latter is neither wise nor desirable.
Another notebook PC company has released a new model that incorporates Intel Corp.'s Centrino processor for high-speed mobile computing.
MPC Computers LLC of Nampa, Idaho, today unveiled its TransPort T2100, the company's first use of Centrino technology, which Intel created by combining its Pentium M processor, 855 chip set and PRO/Wireless 2100 network connection.
IBM Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Computer Corp. are among the vendors that also have released Centrino products.
MPC's TransPort T2100 has processing speeds of up to 1.7 GHz and a hard drive of up to 60G. It includes a biometric fingerprint scanner, three Universal Serial Bus 2.0 ports, an audio playback module and a four-in-one card reader. It's priced at about $1,999.
Card giant American Express has an impressive reputation within the industry for attracting a high-end clientele with solid credit credentials and plenty of spending power. Yet the past year has been full of challenges for American Express, as the company has had to navigate the loss of a key cobranding agreement with Costco Wholesale as well as the impact of weak foreign currencies. Coming Wednesday afternoon's third-quarter financial report, AmEx investors were prepared for continued declines in both net income and revenue, but even those who knew the company was going through tough times were nevertheless surprised at the extent of the drops. Let's look more closely at American Express and its latest results to see what might lie ahead for the company for the rest of 2015 and beyond.
Another tough quarter for AmExLong-time shareholders in American Express have seen less-than-stellar results from the company before, but the third quarter's declines were particularly large. Revenue net of interest expense dropped 1.3% to $8.19 billion, failing to meet the roughly breakeven performance that most investors were looking to see. The bottom line was considerably uglier, with net income dropping more than 14% to $1.27 billion, working out to earnings of $1.24 per share. That was $0.07 per share less than the consensus forecast, and the double-digit percentage drop was unnerving to those who had expected a much more gradual decline.
American Express continued to suffer from the strength of the U.S. dollar. The card company said that from a currency-neutral perspective, adjusted revenue rose 3% from year-ago levels. Yet even after taking the dollar's declines into account, growth rates have been moderating, with this quarter's figure showing slower gains than the 5% rise in adjusted revenue in the second quarter. What AmEx called "modestly higher cardmember spending" and a growing lending portfolio combined to push organic sales higher.
The hits to net income showed up nearly across the board at AmEx's various segments. U.S. Card Services took an 11% hit to net income, as 5% growth in revenue was more than offset by a double-digit percentage increase in expenses resulting from higher spending on marketing and promotion as well as technology development. International Card Services saw net income fall by more than a third on an 11% drop in revenue, with much of those declines coming from currency impacts. Global Commercial Services also experienced a sizable 26% drop in net income, but as we saw last quarter, the Global Network and Merchant Services was the standout winner, with an 8% rise in net income despite declines in revenue.
American Express didn't seem surprised by some of the less encouraging numbers. "The quarter reflected the headwinds and challenges that we have been dealing with throughout this year," said CEO Kenneth Chenault, but "against the backdrop of a challenging environment and an uneven global economy, we continued to move forward with initiatives to build our business for the years ahead."
What's next for American Express?A big part of that move forward is figuring out how to get new cardmembers. Chenault reminded investors that its relationship with Costco Wholesale will end next year, and so higher spending on marketing, incentives, and technology to attract customers to replace Costco cardholders will be an important way to keep AmEx's financial results from falling at a more precipitous rate. The recent addition of Sam's Club to its network could help as well, although American Express is also working to cater to smaller merchants as well to extend its reach.
Fortunately, one thing that American Express hasn't done is to sacrifice its emphasis on seeking high-quality credit histories among its customers. Writeoff rates have risen only slightly, with U.S. Card Services seeing 1.6% in write-offs while the International side has deteriorated to 2.2%. Past-due amounts have stayed roughly in line with year-ago levels as well, and write-offs on AmEx's loan portfolio have actually dropped.
Despite the card company's long track record, the initial reaction among traders was to send American Express downward, with the stock dropping more than 3% in the first hour of after-market trading following the announcement. American Express faces challenges that it hasn't had to deal with very often in the past, and how it performs now will go a long way toward determining whether it continues its long streak of growth or starts to fade away from its leadership role in the global card industry.
The article American Express Suffers Big Hits to Revenue and Earnings originally appeared on Fool.com.
Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool recommends American Express. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa has pinpointed where he wants his Whites side to improve as they welcome Reading to Elland Road on Tuesday evening.
Bielsa's team cruised to a 2-0 victory over Bristol City on Saturday afternoon with Robins boss Lee Johnson claiming United to have been "lucky" to claim all three points.
Although the Argentine brushed off his comments he does however believe there is room for improvement from his side and wants to see better attacking play this evening saying that "when we attack well we defend well."
"To attack we need a lot of dynamism," Bielsa said.
"To attack we need to make the opponent make mistakes. When we attack well we defend well.
"It’s not very frequent that we attack well and then we defend bad. So I couldn’t say it’s a sector of the field of the pitch, or a moment during the game.
"But it’s more about the play, broadly speaking. The idea is to defend well, to attack better and then to attack well and defend away from our box.
"So the secret in this is how we lose the ball. When we lose the ball in a well-intentioned process, usually the game is variable to us. But when we lose the ball because of a lack of ideas we don’t play well."
I don't see how Sen. Chuck Schumer's speech on tax reform yesterday helped anything — other than providing further clarity on how Democrats are going to try and deal with the exploding national debt: taxes, taxes, and more taxes.
These three principles-curtailing tax expenditures, returning to a Clinton-era top rate, and reducing but not eliminating the tax preference for investment income-provide a foundation for a tax reform plan that would reduce the deficit without hurting the middle class.
The lesson here is that contrary to the view of the supply-siders, the level of the top rate does not, by itself, dictate what happens to GDP.
Supply-siders certainly think income tax rates matter — a lot — but they do not think tax rate levels are the only thing that matters. (Immigration, regulation, monetary policy are all pretty important, too, just to name a few.) Many liberals these days, by contrast, seem to think that tax rates don't matter much at all, unless top rates are in the 70% to 90% range.
Now, you may ask, "Hey, what's in this for Republicans? Why would they come to the table around a proposal that doesn't cut rates?"
For one thing, they get serious deficit reduction-which will matter to the true budget hawks left within the Republican Party. That is no small achievement.
What else besides deficit reduction would Republicans quote-unquote "get" out of tax reform? Well, that's the wrong way to think about it. The lure for Republicans to come to the table around a grand bargain should be the potential for serious entitlement reform, not the promise of a lower top rate in tax reform.
Democrats will never sign on to a shredding of the safety net because it isn't necessary to change the fundamental way Medicare works. But we can find ways to reduce Medicare costs by hundreds of billions of dollars. That is tough medicine but still preserves the safety net.
That is how a grand bargain can be had: Republicans get entitlement reform, while Democrats get revenue.
That might be the way to a big deal, except that Democrats, including President Obama, have spent the past two years attacking the GOP's big idea on entitlement reform, premium support. In fact, Schumer clearly rejects it in his speech: " … it isn't necessary to change the fundamental way Medicare works."
3. Schumer tries to make the tax hikes seem pro-growth because they would reduce the deficit. This is EXACTLY the path being taken by Europe right with its heavy emphasis on tax hike-driven austerity. How's that working out for them? Deficit reduction does the least amount of harm in the short term if it is light on tax hikes. But Schumer goes heavy on tax hikes.
For the third and final element of this tax reform model, we turn to investment income. It's time to reduce the sizable differential in the tax treatment of earned and unearned income.
The reduction in the capital gains rate to 15 percent under President Bush tax was a major contributor to the growth in wealth disparity we see today. … The extremely low 15 percent rate in effect today is an outlier. It is the lowest rate on investment income since the Great Depression.
Republicans have understood the need to raise it before. As part of the 1986 reform, Reagan raised it to 28 percent. Simpson-Bowles-which was supported by good Republicans like Tom Coburn-endorsed raising it too, all the way to the same level as ordinary income.
Now, if you are returning the top income rate to Clinton-era levels, as I have proposed, I do think it is too much to treat capital gains the same as ordinary income. We don't need a 39.6 percent rate on capital gains.
Right now the combined corporate-cap gains tax is 50%, a 35% corporate tax plus a 15% cap gains tax. Under a plausible Schumer scenario, the corporate tax rate would drop to 28% while the capital gains tax rate would rise to 28%. So under Schumer, the integrated or combined tax rate would actually rise. Why would any pro-growth politician on the right — or left for that matter — vote for such a plan?
In short, the Schumer plan would raise marginal rates, raise rates on capital, and reject real entitlement reform. Other than that, it's a real winner.
Kris Jenner is all set to do a cameo in an upcoming episode of FOX's comedy 'The Mindy Project'.
Reality TV star Kris Jenner is all set to do a cameo in an upcoming episode of FOX’s comedy ‘The Mindy Project’.
The show’s star and creator Mindy Kaling confirmed Jenner’s guest stint by posting on her Instagram a photo of her and the reality TV star taken on set. “Mindy Lahiri & Kris Jenner: Best friends? @krisjenner #comingsoon #themindyproject,” she captioned the picture.
No official words have so far made on what role Jenner would be portraying and on what episode she will appear.
Carl Jung devoted much of his professional life to analyzing dreams, much to the chagrin of his colleagues. He saw a connection between these nighttime visions and our seemingly innate penchant for mythological symbolism. While he discussed the creative scenes one encountered during sleep in terms of mandalas, he was always careful to stick to as rigorous a scientific method as possible in his interpretations.
It should therefore be an absolute rule to assume that every dream, and every part of a dream, is unknown at the outset, and to attempt an interpretation only after carefully taking up the context.
In his time dreams had many possible connotations. Some believed them to be messages from a divine source, while others thought they were the language of our deeper, darker self: the unconscious. Those of a more psychological and scientific bent felt dreams were rubbish, mental chatter and hallucinations. Jung gingerly attempted to give form to the formless.
Yet what if we can control the formless? Some people report being able to control their dreams, termed ‘lucid dreaming.’ Perhaps we’ve all had such moments; on occasion I know I’ve been dreaming while dreaming, and was able to manipulate the weightlessness of my body through situations with ease. It is thought that the more you fall asleep with this intention, the more you are able to control (and remember) what happens. From Jung’s time to today practice makes perfect.
A study in Germany has shown that not only can you control your dreams sometimes, researchers can do it with electrodes most of the time. In a double-blind study, they electrically stimulated 24 volunteers with 40 hz of juice—the frequency associated with our brain’s ability for self-awareness—all of whom had no history of lucid dreaming. The result: dreamers were able to control their experiences seventy-seven percent of the time.
This study offers a potential breakthrough in PTSD therapy, for one. I consider it a sort of unconscious mirror box solution. Trauma victims and veterans often suffer intolerably while asleep; giving them control over their dreams holds the possibility of alleviating the mental and emotional weight of their waking life.
It also sheds more light on our rapidly expanding knowledge of how consciousness operates. Many of our previously held assumptions of our brains have been proven wrong in the last decade. Seeing auras, once thought a mystical ability, turns out to be the neuronal cross-wiring known as synesthesia. And of course, since 2007 scientists have been able to induce out-of-body experiences in laboratories.
Until we have a firmer grasp of the mechanisms of consciousness, it will be difficult to make many assumptions regarding the function of dreams. Walking in this direction, however, does offer insight into the time we spend awake and the murkier domain of sleep. Perhaps spending more time controlling that matrix will reveal new secrets about the daytime as well.
A former Vodafone chief executive is among the latest group of investors to back Lawtech start-up ThoughtRiver, which has raised over $1m in just 11 days.
The funding round was led by a group of investors, and also listed on Cambridge crowdfunding platform SyndicateRoom and promoted by Cambridge Capital Group. The investors include Vodafone UK CEO Guy Laurence and Michael Findlay, chairman of Morgan Sindall and former co-head of investment banking for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Founded in 2013 by Tim Pullan, ThoughtRiver has developed software that uses AI to scan and interpret information in written contracts. It produces visuals of the potential risks in an online dashboard to enable the user to make better decisions more quickly. It is also backed by Cambridge-based law firm Taylor Vinters, which has incubated the company.
As well as providing financial backing, Laurence and Findlay will be advisors to ThoughtRiver, with Laurence accepting a formal appointment as board advisor. They join investor and advisor Duncan Painter, the CEO of FTSE-250 company Ascential who led the round.
Laurence said: “Drafting contracts is an everyday practice for businesses of all sizes. A big company however, can easily have more than 150,000 contracts stretching back years and, in many cases, signed by people who left the company long ago.
Designed to reduce risk and speed up contracting for senior procurement managers, general counsel and decision makers within multinationals, ThoughtRiver is attracting interest from companies spanning a broad range of sectors. Dentsu Aegis Network, a global media, digital and communications group was the first company to trial ThoughtRiver to increase automation and lower risk in its contract departments. Other clients include well-known international brands operating in the electronics, legal and financial services industries.
The money raised will be used to fuel further growth ahead of a Series A funding round later this year.
Pullan said: “We hit the market at the right time, so have developed a strong reputation, which has generated a lot of interest and direct approaches from potential clients. Over the next few months, our aim is to convert those opportunities into revenue so it’s going to be a very busy period. The funding will be key to this, helping us to accelerate sales activity and product development as well as enhance client management.
Some of the most important things I have learned have come from reader and listener tips, trying things others have said won't work and stumbling onto to some fact that started as a mistake.
During the first few years of my landscape architecture career, I was told by one of the longtime local nurserymen that Japanese maples would definitely not grow here in North Texas, that they couldn't take our soil and they would only grow in cooler parts of the country. I tried them anyway and found that they grew beautifully here, and they are now staples in nurseries and on landscape projects.
One of the most important accidental findings resulted from buying a small tree labeled as "witch hazel." The local nursery seemed confident the tree would do well here. It did very well and I added this "witch hazel" to a couple of my books covering recommended plants for Texas. Only one problem: The plant is not witch hazel. It's actually Persian ironwood and is much better adapted here than witch hazel. Witch hazel limps along compared to this accidental discovery.
Native to Iran, Persian ironwood (Parrotia persica) is a beautiful, small-growing tree that will flourish from Texas to Boston and all parts in between. It's a great little tree with exfoliating or flaking bark and luxuriant summer leaves similar to beech and witch hazel.
In winter, the smooth bark peels and can show a mosaic of silver, green and cream-colored new bark beneath.
Small, petalless flowers emerge in late winter on upper bare branches. They show in bunches of blood red stamens inside two woolly brown bracts and are great for use in indoor arrangements. After flowering, new leaves emerge, coppery at first, then dark green, satiny and lopsided with wavy edges. Then the tree sports fall color that ranges from golden yellow to crimson, rose pink, maroon, and purple. All that can sometimes be seen at once on the same tree.
Persian ironwood grows relatively slowly into a multi-stemmed, low-branched, round-headed tree, but it can be trained into a standard, single-trunk specimen. In cultivation, this tree can reach 40 feet in height, forming a short, thick trunk supporting both erect and drooping branches.
It's a great tree that should be grown more often, especially in residential gardens.
A campaign for another EU referendum - this time on the final Brexit deal - has been launched in London.
Chairman Lord Malloch-Brown, a former Labour minister, said it was "time for the truth" about what leaving the EU would mean.
The group, backed by billionaire George Soros, hopes to build support for a referendum on the deal over the summer.

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