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Daily Archives: June 7, 2017
OPINION: Let Puerto Rico reap the benefits of economic freedom – The Hill (blog)
Posted: June 7, 2017 at 5:07 pm
The true crisis in Puerto Rico is neither economic nor humanitarian. This is a crisis of leadership. Policymakers, both locally and nationally, have failed to provide a bold vision for a world-class economy, and they have stubbornly refused to implement a proven model that would lead to that. We face the opportunity to mirror best practices of global economic leaders like Hong Kong, or allow left-wing populism to drag us further into the Venezuelan-flavored abyss.
Hong Kong didnt become an economic powerhouse and global financial center by pure happenstance. Despite not possessing any significant natural resources, Hong Kong achieved tremendous prosperity in the latter half of the 20th century. How? Its political leaders implemented a truly universal recipe for success strong private property rights, world-class rule of law and a complete aversion to governmental economic meddling. When the territory became the foremost model for laissez faire economics, prosperity rapidly ensued.
Prosperity and human flourishing are the predictable byproducts of economic freedom. Its time for Puerto Rico to use that knowledge for our own benefit. The hands-off policies of free enterprise are too morally compelling to ignore. Consider that, according to the Cato Institute, the poorest 10 percent of residents in the nations with the most economic freedom enjoy an average income that is double that of their counterparts in the least-free nations. It is time for the people of Puerto Rico to reap the benefits of economic freedom.
The alternative is a slow slide into economic catastrophe. The unfolding crisis in Venezuela again demonstrates the failures of socialism. Central planning, nationalization of industry and insecure property rights have turned what was once the wealthiest nation in South America into a failing state at a social breaking point. Indeed, the socialist model championed by our Latin American peers is the very genesis of Puerto Ricos current problems. It is a model we have tried, and it is a model that has failed us. Puerto Rico must not become another socialist banana republic.
How can Puerto Rico go from being an incipient Venezuela to becoming the Hong Kong of the Caribbean? Action is required at both the federal and local levels. In Puerto Rico, we must stop pretending Band-Aids are a solution and take tough actions that will free us, economically and emotionally, from government dependence. To overcome the stain of failing to make good on constitutionally protected government bonds, we must re-establish our credibility in world markets. This begins with sweeping local tax reform to make Puerto Ricos taxes among the simplest and lowest in the world. We need a drastic downsizing of government, liquidation of the thousands of government-owned properties, from restaurants to empty lots to industrial warehouses, and privatization of government-owned corporations, beginning with the electric power authority.
Some challenges for Puerto Rico can only be dealt with in Washington. Federal policymakers must be sensitive to the differing geographic and economic realities between our Caribbean island and the U.S. mainland. We dont need bailouts, handouts or dependency. We just need policies that allow us to compete at our fullest potential. Saddling Puerto Rico with federal laws that do not recognize the uniqueness of our situation guarantees permanent economic disadvantage. First among these is the Jones Act. Nearly every study of Puerto Ricos economy from the Krueger study to the General Accounting Office findings calls for Jones Act relief. Whether this is a complete exemption, or relief from the shipbuilding and international relay requirements, federal action would be a significant boost to our economy. A minimum wage exemption would allow us to compete regionally. Finally, as tax reform is undertaken in Washington, a return to something similar to the Code 936 law that helped create a booming manufacturing industry in Puerto Rico and brought prosperity throughout the island is in order.
Milligan is the executive vice president of the Puerto Rico-based nonpartisan think tank Fundacin Libertad and resides in San Juan. Blom is the Washington, D.C., director for Fundacin Libertad and resides in Virginia.
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Thousands think Ariana Grande should be given Freedom of Manchester after raising millions with One Love gig – Mirror.co.uk
Posted: at 5:07 pm
More than 15,000 people have signed a petition to give Ariana Grande the Freedom of Manchester.
It comes after the US pop star returned to the city to stage the defiant One Love Manchester benefit concert.
The gig was in answer to a suicide bombing at her previous date in the city, that left 22 of her young fans and their parents dead, and more than 100 others injured.
Ariana called on her superstar friends, including Katy Perry, Little Mix, Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus, to perform at the gig and raised millions for charity.
Now people believe she should be made an honorary Mancunian.
The concert was attended by 50,000 people and watched by millions around the world on TV.
Established just two days ago, the petition titled Grant Ariana Grande the Freedom of the City of Manchester has now been backed by 15,800 supporters at the time of writing.
Petition creator Matthew Duggan, 25, from Burnage, said: "Ariana could have quite easily viewed Manchester as a dangerous place, but shes made a massive impact on many.
"It was more than a music concert, it was about bringing the country and people together again.
"In a time of divisiveness, not just through terrorism but with our politics too, I think everything Arianas done has been amazing."
The singer made an emotional return to Manchester less than two weeks after the Manchester Arena suicide bombing.
The One Love Manchester show at Emirates Old Trafford reached a peak TV audience of 14 million in the UK, and aired to more than 50 countries worldwide.
Speaking on the petitions reception, organiser Matthew stressed his view Ariana should not be celebrated above emergency service personnel.
He added: "For me, its about her being a real ambassador for Manchester going forward on the world stage."
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#SaveUnderground: Aisha Hinds on Freedom Dreams and Revolutionary Art – The Root
Posted: at 5:07 pm
Aisha Hinds (Manny Carabel/Getty Images)
Last week, WGN America announced that it had canceled the critically acclaimed and riveting historical drama Underground. Allegedly moving in a more conservative, programming direction, the network is leaving behind a show that introduced millions of viewers to the relatively unknown network.
As the cast and crew confirmed and responded to the news, outraged fans#TeamNoalee, #TeamStine and #TeamTubmanimmediately responded with #SaveUnderground.
The push to find a new home for this show is largely due to its dynamism. The show is singular and remarkable in its approach to telling the stories about enslaved and freed black people in the 19th century. From its complex characters, stellar performances, breathtaking soundtrack and rich storytelling, each episode feels like a multitextured journey.
The liberties taken with historical accuracy do not compromise the integrity of truth telling and historical precision as it pertains to slavery and resistance. Pitting the notorious Patty Cannon against the Black Rose and one of the greatest heroines in American history, Harriet Tubman, was an incredible fictionalized remix of true stories of fugitive, formerly enslaved people and the inhumanity of slave catchers and owners. Its hard to imagine Wednesday nights without the resistive spirit and depths of ancestral pain that Underground has provided.
Although our nation is built upon white supremacy, this current era of anti-blackness and racial terror warrants as many sites of radical resistance and freedom dreaming as possible. Undeniably, Undergroundwith its unapologetic commitment to telling the truth about genocide, abolition and revolutionfills and exceeds that role.
In an exclusive conversation with Aisha Hinds, this seasons breakout performer in her role as Tubman, we discussed at length the significance of a television show based on black resistancespecifically against this contemporary sociopolitical landscapeand the centrality of black women to our freedom-fighter past and our futures.
Were still dealing with such oppression, and so I think that its necessary for Harriets spirit to revisit us and to remind us that there are Harriets within us, Hinds told The Root.
Shes come back to sort of give us the playbook on how to strategize, on how to pray, on how to be guided and how to prioritize whats necessary, and how to eventually take those selfless acts and be willing to die for the causes that are important to moving us forward, she continued.
Worth dying for, yes. Tubman believed that black lives, black bodies and black souls were worth fighting forworth dying for and worth living for. The Generals actual practice was #BlackLivesMatter, generations before the radical black women at the core of this movement would proclaim the same.
Underground is clear in its purpose: to expose the reality that when it comes to white supremacyand the ways in which black people have always resisted oppressionpast is often prologue. In many ways, Underground reminds us that the past is not even past. It encourages us to fight unrelentingly for radical black futures.
Over the last few years, I have spent a lot of time thinking, talking and writing about the war on
The shows creative team completed filming the second season prior to the election of Donald Trump. And yet, so many aspects of this season felt timely and passionately responsive to the current rise of fascism and the emergence of a more emboldened and explicit white supremacist political agenda. The battleground has changed, but white supremacy is indeed unrelenting and reinvents itself and its logics through new technologies and systems rooted in anti-blackness.
With the exception of the notable historical figures depicted on Underground, all of the characters are ordinary people who survive the unsurvivable and fight seemingly unwinnable battles. Their visions of freedom shift and expand in differing ways as they experience the breadth and ubiquity of white supremacy. Their ideas about liberation change as they learn more about themselves and about a country indebted to black suffering, labor and death. They are not perfect; nor do they have to be.
One of the first truths that [Harriet] speaks in the Minty episode is when she says, I was born and raised like a neglected weed, Hinds said.
The idea that this woman was an ordinary womanshe wasnt born into the amount of acclaim that she later went on to receive; she was born into circumstances that didnt even consider her humanso the fact that this ordinary woman was able to rise up against insurmountable odds and do this extraordinary thing ... spoke to me and encouraged me and inspired me, that in all of my ordinariness, there is something extraordinary that Ive been planted on this earth to do, Hinds continued.
The imperfections of the characters, coupled with their fluid and still-forming radical imaginations, are profoundly instructive to those of us organizing, mobilizing, teaching, writing, coding and creating in the era of the Movement for Black Lives. Not all will be on board with freedom work. Our visions of freedom work will vary. But an underlying theme of the show and of radical black liberation struggles is that freedom for all of us is nonnegotiable. We dont get to opt out; the stakes have always been too high.
We may have to make some sacrifices and be willing to be uncomfortable if were going to do something that is bigger than us, that goes beyond our own selfish desires, Hinds said. Ultimately, its true that nobody is free until all of us are free. We need to adopt that ideology because where we are right now ... were still very much in radical pursuit of liberty, even as the fullness of our existence remains compromised and in constant jeapardy.
The shows contemporary relevance is both haunting and enlightening, specifically because of its commitment to bearing witness to the horrors of white supremacy as well as the vitality of black resistance. Creative resistance is one of the many tools we have in combating oppression, something that Hinds became increasingly aware of as she moved deeper into her role.
As a person, as an actor, it truly has been transformative for me, Hinds said. It has elevated me as a human being. It has elevated me as an artist. It certainly has revealed to me how important it is that we as artists use our platforms purposefully. That is what our ancestors, our freedom fighters and truth tellers, risked their lives to dolived and loved and fought with purpose again and again.
#SaveUnderground matters because the shows cast and crew were and are unapologetically committed to telling our stories. From an artistic standpoint, Underground is phenomenal. The shows commitment to a radical, black, freedom-fighting imagination, though, is what makes it invaluable.
Underground is the show, the freedom-dreaming experience, the ancestral battle cry, that we didnt know we needed.
Treva B. Lindsey, Ph.D., is an associate professor of womens, gender and sexuality studies at the Ohio State University. She is the inaugural Equity for Women and Girls of Color Fellow at Harvard University. Follow her on Twitter.
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States needs freedom to improve health for Medicaid recipients – The Hill (blog)
Posted: at 5:07 pm
As Congress continues its work on replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Ohio leaders like Governor John Kasich and Senator Robert Portman are rightly concerned about the impact these changes will have on Medicaid recipients, especially those who received Medicaid through the ACA expansion. However, two critical facts are missing from the current debate.
First, Medicaid is a substandard health care system and we have to find a way to transition people into insurance that offers them better care. Second, Medicaid is not fiscally sustainable at either the state or federal level. No one, on either side of the political divide, wants people to be uninsured, but glossing over these two critical facts wont help solve the real problems Medicaid faces and it wont provide people with quality healthcare.
There are numerous reasons for this. One problem is, Medicaid reimburses doctors and hospitals at a lower rate than private coverage, so recipients have trouble finding doctors who take Medicaid. Doctors who do take Medicaid often have less autonomy in deciding how to treat their patients. Medicaid recipients are more likely to visit emergency rooms rather than seeking more effect care with a primary care physician.
Given the poor quality of care, why would we want to put more people on Medicaid? The focus shouldnt be on protecting a system that has a mixed record of providing healthcare, but instead on finding solutions that offer better care to enrollees. We need to change Medicaid overall and think of how to deliver the best care, to the most patients for the best price.
Here in Ohio, the Ohio Department of Medicaid recognizes the need to offer quality healthcare and is actively piloting programs to deliver better care to Medicaid recipients. The problem is, there is only so much improvement that can be made without Washington lifting some of its burdensome regulations.
Fortunately, federal officials want to make it easier to grant Medicaid waivers that would allow states more flexibility to innovate in their Medicaid programs. Current proposals from the Ohio House would have Ohio seek a waiver to help Medicaid recipients save more for healthcare and transition to real health insurance. This Healthy Ohio plan is based on Healthy Indiana, which is working well for our westerly neighbor.
Now back to the sustainability of Medicaid. As with all taxpayer funded programs, government officials must ensure that money is being spent wisely and efficiently, and that the program achieves its goals. Medicaid fails in all three of these.
In Ohio, we spend a quarter of our state budget on Medicaid, and it is only growing. That means less money for education, roads, prisons, and a host of other government services. The good news is, the reforms I have mentioned will go a long way to improving healthcare delivery and will help reign in the unsustainable costs of Medicaid.
Modern day presidents from Ronald Reagan to Barack ObamaBarack ObamaObama ethics czar: Comey details read like trial testimony Comey talked to Trump nine times in four months Trump: Democrats are really in our way on healthcare MORE have proposed budgets that reduce federal funding to Medicaid and increase the states share. Medicaid costs are only growing, and the federal government has made clear they will pay less in the future. If Medicaid is not reformed, the only other option is spiraling tax increases on Ohioans. That isnt good for Ohios families and wont improve the quality of care people get through Medicaid.
Ignoring the problems in the current Medicaid system will only continue to relegate people to poor quality healthcare at unsustainable costs. But we have a real opportunity to actively create a new Medicaid program. In doing so, Ohio can balance fiscal responsibility and offer better care to those most in need.
Rea S. Hederman Jr. is executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Buckeye Institute, a think tank promoting free market principles, and is an expert in healthcare policy.
The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.
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Gunshot detection technology ShotSpotter soars 26% in public debut – TechCrunch
Posted: at 5:07 pm
Investors greeted ShotSpotter with a warm reception on Wednesday, on its first day as a public company. After pricing the IPO at $11, the stock closed at $13.86, or up about 26%.
ShotSpotter notifies police departments about gun violence by using sensors that ignore ambient noise. Their sophisticated technology alerts authorities within 45 seconds of the trigger being pulled.
Its currently used in about 90 cities, including New York, Chicago and San Francisco. ShotSpotter estimates that about 80% of gun violence goes unreported, and they are in the process of convincing municipalities worldwide that their technology will reduce fatalities.
According to CEO Ralph Clark, its not just about catching assailants, but they hope to deter crime also. Nopolice responseleads to normalization of gun violence, he claims.
Shotspotter makes money by charging local governments on an annual subscription basis. According to their IPO filing, they had just $15.5 million in revenue last year and $11.8 million the year before. Losses increased from $6.2 million to $6.9 million in that timeframe.
That is likely why the IPO was so small, raising just over $30 million. They will be using some of the proceeds to pay down debt.
But they are optimistic they will expand to more cities, because clearly gun violence is a fairly big problem in the U.S. and globally, said Clark. We want to continue to invest in customer success, he said.
The largest stakeholders are Lauder Partners, Motorola Solutions and Claremont Creek Ventures. The Mountain View, CA.-based company previously raised at least $67 million in funding.
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Technology: Momentous Momentum – Seeking Alpha
Posted: at 5:07 pm
The technology sector is on fire. Potentially blazing out of control as a matter of fact. For the ride higher is being driven largely by momentum at this point. Where and when it stops, nobody knows. But we have entered territory across the sector where the risks to the downside are accumulating at a compounding rate the further the current run continues to the upside.
Blazing Hot
The run higher in technology stocks over the past year has been remarkable. After languishing in a sideways trading pattern for the better part of two years since the end of 2014, technology stocks finally broke out to the upside in early July 2016.
The catalyst for the breakout? This, of course, was the immediate aftermath of the surprise 'Brexit' vote, which raises an initial eyebrow. I am not yet clear how the departure of the United Kingdom (NYSEARCA:EWU) from the European Union (BATS:EZU) is a boon for the prospects of the technology companies found in the S&P 500 Index (NYSEARCA:SPY), but what I do know is that central banker support stood at the ready to calm financial markets in the wake of the vote announcement. And soothe tech investor fears they appeared to achieve!
Tech stocks trended sideways following the July 2016 channel break until the end of the year. Then suddenly, the sector completely caught fire and has been riding a growing wave of upside momentum ever since.
Fundamental Support, But To A Point
At first glance, it appears that the upside in technology stocks is enjoying fundamental support. And to a certain degree, this is true.
Consider the path of the Technology Select Sector SPDR (NYSEARCA:XLK) over the past six years since the summer of 2011. Why the summer of 2011? Because it was at this point during the post crisis period where U.S. stocks (NYSEARCA:DIA) and the rest of the world (NASDAQ:ACWX) including developed international (NYSEARCA:EFA) and emerging market (NYSEARCA:EEM) parted ways with U.S. stocks (NASDAQ:QQQ) continuing to rise to the moon as stocks across the rest of the world effectively have gone nowhere ever since.
Unlike some other market sectors, the rise in technology share prices has been supported by an increase in underlying earnings growth. During periods when earnings growth was accelerating, so too were technology stock prices. And during periods when earnings growth either stalled or showed signs of fading, the advance in technology stocks ground to a halt. Thus, the contention can be made that technology stocks are behaving consistently with the fundamental patterns implied by underlying earnings growth.
This is certainly constructive. But the one problem with this assessment over the past six years is the following. While technology stocks are advancing in correlation with rising earnings, the price that investors are paying for technology stocks is rising at a much faster rate than the underlying earnings. Put more simply, investors have been consistently paying increasingly more for each dollar of earnings growth that the sector is generating. This is reflected in the second chart below where the XLK and underlying sector earnings are placed on the same scale.
This can also be reflected in the following chart, which shows the daily rolling trailing 12-month price-to-earnings ratio on the XLK from July 1, 2011 to the present.
Whereas technology stocks were once priced at an attractive 13x to 15x trailing earnings back in 2011 and were still pricing in the expensive but still somewhat reasonable 17x to 20x range as recently as a year ago, they are now trading in the 25x times trailing earnings range.
Putting this in a different perspective, technology stocks are now offering an earnings yield of roughly 4%. Given the cyclical nature of the industry, this is not a lot of "yield" to receive even in today's persistently low interest rate environment.
Of course, technology stocks can overcome this premium status through an acceleration of underlying growth beyond its already robust +20% pace over the past year. Such a feat is not out of the question, but it is a tall order given the fact that technology is still a highly cyclical sector whose annual earnings growth rate has fluctuated between -10% and +20% at any given point in time over the past six years and is currently running at the very top end of this range coming out of the most recently completed quarter in 2017 Q1. In short, it's possible, but not likely.
Momentous Momentum
This is where the momentum trade comes into play for the technology sector. Over the past six years, the tech sector has evolved initially from an "intrinsic value" theme to more recently a "growth at a reasonable price" to lately a "growth at any price" pursuit.
It has been widely noted how stock market breadth has narrowed in 2017. For example, the percentage of NYSE stocks trading above their 50-day moving average has fallen from a peak of 84% at the start of the year to roughly half of stocks in recent months.
In addition, economic growth forecasts have steadily faded since the start of the year from the enthusiastic growth expectations that initially sparked the markets at the end of last year.
Yet despite this narrowing market leadership and fading economic growth prospects, the S&P 500 Index is still up strongly in 2017. The primary driver of these gains has been the strength of the technology sector. And part of the driving force behind this move has been the sentiment that excess liquidity is looking for a home and that technology is the one sector where investors can still buy growth while also gaining a degree of downside protection. Put more simply, investors have been parking money in tech lately regardless of the price driven by notion that they can continue growing regardless of the economy. Hence the still accelerating upside momentum despite the already impressive run.
This has been a great trade for those that have ridden the upside to this point. My premium service on Seeking Alpha, for one, went long technology stocks via the XLK back in mid-December 2016 as a hedge against a cyclical acceleration in economic growth. But through the end of February after an already impressive run to the upside that pushed the relative strength index to readings above 80, which was an overbought level that had been rarely reached in its two decade history, the decision was made to take profits. Thus, I have been merely a spectator to the sector's latest leg to the upside that began in late April and continues to date, which serves as another important reminder of the powerful upside momentum that remains in today's stock market.
Maintaining Momentum
The challenge for the technology sector going forward is its ability to maintain its recently remarkable upside momentum. One of the primary risks associated with the momentum trade is that it is not necessarily built on fundamentals or even technical for that matter. Instead, it is built primarily on enthusiasm and the willingness of the next buyer to pay more for the right to own shares of the company than the previous buyer. And this all works beautifully for a time until it does not. And the longer the forces of momentum take hold and the longer they run, the more painful the subsequent downside adjustment can end up being.
Such is the primary risk facing the technology sector at this stage of its recent run. The sector itself is expensive and becoming increasingly expensive with each passing trading day. And this is something that is true not only of the sector itself but many of the underlying individual stock names in the XLK.
Consider the following trailing 12-month price-to-earnings ratios for the following notable companies make up roughly 40% of the entire XLK.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
2011 P/E Ratio: 12.0x
Current P/E Ratio: 18.0x
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)
2011 P/E Ratio: 21.8x
Current P/E Ratio: 33.7x
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB)
Current P/E Ratio: 38.9x
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)
2011 P/E Ratio: 14.7x
Current P/E Ratio: 31.9x
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)
2011 P/E Ratio: 9.7x
Current P/E Ratio: 15.6x
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)
2011 P/E Ratio: 12.7x
Current P/E Ratio: 16.0x
Does value still exist in the technology sector? Perhaps among selected individual names. But at least in so far as the above list is concerned, it would require an acceleration of already robust earnings growth as of late to create this value. And in an environment where the pace of economic growth is fading and the U.S. Federal Reserve is raising interest rates, this is becoming an increasingly tall order.
The Bottom Line
The technology sector has enjoyed a tremendous run to the upside in recent months. But it no longer represents a good buying opportunity for investors with a more conservative to moderate risk tolerance, for the downside risks now outweigh the expected returns at this stage of the rally. In short, the reasonable upside opportunity set in the sector has played itself out long ago now.
Does this mean that the sector is done advancing to the upside? Not by any means, for once a momentum trade takes hold it can run indefinitely and well beyond what might be implied by fundamentals. But the sector is now running increasingly ahead on price of an already heady pace beyond its underlying earnings, thus the associated downside risks with such technology holdings are rising accordingly with each successive gain in price. Thus, selective profit taking in tech holdings may also be a prudent approach depending on your investment strategy and how your technology stock holdings fits into your broader asset allocation.
Is the technology sector then an attractive shorting opportunity? It will be at some point, but not until the upside momentum has been broken. This will be worth watching for in the days and weeks ahead. But if the current market environment has taught investors anything, any future short allocations are better implemented as part of a pair trade to hedge against a broader market that remains determined to advance to the upside no matter what is taking place in the underlying economy.
So while the tech sector that is filled with glamorous, headline grabbing stocks continues to run to the upside, equity investors with a value or "growth at a reasonable price" orientation are better served to look elsewhere at this stage of the rally.
Disclosure: This article is for information purposes only. There are risks involved with investing including loss of principal. Gerring Capital Partners makes no explicit or implicit guarantee with respect to performance or the outcome of any investment or projections made. There is no guarantee that the goals of the strategies discussed by Gerring Capital Partners will be met.
Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Additional disclosure: I am long selected individual stocks as part of a broadly diversified asset allocation strategy.
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MIT Technology and Policy Program’s Best Thesis for 2017 maps out a clean energy future for India – MIT News
Posted: at 5:07 pm
As the worlds second fastest-growing major economy and third largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions, India is at a crossroads.
Intent on raising its standard of living and extending reliable access to electricity to the nearly 19 percent of its citizens who lack it, India is expected to more than double its energy consumption by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency.At the same time, the nation has pledged to make reductions in greenhouse gas emissions intensity (the ratio of carbon dioxideemissions producedto gross domesting product) as specified in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate. Achieving these seemingly conflicting goals will require energy technologies and policies that are both economically viable and efficient at cutting emissions.
That's whyArun Singh, a masters degree student in the Institute for Data, Systems and Societys Technology and Policy Program (TPP), decided to help India's decision makers weigh their options. Singh, who is also a fellow of the Tata Center for Technology and Design and a research assistant in the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, has analyzed climate policy options for India by building and applying a model of the Indian economy with detailed representation of the electricity sector.
Developed with his advisors, MIT Sloan School of Management Assistant ProfessorValerie Karplusand MIT Joint Program Principal Research ScientistNiven Winchester, the model enables researchers to gauge the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of different technology and policy choices designed to transition India to a low-carbon energy system. Singh used the model to assess the economic, energy, and emissions impacts of implementing Indias Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement which aims to reduce carbon dioxideemissions intensity by 33 to 35 percent from 2005 levelsand increase non-fossil based electric power to about 40 percent of installed capacity by 2030.
Singh determined that compared to a reference scenario of no policy constraints, an economy-wide emissions intensity reduction policy (simulated as a carbon price) would cost at least 43 times less per ton of carbon dioxidethan a mandated expansion of non-fossil-based electric power capacity. He also found that an economy-wide emissions-intensity reduction policy would also reduce carbon dioxideemissions in all sectors of the economy, whereas a non-fossil mandate in the electric power sector would lead to increased emissions beyond that sector.
These findings appear in Singhs masters thesis, Clean Development Pathways for India: Evaluating Feasibility and Modeling Impact of Policy Options, which was awarded the honor of being the TPP's best masters thesis for 2017.
Aruns thesis stands out because it goes beyond modeling policy options for meeting Indias climate goals to evaluating their feasibility in practice, based on an on-the-ground understanding of Indias institutions, stakeholders and technology, Karplus says. This combination has produced results that are likely to be both relevant and actionable for policymakers in India.
Singhs paper may also have broader application.
The thesis extends a single-country modeling framework that can be used to analyze the impacts of policies consistent with the Paris Agreement in other countries, Winchester says.
Singhs model projects that achieving Indias NDC emissions intensity target with a so-called purecarbon pricing policy (in which no additional targets are set to expand non-fossil electric power capacity) would require a price of $17.40 per metric ton of carbon dioxide. Becausethis is a higher carbon price than whats been implemented in most developed countries, Singh acknowledges the political intractability of such a policy. If a carbon pricing policy were combined with enforcement of non-fossil electric power capacity targets, the carbon price would go down to $2.06, but consumers would face higher commodity prices resulting from more expensive utilities. However, declining wind and solar costs in the future could lead to lower utility prices, making a hybrid carbon pricing/electric power capacity expansion policy a viable option to meet Indias electric power demand and climate goals.
Singh shared preliminary findings from his research on clean energy development pathways for India last November as a panelist for a side event of COP22, the 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Marrakech, Morocco. He was the only graduate student among nine speakers on the panel, which explored strategies to implement the Paris Agreement.
With this modeling endeavor, we aim to provide policymakers in India with a tool that they can use to assess the impacts of proposed climate policies, says Singh, who will receive a master of science degree in technology and policy at Commencement this week.
Upon graduation, Singh plans to continue working with Karplus and Winchester on expanding the models capabilities and developing collaborations with policymaking bodies in India.
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Smile to enter: China embraces facial-recognition technology – Financial Times
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Financial Times | Smile to enter: China embraces facial-recognition technology Financial Times China's technology giants are rushing to embrace the commercial use of facial-recognition technology, attempting to leapfrog western rivals that have taken a more cautious approach for fear of alarming privacy-conscious consumers. While privacy ... |
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Smile to enter: China embraces facial-recognition technology - Financial Times
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The US Is Already Falling Behind On Future Energy Technology, Generals Warn – HuffPost
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The United States has already fallen behind its rivals in developing new, clean energy technology, posing a major risk to long-term security, a group of retired military officers warned on Tuesday.
Energy demand is expected to soar by at least 30 percent over the next three decades as Chinas middle class grows and countries across Africa and South Asia emerge from poverty. And, thanks to aggressive investments in nuclear, hydro and renewable energy, China and the European Union are far better-positioned to dominate those new markets, according to a new 66-page report from the CNA Military Advisory Board.
American resolve at this point has not been sufficient to put us into the lead, Lee Gunn, a retired U.S. Navy vice admiral, told HuffPost by phone. We fear the instability around the world in everything from trade to political influence that will result from the reduction in American views, values and economic and political power.
Losing control over emerging energy industries could damage national security, said retired Lt. Gen. Richard Zilmer of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Carlos Barria / Reuters
Leader of the free world post-World War II is something we very comfortably fell into, Zilmer told HuffPost by phone on Tuesday. If you agree that energy drives an economy and the economy drives the ability of a nation to have a strong diplomatic arm and a strong military arm and a strong national security posture, with this change in energy, sourcing and distribution, we run the risk of becoming junior partners in the relationship.
In January, China set aside $360 billion to spend on green energy by 2020. In May, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged in a sweeping foreign policy speech to spend $900 billion on infrastructure and clean energy abroad. The European Union is investing aggressively in zero-emissions energy, particularly offshore wind turbines, and has established a consortium in Africa to develop renewables in countries there. Russia, whose geopolitical power is largely tethered to its oil and gas reserves, has ramped up its plans to build up nuclear power stations in energy-thirsty India.
We are behind even Russia in deploying advanced energy to India, Leo Goff, the research lead and chief author of the study, told HuffPost.
The research team and 15 former military officials began putting together the report last year, well before President Donald Trump announced the United States withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. But the researchers said the report is making projections for the next 30 years, and warned against reading too much into its near-term political implications.
Whats happening in China right now with their development of alternative energy and, more importantly, their move to put alternative energy in Africa and India, that has little to do with Paris, Goff said. That has to do with China cleaning up its own air, and we believe their moves in Africa and India and other parts of the globe are about influence and securing future energy needs.
We think this really transcends Paris, he added. Its for the long haul.
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Coaches give latest updates on Giants rookies’ progress – Giants.com (blog)
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Giants position coaches spoke with the media Wednesday and gave updates on the 2017 Draft class:
Nobody knows a football player better than his position coach.
From the meeting room to the practice field, thats who they spend the most time with at the facility. And that goes double for rookies.
TE EVAN ENGRAM
Tight Ends Coach Kevin M. Gilbride: He shows, very much so, a willingness to block and to finish. Its not pads [in OTAs], so that will change things to an extent, but I dont see him backing down. He has a toughness and a willingness to go against anybody on our defense, and Im hoping thats how itll be throughout the course of the season.
He certainly has some development to go, but he has a good knack for [catching the ball] in the fact that he understands coverage. He understands how the leverage of the coverage is going to change how he needs to run his route. He came in with that, and its continued to progress from there.
DT DALVIN TOMLINSON
Defensive Line Coach Patrick Graham: I think any rookie, as they come into the league, they dont know anything about this league aside from the stuff they read in the media and see on TV. So I think its important for them just to stick with what theyve done just in terms of being a good football player up until this point. An organization in the NFL wanted them. To be humble there, listen to the players and listen to the coaches and just diligently work through the process. [Tomlinson is] a pretty even-keel guy. Hell be able to handle it. We will see how it plays out once the competition comes and the season comes.
You never know with anyone. This league is unique. The day-to-day grind is very unique. Guys will just have to experience it. We will see where it goes from there. We wanted him for a reason. Hes a good football player, and he comes from a good program. Hell just work through the process, and we will do our best to make sure we facilitate that as much as possible.
QB DAVIS WEBB
Quarterbacks Coach Frank Cignetti Jr.: The adjustments been great. Hes functioning, hes intelligent, he has the willingness to learn, and every day hes making progress. [The biggest challenge coming from his college system] is a couple things. Lets start with the fundamentals. The fundamentals of the footwork are totally different. Then you talk about the pass game reads. Not only is the scheme different, but the reads are different. Then youve got to look at the pass protection. We have multiple protections in the National Football League. Then lets talk about even being under center, taking a snap under center, and having a run game. So there are a lot of things, and hes done a great job learning it.
RB WAYNE GALLMAN
Running Backs Coach Craig Johnson: I think he brings a lot to the table, but hes like all young backs that I know. Most young backs have to figure out how [they are] going to be good in all three phases in the NFL early. Number one thing: As Im running the ball, how are my guys blocking so I can know my tempo and timing to hit the hole? Number two: What am I going to do in my pass protection to make sure I protect my quarterback? I have to do that. Thats a key asset to be able to get on the field, and certainly in the NFL game, the blitzes and the pressures and multiple, so that takes a lot of time. And then last but not least: Wheres my spacing in the passing game? Am I a check-down option? Am I a primary option? Where am I supposed to be? How does my quarterback want me to run this route? That is key.
Every rookie that I know that has come into this offense is kind of slow and overwhelmed early; thats just part of the process. And then you start seeing them play faster. You can see it. They go, Oh yeah, Ive got this now. Then when they feel good about it, well give them a little bit more.
DE AVERY MOSS
Defensive Line Coach Patrick Graham: Avery Moss, my buzzword is diligent. He is very diligent in working in the classroom and on the field. Hes a rookie, so hes learning to work through the system and work through the meeting time and the grind of the day-to-day in the NFL. I think on the field hes definitely shown why we wanted to get him, and I think well see how it plays out in the competition in training camp.
OT ADAM BISNOWATY
Offensive Line Coach Mike Solari: Its still early, but right now weve got him at right tackle. But again, hes a guy that has versatility. He could go to guard. He has played a little guard in his career, but obviously left tackle [mostly in college]. Right now we like him at right tackle. Were trying to get him as many reps as possible, just again, so when training camp comes, these young rookies are ready to compete.
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