Monthly Archives: June 2020

2,000 letters in support of Canada’s offshore | OUR GREAT MINDS – The OGM

Posted: June 24, 2020 at 6:51 am

Canadians have sent more than 2,000 letters of support asking the federal government to invest in Newfoundland and Labradors offshore oil and natural gas industry. The letters from supporters of the offshore were directed to Members of Parliament as well as Minister of Natural Resources Seamus ORegan, Minister of Finance Bill Morneau, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson and Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Catherine McKenna. Supporters are calling on government to implement changes to the tax regime to support offshore development and exploration so that the industry can be globally competitive and people can get back to work.

The letters are from individuals who know how important the offshore oil and natural gas industry is to the economic success of the region. More than 6,500 people directly rely on the offshore to support their families and pay their bills. That number is thousands more when you include those employed by more than 500 supply and service companies which provide goods and services to the sector. Without an immediate federal investment to support the offshore oil and natural gas industry, all of this is at risk.

The Newfoundland and Labrador offshore oil and gas industry is facing an unprecedented crisis and its future is in jeopardy. I cannot emphasize just how dire the situation has become and I fear for its future without immediate action from the Government of Canada. With more than 2,000 letters written by concerned citizens, our collective voice is calling upon Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government to support our people, industry and province, by providing incentives for both offshore exploration and development projects to make the industry globally competitive and help thousands of people get back to work, said Charlene Johnson, Noia CEO

The industry is up against tremendous challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting drop in demand for oil and natural gas. This is occurring at a time when the offshore has a critical role to play in the global and domestic market. As markets begin to recover and life returns to normal the world will require more energy and demand will rebound. Global demand for oil and natural gas is expected to grow for decades and as other offshore jurisdictions, including Norway, move to change their tax regimes to attract investment, Newfoundland and Labrador must keep pace or investment will flow to other jurisdictions.

The offshore industry touches every Newfoundlander and Labradorian, either directly through employment or business revenue or indirectly through government revenue which helps pay for hospitals, roads and schools. We urge government to listen to the Canadians who took the time to submit letters, by investing in this industry and helping secure a prosperous future for the province and country, said, Paul Barnes, Director, Atlantic Canada and Arctic Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers

Newfoundland and Labradors offshore industry, with its continued commitment to safety and environmental performance, can supply responsibly produced energy to the world while continuing to bring significant benefits to Newfoundland and Labrador and Canada. Newfoundland and Labradors light sweet crude oil is considerably below the global oil production average for GHG emissions at extraction.Support for exploration and new developments will help Atlantic Canada continue to grow as a leader in ocean innovation and lead to the development and adoption of new technologies that will benefit all ocean industries. The federal governments actions now can help ensure the offshore industry is in a strong position to compete for investment dollars, enable new projects and jobs in the region, help to restart deferred projects, and continue to contribute to global emissions reduction efforts.

For further information, or to send a letter, please visit:https://www.energycitizens.ca/noia

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Is Offshore Wind a Reliable Renewable? | A New Shade of Green | Sherry Listgarten – Palo Alto Online

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By Sherry Listgarten

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When you hear about renewable plants being built, you normally hear about the size of the plant in megawatts (MW). For example, our local power providers are building 100 and 200 MW solar plants, and Mountain Views Googleplex gets power from the ~600 MW Altamont Pass Wind Farm. Those numbers reflect how much power the plant can generate at peak. If you multiply that power by time, you get a measure of the maximum amount of energy it can generate over a period of time. So, for example, if you were to run a 100 MW solar plant at full power for a year (that would be impossible because of night and clouds, but just pretend), then it would generate 100 * 365 * 24 = 876,000 MW-hours = 876 GW-hours (GWh) of energy.

In reality, the solar plant would not come close to producing that amount of energy in one year because the sun doesnt shine 24x7. The capacity factor reflects the actual output of the plant compared to the maximum output. On average solar plants in California have a capacity factor of around 28%. That is pretty high for solar California gets a lot of sun. On the east coast, the capacity factor for solar plants is more like 15-20%. (1)

The chart below shows the capacity factors of different types of energy in the US. (2)

This data is sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration

You can see that coals capacity factor (in black) has decreased substantially over the past ten years, despite many plant shutdowns. That is because the remaining plants are running less often as electricity markets prefer to run cleaner plants. This has made coal power more expensive. Gas plants (in red) have picked up some of the slack by running more often. But wind (in green) is also making improvements, and those are related more to technology than to market forces. Wind is becoming a more reliable resource.

You may be wondering how technology can make more wind power from the same wind. Well, computer models can help to better site (position) the turbines to capture more wind. A yaw system can dynamically rotate the turbine to face the wind, while a pitch control mechanism can swivel the blades to pick up more wind. But most importantly, taller turbines pick up higher, more reliable wind, and offshore turbines pick up steadier ocean breezes.

6 MW turbines in heavy seas off of Rhode Islands coast. Source: National Renewable Energy Lab

Turbine improvements have driven big increases in capacity factors for wind farms. Europes onshore wind farms have a capacity factor of 24% because many turbines are smaller and older. The USs wind farms are newer and have a capacity factor of 35%. Offshore wind yields another step up in reliability because the winds are steadier and ocean turbines can be taller. Europes offshore wind farms have an overall capacity factor of 38%, while the UKs more recent offshore farms have a weighted capacity factor of 43%. GE has developed an enormous turbine for offshore use. It is around 60 stories high and almost as wide, with blades as long as a football field. GE claims it will achieve a capacity factor of 63%, and Time magazine named it one of its 2019 Inventions of the Year. That turbine can capture a lot of wind.

European countries have installed 5047 offshore turbines to date, including 502 in just the last year. The UK and Germany are leading in installed capacity. The US also has great potential for offshore wind, as you can see in the map below. Since around 80% of the nations electricity demand occurs in the coastal and Great Lakes states, this offshore power is conveniently situated. (3)

Source: Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy

Incredibly, the US has only five wind turbines offshore right now, located near Block Island off the coast of Rhode Island. In the last few years, though, the industry has gained momentum in the US, and there are commitments for 20GW of wind (3000+ turbines) in just the next five years.

Offshore wind farms planned in the next 5-10 years. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

One of the challenges we have on the west coast, and also in Maine, is that the ocean gets deep very quickly, so offshore turbines that are fixed into the ocean floor are not practical. Fortunately, floating turbines are being developed, and quickly, in part because oil and gas companies have considerable experience with this kind of technology. It is amazing to me that these not only work, but can work better than turbines built into the seabed. A journalist spoke with Po Wen Cheng, head of an international research project on floating wind energy at the University of Stuttgart, and relates that Cheng says that: not only are winds in deeper waters more powerful than those closer to shore but the physics of the flexible, suspended rigs enables them to carry larger turbines. Cheng argues that floating turbines could be even taller than todays largest offshore rigs, perhaps with 400-foot blades and towers stretching nearly 1,000 feet into the air as tall as the Eiffel Tower. Turbines of such dimensions could generate three times the electricity of todays most advanced onshore turbines. (4)

Some technologies used for floating wind turbines. Source: Wind Energies Technology Office

This is not just theoretical. A pilot floating wind project has been running very successfully off the coast of Scotland for several years. With five 6 MW turbines, it realized a capacity factor of 56% in its first two years of operation. To put that in perspective, that means each floating wind turbine generated 6 * 365 * 24 * 0.56 = 29,434 MWh of electricity per year. An average California home uses 6552 kWh per year. So a single one of those floating turbines could power 4492 typical California homes. Consider that the UK already has installed about 1900 offshore wind turbines. Suppose California were to install just 1500 turbines along our coast, newer models, say 8 MW on average with a good 50% capacity factor. That 12 GW of offshore wind would yield 53 TWh of energy per year, which is around 20% of Californias annual electricity consumption. That is an enormous amount of renewable energy.

Maine has seen the light and is going ahead with a pilot project of two 6 MW turbines. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management analyzed six potential sites in California, predicting a capacity of 16 GW in just those areas. With the coastal winds coming on strong in the evenings just as our demand is ramping up and the sun is going down, it seems like a great complement to our solar power.

Six potential sites for offshore wind in California. Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

And yet. California, for all its clean energy aspirations, has no pilots for offshore wind. No plans. Just long-lingering hopes. The obstacle is not birds, or marine life, or fishermen, or wealthy coastal dwellers concerned about aesthetics. It is not marine navigation, or even economics. Instead the major obstacle to offshore wind in California is the Department of Defense. According to the San Diego Tribune, The U.S. Navy considers vast portions of California as wind exclusion areas, including the entirety of Southern California. Here is a map that the US Navy released about two years ago showing those areas in red.

US Navy map showing wind exclusion zones off the California coast. Source: Ben Inskeep

The Navy is not leaving much room for offshore wind! A central coast Congressman, Representative Salud Carbajal, has been talking with the US Navy and others for years to find some way to establish offshore wind in his area. It is a great location, especially given ample transmission capacity from the demise of the Morro Bay gas plant in 2014 and (soon) the Diablo nuclear plant. But negotiations are slow going. A recent update from E&E News indicates that the Navy has offered to exchange a small area in return for a ban on many other areas. Among other things, the Navy is suggesting that wind could be built in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Carbajal, on the other hand, is suggesting that it would behoove the Navy to learn how to navigate around wind turbines given that so many other countries, including China, are erecting them along their coasts.

So, well have to wait to see where California ends up with this very promising resource. Northern California may have the best shot in the short term. Change is disruptive, and change of the magnitude we need to see over the next 10-20 years is not easy. We see the tension across all forms of low-carbon energy, however promising they appear on paper. I applaud politicians like Carbajal who are really trying to make it work.

Notes and References0. I will be taking the next few weeks off from this blog to do some summer activities. Happy Fourth of July!

1. The capacity factor of a solar farm is also affected by technology (e.g., whether the panels have tracking capability to better orient towards the sun) and market factors (e.g., how often the plant is called on to operate). Solar plants that need a lot of maintenance will also have lower capacity factors.

2. Nuclear energy is not shown in this chart. Nuclear has the highest capacity factor, at over 90%. Geothermal energy is also high, at around 75%, though there is much less of it.

3. This statistic and others can be found in this top ten list about offshore wind.

4. If you are wondering how such an incremental change in turbine size can make a 3x difference in electricity produced, it is because wind power is proportional to the cube of the wind speed. Engineers spend a lot of time tuning turbines (orthodontics for wind farms, as one writeup puts it) to increase energy production.

5. You can find a good overview of offshore wind in the US from the American Wind Energy Association. This report from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has lots of information about US offshore wind plans.

6. This report has lots of data about wind energy (including offshore wind) in Europe.

Current Climate Data (May 2020)Global impacts, US impacts, CO2 metric, Climate dashboard (updated annually)

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Comments

Thanks for the reply Sherry.

> I know that you are a proponent of nuclear power,

I am uncomfortable being thought of as the "proponent of nuclear power", because I never have been and I would not be pro-nuclear now except for how dishonest I see every other side of the energy competition, how much I have read about nuclear power, and the 60 or so year history the world now has with nuclear and the results, good and bad.

> and one advantage of nuclear power is that it uses less space.

I would just say that this statement strikes me as a bit funny because I guess I don't think anything competes with solar on the issue of space except perhaps wind. Power output of nuclear really has almost nothing to with how much land or space it takes up, so mentioning both types of power generation on a scale of space is a kind of rhetorical device.

Solar ( and wind ) use space because they are exploiting features in the environment that both really depend on the effects of the sun. Solar output is in direct proportion to the area of the earth that it covers up, and it is never mentioned in a solar context but land area on planet Earth is not a renewable resources!

So when I see deficiencies and dishonesties in ( present company excepted, this is not aimed at you or your articles where I do see an effort to be objective ) the energy generations sources I just feel compelled to bring up the contrarian side of things, which at least on this blog no one seems to care about.

That should be a concern to you in a way as it seems to indicated you are pulling in people from your own "silo" so to speak; but you don't seem to be hostile to my comments which to me are not really aimed at "proponenting" for nuclear as they are to put some facts out there that people are often hostile to. I know because before a few years back I had always been anti-nuclear. I have a hard time seeing that I am being pro-nuclear so much as pro-critical thinking and fact finding.

Finally but being objective towards comparatively, on every dimension, looking at nuclear, does not mean I am anti-wind or anti-solar. Far from it, but like most human activities when anything gets to a global scale we often find as in nature that systems behave differently and have different issues at large scale.

> However, some argue we have enough space to meet our needs with renewables.

I am sure "some" do argue that. Part of my questioning effort is to point out some of the things that people don't think about or mention, both good and bad. For example some of what you said seemed to indicate that if we put solar offshore wind generators all over the oceans that we might be able to tamp down on global storms ... a kind of selling point that a I am sure some will take and go off and start to use as a selling point for wind. But my feeling is that like CO2 or plastics all over the oceans, when we do anything at a scale like that it almost universally turns out to have some other catastrophic effect to the planetary system we have evolved and lived under all of human exists - and still have not learned is not infinite, or linear.

So I mention that if the world got the majority or even the marginal amount of energy from solar, what happens if there is a global phenomenon that affects the sunlight falling on Earth? Like we have another Krakatoa where a volcano goes off and emits enough ash to reduce the world energy production by 10 to 50 % or even more. Or we have an asteroid impact, or limited nuclear war that gets close to nuclear winter? These ideas seem to be like everything else we humans do, if there is an immediate way to "profit" in some way we look to dismiss any criticism of it. I've mentioned these things a few time and no one has ever picked up the discussion, except to attack me on it. So them it looks like this is not so much a discussion but chorus of believers.

> I haven't looked into it too much, but land use is certainly an important issue.

Indeed. People make the snap judgement that in order to generate all the power we use today it would only take so many square miles of solar panels in the desert and it seems like bargain, but that is desert land that would basically be dead to the biosphere. Also, when we say we can generate all the energy we use today, what about converting cars, trucks, airplanes to electricity? What about the 6 hours a day duty cycle of solar. What about storage? What about terrorist disruption of the energy grid .... but mostly what about energy growth? I think the world needs far more energy than we have today in order to separate human activities from natural ones to save the environment.

There is significant space here for massive failure to millions or hundreds of millions of people. Nuclear just does not have any of that liability of worldwide failure. Also, how would solar or wind factor in to military defense. If we have centralized solar farms how easy would it be for a terrorist or enemy state to crash the country by attacking that infrastructure. Tiny weak North Korea could bring us to our knees with a lucky hit and probably destroy this country for decades or for good because once destroyed and the people in turmoil how would we rebuild that solar capacity?

Thought centralized, nuclear plants are hardened to attack. After 9/11 it is generally accepted that they should at least be able to withstand an airplane strike

> Finally, you may be interested in this just-released policy report from Berkeley that suggests that the plummeting prices of solar, wind, and storage mean we can get to 90% clean by 2035. Their report does incorporate substantial nuclear energy. The land use aspects are covered in Appendix 4, which isn't published yet.

Like any sane person, which I flatter myself that I am, I am scared of nuclear - mostly because of the incredible stupidity of humans when anything is done for profit, status, political power or control. Nuclear should have answers to these questions just as solar, wind or whatever should cover all its bases.

I am sad that no one but I have stood up to the constantly repeated criticism of cost of only a specific nuclear company and plant. If people on this side were honest they be willing to, even if they were wind and solar maniacs should still have the integrity to question arguments just as nuclear should be questioned. Look at the first solar panels and how expensive they are, and then look at what we have today because of solar R&D.

Even if cost was the main issue with nuclear power there is no reason why nuclear or any other technology should not develop and have costs lowered over time just as computers, solar, internal combustion, or anything else. So, I would brand myself as a universal skeptic who tries to keep an open mind about things rather than simply a nuclear proponent, because what I think is not helpful is polarizing black and white thinking in any field or endeavor.

Thanks for the links I will take a look at them.

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Stride towards economic empowerment of women in Assam – The News Mill

Posted: at 6:49 am

Womens monetary empowerment is imperative to understanding womens rights and gender equality. Economic empowerment consists of womens ability to participate equally in existing markets; their right of entry to manage resources effectively, control over their personal time, lives and bodies; and increased voice and significant participation in financial decision-making in any respect ranges from the household to worldwide institutions.

Empowering women in the economy and closing gender gaps in the world of work are keys to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of gender equality, to promote full and productive employment and decent work for all and also goals on ending poverty, food security, ensuring health and reducing inequalities.

Economic participation of women in the labour force or as entrepreneurs is low compared to peers and has declined over the past decades despite strong growth. The gap with men is over 50 per cent the largest among key emerging markets. Participation declines with higher education achievements and family incomes.

The reasons are complex: socioeconomic and cultural factors are important family status increases if women stay at home, house work has become more attractive than poorly paid market work as husbands incomes have risen; and safety concerns and poor infrastructure keep women from market work.

Policy makers and social scientists have for some time now inextricably linked sustainable development to population and economic growth, and the increasing recognition of the centrality of womens empowerment to the success of development programmes.

In India, some of the decline in participation in education of girls may reflect in increasing supply of education and rising marriage market returns to education, especially in the urban areas. Education and family income tend to be highly correlated. Own wage income for the more educated groups is thus less important than household income for participation decisions. Dealing with gender biases across the lifecycle can also have broader, sustainable impacts for equity and remove social barriers. As biases can begin very early in life, sometimes in subtle ways, it is important to influence early trajectories of inequality that are more difficult and costly to resolve over time (World Bank, 2012).

Many laws in India protect womens rights and guarantee equal treatment by gender. However, they are not fully applied as traditional and religious customs often take precedence. For example, the son bias, which seems important in India can be influenced by the tradition of dowry payments for girls, which continues despite the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 abolishing it. Another area of weak implementation is inheritance laws while the equal pay laws also need to be worked upon. The monitoring of the implementation of many existing laws on gender equality should be reinforced.

In case of Assam, economically approximately 90 per cent of states families earn less than Rs 5 lakhs per annum. Assam was among the lowest five states in terms of GDP growth between 2005 and 2014 (less than 6 per cent). As much as 37.9 per cent of the population fall into the category of poverty headcount ratio of UNDP (Economic and Human Development Indicators 2009-10).

The Government of Assam has been taking affirmative action and implementing policies to further the cause of women empowerment and to ensure a sense of self-worth coupled with womens right to have and to determine their life choices, including reproductive choices. Such policies attempt to ensure womens right to have access to equal opportunities and all kinds of resources so that they get the requisite power to regulate and control their own lives, within and outside the home.

The reasons for low female participation in employment avenues in India are complex with large differences across regions and include both supply and demand factors. Supply of female labour is affected by cultural and socioeconomic factors, access to resources, safety concerns with infrastructure, biases in regulations or income levels. The high share of educated unemployed women also points to demand issues and lack of jobs for those who want to work despite high growth over the past decade job creation in India has been low overall and especially for women. Raising female participation in India requires policies that deal with supply constraints.

The gender equality can be brought about by increasing scopes for women to engage in economic activities. Taking up entrepreneurship by women or women groups can lead to income generation and eventually to self sustenance.

There are positive indicators that female entrepreneurship in manufacturing and services is increasing which is an outcome of proactive government policy initiatives. According to Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) website, over 1 million women have benefitted from entrepreneurship training over the past 30 years in programmes run by the government and NGOs.

Although Assam is one of the states with a perceived improved situation for women in society, this is not enough. There is a need to create an environment that is conductive to gender equality by incorporating informal and non-formal education and public awareness programmes.

Womens empowerment has five aspects: improving womens sense of self-worth; their right to have and to determine choices; their right to have access to opportunities and resources; their right to have the power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home; and their ability to influence their environment to create a more just social and economic order.

Self Help Groups (SHGs) movement has immense potentialities for economic empowerment of rural women. There is no gainsaying the fact that the group approach has emerged as the most powerful cost-effective instrument designed for pursuing diverse developmental agendas of the poor women. The group approach provides financial supports to rural poor and needy women to uplift themselves above the poverty line through income generating economic activities with the help of bank credit.

Identifying SHGs as the prime vehicle for women empowerment, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, on February 1 this year, ceremonially launched the second phase of the scheme for distribution of revolving fund amounting to Rs 30 crores to around 20,000 women SHGs under Kanaklata Mahila Sabalikaran Achoni in the state. Since its launch, the scheme has been able to touch the lives of more than 18 lakh households and 1,78,720 women SHGs across the state have received financial benefit. Eligible women SHGs are provided a revolving fund of Rs 25000 and a capital subsidy on bank loans upto Rs 5 lakh have also provided under the scheme.

With the help of technology too, women in rural areas can be empowered to attain economic independence. One example of how internet is helping rural women to achieve empowerment is the Internet Saathis. The Internet Saathi Project is a joint Initiative of Google India and Tata Trusts. The Internet Saathis are educated village women who are provided training and given smartphones and a bicycle to carry out their activities. The Internet Saathis came into the scene in March 2016. Armed with tablets and smartphones, these women roamed the villages of Assam on their bicycles, trying their best to influence village folk. With the internet the poor rural women can sell their products like handlooms to a larger consumer group.

A MoU was signed between Government of Assam and Google in 2017, whereby it was decided that Assam government would identify various women SHGs in Assam for imparting Internet Saathi training and provide available training infrastructure facilities at Gaon Panchayat/ Block/District level for bringing a digital revolution at the grass roots.

According to this MoU with Google, Internet Saathi was sought to be aligned with the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Literacy Saksharata Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) which is to be implemented in the state and Google would conduct trainings for women to promote digital literacy among them.

Therefore it is of the need of the hour that all stakeholders of the society come together to pledge to make women economically empowered so that equal rights of women becomes more than a slogan.

(The views expressed by the author are his own.)

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Bringing Culture to the Forefront at Costello Real Estate and Investments – PRNewswire

Posted: at 6:49 am

CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Collaboration, innovation and generosity - these are some of the key attributes that define Costello Real Estate and Investments, a full-service, premium residential real estate firm located in the Carolinas. Individual agents are considered business partners and have the freedom to create their brand and build their own success. They are making informed business decisions for the sake of their agents.Their motto: #winningtogether.

But like most organizations, there comes a time of reflection. When leaders take a step back and think about what matters most to their agents. Costello REI achieved great success in the real estate world, but how can they build on their achievements within the walls of organization?

Shaping the CultureHeadquartered in South End, Charlotte, Costello REI is one of the fastest growing real estate companies, bringing disruptive technology and paired with a personal touch to deliver a high level of concierge service to home buyers and sellers across the region. The firm was recently ranked as one of the Top 10 Residential Real Estate Firms by Charlotte Business Journal.

Unlike traditional real estate firms, Costello REI uses organic marketing initiatives to achieve success and believe that their winning formula is the inherent and acquired diversity.

But you can't win together if you are not winning from within. Although the firm is having continued growth and success, Costello REI sees the value of creating a culture of highly engaged, productive teams, working together to motivate and improve one's growth.

"Our goal is to be more intentional with additional revenue avenues for our agents, support the growth of our agents on all levels, and deepen the relationships and opportunities beyond the transaction," said John Costello, President of Costello REI. "Our agents are the greatest asset to the organization and it is important to preserve the authenticity of who they are today and what they will become in the future."

The company is growing and evolving. Now more than ever, Costello REI needed to further its mission in winning together and preserving the authenticity of their agents.

It was time to implement a new leadership role to enhance the firm's winning workplace culture.

Driving the Culture

Nelvia Bullock holds an ABR designation and is a PSA certified REALTOR and now serves as the Director of Culture at Costello Real Estate and Investments. In this newly created role, she is responsible for spearheading the growth, engagement and culture of the firm/brokerage. She has already helped pioneer many company events, projects and activities in partnership with leadership to create an atmosphere of inclusion and foster a positive experience for our brokers.

"This position is extremely relevant right now given everything that is happening around the world," said Nelvia. "My vision is to develop a roadmap for agents that will increase reach and impact. Creating a vehicle of empowerment that furthers an agent's professional and personal growth would come full circle in achieving success while living our company values."

Living and Breathing the Culture

Costello REI prides itself on developing authentic relationships with customers, community partners, vendors, and agents. The firm's success is deeply rooted from their core values: Prioritize Relationships, Encourage Diversity, Embrace Technology, Inspiring Self Development and Deliver Results.In a time of crisis, the firm is working to demonstrate these values and implement change that will bring a more inclusive work environment.

For example, Costello REI, along with their partners at Fortified Title, a local title agency in Charlotte, donate funds per closing to Feeding America, a national food bank dedicated to ending hunger. This can provide more than 50,000 meals each month for people in need.

And they are just getting started.

Whether it's addressing social injustice, advocating for local organizations in need of support, working with youth, or partnering with healthcare organizations, we are building an engaging workplace community and bringing agents within our firm together for purposeful collaboration.

Now, that in itself is truly #winningtogether. To learn more, visit CostelloREI.com

Contact Information:

Costello Real Estate & Investments, LLC

2010 South Tryon, Suite D Charlotte, NC 28203 (980) 938-8920[emailprotected]

For more information, please visit:www.CostelloREI.com

Follow us on:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/costellorei/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/costelloreinvestments/Twitter: https://twitter.com/CostelloREI4310LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/costello-real-estate-investments

SOURCE Costello Real Estate & Investments

CostelloREI.com

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Tory Burch: ‘We are using the pandemic as an opportunity to reset’ – CNBC

Posted: at 6:49 am

Tory Burch

Photo by ANGELA WEISS

On Monday, Tory Burch surprised 50 women across the nation with a surprise Zoom callto personally congratulate the founders on being selected for the fifth annualTory Burch Foundation Fellows Program, which supports the empowerment of women entrepreneurs.

The fellowship, which receives thousands of applications annually, provides women entrepreneurs with $5,000 for business education and access to an online community of peers, along with one year of virtual workshops, webinars and networking. Since its launch in 2015, the Fellows program has provided over $800,000 in grants to 130 early-stage women entrepreneurs.

This comes at a time when small businesses are struggling in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown. According to astudyby researchers at the University of Illinois, Harvard Business School, Harvard University and the University of Chicago, at least 100,000 small businesses have shuttered since mid-March, and analysts claim this is only the beginning of the worst wave of small-business bankruptcies and closures since the Great Depression.

Burch admits that this has been a difficult time, even for her own company, which has had to temporarily close a number of stores since mid-March.

Ron Antonelli | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Burch admits that this has been a difficult time, even for her own company. In late March she was forced to furlough employees and temporarily close about 115 stores across the U.S. and Canada. To stem the devastating impact and revive cash flow during the shutdown period, Vogue reported in April that Burchsent an email to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin urging the Trump administration to provide relief in gaining back or postponing duties and tariffs, as well as offer federal support for rent relief.

Burch, who claims that her Spring 2021 collection will be smaller and she won't be participating in September's New York Fashion Week, is now helping her fellows navigate the storm. The fashion icon is no stranger to challenges: Just 16 years ago, up against established brands like Coach, Michael Kors and Kate Spade, Burch launched her apparel line from her kitchen table. Now she has more than300boutiques across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia, and her clothing and accessories are available at over 3,000 department and specialty stores worldwide. Last yearsales reportedly topped $1.5 billion.

Burch spoke with CNBC candidly about how she is navigating her fashion brand through this crisis, the weighty challenges and huge opportunities that lie ahead for rising entrepreneurs, the new crisis-management measures every company should think about and her view on the changing small business landscape.

What is your personal view on the Covid-19 crisis, especially how it has affected businesses both large and small, and what are some key takeaways you have gained over these past few months?

Wehave spent the last few months runningourcompany fromourkitchen table just like I did when we first launched in 2004. I had the idea for my business in 2002, after a crisis, and I launched our foundation in 2009 once again, after a crisis. There is an element of serendipity when looking back. It was not a conscious decision to take advantage of acrisis, but it enabled usto execute on a powerful, unique strategy. When a new normal begins to unfold, customers discover new needs, and we are all open to trying alternative ways of doing things. In turn, innovation is accelerated, and strong companies will emerge even stronger.

And for small businesses,this is a moment to take advantage of yourinnateflexibility. It feels counterintuitive, but I firmly believe there are great opportunities now in all industries, it's about how agile you are and how quick you can pivot for the future.

How do you see retail changing post-coronavirus?

The relationship with the customer will remainparamount.I believe in storesand the in-store experience,but the industry willcertainly evolve. We are already seeing an acceleration of e-commerce; what started as two distinct channels in-storeand e-commerce is now trulybecomingone global omnichannel.

If you were just launching Tory Burch at this point in time, what would you be thinking? Would you be hesitant to move forward?

The most important thing to know whenever you start a new business is that it will be incredibly difficult. You have to be ready for a lot of hard work.Starting a new business is a leap of faith, and what matters is solving a problem in a unique way. Whether or not you are in the midst of a global pandemic, there is no perfect time to launch.

How has your view on entrepreneurship changed, if at all? Do you think people will be more hesitant about starting a small business now?

Now, more than ever, we need entrepreneurs with unique ideas, as well asthedetermination andresources to see them through.Small businesses areessentialto oureconomy they account for 65% of net new job creation,contributing to their communities and drivinggrowth and innovation. They are also a critical source ofopportunityfor womenand minorities. Before the shutdown, the U.S. had 12.3 million women-owned businessesgenerating$1.8 trillion a yearwithmany of these businesses run by women ofcolor.

Starting a new business is a leap of faith, and what matters is solving a problem in a unique way. Whether or not you are in the midst of a global pandemic, there is no perfect time to launch.

How has the pandemic affected sales for Tory Burch?

This has been a very difficult time. The fashion industry has literally been shut down, similar to the airline industry.Many of our stores have beenclosedformonths. Navigating through the crisis has been tough but also a tremendouslearning experience.Wehavebeen careful not to over-or underreact. Having a diverse team and operations in markets all over the world has helped us make the right decisions. There have been a few bright spots like strong growth in our e-commerce business and we have doubled down on those. We are using the pandemic as an opportunity to reset, and we are confidentwewillemerge stronger.

In which ways have you had to pivot during this crisis, if at all?

Running a business from home much less designing a collection is notsomethingIever imagined.Fortunately, we have found new ways of working and it has been coming together.A number of our salesassociates continued to work with customersvery effectivelyby phoneand onlinethroughout the shutdown.Nowthat we are reopening our stores, we are offering private appointments as well as personalized and virtual experiences, andcurbside pickupis availablein select locations.Wearemaking nonmedical masks;as well as doing what we can to helpfrontline workers.The largest health-care workers'union told us they needed sneakers, fanny packs and easy-to-clean clothing to wear under scrubs,andso we donated 24,000 pieces to the United Heathcare Workers Union. We also donated materials for masks and hospital gowns inapartnership with Catholic Health Services in Long Island, which services six New York hospitals.

What crisis-management measures are you putting in place for your company based on the recent events?

Before the virus began spreading globally, we took steps toprotectour supply chain, but we never planned for a global pandemic.Fortunately, we run the business with a relatively conservative balance sheet, minimizing debt,and that approach has served us well.

It's an exciting but uncertain time for these 50 fellows. What new advice will you be offering your fellows based on the coronavirus crisis that you may not have provided in the past?

I've realized more than ever the importanceofsurrounding yourself with astrong, diversegroup of trusted advisors. Whether it's yourteam, customers or family being brave, listening andlearningfromeach otheriskey.

Tory Burch, founder of the Tory Burch Foundation with female entrepreneurs.

Source: Tory Burch

What advice, if any, has changed now?

Knowwhat problem you are solving and the exact need of your customer. This advice is timeless.Asyou face new challenges,take time toreflect on why you started, what you stand for and how your company can make a difference in people's lives.

Will your fellowship program be changing in any way as a result of the uncertainty the pandemic has created?

The program will be virtual this year, and we will be looking at the topics we have always covered finance, digital, PR and funding through a new lens.Facilitating networking and peer-to-peer mentoring is a big part of the program, and Iamthrilledourexperiencesover the past monthshave taught usthat it is possible tocreatea strong and supportive communitywithout physically being in the same place.We hope to be able to come togetherfor an intense week of workshops at the end of the Fellowship.

Most important, what crisis-management measures do you think are imperative now for those launching a new business?

It is essentialto have a solid balance sheet with cash on hand to weather a crisis.

Many sectors, such as online education, telehealth and digital payments are booming now. Hospitality is one of the hardest-hit sectors. What are your thoughts on some of the new sectors that have seen enormous growth during this time, and how long do you think it will be before those struggling will recover?

This crisis makes you think differently. Even in the hardest-hit sectors,new opportunities are available to us that we never could have imagined. We know this will continue to be a difficulttime for so many, but I am optimistic that we will be able to rebuild and create anew normal.

For more on tech, transformation and the future of work, join the most influential voices disrupting the next decade of work at the nextCNBC @Work Summitthis October.

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HR Holds the Keys to Revitalizing Public Service – GovExec.com

Posted: at 6:49 am

The COVID 19 crisis is changing the world of work in every sector. In government agencies, the crisis and shift to remote work have prompted a very different approach to staffing and workforce management. The crisis has altered how supervisors and their people interact and communicate, made front line workers essential, and highlighted the value of individual expertise and initiative. In a crisis everyone needs to be responsive and focused on delivering results.

Three decades ago the private sector was confronted with a similar problem. Until the late 1980s it was business as usual for U.S. companies. That decade saw global, low-cost competitors emerge, forcing companies to become more agile and responsive to market developments. The proliferation of personal computers and the internet facilitated decentralized decision making and opened the door to worker empowerment. It's common in business today to find employees who rarely see their supervisor. The number of employees working remotely has mushroomed but its not a new problem for business.

For public employers, the transition to a new normal promises to be far more complex; the pandemic has exacerbated workforce problems that have existed for years. Its also given employees a reason to work remotely, and that, as one writer commented, changes a workers life fundamentally, which then impacts countless other lives and local economies. Large numbers will want to continue working from home.

Although it's difficult to look beyond the crisis, the fall election and the direction the government takes in 2021 could have significant public service implications.

Government has two well documented workforce problems. It's losing large numbers of experienced workers to retirement plus few younger workers are interested in government careers. The George Floyd protests are likely to intensify the declining interest. Now a new Government Accountability Office report highlights the heavy turnover among new hires: "More than 60% of recent federal employee hires left within two years, as a recent headline put it. The hours invested in recruiting, onboarding and training a new hire make that costly.

A related problem is the emergence of new fields, exemplified by cybersecurity, along with jobs requiring new skills. The latter involve hard skills like blockchain and analytical reasoning as well as soft skills like persuasion and critical thinking. Additionally, supervising remote workers necessitates a different skill set to be effective. The proposed 2021 budget called for reskilling 400,000 federal workers but apparently to date only a handful of IT specialists have graduated. The need extends far beyond creating cybersecurity specialists.

Although not a workforce problem, governments culture of compliance is deeply entrenched. No agency should make meeting the requirements of the rules ... more important than delivering value to taxpayers. The prevailing culture is a high barrier to improved performance. Civil-service rules contribute to that culture and are a barrier to responding to COVID-19 as well as raising performance levels. Culture change is badly needed but thats not feasible in the absence of civil service reform.

Those problems predate the pandemic and are attributable to governments antiquated and ineffective people management practices. The policies and systems governing hiring, onboarding, career management, and performance management need to be replaced. Training and development are central to the need for reskilling. All of that and more comes together to improve the work experience thats causing new hires to quit. COVID-19 diverted attention from the need for reform.

Unfortunately, the crisis buried the March 2020 report, Inspired to Service, from the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service created to address governments staffing problems. In addition to reviewing the military selective service process, the commission recommended changes to increase participation in military, national, and public service. The commission concluded civil service personnel systems require urgent attention. The difficulties facing [agency staffing] are so severe that strategic human capital management [was identified] as a high risk area in need of transformation if [government] is to work effectively and efficiently.

The report concludes that existing practices block younger Americans and workers with critical skills from entering public service and jeopardize the ability of agencies to replenish their workforce in the face of a looming wave of retirements, and notes that modernizing the civil service will be politically and technically difficult. It makes a number of recommendations to address near-term, urgent problems and long-term, structural issues:

This is a damning statement for the civil service system. The commission saw that reform as urgent and elevating and investing in the human resources function is the key. The final report discussed long term, structural changes that are only possible if HR offices are prepared to take the lead in each agency.

In the business world upgrading the HR function has been a priority for the past decade. HR now has a seat at the executive table. The often-cited Fast Company article, Why We Hate HR, was published in 2005. It was countered in 2015 by Whartons Peter Cappelli in the article Why We Love to Hate HR and What HR Can Do About It. He stated, Little has been done in the past few decades to examine the value of widely used practices By separating the effective from the worthless, HR leaders can secure huge payoffs for their organizations. The early turnover of young employees should set off alarms.

Cappellis argument is directly relevant to public employers. Its time to separate the effective from the worthless. It's not an exaggeration to argue failed people management practices threaten government operations. Change cannot be initiated until after the November election but it's fully possible to begin documenting the practices that need to be replaced. There are problems that should not be deferred. Reducing the early termination of new hires, for example, is essential.

To set the stage for change in the months after the January inauguration, agencies should undertake surveys and focus groups asking managers and employees for feedback and suggestions to improve workforce management practices. That should be an early step in defining a new normal.

In a recent radio interview, New Yorks Governor Cuomo outlined a similar strategy for defining a new normal. His recommended approach starts with answering a series of questions (including a couple I added): What is our mission? What do we want to accomplish? How many workers are needed? How do we want to organize? What skills are essential? For teams with both in-office and remote workers, how can we best manage a hybrid operation? How will we measure results? The answers provide a basis for identifying areas where change is needed.

Cuomos comments are unusual for elected officials. Most have little or no experience managing large groups of employees. Their focus is public policy, not effective management. They need to understand why for years the Government Accountability Office has made human capital management a high risk area. Elected officials also need to understand the potential gains from reform. Their solid support is essential for successful change.

Managers and employees can and should also play a valuable role in planning and implementing new people practices and systems. New practices of course are tools used by managers and they need to feel comfortable using them. That was the very successful strategy adopted by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in the years after it was created. Today the lead goal in its 2025 Strategic Goals is:

People: We will emphasize people first mission always as we invest in recruiting and retaining a world-class workforce that advances our tradecraft and innovates solutions to meet mission needs.

People first is a strategy every agency should consider.

But government needs more than new HR practices. In business, the role of HR is undergoing a significant redefinition and expansion. That was discussed in a Harvard Business Review article, People Before Strategy: A New Role for the CHRO. Three leading business consultants argue HR executives should work closely with CEOs and chief financial executives as a troika. Additionally, in the new role, HR specialists are advisers to line managers on workforce concerns:

Its time for HR to make the same leap that the finance function has made in recent decades and become a true partner to the CEO the CHRO should help the CEO by building and assigning talent, especially key people, and working to unleash the organizations energy.

The importance of effective talent management and unleashing the organizations energy is the key to raising performance levels. It will require creating an HR center of excellence to move the commissions recommendations forward. The potential gains warrant the investment. HRs administrative specialists should be a separate center of excellence.

The pandemic and emerging budget problems make it imperative to manage governments people assets more effectively. The commission is correct, The Federal civil service personnel systems require urgent attention. With an aging workforce, government needs to attract and retain a new generation of highly qualified workers. Workforce analytics show the cost of continued inaction will be high. In the words of the commission, the work of public servants [is] vital to the security and well-being of the Nation.

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Seven big announcements from EA Play 2020: FIFA 21, Star Wars: Squadrons, The Sims 4, more – The Star Online

Posted: at 6:49 am

Electronic Arts is bringing more games to PC platform Steam (The Sims 4 included), while its EA Play showcase revealed gameplay from Star Wars: Squadrons and FIFA 21, early looks at new Need For Speed, Dragon Age and Battlefield titles, and several promising indie games from partner studios.

FIFA 21 and Madden NFL 21

Video games as athletic and personal empowerment: FIFA 21 (PS4 XBO PC, Oct 9) and Madden NFL 21 are given the next console generation treatment in this sizzle reel for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X editions of the games. EA is offering separate one-year upgrade paths for digital and disc editions of the games from PS4 to PS5 or XBO to XSX versions.

Star Wars: Squadrons

After a pre-rendered cinematic at the start of the week, this first look at gameplay (intercut with more cinematics) from the Oct 2 PS4, XBO and PC game covers its both-factions single-player campaign, eight types of space ships and their components, various multi-player battle modes and VR capabilities.

The Sims 4 on Steam

It's been a phenomenon since 2014 the franchise as a whole since the year 2000 and, until now, the PC edition of The Sims 4 has only been available through EA's own Origin platform. That's changed now with this latest cohort of Steam re-releases, along with excellent Apex Legends precursor Titanfall 2 and, earlier in the month, Need For Speed Heat, Mirror's Edge, Mass Effect Andromeda and others.

Apex Legends for Switch and Steam

Speaking of free-to-play, microtransaction-fueled battle royale Apex Legends is coming to Steam as well. Like genre leader Fortnite, which launched for Switch mid-2018 after earlier console and PC launches, it'll be on Nintendo's console around the same time, in Fall 2020.

Seven Switch games

In fact, Electronic Arts is committing to a seven-game slate for the Nintendo Switch, with Apex Legends, Burnout Paradise Remastered (which launches June 19) and Lost In Random accounting for three of them.

EA's Indies: Lost in Random, It Takes Two, Rocket Arena

What's this Lost In Random then? Announced this time in 2019 alongside then-mystery title It Takes Two, it's the 2021 release from Swedish artisan Zoink. It Takes Two (2021) is another blend of involving story and creative gameplay from the celebrated Hazelight Studios; Rocket Arena is an acrobatic hero shooter reminiscent of Overwatch and classic Quake.

Five short teases: Need For Speed, Dragon Age 4, Battlefield, Untitled creative game, Skate

Three big franchises were cued up for more comprehensive reveals midway through 2021: Need For Speed, Battlefield and, most likely Dragon Age, with Star Wars: Squadrons studio Motive also working on something new and, as rumoured, skateboarding franchise Skate is on the comeback trail. AFP Relaxnews

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Everything We Know About Katy Perry’s Fifth Album – Billboard

Posted: at 6:49 am

Katy Perrymight deliver her first baby with fianc Orlando Bloom before or after her fifth studio album, but either way, the pop star has been preparing her KatyCats for both this summer.

The "KP5" singles keep sprouting on streaming services and her baby bump keeps growing since she debuted it in the "Never Worn White" music video from early March. So let's retrace her steps before the pop star pops out both a baby and an album.

See below for everything we know about Perry's fifth studio album so far.

The release date

KP5 comes outon August 14 via Capitol Records.

The singles

Although not the lead single, "Never Worn White" came out first out of this bunch of KP5 singles, a wedding-themed balladabout securing a lifelong love with Bloom.

Perry then dropped "Daisies" in mid-May, but the ray of sunshine beaming from it originated from her darkest times."I wrote this song just like it's another anthem for myself. I came out of a pretty dark time on [2017's]Witnessand I've been writing a record for two years," she told Apple Music's Zane Loweon the release date."I wrote some of it while I was clinically depressed and trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel. And when I'm writing songs like 'Firework' or 'Roar,' it's not because I'm feeling hunky-dory. It's literally because I am having really dark thoughts and trying to come out of it."

During a remote interview with Connecticut radio stationKC1010 in late June, Perry teased another single titled "Teary Eyes"and how it ties back to her goal of releasing a project during the coronavirus pandemic. "There was conversation about not putting it out this year. I was like, 'We need some songs to dance through our tears through," she said. "I mean, there is one song on the record called 'Teary Eyes,' and it's really about just dancing through your tears. And I'm like, 'Wow that really resonates. That slaps, that hits hard for me right now.' So I'm excited for it. I'm excited for all of it."

During her Amazon Live mini-concert and Q&A session, the singer-songwriter said every song on her upcoming project exemplified "resilience, redemption, joy and empowerment" and served as a supplemental kind of therapy with her actual therapy to deal with clinical depression.

The videos (and pregnancy announcement!)

Her "Never Worn White" music video from early March gave the KatyCats the first glimpse of her baby bump, clarifying what she meant by a "jam packed summer." But PerrytoldSiriusXM Hits 1 the real kicker about her pregnancy announcement coming in this specific clip. "Honestly, I was getting way too fat to hide it, so I was like, 'Well, I think this song would be a great reveal! Let's start there," shejoked with host Mike Piff. "And that's how I communicate things -- I communicate through music."

When the 35-year-old pop star gave the powerful "Daisies" tune the music video treatmentin mid-May, she exposed her gentle side while frolicking in a field of daisies and even caressing her then-smaller baby bump in a nude shot by a waterfall.

She later transformed into a faceless animated woman for the "Daisies" lyric video she released in late May thatVallee Duhamel studios created. Perry turned the sticks and stones thrown at her from her haters into a pink house on a grassy knoll before she defied gravity.

The merch

Perry joined the wave of artists selling name-brand face masks to combat the COVID-19 pandemic by customizing her personal protective equipment (PPE) with the "Daisies" signature print and song title. Proceeds from the face mask benefitedDirectRelief.

Just in time for Mother's Day this year, the "Daisies" singer opened up a digital flower shop calledKaty's Daisiesthatoffers 12 free multicolored bouquet options.

The features

Perry's kept her lips sealed about which artists might be featured on KP5, but she shut down the rumors that Taylor Swift's name would appear on the tracklist. "No, it's not correct. But the fans are definitely excited for something like that to happen in the future and I'm always open," she said in an interview with Hits Radio Breakfast.

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Letters: It is no myth that Scotland’s war toll was the highest – HeraldScotland

Posted: at 6:46 am

IN Mark Smiths column on Scottish history ("We Scots have been looking at our history the wrong way", The Herald, June 22) he states that one of the great myths about the First World War ... is that Scots suffered more per capita than other parts of the UK. He must consider Professor Niall Ferguson as one of the myth makers.

Prof Ferguson tells us that the Scots were (after the Serbs and Turks) the soldiers who suffered the highest death rate of the war; yet the Scot regiments fought on to the end. He tells us that 26.4 per cent of Scots mobilised were killed, 10.9% of males of military age in the population. For Britain as a whole the figure was 11.8% of those mobilised and 6.3% of those of military age (The Pity of War, page 298) These figures may not include merchant seamen who accounted for many of the losses from island communities and they wont include Louisa Jordan and Elsie Inglis. There is little to suggest that the Scottish soldiers saw themselves as victims.

I believe the situation is broadly similar in just about every other war in which Britain has been involved from the French Revolutionary Wars to Korea and maybe even Afghanistan. Mr Smith also seems keen to perpetuate the myth that Earl Haig was a callous and incompetent commander, whereas informed military historians are inclined to regard him as the most successful commander on either side and to accept his claim that he never launched an attack just to wear down German resources.

Ronald Cameron, Banavie.

ANENT the skimpy history of Scotland that featured in Scotland's schools (Letters, June 23) , this was less the case in my days as a primary pupil and I remember Mons Meg, the characters of the successive Jameses, and the little light blue hard cover textbook in which these accounts were packed. As for the mainly English history on which secondary schooling O- and Higher Grade history was based, the sanitisation of this is nowadays only too clear no allusion to Gladstone and his enormous financial stake in the slave trade and so on. There is more authentic history divulged on the Letters Pages of The Herald than was ever subject matter of secondary exam-level history papers.

But a whole lot more can be said regarding, for example, slavery, which should not only be defined in the context of trading, but also in such contexts as the wage slavery so associated with the studies of Karl Marx. Systems of bonded slavery were commonplace up and down Scotland, from Shetland to the agricultural practices on the Scottish mainland. The bothy ballad lyrics of Scotland's north-east betray all this bonded labour in its stark and harsh realities, and the resilience of its sufferers, for whom the ballads were a repository of their tough sense of humour and relief from their unending toil.

Ian Johnstone, Peterhead.

BOTH David Stubley and Ruth Marr (Letters, June 23) rightly bemoan the absence of Scottish history from their education. If they had shared my own good fortune in being taught by Doctor Iain McPhail, things would have been different. The Doc, as we knew him, made sure that his charges were well educated in the history of their own country, even back to the pre-historic cup and ring marks at the Whangy, in the hills above Clydebank.

To ensure material, he even went as far as writing his own textbook the two volume History of Scotland, now sadly out of print, but still available second hand.

During my working career, it never ceased to surprise me when my own knowledge of Scottish history caused a reply such as How do you know that? I thought Scotland was only discovered in 1603.

As Ms Marr presciently observes this morning, in making today's history, how we deal with present issues, many of which are rooted in the past, will determine our future, but if we have no, or little knowledge of our own past, no sense of historical context, then learning from it is really not an option. As Mr Stubley observes history is written by the victors, which of course, quite deliberately, puts the "losers" at a significant disadvantage. The involvement of the education system in perpetuating this lack of awareness is doubly unfortunate, but as Iain McPhail demonstrated all those years ago, it is not necessary and certainly not inevitable.

Alasdair Galloway, Dumbarton.

I HAVE a problem with the current distribution of guilt complex that I am supposed to feel regarding Scotlands shameful past involvement in the slave trade and colonialism.

It is a truly shameful history and needs to be acknowledged more openly. However, I resent being tarred with the same racist brush from centuries ago, as though I was somehow responsible for those events.

I was born in 1952 not 1652. I have no connection with the tobacco barons or the sugar barons, other than I was born, by pure chance, in the same city as many of them.

The colour of your skin is of no concern to me as a positive or a negative. I feel no guilt, but the media has presented this as though we are all guilty by default for actions taken centuries ago by people we never knew and had no control over and have no real connection with.

Not guilty.

Robert Taylor, Newton Mearns.

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Why is the world economy slowing? – Bangkok Post

Posted: at 6:46 am

According to Bank of Korea's figures for 2019, South Korea's household debt is rising by an estimated US$100,000 (3.1 million baht) every minute, amounting to a whopping US$1.7 trillion today. Every day, more than 100 South Koreans are declared bankrupt. Meanwhile, the government's debt has skyrocketed to a total of US$693 billion, increasing by 111 trillion won (2.83 trillion baht) in just six months in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But debt is not only a Korean problem. In fact, according to S&P and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the debt of all nations reached US$53 trillion in the first quarter of 2020, out of which 34 of the world's richest nations borrowed US$11.4 trillion. For corporations, the debt at the end of 2019 reached an all-time high of US$13.5 trillion.

These figures are massive. But what's alarming is the repayment potential of these countries. For the world's richest nations, their national growth over the past 10 years has been dismal. What answer then do these countries have for the piling up of debt when the economy is not growing?

For many, quantitative easing (QE) seems to be the answer. What was once unconventional monetary policy is now becoming the new norm since the crisis of 2008. The central bank buys government bonds and other financial assets through the printing of money. As more money circulates in the economy, people's spending power increases. For an economy that is growing, this is fine. But if not, this can lead to economic ruin. As it turns out, many countries will proceed with QE measures amidst Covid-19.

So what's next for the global economy? The world has been slowing down since its recovery from the 2008 crisis, hovering between 3.5-3.9% of real GDP growth before dipping to 2.9% in 2019, and is expected to dip further to -3% in 2020. To jolt economic growth back to life, countries embarked on massive global infrastructure spending (estimated to increase to US$94 trillion by 2040) to boost production capacity and increase global GDP growth.

Unfortunately, little has changed. Why is the economy still slowing down? Why do these massive investments lead to only marginal increases in productivity?

Here are three explanations:

First, the widening wealth gap. When you have 1% of the population owning half of the world's wealth, we have a problem. In the OECD, 99% of all businesses are SMEs, with almost one out of three people working in a micro firm. In Asean, SMEs represent 95-99% of all businesses, generating 97% of all employment.

That's a pretty steep number. This means that only 1-5% of businesses have the financial power to create deep economic impact. And only 1% of the population have the privilege to fund new creations and explore different frontiers because they can afford to do so. But most people can only afford to survive and produce just enough to pay back their debts. Creativity for them remains in the realm of the mind.

Indonesia, for example, has around a 130 million active work force. Indonesia's fiscal space still depends largely on energy and commodity sectors (around 70%) and is unable to develop other innovative industries effectively because a significant number of its population are struggling workers who are stuck in poverty. This is the same story in many countries in Asia and Africa. No amount of education investment will ever change that situation because people are focused on surviving, not creating.

Second, the fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is being powered by an engine from the Second Industrial Revolution (2IR).

The discovery of fossil fuels in the mid 19th century powered the 2IR, vastly changing the landscape on energy, technology and infrastructure in the global economy. This gave birth to petrol powered vehicles, which we still use until today. We are in the year 2020. How can we even conceive 4IR globally when we still depend on fossil fuels for our transportation and industrial needs? A huge number of countries are still stuck on a 2IR economy, some are struggling on 3IR, and we have a saturated fossil fuel market. Why then do we still invest in 2IR infrastructure and expect exponential productivity?

Third, problems with aggregate efficiency. This is a term to denote the efficient use of energy in transforming a commodity up the value chain. In the height of the 2IR in 1905, the aggregate efficiency of production is around 3%, which means that 97% of energy used gets lost in the process. We are now currently at 20% aggregate efficiency. Hence, we still need to use vast amounts of energy to produce a disproportionately smaller output, and massive pollution.

For example, it takes 3.5 kilogrammes of feed to create just 400 grammes of beef. That's massive wastage. Therefore, no amount of market or labour reform will meaningfully change productivity, unless we change the engine of growth.

All these are interrelated factors. We cannot diversify our fiscal space, as long as the vast majority of our people cannot effectively innovate. And they cannot innovate when the structure of our economies only favour the 1%, and we depend on the 1% to create miracles for the economy. They cannot innovate because they are struggling and are preoccupied with basic survival.

Datuk Seri Nazir Razak, former chairman of CIMB Group, once said in 2016 that one of Asean's biggest obstacles to progress is the linkage between governments and big corporations. Indeed, this linkage is what stifles creativity and efficiency in economic distribution. It enriches only the top layer of society, leaving the other parts to fend for themselves.

This linkage is what perpetuates the 2IR infrastructure. Coal, fossil fuels, petrol vehicles -- no wonder why we are stuck in 20th century productivity, because there is vested interest in maintaining status quo and thus a hesitance to move into a new frontier.

The good news is things are changing. Europe is investing heavily on renewable energy, and China is working on achieving power grid parity between renewables vis--vis fossil fuels. But for the world to really stand a chance to curb environmental disaster, this should be a global commitment at all levels.

Technology has helped us increase aggregate efficiency. It gave birth to big data which is utilised by artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, enabling us to greatly enhance our production systems and achieve near zero marginal cost. This incentivises people to produce and share things with fellow human beings for free, creating a truly global sharing economy.

This is not a distant dream. In 1999, Napster was the first experiment of a sharing economy. Then came Wikipedia. Who would have thought we could create an active global encyclopaedia for free? Wikipedia has kicked the doors to knowledge wide open for everyone, not just the rich, but also poor people everywhere.

On the job front, creative destruction will step up in the next 10 years. Massive job losses due to automation will be followed by the creation of new jobs. But what is certain is the death of wage slavery -- a feature of the 20th century -- as menial jobs will be taken over by robots.

So what jobs are left? As marginal cost plunges towards zero, people do not require big fat salaries to afford things anymore. Entrepreneurship will be a thing of the past, as the creation of value will be the work of robots. The sector of the future will be that of the humanities -- those which preserve our humanity in a highly digitalised world, such as nursing homes, nurseries and inter-faith institutions. And perhaps by that time, the mass majority can finally be emancipated and contribute value to the next frontier of human civilisation.

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Why is the world economy slowing? - Bangkok Post

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