Europe was the leading destination for U.S. students studying aboard in 2017. Oxford and Cambridge helped propel the United Kingdom to the top of the list, with a favorable climate and rich culture lifting Italy to second place.
The top 10, according to the Institute of International Education’s 2017 Open Doors report:
Mercer, the human resources consulting firm, conducts an annual survey of cities with the best standard of living. The purpose is to help "multinational companies and governments compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments."
A quick glance at the 2011 results begs the question: What’s wrong with the U.S.? Eight of the top 10 are in Europe and despite a leading eight cities in the top 50, the first U.S. destination on the list is Honolulu at No. 29.
The top five: Vienna, Austria; Zurich, Switzerland; Auckland, New Zealand; and Munich and Dusseldorf, Germany. Vancouver comes in sixth before a return to four more locations in Germany, Switzerland and Denmark.
Africa and the Middle East dominate the "bottom 10," with Baghdad at the final spot of No. 221.
But really, where are the New Yorks, Chicagos and other domestic locales?
In the U.S., 2006 and 2008 belonged to the Democrats. Then 2010 went decidedly the other way. Who knows what 2012 holds, although approval ratings for President Obama may indicate the rightward swing could continue through the next election cycle. What is a bit out of sorts is that in Canada and Europe, economically right-wing parties have continued to gain more prominence than in recent memory (at least in my recent memory). Spiegel Online reports this story out of Finland on what the Drudge Report referred to as "Europe’s Tea Party":
Timo Soini, 48, is standing in front of "Hesburger," a fast food restaurant in the western part of Helsinki. It is shortly before 10 a.m., and he is waiting patiently for the restaurant to finally open its doors. Soini, the chairman of the right-wing populist Perussuomalaiset, or "True Finns" party, has been giving interviews for almost three hours. There are more than 250 new text messages on his mobile phone. Now he’s hungry.
It is the morning after an election that brought what the papers have called a "revolution" to Finland. Almost one in five voters voted for Soini’s party on Sunday, April 17, and now it looks like it is about to become part of the new government. A political earthquake is happening in Helsinki, one that could have reverberations throughout Europe.
Until now, the small country in the far northeastern corner of the continent was seen as a model member of the European Union. It was known for its successful export-oriented companies, liberal social policies and the best-performing school students in the Western industrialized world. It is ironic that it is here in Finland — a part of Europe that always seemed eminently European — that a movement is now coming to power that inveighs against immigrants and abortions, considers Brussels to be the "heart of darkness" and rejects all financial assistance for what it calls "wasteful countries," like Greece, Ireland and Portugal. "We were too soft on Europe," says Soini, adding that Finland should not be made to "pay for the mistakes of others."
The election result from Europe’s far north has alarmed the political establishment in Brussels. If Soini’s party becomes part of the new government, there will be more at stake than Helsinki’s traditional pro-European stance. The entire program to rescue the euro could be in jeopardy, because it has to be approved unanimously by the entire European Union. That includes both the anticipated aid for Portugal, the additional billions for the euro bailout fund and the planned reform of the fund. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt calls the Finnish election results a "reason for concern," while Hans-Dietrich Genscher, the former head of Germany’s pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) and former German foreign minister, warns: "The outcome of the elections is a warning sign."
So what do you think? Is this an indicator that the American Tea Party will move more into elected prominence in 2012 (although supporters could argue they already made a serious impact in 2010)? Or is the movement too much on the fringe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
Mention the word "rail" and let the discussions begin:
The latest on the high-speed front, courtesy of Stateline.org:
Congress on Tuesday (April 12) revealed the details of the federal budget deal reached by Democrats and Republicans late last week, and a clear loser is high-speed rail.
Funding for the program, a priority for President Obama, was slashed dramatically in the agreement announced by the administration and GOP House Speaker John Boehner. Not only does the deal eliminate all financing for high-speed rail this year, it takes back $400 million of the $2.5 billion that Congress authorized for it last year, The New York Times reports.
"The cuts will not bring the rail program to a halt, as there is still unspent rail money that can be used on new projects. But they leave the future of high-speed rail in the United States unclear, to say the least," The Times says. "Roughly $10 billion has been approved for high-speed rail so far, but that money has been spread to dozens of projects around the country. If Congress does not approve more money, it is possible that the net result of all that spending will be better regular train service in many areas, and a small down payment on one bullet train, in California."
High-speed rail has been a favorite target for congressional and state-level Republicans who see it as a waste of money. The opposition in the states has been led by three GOP governors who rejected funding for projects in their states: Rick Scott of Florida, John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin.
John Engler, a former governor of Michigan, spent much of his June 3 Economic Club of Indiana presentation doling out praise – for Indiana rather than his home state – when it comes to “getting it right” on manufacturing. Engler, current president of the National Association of Manufacturers, feels that Gov. Daniels and others in Indiana government have helped create an environment in which manufacturing can thrive.
“As I go around the country and look at (manufacturing) data, Indiana stands out. Indiana is intelligent in manufacturing,” Engler said.
Engler noted business development tax incentives and the commitment to developing a skilled workforce as two areas in which Indiana is leading the way.
Global competition
“In 1982, unemployment was 17%, but we could recover then without competition from a unified Europe or growing China. We have to be more strategic,” Engler explains.
Engler reminded the audience that the U.S. is still the largest manufacturing economy in the world but warns that any economic recovery will lag without a comprehensive manufacturing strategy in place at the federal level.
“It’s no longer governor vs. governor but governor vs. national leader,” Engler offered, adding, “The federal government has a role because states can’t compete when their incentives are dwarfed by the federal cost of taxes and regulations.”
Engler expressed particular disappointment with the recent expiration of a federal research and development tax credit – noting that the U.S. is now the only major economy in the world without a research and development incentive. He also mentioned the new 2.3% federal excise tax on medical device makers – a major part of Indiana’s economy – as an unnecessary burden.
“I don’t know of another country in the world that takes a leading sector (medical device manufacturing) and says, ‘let’s hit them with $20 billion in new taxes.’”
Education leading the way
Regulatory and tax policy changes may improve the U.S. business climate but education, according to Engler, is key to another of his stated goals – for the U.S. to become the best place in the world to conduct research and develop new products. He highlighted the industry’s need for engineers, computer programmers and other highly skilled professionals. Engler complimented Ivy Tech Community College in particular on its efforts to produce an advanced manufacturing workforce for the future.
Engler believes we can dramatically improve education on a national basis by building on currently successful initiatives – no matter how small or regional they may seem.
“We have solved every education problem in America. Every problem has been solved in some area. We are just terrible at replicating successful programs,” Engler explains.
Engler’s luncheon presentation in Fort Wayne was the first of three stops on the Economic Club’s traveling summer series. The summer series continues with John Norquist, president & CEO of Congress for the New Urbanism, speaking in Evansville on July 15. Learn more.
While we can’t make a prediction with 100% certainty, we can assign probabilities to the next trend for the U.S. stock markets. The major U.S. market indexes (Dow Jones 30, S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite) all reached new highs for the rally on or about April 28. Additionally, technical indicators of the market’s underlying health were all strongly positive as well. The correction that has ensued since April 28 has erased between 9% and 11% of the averages’ value. In a less tumultuous time, this kind of performance would be seen as a normal correction and not the start of a new bear market.
There are two root causes for the stock markets’ performance since the end of April:
A silver lining to the decline of the past few weeks is oil prices have declined from almost $90 to $70 per barrel. Look for lower gas prices as a result. Interest rates have also declined as investors have fled to Treasuries as a safe haven. Mortgage rates will likely decline as well. Finally, the U.S. economy may have finally entered a durable recovery and this momentum is hard to reverse in a short period of time.
Investors can expect that volatility could remain elevated over the next few weeks or months as more news coming out of Europe could influence opinions about the impact on U.S. economic growth.
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George Farra is co-founder and principal of the investment firm Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management in Indianapolis.
A very unique — and inspiring — story from the Austrian Alps via The Telegraph. One can’t help but think that if more people thought in these terms, the world would be much better off.
Mr Rabeder, 47, a businessman from Telfs is in the process of selling his luxury 3,455 sq ft villa with lake, sauna and spectacular mountain views over the Alps, valued at £1.4 million.
Also for sale is his beautiful old stone farmhouse in Provence with its 17 hectares overlooking the arrière-pays, on the market for £613,000. Already gone is his collection of six gliders valued at £350,000, and a luxury Audi A8, worth around £44,000…
Mr Rabeder has also sold the interior furnishings and accessories business – from vases to artificial flowers – that made his fortune.
"My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come."
Instead, he will move out of his luxury Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck.
His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.
"For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness," he said. "I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years," said Mr Rabeder.
All the money will go into his microcredit charity, which offers small loans to Latin America and builds development aid strategies to self-employed people in El Salvador, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Chile…
Since selling his belongings, Mr Rabeder said he felt "free, the opposite of heavy".
But he said he did not judge those who chose to keep their wealth. "I do not have the right to give any other person advice. I was just listening to the voice of my heart and soul."
Hat tip to The Huffington Post.
This time last year, collective faith in American businesses was down, both domestically and abroad. Then again, at this time last year Brett Favre seemed to be settling into retirement and Conan O’Brien was eagerly awaiting fulfilling his dream of taking over "The Tonight Show." Quite a bit can change in a year.
And it looks as though trust in American businesses is rebounding, according to PR Newswire:
Trust in business and government in the United States has improved significantly, according to the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer. Among informed publics(1), trust in U.S. business to do what is right jumped 18 points since last year to 54 percent. Trust in U.S. companies is trending up in 19 of the 20 countries surveyed, with the largest increases – 20 percentage points or more – recorded in Europe, reversing years of low trust in U.S. companies across the EU and Russia. In the U.S., trust in government also rose 16 points since last year, to 46 percent, one of the largest increases in trust in government among the countries surveyed. These levels of trust are approaching those measured by Edelman before the "great recession," at the height of the economic expansion in 2006 and 2007. However, nearly two-thirds (59 percent) of U.S. respondents express concern that business and financial institutions will return to "business as usual" after the recession is over…
For the first time, this year’s survey shows that trust and transparency are as important to corporate reputation as the quality of products and services. In the U.S. and in much of Western Europe, those two attributes rank higher than product quality – and far outrank financial returns, which sits at or near the bottom of 10 criteria in all regions. This is in stark contrast to 2006, when financial performance was in third place in a list of 10 attributes shaping trust in the United States. An increasing number of respondents also expressed trust in information from a company’s CEO – up 12 points, from 19 percent to 31 percent, which is still relatively low.
Elkhart’s recent economic struggles have been well-documented, most notably last year when President Obama visited. But hopefully the page is turning in Northern Indiana as Gov. Daniels and others laud the fact that a Scandinavian electric car manufacturer plans to bring several hundred jobs to the area.
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and local officials joined executives from electric car manufacturer, THINK today to announce the company’s decision to locate its North American production facility in Elkhart, creating more than 400 jobs by 2013.
A leading international manufacturer of pure electric vehicles (EV) based in Norway, THINK is scheduled to begin selling the THINK City, one of the world’s first highway-ready EVs, in the U.S. later this year. The company plans to invest more than $43 million in building improvements and equipment in Elkhart. The plant is slated to begin assembling vehicles in early 2011. THINK’s investments in Elkhart will support manufacturing capacity for more than 20,000 vehicles a year. The company recently started delivering the latest generation of its THINK City model to customers in Europe where it has more than 1,500 cars on the road.
"We’ve said we’re out to make Indiana the electric vehicle state. It’s beginning to look like the state capital will be Elkhart County," said Daniels.
The THINK City can travel at highway speed for more than 100 miles on a single battery charge with zero tailpipe emissions. The vehicle is currently in production in Finland at the site of THINK’s manufacturing partner, Valmet Automotive, which also houses assembly facilities for Porsche AG’s Boxster and Cayman models. European production of the THINK City will continue at Valmet to support European market demand.
Inside INdiana Business has the full presser here.
The World Economic Forum takes Geneva over Washington in its latest global competitiveness report. In other words, Switzerland tops the United States in the ranking of world economies. It is the first time out of the No. 1 spot for the U.S. since the rankings were revised in 2004.
Why the downgrade? The report cites banking system troubles, concerns about the "government’s ability to maintain distance from the private sector" and doubts about firms’ auditing and reporting standards.
The Swiss, who also dipped into recession and had to bail out their largest bank (UBS), were lauded for "capacity to innovate, sophisticated business culture, effective public services, excellent infrastructure and well-functioning goods markets."
In the banking category, Canada led the way. The U.S. was 108th (behind Tanzania) and the British 126th.
Public data and an executive opinion survey are used to compile the rankings. Behind the Swiss and the Americans are: Singapore, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, Canada and the Netherlands.
At the bottom were African countries Zimbabwe and Burundi. For Zimbabwe, the report cited "corruption, basic government inefficiency and the complete absence of property rights."