An "Ordinary Man" to Build a 180 Mile Canal Across Nicaragua. We Will See.

When the United States was deciding how to cut the passage from the east to the west it considered two alternatives: Nicaragua and Panama.  Thanks to fortuitous events and the opportunism of Panamanian patriots, it chose Panama.  The idea of a canal through Nicaragua is being revived by a Chinese businessman.

John Paul Rathbone wrote in the Financial Times that Nicaragua's "congress voted to give Wang Jing the go ahead to build a new canal in its country.  On June 13th, Daniel Ortega left-wing Sandinista government gave HKND, the newly-registered group [a] 50-year concession' to study the feasibility and build a canal."   So HKND is a special vehicle for this $40 billion project.  Furthermore "HKND is working on the feasibility study for the giant project with McKinsey as well as China Railway Construction, a large state-owned group."

Nicaragua is ruled by the left wind Sandinistas under Daniel Ortega.   Mr. Wang is a good friends of President Ortega's son.

And who is Wang Jing? Rathbone described Mr. Wang as a "40-year-old businessman...who also heads Beijing Xinwei, a midsized telecoms company."  The FT's Kathrin Hill interviewed this self described "very ordinary Chinese citizen" for its "Beyond the BRICs" blog. Hille tells us, "he lives with his mother, his younger brother and his daughter in Beijing."


Hille talks with Wang in this video about his plans and asks whether his US$40bn project is a front for the Chinese government's ambitions to extend its influence in the US's backyard:


This is a project not without risks.  Rathbone warns, "[a]lthough global trade is growing, the Panama Canal is nearing the end of a $5bn expansion plan to double its capacity, while global warming means melting ice packs in the Arctic could make a northern route a viable alternative to crossing the central American isthmus by canal."

Why Wichita and Kansas Are Places to Move Your Business to or Start Your Business.

John Stears writes in the Wichita Business Journal that "Wichita businessman Wink Hartman hopes [he can[ elicit warm and fuzzy feelings about living in Wichita and Kansas — and catch the eye of job creators."  He has produced a pair of ads highlighting the type of people who make up our local economy and its culture of growth.  Spending his own money for production and airing the ads,  Stearns characterizes Hartman's campaign as "one man’s economic-development cause."




Meanwhile the American Legislative Council has boosted Kansas' economic outlook based on improved policies.  Kansas jumped 15 rankings in the ALRC's ratings of the fifty states' prospects: "Rich States, Poor States."

The Battle of Airline Business Models: Southwest Is On A Rocky Mountain High

There are three main approaches to running an airline: those of international, full service trunk carriers, low cost, reasonably priced, user friendly carriers, and no frills, charge for every thing carriers. All three business models are competing head to head in the Denver market.  Southwest had long shunned Denver.  But the Wall Street Journal's Middle Seat columnist Scott McCartney tells how Southwest bit the bullet in 2006.  In Denver, it competes directly with the other two business models represented by United and Frontier.


Which business model will out?  Scott McCartney writes the whole airline industry are are follwing the battle of Denver which is a fascinating microcosm of the industry. By one measure, Southwest has moved ahead:

Surprise: Institutions Matter and Ours Are going Downhill!

The decline of America's institutions, and the related rise in red tape that hinders business, may spell the nation's economic doom. Harvard's Niall Ferguson talks to WSJ's Charles Forelle about the theory outlined in his new book The Great Degeneration (Penguin Press, 174 pages, $26.95):



On June 20th, George Melloan reviewed Ferguson book in the Journal. Melloan characterizes it as a jeremiad, but warns, "Doomsayers are never popular, but sometimes they're right."

The Importance of the Europre's Luxury Industry

The Ft's fashion editor Vanessa Friedman reports from the FT Business of Luxury summit in Vienna on how the luxury industry has emerged as a key player and how it is uniting to influence its own future:

Fashion: the Revolt of the Curvy Customer and the Return of the Circle Skirt

What do calendar makers catering to car mechanics know that fashion designers don't?  The women haters in the fashion world have never seemed to notice what the calendar makers have know for years: attractive women have something to them!

On June 13th, On Style columnist Christina Binkley wrote in the Wall Street Journal about Kate Upton and how the fashion industry is finally starting to understand that the emaciated runway models are not very typical of their customers.   Capitalism is a great thing: money talks where nothing else will!



Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour put Kate Upton on the magazine's June cover.  She writes, "if the high-fashion world seems incapable of figuring out what to do with her … then that's it's its loss:" 


Talk about retro: Binkey also advises Mad Men to move over because Happy Days are back in style. Many designers are fixating on 1950s looks: think high school, circa 1955, updated to look 2013-funky, for early fall:

The Paris Air Show

What's big at this year's Paris air show? 

Bloomberg's Guy Johnson sees the show as a battle of the "wide-body" planes: Boeing's Dreamliner versus the Airbus 350.  With Airbus pushing Boeing for market leadership in the twin engine aircraft market, might that mean a price war?  On June 17th, Andrew Parker reported:
Just days before the show begins, Airbus held a public test flight of its new A350. EADS confident on profitability goal 4:46 PM From the Paris air show, EADS chief executive Tom Enders tells the FT's Andrew Parker he is confident that the group will hit its profitability targets.  Enders is bullish on the A350:

Is Boeing worried?  CEO Jim McNerney tells Bloomberg's Betty Liu he welcomes the challenge.  Boeing took orders for the 787-10, its biggest version of the Dreamliner. 

India Isn’t Shining Anymore

Opinion: India Isn’t Shining Anymore Gurcharan Das, author of “India Grows At Night,” explains why Asia’s most populous democracy is struggling to grow its economy. Photo credit: Getty Images.

And Where Are the Shareholders' Yachts?

Shareholders are restraining the growth of CEO pay according to the WSJ's Scott Thurm: