A Week in Quotes

Global Growth
'It is not that discoveries no longer occur but that the rate has slowed. Without new knowledge, only derivative technologies are possible - and, however, important, they are incapable of sustaining the sorts of economic growth rates the world has enjoyed since the coming of the industrial revolution.' Andre Geim, Nobel Prize winner for his work on graphene, writing in the FT.

Japan Bond Yields

'If the economy gets better, then long term interest rates like a 10 year yield at less than 1% are unlikely. So 'If we think about the future and if interest rates go up, then 67% in bonds does look harsh. We will review this soon. We will being discussions for this in April-to-May. Any changes to our portfolio could begin at the end of the next fiscal year.'  Takahiro Mitani, President of the Government Pension Investment Fund, with Y108tr in assets to manage.

Apple and Unions in China 

'The position of chairman and 20 committee members of the Foxconn Federation of Labour Unions Committee will be determined through elections once every five years through an anonymous ballot voting process.'  Foxconn explains how its Chinese workers will choose replacements for the  c18,000 union committees whose terms expire this year and next. 

Apple and its Cash

'It has a sort of mentality of a depression. In other words, people who have gone through traumas  - and Apple has gone through a couple traumas in its history - they sometimes fell like they can never have enough cash.'  David Einhorn, of Greenlight Capital, urging Apple to disgorge more of its $137bn cash to investors. 

Fiscal Problems: Europe and US

'It's ridiculous sometimes when you look at the kinds of difference we're negotiating: a few billion over seven years. . . '  Luxembourg PM Jean-Claude Juncker on EU budget negotiations.

'Deficits are projected to increase later in the coming decade because of the pressures of an aging population, rising health care costs, an expansion of federal subsidies for health insurance, and growing interest payments on federal debt.'  Expecting publicly-held federal debt to reach 77% for 2023, 'Such a large debt would increase the risk of a financial crisis, during which investors would lose so much confidence in the government's ability to manage its budget that the government would be unable to borrow at affordable rate.' US Congressional Budget Office.