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American manufacturing: the ostensible decline and the real quandaries
What can China learn from the U.S.'s experience in manufacturing development?
The following article was published on 财经十一人 Caijing Eleven on June 26, a column created by eleven professional financial journalists from the industry reporting team of 财经 Caijing magazine. The original piece is available in Fudan American Review. (Author: Ma Xue).
The article argues that the U.S. manufacturing industry still sustains its core competitiveness, while the structural changes in manufacturing have led to the dilemmas between developing a high-end manufacturing industry to maintain technical superiority and the short-term goal of promoting employment, as well as the incompatibility between building resiliency and pursing efficiency.
By looking into the development of U.S. manufacturing, the article comes up with suggestions for China's manufacturing industry, including emphasizing labor force development in manufacturing, balancing the investment in labor and technology, strengthening national policy support, highlighting demand as the central role in manufacturing innovation and also rationalizing government funding.
Ginger River is aware that some GRR subscribers are from the United States and that some are professionals and business gurus. As stated in the newsletter's subtitle, Ginger River thinks this article, which was published in a journal by a prestigious Chinese university, is a useful resource for China watchers to understand how the Chinese academic community views the growth of American manufacturing and their reflection on China's own path to developing its manufacturing industry to the next level (see Section 4 of this article).
The translation was done by GRR, which hasn't been reviewed by the author, so it does not represent an official translation of the article. The highlights are from GRR.
The development and change of the American manufacturing industry over the last two decades should not be characterized as a "decline." In fact, America's focus on employment and trade deficit masked the fact of structural changes in the industry, that is, the country is maintaining its core competitiveness by focusing on high-end manufacturing and making varying degrees of changes in aggregation and distribution across industries, as well as creating new types of jobs.
However, structural changes in American manufacturing have also brought about a series of problems, and policies of the U.S. government can still lead to unexpected and undesirable results in actual operations, creating quandaries for American manufacturing development -- the impenetrable barrier between "created in the U.S." and "made in the U.S.", the conflict between developing high-end manufacturing industry to maintain technical superiority and ensuring the short-term goal of employment, the incompatibility between building resilience and pursing efficiency, and the dilemma of interest split-up between "large multinational corporations" and "small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)”.
The United States is a country where progress is driven by crisis. The financial crisis has triggered a reflection on a manufacturing revival from economic society and the government, and the "decline theory" has gradually formed. But America's real purpose is to accelerate industrial upgrading and quality optimization and consolidate competitiveness and absolute advantage. The article examines the changes in U.S. manufacturing from direct and objective indicators, to demonstrate that its industry is continuing to grow, and its competitiveness is still at the forefront of other developed economies. By analyzing the growth trends and structural changes of the manufacturing industry in the U.S, and the real predicament faced in the process of development and upgrading, the article puts forward some suggestions for the high-quality development of China's manufacturing industry.
Section 1 Is American manufacturing really in decline?
Though the problem of political polarization in the U.S. always becomes more acute during election years, Washington retains at least one bipartisan consensus, that is, "revitalizing U.S. manufacturing capabilities". Since 1992, both Democrats and Republicans have chosen to focus on manufacturing. Bill Clinton, under his corporate-tax reform proposal, argued that American manufacturing companies must be prevented from "creating jobs overseas". Hillary Clinton made rebuilding the manufacturing base and supporting small businesses the focus of her economic plan. Donald Trump once said that Americans "don't make things anymore," claiming that "we have to bring Apple - and other companies like Apple - back to the United States". Joe Biden also pointed out manufacturing jobs are vital in supporting middle-class Americans, as manufacturing companies are shifting their businesses and jobs overseas.
All these campaign plans above have championed one notion, that is, American manufacturing has been locked in a downward spiral in recent decades. That notion often was backed by three arguments:
First, America saw the weakest growth in U.S. manufacturing in the past several decades since World War II. The overall share of U.S. manufacturing in the economy has been shrinking over time. In 1970, the manufacturing's share of GDP in the U.S. was 24.3 percent, twice as much as in 2018. Today, the figure stands at 12.4 percent, far below the level registered between the 1950s to 1960s. In the meantime, America's share of the world's manufacturing sector has also fallen from 40 percent in 1970 to 17.4 percent nowadays.
Second, U.S. manufacturing fails to provide more jobs — This is one of the most common statements made by American politicians and one that worries the public the most, for they are convinced that the absolute decline in manufacturing employment, as well as the decline in manufacturing's share of total employment in the country, are indicators of a shrinking American manufacturing industry. In 1987, manufacturing in the U.S. was still a labor-intensive sector, the 68 percent of gross domestic output earned by labor in manufacturing was considerably higher than the 56 percent share in the typical industry. After 1987, however, labor's share within manufacturing fell precipitously. In 1987 labor compensation in manufacturing contributed 20.1 percent of labor compensation in private industry. In 2011 it provided just 10.9 percent. In the meantime, there was a 33.4 percent drop in manufacturing employment between 1987 and 2011. In 2013, there were 3.4 million fewer manufacturing jobs than in 1960.
Third, the U.S. manufacturing trade deficit is widening. Up until the late '90s, U.S. trade deficits in the manufacturing sector were relatively small, never exceeding $131 billion annually, or 1.7 percent of GDP. After 1998, the deficits began rising sharply and peaked at $568 billion in 2017. Some believe that the manufacturing trade deficit is linked to job losses. During a time of increasing trade deficits since 2000, the industry lost more than 5 million jobs, which added weight to the argument of a decline in American manufacturing.
Nonetheless, U.S. politicians' long-standing focus on U.S. manufacturing employment in fact has obscured important signs of the country's continued expansion of the industry, and the concerns about the manufacturing trade deficit can lead to misreading its global competitiveness.
A more direct indicator of productivity shows that U.S. manufacturing is not really in decline.
(1)The overall scale of the American manufacturing has continued to grow rapidly for nearly four decades. Compared to other sectors, U.S. manufacturing remains the country's leading growth sector, with its productivity growth rate surpassing that of overall GDP. Between 1960 and 2014, the broadest measure of productivity - total factor productivity, which embodies the improvement in technical efficiency via all inputs -grew 1.18 percent faster in manufacturing than in the economy as a whole. Over the same period, labor productivity in manufacturing grew 1.51 percent faster than labor productivity in the economy as a whole. From 2009 to 2019, manufacturing value-added as a share of US GDP has grown at an average annual rate of 2.2 percent, reaching $2.5 trillion by 2019. This growth in manufacturing value-added as a share of GDP is also much faster than the world average of -1 percent over the same time period. Both the total output and the output per capita in manufacturing are faster than the economic growth, especially in industries aside from computer and electronic, including transportation equipment, medical facility, mechanical engineering, semiconductor, communications equipment, and motor vehicle.
The productivity growth in U.S. manufacturing is strong even in comparison to other countries. In 2019, U.S. manufacturing output was 2.5 times that of Japan and Germany combined. Since the financial crisis, manufacturing growth in the U.S. has been much faster than in the UK and France, and even surpassing developing countries such as China, India, and Mexico. While the U.S.' share of the world's manufacturing output has fallen, all other OECD countries saw their share of manufacturing output decline too, From 2005 to 2015, the U.S. share of the world's manufacturing output fell by 3.5 percentage points to 15.3 percent. Japan's share declined from 10 percent to 7.9 percent, and the euro area's share declined from 17.7 percent to 13.9 percent. China's share of the world's manufacturing output rose by 10.1 percentage points to 19.7 percent. U.S. politicians always blame Chinese manufacturing for taking the share of American manufacturing industry, but it has gained more from other countries.
(2) U.S. manufacturing productivity is rising
While manufacturing is shrinking both in terms of absolute numbers of jobs and as a share of U.S. domestic employment, this is not the result of a shrinking manufacturing sector, but a sign of growing productivity workers and the U.S. manufacturing sector. The most convincing explanations for the decline in U.S. manufacturing employment are technological reforms and intra-industry changes. Increased automation and innovation in U.S. manufacturing have encouraged companies to boost output without having to invest more capital and by using labor more efficiently.
Compared with 1987 levels, output per hour for all workers today in manufacturing has increased by more than 2.29 times. Productivity was about 1.91 times higher for non-agricultural businesses. It's worth noting that durable goods manufacturers have registered higher growth in production efficiency - output per capita is nearly 2.7 times higher than 35 years ago. This trend has shifted American manufacturing to demand for skilled workers. In terms of labor compensation, between 1987 and 2011, the Employment Cost Index (ECI) for manufacturing declined by just 2 percent relative to the ECI for all civilian workers. This means that a drop in manufacturing employment, rather than slow wage growth, was the major source of the fall in labor compensation share in the economy overall. Another major factor affecting the compensation of the manufacturing industry is the internal changes in the manufacturing industry in the U.S. U.S. labor-intensive industries are shrinking and manufacturing as a whole is becoming more capital intensive. Between 1980 and 2009 only 16 percent of the decline in compensation of the manufacturing industry is attributable to shifts in output shares between industries, while 84 percent of the decline is due to changes within the manufacturing industry.
(3) U.S. manufacturing has maintained competitiveness in global participation
American multinationals' foreign operations often complement rather than replace their domestic operations. The increase in offshore business is positively correlated with the increase in the size and strength of the U.S. manufacturing industry. Statistics show that a 10 percent increase in manufacturing employment at foreign affiliates of U.S. firms leads to a 4 percent increase in employment inside the U.S. Also, a 4 percent increase in the spending and exports of U.S. firms' foreign affiliates is associated with a 5.4 percent increase in R&D spending on its U.S. site.
This shows that the biggest benefit of offshoring manufacturing is increased R&D spending in the U.S, which is also the key reason for the increased competitiveness of American manufacturing. American multinationals outsource their relatively routine manufacturing processes but retain the most complex and personalized processes at home. Based on the strong comparative advantage that the U.S. has in relatively high-skilled and unconventional tasks like innovation, engineering and management, rather than conventional ones such as basic assembling, the offshoring business has contributed to the specialization of American manufacturing, which then create more highly skilled and better-paying jobs in the U.S. In addition, in an increasingly competitive international environment, the vast number of SMEs are not exactly struggling as politicians described. Between 15 percent and 33 percent of SMEs have lower production costs than the median costs of competitors located in low-wage countries. And almost all of these firms have higher productivity than the firms in their industry that do not have lower costs.
Section 2 Characteristics of structural changes in American manufacturing
The American manufacturing industry has largely maintained its international competitiveness, and changes in the industry cannot simply be interpreted as a “decline." American politicians obscured the fact of structural changes in the manufacturing sector by hyping up the first decade of the 21st century as the decade of decline of American manufacturing. American manufacturing maintained its core competitiveness by focusing on high-end manufacturing and making varying degrees of changes in aggregation and distribution across industries, as well as by creating new types of jobs.
(1) Changes in industry: focusing on high-end manufacturing
Disruptive technologies are revolutionizing American manufacturing. U.S. labor costs have always been significantly higher than those in other countries, but high productivity makes up for the difference. The use of 3D printing, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data has boosted U.S. productivity, making America an attractive place for high-tech manufacturing companies to invest. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in U.S. manufacturing reached a record high of $1,785.7 billion in 2019 from $499.9 billion in 2005. FDI in manufacturing accounted for 40 percent of total FDI.
The top eight manufacturing sectors in the U.S. by value in 2020 are 1) chemical engineering, 2) computer and electronics, 3) food, beverage and tobacco, 4) aerospace and other transportation equipment, 5) motor vehicles and parts, 6) machinery, 7)metal products, and 8) petroleum and coal products. Judging from the contribution of industrial value-added to GDP in the first quarter of 2021, chemical products accounted for 1.9 percent, computer and electronic products accounted for 1.5 percent, food, beverage and tobacco accounted for 1.3 percent, petroleum and coal products accounted for 0.8 percent, motor vehicles and parts accounted for 0.8 percent, machinery accounted for 0.7 percent and aerospace and other transportation equipment accounted for 0.6 percent.
Statistics show that the most competitive industries in U.S. manufacturing can be divided into three categories.
The first category includes aerospace and other transportation equipment, as well as the military industry. These industries are characterized by high technology content, high added value, and strong competitiveness, making them the "crown of the manufacturing industry". Most of the top 10 U.S. manufacturers in this sector reported earnings growth even in the 2020 pandemic year. In 2020, Lockheed Martin Corp. reported a 9.34 percent rise in sales, and Raytheon Technologies posted a 24.78 percent increase in revenues from 2019. Revenues of Northrop Grumman rose 8.74 percent, those of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. were up 4.6 percent sales growth, and BWX Technologies Inc enjoyed saw a 12.06 percent increase.
The second category includes businesses related to the designing and manufacturing of automobiles. They involve machinery equipment, automation, computer and materials, etc, reflecting the comprehensive level of the national manufacturing industry. The production model of this category is changing from the traditional mass and single product production to small-batched and personalized production, and from the producer-led production mode to the consumer-led production mode. This flexible model has the advantages of small-scale, customized production and zero inventory. Ford, GM, and Chrysler all implement the "lean manufacturing" approach. Computer-aided manufacturing involves the integration of production lines and the application of a large number of new materials and electronic systems and enables personalized production and mass customization to be realized.
The third category is the medical industry, which is also the one with the highest concentration of innovation in manufacturing. According to data from European Commission in 2019, five U.S. biopharmaceutical companies ranked among the top 10 companies with the largest global R&D investment. According to Fast Company's "The World's Most Innovative Companies in 2019", the world's top 10 companies in the biotech sector all came from the U.S.
U.S. manufacturing R&D expenditures have reached $293.6 billion in 2019 from $184.2 billion in 2000, with the pharmaceutical industry spending $89.8 billion and accounting for 30.6 percent of the total. 17.9 percent of the R&D expenditure went to the computer and electronics sector, 12.6 percent to semiconductors and other electronic, and 9.2 percent went to automobiles and parts. In contrast, labor-intensive, technology-mature, resource-consuming industries, such as leather, paper, printing, plastic and rubber, metal products, and other traditional or basic manufacturing industries, all have a stable development trend, with an annual R&D expenditure growth rate of less than 3 percent. Only high-value-added parts such as design and customization are manufactured inside the U.S.
(2) Changes in geography: manufacturing industries with different technology types show different degrees of changes in aggregation and distribution.
Middle-skilled industries in the U.S. - including computer and electronics, transportation equipment, chemical engineering, machinery, and food production - are forming a new geographical cluster as a result of their high degree of specialization, and are shifting their operations from metropolises to smaller counties. The initial geographic migration of this kind of manufacturing industry was mainly to seek manufacturing bases with low wages, and they usually moved southward.
But since 2000, medium-tech manufacturers are moving away from places where their advantage was based on low wages and began to seek locations that boast industrial clusters and diversity. They are moving away from densely populated, centrally located metropolitan areas, to counties that can provide manufacturers with maximum advantages of diversity, so as to form a new geographic cluster of the same or related industry. This gives manufacturers better access to professional workers, suppliers, and customers, and makes it easier for them to access production methods that improve performance. Manufacturers can also benefit from greater access to services such as engineering, finance, legal services, and management consulting across a range of different industries in their geographic vicinity.
Meanwhile, U.S. high-tech manufacturing industry is spread among metropolitan areas. High-tech manufacturers are geographically isolated from each other, because their needs in skills, R&D, or supply chain vary widely, and they do not benefit from industrial clusters and scale economies.
Most of them are usually located in six different metropolitan areas: Bridgeport in Connecticut, Cedar Rapids in Iowa, Cleveland in Tennessee, Dubuque in Iowa, Fort Wayne in Indiana, and Mansfield in Ohio. As they are largely located in distinct places, 52 metropolitan areas specialize in pharmaceuticals, 61 are home to the computer and electronic industry, and 44 are engaged in the aerospace industry.
In particular, the American automobile manufacturing industry experienced the transition from decentralization to spatial concentration, and then back to decentralization again for manufacturing. In its initial phase of spatial concentration, the goal of the automobile industry was to improve productivity with scale economy, and then form industrial clusters around high-density metropolitan areas, or to be more specific, around the central counties of these metropolitan areas. During this stage, the industry is usually concentrated in the east-west corridor south of the Great Lakes region located mainly in Michigan. As production became routine and mature over time, the advantages brought by geographic concentration became less important as determinants of industrial location, and production costs became a rising problem. As a result, the less technology-intensive part of the industry began to scatter geographically, moving to lower-cost areas, such as peripheral metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. The automobile industry cluster expanded into southern Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Over time again, even the high-tech part of the industry chose to sprawl out for the same reason, putting more production lines in California and Texas, to get closer to markets and suppliers and reduce the cost of transporting cars.
(3) Changes in employment: skilled-oriented jobs integrated with service-oriented jobs
Manufacturing and producer services in the U.S. have formed a trend of integration, thus changing the type of employment in manufacturing. The "Industry 4.0" promotes the integration of various technological innovations, bringing to the American manufacturing industry mass intelligent production, cost-effective automated factories, and highly customized production lines. For example, IoT sensors feed real-time data into analytics systems to adjust machines remotely; collaborative robots can handle dangerous tasks and eliminate safety risks; 3D printing can produce complex multi-material components and final products, coordinating new application programs of distributed supplier networks and fast simulation platform can be used for design. This creates a huge demand for jobs in producer services, and as producer services became part of the means of production for American manufacturing, the duo are now highly integrated.
But jobs created in producer services are nonetheless included in the employment data of the service industry. Considering the fact that producer services have a higher intermediate demand rate, and that a large portion of its output is invested as means of production into manufacturing production, it can be said that the growth of the producer services employment is proof that manufacturing is boosting employment. But this is not reflected in the contribution of manufacturing growth to employment.
Producer services employment accounted for only a third of service jobs in 2005 and rose to 41.2 percent in 2013. This shows that producer services in the U.S. are an important driving force for the rapid growth of the service industry. It also reflects the driving effect of the manufacturing industry on the service industry. These productive services are characterized by high knowledge-and-technology intensity, high productivity, and high value-added, and are widely used in U.S. manufacturing to minimize manufacturing defects, increase output, and reduce equipment downtime and waste. They also helped improve the processing and tracking of raw materials and finished goods, shorten design time, and improve engineering efficiency, thus upgrading the organizational patterns of the American manufacturing industry. In particular, SMEs and start-ups are more inclined to introduce productive services as external knowledge sources to establish an advantageous position in non-price competition. The relative changes of the declining proportion of the manufacturing industry and the rise of the service industry in the U.S. fail to reflect the innovative integration of the two industries, and it is easy to ignore the real situation of the manufacturing industry when focusing only on changes but separating the connection between the two industries.
Section 3 Real quandaries facing American manufacturing
Structural changes in the manufacturing industry also generated a series of problems. The U.S. government's industrial policy could lead to unexpected and undesirable results in actual operation, which to a large extent restricts the development of the U.S. manufacturing industry and becomes a bottleneck.
(1)The impenetrable barrier between "created in the U.S." and "made in the U.S."
The U.S. leads the world in scientific research but has failed to translate its dominance in basic sciences into dominance in manufacturing innovation and productivity growth. There is a significant "death valley" between basic sciences development and commercial innovation. The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) believes that the decline in U.S. manufacturing leadership is not defined by the loss of low-wage jobs and low-tech industries, but that its manufacturing innovation has begun to fall behind high-income countries such as Germany and Japan.
One of the reasons for this lagging behind is that the vast majority of U.S. government funding is limited to improving technology maturity, not manufacturing maturity. This has led to the differentiated increase in "American creativity" and "American manufacturing power”. Most of the U.S. federal funding goes to basic research through the Advanced Manufacturing Office under the Department of Energy, the Advanced Manufacturing Plan under the National Science Foundation, and the manufacturing technology projects under the Department of Defense, to provide support for R&D in manufacturing technologies. This model of government funding is subject to a single measure of success and clear indicators of eligibility for continued funding and has led to cutting-edge projects tying up too many federal R&D dollars. Many initial research findings are confined to academic level or national laboratories.
Many U.S. companies balk at the high cost of turning proof-of-concept prototypes into actual products, making it difficult to scale up new technologies to commercial scale. For instance, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) often funds programs to address manufacturing capabilities. One example is the Electronics Resurgence Initiative, a $200 million program over 4 years intended to reinvigorate the U.S. semiconductor manufacturing base.
National Association of Manufacturers points out that in the absence of detailed spending data, it is difficult to determine how much of their R&D budgets impact commercial transformation in the manufacturing industry. Also, the U.S. put relatively less investment into improving new products and manufacturing processes. Over the past 20 years, industrial giants such as GE, IBM, Xerox, AT&T, and others are reducing or abolishing corporate R&D labs in a bid to cut costs to maximize quarterly earnings. According to statistics, the U.S. spent only $796 million on research and development related to manufacturing readiness, far less than other developed economies such as Japan, Germany, and South Korea.Japan's R&D investment in manufacturing readiness is more than three times that of the United States. Germany is nearly six times, and South Korea is more than 10 times that of the United States in this regard. These three countries spend 7 percent to 30 percent of their science and technology budget on manufacturing readiness, whereas the U.S. spends less than 5 percent of its budget in this area.
Also, the various policies aimed at supporting domestic manufacturing in the U.S. lack coordination and sustainability, and they come in small scales but with great restrictions. For instance, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) currently comprises 51 manufacturing centers, each operated by a state government, university, or other nonprofit organization, with the aim of helping small-and-medium-sized manufacturers improve production processes, upgrade their technological capabilities, and promote innovation. The actual level of federal support is quite low. In the fiscal year 2019, the MEP budget allocation was $140 million. But the U.S. federal support for the entire MEP program is less than one-sixth of Germany's support for Fraunhofer centers, which is Germany's version of MEP. The German system also has over 13 times more employees than those of MEP.
The Manufacturing USA program (MUSA) is a network of 14 research institutes, each focusing on a particularly advanced manufacturing technology. The network is intended to make early-stage scientific research suitable for use in manufacturing production. The federal government provides a small amount of funding, with a minimum 1-to-1 cost share from the participating large manufacturing firms, SMEs, and state and local governments. Total annual institute expenditure in the fiscal year 2019 was $488 million, with only $133 million coming from the federal government. The federal funding for the institutes is only eligible for five years, after which federal funding sunsets. This is short of the 10 years or more required to translate basic scientific innovation into manufacturing processes.
In the meantime, there is also insufficient private investment from basic research and development to the development of commercially viable technologies. There are still two development phases for basic research to be turned into commercially viable technologies: proof of concept and basic technical analysis, and it is difficult to prevent leakages in technological innovation as spillover effect and reverse engineering can easily occur during these two phases. This means private companies involved in the process do not receive all the benefits of their research and development, and they always shy away from such investment though there could be significant profitability, as the outcome of their expensive efforts is highly uncertain.
(2) It is difficult to balance the conflict between developing a high-end manufacturing industry to maintain technical superiority, and achieving the short-term goal of employment.Economically advanced countries struggle to compete on production costs, and to keep manufacturing booming, unlocking value through the use of robotics, artificial intelligence, and big data is vital. As robots became cheaper to develop, and their efficiency has been improved through big data and artificial intelligence, these countries can retain their position as manufacturing powerhouses. In the case of the United States, future manufacturing advantages lie in the following:
First, with the use of digital technology, intelligent manufacturing, and the industrial internet of things, efficiency can be greatly improved and competitive advantage can be gained through local distributed production of customized products.Second, the popularization of new production technology and automation will eliminate residual cost advantages from low-wage labor, provide competitive advantages that are hard to replicate and create the potential for the U.S. to regain global market share in a wide range of industries.
New technologies, however, also require changes in talent type and demand. Advanced manufacturing needs workers with new multidisciplinary abilities who can combine mechanical, electronic and software knowledge and skills, thus raising the technical bar for work. If the U.S. develops its high-end manufacturing, it will create new jobs that require skilled workers and mid-level technical personnel, and will not be able to provide jobs for unskilled young people and unemployed workers in the "Rust Belt”.
Technology is evolving far faster than the upgrade of the labor force in the United States, and technology is not only replacing labor on a massive scale but also requiring flexible, highly skilled workers who can adapt to changing production processes. But the U.S. lacks an official worker training system. There are currently 50 federal worker training programs, some of which overlap and lack transparency, and they do not effectively provide workers with the skills that employers require. Existing apprenticeship programs at the federal level have had limited success in practice, and because of employee mobility, manufacturing firms have less incentive to provide training for non-firm-specific workers. Most companies only participate in these programs out of their social responsibility. They do not believe the training would help to fill the vacancy of skilled jobs.
From upstate New York, western Pennsylvania, and the Great Lakes states to the upper industrial belt of the Midwest, the urban blue-collar middle class has suffered from decades of industrial decline and the loss of low-end jobs at home. Many small towns are trapped in a downward spiral - local tax bases decline as factories close and wages and incomes fall, leaving public services, schools, infrastructure, and law enforcement struggling to maintain their former standards. People who can afford it are moving to the booming cities, but struggling families can't leave poor areas as they can't afford the soaring housing prices in the booming cities, leaving behind an aging, poorly educated workforce.
These conditions lay dangers for nativism, nationalism, isolationism, and economic nostalgia. Residents trapped by the decline of traditional manufacturing can only find answers from politicians who promise to rebuild traditional manufacturing plants. Instead of investing in long-period labor retraining, low-skilled manufacturing plants can create jobs quickly, hence it becomes the posturing of politicians. Local policymakers often fall into the short-term mindset of declaring new manufacturing plants to their constituents as political victories, they often target traditional and declining industries with ill-designed subsidies to create jobs that can absorb unskilled workers without ensuring adequate economic returns.
(3) It is difficult to take both resiliency and efficiency into account. Resiliency and efficiency are always at odds when building supply chains. Resiliency provides a securer source of supply but also means more redundancy and costs. U.S. companies used to only consider the cost when investing and purchasing globally, so offshoring U.S. manufacturing usually means cheaper, faster, more flexible, and more efficient. But the chaos caused by the trade war between China and the U.S. in 2018 and the supply chain disruption caused by the pandemic in 2020 have led the U.S, government and companies to reconsider and adapt to unforeseen systemic shocks. Two prime examples are the U.S. defense industry and the healthcare industry.
During the trade war in 2018, then-President Trump issued an executive order, asking the Department of Defense (DoD) to assess and strengthen the manufacturing and defense industrial base and supply chain resiliency of the United States. DoD then responded with a thorough assessment, saying that the reliability of critical components and technologies for the defense industry is at risk: There is currently only one production line in the U.S. capable of producing large-caliber barrels; the single domestic supplier for large thin-wall castings for rotary-wing gearboxes filed for bankruptcy in 2016, putting programs such as the AH-64E Apache, the V-22 Osprey, and the CH-53K Heavy Lift Replacement Helicopter at risk; the numbers of suppliers of critical defense systems such as ammunition, weapons, missiles and space systems have all declined since 2010. Defense products were composed of aircraft, ships, communications equipment, weapons, and other complex products through highly specialized production system by major defense contractors, but the contractors themselves cannot provide all the machinery, electronics, chemical, software, and other intermediate products input. They depend on other business-oriented manufacturers. The trade war has made defense contractors vulnerable to foreign supply chains. The U.S. government asked that these industrial chains be moved back to the country, citing national security concerns and job creation demand. This involves a vast variety of networked production, and while DoD has a great demand, it is difficult to support a reliable supplier network base, as the defense needs for specific products may be too small or specialized compared to commercial needs.
In 2020, the pandemic hit the lean global supply chain of American companies. Strategies that prioritize cost-cutting, just-in-time production typically do not take into account major disruptions such as natural disasters, epidemics, or other geopolitical crises. In the early stage of the pandemic, the manufacturing capacity of personal protective equipment and ventilators was insufficient, the effective reserve of basic hygiene products was insufficient, and the supply of prescription drugs was severely short, highlighting the weakness of the U.S. industrial chain. Biden, who won support from voters on his anti-epidemic stand, released a report after he came into office on supply chains in four key sectors - semiconductor chips, batteries, key minerals, and pharmaceuticals. He required an assessment of the gaps and vulnerabilities in the supply chains in sensitive industries in 100 days. The Biden administration also announced a 'Buy American' policy to help boost domestic manufacturing. But the best way to promote resiliency is to diversify sources of supply. Choosing to manufacture products in the United States where it does not have a manufacturing advantage just to ensure resiliency can be costly and, in the long run, potentially reduce the global competitiveness of the American manufacturing industry.
(4) It is difficult to balance the split-up of interests between “large multinational corporations" and "small and medium-sized enterprises”
The United States is home to many large, well-known manufacturing multinationals that generate tens of thousands of dollars of wealth each year. Topping the list is ExxonMobil, which earned $244.3 billion in 2017, up 8.08 percent from the year prior. Apple reported sales of $229.2 billion in 2017. up 6.3 percent from the previous year. The rest of the list, including Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Chevron Corporation, General Electric Company, Philips, Valero Energy Corporation, the Boeing Company, and Microsoft Corporation, have all been solidly profitable in recent years. But the vast majority of the manufacturing industry in the U.S. is made up of smaller companies. In 2017, there were 248,039 companies in the manufacturing industry, all but 3,914 are small companies (fewer than 500 employees), three-quarters of which have fewer than 20 employees.
In the development of the American manufacturing industry, there is a growing divide between "large multinational corporations" and "small and medium-sized enterprises.”
On the one hand, the offshoring of parts production, assembly, and final production is a good way for big multinationals to achieve quarterly results, but this strategy hits small and medium-sized manufacturers hard. The global positioning industry chain of multinational corporations gave rise to the substitutes and competitors of American SMEs, and also caused industrial clusters on which SMEs rely to disperse, leading to major development obstacles for them such as logistics congestion and global participation.
On the other hand, there is a clear tendency for the interests of SMEs to be squeezed out by larger manufacturers. Industry concentration in manufacturing is increasing, with large "superstar" companies thriving while SMEs struggle as a result of weak innovation, slow digitizations, and increased competition from abroad.
Such polarization limits the overall growth rate of U.S. manufacturing.
First, large manufacturers are more interested in developing new technologies and are more able to provide matching funds for research, but it is the SMEs that play a principal role in process development, feedback, and testing in the manufacturing industry and constitute the meaningful promoter for the improvement of manufacturing proficiency. High R&D spending and low business conversion rates are further exacerbated by the divergence of interests between transnational corporations and SMEs.
Second, the obvious degree of industry concentration and monopoly of innovation leads to the differential distribution of manufacturing productivity growth, thus making technology diffusion into SMEs very difficult. Even if a few small-and-medium-sized enterprises achieve technological innovation, it is difficult to achieve commercial-scale production without capital sources, and it is also faced with acquisition and merger from large enterprises as they try to prevent technology spillover. The struggles of small businesses are also a drag on overall U.S. manufacturing growth in many ways. Under the current political uncertainty and the impact of COVID-19, large multinational companies are facing the crisis of supply chain disruption, and SMEs are also finding it difficult to form the foundation to support that supply chain, which poses challenges for the U.S. to rebuild its domestic supply chain and strengthen its local manufacturer network cluster.
Section 4 Lessons
The structural changes in the American manufacturing industry show that U.S. manufacturing is not in a "real decline". The wide application of innovative technology is a necessary condition for the long-term healthy development and competitive advantage of the American manufacturing industry. The U.S. is delivering cost savings and increased profits through more efficient production, higher capacity utilization, rapid design iteration, and intelligent manufacturing technologies that surpass the benefits of necessary investment. Extending intelligent manufacturing to the entire supply chain allows for closer integration of the entire production network, with more efficient production and better profitability throughout the value chain. As costs fall and flexibility increases, the faster technology is implemented, the greater the wealth effect will be, which can help to build a long-term competitive advantage in manufacturing. Meanwhile, the "real quandaries" of the American manufacturing industry provide some valuable lessons for the high-quality development of the Chinese manufacturing industry:
First, disruptive technologies are also upending the original geographical and employment landscape of manufacturing. The U.S. government pays great attention to the changes in employment in the manufacturing industry but ignores the important role of labor development. Political consequences are often reflected in elections, and thus the U.S. government shortsightedly enters the predicament between technology input and labor input. In the meantime, the U.S. government's neglect of infrastructure has severed the interests of blue-state, high-tech zones from midsize Midwestern cities and smaller heartland towns. In addition, it should be noted that innovative technology is also a double-edged sword in building competitiveness. Smart technologies enable rapid design iterations and product process simulation. But in the same time, they could enhance their competitors' ability to replicate process innovations, accelerate development cycles, and lower barriers to entry, thus leading to rapid commoditization of entire product categories. As a result, what used to be "American innovation and made in other countries" may gradually become "foreign innovation and made in other countries".
Second, the transformation of cutting-edge scientific discoveries into new manufactured products and industries requires a national strategy. America's dominance in research failed to translate into dominance in manufacturing innovation and productivity growth, and profits-maximizing firms underinvested in the commercial transformation of innovation and workforce development, and thus fail to reap all the benefits. All these slow the productivity growth. Policy intervention is required to overcome these problems of market failure. The support policy should maintain its continuity and consistency, provide an adequate duration of support for research and development. It should lead to establishing a professional manufacturing organization network, guide universities, companies, research institutes, and foundations to play an important role, seek to connect advanced technology patents with clients that are seeking cutting-edge technology, and focus on the practical application of technology. Only when innovative technology is successfully applied in business and large-scale manufacturing becomes possible, can the technological value be transferred and delivered to the public, and innovation realizes its value transmission.
Third, market demand plays a central role in sustaining manufacturing innovation. When the demand is highly uncertain, public support for manufacturing research and development alone is unlikely to lead firms to innovate commercially. The main constraint on manufacturing innovation in the U.S. defense sector is the scale of demand. Since the commercial market for defense products is relatively small, manufacturers have limited incentive to innovate on products with defense applications, and the huge defense funds are hardly motivated to innovate. Manufacturers always tend to wait for clear market demand before they develop and commercialize a technology, while buyers typically wait for a product to hit the market, which has formed an information gap between supply and demand. The key to solving the problem is for the government to open the market for manufacturers through policies such as "innovative procurement policy", stimulate the demand by public purchase, and provide manufacturers with part of the future returns. Only reasonable predictions and realization of product demand stimulation can keep the manufacturing industry in the leading position.
Fourth, government spending should go directly to domestic manufacturers which are more productive and have higher real wages. Government support to enterprises should be constrained by high-performance requirements, which is the key to the government avoiding inefficiency and waste. For instance, the added value of the labor input of enterprises should be high, the real wage should be in the top one-third of the industry, and enterprises should provide high-quality worker training. These requirements could provide incentives for the production of high-performance manufacturing enterprises. Domestic manufacturers with outstanding production advantages and the most efficient are more likely to stand out from the domestic competition and provide technical research and development and workforce training that is more in line with development trends.


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CardinalCommerce Adds Bitcoin to Merchant Payments Solution
Merchants using CardinalCommerce for alternative payments processing are now able to accept bitcoin through a partnership with Bitnet.
Merchants using payment authentication provider CardinalCommerce will now be able to accept bitcoin alongside alternative payment options including PayPal and Google Wallet.
The announcement is the result of a partnership between CardinalCommerce and bitcoin merchant processor Bitnet that enables merchants with custom-built shopping carts to send API messages to Cardinal's platform through its One Connection service.
As part of the integration, CardinalCommerce handles updates and changes necessary to accept the payment method, and will help facilitate refunds through Bitnet.
"As a merchant accepting bitcoin via Cardinal, if there was some change to the protocol or Bitnet's APIs, Cardinal would handle that. That’s a core value proposition that companies like Cardinal bring to their merchants," chief commercial officer Akif Khan told CoinDesk.
The service comes with a one-time access fee, as well as a monthly fee that includes additional costs based on customer clicks, not the dollar amounts of orders.
In statements, Cardinal SVP of merchant services Alasdair Rambaud suggested that the partnership is in line with the company’s goal of providing merchants with a greater variety of alternative payment methods.
Bitnet raised $14.5m in October of last year, and has since inked a prominent deal with Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten.
Online shopping image via Shutterstock
The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.
Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk’s longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.

domain: news


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judgecorp writes: "A British gang has been convicted of massive fraud on Amazon and iTunes. The group uploaded music (apparently their own) and then downloaded it repeatedly with stolen credit cards, generating £500,000 for themselves in royalties. The cost to Apple and Amazon is likely to be up to £1 million. Eleven people have now been jailed for the scam."
Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds. Biochemistry
is the study of carbon compounds that crawl.
-- Mike Adams


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More than 2 years after the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, the victims and their families can finally get compensations. Thanks to an anonymous donation, the 30 million dollars goal has been reached, the Clean Clothes Campaign revealed.
"Finally pay the victims"
The International Labour Organization (ILO) created the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund in order to pay for the medical costs and the loss of income for the victims of the Rana Plaza disaster and their families. Back in November 2014, the coordination committee said it would need 30 million dollars to cover for the 5,000 claims.
Brand and chains have waited a long time to contribute, which meant that two years after the disaster another 2.4 million dollars was needed to get to the 30 million dollar mark. An anonymous donor has now paid for that deficit.
"More than two years after the Rana Plaza collapse, we can finally pay the victims and their families. This is a major victory, but it has taken way too long", Sara Ceustermans (part of the Flemish branch of CCC) said. "The fact that it has taken tremendous pressure to force brands and chains that have a joint 20 billion dollar profit every year to gather 30 million dollars, goes to show that the initiative to do business ethically cannot be handled by the fashion industry itself. Helping victims should be an obvious step, not something that only happens after pressure from the general public."
The case is also finally advancing in a legal sense as 41 people, among whom the owner, were sent to court in early July. Over 1,100 people perished in the disaster.


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If you fancy a twist on your regular BBQ this summer, you’ll probably be excited (or possibly terrified) to hear the news that a Northern Irish butcher is giving customers an offbeat alternative to your average hot dog – with vodka red bull flavoured sausages.
Maguire Meats, who are based in Irvinestown in County Fermanagh, have started featuring the bangers as part of their regular roster of (non-booze and energy drink related) meats.
If you don’t fancy vodka and red bull with your fry up (and frankly, we’re not sure if we blame you), Maguires have also come up with another alternative: Captain Morgan and Club orange sausages. Fanta sausages, basically.
Owner Keelan Maguire told Belfast Live that he came up with the idea when he tried to come up with the “craziest” flavour he could think of.
“We gave it ago and it worked out very well and they’re very popular,” he said, the madman. “We also added a spicy beef one which is doing well too.”
“It is something different for the BBQ this summer. We have a few other ideas up our sleeve so keep an eye out.”
And commenters’ reactions have been...decidedly mixed.
If you fancy a boozy and extremely caffeinated fry up, Maguire will be selling the sausages at all of their Northern Irish locations.


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According to Reuters, Jim Ryan, President and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, on Wednesday met with EU antitrust boss Margrethe Vestager to discuss Microsoft’s proposed buyout of publishing giant Activision Blizzard.
The report says that the EU is expected to issue the Xbox format holder with a charge sheet detailing its concerns regarding the acquisition. It adds that Microsoft is hoping to appease EU regulators in the hope of shortening the regulatory process, but the EU is reportedly not open to remedies without releasing its charge sheet first.
Microsoft has faced stiff backlash from Sony regarding the acquisition, although the company tried to appease the PlayStation maker by offering it 10-year contract to ensure that any new Call of Duty games arrive day-and-date on PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
Related Content – Sony PS5 Complete Guide – Everything Explained About PlayStation 5 For New Owners In 2023
Furthermore, Microsoft was recently sued by the US Federal Trade Commission in the hopes of blocking the acquisition, arguing the buyout would allow the company to “suppress competitors” to the Xbox family of consoles, subscription content and cloud gaming business.
While Sony has argued that the Call of Duty franchise is a big decider in what platform consumers choose, Microsoft has argued otherwise, insisting the first-person shooter franchise does not drive platform adoption.
The PlayStation hardware manufacturer has also claimed that Microsoft’s goal with the acquisition is to ‘make PlayStation like Nintendo.’
[Source – Reuters]


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Electronic table games specialist Interblock DD has appointed Colleen McKenna (pictured) as vice president of marketing.
“Colleen brings a fresh perspective to our industry as well as global-marketing operations expertise. She has the creativity and expertise that will help us scale our marketing efforts while keeping in line with the trajectory of growth we anticipate,” Interblock chief executive John Connelly said in a statement.
Established in 1989, Interblock is best known in the gaming industry for its fully automated multiplayer electronic table games.
“In an industry where innovation is the key to success, Interblock is the clear leader,” said Ms McKenna. “I am thrilled to join the company that is at the forefront of delivering the most entertaining and technically advanced gaming experiences.”
Ms McKenna has more than 20 years of corporate and agency experience in marketing. She was recently with Symantec Corp – the fifth largest software company in the world – where she spent 17 years as a global executive within the company’s marketing department.
Previous to Symantec, Ms McKenna led corporate communications for Mitsubishi Electric America, as well as for global public relations agency, H+K Strategies.
May 24, 2022Macau gaming operator Wynn Macau Ltd is asking some management-level staff to volunteer to take 10 percent of their monthly base pay in the form of company stock, according to a notice recently sent...
May 24, 2022
”Resorts World Sentosa is now looking at broadening its customer base to those who engage in casual play for entertainment"
Tan Hee Teck
Genting Singapore’s president and chief operating officer


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Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Nio Inc – ADR (NYSE: NIO) reported fourth-quarter results Wednesday, posting revenue that was slightly ahead of expectations, a wider-than-expected net loss and a first-quarter outlook that trailed expectations.
Nio's Q4, Full Year Results
The Shanghai-based company reported fourth-quarter revenue of 2.85 billion yuan ($409.1 million), representing a 55.1% quarter-over-quarter.
On a year-over-year basis, revenues were down 17.1%, as the company sold more of the lower-margin E6 models in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The adjusted loss, excluding share-based compensation expenses, was 2.81 billion yuan ($404.1 million), higher than a 2.45-billion-yuan loss in the third quarter and lower than Nio's 3.31-billion-yuan-loss a year ago.
On a per ADS basis, the non-GAAP loss was 2.73 yuan or 39 cents per share.
Analysts, on average, estimated a loss of 1.84 yuan per ADS on revenue of 2.84 billion yuan.
As of Dec. 31, Nio's cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments totaled $151.7 million, a drawdown from $274.3 million at the end of the third quarter.
Benzinga is covering every angle of how the coronavirus affects the financial world. For daily updates, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter.
COVID-19 Weighing On Deliveries
Nio delivered 8,224 vehicles in the fourth quarter, up from 4,799 in the third quarter and 7,980 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Cumulative deliveries for 2019 totaled 20,565, up 81.2% year-over-year.
Vehicle deliveries, which improved in the second half of 2019, took a tumble in January due to reduced business days account of the Chinese New Year holidays and the coronavirus outbreak in late January.
January deliveries fell 11.5% year-over-year to 1,598 vehicles and the weakness continued into February, with deliveries coming in at an anemic 707.
While stating that it has started 2020 on a challenging note due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Nio said it striving to resume production, expand traffic channels, integrate online and offline sales efforts and offer the best services possible.
"We have covered 59 cities with 22 NIO Houses and 62 NIO Spaces in China, which efficiently support our branding and sales efforts. We are well prepared to proceed through the headwind and become stronger in 2020," CEO William Li said in a statement.
Nio said it expects its efforts to optimize the organizations and improve operation efficiency to significantly reduce its opex and improve cash flows in 2020 and beyond.
"Additionally, we made several private placements of convertible notes in February and March 2020, in an aggregate principal amount of US$435 million, which supported our daily operations and business development," CFO Wei Feng said in a statement.
The company said it expects first-quarter deliveries to decline year-over-year and sequentially to 3,400-3,600 vehicles due to the coronavirus.
For the quarter, the company expects revenues of 1.21 billion yuan ($173.7 million). Analysts expect revenues of 2.48 billion yuan for the quarter on average.
Nio shares were down 18.1% at $2.38 at the time of publication Wednesday.
Photo courtesy of Nio.


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by Paolo Gaudiano on Jun 25, 2:31 PM
The latest issue of the Journal of Advertising Research includes a very interesting article by comScore co-founder Gian Fulgoni titled "The Rise of the Digital Omnivore: What It Means for Advertisers, Publishers, and App Developers," which reports some eye-opening numbers about Internet usage. The punch line, which was recently summarized in another MediaPost article based on an earlier presentation by Fulgoni, is this: Although, as a percentage, desktop traffic has shrunk dramatically relative to mobile in the last four years, the total amount of desktop traffic has actually grown in the same time span.
by Paolo Gaudiano on Jun 18, 11:30 AM
by Ari Rosenberg on Jun 10, 10:17 PM
In the fourth quarter of 2010, smartphone shipments increased by 87% versus the year prior - and for the first time, outsold personal computers. Consumer time spent on mobile devices caught the entire digital publishing industry off guard because the rate at which consumers spend time on their smartphones is driven by ramped-up addiction. The crack is texting and Snapchat. These two forms of mobile communication feed a hyper and constant physical need to connect, subconsciously inducing teenagers and adults to reach for their phones in a subtle panic every two minutes. As publishers, advertisers and tech platforms, aren't we …
by Cheryl Ng on Jun 5, 4:40 PM
Mobile use continues to grow unabated as a new generation eschews traditional consumption channels. This year, mobile search surpassed desktop for the first time, with no signs of slowing down. For advertisers, this growth whet an appetite to increase mobile ad spend. For publishers, on the other hand, it has caused as much headache as it has opportunity.
To read more articles use the ARCHIVE function on this page.


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Chinese telecommunications technology vendor Huawei Technologies has filed a lawsuit against Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, accusing the companies of planning to give Huawei's intellectual property to Nokia Siemens Networks.
It's a truth universally acknowledged that public Wi-Fi hotspots aren't secure, but they're so convenient that most of us use them anyway. That's why there was something of a panic last year when Eric Butler showed everyone how easy it is to hijack F...
T-Mobile USA will soon launch 4G HSPA+ versions of the Samsung Galaxy S and T-Mobile Sidekick phones, T-Mobile CEO Philipp Humm announced early Thursday.
Wi-Fi Direct is still scarce in announced or shipping products, but it would be wrong to reach a gloomy conclusion about the new peer-to-peer technology from the Wi-Fi Alliance.
Microsoft has reportedly traced the cause of random, high spikes in data usage by some Windows Phone 7 handsets to a widely accessed "third-party solution." Microsoft is working with that so-far unidentified vendor, according to SeattlePI.com.
ARLINGTON, Va. --When a researcher at an ethical-hacking firm discovered mobile devices from Apple, Google, RIM and HTC had a flaw in them that would allow an attacker using malicious Web code to freeze them up and crash them, he contacted the compan...
Cisco is beefing up wireless transaction security with new software features for its Wi-Fi access points. The vendor says the changes add needed protection over and above that mandated by the Payment Card Industry (PCI) standard.
While his Black Hat DC Conference demonstration was not flawless, a University of Luxembourg student on Wednesday did show that it's possible to trick iPhone users into joining a fake GSM network.
Apple has added a page to its iTunes Store that reveals the top iPhone and iPad app downloads since the App Store opened in mid-2008.
Two wireless LAN vendors are adding wired connectivity to their Wi-Fi offerings, to create managed, cloud-based networking services for a range of enterprise customers.
The Sno-Isle, Wash., public library system expects to save $400,000 this year by yanking its MPLS network and replacing it with multiple, less expensive broadband connections that include consumer DSL, cable service and even dark fiber.
As I write this, the IETF has been around for 25 years and a few hours. The first meeting started at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 16, 1986, in San Diego with 21 people in attendance -- a far cry from the most recent meeting in Beijing, which attracted 1,...
While Sprint isn't willing to give away its unlimited data plans, the carrier must also make concessions to reality.
"The Social Network," the blockbuster film based on the story of the Faceback social media site, made the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony absolutely geeky this year by winning four major categories.
Microsoft on Tuesday released an iPhone version of OneNote, the digital notebook software, in one of the first examples of Microsoft making a portion of Office available on non-Windows phones.
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By David Englander
AS CONSUMERS CUT BACK on credit cards, not to mention houses, cars and appliances, credit reporting services have taken a hit to earnings, though nothing on the order of its banking industry customers. (ticker: EFX), which provides credit data on over 300 million consumers worldwide, saw revenue slide 9% last year, to $1.8 billion. Earnings fell 14%, to $234 million, or $1.83 a share. Equifax is one of the big-three credit bureaus, along with privately-held TransUnion and Experian, which is traded on the London Stock Exchange.
At a Glance
Equifax (ticker: EQX)
|52-Week Range||$36.63 - $24.39|
|Market Value||$3.7 billion|
|Est 2010 Revenue||$1.87 billion|
|Est 2010 Net Income||$243 million|
|Est 2010 EPS||$1.89|
|Est 2011 EPS||$2.13|
|Est 2011 P/E||14|
|Data as of||6/04/10
Visit Company Research for more on Equifax.
Equifax gets almost half its revenue and 64% of operating profit selling credit reports to U.S. banks, financial companies, retailers, wireless telecom operators and almost anybody else who wants to know if their potential customers can pay their bills.
The company also offers credit-monitoring services to individuals and sells business-to-business credit information. A $1.4 billion acquisition three years ago expanded the company’s reach in employment verification services. Equifax provides credit reporting services overseas, but 75% its revenue is generated in the U.S.
Friday’s weaker than expected jobs data shows that the U.S. economic recovery will likely be a slow one. But auto sales and home sales have moved up from trough levels, and the credit bureau business is starting to improve. Equifax’s earnings are improving as well. This year analysts see profits edging up 3%, to $243 million, or $1.89 a share, on revenue of $1.87 billion. EPS could grow 14% in 2011.
Over the past five weeks, the company’s stock price has been slapped down 20%. The shares could recover to $36, or 17 times expected 2011 earnings, over the next year. The company’s historical forward P/E has ranged between 14 and 20.
The fly in the ointment for Equifax is that banks are still wary of lending. If that persists through the second half of this year, the company could come up short.
In the meantime, the company is using its vast storehouse of information to introduce services beyond its traditional line of work. One area that shows promise is digital marketing. An internet portal recently signed a deal with Equifax to use its data to help it target online ads.
Armed with strong free cash flow—$349 million last year—Equifax has the means to further expand its business. As U.S. credit recovers, the stock will move up. Until then, the downside is relatively low.


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Jan. 6, 2015, 4:16 PM
- GasBuddy.com projects gas prices will average $2.64 per gallon in 2015.
- Most economists see a boost in U.S. retail spending from the gas savings with the exception of regions highly dependent upon the energy industry.
- While some Q4 reports from restaurant chains and retailers may show a marginal lift in sales due to the drop in gas prices, insiders think quantifying the impact will be more art than science.
- The following sub-sectors have been tapped by analysts as potential under-the-radar beneficiaries of the gas price effect.
- C-stores:KR, CASY, PTRY, OTCPK:ANCUF, CST, MUSA.
- Theme parks: SIX, FUN, DIS, CMCSA, PLAY.
- Beverages: KO, PEP, COT, DPS, BUD, SAM, BREW, TAP, MNST.
Dec. 17, 2014, 12:35 PM
- Estimates on PepsiCo (PEP +0.2%) are at risk of being lowered due to currency swings in the key markets of Russia, Mexico, and Canada.
- The three regions account for over 18% of the company's total sales.
- PepsiCo's last update on guidance came with its Q3 report and during the subsequent earnings conference call.
Dec. 17, 2014, 9:29 AM
- General Mills (NYSE:GIS) reported cereal demand fell off once again in FQ2.
- The decline is in spite of efforts to introduce more on-trend brands (protein, gluten-free, low-calorie).
- The company offset the cereal slump to a degree with gains in yogurt.
- Yogurt sales grew in both the U.S. Retail and Convenience Store channels.
- The shift by consumers from cereal to yogurt has also negatively impacted Kellogg (NYSE:K) and Post Holdings (NYSE:POST) - while benefiting Danone (OTCQX:DANOY) and Mueller-PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP).
- Previously: General Mills earnings, highlights
Dec. 12, 2014, 10:59 AM
Dec. 8, 2014, 2:20 PM
- Boulder Brands (NASDAQ:BDBD) says it's looking to invest in brands in the $1M to $10M range.
- EVP Duane Primozich sees a dynamic shift in beverage as new brands scale rapidly to fill niche categories with unexpectedly strong demand.
- "Crazy plays," says Primozich.
- Looking for the next break-through beverage fad? Primozoch mentions drinkable vinegar as a category that could grow.
- Large-cap companies (COT, DPS, KO, PEP) seem to have their head in the sand over innovation, bemoans Primozich.
- The comments were made during the company's presentation at the Beverage Entrepreneur & Innovation Conference (live stream).
Dec. 8, 2014, 10:07 AM
- PepsiCo (PEP +0.1%) CEO Indra Nooyi is on the mike at the Beverage-Digest.com conference in NYC.
- The executive has reportedly warned on more weak soda sales in the U.S., although she likes the large opportunity presented in the craft soda category.
- She notes automation might lead to efficiency gains at PepsiCo.
- Nooyi keeps up the mantra that a combined beverage and snacks business is better than two stand-alones.
Dec. 1, 2014, 2:27 PM
- PepsiCo (PEP -0.3%) names Enderson Guimaraes to be its Global Categories and Operations chief.
- Ramon Laguarta will replace Guimaraes as the PepsiCo Europe CEO.
- What to watch: The company's failure to give Guimaraes the title of president could indicate the exec is not a shoo-in as the eventual replacement to CEO Indra Nooyi.
Nov. 22, 2014, 8:25 AM
- Harvard Business School's Bill George is troubled by the trend of activist investors shifting their wrath to some of America’s best companies, which he says may net nice profits in the short term but places the competitiveness of America’s great global companies at risk.
- An example is Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), whose stock has gained 185% in the past five years, but Dan Loeb still wants to split the company; George says this would destroy a productive innovator by taking away the cash it needs to develop new drugs and fuel growth.
- PepsiCo’s (NYSE:PEP) 52% increase in three years is double that of Coca-Cola, yet Nelson Peltz is agitating to split the company in two, as he did with Kraft - which has struggled, as has its Mondelez spinout.
- Peltz also is trying to break up DuPont (NYSE:DD) even though the stock has climbed 250% since Ellen Kullman became CEO in 2009; a disjointed conglomerate without a clear strategy, DuPont's stock had slipped 62% since 2000.
- Bill Ackman successfully partnered to put Allergan (NYSE:AGN) in play, which resulted in a sale, but George says the deal was unnecessary for a stock that had gained 2,400% since David E.I. Pyott became CEO in 1998.
- In each case, George says leaders were forced to focus on saving their companies instead of winning global competitive battles, creating great products and building new businesses.
Nov. 21, 2014, 3:16 PM
- The PepsiCo (PEP +0.8%) launch of Pepsi True on Amazon.com went poorly after over 3.6K negative reviews flooded the product's page on the site and delivered a lowly 1-star rating for the mid-calorie soft drink which isn't available in stores yet.
- The company drew the wrath of environmentalists over its policies with palm oil sourcing and the use of a "green" can for the soda product.
- The Pepsi True page was taken off of Amazon's website mid-week before being reinstated yesterday.
Nov. 21, 2014, 7:38 AM
- PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) declares $0.655/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous.
- Forward yield 2.67%
- Payable Jan 7; for shareholders of record Dec. 5; ex-div Dec. 3.
Nov. 7, 2014, 3:15 AM
- PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) President Zein Abdalla, widely viewed as a potential successor to Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi, is leaving the company Dec. 31.
- The move follows the departure of two other top PepsiCo executives, Brian Cornell who left this summer to take over Target, and Debra Crew who was hired by R.J. Reynolds in September.
- The loss of the well-seasoned execs thins the management bench at PepsiCo, creating a very short list of potential internal CEO successors.
Nov. 5, 2014, 7:56 AM| Nov. 5, 2014, 7:56 AM | 7 Comments
Nov. 1, 2014, 8:25 AM
- Phil Davidson likes to choose solid but "boring" stocks with healthy balance sheets and strong market positions in stable industries for his American Century Equity Income Fund, which is mostly focused on wealth preservation; when volatility spiked earlier in October, his portfolio fell 2.7% vs. the market’s 4.3% decline.
- His five favorite stocks he sees as pleasantly boring in a volatile market include Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) for its global dominance across all three of its businesses - pharmaceutical, consumer and medical devices.
- PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) is under activist pressure to split its beverage and snack units, an added bonus to a stock that's worth owning either way; Davidson thinks fears over the decline in the U.S. carbonated soft drink market are overblown.
- At Air Products (NYSE:APD), new CEO Seifi Ghasemi is a perfect fit to squeeze more out of a company that already has good assets in a stable industry, Davidson says.
- UPS has been under pressure to keep up with growing business to consumer shipments, and has spent money to increase capacity; the spending has weighed on earnings this year, but Davidson thinks it's bound to pay off.
- Commerce Bancshares (NASDAQ:CBSH) has been a victim of the low interest rate environment, but Davidson likes its conservative business model.
Oct. 22, 2014, 7:18 AM
Oct. 13, 2014, 12:34 PM
- Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD +0.7%) has considered the benefits of a merger with PepsiCo (PEP +0.6%), sources tell Bloomnberg.
- Though no talks between the consumer product giants are in the works, the culture of sector-rattling mergers at A-B keeps PepsiCo on a short list of takeover candidates.
- The most obvious synergy a BUD-PEP combination would create is a shared global distribution network which some analysts think would add more to the bottom line than a SABMiller buyout for the brewer.
Oct. 13, 2014, 11:45 AM
- Pepsi True has landed on Amazon.com as promised by PepsiCo (PEP -0.3%).
- The product is notable for its use of real sugar and stevia.
- The introduction of the product through the Amazon distribution channel is also of interest to CPG insiders who see an advantage in data crunching before laying huge ad dollars.
PepsiCo Inc is a food, snack and beverage company. It manufactures, markets, distributes and sells convenient and enjoyable beverages, foods and snacks, serving customers and consumers in more than 200 countries and territories.
Other News & PR


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Alleged Thief Takes Candy and Bowl
Occurred on October 31, 2022 / USA Info from Licensor: "We put a bowl of candy out for the kids and a grown lady slams on her brakes, puts her car in park and runs to grab the entire bowl! She..
Occurred not known
Posted By Madison Cato
Posted On Nov-2-2022


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MTVG is now using a number of recycled materials at its Englewood, Colo. headquarters to build its eco-friendly trucks.
In this age of environmental consciousness, many companies often claim to be “eco-friendly” and concerned about the future of our planet, but it winds up being marketing slogan and little more.
However, for the past year veteran mobile production company Mobile TV Group (MTVG), based in Colorado, has been putting its money where it’s mouth is. The company builds and maintains a fleet of traveling TV facilities at its two-story facility in the Denver suburb of Englewood, CO. The company has undertaken an eco-centric initiative that focuses on using recycled materials for its onboard workstations and crew positions, lowering cabling weight and soon may be using autonomous tractors to pull its trucks to the customer venues.
“We hope that’s its more than just a marketing slogan,” said Nick Garvin, the company's CEO. “It’s something we truly believe in. We’re not in the most eco-friendly business to begin with, moving heavy equipment around. And at its core technology is not an eco-friendly thing, but we’re in that business so we’re trying to do what we can for the world we live in.”
Nick Garvin, COO of Mobile TV Group.
The company, celebrating its 23rd anniversary, builds the interior portions of its 53-foot expando trucks—but not the outer shell and the expando mechanism. The company assembles two to three trucks a year, recycling cable and other components from older trucks to put into the new ones. They’ve even looked at installing solar panels to generate electricity, but found the panels too heavy for federally mandated weight limitations. [Each truck typically weighs about 80,000 pounds fully equipped.]
Indeed, reducing weight is one of the top priorities for mobile production companies.To this end the company is now using a new recycled and tightly compressed “Earth-friendly” paper product that is strong and can be easily modified to fit specific parts of the truck’s walls, framing and tabletop finishes within each production area.
To save weight and protect the envrionment, MTVG is using a new recycled and tightly compressed “Earth-friendly” paper product that is strong and can be easily modified to fit specific parts of the truck’s walls, framing and tabletops in each production area.
Another part of its ongoing eco-friendly initiative has seen the company pre-order two Tesla electric semi-tractors for its fleet of trailers.After unveiling the new electric semis in November of 2017, Tesla has said it would begin production in 2019, with the first units shipping in 2020. Like other companies in other industries that use trucks, MTVG has placed a $5,000 deposit and hopes to take shipment of tractors in 2020. The Tesla Semi is capable of traveling 500 miles on a single electric charge, which makes it ideal for regional sports networks that tend to be located in the Midwest and west coast part of the country.
“We’ll certainly install charging stations at our headquarters, but we’re hoping that Los Angeles and the California area will adopt some initiatives to build electric charging stations in its many cities,” Garvin said. “It’s good for our business and many businesses, so we’ll see how that all shakes out. In general, we don't produce many cross-country projects, which saves gas.”
As for the Tesla order, Garvin said the tractors’ electric motors feature less moving parts, so they’ll potentially last longer and run much more efficiently than the new semi-tractors it just took delivery of in January for two new 52-foot 4K HDR-capable production trucks that will hit the road later this year.
Most of MTVG’s new fleet of mobile units can help televise live events in HD (1080p, or 720p/1080i), 4K, HDR and 6X slo-mo, 1080p, or 720p/1080i. By 2020, some of these trailers may be pulled by a self-driving “Telsa Semi” tractor.
Interestingly, Garvin told The Broadcast Bridge he hopes Elon Musk, a pioneer of the electric semi, sees this article and contacts the company for his next big idea. He thinks Musk will be attracted to how the self-driving Tesla trucks will be used.
“We’d love for Elon Musk to see this article and we would love to work with him on some of his live Tesla events, so when he reveals his next big thing, he uses Mobile TV Group to broadcast it. I think he’d be very interested in how this industry is using his autonomous trucks, because the mobile production business in general has to be one of the highest dollar and most technologically advanced thing that a Tesla Semi can pull behind it. I’m talking value and technical sophistication of the cargo. That’s got to be more interesting to him than Fed Ex moving a bunch of packages around.
“In terms of what Elon would be interested in [given his SpaceX program] and what Tesla would think is cool, this industry got to be it.”
Garvin said while it has not necessarily led to increased business, being eco-friendly has boosted moral at his company, where employees feel part of something bigger than themselves and their everyday lives.
“It helps our employees be part of a culture that’s trying to do its part to be responsible,” he said. “I think we all have a moral responsibility to not damage the environment as much as possible.”
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Dubai-based multinational real estate development company Emaar Properties will sell its online fashion platform Namshi to Saudi Arabia-based leading eCommerce firm Noon.
The company stated that the price shall be a cash consideration of $335.2 million, noting that the price is within the range which has been defined by an independent valuer approved by the Securities & Commodities Authority.
“The planned divestment is with a related party to the company, noting the concerned board member did not participate or vote in the meeting,” said Emaar in a statement to the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares are traded.
The above cash consideration is the equity value of Namshi which is equivalent to $350 million of the Enterprise Value of the company.
According to the company statement, “This is adjusted for the debt at the company level and the normalized working capital required for the company.” Emaar will receive the equity value as the cash consideration for the sale.
“Detailed information will be disclosed once the approvals of Noon Board is received formally,” the company further added.
Emaar Properties first bought a 51 percent stake in Namshi for $151 million in 2017 from Rocket Internet’s Global Fashion Group. It later acquired the remaining 49 percent stake in the online fashion retailer for $129.5 million.
Earlier this month, Emaar Properties announced that it will fully acquire Dubai Creek Harbor, the major development located along the historic Dubai Creek waterfront, from Dubai Holding at a consideration of $2 billion.


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By TIMOTHY MBAYA
Maize farmers in the Kuria region in Migori county have protested the governments move to import maize while ignoring locals.
The farmers said they felt insulted as the government they voted for twice in 2017 was ignoring them.
Speaking in Ntimaru, Kuria East, the farmers said they were stranded with maize in their homes and wanted the government to come to their rescue.
“We want the government to consider us and know that there are farmers too from this region,” said John Mwita.
Mwita said they were forced to sell their grains at throw away prices since they needed to survive and meet their needs after pleading with the government in vain.
“We are being exploited by brokers and middlemen who have taken advantage of the situation here on the ground. It is like our efforts are wasted away,” said Samwel Marwa.
Marwa said they were frustrated as farmers because maize was the only cash crop in the region which residents banked on for survival.
“Most farmers have began planting for this season with some stranded with grains going back to the previous three seasons and seemingly there is nothing we can do about it,” said Marwa
He said the National Cereals and Produce Board store at Ntimatu town was full and could not accept their maize.
Jones Kehongo said he had 50 bags of maize in his store at home and wondered where he was going to sell it yet he had already planted for the new season.
“It hurts us as farmers when we hear that the government promotes farmers from other countries through maize imports yet we have loads and loads of maize here in Kuria some of which go bad in our stores due to lack of markets,” said Kihingu.
Jane Gisiri who owns a maize store in Ntimaru said they were the only hope to farmers despite buying their maize at low prices.
“Sometimes we buy from them for as low as Sh. 8 per 2kg tin of maize during high season. If we don’t buy from these farmers there is nowhere else that they will take their maize,” Gisiri said.
But speaking at the Ntimaru NCPB store, Ntimaru East Member of County Assembly Augustine Mwise who went to asses the situation wondered what plans the government had for Kuria farmers.
“This store is full with maize some dating back to 2015 and you are left wondering how local farmers who are stranded are supposed to be helped,” said Mwise
Mwise said the government was out of order to source for maize from outside the country yet the harvest in the country was able to feed Kenyans.
The MCA urged the government to transfer maize from the store to enable farmers to sell their maize.
Most farmers have been forced to sell their maize at Sh. 1,500 with some farmers saying they sold at Sh. 1200 to local stores.


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We won! We’re so pleased to announce that for the second year in a row — and the third time in four years — Boingo has been named “Best Wi-Fi Service” in the Global Traveler 2012 GT Tested Awards.
Many, many thanks to the Global Traveler readers who give us the opportunity to keep them connected to Wi-Fi around the world. We’re proud to be doing our job for our customers. Our commitment to provide excellent customer service and valuable new product and app features continues to be our top priority. Here’s to an exciting 2013 — you rock!


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Latest DAYTON Stories
New SUV crossovers available now in Dayton DAYTON, Ohio, Dec.
Matt Castrucci Mazda compares new SUVs in Dayton, Ohio DAYTON, Ohio, Dec.
US Federal Contractor Registration is reporting the release of the J--Unwatering Pump Restoration solicitation in Dayton, WA posted to FedBizOpps (FBO) on December 11, 2014. Washington
Alliance to Foster Statewide Quality through Creation of Best Practice Standards CLEVELAND, Dec.
The Ohio Chamber of Commerce, the state’s leading business advocate, has teamed with CareSource, one of Ohio’s largest nonprofit health plans, to offer the small business community health
LAW Illinois F&I Library of Forms Offers Comprehensive Catalog of Standardized F&I Forms to CATA Member Dealers DAYTON, Ohio, Dec.
2015 Nissan 370Z zooms into Dayton dealership DAYTON, Ohio, Nov. 26, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- The Nissan 370Z was originally designed to replace the iconic 350Z.
The Mybody myHERO new anti-aging cream is now available to Dayton, OH patients. DAYTON, Ohio, Nov.
CareSource, a Dayton-based nonprofit, health plan will team with Xerox (NYSE: XRX) to provide a customer care operation in Indianapolis.
Matt Castrucci Mazda compares 2015 Mazda 6 vs. 2015 Hyundai Sonata DAYTON, Ohio, Nov.
- Having no light.


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You may have spotted an exciting story about us doing the rounds in the national and regional press last week, hopefully offering some positivity in the current turbulent times.
Covid-19 has brought with it a whole host of challenges for many UK industries and with pubs, bars and restaurants closed for our safety, the spirits industry was by no means exempt.
However, during lockdown we recorded an 800 per cent increase in online sales, thanks to our loyal fans and their love of gin. As a result, in what could have been a very challenging year for our business, we are on track to beat last year’s sales!
We are absolutely thrilled to be able to share this happy news with you in the same year we will be celebrating 6 O’clock Gin’s 10th Birthday. We certainly wouldn’t be where we are today without the many ginthusiasts who have supported us over the past decade, so if you have bought a bottle, visited us at a festival or event, been on a tour, or even just liked one of our social media posts, thank you – here’s to the next 10 years!
Click on a headline below to read more:


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PaidContent reports that the UK newspaper The Guardian is using an intriguing bifurcated strategy for its mobile apps. The Android app for the paper will be free (subsidized by advertising), whereas the iOS version will cost “the equivalent of four daily print copies [£3.99] for an entire year’s mobile app access.”
It’s tempting to wonder why anyone would want an app dedicated to only one newspaper taking up room on their tablet or smartphone at all, let alone one you have to pay for. But the Guardian seems to be aware of that, too. The article indicates that the paper promotes its free mobile website more heavily than it does the non-free app.
This just applies to the UK, of course. Even the iPhone app is free in the US, because the Guardian wants to build an American audience.


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Shoe retailer City Gear is stepping up its online and mobile sales.
Online sales have increased roughly 30-40% in 2018 compared with 2017, says Chris Brigham, the retailer’s director of omnichannel. This increase in sales is good news for City Gear during this important back-to-school time period. “Back-to-school time is one of the three big seasons for us,” Brigham says.
The holiday season and the tax return season are the other peak times, he says, noting that he hopes that this e-commerce bump will continue through the most important holiday season.
In the last year, City Gear has made updates to its e-commerce site, such as its colors, navigation and layout, that have contributed to the sales increase. In addition, the retailer’s digital marketing efforts via its mobile app have also helped increase online sales, he says.
City Gear has about 76,000 consumers who receive mobile push notifications in its app. The app launched roughly a year ago in August 2017. “It’s done really well and continually grows,” Brigham says.
City Gear uses push notifications—or alerts sent through the app to a shopper’s smartphone—to let consumers know of deals, new products or a new blog.
“We’ve been trying to toe the line between not enough communication and too much communication, which can be tough,” Brigham says. “Some users prefer to not be communicated with and some want all the details.”
City Gear plans the push notifications it sends in conjunction with its other digital marketing channels, such as email sends. The number of push notifications it sends per week varies depending on the number of events going on, such as new shoe releases, and can be one to three notifications per week, he says.
Typically 2-10% of consumers who receive a push notification open it, with a 10% open rate being very high performing, Brigham says.
City Gear does not have a specific revenue goal tied to the app, but when the notifications are done at the right time for the right products, they drive sales, Brigham says. On any given week, sales made in the app could account for anywhere from 10-20% of online sales, he says.
Each push notification send on average generates $2,000 in revenue, he says. City Gear measures this by if a shopper opens the notification and makes a purchase within that same session, he says.
“Timeliness of the push notification and content of the push notification are crucial to getting a return on that,” Brigham says.
For example, the retailer will send out a push notification just minutes after a shoe launches on the site, typically around 9:02 a.m. Central time.
City Gear uses emojis in most of its push notification, to help make the message more eye-catching and engaging, Brigham says.
City Gear can segment its app shoppers by geographic region or by information in a shopper’s account, but typically the retailer sends a blast to all of its app users, especially if it’s about a shoe release, he says.
Overall, mobile shoppers are “very important” to City Gear, and about 70% of its web traffic is via a mobile devices, he says.
“People have come to the realization that you have to engage with your customers [on mobile] because that’s where so many spend the majority of our time,” he says.
City Gear has sold online since 2008. However, e-commerce sales are less than 3% of City Gear’s overall sales, as it operates around 135 physicals stores, which are mostly located in the South.
Because its stores are regional, the e-commerce site is helpful to reach shoppers nationwide, Brigham says. Mobile app builder Shopgate Inc. built the app for City Gear and helps market it to generate more app downloads across the U.S. Shopgate mostly does this with Facebook ads, Brigham says.
Still, City Gear is working to get more of its store shoppers to be online shoppers with in-store signage about its app, Brigham says.Favorite


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Power 97 welcomes Imagine Dragons to Canada Life Centre on April 19, 2022!
Tickets go on sale Friday, December 17th.
Due to popular demand, Imagine Dragonshas added 9 additional shows to their Mercury World Tourtour across Canada in Victoria, Ottawa, Quebec City and more. Produced by Live Nation, the 2022 tour kicks off on February 6th at FTX Arena in Miami, FL making stops across North America in Raleigh, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and more before wrapping up April 28th in Moncton, NB at Avenir Centre. The entire tour includes a total of 26 dates and celebrates the release of their latest album, Mercury –Act 1.TICKETS: General tickets for new dates will be available starting on December 17th at 10AM local timeat Ticketmaster.com. Tickets for previously announced dates are on sale now at Ticketmaster.comPRESALE: American Express® Card Members can purchase tickets before the general public beginning Wednesday, December 15th at 12PM local time through Thursday, December 16th at 10PM local time.MERCURY WORLD TOUR DATES: