阅后即焚（十四）

last year completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility; even though Google wants Motorola to succeed as a device maker, the company is being careful not to appear to favor Motorola over other device makers — Samsung, Sony, etc.;
there would a lot to display for Google in its own retail stores: home-entertainment devices, Chromebook laptops, Google Glass, Google TV software;
Apple has about 400 retail stores world-wide, generating $10 billion in annual sales; Microsoft has opened about 300 full-fledged stores and is developing another 11 stores.

$23 billion acquisition of Heinz; the role of 3G capital, which has a reputation for cost-cutting and layoffs (as in Burger King);
a classic private-equity turnaround in which better management improves the value of a business v.s. rapacious capitalists;
the usual media critics of private equity are ignoring 3G’s takeover history, perhaps because of the role Mr. Buffet, the billionaire patron saint of taxing the rich; the deal is even being portrayed as one sign of the return of business animal spirits and a healthier economy;

Pushing up the yuan helps stave off imported inflationary pressure;
higher inflows through the trade account add to pressure for the yuan to rise;
the pressure on China’s exporters from Japan’s falling yen is limited — Japan high-end, China low-end manufacturing;

Seoul’s inaction makes sense: South Korean exporters are among the biggest beneficiaries of Japan’s spat with China;
and also, the weaker Yen means the energy cost for Japan is rising;
what’s more, favorable currency movement will partially help Japanese companies with overseas sales — won’t do much damage to Samsung Galaxy;

统一后的国家既要创造和谐氛围，也要体现公正原则；
苏联模式的哲学是，与其让人信服不如让人恐惧；
（麦德维杰夫）苏联文化和意识形态的垄断后果是“要求人们虚伪、顺应、愚昧和装傻，不断玩弄那种令人哭笑不得的、宗教意识般的、普遍宣誓效忠的把戏；”
（兰德尔·彼特沃克《弯曲的脊梁》）“一个压制分歧的体系面临着无法解决的困境，它用以施加公共一致性的方法越严酷，公民们隐藏真实看法和显示许可看法的行为就越勤勉，而这个体系就越担心它的公民不站在他这边。” — 恶性循环；