Corporate CEOs Say Urgent Tax Overhaul Would Boost Hiring and Investment

– The Wall Street Journal 

Chief executives of America’s largest companies say failure to pass sweeping tax-policy changes soon could damage hiring and investment, but they remain optimistic for now about the prospects for tax reform and deregulation under the Trump administration. Despite the optimism, executives are forecasting little change in the path of economic growth.

 

These Cities Have Too Many Stores, and They’re Still Building

– Bloomberg

Cleveland, Memphis, and Chicago lead the way among metro areas where retail development has outpaced growth in demand. Across the U.S., retail real estate development that outpaced demand marked the early years of the new millennium. Now retailers are going bankrupt at a record rate, and hedge funds are betting against the commercial mortgages used to finance mall properties. Credit Suisse this month predicted that as many as 275 malls, a quarter of the U.S. total, will close in the next five years.

 

How Steve Case Became Washington’s Tech Whisperer

– Politico 

Until last year, the American prosperity gap — if it was discussed on the coasts at all — tended to be the province of economists and activists. But it was made viscerally real for millions by the campaign of Donald Trump, one fueled by heartland resentments of the fortunes that sprang up in just a few metropolitan centers. Post-Inauguration Day, the tech industry realized it was no longer driving the conversation in Washington. Middle America was newly empowered, but it, too, didn’t seem to know how, exactly, to fix the disparities that put its candidate in office.

 

Shipping Giants Are Looking to Self-Piloting Boats to Shift Cargo

– MIT Technology Review 

Millions of containers could be hauled by robotic ships within the next decade, but just like the first wave of driverless cars, ships will gain features, such as autonomous navigation, incrementally. Eventually, a fully robotic cargo ship could be faster, safer, and ultimately cheaper to run than its crewed counterpart.