Craufurd Goodwin

Craufurd D. W. Goodwin (May 23, 1934 – 2017) was an historian of economic thought and the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of Economics, Vice-Provost, and Dean of the Graduate School at Duke University. His work for the Ford Foundation is included in the Duke University archives, and the Craufurd D. W. Goodwin Papers (1960-2000) are in the collection of Duke University's David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library. He was editor of the scholarly journal HOPE (History of Political Economy) and a member of the Center for the Study of Political Economy.
Academic career.
He received his B.A. from McGill University (Canada) in 1955 and his Ph.D. from Duke in 1958. He came to Duke as a graduate student and wrote a thesis on Canadian economic policy. He was the editor of the economic journal "History of Political Economy" and the book series, "Historical Perspectives on Modern Economics". He was a visiting professor at Cambridge University and the Australian National University. He was a Guggenheim Fellow and Smuts Fellow, and a past president (1978–79) and distinguished fellow of the History of Economics Society.
Author of books and articles on economics, history, and art.
Books written by Goodwin include "Economics and National Security: A History of Their Interaction"; "Missing the Boat: The Failure to Internationalize American Higher Education"; "Academic Mobility in a Changing World: Regional and Global Trends", which he edited with Alan Smith, Ulrich Teichler. and Peggy Blumenthal); "Beyond Government: Extending the Public Policy Debate in Emerging Democracies", edited with Michael Nacht); "Talking to Themselves: The Search for Rights and Responsibilities of the Press and Mass Media in Four Latin American Nations" (with Michael Nacht); "The Academic's Handbook", 2nd Ed. (with Leigh DeNeef); "Art and the Market: Roger Fry on Commerce in Art"; and "Economic Engagements with Art" (edited with Neil De Marchi). Goodwin wrote about and taught about the Bloomsbury Group.[6][7] He was co-editor with R. D. Collison Black and A. W. Coats of "The Marginal Revolution in Economics" published in Durham by the Duke University Press.[8] He also wrote about journalist and political commentator Walter Lippmann.[9]
Biography.
Craufurd David Wycliffe Goodwin was born May 23, 1934 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and died April 2017. He was the son of a banker, and his mother was one of the first women to be licensed to practice law in the Canadian Maritimes. He took his first degree at McGill University. In North Carolina he and his wife Nancy Sanders, the daughter of a Duke English professor, owned a showplace home and garden.
Goodwin came to Duke as the student of Joseph Spengler. He completed his studies in 1958, and
became the first faculty member appointed in economics at the new York University in Toronto. He returned to Duke in 1962 as an assistant professor.
In 2009, along with three other speakers, Roy Weintraub, Kevin Hoover, and Bruce Caldwell, Craufurd Goodwin presented four talks on "Keynes in relation to the Bloomsbury Group," for which Goodwin gave the first talk on the subject of "Maynard Keynes of Bloomsbury". The talks were delivered as part of the inaugural event for the Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University. The series on Keynes was also held in conjunction with "Vision and Design: A Year of Bloomsbury", an interdisciplinary program surrounding an exhibition of art by the Bloomsbury group at Duke University's Nasher Museum of Art.
For a time, Goodwin was a program officer in charge of European and international affairs for the Ford Foundation. On the 40th anniversary of HOPE, Kevin D. Hoover wrote "Craufurd Goodwin and History of Political Economy:
A Double Anniversary". In 2017 the History of Economics Society named its annual award for Craufurd Goodwin.


Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society

The Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society (RACS) was a large consumer co-operative based in south east London, England. The co-operative took its name from the Royal Arsenal munitions works in Woolwich and its motto was: "Each for all and all for each". In 1985 it merged into the national Co-operative Wholesale Society.
Establishment and growth.
Co-operative trading had been rooted in Woolwich and the Royal Arsenal since the mid 18th century. In 1868 the Royal Arsenal Supply Association was established by William Rose (1843–1909?) and Alexander McLeod (1832–1902), consisting of 20 workers from the Royal Arsenal. The first base and store was at Rose's house at 11 Eleanor Road (now Barnard Close). In 1869 Rose was laid off at the Arsenal and emigrated to Canada (where his son William Oliver Rose became a well-known politician). McLeod took over as secretary and moved the store to Parry Place (Spray Street Quarter). The society adopted the Rochdale Principles of profit-sharing and renamed itself Royal Arsenal Co-operative Society in 1872.
At first, the store was only open four evenings a week and on Saturday afternoon, but this improved after 1873, when the store moved to larger premises in Powis Street, next but one to the house in which the Woolwich Equitable Building Society had been established in 1842. Membership grew from 232 in 1873 to 1,597 in 1879 and 6,721 in 1889. By that time it was the largest co-operative society in London and the 21st largest (of more than 1500) in the country. According to the social reformer Charles Booth, there was "nothing at all like it within the boundaries of London".
In the century that followed, the society's activities expanded from food retail into a huge range of commercial, social and political activities. In 1902 it had over 20,000 members. Shops opened up in areas beyond Woolwich and house-building took place beyond the parish boundaries in Abbey Wood and Eltham. In 1924 membership had surpassed 100,000 and in 1938 this number had quadrupled. At its height (circa 1975), membership had reached 500,000 and sales exceeded £60 million. The society had outlets across most of South London and parts of Hampshire, Berkshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex.
Activities.
Retail and services.
The RACS ran not just food shops (a founding aim of the UK consumer co-operative movement being the provision of cheap unadulterated food) but also milk, bread and fuel deliveries, department stores, a bookshop, jewellery department, shoe shops and chemists. Other services included removals, catering, undertakers (customers included Herbert Morrison), hairdressers, laundry, a travel agency, insurance and savings clubs. As was usual for such co-operative societies, members were paid a dividend in proportion to their spending with the society – at one point in embossed tin tokens, later by the quoting of a "Divi Number", towards the end by stamps.
Production and distribution.
To support its retail activities the RACS established bakeries, bought farms and piggeries and built food processing factories. It owned stables and railway wagons, an abattoir, dairy, a frozen food plant, a fleet of coaches and two hotels on the Isle of Wight.
Social.
From 1878 onwards 2.5% of the society's profits were spent on education. The RACS had an Education Department, ran classes and sports days, opened reading rooms, supported the Woodcraft Folk and the Co-operative Women's Guild, youth clubs at Falconwood and Coldharbour, a cricket club, orchestras and at one point two choirs conducted by (Sir) Michael Tippett. The society opened its first library in Woolwich in 1879 some 20 years before the local authority provided such a facility.
In July 1888, the society helped Frank Didden raise funds to establish Woolwich Polytechnic, supporting a sports meeting held in Charlton Park. The Polytechnic eventually opened in 1891, also spawning day schools.
Housing.
In 1900 the RACS became a large-scale housing developer by building the Bostall Estate on its farmland in Abbey Wood – Robert Mackay (chairman of the RACS) and its Works Department led by architect Frank Bethell constructing over a thousand homes between 1900 and 1914. In 1925 the RACS bought the 1250-home Royal Arsenal workers estate at Well Hall in Eltham from the Government, which it then renamed the Progress Estate.
Political.
The RACS was always one of the more political co-operative societies. Its motto was "Each for All and All for Each"; it employed a Political Secretary, published magazines and newspapers (such as "Comradeship" and "The Wheatsheaf") and housed Basque refugees from the Spanish Civil War (see also Milk for Spain). The RACS supported the campaign for working-class political representation (see Labour Representation Committee) and the election of Will Crooks as MP for Woolwich.
In 1929, the RACS affiliated directly to the Labour Party, rather than to the Co-operative Party as was more usual for such societies. It also affiliated to the London Labour Party and various borough and local labour parties. As well as the usual co-op dividend to its customer-members, the RACS also paid a "bonus to labour" – for instance paying the tradesmen building the Bostall Estate a halfpenny an hour above the trade union rate. Overall control of the RACS rested with a full-time Management Committee elected by society members under proportional representation.
The RACS directly sponsored Labour Party candidates in several Parliamentary elections, many of whom were successful.
Decline and fall.
By the late 1970s the RACS was in trouble. Greater customer affluence and competition from supermarket chains such as Sainsbury's were changing the society's market – its size and democratic ownership structure made it slow to adapt. Membership numbers declined, weakening the society's democratic basis. Reserves dwindled and dividend payments – for many, the Co-op's unique selling point – all but ceased. In 1985, after a century of expansion in size and scope the RACS avoided collapse by 'transferring its engagements' to the national Co-operative Wholesale Society. Many of the former RACS supermarkets and funeral homes remain as Co-op outlets.
Legacy.
Some of the former RACS buildings and farms have survived and are protected as cultural heritage. Woodlands Farm Trust in Shooters Hill is a former RACS farm that was threatened by redevelopment in the 1990s and is now run by a community trust.
The two large landmark buildings at the west end of Powis Street in Woolwich are evocative of the co-operative movement that was such a major force in this town. The Neo-Victorian RACS Central Stores (125–153 Powis Street) has an 82 m long red brick and terracotta façade with a 32 m high copper-domed clock tower. It was designed by the Society's architect, Frank Bethell, and built in three phases: 1902–03, 1912 and 1926. Above the main entrance is a statue of the founder, Alexander McLeod, by Alfred Drury, and the society's motto. In 2011–13 it was converted into a hotel with 120 rooms and shop units.
The RACS department store (138–152 Powis Street) was built in 1938–1940 in a streamlined Art Deco style. The large, metal-framed windows emphasise the horizontal lines in the faience-tiled gable, set between two end towers. The elegant east tower contains an open stairwell with wrought-iron railings with the letters 'co op' integrated in the design. The west tower is less pronounced and stands over an access road to Mortgramit Square. In 2013-16 it was converted into apartments ("The Emporium"), adding three recessed storeys on top of the restored building.
The former RACS store on Lewisham High Street with a decorative facade has now been converted to flats.
The Bostall Estate in Abbey Wood consists of over one thousand late-Victorian houses. The streets still bear co-operative-themed names, such as Owenite (after Robert Owen), Commonwealth, Rochdale (after the 'Rochdale Pioneers'), McLeod and Will Rose (after founder-members Alexander McLeod and William Rose). The Progress Estate in Well Hall, Eltham, is a housing estate partly developed by Woolwich Borough, partly by RACS. The area was conceived as a garden city and is a conservation area since 1975.


Muthoni wa Kirima

Muthoni wa Kirima (born 1931) was a top-raking female fighter in Kenya's liberation movement Mau Mau or Land Freedom Army in the 1950. She is the only woman said to have been bestowed the Mau Mau rank of field-marshal. She was one of the very few women to become active fighters in the liberation movement.
Early life.
Muthoni wa Kirima was born in 1931 in Kenya's central region. Muthoni’s journey as a revolutionary started when she was a girl, saving money to have Jomo Kenyatta travel abroad to bring freedom. Although her parents worked on a European farm, after her marriage to Gen Mutungi, she moved to a village reserve for Africans in Nyeri before joining the Mau Mau.
In her 20s, she first worked as a spy for Mau Mau fighters who had camped in the forest when war broke out in 1952.
She was one of the very few women to become active fighters in the liberation movement. Most other women only worked as carriers of information or supplies.
During the war, Muthoni was wounded on two occasions but never caught. While living in the forest, she suffered a bad miscarriage that left her unable to conceive.
She moved out of the forest after Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1963.
“Kenya is my only child,” she told the Daily Nation in an interview in 2012, a loaded statement bearing in mind that her marriage did not bear her any children.
Trading in ivory.
Field Marshal Muthoni got a licence to trade in ivory in 1966, saying she used to kill elephants for food and hide the ivory, and knew where they had buried tusks during their life in the forest.
Her permission to collect and sell “wild” ivory ended in 1976 when trade in ivory was banned.
Later life.
In 1990, she served as a nominated councilor in Nyeri County Council, central Kenya.
In 1998, President Daniel arap Moi awarded her a medal for distinguished service, and in 2014, President Uhuru Kenyatta awarded her the Head of State Commendation.
Currently, Muthoni wa Kirima lives in a Nyeri suburb.


Boans

Boans is the name of a department store that operated in Perth, Western Australia between 1895 and 1986.
It was located between Wellington Street and Murray Street and had the Padbury Buildings between it and Forrest Place.
The store was founded by Harry Boan and his brother Benjamin who both came to Perth in 1895 from Broken Hill in western New South Wales. Harry and another brother, Ernest, had previously established a successful drapery known as "Boan Bros. Ltd." in that town.
City store.
The brothers arrived in Perth in mid-1895 when Harry was 34, and purchased two blocks facing Wellington Street and the Perth railway station, at the edge of a potato swamp. The properties ("V.7-8") were purchased from Woods & Co, at a price of £42 per foot of street frontage. They borrowed £62,000 and within four months, despite acute labour shortages, had built, stocked and opened a single-storey emporium on the site and named it "Boan Bros." The store opened on 7 November 1895, and almost sold out by the end of the first day of trading. The original buildings were described as a single store that ran from Wellington Street through to Murray Street and appeared as "a line of iron shops".
In 1901, Benjamin died and Harry assumed sole ownership. Harry purchased adjoining land that spanned the block between Wellington and Murray Streets, near Forrest Place. The business was restructured to become a limited company in 1912 and the name was changed to Boans Ltd. In the same year, the original buildings were demolished and rebuilt as a single building between Murray and Wellington Streets.
Over time, the store became the largest private employer in Western Australia.
In late 1929 Harry Boan handed control of the Boans store to his son Frank Boan who had been living in England with his mother since 1913.
Like similar businesses, Boans had a mail order catalogue issued from the late 1930s that continued into the 1950s.
The Boans department store in Wellington Street Perth was subject to a major fire in 1979, which closed the store for some weeks. The store reopened, prior to its closure in 1986 when it was sold to Coles Myer Ltd to make way for the new Forrest Chase Myer complex. This was later considered a bizarre coincidence, as the Boans department store in Morley was destroyed by fire in 1986. The Morley complex was later rebuilt, housing a Myer department store.
East Perth furniture factory.
In about 1910 Boans opened a furniture factory in East Perth to service the shop. It produced bedroom furniture, including mattresses, dining and kitchen furniture. There was also a cane-ware and upholstery section. Imported furniture was also held there.
After World War II, the factory would also house a bakery and butchery, where smallgoods were manufactured. Between 30 and 40 vehicles operated out of the receivals and despatch section, which also included garaging and mechanical services.
After the Perth store closed, the building fell into disrepair for some years, but in 1996 was assessed by the Heritage Council of Western Australia as having historic, aesthetic and social value. As part of the redevelopment of the area by the East Perth Redevelopment Authority, the buildings have now been transformed into upmarket housing and office accommodation.
The site is bounded by Brown, Glyde and Saunders Streets and the building retains the name of Boans painted on its exterior.
Suburban stores.
During the latter part of the twentieth century, the company expanded by opening a number of suburban stores, as part of the growing trend of decentralised "shopping centres" out of the city centre.
These included:
Country stores.
Boans operated department stores in regional areas. When Myer acquired Boans, these stores were sold.
The stores were located at:
Closure.
Myer Emporium (now Coles Group) purchased the business in 1985 and the Boans city store closed its doors for the last time on 12 April 1986 so that a redevelopment into a larger department store could take place. The development became known as Forrest Chase with Myer as the anchor retailer.
Ross's Sales & Auctions held an on-site sale that cleared the entire building, including many fixtures and fittings such as the jarrah staircases and a Beale baby grand piano "in-situ on the fourth floor". These items are now occasionally seen in refurbished and new buildings around Perth.
Myer said in 1986 that they would retain the Boans name and promptly rebadged the Myer city store at Murray Street and William Street (to be used as the city base until Forrest Chase was ready) and any Myer suburban stores with the Boans name. However, Myer management changed their mind in 1988 when the Forrest Chase building was nearing completion so that they could centralise all advertising and eliminate cost duplication. The Boans name was phased out over several weeks.
In 1989, Myer opened on the former Boans site with a new and larger store carrying through to Forrest Place. The suburban stores were converted to "Myer" badging.
Boans country stores.
Myer sold the country stores in Albany, Bunbury and Geraldton to Geoffrey Bingemann, who was a director of Boans prior to the Myer acquisition of the Boans business.
Bingemann rebadged these stores as Stirlings department stores, and he operated this business as a regional chain until 1996, when Harris Scarfe acquired the business and they became Harris Scarfe stores. Harris Scarfe continued trading until 2001.


Eatonville, Toronto

Eatonville is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located west of the central core in the former suburb of Etobicoke. Eatonville is bisected by Highway 427, with the community generally located north of Dundas Street West and south of Rathburn Road. Eatonville consists mainly of low density residential homes (constructed primarily in the 1950s east of Highway 427, and in the 1960s and 1970s west of Highway 427). The main arterial roads in the community, such as The West Mall, The East Mall and Burnhamthorpe Road, contain a mix of rental and condominium high-rise apartments and townhouses. Cloverdale Mall is in the neighbourhood, and there are community retail areas along Bloor Street West and Dundas Street West.
History.
Eatonville began as a farm owned by Peter Shaver at the end of the 19th century. The farm was one of two purchased by the Eaton's department store in the 1890s (the other was in Georgetown, Ontario) to provide a reliable supply of milk for the store's lunchroom and drug store lunch counter. Eaton's donated a parcel of the farm land to the local elementary school, which was named "Eatonville School" in honour of its benefactor. The name of the school led to the area becoming known by the Eatonville name.
The Eaton Farm supplied milk, poultry and vegetables to Eaton's until the 1950s, when it was sold and subdivided for residential development.
Today, Eatonville is the home of the Etobicoke Civic Centre, which used to be the city hall of the former City of Etobicoke. The community is also home to the Eatonville branch of the Toronto Public Library, which was reconstructed in 2003. The Shaver homestead has been preserved, and was relocated to The West Mall; it now serves as a local historic museum.
The area used to have a second mall, just a short walk from Cloverdale. Honeydale Mall is now being redeveloped.


Worcester Center Galleria

The Worcester Center Galleria, located in Downtown Worcester, Massachusetts, was a two level shopping mall which originally opened on July 29, 1971 as a part of the Worcester Center urban renewal project. The mall, which connected the 100 Front Street and 120 Front Street office towers, was successful for 20 years until it closed following a series of store vacancies. The mall re-opened in 1994 as a short-lived outlet center called Worcester Common Fashion Outlets, finally closing in 2006. The mall is currently undergoing demolition and re-development into a project called CitySquare.
History.
1971–1993: Beginnings.
The Worcester Center Galleria opened on July 29, 1971. To be built, a large swath of Worcester's downtown was demolished to make room for the mall and two connected skyscrapers (100 Front Street and 120 Front Street). The Galleria had a large open area with an arched roof that was supposedly modeled after the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, Italy. The design for the mall also included a 4,300-space parking garage, which, at the time, was the largest parking structure in the world. Two construction experts from New York and California had called the original mall "the finest shopping center they had ever seen in the United States." The original anchor stores included Filene's, Jordan Marsh, and Kennedy's. By the late 1980s, two of the major anchors, Filene's and Jordan Marsh, had moved out, while other area malls such as the Auburn Mall and Greendale Mall began drawing away customers.
1994–2003: Revitalization.
In 1994, Worcester Center Associates sold the Galleria to New England Development which slowly shut down the remaining stores with plans to revitalize the mall. On October 29, 1994, the Galleria reopened as the Worcester Common Fashion Outlets, with Judith Light taking the role of spokesperson, appearing in a large publicity campaign for the mall. With the reopening, there were drastic changes to the stores housed in the mall and the look and layout of it. The original anchors were gone and replaced with Sports Authority, Bed Bath and Beyond, Saks Off Fifth Avenue Outlet, Media Play, and Filene's Basement (later VF Factory Outlet). After the re-opening, the mall contained a total of 126 outlet stores.
As time went on, this re-marketing of the mall did not help. In 1996 the name was changed another time to simply Worcester Common Outlets, and in 1997, a larger outlet mall, the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets, opened off nearby Interstate 495 in Wrentham, Massachusetts drawing from the Common Outlets' customer base.
2004–present: Closure and redevelopment.
Business at the mall slowly died down until June 22, 2004, when Berkeley Investments, along with its capital partner, Starwood Capital of Greenwich, Connecticut announced that they would buy the Worcester Common Outlets. After the announcement of the acquisition, leases in the mall were not renewed and it slowly emptied. The mall closed for good in April 2006. Berkeley has demolished a large portion of the mall and has begun construction of a mixed-use development named CitySquare where a combination of retail, housing and office space will replace the mall. Berkeley Investments planned on keeping the parking garages and Worcester Foothills Theatre, which called a section of the basement of the mall home, until it suspended operations on May 10, 2009 due to lack of funding.
The project is an example of transit oriented development because of its proximity to public transportation.
The $563 million project to construct CitySquare stalled for years as Berkeley Investments struggled to secure tenants. The first phase of the project received city approval in May 2008. In March 2009, it was announced that Unum Group, an insurance company, would lease more than in the future CitySquare development. This allowed $25 million in state demolition funding to flow. On September 13, 2010, demolition of portions of the former mall started and on May 18, 2011, visible exterior demolition began.
Anchor Stores.
As the Worcester Center Galleria
As the Worcester Common Fashion Outlets


Anti-Dumping Measures on Biodiesel by the European Union

Anti-Dumping Measures on Biodiesel by the European Union is a WTO Dispute Settlement case. Argentina and Indonesia were the two biggest exporters of biodiesel to the European Union. Together, they were responsible for about 90% or 2.5mn tonnes of the biodiesel imports of the European Union in 2012. But by mid-2012, the European Union accused Argentina and Indonesia of dumping their biodiesel in the European Union, meaning that they were both selling their biodiesel under the price of the home market and implemented anti-dumping tariffs on biodiesel from the two countries, effectively halting flows.
Background.
According to the findings of the investigations set by the European Union, Argentine and Indonesian companies benefit from an unfair advantage because of the access they have to raw materials at prices that are low compared to the world market prices available to the EU producers of biodiesel. This is because of the high export taxes that the Argentine and Indonesian government imposes on raw materials used in the biodiesel production. The investigation found that the dumping margin of Argentina was around 41.9% and 49.2%, and for Indonesia between 8.8% and 23.3%. However, by applying the EU “Lesser duty rule”, the anti-dumping duties will be imposed at the level of the injury margin, for most exporting producers, which is for Argentina between 22% and 25.7%, and for Indonesia between 8.8% and 20.5%. In other Words, the duties were fixed not to constitute a punishment, but to prevent further injury to the EU industry.
Definitive Anti-Dumping duties on Biodiesel for Argentina and Indonesia.
As of November 2013, the EU has imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia. The anti-dumping measures consist of an additional duty of about 24.6% for Argentina and 21.3%, which measures were based on decisions taken by the Council after a 15-month investigation that the European Commission carried out in 2012. The investigation revealed that Argentine biodiesel products were being dumped in the EU market, just as thought by the congress. This Dumping have had a significant negative effect on the financial and operational performance of European producers. Also, the European commission has proposed tariffs of 217 Euros per ton of biodiesel imported, this has caused the sales of the biodiesel imported more expensive than the one produced nationally, causing the sales of the Argentine and Indonesia biodiesel to decrease, considering that the sales had decrease severely due to the strict import laws on biodiesel newly applied. The amount of biodiesel imported to the European Union has decreased a 36% overall in 2013, and just from Argentina's overall imports decreased a 57%. Also, the European government has started to charge a $1 tax per gallon of biodiesel in 2013, and it has constantly been increasing since then, making the biodiesel more expensive for the consumers. So as we can see, Europe has not only decreased the amount of imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia, but from other countries too. As a result, even though the total amount of imports have decreased drastically, the domestic producers of biodiesel have seen a huge increase in sale and in revenues thanks to the taxes and tariffs applied to imports that caused the drops in total imports.
Argentina.
Argentina has presented a case (DS459) to a special group against the EU in relations to the biodiesel dispute in May 2013. This case was against certain restrictions in the imports and commercialization of biodiesel in Europe and also claims that say that the European Government is unfairly subsidizing the national biodiesel industry. In October 2016 the dispute panel found in favour of Argentina and ruled that the anti-dumping tariffs must be reduced. The European Commission is in the process of passing these proposals but so far has met with strong opposition from Europe's main biodiesel and oilseed producer states. A decision is expected in September 2017.
Indonesia.
In Switzerland, Indonesia has officially launched a complaint against the EU (DS480) at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over anti-dumping tariffs Europe has lodged against Indonesian biodiesel imports since May 2013. The WTO established a dispute panel over similar charges already made by Argentina.


2022 Chuukese independence referendum

Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is scheduled to hold an independence referendum in 2022. Originally scheduled to take place in March 2015, the referendum has been delayed three times. The most populous of the four states within the FSM, Chuuk has high levels of unemployment and there are long-standing tensions over the distribution of funding within the FSM. Other concerns include political power within the federation and the preservation of cultural identity.
In 2012, the Chuuk State Government created the Chuuk Political Status Commission (CPSC) to study potential future statuses for Chuuk. In 2014, the CPSC recommended independence with a separate Compact of Free Association (CFA) with the United States. In 2015, the governor of Chuuk postponed the initial referendum citing the need for greater citizen awareness and a lack of preparedness. The Chuuk State Legislature delayed the second planned referendum in 2019 for a year and also suspended the CPSC. The third delay in February 2020 pushed the referendum back two years to 2022.
The CPSC has actively campaigned for independence, holding public hearings both in Chuuk and in areas with significant overseas Chuukese populations. Opposition has come from both civilians and the FSM Government. The potential timing of the referendum is significant, as parts of the current CFA agreement expire in 2023. The United States has stated that a similar agreement would not be offered to an independent Chuuk.
Background.
Islands within Micronesia came under the jurisdiction of the United States in 1947, as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. This territory was divided into six administrative districts: Chuuk, the Marshall Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Pohnpei, and Yap State (Yap). Kosrae was later separated from Pohnpei. Discussions on self-government included an extensive debate over the power of a potential central government compared to the island groups. While the United States wished for the islands to remain united, local political pressure led to the Northern Mariana Islands being separated from the others in the 1970s. Pressure from the Marshall Islands and Palau led the United States to agree that each island group could select its own negotiators; both island groups rejected the Federated States of Micronesia's proposed constitution during a 12 July 1978 referendum.
The remaining four island groups became the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). This federation signed the Compact of Free Association (CFA) with the United States in 1982. This compact creates an alliance between the FSM and the United States, with the United States military able to enter the territory of the FSM. Under the compact, the United States agreed to provide financial grants to FSM and extend free movement into the United States to FSM citizens. The United States negotiated similar agreements with the now separate Marshall Islands and Palau. The FSM was recognized as an independent state in 1986. Renegotiations between the two countries over the CFA concluded in 2003, extending the deal to 2023.
The FSM is a loose federation, and ideas relating to the secession of its states have existed since its creation. During the 2003 CFA negotiations, there were rumors that each state would negotiate separate compacts, although this did not happen. State identities are strong, with the central government often seen as distant, and those from other states sometimes considered foreigners. However, Chuuk is the only state in which the executive and legislative branches of government have officially taken up secession. State officials lead the Chuuk Independence Movement.
Among Chuukese and within the Chuuk Government, concerns exist about the distribution of funds among the FSM states. While Chuuk is the most populous state, accounting for almost half of the country's population, it receives only 30% of the financial grants under the CFA. In 2000, its unemployment rate stood at 34.2%, the highest in the country and over 12% more than the national average. Furthermore, the national government does not share revenue from commercial fishing with the states. Another issue raised by independence campaigners is political power, with the composition of Congress and the Presidential election systems designed to dilute the dominance the large population of Chuuk would have on a direct electoral system, and with laws requiring approval by a majority of states as well as a majority of congressional members. Independence is also seen as a way to strengthen Chuukese identity and safeguard Chuukese culture. Independence advocates claim that an independent Chuuk would bring increased economic opportunity, including through control over its exclusive economic zone, generating up to $40 million per year. A new taxation system and the full retention of their taxes would generate further funds. They also claim an independent Chuuk would be able to claim some funds from existing Micronesian funds. They also claim a revised CFA would better suit Chuuk.
The United States has begun negotiations on the potential extension of the parts of the CFA that are due to expire in 2023. Independence advocates see this as an opportunity for Chuuk to negotiate with the United States on its own terms. Chuuk State Attorney General Sabino Asor has said the movement seeks to replicate the CFA for an independent Chuuk. This idea has been explicitly rejected by the United States, with its ambassador to FSM engaging in a media campaign to make it clear such an option would not be available.
The legal mechanism by which Chuuk could obtain independence is unclear. One proposal is to ask the other states to amend the FSM constitution following a successful vote. Some independence advocates believe the constitution has no provision to prevent secession. However, others note the constitution obliges all states "to promote the principles of unity". Changing the constitution requires 75% approval, along with the votes of 75% of the states. Even after a successful vote for independence, Chuuk would remain part of FSM for perhaps years as it negotiates its independence. The CPSC claims that Chuuk has the right to declare independence under international law, following the Kosovo precedent. They have also claimed independence is also justified under the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights Article 15.
Campaign.
Chuuk Political Status Commission and report.
The Chuuk State Government established the Chuuk Political Status Commission (CPSC) in 2012 through Chuuk State Public Law 11-18 (CSL 11-12-08). This commission had 12 voting members, 10 selected by the five regional groups present in the legislature and two by the governor. The State Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives participated in the CPSC as non-voting members. The new commission was tasked with determining the best future status for Chuuk in light of the upcoming expiry of the CFA.
Under CSL 11-12-18, the CPSC was meant to conduct a public education program in the 18 months following its inception in January 2013 and then submit its final report. In February 2014, the Chuuk State Government extended its mandate for public hearings by seven months. The final report was submitted in 2014. Comparing several options, this report recommended independence with a renegotiated CFA for the future of Chuuk. The report declared other options were "impractical, unrealistic or impossible". The CPSC claimed feedback obtained during meetings and internal discussions were the basis of its report. This, despite few meetings being held, with most of them taking place among overseas communities.
The Chuuk State Legislature accepted the report on 19 December 2014 during a joint session, months before the expiration of the public hearing mandate. Planning then began for a referendum on independence. The timetable provided in the report was an independence referendum in March 2015, after which if independence is voted for a new constitution would be drawn up by October 2015. The new constitution would be put to a referendum in March 2017, after which an election would produce a new government that could declare independence. The referendum was scheduled for 3 March 2015, to coincide with parliamentary elections.
After the adoption of the CPSC's report, then FSM President Manny Mori, himself Chuukese, began to campaign against independence for Chuuk, giving his opinion that the constitution did not allow for a state to secede from the FSM, and warning a "yes" vote would lead not to immediate independence but to a protracted legal battle. Mori stated that individuals within the CPSC were the same as some involved in previous attempts to separate Faichuk from the rest of Chuuk into its own state.
Videlino Raatior, a former Chuuk resident now living in Hawaii, formed the Chuuk Reform Movement to advocate for continued federation.
Public hearings in late 2014 and early 2015 in response to this report elicited opposition from communities both within and outside of Chuuk. Concerns were raised over the short timeframe between the report's submission and the proposed referendum date. The US Ambassador to the FSM rejected claims by one member of the CPSC that they had discussed the issue with the United States in January 2015.
On 27 January 2015, the legal counsel of the FSM embassy to the United States submitted a memorandum to Mori disputing many claims made in the CPSC's report. On the same date, Mori approved the creation of a task force to campaign against Chuukese independence. This task force included members of the cabinet and other national government officials. It began its own campaign through public hearings within the FSM and abroad. In February 2015 the FSM Department of Justice issued a similar memorandum, claiming the constitution prohibited secession.
First delay.
In late February 2015, Chuuk Governor Johnson Elimo postponed the vote indefinitely through an executive order. The Public Affairs Office released a statement saying that more consultation and awareness was needed. The simultaneous elections were also postponed, because of election material not being ready. Also cited as reasons to delay the referendum were shortcomings in the work of the CPSC, and concerns over the feasibility of holding the referendum simultaneously with the federal elections. Elimo then asked the legislature to determine a new date for the referendum. In response to the postponement, Mori suspended the anti-independence task force, and called for tripartite talks between the FSM, Chuuk, and the United States, to address the concerns underlying the independence campaign.
On 19 November 2015, representatives of Chuuk within the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia sponsored a resolution to end the CFA.
Sabino Asor remained chair of the CPSC during this new period. The CPSC continued to hold meetings to provide information on independence throughout Chuuk, and in areas with other significant Chuukese populations, such as Guam and Hawaii. They claimed over 50% of the population supported independence.
During this period, former FSM president John Haglegam warned against independence.
In 2018, the United States Ambassador to the FSM, Robert Riley, said that independence would mean an end to the CFA agreement, and that the United States would not negotiate a similar agreement with an independent Chuuk. Riley listed the benefits of the CFA that Chuuk would lose upon independence, noting that the United States currently funded social programs (including healthcare and college subsidies), provided defense and maritime security, and allowed free movement of Chuuk residents into the United States and its territories.
As of 2018, there were around 45,000 eligible Chuukese voters. While the referendum was scheduled to coincide with the 2019 parliamentary elections, the CSPC and Elimo attempted to move the referendum forward to January 2019, eliciting concern among overseas voters. This proposal was suspended initially until 27 August 2018. One candidate for the FSM congress from Northwest Chuuk expressed a desire for the outer island regions in Chuuk to be able to separate from Chuuk to stay in the FSM in the event Chuuk as a whole voted for independence, either as a rump Chuuk state or by integrating into neighboring states. In a special session of the FSM Congress, one Chuuk senator introduced a resolution requesting a reconsideration of the independence referendum; however, it did not reach the floor.
Second delay.
CSL 14-23, which served to postpone the 5 March 2019 referendum to March 2020, was passed in October 2018 by the Chuuk State Legislature. After it was subsequently vetoed by acting Governor Marius Akapito, it was passed again on 6 December 2019 by both houses of the legislature, overriding the veto. CSL 14-23 also "suspended CSPC from further carrying out its public education function on the state's Independence Movement". Following the 2019 postponement, the CSPC stated it would sue the state legislature in response, citing violations of free speech.
On 22 February 2019, state officials announced that the referendum had once again been postponed until an undetermined date. The Chuuk State Legislature's chief legal counsel stated that more time was needed to understand potential constitutional implications, while the FSM Government stated that secession as proposed in the referendum was illegal and would require constitutional amendments. The FSM Government also noted that the time could be used for further public education on the matter.
By 5 March when the referendum was meant to take place, the new timeframe of March 2020 had already been decided.
Third delay.
In February 2020 the vote was postponed for a third time, being rescheduled for 2022. Asor stated that this was to allow the FSM time to "correct some of the deficiencies".
Mori believes that the independence referendum will not happen in 2022 either, noting there were still unanswered questions surrounding the referendum despite the multiple attempts at organizing one.
Implications.
Given Chuuk's closeness to Guam, it is considered a strategically important location. The United States has warned Chuuk against independence, amid concern China's influence may increase in an independent Chuuk. In addition to its strategic location, Chuuk contains one of the deepest lagoons in the Pacific. China has already paid $50 million towards building roads in Chuuk, and funded the construction of the Chuuk Government Complex. Sabino Asor has explicitly rejected the idea of inviting a Chinese military presence on an independent Chuuk, although they would welcome economic and diplomatic ties.
Chuukese working in the United States are concerned about how independence would affect their legal right to work there. Some independence advocates claim Chuukese people may be able to retain FSM citizenship upon independence.


Celtic Tiger

"Celtic Tiger" () is a term referring to the economy of the Republic of Ireland from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s, a period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment. The boom was dampened by a subsequent property bubble which resulted in a severe economic downturn.
At the start of the 1990s, Ireland was a relatively poor country by Western European standards, with high poverty, high unemployment, inflation, and low economic growth. The Irish economy expanded at an average rate of 9.4% between 1995 and 2000, and continued to grow at an average rate of 5.9% during the following decade until 2008, when it fell into recession. Ireland's rapid economic growth has been described as a rare example of a Western country matching the growth of East Asian nations, i.e. the 'Four Asian Tigers'.
The economy underwent a dramatic reversal from 2008, hit hard by the global financial crisis and ensuing European debt crisis, with GDP contracting by 14% and unemployment levels rising to 14% by 2011. The economic and financial crisis lasted until 2014; the year 2015 with a growth rate of 6.7% marked the beginning of a new period of strong economic growth.
Term.
The colloquial term "Celtic Tiger" has been used to refer to the country itself, and to the years associated with the boom. The first recorded use of the phrase is in a 1994 Morgan Stanley report by Kevin Gardiner. The term refers to Ireland's similarity to the East Asian Tigers: Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan during their periods of rapid growth between the early 1960s and late 1990s. "An Tíogar Ceilteach", the Irish language version of the term, appears in the Foras na Gaeilge terminology database and has been used in government and administrative contexts since at least 2005.
The Celtic Tiger period has also been called "The Boom" or "Ireland's Economic Miracle". During that time, the country experienced a period of economic growth that transformed it from one of Western Europe's poorer countries into one of its wealthiest. The causes of Ireland's growth are the subject of some debate, but credit has been primarily given to state-driven economic development; social partnership among employers, government and trade unions; increased participation by women in the labour force; decades of investment in domestic higher education; targeting of foreign direct investment; a low corporation tax rate; an English-speaking workforce; and membership of the European Union, which provided transfer payments and export access to the Single Market.
By mid-2007, in the wake of the growing global financial crisis, the Celtic Tiger had all but died. Some critics, such as David McWilliams, who had been warning about impending collapse for some time, concluded: "The case is clear: an economically challenged government, perniciously influenced by the interests of the housing lobby, blew it. The entire Irish episode will be studied internationally in years to come as an example of how not to do things."
Historian Richard Aldous stated the Celtic Tiger has now gone the "way of the dodo". In early 2008, many commentators thought a soft landing was likely, but by January 2009, it seemed possible the country could experience a depression. In early January 2009, "The Irish Times", in an editorial, declared:
"We have gone from the Celtic Tiger to an era of financial fear with the suddenness of a "Titanic"-style shipwreck, thrown from comfort, even luxury, into a cold sea of uncertainty." In February 2010, a report by Davy Research concluded that Ireland had "largely wasted” its years of high income during the boom, with private enterprise investing its wealth "in the wrong places". It compared Ireland's growth to other small eurozone countries such as Finland and Belgium – noting that the physical wealth of those countries exceeds that of Ireland because of their "vastly superior" transport infrastructure, telecommunications network, and public services.
Tiger economy.
From 1995 to 2000, GDP growth rate ranged between 7.8 and 11.5%; it then slowed to between 4.4 and 6.5% from 2001 to 2007. During that period, the Irish GDP per capita rose dramatically to equal, then eventually surpass, that of all but one state in Western Europe. Although GDP does not represent the standard of living, and the GNP remained lower than the GDP, in 2007, the GNP achieved the same level as of some other Western European countries'.
Causes.
Historian R. F. Foster argues the cause was a combination of a new sense of initiative and the entry of American corporations such as Intel. He concludes the chief factors were low taxation, pro-business regulatory policies, and a young, tech-savvy workforce. For many multinationals the decision to do business in Ireland was made easier still by generous incentives from the Industrial Development Authority. In addition European Union membership was helpful, giving the country lucrative access to markets that it had previously reached only through the United Kingdom, and pumping huge subsidies and investment capital into the Irish economy.
Tax policy.
Many economists credit Ireland's growth to a low corporate taxation rate (10 to 12.5% throughout the late 1990s). Since 1956, successive Irish governments have pursued low-taxation policies.
European Union Structural and Cohesion Funds.
Since joining the EU in 1973, Ireland has received over €17 billion in EU Structural and Cohesion Funds. These are made up of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) and were used to increase investment in the education system and to build physical infrastructure. These transfer payments from members of the European Union, such as Germany and France, were as high as 4% of Ireland's gross national product (GNP). Ireland is unique among cohesion countries, having allocated up to 35% of its Structural Funds to human resource investments, compared with an average of around 25% for other cohesion fund recipients. The Irish economy's increased productive capacity is sometimes attributed to these investments, which made Ireland more attractive to high-tech businesses, though the libertarian Cato Institute has suggested that the EU transfer payments were economically inefficient and may have actually slowed growth. The conservative Heritage Foundation also attributed to transfer payments no significant role in causing growth.
Trade within the European Union.
Ireland's membership in the EU since 1973 helped the country gain access to Europe's large markets. Ireland's trade had previously been predominantly with the United Kingdom.
Industrial policies.
In the 1990s, the provision of subsidies and investment capital by Irish state organisations (such as IDA Ireland) encouraged high-profile companies, such as Dell, Intel, and Microsoft, to locate in Ireland; these companies were attracted to Ireland because of its EU membership, relatively low wages, government grants, and low tax rates. Enterprise Ireland, a state agency, provides financial, technical, and social support to start-up businesses. Additionally, the building of the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin led to the creation of 14,000 high-value jobs in the accounting, legal, and financial management sectors.
In July 2003, the government established the Science Foundation Ireland on a statutory basis to promote education for highly skilled careers, particularly in biotechnology and information and communications technology, with the additional purpose to invest in science initiatives that aim to further Ireland's knowledge economy.
Geography and demographics.
The time zone difference allows Irish and British employees to work the first part of each day while US workers sleep. US firms were drawn to Ireland by cheap wage costs compared to the UK, and by the limited government intervention in business compared to other EU members, and particularly to countries in Eastern Europe. Growing stability in Northern Ireland brought about by the Good Friday Agreement further established Ireland's ability to provide a stable business environment.
Irish workers can communicate effectively with Americans – especially compared to those in other low-wage, non-English-speaking EU nations, such as Portugal and Spain; this factor was vital to U.S. companies' choosing Ireland for their European headquarters. It has also been argued that the demographic dividend from the rising ratio of workers to dependents due to falling fertility, and increased female labour market participation, increased income per capita.
Impact of economic growth.
Ireland was transformed from one of the poorest countries in Western Europe to one of the wealthiest. Disposable income soared to record levels, enabling a huge rise in consumer spending with foreign holidays accounting for over 91% of total holiday expenditure in 2004. However, the gap between the highest and lowest income households widened in the five-year period to 2004–2005; in response, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) stated in 2002: "On balance, budgets over the past 10 to 20 years have been more favourable to high income groups than low income groups, but particularly so during periods of high growth". Unemployment fell from 18% in the late 1980s to 4.5% by the end of 2007, and average industrial wages grew at one of the highest rates in Europe. Inflation brushed 5% per annum towards the end of the "Tiger" period, pushing Irish prices up to those of Nordic Europe, even though wage rates are roughly the same as in the UK. The national debt had remained constant during the boom, but the GDP to debt ratio rose, due to the dramatic rise in GDP.
The new wealth resulted in large investments in modernising Irish infrastructure and cities. The National Development Plan led to improvements in roads, and new transport services were developed, such as the Luas light rail lines, the Dublin Port Tunnel, and the extension of the Cork Suburban Rail. Local authorities enhanced city streets and built monuments such as the Spire of Dublin. An academic said in 2008 that the jumbo breakfast roll became "perhaps the ultimate symbol of our contemporary Celtic Tigerland", product of Irish conglomerate IAWS and eaten by busy workers buying food in filling station convenience stores.
Ireland's trend of net emigration was reversed as the republic became a destination for immigrants. This significantly changed Irish demographics and resulted in expanding multiculturalism, particularly in the Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Galway areas. It was estimated in 2007 that 10% of Irish residents were foreign-born; most of the new arrivals were citizens of Poland and the Baltic states, many of whom found work in the retail and service sectors. A study conducted in 2006 found that many Irish people regarded immigration as an important factor for economic progress. Within Ireland, many young people left the rural countryside to live and work in urban centres.
Many people in Ireland believe that the growing consumerism during the boom years eroded the country's culture, with the adoption of American capitalist ideals. While Ireland's historical economic ties to the UK had often been the subject of criticism, Peader Kirby argued that the new ties to the US economy were met with a "satisfied silence". Nevertheless, voices on the political left have decried the "closer to Boston than Berlin" philosophy of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrat government. Writers such as William Wall, Mike McCormick, and Gerry Murphy have satirised these developments. Growing wealth was blamed for rising crime levels among youths, particularly alcohol-related violence resulting from increased spending power. However, it was also accompanied by rapidly increased life expectancy and very high quality of life ratings; the country ranked first in "The Economist"'s 2005 quality of life index, dropping to 12th by 2013.
The growing success of Ireland's economy encouraged entrepreneurship and risk-taking, qualities that had been dormant during poor economic periods. However, whilst some semblance of a culture of entrepreneurship exists, foreign-owned companies account for 93% of Ireland's exports.
Downturn, 2001–2003.
The Celtic Tiger's growth slowed along with the slowing in the world economy in 2002 after seven years of high growth.
The economy was adversely affected by a large reduction in investment in the worldwide information technology (IT) industry. The industry had over-expanded in the late 1990s, and its stock market equity declined sharply. Ireland was a major player in the IT industry: in 2002, it had exported US$10.4 billion worth of computer services, compared to $6.9 billion from the US. Ireland accounted for approximately 50% of all mass-market packaged software sold in Europe in 2002 (OECD, 2002; OECD, 2004).
Foot and mouth disease and the 11 September 2001 attacks damaged Ireland's tourism and agricultural sectors , deterring U.S. and British tourists. Several companies moved operations to Eastern Europe and the People's Republic of China because of a rise in Irish wage costs, insurance premiums, and a general reduction in Ireland's economic competitiveness. The rising value of the Euro hit non-EMU exports, particularly those to the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
At the same time, economies globally experienced a slowdown. The US economy grew only 0.3% in April, May, and June 2002 from a year earlier, and the Federal Reserve made 11 rate cuts that year in an attempt to stimulate the US economy. The EU scarcely grew throughout the whole of 2002, and many members' governments (notably in Germany and France) lost control of public finances, causing large deficits that broke the terms of the EMU Stability and Growth Pact.
The economic downturn in Ireland was not a recession but a slowdown in the rate of economic expansion. Signs of a recovery became evident in late 2003, as US investment levels increased once again. Many senior economists have heavily criticised the government for the economic imbalance in favour of the construction industry, and the prospect of sustaining economic growth in the future.
Post-2003 resurgence.
After the slowdown in 2001 and 2002, Irish economic growth began to accelerate again in late 2003 and 2004. Some of the media considered that an opportunity to document the return of the Celtic Tiger – occasionally referred to in the press as the "Celtic Tiger 2" and "Celtic Tiger Mark 2". In 2004, Irish growth was the highest, at 4.5%, of the EU-15 states, and a similar figure was forecast for 2005. Those rates contrast with growth rates of 1% to 3% for many other European economies, including France, Germany, and Italy. The pace of expansion in lending to households from 2003 to 2007 was among the highest in the euro area
In 2006, there was a surge in Foreign Direct Investment and a net increase of 3,795 in IDA supported jobs, with International and Financial Services having the highest growth rate. The reasons for the continuation of the Irish economic boom were somewhat controversial within Ireland. Some Economists, Civil Rights Activists and Social Commentators have said that the growth throughout this period was merely due to a great increase in property values, and to catch-up growth in employment in the construction sector.
Globally, the U.S. recovery boosted Ireland's economy due to Ireland's close economic ties to the US. The decline in tourism as a result of foot and mouth disease and the 11 September 2001 attacks had reversed itself. The recovery of the global information technology industry was also a factor; Ireland produced 25% of all European PCs, and Apple, Dell (whose major European manufacturing plant was in Limerick), HP, and IBM all had sizeable Irish operations.
There had been a renewed investment by multinational firms. Intel had resumed its Irish expansion, Google created an office in Dublin, Abbott Laboratories was building a new Irish facility, and Bell Labs planned to open a future facility.
Domestically, a new state body, Science Foundation Ireland, was established to promote new science companies in Ireland Maturing funds from the SSIA government savings scheme relaxed consumers' concerns about spending and thus fueled retail sales growth.
In September 2009, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan said Ireland had lost ground in international competitiveness every year since 2000.
Challenges.
Property market.
The return of the boom in 2004 was claimed to be primarily the result of the large construction sector's catching up with the demand caused by the first boom. The construction sector represented nearly 12% of GDP and a large proportion of employment among young, unskilled men. A number of sources, including "The Economist," warned of excessive Irish property values. 2004 saw the construction of 80,000 new homes, compared to the UK's 160,000 – a nation that has 15 times Ireland's population. House prices doubled between 2000 and 2006; tax incentives were a key driver of this price rise, and the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats government subsequently received substantial criticism for these policies.
In January 2009, UCD economist Morgan Kelly predicted that house prices would fall by 80% from peak to trough in real terms.
Loss of competitiveness.
Rising wages, inflation, and excessive public spending led to a loss of competitiveness in the Irish economy. Irish wages were substantially above the EU average, particularly in the Dublin region, though many poorer Eastern European states had joined the EU since 2004, substantially lowering the average EU wage below its 1995 level. Low-paid sectors, such as retail and hospitality, remained below the EU-15 average, however. The pressures primarily affect unskilled, semi-skilled, and manufacturing jobs. Outsourcing of professional jobs also increased, with Poland in 2008 gaining several hundred former Irish jobs from the accountancy divisions of Philips and Dell.
Promotion of indigenous industry.
One of the major challenges facing Ireland is the successful promotion of indigenous industry. Although Ireland boasted a few large international companies, such as AIB, CRH, Élan, Kerry Group, Ryanair, and Smurfit Kappa, there are few companies with over one billion euros in annual revenue. The government has charged Enterprise Ireland with the task of boosting Ireland's indigenous industry and launched a website in 2003 with the objective of streamlining and marketing the process of starting a business in Ireland.
Reliance on foreign energy sources.
Ireland relies on imported fossil fuels for over 80% of its energy. Ireland for many years in the middle twentieth century limited its dependence on external energy sources by developing its peat bogs, building various hydroelectric projects, including a dam at Ardnacrusha on the River Shannon in 1928, developing offshore gas fields, and diversifying into coal in the 1970s. As gas, peat, and hydroelectric power have been almost fully exploited in Ireland, there is a continuously increasing need for imported fossil fuels at a time of increasing concerns about security of supply and global warming. One solution is to develop alternative energy sources, including wind power and, to a lesser extent, wave power. Wind,however, is not a panacea as it needs to have conventional plants to augment it.
An offshore wind farm is currently under construction off the east coast near Arklow, and many remote locations in the west show potential for wind farm development. A report by Sustainable Energy Ireland indicated that if wind power were properly developed, Ireland could one day be exporting excess wind power if the natural difficulties of integrating wind power into the national grid are solved. Wind power by November 2009 already accounted for 15.4% of total installed generating capacity in the state. By 2020, the Irish government forecasts that 40% of the country's energy needs will come from renewable sources, well above the EU average.
Distribution of wealth.
Ireland's new wealth is unevenly distributed. The United Nations reported in 2004 that Ireland was second only to the US in inequality among Western nations. There is some opposition to the theory that Ireland's wealth has been unusually unevenly distributed, among them economist and journalist David McWilliams. He cites Eurostat figures which indicate that Ireland is just above average in terms equality by one type of measurement. However, while it is better off by this measurement than generally less developed or more free market countries like Britain, the Mediterranean, and the new accession states, Ireland is still more unequal than France, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. Moreover, Ireland's inequality persists by other measurements. According to an ESRI report published in December 2006, Ireland's child poverty level ranks 22nd out of the 26 richest countries, and it is the 2nd most unequal country in Europe.
Banking scandals.
"The New York Times" in 2005 described Ireland as the "Wild West of European finance", a perception that helped prompt the creation of the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority. Despite its mandate for stricter oversight, the agency never imposed major sanctions on any Irish institution, even though Ireland had experienced several major banking scandals in overcharging of their customers. Industry representatives disputed the idea that Ireland may be home to unchecked financial frauds. In December 2008, irregularities in directors' loans that had been kept off one bank's balance sheet for eight years forced the resignation of the financial regulator. Economic commentator David McWilliams has described the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank as Ireland's Enron.
Death of the Tiger.
In an economic analysis, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) on 24 June 2008 forecast the possibility the Irish economy would experience marginal negative growth in 2008. This would be the first time since 1983. Outlining possible prospects for the economy for 2008, the ESRI said output of goods and services might fall that year—which would have been the Irish definition of a mild recession. It also predicted a recovery in 2009 and 2010.
In September 2008, Ireland became the first eurozone country to officially enter recession. The recession was confirmed by figures from the Central Statistics Office showing the bursting of the property bubble and a collapse in consumer spending that terminated the boom that was the Celtic Tiger. The figures show the gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the value of all the goods and services produced in the State, fell 0.8% in the second three months of 2008 compared with the same quarter of 2007. That was the second successive quarter of negative economic growth, which is the definition of a recession. The Celtic Tiger was declared dead by October 2008.
In a November 2008 interview in" Hot Press," in a grim assessment of where Ireland stood, then Taoiseach Brian Cowen said many people still did not realise how badly shaken the public finances were.
By 30 January 2009, Ireland's government debt had become the riskiest in the euro zone, surpassing Greece's sovereign bonds, according to credit-default swap prices. In February 2009, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said that Ireland's economy appeared on course to contract by 6.5% in 2009.
Aftermath.
Former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald blamed Ireland's dire economic state in 2009 on a series of "calamitous" government policy errors. Between the years of 2000 and 2003 the then Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy boosted public spending by 48% while cutting income tax. A second problem occurred when government policies allowed, or even encouraged, a housing bubble to develop, "on an immense scale". However, he wrote nothing of the impact of the European Central Bank's low interest rates which funded the property bubble and further exacerbated the overheating economy
Nobel laureate Paul Krugman had a bleak prediction,
"“As far as responding to the recession goes, Ireland appears to be really, truly without options, other than to hope for an export-led recovery, if and when the rest of the world bounces back.”"
The International Monetary Fund in mid-April 2009 forecast a very poor outlook for Ireland. It projected that the Irish economy would contract by 8 per cent in 2009 and by 3 per cent in 2010 – and that might be on the optimistic side.
On 19 November 2010, The Irish Government began talks on a multibillion-dollar economic assistance package with experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union.
Unemployment in Ireland was forecasted to rise almost 17 per cent in 2010, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) stated in a report published on 28 April 2009, however, the unemployment rate in 2010 steadied at 14%. In 2010, the unemployment rate was at 14.8 percent, and in order to escape economic downfall, Ireland requested €67.5 billion ($85.7 billion) from the International Monetary Fund and members of the euro area. Taking the money meant accepting austerity. The government cut expenditure by 15 per cent over three years, consumer spending dropped for six straight quarters, and young Irish by the thousands emigrated to Australia, the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
Cultural impact.
The Celtic Tiger had more than just an economic impact, impacting also Ireland's social backdrop. 2007 research by the Economic and Social Research Institute, prior to the crash, found that fears over wider social inequality, declining community life, and a more selfish, materialist approach to life were largely unfounded, and that the social impact of the Celtic Tiger had largely been positive. The economic boom led to lower levels of emigration and higher immigration than had been historically been the case, and the government at the time did acknowledge that placed a strain on some public services and Ireland's approach to integration.
References.
http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf


Bank of China Group

Bank of China Group (中銀集團;BOCG) was the brand used to denote 13 banks that were almost entirely owned by the Chinese government that operated in Hong Kong, until their merger in 2001 to form Bank of China (Hong Kong). The exception was the Hong Kong branch of the Bank of Communications, which left BOCG in 1998. The BOCG brand is still retained by the life insurance and casualty insurance operations of the Bank of China, in both Hong Kong and Mainland China.
History.
The opening of a branch of the Bank of China in Hong Kong in 1917 marked the entry of state-owned Chinese banks into the then colony's banking sector. Other banks soon followed suit, starting with Yien Yieh Commercial Bank in 1918.
By the time the People's Republic of China was established in 1949, there were 15 branches of state owned Chinese banks in Hong Kong, plus branches of nine Mainland-incorporated banks that were public-private joint ventures, namely:
In addition, the Chinese government established Po Sang Bank in 1949 and Nanyang Commercial Bank in 1950. Both of these were incorporated in Hong Kong.
Centralised management.
In 1952, the nine public-private banks were grouped into the Joint Office of Joint Public-Private Banks. The Hong Kong branches of three of these (namely Young Brothers Banking Corporation, Wo Sang Bank and National Industrial Bank of China were closed in 1954 when their parents were scrapped, and management of the remaining six public-private banks were transferred to the Hong Kong and Macau Regional Office of the Bank of China in 1958. The Bank of China later took over management of the Hong Kong branches of Kwangtung Provincial Bank, Hua Chiao Commercial Bank and the Bank of Communications. All three were incorporated in the Mainland.
1970-1980s.
The Bank of China began accumulating stakes in Chiyu Banking Corporation in the 1970s. In June 1975, the Bank of China moved to increase the capital of the public-private banks. As all of the new capital were from the Chinese government, private ownership in the public-private banks were substantially reduced to less than 1%.
The 14 banks were rebranded as part of the Bank of China Group in the 1980s, after a common IT platform was established. Treasury and foreign currency exchange operations were also centralised.


John D. Lankenau

John Diederich Lankenau (1817–1901) was a German-American businessman and philanthropist, an executor of financier Francis Martin Drexel, and the namesake of Lankenau Medical Center.
Born on March 18, 1817, in Bremen, Germany, Lankenau attended Bremen Business College. He took a job with a German dry goods importer, and then, in 1835, emigrated to Philadelphia to represent the company in America. He eventually became a partner in the German firm and earned a "large fortune."
In 1848, Lankenau married Mary Johanna Drexel (1822-1873), a daughter of the wealthy Philadelphia financier Francis Martin Drexel, who eventually named his son-in-law one of the executors of his will. After Francis' death in 1863, managing the enormous estate would partially occupy Lankenau for the rest of his life. John and Mary had two children, who died between 1873 and 1882.
Lankenau retired in 1865 and sold his mercantile firm.
Following his father-in-law, who served as Chief Contributing Treasurer of the German Hospital of the City of Philadelphia, Lankeau served as a hospital trustee in 1866-69, and then hospital president until his death. When the hospital sought to expand in 1884, Lankenau sought money from his brother-in-law, Anthony Joseph Drexel, who agreed on the condition that Lankenau will his art collection to Drexel University. Lankenau agreed, and the university eventually received works appraised at $150,000 ($ today), including paintings of the Barbizon School by Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878) and Jules Dupré (1811- 1889) and by artists
of the Düsseldorf Academy, including Andreas Achenbach (1815-1910) and Oswald Achenbach (1827-1905).
Also in 1884, Lankenau arranged for seven deaconesses to come from Germany to run the hospital's administration and nursing corps. "This opened the gates for a flood of deaconesses to come and provide care in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Omaha," wrote one Lutheran-history site. "From the 1930s to the early 1950s, deaconesses from the Philadelphia Motherhouse served at Lankenau Hospital, the Philadelphia Children's Hospital, the Mary J. Drexel Home for the Aged, the Lankenau School for Girls, ministries in the Virgin Islands, parishes and many more sites."
After Mary died in 1873, Lankenau established — with the hospital deaconesses' help — the Mary J. Drexel Home for Aged and Homeless Patients of the German Hospital, a nursing home today known as the Mary J. Drexel Home. The organization later opened a girls' school, called first "The School for Girls of the Mary J. Drexel Home" and renamed in 1910 "The Lankenau School for Girls". In June 1942, the school bought a 30-room manor house and a gatehouse on eight acres from the estate of William G. Warden, a son of a founder of Atlantic Refining Company, and moved to 3201 West School House Lane in Philadelphia. In 1972, the school sold the complex to Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science (today's Philadelphia University, which renovated the building and used it as a student center until demolishing it in 2006). The Lankenau school moved to 201 Spring Lane, today the site of Philadelphia's Lankenau High School.
In 1901, Lankenau sustained a stroke at his summer home in Cape May, New Jersey. He recovered, but died on August 30 of a second stroke in Philadelphia.
In his will, he left $2 million ($ today) to the German Hospital, which on the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1917, renamed itself Lankenau Hospital; today, it is known as Lankenau Medical Center.


Landmark Mall

The Landmark Mall (or Landmark Regional Shopping Center) was an American shopping mall. Located in a triangle formed by Duke Street (Virginia State Route 236), Interstate 395, and Van Dorn Street (Virginia State Route 401) in Alexandria, Virginia, the mall opened in 1965 and closed on January 31, 2017. The mall was anchored by Sears, Lord & Taylor and Macy's.
History.
The mall opened on August 4, 1965, with Virginia Lt. Gov. Mills E. Godwin, Jr. cutting the ceremonial ribbon. It was the first mall in the Washington D.C. area to feature three anchor department stores; the The Hecht Co. (later Macy's) (), Sears (), and Woodward & Lothrop (later JCPenney, then Lord & Taylor) (). The mall opened with 32 stores in the center including Bond Clothes, Casual Corner, People's Drug Store, Raleigh Haberdasher, Thom McAn, and Waldenbooks. The center also included the second location of S&W Cafeteria in the Washington D.C. suburbs.
Originally an outdoor mall, it was enclosed in 1990.
In 2006 the mall's owner, General Growth Properties, announced its plan to convert the mall into an open-air "town center" shopping center. The plans were not realized.
The Howard Hughes Corporation became the new owner in 2009. Lord & Taylor announced in May the same year that it would be closing its store at the mall.
The Howard Hughes Corporation showed its plan to transform the site into an 'urban town' in 2013. The plan would turn the mall into an outdoor center with retail and residential facilities.
In June 2013, Alexandria City Council approved the plans to redevelop the mall.
On January 4, 2017, Macy's announced it would close its Landmark Mall store that year. Subsequently, the mall's owners notified tenants (except Sears) they were to vacate by January 31, indicating that approved redevelopment is imminent. At final build out, Landmark would transform into a walkable, mixed-use urban village with approximately of modern shops and restaurants, up to 400 new residential units and an updated parking structure. In addition to the new retail and residences, the new Landmark will be an open-air community destination featuring multiple plazas and green spaces, outdoor seating, seasonal entertainment and public art. There will be numerous full-service and fast-casual dining options, and a 10-screen luxury cinema. Howard Hughes purchased the Macy's site in 2017. In June 2018, the vacant Macy's store was transformed into a homeless shelter. In November 2018, it was announced that Howard Hughes had partnered with Seritage Growth Properties, which owns the Sears site, and among the 235 properties Sears Holdings spun off in 2015 into Seritage, to redevelop the entire 51-acre property.
The 2020 movie "Wonder Woman 1984" had scenes filmed at the mall in June and July 2018.
As of early 2020, planning related to demolition and redevelopment is still in progress and decisions about funding and issuing of permits have not be completed.
On July 1, 2020, it was announced that Sears would also be closing as part of a plan to close 28 stores nationwide which will leave the mall entirely vacant.
On December 22, 2020, it was announced that the area would be redeveloped as a new mixed-use development with a new Inova Alexandria Hospital, with the existing hospital beginning to be relocated in 2025.


Mainstop

Mainstop was a large British supermarket chain, with branches across the whole of England, which rose to prominence in the late 1970s. Mainstop branches were large general grocery stores, often featuring in store specialist departments, such as butchers and bakeries.
The corporate logo consisted of four interlaced rectangles, forming an approximation of the "hash" symbol (#) from a computer font set, turned through 45°, or the letter "x" printed twice, so as to overlap. This logo was used in signage and marketing, and on promotional items, including coffee mugs widely distributed through the end of the 1970s, at the opening ceremonies of new branches.
Mainstop was originally part of International Stores, itself a subsidiary of British American Tobacco. In the late 1970s, the largest International Stores were rebranded as 'Big I', and finally as Mainstop, although the Torquay branch was rebranded as Supernational.
The 22 Mainstop stores ran at a loss during their brief existence, and therefore eight were returned to the International Stores fold (until Gateway took them over), whilst the remaining 15 were sold to Morrisons, Co-op and Presto in 1983.


Northline Commons

Northline Mall was a shopping mall in the Northline area of Houston, Texas, United States, at the northeast corner of Interstate 45, and Crosstimbers Road. It is the new location of Northline Commons.
History.
Boston, Massachusetts-based Berenson Associates Inc. developed the mall in the 1960s. Northline Mall opened in 1963 as one of Houston's first premier weather-controlled malls.
On January 31, 1997, a 20-foot wall on the south end of Northline Mall, where the former Joske's building was being demolished to make way for the incoming Magic Johnson Theatres cinema, collapsed, killing at least three people.
Beginning in the 2000s Northline Mall was redeveloped from a traditional mall to an open air "power center" consisting of "big box" retail and general merchandise stores. Eastbourne Investments, a New York City real estate fund, bought a 50 percent equity stake in Northline on December 31, 2004. Berenson hired Fidelis Realty Partners, a firm in Houston, to redevelop the mall and repopulate it with tenants.
Wal-Mart purchased from the owners for a Supercenter, located at Crosstimbers and Fulton, adjacent to new multi-tenant retail buildings. Houston Community College also acquired land for a new campus on about along the Fulton side of the property.


Hills Supermarkets

Hills Supermarkets, owned by H. Frederick Hill, was a New York based grocery store chain which was popular in the 1960s. In May 1977 it was sold as a subdivision of Pueblo International Inc., to Food Fair.
Growth.
In March 1955 Hills Supermarkets leased in the Pine Oaks Shopping Center at Boundary Avenue in North Massapequa, New York. The following month Hills signed a fifteen-year lease for a store to be located at the Hub Shopping Center, approximately one mile north of Amityville, New York.
In October 1961 Hills operated 23 stores with plans to open 7 more and expand an 8th within the next twelve months. Each planned store was to be except for one. The exception was
a store in the Walt Whitman Shopping Center in Huntington, New York, which measured 29,000 square feet.
By December 1972, the Hills chain had 75 locations.
Demise of store chain.
In the two years prior to November 1976, Pueblo International, Inc., had closed 29 Hills stores as well as a distribution center in Brentwood, New York. The indebted 43 units of Hills Supermarkets sold for a sum of approximately $7 million in 1977, to Food Fair. Food Fair filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 1978, and 42 Hills locations were closed shortly thereafter.


Atkins

Atkins may refer to:


Eastwood Village

Eastwood Village, formerly Eastwood Mall, was a shopping mall located in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Its location was between Montclair Road and Crestwood Boulevard (U.S. Highway 78), adjacent to I-20, between Mountain Brook and Irondale.
When it opened on August 25, 1960, Eastwood Mall was the second enclosed shopping mall in the Southeastern United States, being built after North Carolina's Charlottetown Mall, which opened on October 28, 1959. It remained one of the leading malls in Birmingham for nearly three decades and continued to hold its own into the 1990s.
History.
Eastwood Mall was the creation of Newman H. Waters, who owned a chain of drive-in theaters in the Birmingham area, including one adjacent to where Eastwood was built. Eastwood Mall's original tenant list included J.J. Newberry and S.S. Kresge Corporation dime stores, as well as J.C. Penney, a Kroger supermarket, and Colonial Stores supermarket, (which became a Hill's Food Store, and eventually evolved into Winn-Dixie). The mall had no major department stores until the mid-to-late 1960s. Anchors that have been connected to the center over time include the local chains Parisian, Pizitz, and Yielding's, as well as Service Merchandise.
A movie theater opened on Christmas Day 1964 and was equipped to show Cinerama movies such as "" and "Ice Station Zebra". Eastwood Mall Theatre was also the site of the world premiere of the 1976 film "Stay Hungry," which was set and filmed in Birmingham.
In 1967, Newman Waters sold Eastwood Mall to Alabama Farm Bureau (today known as ALFA), which owned the property until the mid-1980s. A competing mall, Century Plaza, opened across the street in 1975.
Decline.
In 1989, Eastwood Mall received a facelift, adding a food court with a glass atrium and a wall of video screens that made one big image, a Books-A-Million, and a larger space for Parisian. When larger cinemas came into favor, the Eastwood Mall Theatre was closed.
However, the renovations came with a cost. Mismanagement involved with the mall renovations led to overcharged rents, which drove many of Eastwood's old-time tenants out, therefore turning the mall into a virtual dead mall.
Walmart bought the property from Lehman Brothers (the last owner of Eastwood Mall), and demolition of the mall began on June 23, 2006. It was completed about 10 weeks later. A Walmart Supercenter opened on the site on October 22, 2007. This replaced the smaller Walmart in Irondale.
It serves as one of the anchors of what is now called Eastwood Village. Other anchors are: Party City, Ross Dress For Less, Office Depot, and Shoe Carnival. Inside the "Retail Center" entrance of Walmart is a historical tribute to Eastwood Mall that contains a brief history of the mall, as well as several photos. The display was the work of Friends of Eastwood Mall in cooperation with Walmart. Many Eastwood Mall fans, as well as the Friends of Eastwood Mall, hope to see an official historical marker placed on the site of Eastwood Village honoring Eastwood Mall.
As of November 2014, the western portion of the Eastwood Village shopping center has been sold. MAP Eastwood LLC sold the portion of the mall west of the Walmart, along with an out parcel to Eastwood Village Shopping Center LLC for $17 million, according to Jefferson County public records.
The 134,000-square-foot purchase at 1600 Montclair Road did not include the Walmart or anything east of the retail chain.
Phil Sambazis and Thomas Ladt of Sambazis Retail Group in Marcus & Millichap's San Diego office represented the seller. Andrew Chason of the firm's Mobile, Ala. office also provided representation. Zachary Taylor and Don McMinn, vice presidents investments in the firm's Atlanta office, represented the buyer.
Sambazis said the mall is over 90 percent full and in good condition, and the buyer acquired the property as an investment.
T-Mobile and Starbucks occupy the out parcel sold, and Ross Dress for Less, Office Depot, Party City, Tuesday Morning and Shoe Carnival are tenants in the main portion that was acquired.


William Harvey (department store)

William Harvey was a department store located in Guildford.
History.
William Harvey bought a general drapery store in Guildford in 1922 developing the business into a department store with a slant on fashion. In 1946 the business was incorporated and two years later moved into new premises opposite. However the move had put the company into financial problems, and in 1950 the business was offered to Harrods who declined. In April 1951 the business was put into voluntary liquidation, with a new company by the same name being set up to operate the store.
The new company however did not stay independent for long, and in 1953 the expanding department store group Army & Navy purchased the business. The Guildford store was subsequently expanded by Army & Navy, who continued to operate William Harvey as a subsidiary, with five new floors and a roof garden. They also branded a new store located in Camberley Harveys which opened in 1964.
Army & Navy was purchased by House of Fraser in 1973, and subsequently put in place a group system for its department stores. Army & Navy was decided to be the brand for its South East stores, and both the Guildford and Camberley stores were re-branded in 1974 as Army & Navy. Both stores are still open but now operate under the House of Fraser name.


List of British Detention Camps during the Mau Mau Uprising

During the 1952–1960 Mau Mau Uprising, in British Kenya Thomas Askwith, the official tasked with designing the British 'detention and rehabilitation' programme during the summer and autumn of 1953, termed his system the "Pipeline". The British did not initially conceive of rehabilitating Mau Mau suspects through brute force and other ill-treatment—Askwith's final plan, submitted to Baring in October 1953, was intended as "a complete blueprint for winning the war against Mau Mau using socioeconomic and civic reform." What developed, however, has been described as a British gulag.
Two types of work camps were set up. The first type were based in Kikuyu districts with the stated purpose of achieving the Swynnerton Plan; the second were punitive camps, designed for the 30,000 Mau Mau suspects who were deemed unfit to return to the reserves. These forced-labour camps provided a much needed source of labour to continue the colony's infrastructure development.
Colonial officers also saw the second sort of works camps as a way of ensuring that any confession was legitimate and as a final opportunity to extract intelligence. Probably the worst works camp to have been sent to was the one run out of Embakasi Prison, for Embakasi was responsible for the Embakasi Airport, the construction of which was demanded to be finished before the Emergency came to an end. The airport was a massive project with an unquenchable thirst for labour, and the time pressures ensured the detainees' forced labour was especially hard.
The following list includes detention camps of various types, organized by district or province.
The Museum of British Colonialism is also documenting the camps for exhibitions and awareness.


Fort Saginaw Mall

Fort Saginaw Mall was an enclosed shopping mall located in Buena Vista Township, just outside the city of Saginaw, Michigan, United States. Opened in 1966, the mall served as Saginaw's only enclosed mall until Fashion Square Mall opened on the other end of town in 1972. Fort Saginaw Mall had become a dead mall by the 1980s, as many of its stores had closed. By the end of the 1990s, the entire mall was closed off, except for an attached Kmart which remained open until May 2004.
The vacant mall was owned by Cafaro Company of Youngstown, Ohio long after its closure. Although the community had made plans to demolish it, Cafaro initially refused to sell to the charter township. However, in April 2008, the township has claimed title to the abandoned building, and announced plans to redevelop it.
History.
Fort Saginaw Mall opened in Buena Vista Township, a charter township just outside the city limits of Saginaw, Michigan, in 1966. It was an "L"-shaped enclosed mall, comprising an eastern and southern wing. Federal's, a department store based in Detroit, Michigan, served as the eastern anchor store; at the southern end, but not accessible from the mall concourse itself, was a Kmart discount store with adjacent Kmart Foods supermarket. A five-and-dime store called Scott's 5 & 10, as well as a small movie theater, were also located in the southern wing, and overall, the mall comprised forty stores at its peak. It was the only mall in Saginaw until Fashion Square Mall opened in 1972, on the north end of town.
In 1976, the theater closed amid rumors that its manager had been murdered. Also in the 1970s, Scott's 5 & 10 was converted to T G & Y. Federal closed its stores in the late 1970s, and their store at Fort Saginaw Mall was eventually replaced with Burlington Coat Factory. The elimination of the Kmart Foods line made way for an expansion of the mall's Kmart store into the space formerly occupied by Kmart Foods. At some point in the 1980s, Big Lots was also added in the eastern wing. This store, however, was only accessible from outside. In addition, T G & Y was closed in the 1980s and replaced with Norman's, a local sporting goods store.
After Burlington Coat Factory relocated in 1991, its former space at the mall was assumed by Phar-Mor, a discount drugstore chain, which closed all of its Michigan locations a year later. The mall's remaining tenants began to close off in the 1990s as well, and by the end of the decade, the entire mall (except for Kmart) was shuttered. Kmart finally closed in May 2004.
An outparcel building was originally occupied by Ray's Food Fair, then Giant Supermarket, and ultimately Kessel Food Market.
Demolition of 2009.
In 2007, Buena Vista Charter Township officials made plans to buy the property from Cafaro Company for $2 million; Cafaro, however, refused to sell the mall, as they had plans to redevelop it. In April 2008, Buena Vista Charter Township successfully purchased the property, and may later redevelop it for various uses. The township has also kept a Burger King restaurant in the mall's parking lot, as well as a strip mall behind the mall (which includes a Save-A-Lot grocery store), thus making both properties tenants of the township. In November 2009, crews began the demolition process for the mall, which had been boarded up and heavily vandalized since its closure.


Sport Chalet

Sport Chalet was a sporting goods chain with 47 stores in Southern & Northern California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Most stores were over in size, with many including dive pools and offering SCUBA classes. Sport Chalet stores usually featured large apparel and footwear departments complemented by an array of specialized departments and sections. On April 16, 2016, the company announced that it would close all stores in the coming months and that all online sales had already stopped. The last stores closed in June 2016.
History.
Sport Chalet was founded on April 1, 1959 by newlyweds Norbert Olberz, a former baker, and his wife Irene, who bought a ski and tennis shop in La Cañada Flintridge, California, for $4000, equaling a $2500 check plus a negotiation, from Milo Svoboda, the original owner, whose store had only been open four months. To initially stock the store with ski gear, the couple took out a $5,000 loan and borrowed money from a relative and some employees.
Early on, Sport Chalet stocked products that few other stores sold, such as scuba and mountain-climbing gear. When surfing became popular in the early 1960s, the store began carrying longboards and wetsuits.
Sport Chalet grew piecemeal in La Cañada along Foothill Boulevard. Olberz converted a former grocery store into a full-line sporting goods store and an old furniture store became the ski shop. He also converted a gas station into a ski rental shop and opened a golf store down the street. Sport Chalet's location was about one block southeast of the intersection with Angeles Crest Highway, a major route into the San Gabriel Mountains.
The company opened its second store in 1981 in Huntington Beach, California. By the mid-1980s, the company expanded to have stores throughout Southern California.
Sport Chalet started being traded publicly on the NASDAQ exchange in 1992.
In 1997 Craig Levra came on board as president and in 1999 took over as CEO.
Norbert Olberz died in La Cañada Flintridge on July 15, 2011, survived by his wife Irene and his son Eric. Two years later Eric resigned from the board, replaced by Miki Berardelli, chief marketing officer of New York women’s clothing designer and retailer Tory Burch.
In 2014 Sport Chalet was sold to Vestis Retail Group for $17M, as well as absorbing its current $50M in debts. Vestis was owned by the private equity firm Versa Capital Management.
On April 16, 2016, Sport Chalet announced that all stores would close, with May 15 being the last day for customers to use gift cards and store credits, and that online merchandise sales had already been stopped. Subsequently, Vestis Retail Group, which owns the Eastern Mountain Sports and Bob's Stores sporting goods chains as well as Sport Chalet, announced it had filed for bankruptcy protection and reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code.
By June 2016, all stores had closed.
Corporate environment.
Sport Chalet claimed to pride itself on employing well-trained and knowledgeable employees who had extensive knowledge and/or experience in their respective departments, leading to one of the companies slogans 'The Experts'. Sport Chalet was one of the few major sporting goods retailers to focus on a broad array of more specialized sports, including kayaking, SCUBA diving, mountain climbing, canyoneering, and other extreme sports. Sport Chalet additionally used the slogan "We'll Take You to The Limit".
In 1998, Olberz gave $1.5 million in stock to 109 employees who had been with the company for at least 10 years.
The company was the title sponsor of the "U.S.B.A. California Regional Tour." The tour was a collection of three events that were sanctioned by the United States Bodyboarding Association, that took place at different Southern California beaches; events ran between June 7, 2008 and November 9, 2008.
Following the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Sport Chalet, in conjunction with Soles 4 Souls, began accepting donations of gently worn shoes at all their locations until January 31, 2010.
They collected almost 1 million pairs of shoes in 2 weeks.