Bloomberg Businessweek-Europe Edition 10/9/2017

Americas ● A day after President Trump told Fox News Puerto Rico’s debt would be wiped out, which sent bond prices plummeting, his budget director, Mick Mulvaney, told CNN not to take the president’s statement “word for word.” ● Canadian grocer Metro agreed to buy pharmacy chain Jean Coutu for $3.6b • A woman visits the site in Las Vegas where more than 500 people were injured when a gunman rained bullets on an outdoor concert the night of Oct. 1. Three days later, police still hadn’t determined a motive. With 59 killed, it was the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. ▷ 13 ● Secretary of State Rex Tillerson deflected rumors that he’d called Trump a “moron” and intended to resign—less than a week after Tom Price stepped down as secretary of…

As recently as July, secessionists in Catalonia seemed to be in retreat. Spain was the fastest-growing of continental Europe’s big four economies, creating jobs at a rapid clip. A poll that month by the Catalan government showed that support for independence had fallen to 35 percent, its lowest level since 2012. It appeared that Enric Millo, the Spanish government’s representative in Catalonia, might have been right when he predicted in 2012 that once removed from the flame of financial crisis, “separatism would sink like a soufflé.” What’s sinking instead is the reputation of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Acting on his orders, Spanish police used batons and rubber bullets against those who took part in an Oct. 1 referendum on independence that Spain’s constitutional court had declared illegal. Hundreds were injured in…

Some of the great moments of history sneak up on businesspeople. Two years ago, Britain looked to be Europe’s most economically rational country; now its companies seem to be rolling from one economic earthquake to another, with Brexit looking increasingly likely to be followed by the election of a near-Marxist prime minister, Jeremy Corbyn. Looking back, two things stand out. First, there were some deep underlying “irrational” causes that business ignored, such as the pent-up anger against immigration and globalization. Second, there was a string of short-term political decisions that proved to be miscalculations. For decades, for example, attacking the European Union was a “free hit” for British politicians. If David Cameron had it to do over again, would he really have made the referendum on whether to stay in it…

In the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting in America, the usual response is twofold: Mourn the victims and wait for the facts. It’s getting increasingly hard to justify the second. In other realms of public debate, the facts can be used to guide an analysis of any proposed policy response. The problem is that dispassionate analysis of gun-safety laws, no matter how long delayed, never penetrates the panic room in which politicians hide from their responsibilities. Not until voters force the issue will elected officials begin to do their duty in reducing gun violence. After a deranged young man used his mother’s readily accessible firearms in 2012 to shoot schoolchildren and educators in Newtown, Conn., issues such as proper gun storage and the challenges of balancing legal gun rights and mental…

“We don’t have enough longterm-care facilities to take care of people, and 90 percent of seniors want to stay at home” Jane Helgesen had a rough night recently, as nausea kept the 71-year-old retired nurse scurrying to the bathroom. A sensor under the bed recorded her comings and goings, sending alerts to her daughter, Britt, who lives nearby. Feeling better the next day, Helgesen used a doorbell camera to welcome guests, whose images are displayed on her rose-gold iPhone, which she also uses to unlock the front door and tweak the thermostat. The smart gadgets in Helgesen’s three-bedroom townhouse in the Twin Cities suburb of Woodbury, Minn., aren’t new. What’s different is that Best Buy Co., better known for hawking TVs and computers than for selling geriatric-care products, is wiring it all…

In a production hall as clean as a hospital, pea-size beads of white plastic pour into what looks like a minivan-size Adidas shoe box, complete with three white stripes down the side. That’s fitting, because in just a few seconds the machine heats and molds the stuff into soles of Adidas running shoes, with only one worker needed to wedge in pieces of plastic called stability bars. This is Adidas AG’s “Speedfactory,” where the shoemaker aims to prove it can profitably produce footwear in high-cost, developed economies. By next fall the facility, as large as half a soccer field, will employ about 160 people to make 1,500 pairs of shoes a day, or 500,000 annually. The plant, halfway between Munich and Frankfurt, and a twin opening this fall near Atlanta, will…