Forbes Asia

As we reach the midpoint of the year, there’s plenty of talk about when the world might experience a global recession. For sure, interest rates are up, which can slow growth and thus make it easier for a recession to appear. And so far, judging by the contents of this issue, there’s still plenty of optimism about the future. There are three signature features, the annual 30 Under 30 Asia list, Japan’s 50 Richest list and Malaysia’s 50 Richest list. Japan, one of the world’s biggest economies, has seen its stock market surge 11% since the last list, and the collective fortunes of the 50 richest Japanese are up by 13% to $192 billion. And more than half on that list are richer than they were a year ago. Malaysia tells a…

If you want to feel truly downcast about the U.S.’ future, read a recent speech given by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. He thought he was outlining a dynamic vision of where the Biden Administration wants to take the country and the world; “dystopian” would be more accurate. Free markets? Forget ’em! Without government guidance, Sullivan avers, free-market economies will go in undesirable directions. He reels off the usual tropes about inequality, stock buybacks, the hollowing out of U.S. manufacturing, sending jobs overseas and letting China and others take the lead on semiconductors and other critical technologies. Sullivan scorns “tax cutting and deregulation, privatization over public action and trade liberalization as an end in itself.” In his mind we need more government planning and less reliance on free markets: “A modern American…

AM radio is under assault, and it is too important to be silenced. AM radio is over 100 years old and has been a mainstay in cars and trucks for decades. It has tens of millions of listeners and is also essential for emergency broadcasts. Yet more and more auto manufacturers have slated AM radio for elimination. Ford Motor just announced that this legacy band will be disappearing in virtually all its new models. Most makers of electronic vehicles (EVs), notably Tesla, don’t provide AM because the vehicles generate electromagnetic signals that interfere with AM reception. But as the Ford move indicates, traditional vehicles with internal-combustion engines are also being designed with dashboards that don’t have AM radio. The EV interference problems are resolvable. The remedies will come at a cost, but…

• The Bar at Daniel 60 East 65th St. (Tel.: 212-288-0033) Chef Daniel Boulud celebrated 30 years of serving French-influenced, multicourse prix fixe and tasting menus at Daniel in May. Since reopening postpandemic, he has also presented a delightful in-house alternative at his glamorous Bar, where one can enjoy an abbreviated menu that features main menu offerings à la carte. The Michigan cucumber “vichyssoise” is velvety and filled with chilled Peekytoe crab. Arancini is served with wild ramps and Parmesan. Rabbit “chaud froid” is a delicious taste of foie gras with a mild mustard sauce. For vegetables, the Alsatian white asparagus is served with hazelnut in a comté-sauternes emulsion, and the green salad with burrata and asparagus is wonderfully rich. The cheese cart—complete with a “Captain of Cheeses” to guide you in…

From 2010 to 2019, a dominant international sports franchise was British cycling group, Team Sky, led by general manager, Dave Brailsford. Sky found success in making small improvements in all areas of performance: bike frames, gears, wheels, tires, tubes, shoes, helmets, clothing, training, recovery, nutrition, hydration and so on. Brailsford even obsessed about finding perfect hotel room temperatures for sleeping. (He said cyclists worn out from multiday races like the Tour de France sleep best in a cooler range of 16 to 18 degrees Celsius.) Brailsford called his idea “marginal gains.” If you can make small improvements each year, in all you do, you will accomplish big things. This worked for Sky, which won seven Tour de France team titles from 2012 to 2019 (the last under its new name Team…

A typical semiconductor fab uses 38 million liters of water a day, and in the process of making chips it contaminates that water with chemicals and other toxic materials. That’s a big cost for the factory and an environmental problem. In cleaning up industrial wastewater, and allowing it to be recycled for use, Boston-based Gradiant has built a fast-growing business. Gradiant said in May it had reached a $1 billion valuation—the first water-technology startup to attain that milestone—with $225 million in funding led by billionaire John Arnold’s Centaurus Capital and New York family office BoltRock Holdings. The new investment brings the company’s total funding to more than $400 million. More importantly, the company’s revenue approached $100 million last year and is expected to double this year, nearing $200 million. Among its customers…