Los Angeles Times - 06.08.2019

C2 TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2019 WSCE LATIMES.COM/BUSINESS

BUSINESS BEAT

It didn’t take long for
President Trump’s tweet.
That you can get more than
seven Chinese yuan to the
dollar for the first time since
2008 was always going to be a
red rag to the White House
bull in the escalating econo-
mic battle between Wash-
ington and China. The presi-
dent tweeted on Monday
morning — inevitably — that
Beijing was a currency
manipulator and asked the
U.S. Federal Reserve
whether it was “listening.”
Although Trump’s econ-
omic advisor Larry Kudlow
so far has ruled out any cur-
rency intervention by the
U.S. Treasury to weaken the
dollar, it would be a brave
trader who took this at face
value.
Perhaps the people to feel
most sorry for in this arm-
wrestling between the
world’s two most powerful
countries are the Europeans
and the Japanese, who
might end up as collateral
damage. Both the U.S.
Treasury and Chinese au-
thorities have the capacity
to ramp up or de-escalate
their currency hostilities. Af-
ter years of ultra-expansive
monetary policy, Japan and
Europe have almost no room
left for their own defensive
maneuvers.
The European Union has
managed to shrug off one
rate cut by the Fed; the Eu-

ropean Central Bank will

have been delighted that the

half-hearted Fed reduction

made the dollar even strong-

er against the euro (a boon

for struggling European

manufacturers).

But a series of easing

moves by the Americans

would be a totally different

story. The ECB has already

fired its biggest policy gun by

signaling a move toward

even deeper negative rates

after the summer and the

possible restart of net bond

purchases. It is out of am-

munition.

In the meantime, a

weaker yuan is by itself very

bad news for Europe. As Kit

Juckes, a currency analyst at

Societe Generale, points

out, the euro is even more ex-

posed to trade with China

than it is to trade in dollars.

An unwanted rise in the euro

as China and the U.S. duke it

out to weaken their own cur-

rencies would be a disaster

for Europe’s export-depend-

ent manufacturers and

could plunge the continent

into recession.

For a sense of how badly

this might play for Europe,

look at its industrial power-

house Germany. The coun-

try’s exports equate to

nearly half of its gross do-

mestic product, compared

with 12% for the U.S. and 20%

for China. Germany is far

more exposed to interna-

tional trade despite a buoy-

ant domestic economy and

falling debt. And Trump is in

no mood to do the Germans,

or their carmakers, any fa-

vors.

Japan, the world’s third-

largest economy, is similarly

at the mercy of its bigger ri-

vals. The yen has strength-

ened recently against the

dollar to early 2018 levels and

is back to 2016 valuations

versus the yuan. That puts

huge pressure on Shinzo

Abe’s government in its ef-

forts to resuscitate the econ-

omy.

One shouldn’t assume, of

course, that a U.S.-China

currency war — to sit along-

side the trade war — is inevi-

table. The yuan is not a fully

free-floating currency, which

means Beijing is nominally

in control of where it ends up

(although things got out of

hand in 2016). And while

China might be happy to

send a signal that it can

weaponize its currency, this

is no doubt just a warning

shot.

The U.S. has the leverage

to resist. Unfortunately,

those who have already

played their negative rate

and quantitative easing

cards look close to busted in

the global currency poker

game.

Ashworth writes for

Bloomberg Opinion.

Who will blink in a currency war?

Europeans, Japanese

might be most at risk

as U.S. arm-wrestles

with China over yuan.

By Marcus Ashworth

PRESIDENTTrump tweeted Monday that China was a currency manipulator. Although economic advisor

Larry Kudlow has ruled out any currency intervention by the U.S. to weaken the dollar, nothing is certain.

AFP/Getty Images

COMMENTARY

A new nuclear test reac-
tor is needed as part of an ef-
fort to revamp the nation’s
fading nuclear power indus-
try by developing safer fuel
and power plants, the U.S.
Department of Energy said
Monday.
The agency said it would
prepare an environmental
impact statement as part of
the process to build the reac-
tor in Idaho or Tennessee by

the end of 2025. Public com-

ments on the review are be-

ing taken through Sept. 4.

The Versatile Test Reac-

tor would be the first new

such facility built in the

United States in decades

and give the nation a dedi-

cated “fast-neutron-spec-

trum” testing capability.

Such reactors are called fast

reactors.

“This testing capability is

essential for the United

States to modernize its nu-

clear energy infrastructure

and for developing transfor-

mational nuclear energy

technologies that reduce

waste generation and en-

hance nuclear security,” En-

ergy Secretary Rick Perry

said in a statement.

Americans have been

wary of nuclear power since

the core from Pennsylva-

nia’s Three Mile Island

underwent a partial melt-

down in 1979 — one of the na-

tion’s worst nuclear acci-

dents. That was followed by

a reactor at the Chernobyl

nuclear power plant in

Ukraine exploding and

burning in 1986. In 2011, an

earthquake and tsunami led

to the Fukushima nuclear

disaster in Japan, in which

the cores of three reactors

suffered meltdowns.

Federal officials say the

proposed test reactor would

help create new and safer fu-

els, materials and reactors

being developed by civilian

companies in the U.S.

“If this capability is not

available to U.S. innovators

as soon as possible, the on-

going shift of nuclear tech-

nology dominance to other

international states such as

China and the Russian Fed-

eration will accelerate, to the

detriment of the U.S. nucle-

ar industrial sector,” said

Rita Baranwal, the Energy

Department’s assistant sec-

retary for nuclear energy.

The Energy Department

had a fast reactor, the Ex-

perimental Breeder Reactor

II, operating in eastern

Idaho until it was shut down

in 1994 as the nation turned

away from nuclear power.

Edwin Lyman, senior sci-

entist and acting director of

the Nuclear Safety Project at

the nonprofit Union of Con-

cerned Scientists, said fast

reactors such as the Versa-

tile Test Reactor are less

safe than current reactors.

Most nuclear reactors in

use now are “light-water” re-

actors fueled by uranium

and cooled with water. Ly-

man said the test reactor

would be cooled with hard-

er-to-control liquid sodium

and likely fueled by pluto-

nium, increasing potential

terrorism risks because plu-

tonium can be used to make

nuclear weapons.

“There is nothing good

about these reactors,” he

said. “I think there is a love of

plutonium in the [Energy]

Department that is irratio-

nal.”

Agency wants new nuclear test reactor

Energy secretary says

facility is ‘essential’ for

the U.S. A scientist

raises safety concerns.

associated press

U.S. visa policies are dis-

couraging foreign tech work-

ers from working in start-

ups, according to a study by

Cornell University and UC

San Diego researchers.

The study examined the

hiring of foreign workers ed-

ucated in science and engi-

neering at U.S. universities.

These workers get offers

from start-ups at the same

rate as U.S. citizens but are

half as likely to be hired.

The disparity is impor-

tant because access to for-

eign talent gives companies

a competitive edge, the

study said.

“We often see great inno-

vations coming from Google

and Apple, but a lot of their

innovation is actually from

buying start-ups,” coauthor

John Skrentny said in a

statement. “These start-ups

have trouble accessing the

foreign talent our best uni-

versities are graduating.”

The report was pub-

lished Monday in the Pro-

ceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences. Its au-

thors are Michael Roach of

Cornell and Skrentny, direc-

tor of UC San Diego’s Yan-

kelovich Center for Social

Science Research.

The employment dis-

crepancy is not explained by

foreign workers’ preferences

for secure jobs or higher pay,

the study said. Rather,

larger, more established

companies have an advan-

tage in sponsoring foreign

employees for H-1B or per-

manent residency visas.

“Start-ups typically have

limited resources and mana-

gerial attention, and recruit-

ing talented workers is a ma-

jor activity for founders,” the

study said.

Sponsoring a visa can

cost up to $10,000 and take

several months, a challenge

for small start-ups. But

larger companies can lever-

age their human-resources

expertise because they don’t

have to start from scratch.

The study is based on a

nine-year survey of 2,

doctoral degree holders in

science, technology, engi-

neering and math fields

from 39 top U.S. universities.

Fikes and Meiling write for

the San Diego

Union-Tribune.

Big firms

get more

visa hires

H-1B policies make it

harder for start-ups

to hire foreign tech

workers, study says.

By Bradley J. Fikes

and Brittany Meiling

A former Tinder execu-

tive is suing the former chief

executive of parent com-

pany IAC for sexual battery

— and suing the company it-

self for firing her after she

went public with her accusa-

tions in an earlier lawsuit.

In the suit, filed Monday,

former Tinder vice presi-

dent of marketing and com-

munications Rosette Pam-

bakian alleges that Gregory

Blatt, who was formerly the

chief executive of IAC, har-

assed and assaulted her at a

company Christmas party

held at the SLS Hotel in Bev-

erly Hills in December 2016.

At the party, according to

the suit, Blatt approached

Pambakian and said to her

“in a lewd voice,” “I get hard

every time I look at you” and

“Let’s get out of here.” Wish-

ing to avoid further interac-

tion with Blatt, Pambakian

said, she went upstairs with

two co-workers to one of

their hotel rooms, but by 2

a.m. Blatt had found the

room. After the group let

him in, according to the suit,

he immediately pinned

Pambakian to the bed she

was sitting on, then began

“forcibly groping [Pam-

bakian’s] breasts and upper

thighs, and kissing her

shoulders, neck and chest.”

The group managed to dis-

tract Blatt by ordering food

until he finally left in a car

service, the complaint says.

Pambakian initially

made her complaints public

last year as part of a $2-bil-

lion lawsuit against the

company, but withdrew af-

ter finding that she had

signed an arbitration agree-

ment with the company. In

that lawsuit, which is cur-

rently working its way

through the court system in

New York, Tinder co-found-

er Sean Rad and a number of

former Tinder executives

claim that IAC and its dat-

ing app subsidiary Match

Group (which also owns

Hinge and OKCupid) pur-

posely undervalued the

company in an effort to

avoid paying out billions in

stock options to the original

team that worked on the

dating app.

Pambakian’s new suit re-

iterates the earlier claims

that Blatt was protected

from disciplinary action fol-

lowing the alleged assault in

part because he was key to

the IAC scheme to lowball

the Tinder team.

After the incident at the

SLS Hotel, the suit alleges

that Pambakian was “mar-

ginalized, subject to addi-

tional harassing, offensive,

and insulting behavior, put

on administrative leave,

publicly accused of consent-

ing to her attacker’s ad-

vances, and finally, wrong-

fully terminated by Defend-

ants.”

Pambakian was still

working at Tinder when she

joined the 2018 suit but was

placed on administrative

leave soon after, and was

fired in December.

Match spokeswoman

Justine Sacco said at the

time that Pambakian and

others were terminated be-

cause they were “unable to

fulfill their job responsibili-

ties.” In an email provided to

The Times, Match Group

Chief Executive Mandy

Ginsberg told Pambakian

the reasons for her dismissal

included “your public posi-

tion against the company in

a valuation process” and re-

ferring work-related com-

munications to her lawyers.

Sacco declined to com-

ment on the new lawsuit but

cited a statement IAC’s

board made in response to

Pambakian’s allegations as

laid out in the earlier suit:

“The Match Group Board —

with the assistance of ex-

perienced outside counsel

from two nationally recog-

nized law firms — promptly

conducted a careful and

thorough investigation

under the direction of inde-

pendent Board members,

concluded, among other

things, that there was no vio-

lation of law or company pol-

icy, and took appropriate ac-

tion.”

Former Tinder exec sues IAC

A communications

official says ex-CEO of

parent company

harassed and sexually

assaulted her at party.

By Sam Dean

GREGORY BLATT, center, is accused of harassment

and assault by a former Tinder executive.

Andrew BurtonGetty Images

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