Word: localism
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Even oversimplified, it's an extremely complicated thing to figure out. Take sea level, for example. Most studies on climate change talk about the average rise worldwide. But things can look very different when you zoom into specific stretches of coast. Ocean currents can make local sea level higher or lower than the world average. So can the continuing rebound of land from the weight of glaciers from the last ice age, even though they melted more than 10,000 years ago. Factors like the extraction of oil and gas, like in the Gulf of Mexico, can also make...
Furthermore, how far a storm surge penetrates inland depends on the local topography, both offshore and on - damage to property on a seaside cliff is a lot different from that on a beach. And even if property lies at a generally low elevation, it makes a difference whether the region is hilly or flat, or close to a bay or estuary...
Ilitch, 55, bills herself as a self-made businesswoman. Also trained as a lawyer, Ilitch worked for her family's pizza and sports enterprise before launching her own jewelry company. She also co-owns a local lifestyle magazine called Ambassador. She is a fixture on Detroit's civic scene, joining Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's transition team last year and frequently challenging some of his top advisers to make deeper budget cuts. "She zeroed in on the finance piece as her baby, trying to get them to think through how to make immediate cuts," recalls a person familiar with...
...gravitas to endure a grueling political race. Apart from being on the Bing transition team, Ilitch has little political experience (she was also elected to the University of Michigan's board of regents), and her views on many social and political issues are largely unknown. In recent days, local news reports have presented her as the Obama Administration's preferred candidate, but she has reportedly donated money in the past to Republicans as well as Democratic causes and candidates. Fundraising is expected to be tricky in the current economic environment, although Ilitch's personal fortune may give her an edge...
...Some property developers and economists have called China's housing market a bubble. Whether the government can gently deflate it is an open question. Beijing's past efforts to control housing prices have been unsuccessful, says Shanghai-based economist Andy Xie. One flaw is that local governments rely on land sales for about one-third of their revenue, which gives them an incentive to keep prices high. "Somehow, the market keeps going up," Xie says. "People think the government is not sincere about tightening. How would the biggest beneficiary let the price fall...