29/12/2016 World Business Report

Now for the latest money news with Aaron and World Business

Yeah, building bridges - US President-elect Donald Trump

promised a trillion dollars during his campaign to resseract

promised a trillion dollars during his campaign to resurrect

Question is, will he be able to deliver?

The dream that just won't die - we take a look at supersonic air

Lights, camera, action, yeah, we are trying to put some money in the

metre. One of President elect

Donald Trump's main promises is to rebuild America's

infrastructure, we're talking, of course, everything

from its railways, The task, well, needless

to say, will be formidable The plan is to spend

in the region of one trillion Or better yet, to get someone else,

investors, to spend that money. Our North America business

correspondent Michelle Fleury reports from Allentown,

Pennsylvania. Mid-morning in Pennsylvania. Traffic

is flowing smoothly over this bridge built in the 1920s but underneath it

is not ageing gracefully. This bridge was built in 1929, almost 90

years old, it is an open spend all arch bridge. Engineers tasked with

checking the strength are worried. You can see the worst place is near

the joint area, so that is where the most corrosion happens. This bridge,

like many of America's roads, ports and airports, are starved of funds.

Lack of funding is a problem in the sense that there is so much money,

so you have to decide what comes first. Money isn't the only problem

when it comes to building the country's roads, bridges and pipes.

Under President Obama the Republican-controlled Congress was

opposed to spending on infrastructure projects. Will they

change that position now that they hold the White House? Their man made

a point of mentioning infrastructure in his election night victory

speech. We are going to rebuild our infrastructure. It will become, by

the way, second to none. And we will put millions of our people to work

as we rebuild it. Mr Trump's pitch is to spend $1 trillion, not just

using government money. He is also hoping to get the private sector to

fund these projects with tax credits. In 1986 Mr Trump

successfully used this model to rebuild this ice rink in New York's

Central Park. Doing the job cheaper, faster and better than the public

sector. It is an experience he hasn't forgotten. So, is the private

public partnership always the right tool? That depends. It is not

necessarily the best will in the Toolkit for every project. It is

suited to large and complicated projects. The reason for that is

those other projects which give you the opportunity to drive in --

innovation and the result is more bang for the taxpayer buck. In

Pennsylvania the need for repairs is urgent. Americans want to update

their nation but as Donald will find the overwhelming sticking point is

likely to be how to pay for it. Good on you, Michelle. Let's turn

our attention to this : The head of Japanese

advertising group Dentsu, that's him there -

he's the chairman - has resigned following the suicide

of an employee who had worked - well, apparently, hundreds

of hours of overtime. He'll step down in January.

Mariko Oi in our Asia Business hub in Singapore has been

following this tragic story. It is good to see you. A tragic

story. What is going on here? You know better than I do, there is a

Japanese phrase which basically means death by overwork. Indeed it

is unfortunately not so uncommon, some 2000 people die from overwork

each year. In this particular case, where a 24-year-old employee, who

has only been working at Dentsu for some time, took her life on

Christmas Day a year ago and even though it is, as I said, death from

overwork, which is not uncommon, in this case she was tweeting for

months before she took her own life, at 4am she said, I am still at work

but I can't complain because everyone else is still working as

well and she also said something like, you know, her bosses have

criticised her for lacking femininity because she doesn't have

make-up on after pulling an all-night. All of those tweets after

death came to the spotlight. It wasn't picked up immediately by

mainstream media because Dentsu is one of the really big advertising

agencies in Japan but it got picked up online and the criticism

continued to mount against Dentsu and the company has been under

investigation for just over a month now and as you mentioned maze last

night boss of the company announced he is stepping down. Interesting you

say the company is under investigation but again I am looking

at reports which says Japan is a country that imposes very few limits

on employers regarding overtime and hours and things like that, but this

particular suicide and I guess the outcry triggered Japan's first white

paper. Yes, I think it is there to say that even though it is not

uncommon in this story really broke many hearts in Japan but I think it

is also important to emphasise it is not just a problem at Dentsu. A lot

of people have been coming out to share their own experience of

similar working conditions in which they feel like they have really been

reaching their own limit and also of course as an advertising agency it

has affected clients, some employees have spoken out anonymously about

this resignation of the boss and the fact that company has put the rule

in to say that all lights must be turned off at 10pm sharp. They still

have clients demands and when they want ideas by tomorrow morning and

call at nine or 10pm, they cannot say no, so they are taking the work

home. It is a much bigger issue than just one company. It is something

that the country as a whole will have to tackle in the New Year as

well. OK. Hey, Mariko, I will talk to you very soon. Thank you. Mariko

Oi from Singapore. Here's a question: Would

you like to fly faster On a more practical level,

would you like to be able to fly from London to New York

in under four hours? It used to be possible to do both,

if you had the money. Nowadays, if you want to fly

supersonic, it's best Several private firms are working

on brand new supersonic designs. Our business correspondent

Theo Leggett has been asking, could we be about to go

back to the future? It could be another high-speed test

as the great bird looks ready to fly, and fly she did. In 1969

Concorde took to the skies for the first time. It was a technological

marvel. The world's only commercial aircraft to fly faster than the

speed of sound. Concorde offered its passengers something truly unique,

the chance to sit in luxury and babysit champagne while crossing the

Atlantic from London to New York in less than four hours but Concorde

had her problems as well -- maybe sit chapaigne. She was also very

noisy and so wasn't allowed to fly many of the routes she was designed

for. Not only that, she was extremely costly to run and use a

lot of fuel, which is why the only place you can see her now is in

museums like this one. Three smooth landings and it was over. Concorde

was retired in 2003. Its reputation tarnished by a terrible accident

three years before, and its costs no longer justifiable in an age of

budget travel. You get more aerodynamically efficient the faster

you go. So could supersonic travel make a? That is not as outlandish as

you think. The aircraft was designed to 60 years ago. Now we are looking

at what we can do in the 21st century and it is far more

sophisticated. The aeroplanes could be more efficient and crucially more

capable of flying and making real profits on any route around the

world. Some companies are already developing supersonic designs. This

one comes from American firm Aerion to build a superfast business jet.

It is not alone. Boom and Spike Aerospace have similar ideas but

others are sceptical. The prospect of taking off in New York and

lending before you take off technically is still impressive to

be able to do but it is still very much a status thing, some people

will pay a lot of money to travel this way, but how often and how many

people? If supersonic travel can be made relatively affordable, then

perhaps it will make a comeback, but we are unlikely to see another large

supersonic airliner like Concorde for many years. For the foreseeable

future, then, the big bird will remain one of a kind.

OK, that's it. I will see you very soon. Mike's back, right now.

Goodbye. Barcodes are to be printed

on medicines and medical equipment such as replacement hips

and surgical tools in an effort to reduce the rate of avoidable

deaths in English hospitals. Ministers say the scheme could also

save the NHS up to ?1 billion over