Washington Post (December 20)
“Proponents of the Obama administration’s ‘pivot,’ or rebalance of attention and resources, toward Asia should be heartened by the results of Japan’s parliamentary election. The Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) landslide victory in the lower house Sunday augurs well for a reinvigorated relationship between the United States and Japan.”
Financial Times (December 19)
“The conspiracy to fix Libor appears more extensive than had been previously thought. This was not just a question of massaging submissions to make UBS’s financial position look stronger than it was after the crisis. The settlement also points to a co-ordinated effort across banks to manipulate market rates for profit.” Collusion and anti-trust charges may lead to class-action suits. Libor may become “the banks’ ‘tobacco moment’, when long-running bad behaviour is finally rumbled and the lawsuits roll in.”
Tags: Anti-trust, Banks, Class-action, Collusion, LIBOR, Tobacco, UBS
USA Today (December 18)
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg writes, “The slaughter of 20 innocent children and the six adults who tried to save them in Newtown, Conn., marked a turning point in our national consciousness…. There is no looking away from the murdered children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School. There is no ignoring the anguish felt by their parents and by the families…. And there is no escaping the fact that we must do more to protect our communities from gun violence.”
Tags: Bloomberg, Gun violence, New York, Newtown, Sandy Hook
Los Angeles Times (December 18)
“North Korea’s first successful rocket launch is a truly dangerous development. Although the North Koreans have previously detonated two nuclear devices, until now they have not demonstrated any ability to deliver them…. We can no longer afford to ignore North Korea.”
Tags: Dangerous, Launch, North Korea, Nuclear, Rocket
Washington Post (December 17)
“The Bushmaster .223-caliber semiautomatic rifle that Adam Lanza carried into Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday is a frightful killing machine…. Most of the victims were hit with at least three bullets — and some with up to 11 — that exploded with devastating lethality, tearing them apart from inside…. The tragedy leads to an inescapable conclusion. There is no defensible reason for civilians to own a Bushmaster or other semiautomatic rifles, known more broadly as assault weapons.”
Tags: Assault weapons, Bullets, Lanza, Sandy Hook, Tragedy, Victims
Financial Times (December 17)
“Shinzo Abe has been given a second chance. He should count himself lucky. Nothing in his first, truncated term merits another spell at the helm of the world’s third-biggest economy.” By focusing on the economy and acting to end deflation, Mr. Abe can “seize what looks like a rare opportunity.”“Shinzo Abe has been given a second chance. He should count himself lucky. Nothing in his first, truncated term merits another spell at the helm of the world’s third-biggest economy.” By focusing on the economy and acting to end deflation, Mr. Abe can “seize what looks like a rare opportunity.”
Tags: Deflation, Economy, Japan, Opportunity, Shinzo Abe
The Economist (December 15)
“Thankfully, North Korea is still a long way from putting nuclear warheads on a missile. It has between six and 12 nuclear devices, but they may not be small enough to put on a rocket. The technology relies on liquid fuel, which makes preparations for a launch both more hazardous and easier to spot than solid fuel. Above all, shooting a rocket up is one thing; mastering the re-entry technology that a military ballistic missile requires is quite another.”
Tags: Missile, North Korea, Nuclear warheads, Re-entry, Technology
New York Times (December 14)
By agreeing to empower a single banking supervisor, European leaders took “a step forward in the euro crisis. While solid, this step will only bring stability “if it is quickly followed by other measures, like deposit insurance, a system to recapitalize or shut down weak banks, and, eventually, the establishment of a fiscal and political union.”
Financial Times (December 14)
There is growing belief that the fiscal cliff might be easier to solve after taking the end of the year plunge. “Both sides believe there would be little difference in terms of impact on the US economy between striking a deal on December 31 or waiting until January 4…. Such complacency is dangerous. The world is watching to see if the US can govern itself responsibly. No one has faith in Washington’s New Year’s resolutions.”
Tags: Complacency, Economy, Fiscal cliff, Govern, Resolutions, U.S.
Chicago Tribune (December 14)
“The Fed helped the nation through a crisis. Now it could be creating risk.” The Fed has indicated it will maintain near-zero interest rates until the unemployment falls below 6.5% or inflation rises above 2.5%. This monetary policy was championed by Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, an inflation dove and policy activist, but the policy is misguided. “At this stage of the recovery, the biggest drags on the employment market have little to do with credit availability and interest rates — factors where the Fed does have influence — and much to do with the failures of elected politicians to fix spending and tax policies…. The central bank just isn’t all-powerful…. The Fed risks becoming a source of the problems it has done so much in recent years to help resolve.”
Tags: Evans, Inflation, Monetary policy, Risk, Spending, Tax, Unemployment
