Financial Times (June 2)
“Cloudy with chance of hurricanes for Wall Street.” Jamie Dimon the head of JPMorgan Chase, started the rush to use “meteorological metaphors to make sense of the economic turbulence.” After speaking of big storm clouds and a hurricane striking the economy, other bankers followed suit. Only a few, like Goldman Sachs chief John Waldron, refused to play along. He rejected the use of “any weather analogies,” but largely agreed the outlook is complex and dynamic, “The confluence of the number of shocks to the system, to me, is unprecedented.”
Tags: Bankers, Cloudy, Complex, Dimon, Dynamic, Economic turbulence, Economy, Goldman Sachs, Hurricane, Hurricanes, JPMorgan Chase, Metaphors, Meteorological, Shocks, Storm clouds, Unprecedented, Waldron, Wall Street
Reuters (September 13)
“Shortages of metals, plastics, wood and even liquor bottles are now the norm.” As these “hobble” the U.S. economy, “new challenges continue to arise, including hurricane disruptions to U.S. oil refineries.” Supply lines present additional challenges. “With so many manufacturers rushing to build supplies at the same time, the containers, ships, and trucks needed to move the goods often aren’t available, and have soared in cos…. That has disrupted some of the mechanisms that normally help keep supplies, and prices, in check.”
Tags: Basic materials, Bottles, Containers, Disruptions, Economy, Hobble, Hurricane, Liquor, Manufacturers, Metals, Oil refineries, Plastics, Ships, Shortages, Supply lines, Trucks, U.S., Wood
Caribbean Business (October 1)
Although he “spent years hammering his predecessor, Barack Obama, both for playing golf and leaving Washington too often,” President Trump “appeared unconcerned with the optics of spending his Sunday afternoon watching The Presidents Cup at the Liberty National Golf Club as the crisis continued” in Puerto Rico. As victims of the hurricane clamor for help, President Trump is also expected to “present a trophy to the tournament’s winning team.”
Tags: Crisis, Golf, Golf Club, Hurricane, Obama, Optics, Predecessor, Puerto Rico, Trump, Unconcerned, Victims, Washington
Dallas Morning News (September 21)
There’s “little solace amid the pileup of hurricane and earthquake devastation, not to mention the record-setting wildfires…. But the silver lining in this chaos is that time and time again, nature’s wrath is answered by steely human resolve…. Those of us lucky enough to be spared from this summer of destruction can do more than marvel at the responses of courage and resolve. Let us each lend a hand in whatever way we best can.”
Tags: Chaos, Courage, Destruction, Devastation, Earthquake, Human resolve, Hurricane, Nature, Pileup, Silver lining, Solace, Wildfires, Wrath
Houston Chronicle (August 26)
“Once again, a hurricane has slammed ashore on our coastline and all too many Texans will now face the daunting task of cleaning up and starting over.” Current Texans can take solace by remembering “that generations of Texans have survived storms as bad and even worse than Harvey. At the same time, let’s also remember a lesson we’ve learned through bitter experience: We can’t prevent hurricanes from hitting us, but we have to do everything we can to prepare for them.”
Tags: Cleaning up, Coastline, Hurricane, Prepare, Starting over, Storms, Survive, Texas
Washington Post (August 29)
Officials took Hurricane Irene very seriously, issuing evacuation orders and taking extensive measures to avoid injury and damage. The measures seemed to have paid off. Of course, “some of that is luck: a shift a few miles to the west, a tick more ferocity in the winds, and the results might have been far different…At least 15 people in six states were killed in the storm, and as always the casualties seem heartbreakingly random: an 11-year-old Newport News boy dead when a large tree crashed into his apartment; a 15-year-old girl killed in a North Carolina car crash; a Maryland woman struck fatally when a tree toppled the chimney of her house.”
Officials took Hurricane Irene very seriously, issuing evacuation orders and taking extensive measures to avoid injury and damage. The measures seemed to have paid off. Of course, “some of that is luck: a shift a few miles to the west, a tick more ferocity in the winds, and the results might have been far different…At least 15 people in six states were killed in the storm, and as always the casualties seem heartbreakingly random: an 11-year-old Newport News boy dead when a large tree crashed into his apartment; a 15-year-old girl killed in a North Carolina car crash; a Maryland woman struck fatally when a tree toppled the chimney of her house.”
