American Banker (August 2)
“Investors were in a sour mood Wednesday after Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. government’s credit rating, but analysts expect the firm’s action to have little long-term impact on banks. The markets didn’t exactly shrug off the downgrade…. But the main point made by Fitch’s action — that the U.S. political system is messier than it used to be — is one that analysts say has long been obvious to investors.”
Tags: Analysts, Banks, Credit rating, Downgraded, Fitch, Impact, Investors, Markets, Messier, Political system, Sour mood, U.S. Government
Foreign Policy (November 28)
After engineering “changes in China’s leadership succession rules so that he can preside over his country for life,” Xi is now confronting “a crisis that may come to be seen as an ideal test of the middle-income trap theory.” Deep down, Xi probably realizes “that at some point China’s political system will have to adapt for the country to continue to modernize” and avoid this trap. But for Xi, much like other “leaders who concentrate immense power in their own hands,” the problem is that “no moment ever quite looks like a good one to make serious, substantive change.”
Tags: Adapt, China, Concentrate, Crisis, Leaders, Leadership, Middle-income trap, Modernize, Political system, Power, Rules, Substantive change, Succession, Test, Xi
Wall Street Journal (October 30)
“Recent cases show that foreign companies need to be more cognizant of Chinese laws and the nuances of the country’s political system.” Two weeks ago, China detained 18 employees from Crown Resorts Ltd., but authorities “have declined to give details, and no charges have been made public.” More aggressive enforcement has some business consultants “advising foreign executives to steer clear of mainland China for now.”
Tags: Aggressive, Authorities, Charges, China, Crown Resorts, Detained, Enforcement, Executives, Laws, Political system
LA Times (October 18)
Donald Trump is famous for lashing out, but now he is also “targeting the very political system in which he is competing for the presidency. He is claiming that this election is ‘rigged’…. This is dangerous demagoguery, even for Trump.” A fundamental democratic principle is “respect for the outcome of elections even if your candidate isn’t the winner.”
New York Times (April 27)
“For years now, people have been talking about the insulated world of the top 1 percent of Americans, but the top 20 percent of the income distribution is also steadily separating itself—by geography and by education as well as by income.” Their isolation from the lower 80 percent “is changing the American social order and the American political system, creating a self-perpetuating class at the top, which is ever more difficult to break into.”
Tags: Class, Education, Geography, Income distribution, Political system, Self-perpetuating, Social order, U.S.
