Kathimerini (The Daily: Athens) (June 29)
“The more time that Tsipras allows to pass the more the country’s situation will deteriorate. Those who want to see Greece devolve into chaos will salute him. The beleaguered Greeks who believe in false promises and false bravado will also salute him. In the meantime, however, Greece will keep tumbling down the cliff, and fast. Tsipras may still have a slight chance to stop this historical accelerator from stirring into action. This will be evident if he receives one more offer. It is not at all certain that something like this will happen.”
Institutional Investor (June 28)
“Yields are negative in multiple European markets,” for both sovereigns and corporate bonds. “The zero bound has therefore been broken, proving that it is just that—a mere boundary, as opposed to an impenetrable threshold.” Given the demand for liability matching and quality assets, there’s no certainty that yields can’t fall further into negative territory. “All of this serves to highlight the strangeness of the world we now live in. Daily usage of words like ‘unprecedented’ and ‘exceptional’ renders them almost meaningless. In this case, however, they ring true. Corporate bond yields turning negative truly is unprecedented.”
The Economist (June 27)
“Electric buses in parts of South Korea, Italy, Britain and California are, today, recharging themselves from underground wireless chargers.” Wireless charging isn’t new. Nicholas Tesla used resonant induction in the 19th century, but it may finally prove revolutionary. From mobile phones to cars and kitchen appliances, “sales of such machines, now half a billion dollars a year, will grow 30-fold over the next decade.” Furthermore, the technology may succeed in “decarbonising the world’s road vehicles.”
Tags: Britain, California, Electric buses, Italy, Recharging, Resonant induction, Revolutionary, South Korea, Tesla, Vehicles, Wireless charging
Financial Times (June 25)
“For thrill and spills, you cannot beat Chinese share markets. Recent wild price swings on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses—and the fortunes being made, or lost, by individual retail investors—have made for gripping tales. They have raised fears of a highly-inflated equity bubble about to burst spectacularly. But how much should the rest of the world worry?” This shouldn’t simply be shrugged off “as a local story without wider significance for global financial markets.” The volatility should reinforce concerns that China is “in a bumpy economic transition phase that threatens significant ripple effects in distant parts of the world.”
Tags: Economic transition, Equity bubble, Financial markets, Markets, Price Swings, Retail investors, Shanghai, Shares, Shenzhen
Washington Post (June 25)
“Compromises are part of any negotiation. Any agreement can really be judged only when the text is signed and details are made public. The April framework accord was a solid basis on which to build a credible final deal. Ayatollah Khamenei must decide whether he and his government can live with the economic and political consequences if he sabotages this deal.”
Tags: Agreement, Ayatollah Khamenei, Compromises, Consequences, Deal, Iran, Negotiation
Wall Street Journal (June 24)
“Shinzo Abe introduced the latest installment of his ‘third arrow’ economic reform on Monday, and again the Japanese Prime Minister offered some good ideas. But there’s reason to doubt that it goes far enough to revive Japan’s economy, especially because it returns to some of the worst elements of the country’s post-World War II industrial policy.”
Tags: Abe, Economy, Industrial policy, Japan, Third arrow
Washington Post (June 23)
“If American racism were a thing of the past, nine men and women who went to church last Wednesday evening would be alive.”
Chicago Tribune (June 22)
“Markets for American products are no longer just around the corner but across the globe. For example, the Asia-Pacific region is home to 570 million middle-class consumers; by 2030, that number is expected to reach 3.2 billion. No smart business owner would ignore such a massive customer base.”
Institutional Investor (June 20)
The Fed and many others are underestimating “the true strength of the economy and the underlying structural evolution that is at play as a result of technological change…. As inflation firms in the months ahead, it will become abundantly clear that the Fed has had a window of opportunity to move on rates.”
Tags: Economy, Fed, Inflation, Rates, Structural evolution, Technological change
The Economist (June 20)
“With less than 5% of the world’s population, the United States holds roughly a quarter of its prisoners: more than 2.3m people.” Per capita, “the incarceration rate in the land of the free has risen seven-fold since the 1970s, and is now five times Britain’s, nine times Germany’s and 14 times Japan’s…. There is no single fix for America’s prisons, but there are 2.3m reasons to try.”
