New York Times (June 19)
“The timing of ‘Laudato Si’ could not have been better.” Nor could the compelling content on global warming. “Echoing the virtually unanimous findings of mainstream scientists, Pope Francis fixes the blame squarely on humans and their burning of fossil fuels.” But some U.S. politicians may remain too stubborn to change. “A pope in Rome worries about how we can shepherd the planet safely into the future. If only the senator from Kentucky and others in Congress could join him in thinking bigger.”
Tags: Congress, Fossil fuels, Global warming, Laudato Si, Pope Francis, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (June 18)
“Hong Kong democrats celebrated Thursday as the city’s legislature blocked passage of the Beijing-backed election law that sparked last year’s 75-day mass protests.” In response, Beijing’s tactic will probably risk “further alienating the people of Hong Kong from the mainland. The more Beijing paints its opponents as radicals and revolutionaries, the more it risks creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Tags: Beijing, Democrats, Election law, Hong Kong, Legislature, Mainland, Radicals, Revolutionaries
Bloomberg (June 17)
“It’s no longer a question of whether China’s stock-market rally is a bubble, but when the bubble will burst That’s the refrain from a growing number of analysts as valuations climb to levels that by some measures already exceed the peak of China’s last equity mania in 2007.”
Tags: Analysts, Bubble, China, Equity, Rally, Stock market, Valuations
Washington Post (June 16)
“U.S. employers now have more job openings than ever previously recorded,” but there’s a catch. “The average time required to fill a job opening has also just reached an all-time high: 27.3 days, or almost a month,” and it’s over 2 months (64 days) at the biggest companies. Unfortunately, nobody’s sure of the reason behind this or the implications the lag may have for the employment picture or, indeed, the overall economy.” Knowing why might explain why salaries aren’t going up, when they might or if they will.
Institutional Investor (June 15)
“For economists who complain about the distortions and deficits caused by energy subsidies, 2014 was a godsend.” Over 25 countries made progress in curtailing “their fuel subsidy programs…in favor of aligning domestic prices with global prices. But the recent rebound in oil prices threatens to undo much of that good work.”
Tags: Deficits, Distortions, Domestic prices, Economists, Energy subsidies, Global prices, Oil prices, Rebound
Financial Times (June 14)
“The slow pace of the shift away from fossil fuels is evidence of their compelling advantages in terms of cost and convenience. Tackling the threat of catastrophic climate change cannot rely on wind and solar power alone but requires multiple changes, including a shift within fossil fuels away from coal towards gas.”
Tags: Advantages, Climate change, Coal, Convenience, Cost, Fossil fuels, Gas, Shift, Solar, Wind power
The Economist (June 13)
In Turkey, voters sent a “signal to Erdogan.” They showed “they prefer liberal democracy to Islamist autocracy. But they have made it harder to form a government,” which is creating some uncertainty. President Erdogan’s future is also uncertain. Though “his march towards one-man rule has been checked, it is premature to write him off.”
Tags: Democracy, Erdogan, Government, Islamist autocracy, Turkey, Uncertainty, Voters
New York Times (June 12)
“More than five years have passed since European officials reached the first loan agreement with Greece. Yet instead of moving toward recovery, the country has been trapped in an economic calamity with no end in sight.”
Tags: Economic calamity, European, Greece, Loan agreement, Officials, Recovery, Trapped
Washington Post (June 10)
“Beijing is increasingly exporting its ‘internal matters’ — the repression of critical or even independent voices — to other countries.” This ranges from its so called great cannon “to take down Web sites outside China to which it objects” to current persecution of a U.S. journalist’s family members. “We think the United States should declare, loudly and publicly, that such brazen intimidation is reprehensible…. When China persecutes a journalist living in the United States, it is no longer an ‘internal matter.’”
Tags: China, Great cannon, Internal matters, Intimidation, Journalist, Repression, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (June 9)
With the unfolding FIFA scandal, the legitimacy of Russia’s successful bid to host the World Cub may be called into question. To some, the bribery is irrelevant. “Why not at least threaten a boycott of the Cup for as long as Russian troops remain in Ukraine? The average Russian couldn’t care less that the deputy prime minister is under international sanctions for Moscow’s seizure of Crimea. But soccer-mad Russians would care, a lot, if the games were taken from them.”