Wall Street Journal (September 9)
While Europe is rescuing teeming masses of immigrants, neighboring Arab states are proving they are “not their brothers’ keepers.” They have done “pretty much nothing,” with Gulf leaders “worrying that a large influx of refugees will upset the political balance of their brittle kingdoms.”
Tags: Arab states, Europe, Gulf, Immigrants, Kingdoms, Political balance, Refugees
The Guardian (September 9)
“Whatever your views of the monarchy, it is hard not to admire Elizabeth Windsor’s stamina. As of today, she has sat on the throne for longer than anybody in a line of predecessors…. Fast approaching her 90s, she continues to meet, speak and travel her way through an itinerary that owes a great deal more to duty than to whim.” And she maintains her demanding schedule without “putting a foot out of place.” Her “achievement has been to take the politics out of the monarchy.”
Tags: Achievement, Demanding schedule, Duty, Elizabeth II, Itinerary, Monarchy, Politics, Throne
The Independent (September 8)
“It is an era of violence. Nine civil wars are raging. None shows any sign of ending. People cannot go home. The great waves of refugees will continue.”
Tags: Civil wars, Refugees, Violence
Financial Times (September 7)
Now nearing $500 billion a year, “stock buybacks are big and controversial.” Some claim buybacks are “killing the American economy…. Fine companies, the idea runs, sacrifice their future to satisfy cash-hungry hedge funds.” This is overblown. “Buybacks do not destroy the cash used. The cash goes to stockholders—often pension funds or mutual funds—that reinvest it, presumably in younger firms that are cash-starved and hungry to expand.”
Tags: Cash, Controversial, Economy, Future, Hedge funds, Mutual funds, Pension funds, Reinvest, Stock buybacks, Stockholders
The Economist (September 5)
“From Guangzhou to Brussels to Chicago, cities are shifting their attention from keeping cars moving to making it easier to walk, cycle and play on their streets. Some central roads are being converted into pedestrian promenades, others flanked with cycle lanes. Speed limits are being slashed.” Over 700 cities have bike-share programs and more than 100 cities “close some roads to cars on weekends.” These and other efforts are making cities “nicer—and healthier—to live in.”
Tags: Bike-share, Brussels, Cars, Chicago, Cycle lanes, Guangzhou, Pedestrians, Speed limits
New York Times (September 3)
“A disaster has been averted. The nuclear deal concluded by six major powers with Iran is now unstoppable in Congress.” Had the deal “unraveled in Congress, so would America’s standing as a global power. Russia, China and the European Union would have concluded that the United States is unserious.”
Institutional Investor (September 3)
“Is 3 percent economic growth a thing of the past?” In the U.S., “gross domestic product (GDP) growth has averaged 3 percent a year since 1960, but only 2.1 percent since the global financial crisis ended in 2009.” Economists increasingly think that “sluggish labor force expansion and productivity may stymie the kind of U.S. economic growth seen in the second half of the 20th century.” Many now “expect growth of about 2 percent to prevail for the next decade.”
Tags: Economists, Expansion, GDP, Global financial crisis, Growth, Labor force, Productivity, Stymie, U.S.
Bloomberg (September 2)
“If oil prices take another dramatic slide…, who wins and who loses? And could plummeting oil prices sow the seeds of the next recession?” Even in oil consuming nations, lower oil prices “come with a downside. As they work their way through the system, deflation could follow.”
Tags: Deflation, Downside, Oil, Plummeting, Prices
Washington Post (September 2)
“Every day 297 Americans are shot in murders, assaults, suicides and accidents; 89 of them die.” Following the fatal shooting of their daughter last week, “Andy and Barbara Parker have emerged as powerful advocates for gun control…. That the Parkers were moved to activism by the murder of their daughter is a tragedy—and it’s an evolution experienced by far too many Americans over too many years. That makes the lack of action by those in public office to bring some sense to the country’s gun laws even more intolerable.”
Financial Times (August 31)
“China’s government has decided to abandon attempts to boost the stock market through large-scale share purchases, and will instead intensify efforts to find and punish those suspected of “destabilising the market.” Many will appreciate the capitulation to market forces, but the prospect of a witch hunt stokes new fears. “In a worrying signal for global investors with a presence in China, some officials have argued strongly for a crackdown on ‘foreign forces,’ which they say have intentionally unsettled the market.”
Tags: China, Crackdown, Foreign forces, Government, Investors, Officials, Share purchases, Stock market, Witch hunt
