The Economist (August 19)
Trump’s “unsteady response contains a terrible message for Americans. Far from being the saviour of the Republic, their president is politically inept, morally barren and temperamentally unfit for office.”
Tags: Inept, Morally barren, President, Republic, Saviour, Temperamental, Trump, Unfit, Unsteady
New Yorker (August 17)
“Since last November, many business leaders, and even the representatives of some labor groups, have cooperated with Trump on the grounds that he is the duly elected President, and they want their voices heard in the White House’s policymaking process. But, in terms of reputational risk and personal moral calculus, the price of accommodating Trump” has increased dramatically. Trump now occupies a place in the political firmament where it is becoming almost as risky for corporate chieftains to associate with him as it is for them to distance themselves.”
Tags: Accommodating, Business leaders, Cooperated, Distance, Labor, Moral calculus, Policymaking, Reputational risk, Trump
Boston Globe (August 16)
“In one respect, we should be grateful for the president’s unhinged performance. No longer do we need to deliberate over his true character and beliefs. We can just give up the ghost and acknowledge, as a nation, that the president of the United States is a racist. Period. He doesn’t just sympathize with white supremacists and neo-Nazis, he agrees with them…. Every day that he remains president is a day that further diminishes our values, our basic decency, and our nation as a whole. The time has come for every American, regardless of their partisan affiliation, to demand that he relinquish his office.”
Tags: Beliefs, Character, Decency, Grateful, Neo-Nazis, Racist, Resign, U.S., Unhinged, Values, White supremacists
Los Angeles Times (August 16)
“America’s top business executives may have bristled over President Trump’s ban on refugees, his withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and his decision to bar transgender Americans from the military.” Still, “it wasn’t until the embattled president all but defended white supremacists in the aftermath of the deadly clashes over the weekend in Charlottesville, Va., that the country’s corporate elite decided they had had enough.”And, “by Wednesday, so many executives had resigned from Trump’s economic advisory and manufacturing councils, including the heads of General Electric Co., Intel Corp. and Campbell Soup Co., that the president announced on Twitter that he was disbanding the panels.”
Tags: Advisory councils, Ban, Business, Campbell Soup, Charlottesville, Clashes, Deadly, Economic, Embattled, Executives, GE, Intel, Manufacturing, Military, Paris accord, Refugees, Transgender, Trump, U.S., White supremacists
Newsweek (August 15)
As events in Charleston illustrates, “anti-government Americans are a bigger threat than Islamists.” Yet, since 9/11, public consciousness has largely fixated on Islamic terrorism. Law enforcement agencies know better. Studies have shown that police “consider anti-government violent extremists, not radicalized Muslims, to be the most severe threat of political violence that they face.”
Tags: 9/11, Anti-government, Charleston, Extremists, Islamists, Police, Terrorism, Threat, Violent
Bloomberg (August 14)
“The last time Japan strung together this many quarters of growth was back in mid-2006…. The yen has fallen, corporate profits have soared and the economy is running above its potential growth rate. Yet inflation remains stubbornly low, despite massive monetary stimulus from the central bank. Economists are watching intently for signs that the tightest labor market in decades is beginning to bring wage gains.”
Tags: Central bank, Economists, Economy, Inflation, Japan. Growth, Labor market, Monetary stimulus, Profits, Wage gains, Yen
The Korea Times (August 13)
“In South Korea, frustration is increasing more over Trump’s loose lips than the North’s provocations. The reason is not that South Koreans have any brotherly love left for their northern neighbors. But from their experience living with the time bomb to the north, they think the real risk comes from Trump’s mouth. Their fear is backed by the market—foreign investors are in a sign of nervousness taking their money out of the country, albeit not at an alarming level so far.”
Tags: Fear, Frustration, Investors, Loose lips, Market, Nervousness, North Korea, Risk, South Korea, Trump
Financial Times (August 13)
“Mr Trump’s campaign promises to rip up trade agreements and protect heavy industries like steel are running into the complex realities of international supply chains.” By examining actual U.S. business practices, “you encounter how the president’s economic nationalism is clashing with the complexities of what the label ‘Made in America’ actually means in today’s world.”
Tags: Clashing, Complexities, Economic nationalism, Promises, Realities, Steel, Supply chains, Trade agreements, Trump, U.S.
Fortune (August 12)
“As many in the United States and abroad are watching as tensions grow with North Korea, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk issued a warning about artificial intelligence,” urging followers to keep their priorities straight. Musk pointed out that AI was riskier than North Korea and “also warned that artificial intelligence should be regulated the same way anything that could pose a danger to the public is.”
New York Times (August 10)
“Mr. Trump has again made himself the focus of attention, when it should be Kim Jong-un, the ruthless North Korean leader, and his accelerating nuclear program.” His “threats have also diverted attention from a genuine accomplishment, the new Security Council sanctions.” This is a time for “prudent, disciplined leadership…. Rhetorically stomping his feet, as he did on Tuesday, is not just irresponsible; it is dangerous.”
Tags: Attention, Dangerous, Disciplined, Diverted, Irresponsible, Kim, Leadership, North Korea Nuclear program, Prudent, Ruthless, Sanctions, Security Council, Threats, Trump