Washington Post (May 22)
Despite the hubbub, “you shouldn’t expect impeachment anytime soon.” You may be certain President Trump has “already committed the ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’” necessary for impeachment, but that hurdle is “ill-defined. In the end, it amounts to ‘anything Congress thinks merits removal from office.’” This means “President Trump isn’t going to be impeached and removed from office unless the Republican Party decides it wants him gone.”
Tags: Congress, High crimes and misdemeanors, Hubbub, Ill-defined, Impeachment, Republican Party, Trump
MarketWatch (May 20)
“Despite the mutual awareness of the Thucydides Trap—and the recognition that history is not deterministic—China and the U.S. seem to be falling into it anyway. Though a hot war between the world’s two major powers still seems far-fetched, a cold war is becoming more likely.”
Tags: Awareness, China, Cold war, Deterministic, History, Recognition, Thucydides Trap, U.S., War
Wall Street Journal (May 20)
“The Japanese economy unexpectedly grew in the first quarter of 2019 supported by government spending, although there were some worrying signs connected to the U.S.-China trade dispute.” The economic expansion (2.1% annualized) surprised economists who thought “the first-quarter figure would be flat or slightly negative.”
Tags: China, Economists, Economy, Expansion, Government, Japan, Spending, Trade dispute, U.S., Unexpected
Nikkei (May 19)
“Japan’s economy” looks “on course for a major downturn,” based on a survey of about 1,300 economists. “Should China’s stimulus take hold, concerns about a worsening Japanese economy may be washed away. Yet Japan is constrained not only in its monetary policy, but also in its fiscal leeway considering the heavy government debt load,” not to mention the need for major employment and social security reforms.
Tags: China, Debt load, Downturn, Economists, Economy, Employment. Social security, Government, Japan, Monetary policy, Reforms, Stimulus
Inc (May Issue)
“The world’s most ubiquitous manmade material is also one of the atmosphere’s arch foes: Between 4 and 7 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions come from cement production.” This may be changing. A “new cement-making process that subs out some of the traditionally used limestone for a synthetic version of the mineral wollastonite” cuts emissions by approximately 70%. Moreover, “Solidia’s manufacturing process can be done in existing facilities and costs about the same as–and, perhaps soon enough, less than–traditional cement-making methods.”
Tags: Atmosphere, Cement, Costs, Emissions, GHGs, Limestone, Manufacturing, Solidia, Synthetic, Wollastonite
The Economist (May 18)
“America’s net public debt is high, if not yet huge” and unless something changes “public debt will rise to 92% of GDP in 2029… and go on rising for decades.” This may not matter so much. “Though debt has grown as a share of GDP, interest payments are near their historical average” and “lower than the nominal growth rate of the economy…. In such circumstances a debt will shrink as a share of GDP over time. If the economy grows faster than interest builds up, the government could run a small deficit forever.”
Tags: Deficit, Economy, GDP, Government, Growth rate, Interest, Public debt, U.S.
Endgadget (May 16)
“Japan plans to release 10-billion 14-digit numbers by 2021,” but the country “likely won’t be the only nation facing the problem of needing more numbers for more devices. Last year, the number of IoT devices in the world surpassed the number of mobile phones. Since 2008, there have been more connected devices on the planet than people, and by 2020 it’s predicted that there will be 50 billion connected devices globally.
Tags: Connected, Devices, IoT, Japan, Mobile phones, People, Phone numbers
Financial Times (May 16)
By delaying any decision to impose car tariffs by 6 months, “President Donald Trump has dodged an immediate collision with the EU and Japan on trade.” While expected, “the move means that the US has avoided blowing up trade relations with the EU and Japan amid an escalation of its dispute with China.”
Tags: Car tariffs, China, Collision, Delay, Dispute, Escalation, EU, Japan, Trade, Trump
Reuters (May 16)
“Years of heavy money printing by the BOJ have pushed down long-term interest rates near zero, adding to a squeeze on margins for Japan’s regional banks already suffering from a dwindling population and weak loan demand.”
Tags: BOJ, Dwindling population, Interest rates, Japan, Loan demand, Margins, Money supply, Regional banks
CBS News (May 13)
“The U.S. imports far more Chinese goods than China imports from the U.S. So China can’t directly impose retaliatory tariffs equal to Mr. Trump’s…. The U.S. just doesn’t send enough goods to China.” China could, however, let the yuan weaken and this may prove their best response. “If the Chinese currency were to drop in value, it would make the country’s goods less expensive in foreign markets, propping up export demand and volume abroad.”
Tags: China, Currency, Export demand, Imports, Retaliatory, Tariffs, Trump, U.S., Weaken, Yuan
