The Economist (May 30)
“Bail-outs are taking place everywhere. But in Europe they are especially dangerous, because they can undermine economic integration and encourage politicians’ inexhaustible appetite to meddle in industry. Creating a giant, open and competitive market has been one of Europe’s great achievements. In the rush to help business it must not be eroded.”
Tags: Bail-outs, Competitive, Dangerous, Europe, Industry, Integration, Meddle, Politicians, Undermine
Bloomberg (May 29)
“It looks as though the market is at or approaching a tipping point right now. What happens next will be driven by the two most important narratives of the day — the attempt to reopen economic activity after the Covid-19 pandemic, and worsening relations between the U.S. and China.”
Tags: COVID-19, Economic activity, Market, Narratives, Pandemic, Reopen, Tipping point, U.S.
LA Times (May 28)
“Trump hasn’t been a victim of bias” as he made out while trying “to take a big, dumb bite out of the Twitter hand that feeds him.” In fact, “he’s been the prime beneficiary of the platforms’ lax and inconsistent enforcement of their terms of service. It’s richly ironic that the president would want to remove liability protections for the platforms that broadcast the damaging rumors and wild conspiracy theories he spreads about his rivals.”
Tags: Beneficiary, Bias, Conspiracy theories, Damaging, Dumb, Enforcement, Inconsistent, Ironic, Lax, Liability, Rivals, Rumors, Trump, Twitter, Victim
Wall Street Journal (May 27)
“We don’t write this with any expectation that Mr. Trump will stop” smearing people and promoting far-fetched conspiracy theories. “His latest accusation against MSNBC host Joe Scarborough is ugly even for him.” By suggesting the TV host was somehow complicit in what by all accounts was a natural death, “Mr. Trump is debasing his office, and he’s hurting the country in doing so.”
Tags: Accusation, Conspiracy theories, Debasing, Expectation, MSNBC, Scarborough, Smearing, Trump
Reuters (May 26)
The NYSE “partially reopened its trading floor on Tuesday, having been closed since March 20. The question is why. It’s getting harder to argue the exchange, owned by Intercontinental Exchange, even needs such a thing. Trading didn’t suffer any noticeable glitches while it was closed.”
Tags: Closed, Glitches, Intercontinental Exchange, NYSE, Reopened, Trading floor
Washington Post (May 24)
“Beijing has just hammered the final nail in the coffin for Hong Kong’s autonomy. The promise of “one country, two systems” is dead.”
The Economist (May 23)
Have we reached “peak capital?” It seems London may be entering “a covid-accelerated decline,” in a shift that “could reverse three decades of ascendancy.” The UK may be “levelled up” as Boris Johnson promised, but primarily by levelling down London.
Tags: Accelerated, Ascendancy, Covid, Decline, Johnson, London, Peak capital, UK
Market Watch (May 22)
“Sweden’s policy of keeping schools, restaurants and businesses open while practising social distancing to prevent the coronavirus pandemic from spreading was seen as bold, but now it has now it has the highest deaths per capita in Europe from COVID-19.”
Tags: Businesses, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Deaths, Europe, Pandemic, Prevent, Restaurants, Schools, Social distancing, Sweden
New York Times (May 21)
“Let us not squander another crisis. We need to take a long, hard look at all the ways the pandemic can push this little planet of ours to further ruin — and then work like crazy, together, to stave off the coming hell.”
The Local Sweden (May 20)
“It might be appealing to make the conclusion that Sweden has managed to keep the epidemic under control, without having to restrict individuals and businesses or pressing pause on the country’s whole economy to the same extent as elsewhere in Europe. But that would be a dangerous conclusion to draw…. What Sweden cannot teach others is how to stem the pandemic without a high human cost.”
Tags: Conclusion, Dangerous, Economy, Epidemic, Europe, Human cost, Pandemic, Restrict, Sweden