The Independent (May 11)
“The White House is supposed to be the most sealed and protected place in the United States, and it just proved itself porous” to Covid-19. “In this pandemic, President Trump has botched absolutely everything from the top down, and now even those in his innermost circle are suffering because of it.”
Tags: Bbotched
Financial Times (May 9)
“The grim picture of the US labour market in the midst of a lockdown that has choked economic activity will increase concerns that any rebound from the sudden deep recession could take longer than was expected just a few weeks ago.” With unemployment at 14.7%, “its highest level since the second world war,” any chances of a V-shaped recovery now look remote.
Tags: Economic activity, Grim, Lockdown, Rebound, Recession, Recovery, Remote, U.S., Unemployment, V-shaped
WARC (May 7)
“Marketers are readying themselves for a post-pandemic world in which consumer behaviours have changed, but they should consider not just what those behaviours are but why they have emerged so quickly.” Underlying attitudes may not actually shift deeply given the change was abrupt and largely unwilling.
Tags: Abrupt, Attitudes, Behaviors, Change, Consumers, Marketers, Post-pandemic, Shift, Underlying, Unwilling
Bloomberg (May 7)
“It’s easy to lose sight of the scariest scenario of them all: the one where there’s no magic bullet.” Without a vaccine breakthrough, “herd immunity would come, if at all, only after millions of deaths around the world.” While this scenario is unpalatable, “it isn’t defeatism to ask what the world will look like if we lose the war we’re fighting. It’s realism.”
Tags: Deaths, Defeatism, Herd immunity, Magic bullet, Realism, Scenario, Vaccine
LA Times (May 6)
“There are signs that when humans decamp from the streets, wildlife expands its territory…. It rekindles our spirits and gives us hope to think that, despite humanity’s near-relentless efforts to shove nature into ever-smaller corners, it rebounds effortlessly.”
Tags: Effortlessly
Institutional Investor (May 5)
“Institutional investors have a remedy for the mounting pile of public debt accumulating during the coronavirus crisis: Tax private equity.” In a recent survey 62% of respondents suggested “increasing taxes on private equity, carried interest or performance fees, and special purpose vehicles” as ways “their national governments should adjust tax policies to offset stimulus spending.”
Tags: Carried interest, Coronavirus, Crisis, Governments, Institutional, Investors, Performance fees, Private equity, Public debt, SPVs, Stimulus spending, Survey, Tax
New York Times (May 5)
There are merits to “the distance learning the New York City school system instituted when the coronavirus pandemic hit…. I have been doing distance learning since March 23 and find that I am learning more, and with greater ease, than when I attended regular classes. I can work at my own pace without being interrupted by disruptive students and teachers who seem unable to manage them.”
Tags: Classes, Coronavirus, Disruptive, Distance learning, Ease, Merits, New York, Pace, Pandemic, Students
Chicago Tribune (May 4)
“To defeat the coronavirus and prevent future outbreaks, Americans need to reassess some ingrained social customs and lax sanitary practices.” It’s time to adapt the Japanese customs of “bowing instead of handshakes, using face masks and removing shoes before entering homes are deep-rooted and hygienic.”
Tags: Bowing, Coronavirus, Face masks, Handshakes, Ingrained, Japan, Outbreaks, Reassess, Shoes, Social customs, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (May 3)
“Global brands are hoping China’s gigantic consumer market will help rekindle growth as the world tries to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. They are facing an uphill battle.” Despite “seeing a solid bounceback in China… a full return to normal, much less growth, is proving harder because so many people have lost jobs and income, or want to save more.”
Tags: Bounceback, China, Consumer market, Coronavirus pandemic, Global brands, Growth, Income, Jobs, Normal, Recover
Business Insider (May 2)
“April was the best month for stocks since 1987. But this stand-out performance” may be misleading. “History is rife with many examples of bear rallies that give way to even deeper losses.”
Tags: April, Bear rallies, History, Losses, Misleading, Performance, Stand-out, Stocks
