Wall Street Journal (February 28)
“Hong Kong authorities moved this weekend to imprison nearly the entire opposition movement. The message is that anyone who runs as a pro-democracy candidate will be treated as a criminal…. China is violating its international obligations as it tramples Hong Kong’s freedoms. So far it has paid little price, which the world may come to regret as President Xi Jinping sets his sights on Taiwan.”
Tags: Candidate, China, Criminal, Freedoms, Hong Kong, Imprison, Obligations, Opposition movement, Pro-democracy, Regret, Taiwan, Tramples, Violating, Xi
Bloomberg (February 26)
“After weeks of grumbling, the world’s biggest bond market spoke loud and clear Thursday — growth and inflation are moving higher. The message wreaked havoc across risk assets…. Speculation is building that a year of emergency stimulus is not only working, but has left some areas of the economy at risk of one day overheating.”
Tags: Bond market, Economy, Emergency stimulus, Growth, Grumbling, Havoc, Higher, Inflation, Overheating, Risk assets, Speculation
Star-Ledger (February 25)
“As the pandemic bore down…. traditional sources of fun and relaxation gave way to greater isolation.” States are now finding their citizens “drank and smoked more,” providing an unexpected boost to tax revenue. New Jersey alone is welcoming “$68 million in unanticipated revenue” from alcohol and tobacco taxes.
Tags: Alcohol, Fun, Isolation, New Jersey, Pandemic, Relaxation, Tax revenue, Unanticipated
Barron’s (February 23)
“Markets are now pricing for the sweet spot of reflation toward equilibrium. But too much of a good thing is, well, not a good thing. And with the Biden administration proposing a fiscal stimulus package nearly three times as large as the U.S. output gap and given a probable improvement in household demand as more Americans are vaccinated, the risk of overheating is not trivial.”
Tags: Biden, Equilibrium, Fiscal stimulus, Household demand, Markets, Overheating, Pricing, Reflation, Risk, Sweet spot, U.S., Vaccinated
Boston Globe (February 23)
“The United States has now reached a calamitous milestone that crystalizes a year of grief and anguish: 500,000 lives lost to COVID-19.”
Tags: 500k, Anguish, Calamitous, COVID-19, Crystalizes, Grief, Milestone, U.S.
USA Today (February 22)
“How can we honor the more than half-million Americans who lost their lives to COVID-19 while marking former President Donald Trump’s shameless failure to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ this country and its Constitution? Easy. Let’s bury the dead at Mar-a-Lago.”
Tags: Bury, Constitution, COVID-19, Failure, Honor, Lives, Mar-a-Lago, Preserve, Protect Defend, Shameless, Trump
Washington Post (February 22)
“We now have serious, competent leadership that believes in science, not conspiracy theories. And whatever the reasons, the tragic covid-19 toll — still too high — has fallen dramatically from its horrific peak. We have lost an unimaginable 500,000 lives. But we can keep from losing 500,000 more.”
Tags: Competent, Conspiracy theories, COVID-19, Horrific, Leadership, Science, Serious, Tragic
Bloomberg (February 21)
“The American love affair with stocks is deepening as everyone from frenetic day-traders to staid institutions dive further into the market…. While aspects of the craze—the growing obsession with penny stocks and options, primarily—are the basis for daily warnings about a bubble, bulled-up positioning is proving a sturdy backbone for the rally.”
Tags: Backbone, Bubble, Craze, Day-traders, Institutions, Market, Options, Penny stocks, Staid, Stocks, U.S., Warnings
New York Times (February 20)
“The nation’s energy delivery system, not just in Texas but everywhere, needs a radical overhaul if it is to withstand future shocks and play the role that President Biden has assigned it in the battle against climate change.”
USA Today (February 18)
“The U.S. lost a whole year of life expectancy – and for Black people, it’s nearly 3 times worse.” These preliminary results are based on only the first half of the year. Full year figures for 2020 will almost inevitably paint an even grimmer picture as they will include “the fall and winter surges that led to record COVID-19 deaths.”
Tags: 2020, Black people, COVID-19, Fall, Grimmer, Life expectancy, Surges, U.S., Winter