New York Times (November 29)
“The recent market turmoil shows how dependent the economy is on the path of the pandemic, and how quickly sentiment can change with every twist and turn in our understanding of the virus.”
Tags: Change, Dependent, Economy, Market, Pandemic, Recent, Sentiment, Turmoil, Twist and turn, Virus
The Economist (November 27)
The EU is currently “recording nearly a quarter of a million cases a day,” its highest levels ever, and the WHO has warned “that 700,000 more Europeans could die by March.” Eventually, “covid-19 will probably settle down as a seasonal disease, a lethal threat to the elderly and the poor in health, but to everyone else mostly a nuisance. However, as Europe is discovering, getting there will be perilous.”
Tags: Cases, COVID-19, Die, Elderly, EU, Europe, Health, Highest, Lethal threat, March, Nuisance, Poor, Seasonal disease, WHO
Bloomberg (November 26)
“China’s economy continued to slow in November with car and homes sales dropping again as the housing market crisis dragged on.” While numbers for eight early indicators “stayed unchanged, under the surface there was a further deterioration in some of the real-time economic data.”
Tags: Cars, China, Crisis, Deterioration, Economy, Homes, Housing market, Indicators, November, Sales, Slow, Unchanged
The Guardian (November 26)
“The world’s major central banks are scratching their heads over how to deal with the rising cost of living. Raising interest rates now could deal a blow to the post-pandemic recovery. Wait too long, and inflation may spiral out of control.”
Tags: Central banks, Cost of living, Inflation, Interest rates, Post-pandemic, Recovery, Rising, Spiral, Wait
Foreign Policy (November 24)
“The pro-business Free Democratic Party is about to wield power in Berlin, thanks to the country’s youngest voters—but doesn’t yet know what it wants.” Whether the voters will ultimately “regret their choice is an open question. All of the party’s appeals to philosophical traditions and grand concepts have left more open questions than concrete approaches to governing,” but skyrocketing COVID-19 cases will increase the urgency to produce “concrete proposals for governance.”
Tags: Berlin, Concepts, Concrete approaches, COVID-19, FDP, Governing, Power, Pro-business, Questions, Regret, Skyrocketing, Traditions, Voters
Los Angeles Times (November 23)
“L.A.’s infamous Thanksgiving traffic gridlock” is “expected to return with vengeance” after taking 2020 off for Covid. “An estimated 3.8 million Southern Californians will be driving to their holiday destinations — up 9% from last year and only 1% less than in 2019, according to the Automobile Club of Southern California.”
Tags: 2019, 2021, Automobile Club of Southern California, California, Covid, Destinations, Gridlock, Holiday, Infamous, L.A., Thanksgiving, Traffic
Washington Post (November 23)
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has been nominated for another four-year term. If again confirmed, he will face “a daunting challenge: At a time when employment remains several million jobs below pre-pandemic levels, inflation is taking off at a rate not seen for 30 years.” And the blame from all “across the political spectrum” will be pinned on him. “Not since Paul Volcker accepted President Jimmy Carter’s nomination to the position amid double-digit inflation in mid-1979 has any central banker confronted a more difficult situation.”
Tags: Blame, Carter, Challenge, Confirmed, Daunting, Employment, Fed, Inflation, Nominated, Powell, Pre-pandemic, Volcker
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (November 22)
“The deadliest threat facing law enforcement officers in Georgia isn’t being shot, stabbed or run over by assailants—it’s COVID-19. Since the pandemic began, at least 60 Georgia police officers, deputies and jailers have died from the virus,” killing four times as many as violence or accidents.
Tags: Assailants, COVID-19, Deadliest threat, Georgia, Law enforcement, Officers, Pandemic, Police, Run over, Shot, Stabbed, Violence
The Atlantic (November 20)
“The question facing governments in Europe and elsewhere is which approach—carrot versus stick—will prove the most effective. By singling out the unvaccinated, Austria may succeed in increasing its vaccination rate, but it also runs the risk of driving vaccine skepticism even further.”
Tags: Approach, Austria, Carrot, Effective, Europe, Governments, Skepticism, Stick, Succeed, Unvaccinated, Vaccination rate
PEW Research Center (November 19)
U.S. fertility rates “were already at a record low before the pandemic began” and have continued dropping during it, “lending evidence to predictions… that economic uncertainty might trigger a baby bust.” The center’s recent survey shows even broader concerns. “A rising share of U.S. adults who are not already parents say they are unlikely to ever have children, and their reasons range from just not wanting to have kids to concerns about climate change and the environment.”
Tags: Baby bust, Children, Climate change, Economic uncertainty, Fertility, Kids, Pandemic, Parents, Record low, Survey, U.S., Unlikely
