Bloomberg (January 11)
“Donald Trump’s first press conference since the election basically confirmed he’s easily the least suited person to be president who ever got anywhere near to the office. “ As a candidate, “Trump displayed vast ignorance of policy and of basic rules of how the government works.” At his press conference, “President-elect Trump utterly failed to demonstrate that he’s learned anything. On health care, on Russia, on anything.”
Tags: Election, Government, Health care, Ignorance, President, Press conference, Russia, Trump
Fortune (January 10)
“China’s air quality has been particularly bad so far this winter. Severe smog or haze episodes have occurred one after another with short breaks in between… Last week, Beijing issued its first-ever red alert for ‘fog’ due to extremely low visibility caused by haze.” While winter weather is a complicating factor, the main blame lies elsewhere. “The reality is that new regulations to curb pollution aren’t enough, and the latest alert signals that China’s government needs to do more.”
Tags: Air quality, Beijing, China, Government, Haze, Pollution, Red alert, Regulations, Smog, Visibility
Washington Post (January 5)
“It’s an existential moment for all of Europe’s leaders, most of whom are only just beginning to grapple with the fact that Russia wants to destroy the Euro-American alliance.” Alas, with the inauguration of Donald Trump, they may “have to prepare for an American government that wants to do so too.”
Tags: Destroy, Euro-American alliance, Europe, Existential, Government, Leaders, Russia, Trump, U.S.
The Economist (November 26)
“Britain is in a state of unprecedented uncertainty. The government is unclear about what sort of Brexit it wants. Economic forecasting is, as a result, as good as guesswork. The outlook for the public finances is similarly uncertain.” Nevertheless,“this year’s Autumn Statement, in sum, hinted at how painful Brexit is going to be.”
Tags: Brexit, Forecasting, Government, Guesswork. Outlook, Painful, UK, Uncertainty, Unprecedented
Financial Times (November 24)
“A careful, calibrated fiscal adjustment to return a government to sustainability is one thing. A brutish insistence on running surpluses well into the future is quite another.” The EU should avoid “choking off a nascent recovery in the Greek economy and setting back the cause of reducing its debt burden.”
Tags: Calibrated, Careful, Debt burden, EU, Fiscal, Government, Greek economy, Recovery, Surpluses
New York Times (October 25)
“The Chinese government plans to introduce codes for some 3,000 Chinese characters as part of a grand project, known as the China Font Bank, to digitize 500,000 characters previously unavailable in electronic form.” Admirable in many respects, this massive expansion of the 80,000 or so current Unicode characters will also bring a downside. “Netizens who have been using obscure characters for secret or playful language to avoid government scrutiny can expect to have fewer words to hide behind.”
Tags: Characters, China, Font, Government, Netizens, Scrutiny, Unicode
Reuters (September 1)
“Activity in China’s manufacturing sector unexpectedly expanded at its fastest pace in nearly two years in August as construction boomed, suggesting the economy is steadying in response to stronger government spending.” The strong performance “may reinforce growing views that China’s central bank will be in no hurry to cut interest rates or banks’ reserve requirements, for fear of adding to high debt levels or fuelling asset bubbles.”
Tags: Asset bubbles, Boom, China, Construction, Debt, Economy, Government, Interest rates, Manufacturing, Pace, Reserves, Spending, Steadying
Bloomberg (April 18)
“The death toll from earthquakes that struck southern Japan rose to 42 and the economic impact began to reverberate Monday as companies surveyed damage and the potential effects on production from supply-chain disruptions.” Amidst the uncertainty, investors “are speculating that Japan’s government and central bank will need to consider more stimulus for an economy that is already struggling.”
Tags: BOJ, Damage, Deaths, Earthquakes, Economic impact, Government, Investors, Japan, Production, Stimulus, Supply-chain disruptions, Uncertainty
Washington Post (January 24)
“The Washington region on Sunday lurched fitfully from under one of the heaviest snowfalls in memory, with federal and local governments set to be closed on Monday, the Metro system prepared to offer severely limited service Monday, and authorities warning that it could take days for the plows to reach some residential streets.”
Tags: Authorities, Closed, Government, Metro, Snowfall, Warnings, Washington
Wall Street Journal (December 9)
“Rather than reform the markets, Beijing wants to inflict pain on the brokers to assuage public anger over the crash.” This sort of meddling by the government helps explain why China’s financial markets remain dysfunctional. “China’s largest brokerage is now missing six of its eight top bosses” who are widely assumed to to “have been detained by police.” Numerous others have disappeared under similar circumstances. “But political interference risks repeating the boom and boost cycle. Putting brokers in prison won’t strengthen markets unless it is part of a new commitment to consistently enforce the law.”
Tags: Beijing, Brokerage, Brokers, China, Crash, Dysfunctional, Government, Markets, Public anger, Reform
