Institutional Investor (June 4)
The U.S. deficit “is now set to explode, according to J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Michael Cembalest, who derided the Republicans for their new budget bill that will add trillions of dollars to the deficit in coming years.” His recent note to institutional investors estimated that the Big Beautiful Bill passed by the House will increase the deficit by “$2.8 to $3.4 trillion… over the next ten years” and, “if certain temporary provisions become permanent, the cost could reach $5 trillion.”
Tags: Budget, Cembalest, Cost, Deficit, Derided, Explode, House, Institutional investors, J.P. Morgan AM, Provisions, Republicans, Trillions, U.S.
Reuters (May 15)
“Equity investors took comfort from the lower duty rates, pushing the S&P 500 Index up 5% this week, to higher than where it started the year. Business leaders are clearly less impressed. Sustained gloom from industry titans like Walmart will keep pressure on the president to reconsider his own pricing power.” Though Walmart “is trying to hold the line on food even as the cost of bananas, coffee, avocados and flowers increases,” the retailer disclosed this week that “tariffs would force it to raise prices.”
Tags: Business leaders, Cost, Duty rates, Equity, Food, Gloom, Industry titans, Investors, Pressure, Pricing power, Raise prices, Reconsider, S&P 500, Tariffs, Walmart
Washington Post (April 15)
A recession “looks much more likely than it did a few months ago, thanks to the cost and chaos of President Donald Trump’s tariff shock.” With its staggering debt-to-GDP ratio, the U.S. “is ill-positioned to weather another economic storm.” Should Trump’s “punishing tariff policy” lead to recession, “the government might not be able to finance economic relief with cheap debt” as the nation “has depleted its emergency reserves.”
Tags: Chaos, Cost, Debt-to-GDP ratio, Depleted, Economic relief, Economic storm, Emergency, Finance, Government, Punishing, Recession, Reserves, Staggering, Tariff shock, Trump, U.S.
The Guardian (April 3)
“The world is fast approaching temperature levels where insurers will no longer be able to offer cover for many climate risks.” Günther Thallinger, a member of the board of Allianz SE, warned “that without insurance, which is already being pulled in some places, many other financial services become unviable, from mortgages to investments.” The climate crisis could “destroy capitalism…with the vast cost of extreme weather impacts leaving the financial sector unable to operate.”
Tags: Allianz, Capitalism, Climate risks, Cost, Cover, Crisis, Destroy, Extreme weather, Financial services, Insurance, Insurers, Investments, Mortgages, Temperature, Thallinger, Unviable, World
Wall Street Journal (March 3)
We’ve called “the Mexico and Canada levies the ‘dumbest’ in history, and we may have understated the point. Mr. Trump is whacking friends, not adversaries. His taxes will hit every cross-border transaction…. The 25% tariff will raise the cost of a full-sized SUV assembled in North America by $9,000 and a pickup truck by $8,000. Is this how the new Republican Party plans on helping working-class voters?”
Tags: $9K, 25% tariff, Adversaries, Canada, Cost, Cross-border transaction, Dumbest, Friends, Levies, Mexico, Republican, SUV, Taxes, Trump, Understated, Whacking
Institutional Investor (December 23)
“ESG and DEI may be under attack,” but they are unlikely to disappear. “Recent high-profile news like the case led by the Texas Attorney General against BlackRock, Vanguard Group, and State Street Global Advisors… are indicative of the battle taking place across the country.” However, the economic argument for ESG and DEI programs suggests they will persist. Conversely, “restrictive policies at the state or federal level are liable to cost both businesses and investors.”
Tags: Attack, BlackRock, Businesses, Cost, DEI, Economic argument, ESG, Restrictive policies, State Street, Texas, Vanguard
Financial Times (February 15)
“As OpenAI enters its year of rapid growth, questions about the long-term viability of its business model remain.” Despite such grandiose goals as accelerating “global productivity and economic growth,” corporations are struggling “to figure out how to integrate generative AI into their processes, or estimate what kinds of cost and productivity benefits it might bring.”
Tags: Benefits, Business model, Corporations, Cost, Economic growth, Generative AI, Global productivity, Grandiose, Growth, OpenAI, Processes, Struggling, Viability
Washington Post (July 16)
The extreme heat events “should not be viewed in isolation.” They are “virtually impossible” to explain except for human-caused climate change. “Slashing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to a greener economy at the scale and pace needed would require creativity, innovation and political courage. But the cost if we fail is far more daunting: a future in which climate disasters, and all the damage and instability that come with them, become the new normal everywhere.”
Tags: Climate change, Climate disasters, Cost, Creativity, Daunting, Extreme heat, Fail, GHG emissions, Greener economy, Innovation, Isolation, Pace, Political courage, Scale, Transitioning
New York Times (May 31)
“Drone warfare is pushing human pilots to the side. Some next-generation military drones rely on artificial intelligence to circle over an area, pick out enemy units and destroy them.” As drone technology advances and cost decline, “the frightening truth is that troops and civilians in future conflicts will find fewer and fewer places to hide from the gaze of both man and machine.”
Tags: AI, Civilians, Cost, Destroy, Enemy units, Frightening, Future, Human pilots, Military drones, Next-generation, Troops, Warfare
WARC (March Issue)
“The cost of search, social and retail media advertising grew by double digits in the final three months of 2021…. Search cost-per-click (CPC) saw the largest rise, increasing by 23% year on year to $0.71 in Q4 2021.” Moreover, the trend in rising “advertising spend and costs looks likely to continue in 2022.”
Tags: 2021, 2022, Advertising, Cost, CPC, Double digits, Media, Q4, Retail, Search, Social, Spend, Trend
