Washington Post (July 4)
Trump’s Fourth of July pageantry was “outrageous, of course, but not surprising. It was clear from the beginning that Independence Day meant nothing more to Trump than an opportunity to choreograph a made-for-television reelection event and give himself an obscenely expensive ego massage.” Ironically, however, “he ended up looking small” by trying “to make Independence Day all about him.”
The Economist (March 19)
The Economist Intelligence Unit just announced the most expensive cities in the world. Due to inflation, Tokyo doesn’t rank in the top 10. “Singapore marks its sixth straight year at the top of the rankings, and is joined there by Hong Kong and Paris.” Osaka was the only Japanese city to make the top 10 in “the survey, which compares prices across 160 products and services.”
Bloomberg (February 7)
Stock buybacks are under attack in Congress, but the market has already “soured on the strategy. Last year’s trillion-dollar splurge didn’t stop the stock market from falling for the year.” Furthermore, the S&P 500 Buyback Index shows that firms conducting buybacks have been outpaced by the market two years in a row. “With stocks expensive, using shareholders’ money to buy at inflated prices is a bad deal. The buyback phenomenon could die a natural death.”
Tags: Bad deal, Buybacks, Congress, Expensive, Market, S&P 500 Buyback Index, Shareholders, Stock
New York Times (March 3)
Warren Buffet’s annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders really let the finance industry have it. “Mr. Buffett has long ridiculed the financial industry, but this year’s letter, laced with references to bankers, lawyers and consultants as ‘a lot of mouths with expensive tastes,’ seemed to amp up the pugnacity.”
Washington Post (April 23)
“Budget realities require a modest approach to human space exploration and not an Apollo-style moonshot.” NASA needs to adopt a more practical approach. “Rather than attempting to send people to Mars on the cheap, there’s a compelling argument that we could accomplish more with a less expensive strategy of unmanned exploration.”
Wall Street Journal (June 12)
“Rents go down, grocery bills shrink, companies lay off workers and people move away to live in the countryside—and yet somehow Tokyo continues to be among the world’s most expensive cities for expatriates to live in.” Tokyo shot back to the top of Mercer’s annual list of the most expensive cities in the world. The strength of the yen was a major factor. Osaka ranked third and Nagoya tenth.
“Rents go down, grocery bills shrink, companies lay off workers and people move away to live in the countryside—and yet somehow Tokyo continues to be among the world’s most expensive cities for expatriates to live in.” Tokyo shot back to the top of Mercer’s annual list of the most expensive cities in the world. The strength of the yen was a major factor. Osaka ranked third and Nagoya tenth.
