San Francisco Chronicle (October 4)
“As President Trump’s fellow humans, we can only wish him and his wife the quick and painless recovery…. As citizens of the country he was elected to lead, we can only see his illness… early Friday, as the apotheosis of his mismanagement of the crisis, which has helped put more than 200,000 Americans beyond the reach of any well-wishes.”
Tags: Apotheosis, Crisis, Elected, Illness, Mismanagement, Painless, Recovery, Trump
Seattle Times (September 29)
“The worldwide death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed 1 million on Tuesday, nine months into a crisis that has devastated the global economy, tested world leaders’ resolve, pitted science against politics and forced multitudes to change the way they live, learn and work.”
Tags: 1 million, Coronavirus, Crisis, Death toll, Devastated, Economy, Leaders, Politics, Science, Work, Worldwide
Plain Dealer (September 3)
“Greater Cleveland’s economy has been hit harder than most large metro areas across the country during the coronavirus crisis…. Just three of the 40 largest metro areas – New York, Las Vegas and Boston – have done worse in terms of job losses than Cleveland’s 12% decline from July 2019 to July 2020.”
Tags: Boston, Cleveland, Coronavirus, Crisis, Decline, Economy, Hit harder, Job losses, Las Vegas, New York
Reuters (September 3)
“Publicly listed family-owned firms, defined as those where the founder of their family owns 20% of shares or votes, returned 3 percentage points more than non-family owned stocks during the virus-struck first half of 2020.” It might be a coincidence, “but the same thing happened after the last crisis…. The effect persists across sectors, regions and company size,” perhaps because the firms have less debt and invest more in R&D.
Tags: 2020, Crisis, Debt, Family-owned, Founder, Listed, R&D, Regions, Sectors, Shares, Size, Stocks, Virus
Billboard (August 17)
The UK music scene “may soon be unrecognizable because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has plunged the U.K. economy into its worst recession on record.” While socially-distanced live music has resumed, under a third of venues can meet the requirements and most “would lose too much money on these reduced-capacity shows for it to be economically feasible.” Music Venue Trust, a charity which represents 670 grassroots venues, estimates that “more than 400 across the country are in crisis.”
Tags: Capacity, Coronavirus, Crisis, Feasible, Grassroots, Live music, Pandemic, Recession, Socially-distanced, UK, Unrecognizable, Venues
Reuters (August 5)
“Lebanon has added tragedy to crisis.” The devastating blast in Beirut “sent seismic shockwaves across the capital, killing at least 100 people and injuring 4,000. A health emergency created by the pandemic may now be followed by a wider humanitarian crisis. Chronic political weakness makes everything worse.”
Tags: Beirut, Blast, Chronic, Crisis, Devastating, Emergency, Humanitarian crisis, Injuring, Killing, Lebanon, Pandemic, Tragedy, Weakness
Responsible Investor (June 9)
“Only in finance can a product lose 24% of its value and be celebrated as success. Since traditional benchmarks have lost more than ESG funds since the beginning of the year, ESG is feted by some as a success, a ‘refuge’.” Kudos, however, are not in order. “The rude fact is that, on the whole, ESG risk management frameworks did not prepare us for the inevitability of the pandemic. They did not help investors and banks anticipate the crisis, nor how to navigate it. The pandemic is a failure of mainstream risk management frameworks. Sadly, it is also a failure of ESG risk management frameworks.”
Tags: Banks, Benchmarks, Crisis, ESG funds, Finance, Frameworks, Investors, Pandemic, Refuge, Risk management, Success, Value
New York Times (May 21)
“Let us not squander another crisis. We need to take a long, hard look at all the ways the pandemic can push this little planet of ours to further ruin — and then work like crazy, together, to stave off the coming hell.”
South China Morning Post (May 12)
In Hong Kong, the “coronavirus crisis is shaping the future of office space…. Net absorption of office space has fallen to an 18-year low…. In the long run, the Covid-19-induced trend towards flexible working arrangements will drive office decentralization.”
Tags: Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crisis, Decentralization, Flexible working, Hong Kong, Net absorption, Office space, Trend
Institutional Investor (May 5)
“Institutional investors have a remedy for the mounting pile of public debt accumulating during the coronavirus crisis: Tax private equity.” In a recent survey 62% of respondents suggested “increasing taxes on private equity, carried interest or performance fees, and special purpose vehicles” as ways “their national governments should adjust tax policies to offset stimulus spending.”
Tags: Carried interest, Coronavirus, Crisis, Governments, Institutional, Investors, Performance fees, Private equity, Public debt, SPVs, Stimulus spending, Survey, Tax
