Fortune (June 22)
“The U.S. farm economy has been fighting one battle after another in recent years, but a new threat is on the horizon that evokes memories of one of the worst agricultural disasters ever.” U.S. farmers were left reeling from low prices, tariffs and most recently Trump’s Iran War, which sent the prices for fertilizer and fuel soaring. Bankruptcies have been rising and now they may face the existential “risk of a ‘mini-Dust Bowl’ as a rare Super El Niño looms.”
Tags: Agricultural disasters, Bankruptcies, Existential, Farm economy, Farmers, Fertilizer, Fuel, Iran war, Low prices, Mini-Dust Bowl, Reeling, Risk, Super El Niño, Tariffs, Threat, Trump, U.S.
New York Times (June 18)
“China is unleashing a new export shock on the world.” Chinese goods, thwarted by Trump’s tariffs, are now “flooding countries from Southeast Asia to Europe to Latin America.” China does not seem to be following “the traditional trajectory of economies that move away from low-end manufacturing as they become more mature and developed.” Instead, it has doubled-down on manufacturing, which far exceeds domestic demand. As a result, the “countries that have borne the brunt of the jump in Chinese imports have also seen sharp declines in their own manufacturing, leading to job losses and bankruptcies.”
Tags: Bankruptcies, China, Chinese goods, Domestic demand, Doubled-down, Europe, Export shock, Flooding, Imports, Job losses, Latin America, Low-end manufacturing, Southeast Asia, Trajectory, Trump’s tariffs, Unleashing
Bloomberg (August 19)
“The US mortgage industry is seeing its first lenders go out of business after a sudden spike in lending rates, and the wave of failures that’s coming could be the worst since the housing bubble burst about 15 years ago.” Though a “systemic meltdown” is not expected, market watchers still anticipate “a string of bankruptcies broad enough to trigger a spike in layoffs in an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of workers, and potentially an increase in some lending rates.”
Tags: Bankruptcies, Failures, Housing bubble, Industry, Layoffs, Lenders, Market, Mortgage, Rates, Spike, Systemic meltdown, U.S.
Washington Post (January 14)
“The China bubble has burst,” but the nation’s trajectory remains unclear. “The worst outcome—a doomsday scenario—would have China fostering worldwide deflation. Its growth would continue to deteriorate sharply, extending the decline in commodity prices and the weakness of global trade. Around the world, there would be more production cuts, layoffs and bankruptcies.”
Tags: Bankruptcies, Bubble, Burst, China, Commodity prices, Deflation, Doomsday, Global trade, Layoffs, Outcome, Production cuts, Unclear, Worst
Wall Street Journal (May 7)
As its economy slows, China is taking “tentative steps toward crucial financial reform.” These steps may leave some firms without the comfortable support of the Government’s safety net. “A few bankruptcies and defaults in recent months suggest that the bailout culture may give way to creative destruction. The year ahead should show whether China has reached a reform turning point.”
Tags: Bailouts, Bankruptcies, China, Creative destruction, Default, Economy, Financial Reform, Government, Turning-point
