Financial Times (August 28)
In the U.S., “corporate profits have hit a record high while workers’ slice of the pie has sunk to historic lows, fuelling discontent among many Americans and a growing political backlash.” In this tale of two cities, corporate “pre-tax earnings hit an annualised $4.8tn in the second quarter, or 18 per cent of national income… the highest share since the aftermath of the second world war.” Meanwhile, “employees’ share from wages and benefits fell to 60 per cent, the lowest level since the 1950s.”
Tags: $4.8tn, Benefits, Corporate profits, Discontent, Employees, Historic lows, Political backlash, Pre-tax earnings, Q2, Record high, Sunk, U.S., Wages, Workers, WW2
The Times (August 5)
“The ruse to offset new ‘assets’ may allow the Burnham government to say it has not broken its fiscal rules,” but more borrowing “is still more borrowing. And more borrowing will mean more expensive interest payments….. Whether it is the NHS, benefits or the state pension, spending is too high. For the UK to avoid fiscal disaster, it must be restrained if the debt pile is ever to shrink. Rising borrowing cannot continue indefinitely.
Tags: Assets, Benefits, Borrowing, Burnham, Debt, Expensive, Fiscal disaster, Government, Interest payments, NHS, Offset, Pension, Ruse, Spending, UK
Bloomberg (January 18)
“The new year was supposed to bring opportunities for beaten-down software stocks. Instead, the group is off to its worst start in years.” Amid fears that AI will undercut the benefits of software, “valuations for software companies keep getting cheaper. The Morgan Stanley basket is priced at 18 times earnings projected over the next 12 months, its cheapest on record, and well below an average of more than 55 times over the past decade.”
Tags: AI, Beaten-down, Benefits, Cheaper, Fears, Morgan Stanley, Opportunities, Software, Software stocks, Undercut, Valuations, Worst start
The Economist (September 20th to 26th)
China’s workforce “has undergone an extraordinary transformation,” diversifying from its base in farming and factories. The world’s largest workforce now includes some 200 million “precarious” gig workers, who provide “a warning for the world.” With technology remaking labor markets, 40% of the labor force in urban areas is now dependent “on some kind of flexible work,” yet many of these gig workers “struggle to buy property and gain access to public services and benefits.” This transformation “will shape China’s economy and society for years to come.”
Tags: 200 million, Benefits, China, Economy, Factories, Farming, Flexible work, Gig workers, Labor markets, Precarious, Property, Public services, Technology, Transformation, Urban, Warning, Workforce
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
New York Times (June 19)
“China’s economic weakness holds benefits and dangers for the global economy. Consumer and producer prices have fallen for the past four months in China, putting a brake on inflation in the West by pushing down the cost of imports from China. But weak demand in China may exacerbate a global slowdown. “
Tags: Benefits, China, Consumer, Dangers, Demand, Global economy, Imports, Inflation, Producer prices, Weakness, West
Market Watch (March 27)
Remote work was one of the “few positives” to emerge from the pandemic. Its various benefits have proven “particularly important for working women.” The U.S. birthrate has now slipped to just 1.6., well below the replacement rate of 2.1 births per woman. Remote work “could be a simple and cost-effective way to help women achieve a work-life balance and increase fertility rates for those who want to have children…. U.S. employers should take note, and be more willing to continue remote and hybrid work.”
Tags: Benefits, Birthrate, Children, Cost-effective, Employers, Fertility rates, Pandemic, Positives, Remote work, Replacement rate, Simple, U.S., Work-life balance, Working women
Bloomberg (November 25)
“Since the Brexit vote in 2016, the UK government is yet to deliver major legislative change with significant benefits for businesses. Instead, companies have had to grapple with higher paperwork costs on trade, a tighter labor market spurred by a reduction in EU migration and a weaker pound increasing import costs. Brexit has also had a political cost of aggravating tensions in Northern Ireland and hurting diplomatic relations with the EU.”
Tags: Benefits, Brexit, Businesses, Costs, EU, Government, Import, Labor market, Migration, Northern Ireland, Paperwork, Pound, Trade, UK, Weaker
Washington Post (October 17)
“While Americans are leaving their jobs at staggering rates — a record 4.3 million quit in August alone — hundreds of thousands of workers with similar grievances about wages, benefits and quality of life are…choosing to dig in and fight.” Empowered by the Great Resignation, union action is up sharply in 2021. “Workers are now harder to replace, especially while many companies are scrambling to meet heightened demand for their products and manage hobbled supply chains. That has given unions new leverage, and made striking less risky.”
Tags: Benefits, Demand, Great Resignation, Grievances, Jobs, Leverage, Quality of life, Risky, Scrambling, Staggering, Striking, Supply chains, U.S., Unions, Wages, Workers
Atlanta Journal Constitution (October 14)
“Millions of retirees on Social Security will get a 5.9% boost in benefits for 2022. The biggest cost-of-living adjustment in 39 years follows a burst in inflation as the economy struggles to shake off the drag of the coronavirus pandemic.”
Tags: Benefits, Burst, COLA, Coronavirus, Drag, Economy, Inflation, Pandemic, Retirees, Social security, Struggles
