Bloomberg (August 31)
“BYD Co.’s overseas revenue exceeded what it made at home for the first time, helping end one of the company’s longest profit slumps and illustrating why Chinese carmakers have no choice but to try their luck outside of the world’s largest auto market.” Annual vehicle sales in China’s “vast” market are twice as high as the U.S. Despite that scale, however, China’s market “has become so brutal that not even its national champion can count on making money there. That’s why Chinese carmakers have increasingly turned abroad, where they can charge more for their vehicles, to make money despite ongoing geopolitical risks.”
Tags: Abroad, Auto market, Brutal, BYD, Carmakers, Charge more, China, Geopolitical risks, Largest, National champion, Overseas, Profit slump, Revenue, Scale, Vast, Vehicle sales
Auto Wire (March 17)
”For decades Porsche has been one of the most profitable car companies on the planet. That reputation just took a staggering hit” as it “reported operating profit of just €90 million for 2025 — a jaw-dropping collapse from €5.3 billion the previous year.” The 98% drop “immediately rattled investors and sent the company’s stock sliding…. Behind that collapse is a combination of strategic missteps, geopolitical pressures, and brutal new competition reshaping the global car market.”
Tags: €5.3b, €90m, 2025, Brutal, Car companies, Collapse, Competition, Geopolitical pressures, Investors, Jaw-dropping, Operating profit, Porsche, Profitable, Rattled, Reputation, Sliding, Staggering, Stock, Strategic missteps
Washington Post (September 11)
“For the Fed itself, however, we can offer no easy answer to the quandary it’s facing.” Their upcoming rate decision is perilous. “It might seem obvious that the Fed should choose employment over inflation, since unemployment is so brutal on the people who suffer it…. But the post-pandemic recovery demonstrated that high inflation also creates a lot of suffering.”
Tags: Brutal, Employment, Fed, High inflation, Perilous, Post-pandemic, Quandary, Rate, Recovery
The Guardian (September 1)
“Germany was once an economic model to emulate but its reliance on industries past their sell-by date is costing it dear.” The nation is increasingly “an analogue economy in a digital world.” Though “brutal,” the truth “is that Germany is no longer an appropriate role model for the UK (or indeed, any other country). It is a country where the threat to democracy posed by extremist parties is the result of economic failure.”
Tags: Analogue economy, Brutal, Democracy, Digital world, Economic failure, Economic model, Emulate, Extremist parties, Germany, Industries, Reliance, Threat, UK
Fortune (February 21)
“The housing market correction just took a new turn,” which appears to be “brutal.” KB Home’s Q4 results revealed a buyer cancellation rate that shot to 68%, up from 13% year on year. The Q4 cancellation rate “also surpassed the industry’s peak cancellation rate of 47% during the darkest days of the 2008-era crash.”
Tags: 2008-era crash, 47%, 68%, Brutal, Buyer cancellation rate, Correction, Housing market, KB Home, Peak, Q4 results
Washington Post (July 8)
“The death of Shinzo Abe is a loss to the U.S. and its allies.” The former Prime Minister’s “assassination was a brutal and completely unforeseen end to a life of public service to the people of Japan. The shock of his death will not dissipate quickly. He was a visionary leader, someone who believed his country was capable of taking a central, and responsible, role in international affairs. His loss will be deeply felt in part because he had more contributions to make.”
Tags: Abe, Allies, Assassination, Brutal, Capable, Contributions, Death, International affairs, Japan, Loss, Public service, Responsible, Shock, U.S., Visionary leader
Washington Post (May 20)
“Cryptocurrency investors woke up to grim news Wednesday: A brutal sell-off sent prices crashing across the board, wiping more than half a trillion dollars off the market.” It’s unclear if or when the dramatic turnaround will end. The cryptocurrency market “has roared since the coronavirus pandemic first gripped the world,” with “hordes of new investors…drawn by the allure of sudden price spikes and life-changing winnings.”
Tags: Allure, Brutal, Coronavirus, Crashing, Cryptocurrency, Investors, Life-changing, Pandemic, Price spikes, Sell-off, Winnings
Financial Times (February 3)
“The pandemic’s devastating impact on Big Oil was illustrated yesterday when some of the world’s largest energy groups reported record annual losses, marking a brutal 12 months of an industry under mounting pressure to speed up a transition to cleaner fuels.”
Tags: Big oil, Brutal, Cleaner fuels, Devastating, Energy, Impact, Largest, Losses, Pandemic, Pressure, Record, Transition
Newsweek (June 4)
Thirty years ago, “the brutal scenes of troops from the People’s Liberation Army firing live ammunition on civilians peaceably calling for political reforms at Tiananmen Square shocked the world.” The outside world’s response was largely based on the prevailing wisdom that economic development supports human rights. Today, “you’d be hard pressed to find any serious analysts who still believe economic prosperity has led to a more liberated China. Instead, China has been emboldened to infringe on the rights of its own people at home and abroad, cracking down on burgeoning civil society and activists, and undermining international human rights institutions as a means of subjecting its people under its control.”
Tags: Activists, Brutal, China, Civilians, Economic development, Emboldened, Human rights, Infringe, PLA, Political reforms, Tiananmen Square, Troops
New York Times (March 4)
“There can be little doubt now.” President Donald Trump “truly sees no danger in Mr. Xi’s ‘great’ decision to extend his own rule until death. That craven reaction is in line with Mr. Trump’s consistent support and even admiration for men ruling with increasing brutal and autocratic methods—Vladimir Putin of Russia, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, to name a few.”
Tags: Admiration, Autocratic, Brutal, China, Duterte, Erdogan, Philippines, Putin, Rule, Russia, Trump, Turkey, U.S., Xi
