New York Times (October 26)
Under Donald Trump, a “casino… now passes for the American economy.” Distinguished by froth, Trump’s “casino economy” is “built on speculation and risk. Across markets and policy, wagers on the future are being made with other people’s money at a cost that could prove catastrophic.” While it’s true that “economies run on risk, growth and ambition…. There’s risk, and then there’s reckless gambling.”
Tags: Ambition, Casino, Casino economy, Catastrophic, Cost, Froth, Future, Gambling, Growth, Money, Reckless, Risk, Speculation, Trump, U.S.
The Guardian (August 28)
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) “was already known to be at its weakest in 1,600 years as a result of the climate crisis.” Scientists believe its collapse would be catastrophic, but previous studies showed this was unlikely before 2100. Newer studies, with an extended horizon, are troubling. They “show the tipping point that makes an Amoc shutdown inevitable is likely to be passed within a few decades, but that the collapse itself may not happen until 50 to 100 years later.”
Tags: 2100, Amoc, Atlantic, Catastrophic, Climate crisis, Collapse, Inevitable, Scientists, Shutdown, Tipping point, Weakest
Washington Post (October 12)
“A second catastrophic hurricane in as many weeks has forced the U.S. government to grapple with a harsh reality: Climate calamities are becoming more frequent, deadly and costly in a country already facing massive fiscal challenges.” With the ballooning U.S. national debt already exceeding $35 trillion, “budget experts agree that climate change threatens to add to these woes, harming economic output while forcing the government to spend more, and generate less, as it grapples with the consequences of dangerous emissions.”
Tags: $35 trillion, Calamities, Catastrophic, Climate change, Costly, Deadly, Economic output, Fiscal challenges, Frequent, Government, Grapple, Harsh, Hurricane, National debt, U.S.
Washington Post (June 13)
“The cause of the environment is losing the public debate. Whether the goal is to reduce air pollution, keep pesticides and nitrogen out of waterways, enforce water conservation” or avoiding catastrophic climate change, “the agenda to preserve the globe’s natural ecosystems has been set on its heels.”
Tags: Air pollution, Catastrophic, Climate change, Conservation, Ecosystems, Environment, Losing, Nitrogen, Pesticides, Public debate, Waterways
Washington Post (September 12)
“After decades of relying on the U.S. security umbrella, many European policymakers are aware that an investment in Ukraine’s security is a down payment on their own. Their efforts are accelerating, but not fast enough to negate the potentially catastrophic fallout of a U.S. withdrawal.”
Tags: Accelerating, Catastrophic, Europe, Fallout, Investment, Policymakers, Relying, Security, Security umbrella, U.S., U.S. withdrawal, Ukraine
New York Times (June 29)
The twin threats of “dangerous heat baking…the Southeast” and “the wildfire smoke filling the skies” in the Midwest “aren’t connected directly. But a common factor is adding to their capacity to cause misery. Human-caused climate change is turning high temperatures that would once have been considered improbable into more commonplace occurrences. And it is intensifying the heat and dryness that fuel catastrophic wildfires, allowing them to burn longer and more ferociously, and to churn out more smoke.”
Tags: Catastrophic, Climate change, Dangerous, Dryness, Heat, Human-caused, Improbable, Intensifying, Misery, Smoke, Temperatures, Wildfire, Wildfires
Reuters (April 25)
The U.S. “standoff over the debt ceiling is a white swan, or an entirely predictable, very frequent event that has the potential to be as catastrophic as its darker sibling.” Arriving at the “deadline without a congressional fix would lead to a calamitous default,” which could “exacerbate the very risks that sparked last month’s bank failures.”
Tags: Bank failures, Calamitous, Catastrophic, Congressional fix, Deadline, Debt ceiling, Default, Exacerbate, Predictable, Risks, Standoff, U.S., White swan
Market Watch (June 27)
“Stock futures are inching higher at the start of the week as investors seemingly cling to newfound optimism that a bond rout is ending, and the Fed’s rate-hike plans will get pruned due to a global slowdown.” There are, of course, no shortage of issues like surging inflation, but Brynne Kelly suspects “the next black swan for markets could be failing power grids and electricity shortages.” These could prove “catastrophic” as we move into the “height of the summer cooling season amid rising temperatures.”
Tags: Black swan, Bond rout, Catastrophic, Electricity, Fed, Inflation, Investors, Kelly, Markets, Optimism, Power grids, Rate hike, Shortages, Slowdown, Stock futures, Summer
Boston Globe (April 25)
“Say it loud, say it clear: Donald Trump needs to resign over his handling of the coronavirus.” With about 4% of the world’s population, the U.S. has so far “had about one-third of all global coronavirus cases and one-quarter of the fatalities.” The “catastrophic failure” is largely due to President Trump. This is “not just the catalog of screw-ups…. It’s that Trump represents an ongoing danger to the health and well-being of the American people.”
Tags: Catastrophic, Coronavirus, Failure, Fatalities, Health, Ongoing danger, Resign, Screw-ups, Trump, U.S., Well-being, World
The Guardian (June 11)
“The worst possible Brexit, a potentially catastrophic no-deal, now looks increasingly possible—just at the very moment when the G7 debacle shows the vital importance of international cooperation. The Brexit project is like a clapped-out car wobbling and wheezing towards the finishing line next year with wheels and bits of bodywork falling off as the line approaches…. There is still time to dump the car.”
Tags: Brexit, Catastrophic, Cooperation, G7 debacle, No-deal, Wheezing, Wobbling
