Reuters (December 2)
“The good news is that drugmakers are already increasing their manufacturing capacity, which should reduce vaccine hoarding.” Moderna, J&J, AstraZeneca and Pfizer “are expected to produce 12 billion doses between them next year, enough to give two jabs to 75% of the world’s population.” The bad news is “getting shots into arms is a bigger challenge. Many developing countries lack the trained staff to administer doses, or the kit and infrastructure to ship them in the right conditions.”
Tags: AstraZeneca, Capacity, Challenge, Developing countries, Drugmakers, Infrastructure, J&J, Moderna, Pfizer, Trained staff, Vaccine hoarding
Washington Post (November 23)
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has been nominated for another four-year term. If again confirmed, he will face “a daunting challenge: At a time when employment remains several million jobs below pre-pandemic levels, inflation is taking off at a rate not seen for 30 years.” And the blame from all “across the political spectrum” will be pinned on him. “Not since Paul Volcker accepted President Jimmy Carter’s nomination to the position amid double-digit inflation in mid-1979 has any central banker confronted a more difficult situation.”
Tags: Blame, Carter, Challenge, Confirmed, Daunting, Employment, Fed, Inflation, Nominated, Powell, Pre-pandemic, Volcker
Washington Post (January 19)
“The challenge — and the opportunity — for Joe Biden is that he succeeds the worst president in U.S. history. Donald Trump’s tenure was characterized by colossal incompetence and mind-numbing indifference to the public good.” As a result, the new president will face the biggest challenges since Franklin D. Roosevelt. “Paradoxically, by taking over at such a low point in our history, Biden is set up for success” and his approval rating is already “higher than Trump’s ever was.”
Tags: Biden, Challenge, Incompetence, Indifference, Opportunity, Public good, Roosevelt, Success, Trump, Worst
The Economist (November 14)
“Suddenly, hope. The promise of the new covid-19 vaccine is immense, but don’t underestimate the challenge of getting people vaccinated.”
Tags: Challenge, COVID-19, Hope, Promise, Sudden, Underestimate, Vaccinated, Vaccine
Washington Post (February 20)
“China has an immense challenge coping with the outbreak. Its success or failure will affect the whole world. It has now mounted an enormous containment effort. But these early weeks of the epidemic reveal the hazards of an authoritarian system that hides the truth from its own people” as President Xi Jinping knew about the threat on January 7, if not earlier.
Tags: Authoritarian, Challenge, China, Containment, Epidemic, Failure, Hazards, Outbreak, Success, Truth
The Economist (March 16)
“The challenge of what engineers call the ‘human-machine interface’ has tragically gained attention after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 max 8 on March 10th.” But the challenge is not confined to flying. The same issues create perils in semi autonomous cars, trains and ships. “Studies have shown that when people have to wrest control from an automated system, it can take them around five seconds to grasp what is happening.”
Chicago Tribune (December 26)
“China is both a customer of the United States and a competitor. Friend but possibly foe. The relationship is complex and unresolved…. It may be China’s destiny to match the United States in wealth and firepower. Those are not reasons to fear China. They are reasons to engage the country today as a partner and challenge Chinese intentions when they appear threatening.”
Tags: Challenge, China, Competitor, Complex, Customer, Engage, Fear, Firepower, Foe, Friend, Threatening, U.S., Unresolved, Wealth
The Economist (November 17)
“More than half of Japanese babies can expect to live to 100.” This blessing presents Japan with a tremendous challenge “to stay solvent as it turns silver.” Among the G7, Japan now has the highest “share of over-65s in work,” but this not enough. “If Japanese people are going to live to 100 they will have to retire much later than 70.”
Institutional Investor (November 13)
“AI will transform asset management,” but “the biggest challenge we face may not be developing powerful predictive AI-based investment models.” Rather, it will be “simply convincing investors not to trust their own judgment. More broadly, the winners and losers will be decided not by the current market position of a firm or even the size of its checkbook, but by its ability to overcome its anthropocentric prejudice and trust AI like it would trust a human being.”
Tags: AI, Anthropocentric, Asset management, Challenge, Investment models, Investors, Judgment, Powerful, Predictive, Trust
LA Times (November 4)
“The global climate is in trouble, worsening faster than experts believed only two years ago, and ambitious international steps to address the problem have been insufficient thus far.” Since the Trump administration isn’t going to tackle this critical challenge, “the rest of us need to step up.”
Tags: Challenge, Climate change, Critical, Experts, Global, Insufficient, Trump, U.S., Worsening
