Reuters (March 9)
Two black swans have collided. “Financial markets have been thrown into turmoil following Saudi Arabia’s response to the collapse of OPEC+ talks and concerns about the global spread of the coronavirus.”
Tags: Black swans, Collapse, Collided, Financial markets, OPEC, Saudi Arabia, Turmoil
The Economist (February 1)
“Two things explain why a new infectious disease is so alarming. One is that, at first, it spreads exponentially…. conjuring speculation about a health-care collapse, social and economic upheaval and a deadly pandemic. The other is profound uncertainty. Sparse data and conflicting reports mean that scientists cannot rule out the worst case—and that lets bad information thrive.”
Tags: Alarming, Collapse, Deadly, Disease, Economic, Exponentially, Health care, Infectious, Pandemic, Social, Speculation, Uncertainty, Upheaval
The Hill (November 18)
“Next year, the number of Venezuelans fleeing their country will overtake the Syrian exodus. To date, more than 4 million have left. One-third of these refugees and migrants are sheltering in Colombia, which has maintained a very generous open-door policy,” but is showing signs of being overwhelmed. Colombia “indeed appears headed towards a tipping point. Such an outcome would exacerbate the regional humanitarian crisis triggered by Venezuela’s collapse.”
Tags: Collapse, Colombia, Exodus, Fleeing, Generous, Humanitarian crisis, Migrants, Overwhelmed, Refugees, Sheltering, Syria, Tipping point, Venezuela
South China Morning Post (August 14)
“The crisis in Hong Kong appears to be careening towards a devastating climax.” But China “must pick the least bad option to resolve Hong Kong crisis” and that’s not a PLA crackdown. The PLA would be treated “as invaders, and resistance would be fierce and casualties unavoidable.” Furthermore, “an exodus of expats and elites would follow, and the Hong Kong economy – still a bridge between China the rest of the world – would almost immediately collapse.”
Tags: Careening, Casualties, China, Collapse, Crackdown, Crisis, Devastating climax, Elites, Exodus, Expats, Hong Kong, Invaders, PLA, Resistance
The Times (December 9)
“This week, parliament’s Brexit drama reaches its climax, resulting perhaps in a nation set on a course that no one seems to think is in the national interest, or the collapse of a government, or the fall of a prime minister. Barring a last-minute miracle, Theresa May has lost her final battle. Her big push has failed.”
Tags: Brexit, Climax, Collapse, Failed, Government, May, National interest, Parliament, Prime minister
Newsweek (September 4)
“September 15 will mark the tenth anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and near meltdown of Wall Street, followed by the Great Recession.” With household debt at “an all-time high of $13.2 trillion,” we’re now close to a repeat. The direct cause will be income imbalance, not a banking crisis. “The U.S. economy crashes when it becomes too top heavy because the economy depends on consumer spending to keep it going…. For a time, the middle class and poor can keep the economy going nonetheless by borrowing. But, as in 1929 and 2008, debt bubbles eventually burst. We’re getting dangerously close.”
Tags: Anniversary, Banking, Collapse, Consumer spending, Crisis, Great Recession, Household debt, Income imbalance, Lehman Brothers, Meltdown, Top heavy, U.S., Wall Street
Time (June 18)
“German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a political crisis that could reshape Europe’s migration crisis and potentially end her ten years in power” as a standoff “over Germany’s liberal migration policies threatens to collapse the fragile coalition that Merkel presides over.”
Tags: Coalition, Collapse, Europe, Germany Merkel, Migration, Political crisis, Standoff
New York Times (June 10)
“There has never been a disaster like the G7 meeting that just took place. It could herald the beginning of a trade war, maybe even the collapse of the Western alliance. At the very least it will damage America’s reputation as a reliable ally for decades to come; even if Trump eventually departs the scene in disgrace, the fact that someone like him could come to power in the first place will always be in the back of everyone’s mind.”
Tags: Ally Disgrace, Collapse, Damage, Disaster, G7, Power, Reliable, Reputation, Trade war, U.S., Western alliance
Salon (November 26)
“A wholesale collapse of Pine Island and Thwaites would set off a catastrophe. Giant icebergs would stream away from Antarctica like a parade of frozen soldiers. All over the world, high tides would creep higher, slowly burying every shoreline on the planet, flooding coastal cities and creating hundreds of millions of climate refugees. But “what we do now will determine how quickly” this ensues. “A fast transition away from fossil fuels in the next few decades could be enough to put off rapid sea-level rise for centuries. That’s a decision worth countless trillions of dollars and millions of lives.”
Tags: Antarctica, Catastrophe, Climate refugees, Collapse, Flooding, Fossil fuels, Icebergs, Pine Island, Shoreline, Thwaites, Tides
Bloomberg (November 20)
“After 12 years in office that have made her Europe’s anchor of stability in times of crisis, Merkel failed to stitch together an alliance that’s never been tried at the national level. While the breakdown leaves her in charge as acting chancellor, the collapse may signal the limit of her pragmatic, non-ideological style of governing and leaves her options for staying in power for another four years dramatically narrowed.”
Tags: Alliance, Breakdown, Chancellor, Collapse, Crisis, Europe, Germany, Governing, Merkel, Non-ideological, Pragmatic, Stability
