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.
Washington Post (June 25)
“Governments around the world are scrambling for ways, often at great fiscal cost, to slow or even reverse their baby busts. From cash incentives to paid leave, the results have been disappointing.” They would do better to quit fighting and focus on adaptation. After 17 years of population decline, Japan “now offers a surprisingly hopeful counter that an aging economy can still offer growth and prosperity.” Recent analysis by Goldman Sachs found that in Japan “the demographic decline that once drained vitality is now creating a ‘virtuous cycle’ of tightening labor markets, increased worker bargaining power and more investment in productivity-enhancing tech. These trends are helping prop up the economy even as it weathers a shock from the U.S.-led trade war.”
Tags: Adaptation, Aging economy, Baby busts, Cash incentives, Cost, Demographic decline, Goldman Sachs, Governments, Growth, Investment, Labor markets, Paid leave, Population, Prosperity, Reverse, Scrambling, Tech, Virtuous cycle
Institutional Investor (June 4)
The U.S. deficit “is now set to explode, according to J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Michael Cembalest, who derided the Republicans for their new budget bill that will add trillions of dollars to the deficit in coming years.” His recent note to institutional investors estimated that the Big Beautiful Bill passed by the House will increase the deficit by “$2.8 to $3.4 trillion… over the next ten years” and, “if certain temporary provisions become permanent, the cost could reach $5 trillion.”
Tags: Budget, Cembalest, Cost, Deficit, Derided, Explode, House, Institutional investors, J.P. Morgan AM, Provisions, Republicans, Trillions, U.S.
Reuters (May 15)
“Equity investors took comfort from the lower duty rates, pushing the S&P 500 Index up 5% this week, to higher than where it started the year. Business leaders are clearly less impressed. Sustained gloom from industry titans like Walmart will keep pressure on the president to reconsider his own pricing power.” Though Walmart “is trying to hold the line on food even as the cost of bananas, coffee, avocados and flowers increases,” the retailer disclosed this week that “tariffs would force it to raise prices.”
Tags: Business leaders, Cost, Duty rates, Equity, Food, Gloom, Industry titans, Investors, Pressure, Pricing power, Raise prices, Reconsider, S&P 500, Tariffs, Walmart
Washington Post (April 15)
A recession “looks much more likely than it did a few months ago, thanks to the cost and chaos of President Donald Trump’s tariff shock.” With its staggering debt-to-GDP ratio, the U.S. “is ill-positioned to weather another economic storm.” Should Trump’s “punishing tariff policy” lead to recession, “the government might not be able to finance economic relief with cheap debt” as the nation “has depleted its emergency reserves.”
Tags: Chaos, Cost, Debt-to-GDP ratio, Depleted, Economic relief, Economic storm, Emergency, Finance, Government, Punishing, Recession, Reserves, Staggering, Tariff shock, Trump, U.S.
The Guardian (April 3)
“The world is fast approaching temperature levels where insurers will no longer be able to offer cover for many climate risks.” Günther Thallinger, a member of the board of Allianz SE, warned “that without insurance, which is already being pulled in some places, many other financial services become unviable, from mortgages to investments.” The climate crisis could “destroy capitalism…with the vast cost of extreme weather impacts leaving the financial sector unable to operate.”
Tags: Allianz, Capitalism, Climate risks, Cost, Cover, Crisis, Destroy, Extreme weather, Financial services, Insurance, Insurers, Investments, Mortgages, Temperature, Thallinger, Unviable, World
Wall Street Journal (March 3)
We’ve called “the Mexico and Canada levies the ‘dumbest’ in history, and we may have understated the point. Mr. Trump is whacking friends, not adversaries. His taxes will hit every cross-border transaction…. The 25% tariff will raise the cost of a full-sized SUV assembled in North America by $9,000 and a pickup truck by $8,000. Is this how the new Republican Party plans on helping working-class voters?”
Tags: $9K, 25% tariff, Adversaries, Canada, Cost, Cross-border transaction, Dumbest, Friends, Levies, Mexico, Republican, SUV, Taxes, Trump, Understated, Whacking
Institutional Investor (December 23)
“ESG and DEI may be under attack,” but they are unlikely to disappear. “Recent high-profile news like the case led by the Texas Attorney General against BlackRock, Vanguard Group, and State Street Global Advisors… are indicative of the battle taking place across the country.” However, the economic argument for ESG and DEI programs suggests they will persist. Conversely, “restrictive policies at the state or federal level are liable to cost both businesses and investors.”
Tags: Attack, BlackRock, Businesses, Cost, DEI, Economic argument, ESG, Restrictive policies, State Street, Texas, Vanguard
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
Washington Post (July 16)
The extreme heat events “should not be viewed in isolation.” They are “virtually impossible” to explain except for human-caused climate change. “Slashing greenhouse gas emissions and transitioning to a greener economy at the scale and pace needed would require creativity, innovation and political courage. But the cost if we fail is far more daunting: a future in which climate disasters, and all the damage and instability that come with them, become the new normal everywhere.”
Tags: Climate change, Climate disasters, Cost, Creativity, Daunting, Extreme heat, Fail, GHG emissions, Greener economy, Innovation, Isolation, Pace, Political courage, Scale, Transitioning
