New York Times (April 20)
“The World Health Organization concluded last year that air pollution is ‘the single largest environmental threat to human health and well-being.’” Recognizing “the low quality of the air that we breathe” is a crisis would help bring greater immediacy to “the existential threat of climate change…. The solution to both threats is the same: We need to stop burning fossil fuels, preferably yesterday.”
Tags: Air pollution, Climate change, Crisis, Environmental threat, Existential, Human health, Immediacy, Solution, Well-being, WHO
Professional Pensions (April 19)
“The response by pension schemes and other investors to the invasion was immediate and, in the days following Russia’s attack, a number of pension schemes announced they would reduce or sell all their holdings as soon as possible.” Exposure to Russia varied by scheme, but was low overall, at around “0.1% for many schemes, holdings that many managers have written down to zero.” All in all, the “market reaction to the crisis was surprisingly muted,” with fairly stable funding levels throughout the crisis.
Tags: Attack, Crisis, Exposure, Funding, Holdings, Immediate, Invasion, Investors, Market, Muted, Pension schemes, Reaction, Reduce, Russia, Sell, Stable, Zero
The Economist (February 19)
“With the candour that has wrong-footed Mr Putin, many Western security officials accused him of lying, redoubling their warnings of a looming Russian invasion. Even if the troops pull back, this crisis is not yet over. And, whatever happens, war or no war, Mr Putin has damaged his country by engineering it.”
Tags: Crisis, Looming, Lying, Putin, Russian invasion, Security officials, Troops, Ukraine, War, Warnings, Wrong-footed
The Guardian (February 28)
“Moscow is bracing for economic panic when markets open on Monday morning, with the value of the rouble expected to plummet at least 25% after the US and European Union announced unprecedented sanctions over the weekend.” The resulting economic turbulence “will mark a key moment when the gravity of the crisis in Ukraine hits home for many ordinary Russians.”
Tags: Bracing, Crisis, Economic panic, EU, Gravity, Markets, Moscow, Ordinary Russians, Plummet, Rouble, Sanctions, Turbulence, U.S., Ukraine, Unprecedented
Sydney Morning Herald (December 6)
“The crisis at the teetering giant Chinese property developer, China Evergrande, appears to be reaching a decisive moment, with the world’s most indebted property company conceding that it may be unable to meet the demand for repayment.”
Tags: China, Crisis, Decisive moment, Evergrande, Indebted, Property developer, Repayment, Teetering, Unable
Bloomberg (November 26)
“China’s economy continued to slow in November with car and homes sales dropping again as the housing market crisis dragged on.” While numbers for eight early indicators “stayed unchanged, under the surface there was a further deterioration in some of the real-time economic data.”
Tags: Cars, China, Crisis, Deterioration, Economy, Homes, Housing market, Indicators, November, Sales, Slow, Unchanged
Bloomberg (October 1)
“The Evergrande fear has receded too easily for comfort… Even without a crisis, the stricken developer will do significant damage to a Chinese economy that already appeared to be slowing.”
The Guardian (September 28)
“Queues at the petrol pumps are never a good look for a government. They are especially bad in a pandemic, when so many people already have reason to feel anxious.” Panic buying comes natural after “gas price rises that have led to around 2m households losing their energy supplier” and “empty shelves in supermarkets…. There is a palpable sense that Britain is careering from one crisis to another.”
Tags: Anxious, Careening, Crisis, Empty shelves, Energy, Gas, Government, Households, Pandemic, Petrol, Prices, Queues, Rises, Supermarkets
The Guardian (April 30)
“It is time for a public inquiry. The coronavirus crisis has been an extraordinary period for the UK, and the toll substantial. More than 127,000 people have died, children have lost years of education, and we have seen the largest drop in GDP since consistent records began more than half a century ago…. While the government has done some things well – the vaccine programme is an undisputed success so far – there are sincere, legitimate questions about many of its other choices.*
Tags: Coronavirus, Crisis, Drop, Education, Extraordinary, GDP, Government, Legitimate, Public inquiry, Questions, UK, Vaccine
Wall Street Journal (February 17)
“Continental governments have spent trillions during the pandemic keeping firms alive and people in jobs, but that safety net could be putting off the economic deep cleaning that normally comes with recessions.” Concern is growing that “mothballing the economy for so long will leave it struggling to adapt to the seismic business and social changes the crisis is driving. That could stall an economic recovery.”
Tags: Adapt, Crisis, Economic deep cleaning, Firms, Governments, Jobs, Mothballing, Pandemic, Recessions, Recovery, Safety net, Struggling
