New York Times (August 2)
Millenials are “the most educated generation in history,” but this same generation is “on track to becoming less prosperous, at least financially, than its predecessors.” Millenials “are faced with a slow economy, high unemployment, stagnant wages and student loans that constrict their ability both to maintain a reasonable lifestyle and to save for the future.” On top of that, previous generations are burying them under government debt and insufficiently funded obligations.
Tags: Debt, Economy, Generation, Government, Lifestyle, Millenials, Prosperous, Student loans, Unemployment, Wages
The Economist (July 4)
“Shale matters. The industry has become huge—listed firms have invested over half a trillion dollars of capital…. Shale firms owe almost as much debt as Greece. After drilling beneath much of Texas and North Dakota, they account for 5% of global oil output. The health of shale firms affects people around the world, from Western drivers and Saudi Arabia’s sheikhs to Asia’s consumers.”
Tags: Asia, Capital, Consumers, Debt, Drilling, Greece, North Dakota, Oil, Output, Saudi Arabia, Shale, Texas
Bloomberg (April 16)
“Japan overtook China as the top foreign holder of U.S. government debt for the first time since the global financial crisis amid signs of economic and policy shifts in Asia’s two largest economies.”
Bloomberg (January 27)
“Debt forgiveness tied to pro-growth economic reforms would help” both Greece and Germany. Europe’s most powerful nation would actually stand “to gain a lot. Its refusal to countenance further debt relief is economically damaging and politically dangerous. For its own sake, Germany should think again.”
Tags: Debt, Europe, Forgiveness, Germany, Greece, Pro-growth, Reforms, Relief
Euromoney (May Issue)
“Dollar-denominated debt capital market volume in Asia reached almost $27 billion in April, the highest monthly volume on record…. These record volumes underline the fact that global investors remain keenly focused on Asia, despite continuing worries about a slowdown in China and India.”
Tags: Asia, Capital, China, DCM, Debt, Dollar, Global, India, Investors, Market, Record, Slowdown, Volume, Worries
Washington Post (October 27)
“Not many countries would cheer about an economic growth rate of one-tenth of 1 percent, sustained for a mere three months. But for Spain, which has been mired in negative growth for two years, the tiny uptick in the third quarter of 2013 represents a kind of breakthrough.” For Europe, however, this is just the slightest hint of a “silver lining in a what is still a very dense, dark cloud hanging over Europe’s economy. Spain and its fellow euro-zone debtors — Italy, Portugal, Ireland and Greece — don’t just need a trickle of growth to bring down their unemployment rates and debt-to-gross-domestic-product ratios. They need a gusher; many consecutive months of high-single-digit growth. And there is no short-term prospect of that.”
Tags: Breakthrough, Debt, Economy, Euro zone, Europe, GDP, Greece, Growth, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Unemployment, Uptick
Washington Post (October 8)
John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives “doesn’t know how to get out of the predicament. A shutdown is bad; a default on the debt, which looms 10 days from now, could be catastrophic…. At some point, Mr. Obama and the Democrats will have to throw the speaker a lifeline…. But throwing a lifeline is pointless until the victim realizes he may be drowning. It’s not clear the Republicans have reached that point. The danger is they will take the country down with them.”John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives “doesn’t know how to get out of the predicament. A shutdown is bad; a default on the debt, which looms 10 days from now, could be catastrophic…. At some point, Mr. Obama and the Democrats will have to throw the speaker a lifeline…. But throwing a lifeline is pointless until the victim realizes he may be drowning. It’s not clear the Republicans have reached that point. The danger is they will take the country down with them.”
Tags: Danger, Debt, Default, Democrats, House, John Boehner, Lifeline, Obama, Predicament, Republicans, Shutdown, U.S.
Institutional Investor (September Issue)
“While Abe may have won the first couple of rounds, he will need to win plenty more before he can declare final victor in his high-stakes bid to turn around Japan, Inc…. For one, unless structural changes are made, demographics are likely to prove disastrous to Japan’s economy. For another, Japan’s nominal GDP is still at 2008 levels, meaning that it has stood still for the past five years. Finally, with public debt now exceeding 1,000 trillion yen ($10.2 trillion), time may be running out for Japan to sort out its problems.”
Tags: Abe, Debt, Demographics, Economy, GDP, Japan, Structural changes
Institutional Investor (September 17)
“As the global recession and financial crisis recede in the rearview mirror, companies have been acting more proactively in using their balance sheets in ways that enhance shareholder value. But we think they can do more…. By mid-2013, U.S. companies were sitting on cash that was equivalent to about 11 percent of their total assets, a three-decade high and earning almost nothing.” Fortunately, there are signs of change. Companies “have become more receptive to using debt to buy back shares, increase dividends and make acquisitions.”
Tags: Acquisitions, Assets, Balance sheets, Buybacks, Cash, Debt, Dividends, Financial Crisis, Recession, Shareholder value, Shares, U.S.
Detroit Free Press (July 19)
Detroit became the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, hoping to escape nearly $20 billion in debt. “The word bankruptcy provokes an intense emotional response. Instinctively, many Detroiters feel the news is horrible and is synonymous with defeat. Fear kicks in as we envision our city being shut down and sold for scrap…. In fact, it is the exact lifeline we need to unshackle our town from the mismanagement, corruption and incompetence of the past in order to get on with the real work of rebuilding Detroit.”
Tags: Bankruptcy, Corruption, Debt, Detroit, Incompetence, Lifeline, Mismanagement, Rebuilding, U.S.
