Washington Post (August 29)
“Desperate political leaders of all stripes — Republican, Democratic, communist — have found a common enemy: free trade…. American political forces that are usually at odds apparently agree on the appeal of autarky — that economies should be as closed off as possible, whatever the consequences.” This seems to be part of a global phenomenon, with “nationalists and populists in other countries” also pushing “for more trade barriers. Even China, which has enriched itself through trade with other countries, is now reportedly flirting with curbing trade to demonstrate its lack of dependence on the West as its own economy falters.”
Tags: Autarky, China, Common enemy, Communist, Consequences, Democratic, Desperate, Free trade, Nationalists, Political leaders, Populists, Republican, Trade barriers
National Review (July 27)
“Japan Is disappearing.” The nation’s “population declined by 800,000 in the last year,” marking “14 consecutive years during which deaths outnumbered births. The mathematics of population decline get really desperate from here on out…. This problem is far too large for immigration to solve.”
Tags: Births, Deaths, Declined, Desperate, Disappearing.” Population, Immigration, Japan, Mathematics, Outnumbered, Solve
Financial Times (January 14)
“Since the Bank of Japan stunned markets by widening the band of its yield curve control (YCC) policy on December 20, markets feel things are now moving tectonically for one of the developed world’s most unorthodox financial regimes.” At long last, the ‘widow-maker’ trade “is making money. On Friday and for the first time in almost a decade, yields on the benchmark 10-year JGB rose to 0.53 per cent and, critically, outside the BoJ’s target band in defiance of its ever more desperate efforts to fight the market.”
Tags: 10-year, Benchmark, BOJ, Control, Defiance, Desperate, Financial regimes, JGB, Markets, Target band, Widow-maker trade, Yield curve, Yields
New York Times (February 8)
“Grim as things sound, there is great reason to hope right now. More vaccines are coming, and case counts and death counts are finally leveling off.” There is, however, also reason for great haste. “The nation remains locked in a desperate contest, between its own ability to vaccinate people as quickly as possible and the virus’s ability to mutate and spread ever faster. Right now, the virus still has the lead.”
Washington Post (January 10)
“As spending climbs and revenue falls, the coronavirus” is forcing “a global reckoning.” The resulting “debt tsunami” will threaten “even stable, peaceful middle-income countries.” Costa Rica is just one such country “scrambling to stave off a full-blown debt crisis, imposing emergency cuts and proposing harsher measures that touched off rare violent protests last fall.” The “progressive, eco-friendly nation is weighing desperate solutions — including open-pit gold mining, even oceanic fracking.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Costa Rica, Crisis, Cuts, Debt tsunami, Desperate, Eco-friendly, Global reckoning, Mining, Open-pit, Peaceful, Progressive, Protests, Revenue, Scrambling, Spending, Stable, Threaten, Violent
LA Times (January 5)
“The coronavirus crisis battering Los Angeles County’s medical system is reaching increasingly desperate levels, with healthcare providers running low on equipment, ambulance operators being told not to bring patients who have virtually no chance of survival to hospitals, and officials scrambling to ensure they can provide enough lifesaving oxygen for critically ill patients.”
Tags: Ambulance, Battering, Coronavirus, Crisis, Desperate, Equipment, Hospitals, LA County, Medical system, Oxygen, Patients, Scrambling, Survival
Atlanta Journal Constitution (November 17)
“Despite five consecutive months of growth, Georgia has 366,000 fewer people employed than before the pandemic.” Though seasonal work is often “low-paid and short-term,” many people are now desperate for whatever “they can find.” This year, however, “traditional stores are struggling as consumers venture out less ahead of the holiday shopping season. Many businesses have delayed hiring plans, unsure about demand for their goods and services.”
Tags: Consumers, Delayed, Demand, Desperate, Employed, Georgia, Growth, Hiring, Holiday shopping, Low-paid, Pandemic, Seasonal work, Short term
The Week (October 29)
“The president has precious little time to turn around the fortunes of his re-election campaign,” but he instead seems “bent on alienating as many voters as possible in the campaign’s closing days by flouting public health guidelines, babbling convoluted innuendo about Hunter Biden, and ignoring the increasingly desperate plight of Americans teetering on the edge of disaster.”
Tags: Alienating, Babbling, Campaign, Desperate, Flouting, Fortunes, Guidelines, Innuendo, President, Public health, Re-election, Voters
Bloomberg (August 15)
“China has already endured plenty of economic pain, and isn’t as desperate for a trade deal as the U.S. may think.” Trump appeared to panic, extending an olive branch to China. “While Trump may think his olive branch is a big deal, the message to Washington is: Don’t think you’ve got China on the ropes. Xi was panicking a year ago; he can afford to wait now.”
Tags: China, Desperate, Economic pain, Olive branch, Panic, Trade deal, U.S.
The New Yorker (January 28)
“In an era of social media and fake news, journalists who have survived the print plunge have new foes to face…. The more desperately the press chases readers, the more it resembles our politics.”
Tags: Desperate, Era, Fake news, Foe, Journalists, Politics, Print plunge, Readers, Social media
