BBC (August 23)
Brexit is “akin to attempting to remove an egg from an omelette” and if there’s not a deal, it’s likely to become an even bigger mess. “Today’s “no deal” papers reveal the complicated exercise could carry significant costs for consumers and businesses if Britain and the EU fail to agree on a transition period and a subsequent trading agreement.” Failure to reach a deal would “very likely to have a negative impact on the economy and could mean higher prices in the shops as firms pass on the higher costs of doing business.”
Tags: Brexit, Businesses, Complicated, Consumers, Costs, Economy, EU, Failure, No-deal, Prices, Transition, UK
The Economist (August 18)
“It is not just in Italy that questions should be asked about monitoring and maintenance regimes. Bridges throughout Europe, America and Asia are all showing signs of deterioration…. With the world covered in reinforced concrete, this is a problem that spans countries. The failure of the Morandi bridge shows that it must not be ignored.”
Tags: Asia, Bridges, Deterioration, Europe, Failure, Italy, Maintenance, Monitoring, Morandi, Reinforced concrete, U.S.
Washington Post (May 11)
“Lord save the world…. President Trump is making rash and risky moves that promise either brilliant success or catastrophic failure. The odds aren’t great, “given that it’s Trump we’re dealing with.”
The Week (August 1)
“President Trump’s approval rating has sunk to historic lows,” but this is not the most salient point. “The politically relevant, and profoundly disturbing, fact is” that after six months of unremitting chaos, lies, ignorance, trash-talking vulgarity, legislative failure, and credible evidence of a desire to collude with a hostile foreign government to subvert an American election, President Trump’s approval rating is astonishingly high.” Over one-third of Americans apparently like “what they see and hear from the White House….That is simply stunning — and reveals just how precarious American democracy has become.”
Tags: Approval, Chaos, Democracy, Disturbing, Election, Failure, Historic lows, Ignorance, Lies, Precarious, Trump, Vulgarity
Washington Post (June 22)
“Trump will never get anything done” and the reason “goes beyond the usual factors that bedevil any new president — overpromising on the pace of action, underpreparing for the challenges of office, trouble in staffing up…. Trump’s failure to get key agenda items to the starting line reflects more fundamental problems in policymaking—problems that will persist even after this administration is fully staffed and acclimated.”
Tags: Administration, Agenda items, Failure, Fully staffed, New, Overpromising, Policymaking, President, Trump, Underpreparing
LA Times (February 14)
“California’s majestic Oroville Dam is currently in danger of spillway failure in a season of record snow and rainfall. That could spell catastrophe for thousands who live below it and for the state of California at large that depends on its stored water. The poor condition of the dam is almost too good a metaphor for the condition of the state as a whole; its possible failure is a reflection of California’s civic decline.”
Tags: California, Catastrophe, Danger, Decline, Failure, Oroville Dam, U.S., Water
LA Times (January 30)
“The mere idea of President Trump’s executive order suspending the entry into the country of various visitors, migrants and refugees was bad enough…. In execution, it was a disaster, plunging U.S. airports into chaos and displaying a shocking lack of forethought and planning and a deeply troubling failure of basic communication and coordination among and between federal and local authorities.”
Tags: Airports, Chaos, Disaster, Execution, Executive order, Failure, Migrants, Refugees, Trump, U.S.
The Economist (November 22)
It has become fashionable to praise long-termism and deplore the corrosive influences of short-termism, but this is simplistic. “Long-termism and short-termism both have their virtues and vices—and these depend on context. Long-termism works well in stable industries that reward incremental innovation.” In other businesses, however, long-termism “is a recipe for failure” and success goes to those who can constantly “abandon their plans and ‘pivot’ to a new strategy, in markets that can change in the blink of an eye.”
Tags: Failure, Incremental innovation, Long-termism, Markets, Pivot, Short-termism, Stable industries, Strategy, Success
Bloomberg (October 23)
“It’s easy to see why Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants Japan’s $1.2 trillion government pension fund to start buying more stocks…. But attempts to game the stock market have failed to revive Japan in the past and are doomed to failure again, unless Abe puts more effort into the harder work of real reform.”
Tags: Abe, Failure, Government, Japan, Market, Pension fund, Reform, Stocks
Euromoney (September)
“The security crisis brought on by the rise of Islamic State could turn Iran from pariah to much-needed partner to the west.” This places Iran “at a crossroads.” Will the nation chose to be “a resource-rich, rejuvenated success story, returned to the international fold and relied upon by western states as a stable force in an increasingly troubled region?” Or, instead, will it continue as “a recession-hit, bad loan-addled failure still barred from western trade and getting steadily, inexorably worse?” The view in Tehran is that it could go either way.”
Tags: Crossroads, Failure, Iran, Islamic State, Pariah, Partner, Recession, Resource-rich, Security crisis, Stable force, Tehran, Western trade
