Reuters (October 22)
“Sanae Takaichi wants to spend a lot of money on Japan, but she also needs to sort out some hefty financial obligations to the United States.” She is coming under immediate “pressure to secure backing for $550 billion her predecessor Shigeru Ishiba pledged to invest in U.S. projects as part of his tariff deal with the White House.” Given the new Prime Minister’s “desire to use fiscal spending to boost growth, she’s likely to lean on” private, rather than public, funding “to avoid immediate budgetary constraints.”
Tags: $550 billion, Financial obligations, Fiscal spending, Funding, Growth, Invest, Ishiba, Japan, Money, Pressure, Prime minister, Private, Public, Takaichi, Tariff deal, U.S.
Washington Post (October 1)
The U.S. “federal government shut down at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, after Democrats in Congress failed to reach a deal with Republicans and President Donald Trump to extend funding for federal agencies.” While many “crucial government functions” will cease, “federal work vital to national security will continue, though employees…will go unpaid.” This marks the first shut down “since January 2019, and the fourth of Trump’s two terms.”
Tags: 2019, Congress, Democrats, Employees, Federal government, Functions, Funding, National security, Republicans, Shut down, Trump, U.S., Unpaid
Wall Street Journal (September 12)
“Investors and policymakers alike are eager for big-bank mergers in the European Union. U.S. banks, which have the benefit of scale and cheaper funding, rule the roost when it comes to dealmaking even in Europe, with France’s BNP Paribas as the only universal bank that comes close to posing a challenge.” With the possible merger of UniCredit and Commerzbank, “technocrats in Brussels might finally get their wish for bigger European banks. But Wall Street still shouldn’t expect any real competition to emerge from this.”
Tags: Big-bank mergers, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank, Dealmaking, EU, Funding, Investors, Policymakers, Scale, Technocrats, U.S. banks, UniCredit, Wall Street
Bloomberg (June 21)
“The Development Bank Of Japan, which has supported companies with funding during the pandemic, is gearing up to boost sustainable financing.” With over $40 billion earmarked for sustainable purposes, the Bank will take pains to “scrutinize the use of funds to ensure companies aren’t greenwashing.”
Tags: $40 billion, Companies, DBJ, Earmarked, Funding, Greenwashing, Pandemic, Scrutinize, Sustainable financing
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 (April 25)
“The BBC is having a good pandemic, but the loss of young audiences poses a mortal threat to its funding.” Viewing by 16- to 24-year-olds is just 85 minutes versus the nearly 6 hours watched daily by those over 65. “Those aged 16-24 spend more time on YouTube than live TV” while “the next generation should terrify them. Children aged 12-15 are more likely to have heard of Netflix than the BBC.”
Wall Street Journal (May 17)
“American women are having children at the lowest rate on record, with the number of babies born in the U.S. last year dropping to a 30-year low…. The figures suggest that a number of women who put off having babies after the 2007-09 recession are forgoing them altogether.” This could spell trouble as America’s aging population is already “creating a funding imbalance that strains the social safety net that supports the elderly.”
Tags: Aging, Babies, Children, Elderly, Funding, Population, Recession, Safety net, U.S., Women
The Week (April 2)
By any measure, Uber has been having a terrible year. Some have posited it could threaten the tech bubble. “Uber is by far the most valuable of the 187 ‘unicorn’ startups valued at $1 billion or more, despite losing at least $1.2 billion in the first half of 2016.” But Uber is unlikely to spark a chain reaction. “The tech industry’s funding sources are more diversified than they were in the original dot-com bubble, and the definition of what makes a ‘technology company’ is also much broader. Odds are, investors will see Uber’s flaws as an isolated case of bad corporate governance, not evidence that they shouldn’t be investing in startups.”
Tags: Chain reaction, Corporate governance, Diversified, Dot-com bubble, Funding, Investor, Isolated case, Startups, Tech bubble, Terrible, Uber, Unicorns
Washington Post (April 6)
“Climate-change deniers are in retreat.” Funding is being cut off for groups that once tried to justify the increasingly untenable position that human activities are not causing climate change. “For politicians and climate-denial groups, the elixir of life is money. Now that corporations are becoming reluctant to bankroll crazy theories, the surrender of climate-change deniers will follow.”
Tags: Climate change, Corporations, Deniers, Funding, Money, Politicians, Retreat
Financial Times (December 24)
“The triumph and tragedy of space flight, manned and unmanned, have been on full view over the past year.” Funding both types of space exploration is essential, as each provides benefits. “Space exploration is a worthy activity for our modern industrial civilisation. It is the ‘manifest destiny’ of humanity to move beyond Earth.”
Tags: Benefits, Civilisation, Earth, Exploration, Funding, Humanity, Industrial, Manifest destiny, Manned, Space, Tragedy, Triumph, Unmanned
