The Economist (April 3)
There are now “growing worries that, like a ship which is too big to steer, supply chains have become a source of vulnerability…. As they battle the pandemic and face up to rising geopolitical tensions, governments everywhere are switching from the pursuit of efficiency to a new mantra of resilience and self-reliance.”
Tags: Efficiency, Geopolitical tensions, Governments, Pandemic, Resilience, Self-reliance, Supply chains, Vulnerability, Worries
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
Wall Street Journal (October 28)
“France has emerged as the epicenter of the second wave of coronavirus infections now sweeping much of Europe, causing hospitals to brace for a surge of new patients.” Governments have been left “are struggling to respond to the second wave, loath to impose new lockdowns that would compound the economic pain the coronavirus pandemic has already inflicted on their countries, but concerned about the steady rise in hospitalizations and deaths.”
Tags: COVID-19, Deaths, Economic pain, Epicenter, Europe, France, Governments, Hospitals, Lockdowns, Patients, Second wave, Surge
The Economist (September 26)
“The pandemic could lead governments to prolong the life of many undeserving firms. Keeping the growth of the undead in check will be vital to the long-term economic recovery…. Marginally profitable firms were central to Japan’s “lost decade” in the 1990s…. Zombie-infested industries suffered from inert labour markets and lower productivity growth. Since then, the rich world as a whole has begun to look more zombified.”
Tags: Economic recovery, Governments, Growth, Inert, Japan, Labour markets, Lost decade, Pandemic, Productivity, Profitable, Undeserving, Zombie, Zombified
Bloomberg (August 24)
“Many of the governments once lauded for their textbook Covid-19 responses, replete with strict lockdowns, sophisticated contact-tracing apps and clearly articulated policies, got tripped up by something in the end… It only goes to show that there’s no winning the coronavirus recovery.”
Tags: Contact-tracing apps, Coronavirus recovery, COVID-19, Governments, Lauded, Lockdowns, No winning, Responses, Sophisticated, Tripped up
Wall Street Journal (August 19)
“Coronavirus infections are surging again across much of Europe and governments are racing to prevent a full-fledged second wave of the pandemic.” Infection levels still “remain far lower in Europe than in much of the U.S. The seven-day average of new daily U.S. cases is running at nearly 150 cases per million people, about five times the number across Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the U.K.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Europe, France, Germany, Governments, Infections, Italy, Pandemic, Prevent, Second wave, Spain, Surging, U.S.
Institutional Investor (May 5)
“Institutional investors have a remedy for the mounting pile of public debt accumulating during the coronavirus crisis: Tax private equity.” In a recent survey 62% of respondents suggested “increasing taxes on private equity, carried interest or performance fees, and special purpose vehicles” as ways “their national governments should adjust tax policies to offset stimulus spending.”
Tags: Carried interest, Coronavirus, Crisis, Governments, Institutional, Investors, Performance fees, Private equity, Public debt, SPVs, Stimulus spending, Survey, Tax
Financial Times (April 22)
“The collapse of the eurozone would be a catastrophe. The ECB is the one institution able and willing to act. Governments should back it.”
Tags: Act, Catastrophe, Collapse, ECB, eurozone, Governments
Wall Street Journal (April 16)
“Can we please stop talking about “reopening” the U.S. economy?… There is no on-off switch. Swaths of the economy—restaurants, travel, retail shops—were already shrinking before governments ordered them shut, because people were afraid to dine, travel or shop. These fears will abate gradually, with the pace dictated by the course of the virus, not by anybody’s decree.”
Tags: Economy, Fears, Governments, Pace, Reopening, Restaurants, Retail, Travel, U.S., Virus
The Economist (March 14)
“All governments will struggle” with Covid19. “As they belatedly realise that health systems will buckle and deaths mount,” how well the governments and their leaders cope will be determined by “their attitude to uncertainty; the structure and competence of their health systems; and, above all, whether they are trusted.”
Tags: Attitude, Buckle, Competence, COVID-19, Deaths, Governments, Health systems, Struggle, Trust, Uncertainty
