New York Times (February 5)
“A sense of foreboding,” carried over from the pandemic, remains shared by many Americans. Though this “sense of insecurity has seeped into the crevices of everyday experience,” it increasingly seems to “conflict with data points that reflect an unambiguous strengthening of the American economy. Incomes have risen, unemployment remains low and consumer confidence is improving.”
Tags: Conflict, Data points, Economy, Everyday, Foreboding, Incomes, Insecurity, Pandemic, Strengthening, U.S., Unemployment
The Times (November 19)
“Middle-earning families will be nearly £20,000 worse off over the next six years,” according to “research carried out for The Times,” analyzing the tax impact of Jeremy Hunt’s new budget “on people’s incomes, as wages go up with inflation but tax thresholds remain frozen.”
Tags: £20 thousand, Hunt, Impact, Incomes, Inflation, Middle-earning families, Research, Succession, Taxes, Wages, Worse
New York Times (April 13)
“Brexit is not doable because it makes no sense, whatever the prime minister’s scattershot efforts or offers to resign. You can hoodwink people—but not if you give them three years to reflect on how they were hoodwinked before doing the deed the hoodwinking was about. The British cannot actually go through with something that will lower their incomes, make them poorer, lose them jobs, drain investment, expose their market to trade deals over which they would have no say, and—just an afterthought—lead to the breakup of Britain.”
Tags: Brexit, Hoodwink, Incomes, Investment, Jobs, Market, PM, Scattershot, Trade deals
Businessweek (September 13)
“As Putin prepares to run for a fourth term in elections next March, the plight of his working-class base across the Russian heartland is emerging as a top domestic challenge.” There’s little doubt Putin will win, “but the discontent threatens Putin’s popularity as the economy continues to sputter. After the longest recession in his 17-year rule, real incomes have fallen 12 percent over the past three years, sparking protests in areas that provided solid backing for Putin in 2012.”
Tags: Discontent, Economy, Elections, Heartland, Incomes, Popularity, Protests, Putin, Recession, Russia, Working class
Wall Street Journal (November 9)
“Donald J. Trump’s unlikely defeat of Hillary Clinton is a political earthquake of a kind that rarely disturbs American politics.” The President-Elect “will now need to pick smart advisers and show generosity in victory” as he “lacks political experience” and his “convictions on public policy are especially elusive.” He has “a chance to succeed if he follows through on his pledge to prioritize the economic growth that creates jobs and lifts incomes for all Americans.” He will need to “govern differently than he campaigned.” He will need to “discover a more optimistic and inclusive politics. Or so we can hope, if only for comity and the good of the country.”
Tags: Advisers, Clinton, Convictions, Earthquake, Experience, Generosity, Growth, Inclusive, Incomes, Jobs, Optimistic, Policy, Trump, U.S., Victory
The Economist (September 13, 2014)
“Ten years ago, developing economies were catching up with developed ones remarkably quickly.” But this “aberration” resulted from a convergence of favorable factors like “the commodities boom and hyperglobalisation of the turn of the century.” It once looked like worldwide average incomes would catch up with those of the U.S. in little more than a generation. Now, it appears the catch up will take decidedly longer, perhaps a century or more.
Tags: Aberration, Century, Commodities boom, Developed, Developing economies, Generation, Hyperglobalisation, Incomes, U.S.
The Economist (June 21)
“Since time immemorial, Chinese children have been expected to take care of their aged parents—but rising incomes and shifting norms are changing things.” Retirement homes, some quite stylish, may prove the wave of the future in China.
Tags: Children, China, Elderly, Future, Incomes, Norms, Parents, Retirement, Retirement homes
Financial Times (June 9)
For the first time in over four decades, Japan earned more in tourism than it spent. This last happened in 1970 when “the Apollo moon landing was still fresh in the memory, Osaka was hosting Asia’s first World’s Fair and a dollar bought three-and-a-half-times more yen than it does today.” Visitors from Asia have skyrocketed as destinations in Japan have gone from “prohibitively expensive” to reasonable, aided by the drop in the yen and higher disposable incomes elsewhere in Asia.
Tags: Apollo, Asia, Destinations, Dollar, Incomes, Japan, Osaka, Prohibitive, Reasonable, Tourism, Visitors, World’s Fair, Yen
New York Times (April 27)
“If nothing changes in the next two decades, India will need to provide chronic care for more than 100 million people with diabetes — close to the entire adult population of Russia.” In China, diabetic numbers are also skyrocketing and expected to mushroom from 98 million to 142 million by 2035. And these numbers understate the challenge. We know how to manage diabetes “in Kansas City or Tokyo.” In developing countries without sufficient chronic care medical infrastructure and with incomes that can ill afford medication, diabetes becomes a devastating affliction. “If we’re going to be any help at all, we need to make a conceptual shift.”
Tags: China, Chronic care, Conceptual shift, Developing countries, Diabetes, Incomes, India, Kansas City, Medical infrastructure, Medication, Russia, Tokyo
