Washington Post (June 12)
“Trump miscalculated on China. Now the administration is trying to fix the mess.” The United States “started off with the economic upper hand, thanks to low unemployment, falling inflation and a strong global network of alliances,” but Trump “overplayed” his hand with China. As a result, “markets are volatile because of uncertainty. Recession fears loom.” Now, the “two nations have a chance for a reset. But both must recognize they remain mutually dependent.”
Tags: Administration, Alliances, China, Falling inflation, Global network, Low unemployment, Markets, Mess, Miscalculated, Mutually dependent, Overplayed, Recession fears, Reset, Trump, U.S., Uncertainty, Upper hand, Volatile
Wall Street Journal (March 15)
This week, the Fed meets “to address the worst inflation in 40 years amid new risks to economic growth.” The mess is “largely of the Fed’s own making. The central bank’s inflation target is 2% for personal-consumption expenditure inflation, and the rate in February was probably three times higher.” The Fed’s “historic exertions were needed” when Covid struck, but it continued them for “too long, even as the money supply exploded and clear signs of inflation began to appear.”
Tags: Central bank, Covid, Economic growth, Fed, Inflation, Inflation target, Mess, Money supply, Personal consumption, Risks
The Guardian (July 29)
“Ireland’s place in the global hierarchy appears on the rise, and the UK has continued marvelling at the shrewd cunning of their plucky little neighbour.” But some of the praise seems unwarranted. “Ireland hasn’t turned into some 24th-century futurist utopia so much as installed sensible public policy that should seem unremarkable in a modern democracy.” It’s simply that Ireland’s “mild competency… can appear to be stone-cold genius compared with the UK’s blundering mess.”
Tags: Competency, Cunning, Democracy, Genius, Global hierarchy, Ireland, Mess, Praise, Sensible, Shrewd, UK, Utopia
New York Times (June 23)
President Trump has made a mess of Iran. His “decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal and impose crippling sanctions, when Iran was in full compliance, was foolish and, predictably, has backfired.” Still, “we are where we are” and fortunately that’s not yet full-scale war. “Finding a way to leverage his massive mistakes while demonstrating the will and capacity to climb down is our least bad option.” If he can act rationally, “with uncharacteristic clarity and resolve,” the President “now has an opening to restart talks on Iran’s nuclear program.”
Tags: Backfired, Compliance, Foolish, Iran, Mess, Mistakes, Nuclear deal, Opening, Sanctions, Trump, War, Withdraw
Wall Street Journal (May 25)
“President Trump wants everyone to know he is a master trade negotiator, but this week his volleys look more like a mess than mastery. His China policy is all over the place, Nafta is in jeopardy, and his new threat to impose a 25% tariff on auto imports undercuts his foreign policy and economic goals.”
Tags: Auto imports, China policy, Economic goals, Foreign policy, Jeopardy, Mess, Nafta, Tariff, Threat, Trade negotiator, Trump, Volleys
Reuters (November 13)
“Great Britain… is in a mess. Between scandals over sex, secret meetings, political donors and the royal family, the government is melting down.”
Tags: Melt down, Mess, Political donors, Royal family, Scandals, Secret meetings, Sex, UK
