Wall Street Journal (January 14)
“Trump wants to run the economy hot. There’s a good chance he’ll succeed,” but most presidents and Congresses avoid “juicing the economy” for good reason. The short-term results might be appealing, but “the long-term consequences” are real. “Ever-rising debt leaves future generations poorer and risks a debt crisis. Loosening credit and dialing back regulations, when valuations are already stretched, could end in market bust.”
Tags: Congresses, Consequences, Credit, Debt, Debt crisis, Economy, Future generations, Juicing, Presidents, Regulations, Risks, Trump, Valuations
MarketWatch (December 22)
“The kitchen sink was thrown at the economy in 2025 — punishing tariffs, higher inflation, rising unemployment — but the U.S. might still be growing at an above-average speed in a sign of surprising pluck.” Can the momentum continue? AI may deliver continuing investment and efficiency gains. In addition, 2026 “should also benefit from lower interest rates, relaxed tariffs, fewer taxes and regulations, and more government spending in a midterm-election year.”
Tags: 2025, 2026, AI, Economy, Efficiency gains, Inflation, Interest rates, Investment, Momentum, Regulations, Tariffs, Taxes, U.S., Unemployment
Wall Street Journal (April 3)
“The tariffs Trump announced would lift the average duty above the previous peak of 1930. It is by far the most disruptive component of an agenda that may be one of the most disruptive of any new president since the 1930s, one that includes slashing immigration, government spending, taxes and regulations.” The timing for all this is striking. “The economy he inherited was the envy of the world with growth of 2.8% last year, faster than almost every other major developed economy, an unemployment rate of just 4.1% and inflation of 2.8%. Stocks were at record highs.”
Tags: 1930, Disruptive, Duty, Economy, Government spending, Growth, Immigration, Inflation, Regulations, Stocks, Tariffs, Taxes, Timing, Trump, Unemployment
Washington Post (November 30)
“After years of tumult in the housing market, builders across the country are betting that looser regulations and what they hope will be an economic boom will make it easier to build and sell. They’re also hoping those tailwinds more than offset possible hazards of Trump’s agenda, including ramped-up tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China that could push up costs for materials, and aggressive immigration policies that could mean the deportations of construction workers.”
Tags: Build and sell, Builders, Canada, China, Construction, Deportations, Economic boom, Hazards, Housing market, Immigration, Materials, Mexico, Regulations, Tailwinds, Tariffs, Trump, Tumult, Workers
Institutional Investor (November 23)
“Plan fiduciaries investing according to environmental, social, and governance principles may be breathing a sigh of relief after the Department of Labor finalized the rule allowing retirement plans to take these factors into consideration.” The new DOL rules “reversed two regulations issued under the Trump administration, which banned plan fiduciaries from investing in ‘non-pecuniary’ instruments.”
Tags: Banned Non-pecuniary, Department of Labor, ESG, Factors, Fiduciaries, Investing, Regulations, Relief, Retirement plans, Reversed, Rule, Trump administration
Boston Globe (December 8)
“Coronavirus cases are reaching record highs. Hospitals are overflowing in several parts of the country…. But as the final weeks of 2020 begin to mirror the grim, early weeks of the pandemic, the shelter-in-place orders and strict industry regulations that helped flatten the curve in the spring are almost nowhere to be found. Instead, public officials are pursuing another approach to managing the virus’s spread: a plea for personal responsibility.”
Tags: Cases, Coronavirus, Curve, Flatten, Grim, Hospitals, Officials, Overflowing, Pandemic, Personal responsibility, Plea, Record, Regulations, Shelter-in-place, Strict
Car & Driver (November 24)
“General Motors has reversed its decision to back the Trump administration’s fight to force California, along with 12 other states, to comply with the less stringent fuel-efficiency standards Trump’s EPA put into place in 2018 for 2022 to 2025. The move signals that GM expects President-Elect Joe Biden to take a much different stance on emissions regulations…. Ford, GM’s crosstown rival, had backed California from the beginning.”
Tags: Biden, California, Comply, Emissions, EPA, Fight, Ford, Fuel efficiency, Less stringent, Regulations, Reversed, Standards, Trump
Institutional Investor (December 1)
“Next year’s first review of Europe’s Solvency II regulations has given fund managers and consultants a platform to voice their concerns.” Though “most asset managers agree that the rules have enhances insurers’ understanding of investment portfolio risk” many also feel that the “policymakers mispriced asset risks” leading to unintended consequences. In particular, restrictions that “effectively ruled out some assets which could have provided higher, albeit riskier, returns” have proven particularly odious for annuities.
Tags: Asset managers, Asset risk, Europe, Fund managers, Insurers, Investment, Mispriced, Policymakers, Portfolio risk, Regulations, Restrictions Annuities, Rules, Solvency II
Bloomberg (February 6)
“Just a few weeks ago, Wall Street analysts were busy boosting their economic forecasts on the expectation that President Trump would implement sweeping corporate-tax reform, a rollback of regulations, and new fiscal stimulus.” After seeing the first two weeks of the Trump Presidency, the analysts are having second thoughts. Their forecasts are now poised for “a rethink, if not an outright reversal.”
Tags: Analysts, Expectation, Forecasts, Regulations, Rethink, Reversal, Second thoughts, Stimulus, Tax reform, Trump, Wall Street
Fortune (January 10)
“China’s air quality has been particularly bad so far this winter. Severe smog or haze episodes have occurred one after another with short breaks in between… Last week, Beijing issued its first-ever red alert for ‘fog’ due to extremely low visibility caused by haze.” While winter weather is a complicating factor, the main blame lies elsewhere. “The reality is that new regulations to curb pollution aren’t enough, and the latest alert signals that China’s government needs to do more.”
Tags: Air quality, Beijing, China, Government, Haze, Pollution, Red alert, Regulations, Smog, Visibility
