The Guardian (April 5)
This has become “a Japanese century – thanks to the yen’s role as easy money for global finance.” Thanks to “loose monetary policy” the yen has evolved “into the world’s cheapest and most reliable funding currency. By suppressing yields on public debt to keep Japan’s domestic economy afloat, the BoJ effectively created a publicly subsidised funding pipeline for bankers.” They can make a quick buck by borrowing cheaply in yen and investing in higher-return assets, such as US equities. The “yen carry trade” is enormous, with profits for global investors reckoned to run into tens of billions of dollars.”
Tags: Bankers, BOJ, Carry trade, Easy money, Economy, Equities, Funding currency, Global finance, Japanese century, Loose, Monetary policy, Public debt, Reliable, Suppressing, Yields
Chicago Booth Review (May 8)
The United States “will miss having reliable data.” The U.S. government “has recently taken steps to pare its infrastructure for economic data collection and analysis, including shuttering the Bureau of Economic Analysis Advisory Committee and the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee.” Based on a March poll, economists ”expressed broad concern about how eroding the government’s data-collection resources might affect the quality of American economic information—and the decisions based on it.” There responses suggested “that less reliable statistics won’t just be a problem for policymakers.”
Tags: Analysis, Bureau of Economic Analysis Advisory Committee, Data collection, Decisions. Statistics, Eroding, Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee, Government, Infrastructure, Pare, Policymakers, Quality, Reliable, U.S.
New York Times (August 25)
“Given the war in Ukraine, the risks of a larger war in the Middle East and China’s accelerating challenge to American primacy, Europe needs the United States more than it has since the end of the Cold War. And America still has a unique and valuable asset that its growing list of rivals and adversaries don’t: reliable allies and partners in Europe.” No two ways about it: “America and Europe need each other.”
Tags: Adversaries, Allies, Asset, China, Cold war, Europe, Middle East, Primacy, Reliable, Risks, Rivals, U.S., Ukraine, Unique, Valuable, War
Wall Street Journal (August 26)
“Energy common sense is in short supply these days, so all the more reason to cheer Japan for rethinking its flight from nuclear power.” Germany is currently debating whether to keep “its three remaining reactors online. Maybe Japan’s decision will prove compelling. “This should be an easy call as natural gas shortages loom this winter. Advanced economies need reliable base load power, and at least Tokyo understands this.”
Tags: Advanced economies, Base load power, Common sense, Debating, Germany, Japan, Natural gas, Nuclear power, Reliable, Rethinking, Short supply, Shortages, Tokyo, Winter
USA Today (July 8)
“Even before the pandemic, which largely confined most Americans to their homes for months, communities that lacked reliable high-speed internet began falling behind those that were well-connected. The pandemic exacerbated the nation’s ‘digital divide’ – and those who suffered most were in low-income areas.”
Tags: Communities, Confined, Digital divide, Exacerbated, High-speed internet, Homes, Low income, Pandemic, Reliable, Well-connected
Financial Times (July 2)
“The readings on the Tankan, widely regarded as Japan’s most reliable economic data series, suggest Asia’s only G7 economy is well-positioned for growth in the second half of the year.”
Tags: Asia, Economic data, Economy, G7, Growth, Japan, Reliable, Series, Tankan, Well-positioned
Chief Investment Officer (March 26)
“The new leadership at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues to make environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing one of its top priorities. And now, the commission has launched a new webpage to provide information on ESG-related investing and agency actions…. The SEC is asking its staff to evaluate disclosure rules with an eye on facilitating the disclosure of ‘consistent, comparable, and reliable information on climate change.’”
Tags: Comparable, Consistent, Disclosure, ESG, Evaluate, Investing, Leadership, Priorities, Reliable, Rules, SEC, Webpage
The Economist (March 6)
“Though understandable,” the knee-jerk reaction following the Fukushima disaster “was wrong.” Nuclear power has numerous drawbacks, but “well-regulated nuclear power is safe” and essential given the climate crisis. Nuclear provides constant generating capacity to support a reliable grid. Furthermore, “nuclear provides such capacity with no ongoing emissions, and it is doing so safely and at scale around the world.”
Tags: Climate crisis, Disaster, Drawbacks, Emissions, Fukushima, Generating capacity, Grid, Nuclear power, Reaction, Reliable, Safe, Scale, Understandable, Well-regulated
Bloomberg (October 12)
“China’s car market has been one of the most reliable engines of global growth for decades. Now that all might be coming to an end…. Purchases of passenger vehicles by dealerships plunged for a third straight month…. The industry is now facing the prospect of its first contraction since at least the 1990s.”
Tags: Car market, China, Contraction, Global growth, Passenger vehicles, Plunged, Purchases, Reliable
New York Times (September 25)
Companies are discovering that “quitting China is hard to do” as they look to shift operations to avoid Trump tariffs. “Few places can match China’s convenience and reliability.” Not only is China a near comprehensive source of “the ingredients that go into today’s consumer goods,” it also boasts “a dependable source of workers who know how to hold down factory jobs,” along with “reliable roads and rail lines connecting suppliers to assembly plants to ports.”
Tags: China, Consumer goods, Convenience, Dependable, Factory, Operations, Ports, Rail, Reliable, Roads, Source, Suppliers, Tariffs, Trump
