Reuters (July 22)
“China’s hardened rhetoric against price wars among producers is raising expectations Beijing may be about to kick off industrial capacity cuts in a long-awaited, but challenging, campaign against deflation that carries risks to economic growth.” Such a campaign would “echo” similar successful “reforms a decade ago to reduce the production of steel, cement, glass and coal, which were crucial to ending a period of 54 consecutive months of falling factory gate prices.” Success may prove elusive this round. “The fight against deflation will be much more complicated and poses risks to employment and growth” while U.S. trade war ”is intensifying price wars, squeezing factory profits.”
Tags: Beijing, Cement, China, Coal, Complicated, Deflation, Economic growth, Employment, Expectations, Glass, Growth, Industrial capacity, Price wars, Producers, Rhetoric, Risks, Steel, Trade war, U.S.
New Yorker (June 10)
Now that a New York jury has convicted former President Trump of thirty-four felony counts, “the American people will decide to what extent they care.” But the verdict is hardly the only key to understanding the impact of a second Trump term. “Even the most summary assessment of Trump’s rhetoric, actions, and intentions makes clear that the election in November is a matter of emergency. To return an unstable and malevolent authoritarian to the White House risks wounding American democracy in ways that would likely take decades to repair.”
Tags: Actions, Authoritarian, Convicted, Election, Emergency, Felony counts, Intentions, Jury, Malevolent, New York, President, Rhetoric, Trump, U.S., Verdict, White House
CNN Business (February 14)
The collapse of FTX last November “was a seismic event for the crypto industry” that some called crypto’s “Lehman moment.” We appear to be “entering the Dodd-Frank era of crypto,” as regulators now have “a clearer target and a wave of public outrage to bolster their cause.” Since FTX’s bankruptcy, “state and federal regulators have escalated both their rhetoric and their actions to keep the fast-growing digital asset industry in check — a shift that is, unsurprisingly, not going over great with crypto companies.”
Tags: Actions, Bankruptcy, Collapse, Dodd-Frank, FTX, Lehman, Public outrage, Regulators, Rhetoric, Seismic
Bloomberg (January 17)
“Trade between the US and China is on track to break records, a signal of resilient links between the world’s top economies amid the heated national security rhetoric in Washington and fears of ‘decoupling.’” Data for the first 11 months of implies “imports and exports in 2022 will add up to an all-time high, or at least come very close, when the final report comes out Feb. 7.”
Tags: 2022, China, Decoupling, Exports, Fears, Heated, Imports, National security, Resilient, Rhetoric, Top economies, Trade, U.S.
South China Morning Post (August 6)
Hong Kong’s “tough Covid-19 measures have lasted too long. They have sucked much of the joy out of everyday life and left the city isolated.” Politics have also lessened Hong Kong’s appeal. “The protests, the national security law, mass arrests and relentless rhetoric have all had an impact.” So many of the best and most “cherished memories of the city…. belong to an era that has ended.”
Tags: Appeal, COVID-19, Era, Hong Kong, Isolated, Joy, Mass arrests, National-security law, Politics, Protests, Rhetoric
Washington Post (November 5)
“While accompanied by the rhetoric of reform,” the purge in Saudi Arabia “resembles the approach of authoritarian regimes such as China. President Xi Jinping has used a similar anti-corruption theme to replace a generation of party and military leaders and to alter the collective leadership style adopted by recent Chinese rulers.” It remains to be seen whether the Crown Prince who’s pulling the strings, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), has bitten off too much or if he will succeed with this “very risky power play.”
Tags: Anti-corruption, Authoritarian, China, Crown Prince, MBS, Power play, Purge, Reform, Regimes, Rhetoric, Risky, Saudi Arabia, Xi
Time (August 9)
“If Trump’s goal with two days of tough talk was to scare North Korea, Kim, the commander, put that idea quickly to rest. He called Trump’s rhetoric a “load of nonsense” that was aggravating a grave situation, adding “sound dialogue is not possible with such a guy bereft of reason and only absolute force can work on him.”
Tags: Aggravating, Bereft of reason, Dialogue, Grave situation, Kim, Nonsense, North Korea, Rhetoric, Tough talk, Trump
Washington Post (December 11)
“Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric will live in infamy in U.S. history. He obviously doesn’t mind; his narcissistic personality is so extreme that every high-visibility outrage is for him a kind of validation.” Others should care. “Historians will look harshly on those who, for reasons of cowardice or opportunism, kept silent when Trump’s tirades put our constitutional values and the safety of Americans at risk.”
Washington Post (June 2)
Thomas Piketty’s book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, has attracted both applause and derision as it soars in popularity. Recent criticism has aimed largely at the supporting data, which suggests inequality has reached new heights. Not so, writes Robert Samuelson in the Washington Post. “Inequality isn’t as great now as in the ’20s. This is history’s real lesson. Although the debate over inequality is legitimate and important, we shouldn’t distort it with misleading and overwrought rhetoric.”
Tags: Capital in the Twenty-First Century, Data, Debate, History, Inequality, Legitimate, Misleading, Rhetoric, Robert Samuelson, Thomas Piketty
