The Economist (March 20)
Last week China slapped down democracy in Hong Kong. The imposition of tight mainland control over the territory is not just a tragedy for the 7.5m people who live there, it is also a measure of China’s determination not to compromise over how it asserts its will.” But China has pressure points. It is “more tightly coupled with the West than communist Russia ever was. This presents the free world with an epoch-defining question: how should it best secure prosperity, lower the risk of war and protect freedom as China rises?”
Tags: China, Communist, Compromise, Control, Democracy, Hong Kong, Imposition, Mainland, Prosperity, Risk, Russia, Territory, War
Barron’s (February 23)
“Markets are now pricing for the sweet spot of reflation toward equilibrium. But too much of a good thing is, well, not a good thing. And with the Biden administration proposing a fiscal stimulus package nearly three times as large as the U.S. output gap and given a probable improvement in household demand as more Americans are vaccinated, the risk of overheating is not trivial.”
Tags: Biden, Equilibrium, Fiscal stimulus, Household demand, Markets, Overheating, Pricing, Reflation, Risk, Sweet spot, U.S., Vaccinated
Chicago Tribune (November 17)
“Traveling, especially in airports or by public transit, is inherently risky when COVID-19 infections are high.” With many university students set to go on break, “concern remains that young adults crisscrossing the country might seed new infections in their home communities—or within their own households.”
Tags: Airports, Communities, COVID-19, Crisscrossing, Households, Infections, Public transit, Risk, Students, Traveling, University
San Francisco Chronicle (August 10)
“A troubling trend has emerged in the Bay Area and around the nation: More young people are getting sick, in numbers so large that in some regions they now make up the largest and fastest-growing demographic contracting the virus.” Although are far less likely to die of COVID-19, youths with milder symptoms often risk exposing others and many of them still wind up with “symptoms severe enough to send them to the emergency room or intensive care.”
Tags: Bay Area, COVID-19, Demographic, Die, Emergency room, Fastest-growing, Risk, Sick, Symptoms, Trend, Troubling, Young people
New York Times (June 9)
“America, this is your chance: We must get it right this time or risk losing our democracy forever.” Amid protests, police violence and riots, “our democracy hangs in the balance. This is not an overstatement.”
Financial Times (May 19)
In Ireland, “the jobless rate for the under-25s surged to 52.8 per cent in April,” up drastically from 12 per cent in February, and “the hit to young workers was not unique to Ireland.” For example, McKinsey has found that “workers aged 15-24 throughout Europe are almost twice as likely as those aged 25-54 to have jobs at risk’ 41 percent for the young; and 25 percent otherwise.
LA Times (December 19)
In its first climate risk assessment, CalPERS, the largest U.S. pension fund, “found that one-fifth of the fund’s public market investments were in sectors that have high exposure to climate change. Those include energy, materials and buildings, transportation, and agriculture, food and forestry.” The report by CalPERS, however, didn’t go into much detail because “less than half of the 10,000-plus companies in their portfolio voluntarily disclose information about their carbon emissions.”
Tags: Agriculture, Assessment, CalPERs, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Energy, Exposure, Forestry, Investments, Materials, Pension fund, Portfolio, Risk, Transportation, U.S., Voluntary disclosure
The Economist (November 2)
“Investors betting on Aramco as the last oil major standing in 30 years’ time will have to consider the risk of revolution or invasion. Aramco’s flotation is a sign that the end of oil could be in sight. But it is also a reminder that the black stuff’s capacity to cause economic and political havoc will be undiminished for decades to come.”
Tags: Aramco. Oil majors, Economic, Flotation, Havoc, Invasion, Investors, Political, Revolution, Risk, Undiminished
New York Times (October 20)
“China’s assertive campaign to police discourse about its policies, even outside of its borders, and the acquiescence of American companies eager to make money in China, pose a dangerous and growing threat to one of this nation’s core values: the freedom of expression.” U.S. companies shouldn’t cave. They “have an obligation to defend the freedom of expression, even at the risk of angering China.”
Tags: Assertive, China, Companies, Dangerous, Discourse, Freedom of expression, Obligation, Police, Risk, Threat, U.S.
OilPrice.com (October 9)
“Now that Brent has lost more than $13 since its mid-September spike many are saying that Middle East risk is underpriced. We’re taking a different view…. Washington and Beijing still pose more of a threat to oil prices than Tehran and Riyadh.”
Tags: Beijing, Brent, China, Middle East, Oil prices, Risk, Riyadh, Spike, Tehran, Threat, U.S., Underpriced, Washington
