Financial Times (January 25)
The German economy is “faltering.” Despite promises of reform and rebound, “Europe’s largest economy is starting to look more like a slow-moving car crash…. In 2023 it contracted by 0.3 per cent, making it the world’s worst-performing major economy. This has been accompanied by policy setbacks, nationwide strikes, and a steep decline in the ruling coalition’s popularity.”
Tags: 2023, Car crash, Contracted, Decline, Economy, Europe, Faltering, German, Major economy, Promises, Reform, Setbacks, Strikes, Worst-performing
The Economist (August 4)
“Earth is smouldering. From Seattle to Siberia this summer, flames have consumed swathes of the northern hemisphere.” And humanity is not rising to the challenge. Three years following the Paris Accord, “greenhouse-gas emissions are up again. So are investments in oil and gas. In 2017, for the first time in four years, demand for coal rose. Subsidies for renewables, such as wind and solar power, are dwindling.” While “it is tempting to think these are temporary setbacks and that mankind, with its instinct for self-preservation, will muddle through to a victory over global warming. In fact, it is losing the war.”
Tags: Coal, Demand, Earth, Emissions, Gas, GHG, Global warming, Humanity, Oil, Paris accord, Renewables, Self-preservation, Setbacks, Smouldering, Solar power, Wind
New York Times (July 30)
“President Trump and Republicans in Washington have shaken the confidence of their supporters after a punishing and self-inflicted series of setbacks that have angered activists, left allies slack-jawed and reopened old fissures on the right.” The “seemingly endless sequence of disappointments and blunders” includes “Mr. Trump’s attacks on Attorney General Jeff Sessions; a vulgar tirade by his new communications chief, Anthony Scaramucci; and the collapse of conservative-backed health care legislation.”
Tags: Attacks, Blunders, Collapse, Disappointments, Health care, Republicans, Scaramucci, Self-inflicted, Setbacks, Tirade, Trump, Vulgar
Institutional Investor (May 23)
“After a stronger than anticipated consumer inflation released in the U.S. on Friday, Janet Yellen dampened investors’ hopes that the Federal Reserve would delay a rate increase until next year.” Her underlying message was “that recent setbacks in economic data do not appear to represent a roadblock to growth despite labor conditions that remain fragile.”
New York Times (August 5)
“The latest quarterly report on economic growth showed real G.D.P. up only 1.4 percent over the past year, a marked slowdown from year-over-year growth rates posted in 2012. Much of the weakening can be attributed to self-imposed wounds, including the fiscal-cliff showdown at the end of last year and this year’s payroll tax increase and automatic budget cuts, whose effects now appear likely to carry into the second half of the year.” The recovery could stall as the report suggests “Americans do not have the requisite economic security to absorb those imminent blows, let alone other inevitable setbacks, including another possible standoff over the nation’s debt limit.”“The latest quarterly report on economic growth showed real G.D.P. up only 1.4 percent over the past year, a marked slowdown from year-over-year growth rates posted in 2012. Much of the weakening can be attributed to self-imposed wounds, including the fiscal-cliff showdown at the end of last year and this year’s payroll tax increase and automatic budget cuts, whose effects now appear likely to carry into the second half of the year.” The recovery could stall as the report suggests “Americans do not have the requisite economic security to absorb those imminent blows, let alone other inevitable setbacks, including another possible standoff over the nation’s debt limit.”
Tags: Budget cuts, Debt limit, Fiscal cliff, G.D.P., Security, Setbacks, Slowdown, Standoff, Tax increase, U.S.
The Economist (July 13)
“Roughly two-and-a-half years after the revolutions in the Arab world, not a single country is yet plainly on course to become a stable, peaceful democracy.” The Arab spring appears “doomed” to some. Yet, “despite the chaos, the blood and the democratic setbacks, this is a long process. Do not give up hope.”
Tags: Arab spring, Blood, Chaos, Democracy, Hope, Peace, Revolution, Setbacks
