Foreign Policy (November 24)
“The pro-business Free Democratic Party is about to wield power in Berlin, thanks to the country’s youngest voters—but doesn’t yet know what it wants.” Whether the voters will ultimately “regret their choice is an open question. All of the party’s appeals to philosophical traditions and grand concepts have left more open questions than concrete approaches to governing,” but skyrocketing COVID-19 cases will increase the urgency to produce “concrete proposals for governance.”
Tags: Berlin, Concepts, Concrete approaches, COVID-19, FDP, Governing, Power, Pro-business, Questions, Regret, Skyrocketing, Traditions, Voters
USA Today (May 14)
“From cars to groceries, prices are skyrocketing.” From March to April, the “eyepopping prices” have included “used car prices climbed 10%; airline fares, 10.2%; hotel rates, 7.6%; car rental prices, 16.2%; admission to sporting events, 10.1%; household furnishings, nearly a percentage point; and car insurance, 2.5%.” It remains unclear whether this is “just a recovery blip, or a return of 1970s-like inflation.”
Tags: 1970s, Airline fares, Car rental, Cars, Eyepopping, Furnishings, Groceries, Hotel rates, Prices, Recovery blip, Skyrocketing, Sporting events, Used cars
San Francisco Chronicle (December 30)
“With hospitals across California at capacity and COVID-19 cases skyrocketing, the state has become the epicenter of the nation’s latest coronavirus surge despite aggressive measures to restrict movement and save hospital space.” On Monday, California hit a new record of 66,811 fresh cases. “As of Wednesday, California reported 99.3 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days, far exceeding all other states.”
Tags: Aggressive, California, Capacity, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Epicenter, Hospital space, Hospitals, Movement, Skyrocketing, Surge
New York Times (June 25)
“On Wednesday it was as if the country had found itself back in March — at the start of the pandemic, in the early days of the lockdown, when masks were in short supply and when the death toll was skyrocketing.” The U.S. “reached another grim milestone on Wednesday as it reported 36,880 new cases,” breaking the previous high set on April 24. Instead of containment, new cases “have roared back in recent weeks.”
Tags: Containment, Death toll, Grim, Lockdown, March, Masks, Milestone, New cases, Pandemic, Skyrocketing, Supply, U.S.
