The Economist (November 23)
Across Asia a surprising and unwelcome phenomenon is arising: middle-class stagnation. Over the past three years, for example, 6 million Indonesians fell “into the ‘aspiring middle class,’” and are now “a stone’s throw away from poverty.” The nation’s middle-class population share dropped “to 17% from 22% before the pandemic.” This “middle-class malaise” is not restricted to Indonesia and may “shake up everything from profits to politics” throughout Asia.
Tags: 17%, 6 million, Asia, Aspiring, Indonesians, Malaise, Middle class, Pandemic, Politics, Population, Poverty, Profits, Stagnation, Surprising, Unwelcome
New York Times (August 13)
“Across the country, a profound shift is taking place that is nearly invisible to most Americans. The nation that burned coal, oil and gas for more than a century to become the richest economy on the planet, as well as historically the most polluting, is rapidly shifting away from fossil fuels.” The energy transition is further along in other places like Europe, but “the United States is catching up, and globally, change is happening at a pace that is surprising even the experts who track it closely.”
Tags: Coal, Economy, Energy transition, Europe, Fossil fuels, Gas, Invisible, Oil, Pace, Planet, Polluting, Profound shift, Richest, Surprising, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (February 16)
“Fresh figures on jobs and prices drove the economy’s surprising vigor this year, joining rising household incomes, consumer resilience and other data that have persuaded investors the Federal Reserve’s battle against inflation is likely to be a longer one than they hoped.” In January, U.S. hiring rose while “unemployment fell to a 53-year low.”
Tags: Consumer resilience, Economy, Fed, Hiring, Household incomes, Inflation, Investors, January, Jobs, Prices, Rising, Surprising, U.S., Vigor
Barrons (August 27)
“It has been a rough year for investors in China, especially those who forgot that it’s still a Communist nation.” Investors are fleeing in the wake of “some surprising, and very anticapitalist, moves.” The Chinese market has fallen by “20% in the past six months, while some of its biggest names have dropped more than 40%. Has China become uninvestible? No—but it has gotten a lot more complicated.”
Tags: Anticapitalist, China, Communist, Complicated, Investors, Market, Plummeting, Stocks, Surprising, Uninvestible
The Economist (November 2)
“On some measures, Japan’s labour market is as tight as it has been since the 1970s. America’s jobless rate, at 4.2%, is the lowest for over 16 years. Inflation has nevertheless been surprisingly weak. In other words, the trade-off between unemployment and inflation, known as the Phillips curve, has become less steep.”
Tags: Inflation, Japan, Jobless rate, Labor, Phillips curve, Surprising, Tight, Trade-off, U.S., Unemployment, Weak
