The Economist (August 29)
“The background music of Donald Trump’s second term has been the sound of norms breaking. On economic policy alone, the president has used tariffs to usurp Congress’s taxing powers and launched attack after attack on the independence of the Federal Reserve, which he accuses of keeping interest rates too high.” While it may be “tempting to tune the noise out,” the Treasury’s recent intervention in bond markets “deserves to echo far and wide.” And “so long as government debt stays high,” more of these unconventional Treasury follies will probably ensue, but America will ultimately come to “regret Scott Bessent’s bond-market misadventures.”
Tags: Attack, Background, Bessent, Bond markets, Congress, Debt, Economic policy, Federal Reserve, Government, Independence, Interest rates, Intervention, Misadventures, Noise, Norms breaking, Regret, Tariffs, Taxing powers, Treasury, Trump, Unconventional, Usurp
Washington Post (November 25)
“President Donald Trump’s foreign policy is unconventional, but it’s also becoming predictably unpredictable.” Fortunately, Volodymyr Zelensky “has grown more astute at handling Trump.” He knew how to handle Trump’s latest “gambit and acted accordingly.” It seems Zelensky has transformed the lopsided peace proposal. “Ukraine could still come out ahead at the end of this nerve-wracking exercise.” While “there’s nothing wrong with talking,” American negotiators should “never forget who is really to blame for this awful conflict.”
Tags: Astute, Blame, Conflict, Foreign policy, Gambit, Handling, Lopsided, Negotiators, Nerve-wracking, Russia, Trump, U.S., Ukraine, Unconventional, Unpredictable, Zelensky
Bloomberg (July 12)
Itochu’s unconventional “tough love worked.” A decade after banning overtime after 8:00 PM, profit per employee has increased fivefold. “What also changed, to the surprise of Itochu’s management, is that more female employees took maternity leave, had kids and came back to work.” This raises the question, “could similar changes help East Asia’s flagging birthrate?”
Tags: 8:00 PM, Banning, Birthrate, East Asia, Employees, Female, Itochu, Kids, Management, Maternity leave, Overtime, Profit, Unconventional
CNN (October 25)
“Donald Trump’s unconventional diplomacy is pushing China and Japan closer together…. Still, despite the US hostility” moving the countries “closer together, the two countries’ long and fractious history makes an easy and lasting rapprochement difficult.”
Tags: China, Diplomacy, Hostility. History, Japan, Rapprochement, Trump, Unconventional, US
Institutional Investor (May 6)
Unconventional monetary policy, demographic change, economic challenge and technological disruption are impacting debt markets. “Remarkably, the pool of positively yielding debt in the global fixed-income universe has shrunk by more than $5 trillion in less than two years, which clearly presents a tremendous challenge for investors seeking income and attempting to match assets to liabilities.”
Tags: ALM, Challenge, Debt markets, Demographic change, Economic challenge, Fixed income, Monetary policy, Technological disruption, Unconventional, Yields
LA Times (February 9)
“Billionaire businessman Donald Trump won the New Hampshire Republican primary Tuesday with an unconventional brew of celebrity, voter anger and disdain for the traditional rules of politics.”
Tags: Anger, Celebrity, New Hampshire, Primary, Trump, Unconventional, Voters
