Reuters (August 22)
Deflation “has hobbled Japan’s economy for nearly two decades, bedevilling policymakers despite drastic measures aimed at engineering a sustainable recovery.” For the sixth time, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) has delayed its 2% inflation target. This time until March 2020. Still, two-thirds of respondents in an August 1-16 Reuters Corporate Survey “saw the inflation goal as unrealistic,” with many of their responses further illustrating the complexities involved in overcoming deflation.
Tags: BOJ, Complexities, Deflation, Delay, Economy, Hobbled, Inflation, Japan, Policymakers, Recovery, Respondents, Survey, Unrealistic
The Economist (January 21)
“Negotiating free-trade agreements will be harder and more time-consuming than Mrs May suggests.” Reaching a comprehensive deal in two years is unrealistic. “Canada’s free-trade deal with the EU has taken seven years and is not yet in force. For Britain to replicate the EU’s trade deals with 53 third countries will be more testing” and ratification remains “tricky,” requiring approval by every parliament in the EU.”
Tags: Approval, Canada, EU, Free-trade agreements, May, Negotiations, Ratification, UK, Unrealistic
Forbes (September 15)
Plans to have autonomous cars on the roads in a few years are over optimistic. “This timetable is unrealistic. In fact, the widespread use of driverless cars will not happen for at least another 20 years.” The “intractable obstacle” facing driverless cars is “the extreme difficulty of moving from semiautonomous to fully autonomous.” Consumers wrongly “assume that the transition to full autonomy is an easy next step from the myriad semiautonomous features already in use today.”
New York Times (February 14)
A full disarmament, of North Korea “is unrealistic at this point. To have any chance of success, the negotiations should aim for constraint. That means persuading the North to end all testing and to forsake technology transfers to other parties. This is a formidable challenge, but neglecting it only guarantees that the threat will get worse.”
