The Atlantic (October 14)
“Last week, amid widespread geopolitical turmoil and a weakening U.S. dollar, the price of gold hit a historic high of $4,000 an ounce. This year has so far been gold’s best since 1979.” This is not a portend of a strong economy. Over the most recent half century, gold has proven to be a fairly effective “recession indicator” as “spikes in the price of gold have typically been correlated with widespread inflation and geopolitical dysfunction.”
Tags: 1979, Dysfunction, Economy, Geopolitical turmoil, Gold, High, Inflation, Price, Recession indicator, Spikes, Weakening U.S. dollar, Widespread
Time (March 15)
“Amid widespread economic turmoil, the price of gold has soared to levels never seen before,” with Gold futures exceeding $3,000 per troy ounce. Prices for this safe haven investment “are spiking higher now as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have kicked off an international trade war that has roiled financial markets and threatened to reignite inflation for families and businesses alike.”
Tags: 000 oz t, 3%, Economic, Gold, Inflation, Investment, Markets, Price, Roiled, Safe haven, Soared, Spiking, Tariff policies, Trade war, Trump, Turmoil, U.S., Widespread
Washington Post (December 4)
“About 1 in 420 Americans has died of covid-19, according to official data. And we’re still averaging more than 1,000 deaths per day,” but areas with “widespread vaccination” are faring much better. “Death rates are far below the national average in the most-vaccinated, often-urban areas.”
Tags: Death rates, Faring, Most-vaccinated, National average, U.S., Urban areas, Vaccination, Widespread
The Economist (February 3)
University degrees are becoming more widespread. In South Korea, for example, 70% “of pupils who graduate from the country’s secondary schools now go straight to university… up from 37% in 2000.” The cost of a degree is also rising and evidence suggests ROI is falling. Still, “most young people will want a degree. It may not boost their earnings as much as they had hoped, but without one, they will probably fare even worse,” as a degree has also become the entry level threshold for many positions.
Tags: Cost, Degrees, Earnings, Entry level, ROI, South Korea, Threshold, University, Widespread
Euromoney (April Issue)
“Blackouts have become so widespread on the island of Mindanao that social-media users have taken to calling the energy secretary the secretary of darkness.” This highlights the need for infrastructure, not just in the Philippines, but throughout much of ASEAN where the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates “infrastructure projects will require sustained annual investment of approximately $60 billion a year to 2020.” Banking giant HSBC believes “demand in Asia as a whole might reach $11.5 trillion by 2030.”
Tags: ADB, Asean, Asia, Blackouts, Energy, Infrastructure, Investment, Mindanao, Philippines, Social media, Widespread
