BBC (October 13)
We’ve learned three things about the UK’s economy from the semiannual IMF forecast. “1. The UK is weathering the Iran war better than expected…. 2. The UK is doing better than other major economies…. 3. But things could get worse.” Also of note, by 2031, the UK “is projected to have the lowest annual borrowing of the G7 group of countries, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.”
Tags: 2031, Borrowing, Canada, Economy, France, G7, Germany, Iran war, Italy, Japan, Lowest, Major economies, MF forecast, UK, Worse
New York Times (August 27)
“Propping up the yen. Buying back U.S. debt. Americans might wonder: What is the Treasury Department doing? Over the past month, it has made some unusual moves to tamp down an alarming surge in interest rates. The global history of maneuvers like these suggests that they rarely work on their own — and can often be worse than doing nothing.”
Tags: Alarming, Buying, History, Interest rates, Maneuvers, Propping up, Surge, Tamp down, Treasury, U.S. debt, Unusual, Worse, Yen
Reuters (June 20)
“At least 562 people have died during the haj.” As bad as that is, “climate scientists say such deaths offer a glimpse of what is to come for the tens of millions of Muslims expected in coming decades to undertake the haj,” especially from the 2040s, when the Haj will again “coincide with the peak of summer in Saudi Arabia.” Given impact of climate change, “the situation will get much worse as the world warms.”
Tags: 2040s, 562 deaths, Climate change, Climate scientists, Haj, Impact, Muslims, Peak of summer, Saudi Arabia, Worse
Washington Post (December 10)
“China’s consumer prices fell the fastest in three years in November while factory-gate deflation deepened, indicating rising deflationary pressures as weak domestic demand casts doubt over the economic recovery.” Year on year and month on month, CPI fell a worse than expected 0.5%. “The year-on-year CPI decline was the steepest since November 2020.”
Tags: China, CPI, Deepened, Deflation, Domestic demand, Doubt, Economic recovery, Factory-gate, Fell, November, Pressures, Steepest, Weak, Worse
Reuters (August 10)
“The United States may be over the hump on inflation, but consumers aren’t acting like it. Spending is growing at the same pace as last year, and most Americans expect their finances to either stay the same or get worse…. Lingering restraint will stretch the power of price elasticity to its limits.”
Tags: Consumers, Finances, Growing, Hump, Inflation, Limits, Lingering, Pace, Price elasticity, Restraint, Spending, Stretch, U.S., Worse
Washington Post (July 28)
“Everyone knows, as the Watergate scandal drove home: The coverup is always worse than the crime. Everyone, that is, but Trump.” Should “the allegations in the latest indictment of Donald Trump hold up, the former president is a common criminal — and an uncommonly stupid one.”
Tags: Allegations, Common criminal, Coverup, Crime, Indictment, Scandal, Stupid, Trump, Watergate, Worse
The Times (November 19)
“Middle-earning families will be nearly £20,000 worse off over the next six years,” according to “research carried out for The Times,” analyzing the tax impact of Jeremy Hunt’s new budget “on people’s incomes, as wages go up with inflation but tax thresholds remain frozen.”
Tags: £20 thousand, Hunt, Impact, Incomes, Inflation, Middle-earning families, Research, Succession, Taxes, Wages, Worse
BBC (November 3)
“The Bank of England has warned the UK is facing its longest recession since records began, as it raised interest rates by the most in 33 years,” indicating that “the UK would face a ‘very challenging’ two-year slump with unemployment nearly doubling by 2025.” The BoE’s forecast paints “a picture of a painful economic period, with the UK performing worse than the US and the Eurozone.”
Tags: 2025, BOE, Challenging, Doubling, Forecast, Interest rates, Longest, Painful, Recession, Records, Slump, U.S., UK, Unemployment, Warned, Worse
Fortune (September 24)
“Nowhere is this crisis more pronounced and more dangerous than in Europe, where a long-standing gambit on cheap Russian gas has backfired.” With winter, it looks certain to get even worse. “Even the slightest uptick in energy demand… could push entire sectors of Europe’s manufacturing industry to shut down entirely, devastating European economies with a wave of unemployment, high prices, and in all likelihood public unrest and divisions between European nations.”
Tags: Backfired, Cheap, Crisis, Dangerous, Devastating, Economies, Energy demand, Europe, Gas, High prices, Manufacturing, Pronounced, Russia, Unemployment, Uptick, Winter, Worse
Bloomberg (April 18)
“The slower the Fed, the harder the landing.” Quick action while inflation expectations are “still well anchored” will minimize the “cost in terms of foregone output and higher unemployment.” Those costs will mushroom if the Fed “waits and allows inflation expectations to get out of hand.” A recession remains unlikely in 2022, but if there isn’t one “in the next couple years, it will only be worse.”
Tags: Anchored, Costs, Expectations, Fed, Inflation, Landing, Output, Quick action, Recession, Slower, Unemployment, Worse
