Though our collective health is our highest concern, the economic damage brought by the Covid-19 lockdown is daunting, so we look for clues as to what our economic future might hold.
My friend and fellow TWN Notetaker Richard Vague has recently been appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf to be Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Banking and Securities. Vague recently wrote this letter to a US Senator on what would be needed to deal with the economic shock of the cororavirus crisis.
With all the (completely justified) focus on the coronavirus, we’ve overlooked Japan’s alarming GDP report. Japan just reported a drop in GDP of 6.3% on an annualized basis for the December 2019. Japan’s GDP growth has been notoriously soft ever since its financial crisis of
Six days ago, I moderated a smart and informed conversation on Al Jazeera English’s The Bottom Line on what we knew (then) about the novel coronavirus. We are about six hundred further deaths and many thousands more reported official infections since what was the case then.
I don’t know if President Trump has ever said “Tariffs are my middle name,” but he might as well have said it. Up until mid-October 2019, President Trump has tweeted the word ‘tariff’ 177 times. Remarkably consistent on the trade and anti-trade front.
I have to hand it to the organizers of the Halifax International Security Forum. They have an impeccable sense of managing timing and speakers in such a way that a controversy almost always pops during their annual conference of lobsters and defense chat. This year, US Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer.
Happy Thanksgiving! During your busy day of family, friends, pets, pumpkin pie and turkey, you might want to read this. From a beautifully written essay on William Seward’s partnership in and Lincoln’s proclamation of a national Thanksgiving Holiday by Ted Widmer, former director of the C.V.
There are a slew of polls measuring what Americans think of the impeachment hearings and of the solvency of President Trump’s guilt or innocence. One poll, highlighted by my colleagues at The Hill, show that the enthusiasm of Independents for impeachment has fallen significantly, that is support for impeachment has slipped 6%.
I traveled to Hong Kong on November 11-12, the very days that the Hong Kong protests took a turn for the worse. I had thought I would avoid trouble. The protests had been mainly held on weekends, and we were there on a benign Monday and Tuesday. I was wrong.
Hong Kong’s demonstrations have at their core a population that is highly stressed, especially the young who are struggling to afford even the paltriest housing, while faced with declining job opportunities and a blatant rise in inequalit
