‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (July 17, 2023) – Three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: how populist Republicans plan to make Donald Trump’s second term count, NATO’s promises to Ukraine mark real progress, but there is still much more to do (10:12) and what matters about the human-dominated Anthropocene geological phase is not when it began, but how it might end (14:41).
Category Archives: Economics
Opinion: Future Of War In Ukraine, A New Asia Family, U.S. Lab-Monkey Shortage
‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (July 10, 2023) – Three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week: how the war in Ukraine will affect the future of combat, the new Asian family (10:36) and why a lab-monkey shortage in America is encouraging smuggling (19:07).
Opinion: A Humbled Putin, Environmentalism Harms The Poor, The Better Flags
‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (July 3, 2023) – A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist: The humbling of Vladimir Putin, how misfiring environmentalism risks harming the world’s poor (10:20) and some tips to design better flags (18:55).
The humbling of Vladimir Putin
The Wagner mutiny exposes the Russian tyrant’s growing weakness. But don’t count him out yet
The last pretence of Vladimir Putin to be, as he imagines, one of his nation’s historic rulers was stripped away on June 24th. A band of armed mercenaries swept through his country almost unopposed, covering some 750km (470 miles) in a single day, seizing control of two big cities and getting to within 200km of Moscow before withdrawing unharmed.
How misfiring environmentalism risks harming the world’s poor
The trade-off between development and climate change is impossible to avoid
Thank goodness for the enthusiasts and the obsessives. If everyone always took a balanced view of everything, nothing would ever get done. But when campaigners’ worldview seeps into the staid apparatus of policymaking and global forums, bad decisions tend to follow. That, unfortunately, is especially true in the world of climate change.
How to design better flags
Some tips to avoid having an embarrassing emblem
Have you ever met a vexed vexillologist? This is someone who frets when flags are badly designed. Sadly, too many flags flutter to deceive: they are cluttered with imagery, a mess of colours and all too easily forgettable. Yet flags matter. Witness Ukraine’s blue-and-yellow banner, which now serves as a potent symbol around the world (not to mention on this newspaper’s covers).
Previews: The Economist Magazine – July 1, 2023
The humbling of Vladimir Putin
The Wagner mutiny exposes the Russian tyrant’s growing weakness. But don’t count him out yet
Can Ukraine capitalise on chaos in Russia?
Ukraine’s counter-offensive is going slowly
The Wagner mutiny has left Putin dangerously exposed
Factions close to the Russian president are thinking about life after him
Opinion: Sticky Inflation Issues, Building Ukraine 2.0, A New King Of Beers
‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (June 12, 2023) – A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist including the trouble with sticky inflation, the challenge of building Ukraine 2.0 and why Modelo Especial is the new king of beers.
Investors must prepare for sustained higher inflation
The costs of taming price rises could prove too unpalatable for central banks
The trouble is that the inflation monster has not truly been tamed. Britain’s problem is the most acute. There, wages and “core” prices, which exclude energy and food, are rising by around 7%, year on year.
Building Ukraine 2.0
For Russia’s war to fail, Ukraine must emerge prosperous, democratic and secure
Ukraine’s nation-builders face formidable obstacles. The greatest is that, while Mr Putin is in power, this war is unlikely to end with a solid peace treaty. The two sides may talk—if only to avoid being seen as war-crazy.
The new king of beers is a Mexican-American success story
Move over, Bud Light. Heed the power of the Hispanic market
The king is dead. ¡Viva el rey! That is the cheer ringing through drinking dens this summer as Bud Light, America’s self-styled “king of beers” for 22 years, is dethroned by Modelo Especial, a Mexican brew.
Previews: The Economist Magazine – June 24, 2023
Investors must prepare for sustained higher inflation
The costs of taming price rises could prove too unpalatable for central banks
At first glance the world economy appears to have escaped from a tight spot. In the United States annual inflation has fallen to 4%, having approached double digits last year. A recession is nowhere in sight and the Federal Reserve has felt able to take a break from raising interest rates. After a gruesome 2022, stockmarkets have been celebrating: the s&p 500 index of American firms has risen by 14% so far this year, propelled by a resurgence in tech stocks. Only in Britain does inflation seem to be worryingly entrenched.
Building Ukraine 2.0
For Russia’s war to fail, Ukraine must emerge prosperous, democratic and secure
Ukraine’s war is raging on two fronts. On the 1,000km battlefront its armies are attacking the Russians’ deep defences. At the same time, on the home front Ukraine is defining what sort of country it will be when the fighting stops. Both matter, and both will pose a severe test for Ukraine and its backers.
America wants to lower tensions with Iran. Good
Now is the time to buy some time
Iran cannot rival Ukraine and Taiwan for headlines, but it could soon prove as dangerous as either. Its nuclear-weapons programme has put its regime in a position to dash for a bomb. Because full-blown negotiations are impossible, the threat could yet draw the Middle East into war—including through American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. That is why it is good that the Biden administration is seeking to lower tensions.
Opinion: U.S. & India Draw Closer, UK As An AI Power, Lula Can’t The Amazon
‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (June 12, 2023) – Three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, why India is indispensable to America, how to make Britain an AI superpower (10:35) and Lula’s unsustainable plans to save the Amazon (18:45).
Joe Biden and Narendra Modi are
drawing their countries closer
India does not love the West, but it is indispensable to America
India’s prime minister has been afforded the honour of a state visit by President Joe Biden. Mr Modi will be one of the few foreign leaders, along with Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Volodymyr Zelensky, to address a joint session of Congress more than once.
How Britain can become an AI superpower
Rishi Sunak’s enthusiasm is welcome. But his plans for Britain fall short
Britain, says Mr Sunak, will harness ai and thus spur productivity, economic growth and more. As he told an audience in London this week, he sees the “extraordinary potential of ai to improve people’s lives”.
Lula’s ambitious plans to save the Amazon clash with reality
The Brazilian president faces resistance from Congress, the state oil company and agribusiness
“There should be no contradiction between economic growth and environmental protection,” he said. Yet Lula’s green agenda is suffering setbacks.
Previews: The Economist Magazine – June 17, 2023
Joe Biden and Narendra Modi are drawing their countries closer
India does not love the West, but it is indispensable to America
No country except China has propped up Russia’s war economy as much as oil-thirsty India. And few big democracies have slid further in the rankings of democratic freedom. But you would not guess it from the rapturous welcome Narendra Modi will receive in Washington next week. India’s prime minister has been afforded the honour of a state visit by President Joe Biden. The Americans hope to strike defence deals.
Lula’s ambitious plans to save the Amazon clash with reality
The Brazilian president faces resistance from Congress, the state oil company and agribusiness
Ukraine’s counter-offensive is making mixed progress
Its real test will come when it hits Russia’s prepared defences
Charlemagne: Why Europe’s asylum policy desperately needs rebooting
A deadly shipwreck in Greek waters highlights its dangers
Opinion: Ukraine Strikes Back, Apple’s Vision Pro, The Global Cities Index
‘Editor’s Picks’ Podcast (June 12, 2023) – A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist – Ukraine strikes back, why Apple’s new Vision Pro gadget matters (9:00) and the results of our new global cities index (13:35).
Ukraine strikes back
The counter-offensive is getting under way. The next few weeks will be critical
Trailed ten days early with a blood-stirring video in which Ukrainian troops asked God to bless their “sacred revenge”, Ukraine’s counter-offensive is under way. For weeks its armed forces have conducted probing and shaping operations along the 1,000km front line, looking for weaknesses and confusing the Russians.
Apple’s Vision Pro is an incredible machine. Now to find out what it is for
The meaning of “spatial computing”
Apple’s message is clear: after desktop and mobile computing, the next big tech era will be spatial computing—also known as augmented reality—in which computer graphics are overlaid on the world around the user.
Amoral cities are flourishing in a turbulent geopolitical era
Our index ranks economic performance over the past three years
In order to assess which are thriving in this new era, The Economist has compiled a rough-and-ready index. It scrutinises a sample of ten locations, looking at changes in four measures—population, economic growth, office vacancies and house prices—over the past three years.
Previews: The Economist Magazine – June 10, 2023
Ukraine strikes back
The counter-offensive is getting under way. The next few weeks will be critical
Trailed ten days early with a blood-stirring video in which Ukrainian troops asked God to bless their “sacred revenge”, Ukraine’s counter-offensive is under way. For weeks its armed forces have conducted probing and shaping operations along the 1,000km front line, looking for weaknesses and confusing the Russians. Now Ukraine is testing enemy defences with an intensity not seen for months, with attacks against the occupiers in a series of positions in the east and south. The apparent demolition of the Kakhovka dam on June 6th, if it was indeed Russian sabotage as Western military sources believe, would be clear evidence that they are already feeling the pressure.
Apple’s Vision Pro is an incredible machine. Now to find out what it is for
The meaning of “spatial computing”
No one shows off a new gadget quite like Apple. But the device that Tim Cook unveiled on June 5th was billed as something more significant. The Vision Pro, a pair of sleek glass goggles, represents “an entirely new spatial-computing platform”, said Apple’s boss, comparing its launch to that of the Macintosh and the iPhone. Apple’s message is clear: after desktop and mobile computing, the next big tech era will be spatial computing—also known as augmented reality—in which computer graphics are overlaid on the world around the user.
California’s reparations scheme is bad policy and worse politics
Democrats should ditch it in favour of ideas that Americans actually support
Boomers Daily 