July, 2019

• 15 July

  Trump ‘go back’ tweet condemned as racist

  

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump was accused of being racist and divisive by many Democrats after suggesting that four female Democratic lawmakers, led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, should return to the “broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Three of the four women Trump was apparently referencing were born in the US; none is white. The comments ...

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• 15 July

  Zuma says he’s victim as he faces probe

  

  Bloomberg Former South African President Jacob Zuma rejected a slew of allegations that he aided and abetted graft during his almost nine years in office and claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy by foreign and domestic intelligence agencies intent on ousting and discrediting him. “I have been the subject of talk in this country for more than a ...

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• 15 July

  Merkel’s ally pushes for votes to take top EU job

  Bloomberg Ursula von der Leyen’s two-week dash to secure the most powerful policy-making job in the European Union may end with a photo finish. Unexpectedly tapped to head the European Commission after weeks of grueling negotiations by national leaders, the German defense minister and ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel is chasing support among left-leaning factions to put her over the ...

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• 15 July

  Italy can’t stop talking about Salvini’s Russia tape scandal

  

  Bloomberg Matteo Salvini, the euroskeptic strongman of Italian politics, can’t seem to shut down a scandal over alleged illegal financing from Russia. The deputy prime minister has been trying to distance himself from a close ally, Gianluca Savoini, who was recorded apparently soliciting illegal party funding from three Russians, according to a report by Buzzfeed News. The story has dominated ...

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• 15 July

  Why China can’t get its economy moving

  

  China’s new GDP numbers show that the world’s second-biggest economy is growing more slowly than at any time since the early 1990s. Chinese leaders know what they need to do to arrest the slide: pump more credit into private companies, which generate the majority of jobs and growth. The fact that growth isn’t picking up regardless of their efforts would ...

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• 15 July

  Weaker currency won’t help Australia

  

  Not everybody is observing the supposed ceasefire in the currency wars. The Reserve Bank of Australia lowered rates by 25 basis points each in June and July. The moves were ostensibly intended to ease monetary conditions and boost flagging growth. Their unstated purpose was to bring down the value of the Australian dollar. Since the currency rate was floated in ...

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• 15 July

  Regulators asking wrong questions about ETFs

  The European Systemic Risk Board, which was created to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis, is out with a new report examining exchange-traded funds. It’s worthy endeavour, given that the market for ETF’s has grown to $5.6 trillion, raising questions about whether these vehicles have the potential spark another crisis despite being created at the urging of the US ...

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• 15 July

  Apple pays the price to stay at bleeding edge

  Apple Inc. looks like it may put down close to $1 billion just to keep its devices at the leading edge. Japan Display Inc., one of its key providers of screens, said it would get up to $400 million from bailout partner Harvest Tech Investment Management Co. Nestled into its two-page stock exchange statement was the revelation that the funding ...

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• 15 July

  To defeat Trump, Democrats should nominate Bennet

  

  With a disgust commensurate with the fact, Michael Bennet, the Colorado Democrat, says that during 40 percent of his 10 Senate years the government has been run on “continuing resolutions.” Congress passes these in order to spare itself the torture of performing its primary function, which is to set national priorities. Bennet is too serious a person to be content ...

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• 15 July

  Small cars are being driven out of existence

  

  Car launches are 10-a-penny so it’s very rare that a particular model’s demise captures the world’s attention. The Volkswagen Beetle, the last of which rolled off the production line in Mexico this week, was no ordinary vehicle though. The downfall of the “People’s Car,” an icon of post-war German prosperity as well as the 1960s counterculture, is all the more ...

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