Expanding the Legacy
Expanding the Legacy
The US Federal Reserve celebrated the death of inflation with a bold interest rate cut. As the Federal Open Market Committee mulled its next move during a highly-anticipated meeting yesterday, its twelve members just hoped, and perhaps even prayed (this is, after all, America), that the reports of inflation’s death are not ‘greatly exaggerated’. The benchmark federal fund rate receded to five percent.
The withdrawal of banks from the high streets and neighbourhood corners is unsurprising. Today, most banks derive no more than three percent of their turnover from ‘traditional’ business operations such as fees and lending depositors’ cash to companies wishing to expand or families looking to buy a home. In 2022, the total assets of the financial sector in the UK amounted to a truly staggering $16.88 trillion - well over five time the aggregate output of the country’s entire economy. Those assets comprise mostly claims on other banks.
He lapped up life daringly, mastered the art of rebellion, and looked far beyond the horizon to find adventure and clam his restless soul. Just before the implacable woke crowd could ‘cancel’ him, biographer Sue Prideaux snatched Paul Gauguin from its claws. The French postimpressionist painter seemed ripe for the picking: the perfect candidate to be knocked off his pedestal, thrown from his perch, and relegated to the scrapheap of art history. It was not for a lack of trying that the über politically correct posse failed in its pursuit.
To placate its critics, the German government has temporarily reasserted control over the country’s borders. The measure is meant to stem the flow of immigrants entering the country to submit unfounded asylum claims. As of tomorrow, checks will take place on incoming traffic by roving border patrols.
The Republican campaign for the presidency is being shredded by an epic catfight between Trump groupies vying for the love and attention of their idol. Get the popcorn! Also: Kamala Harris Takes Advice from Chinese Sage and American Cheapskates Fail to Pay Up for Defence of Ukraine.
Whichever way US voters decide on election day, it’s the day after that causes most concern. A win by Donald Trump is unlikely to be contested by his opponents but promises to usher in a man who vowed to don the mantle of a dictator on his first day in office. Conversely, it is a foregone conclusion that a loss will be bitterly contested by Mr Trump.
Last year, Dubai registered a surprisingly sharp decline in its population. Almost eight out of every one hundred inhabitants left the country as the Corona Pandemic and a vertiginous drop in oil prices unsettled both nerves and the economy. Key sectors such as real estate, tourism, and retail suffered a...
It is barely a secret that the ruling caste of present-day China seeks to return the country to its former magnificence, lost during the ‘Century of Humiliation’ (1839-1949). This was when Japan and the great western powers unceremoniously carved up the Middle Kingdom. Such a broad policy objective is eminently...
Army generals are a mostly pliant lot. To reach to the top of the military chain of command it is advisable to follow orders from above without asking too many questions. This helps explain why presidents in Latin America prefer to entrust the running of state-owned enterprises to retired generals...
Keep South Africa Safe. The slogan is stamped on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s favourite face mask and could well refer to more than just the Corona Pandemic. The country is embroiled in an epic struggle to save the rule of law from falling prey to the caprices of political factions not...
FOMO is firmly in charge of the US stock market: the Fear of Missing Out has nearly all classes of investors – from retail to institutional – pouring vast volumes of cash into stocks. Excitement reaches new heights during the current earnings season with S&P 500 companies reporting an average...
The EU free trade baton, carried by the UK until Brexit materialised, has been relayed to the ‘Stockholm Six’ of likeminded liberal countries pushing back against French and Italian pressure for Europe to get tougher on trade defence – and relax on subsidies. Germany was invited to join the informal...
Thursday, October 29, 2020 – Shopkeepers in Wales have reported a disconcerting increase in the number of scarcely clad patrons visiting their premises, often sporting nothing more than underpants and a facemask. The quasi-streakers roaming the aisles of Welsh grocery stores and pharmacies are on a mission to highlight the...
It’s perhaps a case of having your fish and eating it too. The number of analogies that may be rallied to describe the current standoff between the European Union and the United Kingdom over the post-Brexit assignment fish stocks is almost endless. The EU may have bigger fish to fry...
It is not a good time to be a supporter of Brexit. If spin were a tradable commodity, all would be exceptionally well in the realm. Alas, it is not. The attempt by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to supplant essential elements of the Withdrawal Agreement, signed with the European Union...
Eighty years, to the day, since living its Finest Hour, the Hinge of Fate turned Great Britain towards yet another nadir – the latest in a string of historic setbacks that slowly and painfully disassemble a once great power. On Monday, September 14, Parliament voted on the second reading of...