I tried to summarize the BII and BlueOrchard fund capital structure that aims to tap into insurance capital interested in climate EMDEs after Solvency UK was passed
www.bii.co.uk/en/news-insi...
I’ve never seen so many luxury European cars (especially German) than in Korea (Gangnam). Maybachs, high-end Benz, Porsche, RR and on and on. To the point that now Korea runs a trade deficit with Germany on cars.
If I ever became president, I’d replicate the Korean health checkup system. A super-efficient, one-stop facility where people can complete a full battery of health tests quickly, conveniently and at low cost. Preventive diagnosis that is simple, affordable, accessible.
Green hydrogen investment of €1bn supported by over €300mn in EU subsidies. But who receives subsidies must use EU-made (or EU FTA) electrolyzer stacks under new Industrial Accelerator Act
www.ft.com/content/32cc...
www.hydrogeninsight.com/electrolyser...
“This is the Epstein class in all its glory. It’s an elite that schemes to remain as unaccountable for sexual crimes as it does for corporate crimes.”
“One widely held idea to be dismissed off the bat is that in order to field a currency that acts as a global reserve asset, a country needs to run trade deficits. This is not true.”
“The role of public ownership, in this sense, is to provide an escape valve, a way for owners to exit their position without running the danger of an extended foreclosure process.”
“Today, New York City’s rental market is defined by two colliding forces: tenants’ need for affordable rents, and landlords’ need to repay their creditors. Only public ownership offers an escape from the mounting pressure.”
What is meant by Abundance: YIMBYism + supply focus or a centrist omnicause?
(first time I hear about “deportation abundance”)
newsletter.mikekonczal.com/p/what-progr...
rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...
“Back in 2013, Bill Gates remarked that it would take a decade to know whether education technology really worked. More than ten years and hundreds of billions of dollars later, the answer is increasingly clear.
‘Imagine if all that money had gone into teachers instead.’”
"They are channeling an immigration regime instituted in 1924, when strict racial quotas — driven by fears of foreigners and a rise in eugenic thinking — led to a bottoming-out of foreign-born Americans that lasted for decades... protecting a white, Christian character for the country."
"Shrinking the balance sheet has had only a modest impact on financial conditions because quantitative easing has proven to be not very powerful in providing stimulus to the economy.
...
If the Fed were to continue QT it would eventually have two options:"
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
"The answer must be to take away ICE and CBP’s money, headcount, and guns. The only politically sensible way to mount this direct challenge is by dismantling the agencies, rather than accept the premise that we need to streamline them and limit their focus to going after the truly “bad guys.”"
Amazing that the first issue for Larry Fink and Ken Griffin is the deficit and governments "spending well beyond their means", the "recklessness" of this current moment in history.
Lagarde adds at least some nuance between productive/unproductive deficits.
www.weforum.org/meetings/wor...
Signs of times when Davos has panels titled "Governments as Economic Super Actors" and "Hard Choices for Industrial Policy"
"At present, Europe has no sovereign digital payment system and its entire architecture depends on US service providers"
Roadmap for Euro to become a global reserve currency:
- swap lines
- own payment system
- avoid US stablecoins
- true, common safe asset
- capital markets integration
Dallas Fed: "Employment of unauthorized immigrants has contracted an average 26K/m through July/25, or an annual equivalent decline of 310K. However, if the recent pace of decline continues, these immigration outflows could result in a net loss of 51K/m in 2025, or 612K for the year."
What is striking is he's repeating critiques the global south has advanced for decades but they now come from a country that benefited from and defended the existing order. Canada (and Europe) experiencing what global south has long lived with. Recent contradictions too high to ignore.
Probably this speech from Carney on the end of the "rules based international order" and need for polyalignment will be his most famous and consequential, surpassing the tragedy of the horizon ten years ago.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE98...
Trump mafioso tactics on IMO net zero framework: "US officials have written to countries that support the measure and besieged them with phone calls threatening to impose tariffs, withdraw visa rights and take other retaliatory action."
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Should we be worried about domestic debt sustainability at all in an economy running a current-account surplus of 5% of GDP?
One point re: “where would all that money go” is that some portion could just go to cash in non-$ currencies, which might be a prudent thing to do for non-US (or even US) holders of US equities after the run. There would be FX effects but, e.g., lower EURJPY might be welcome all around?
"ICE began this chapter by antagonizing and detaining people whom it alleged were undocumented, but the danger has spread far beyond any single community to anyone—across lines of gender, background, or citizenship status—with the temerity to dissent." www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...
My weekend essay in @unherd.com on why central bank independence is a distraction. The real danger lies not with unelected technocrats but in the aggrandisement of power by authoritarians and the global financial sector—that’s true even for the Fed.
unherd.com/2026/01/the-...
This slide from Rodrik is a good companion to this interesting FT piece on how China surpassed the West's technological and industrial edge on green energy. The other side of the story is how solar and green tech has become cheap (with each country playing its role)
www.ft.com/content/3749...
This is so true ime. Rare mentions and focus on China: "At development and climate meetings, he said, you can go a long time without hearing anyone acknowledge that China matters vastly more to the climate-change story than anything happening anywhere else, very much including the US."
In addition, the outpouring of support for Powell this week often cites his personal virtues and draws on his long-standing bi-partisan relationships in DC ... he's out as Chair in a matter of months. Then what? Everyone is as exposed as Lisa Cook?
All of which raises the question of whether a more forceful response to the attack on Cook was warranted.
Worth pointing out: while Fed Chair Powell has called the DOJ criminal probe a “pretext” for a president who wants lower rates, he has largely declined to comment on the proceedings against Gov Cook. Many have called her firing similarly pre-textual. His comments on Sunday failed to mention Cook.
"suggested the Chair step down [aka give in to intimidation tactics that would end the Fed's independence] to protect the institution’s independence" 🙄