Home » 2019 » September (Page 5)
Broadband Internet is a fact of life for most Americans. But 21 million people do not have access to high-speed connections at all. In rural areas, there’s a move to improve the situation.
September 30, 2019Read More
(Bloomberg) — India has a mammoth plastic waste problem and no easy way to dispose of the 9.4 million tons it generates each year.Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to fix that. Fresh from his campaign to provide tens of millions of toilets for India’…
September 30, 2019Read More
Today’s AgendaAmericans will have to sacrifice to fight climate change. Trump is at war with the state itself. Stop calling Elizabeth Warren a socialist. Curbing U.S. investment in China would be disastrous. Austria’s Sebastian Kurz should reject the far right.An Inconvenience Truth (Bloomberg Opinion) — If you’re like me, you ignore health problems that aren’t worth the hassle of a doctor visit. Emergencies get medical attention; everything else gets WebMD. Americans are like that with climate change, except the emergency is already here.Massive storms, wildfires, droughts and more make it clear we have a worsening climate problem. But as Noah Smith points out, we can’t yet be bothered to truly do anything about it. One straightforward tool for curbing carbon emissions is taxing them a bit more, for example. But we vote that down whenever it’s on the ballot. Keeping warming within tolerable limits will require decades of sacrifice and upheaval far beyond a little tax. The sooner we accept that, the sooner we can solve our problem.Things may be changing at the margins. The collapse of travel agency Thomas Cook may herald the decline of the kind of the pre-packaged tourist experience it invented, writes Leonid Bershidsky. A spreading woke-ness about authentic experiences is part of this, but so is guilt over the environmental impact of living like a pasha everywhere you go.The cruise industry is a small but exemplary part of this travel-industrial complex. It has a massive negative environmental impact, Adam Minter writes, and consumers and governments are noticing. But the cruise industry is about as slow to change course as, um, a very large, ponderous watercraft. Vladimir Putin moves a bit faster. Russia has long been a climate ignorer; it even stands to benefit from unfrozen Arctic waterways. But it recently joined the Paris climate accord, and Julian Lee explains one reason why: Thawing permafrost undermines the stability of Russian oil and gas projects. That might make gasoline a bit more expensive, and we can’t have that.Further Energy Reading: Oil and gas stocks avoided an embarrassing index-name change but can’t avoid harsh reality. – Liam DenningImpeachoramaPresident Donald Trump continued to respond to his growing impeachment threat by watching television and tweeting. The latter included increasingly hostile attacks on the whistle-blower and Democrats; today he called for House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff to be arrested for treason. Such vitriol is a reminder that Trump’s real enemy isn’t some amorphous “Deep State,” but the entire apparatus of state itself, writes James Gibney. If it doesn’t serve him, then it must be destroyed.So far, Attorney General William Barr has been on the Trump-friendly side of the divide, helping him snuff out his little Mueller Report problem and also swatting down the whistle-blower complaint about Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. In fact, writes Stephen Mihm, the Justice Department has a long history of cronies holding the job. Barr keeps that tradition alive.Still, Trump’s jeopardy grows the more we learn about what’s on the secret White House server where staffers quarantined his most toxic conversations. Tim O’Brien notes Trump has always hated leaving a paper trail. Now there’s one that includes much more of interest to an impeachment inquiry than just his chat with Ukraine’s president.Warren’s No SocialistWall Street is apparently terrified of an Elizabeth Warren presidency; even Democratic fundraisers would rather keep Trump around another four years than face the horrors of a Warren administration. But she’s getting a bad rap, writes Joe Nocera. Warren favors capitalism over socialism; she just wants it to be more fair. Wall Street hated FDR too, Joe notes, but he restored faith in financial markets by reforming them. Even on health care, she has not exactly been a Medicare for All zealot, writes Max Nisen.Trump’s Dangerous China ThreatStocks rebounded today partly on hopes Trump will come to his senses about curbing U.S. investment in China, which would have devastating repercussions, John Authers notes. For one thing, it would give China incentive to start selling Treasury bonds, writes Shuli Ren. For another, American investors already are woefully underweight China stocks, which will probably outperform U.S. stocks for the foreseeable future, writes Nir Kaissar. And turning financial markets into political weapons would set a terrible precedent for the world. Further China Reading: Starbucks Inc. must walk a fine line in Hong Kong between fostering its China expansion and not openly opposing the protesters. – Nisha Gopalan Austria’s Do-OverAustrian political wunderkind (if you can call a 33-year-old a wunderkind) Sebastian Kurz seems headed back to the chancellorship after his center-right party won a plurality in snap elections. The first time he got the job, he partnered with the far-right Freedom Party. That was a disaster that cost him his government, and he shouldn’t make the same mistake again, Bloomberg’s editorial board writes. Leonid Bershidsky suggests he’ll probably form a coalition with the surging Greens, which could be a harbinger of what’s to come in Germany.Bonus Editorial: California should jump on a proposal to ease the state’s housing crisis by helping homeowners rent out parts of their property. Telltale ChartsMillennials will soon be the biggest demographic in the U.S. economy. Can they help it boom again? Brian Chappatta and Elaine He look at their balance sheets and find they’re making and saving money but aren’t building wealth and are weighed down by student loan debt.Forever 21’s woes show the tide has turned against fast fashion, writes Sarah Halzack. Further ReadingBoeing Co.’s safety overhaul is an overdue step in the right direction. – Brooke SutherlandWeWork says it’s only temporarily shelving its IPO; junk bond investors don’t seem to believe it. – Brian Chappatta A crisis is growing in German industry. – Chris Bryant Turkey’s finance minister looks back on the recovery from last year’s turbulence. – Berat Albayrak How long must we sing Bono’s Irish tax-rate song? – Lionel Laurent ICYMIRep. Chris Collins of New York resigned from Congress ahead of an insider-trading plea. Cape Town’s great white sharks are missing.What’s your wealth number?KickersWorms with three sexes thrive in arsenic-poisoned lake. (h/t Mike Smedley)California college athletes can get paid now.China grew two cotton leaves on the Moon.Every “Breaking Bad” episode, ranked.Note: Please send cotton leaves and complaints to Mark Gongloff at [email protected] to Bloomberg Opinion Today? Sign up here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.To contact the author of this story: Mark Gongloff at [email protected] contact the editor responsible for this story: Mary Duenwald at [email protected] column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Mark Gongloff is an editor with Bloomberg Opinion. He previously was a managing editor of Fortune.com, ran the Huffington Post’s business and technology coverage, and was a columnist, reporter and editor for the Wall Street Journal.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
September 30, 2019Read More
Rudolph W. Giuliani is at the center of an alleged pressure campaign to enlist Ukraine’s help in investigating the president’s political rivals.
September 30, 2019Read More
Nearly a year after a man opened fire in Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, members of the congregation are holding their High Holy Days celebration at an Episcopal church that welcomed them in.
September 30, 2019Read More
Covington Catholic, Boyle County, Bell County, Somerset and Pikeville are on top in their respective classes.
September 30, 2019Read More
The decline in killings and property crimes in 2018 continues a decades-long trend, according to F.B.I. data.
September 30, 2019Read More
The U.N. and The International Committee of the Red Cross applauded the effort and hope it will lead to further releases by Houthi rebels as well as by the Saudi-led coalition waging war in Yemen.
September 30, 2019Read More
The penalties were announced as Congress investigates whether President Trump tried to enlist Ukraine’s leader in a smear campaign against one of his top Democratic challengers in 2020.
September 30, 2019Read More
President Emmanuel Macron of France tried to broker a call in the New York hotel where Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, was staying. President Trump wanted to talk. Mr. Rouhani declined.
September 30, 2019Read More
3 drivers named Highway Angels for on-the-job heroics The Trucker
September 30, 2019Read More
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