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Greens have replaced the SPD in Germany and something Putin and Juncker appear to agree on
Today's daily is a grab bag of topics that I have been thinking about over the past week. I have a backlog of stories from earlier in the week I missed. So let me add these into the mix today.
But first up today is this chart from German…
Italy is too big to fail
A segment on the Dutch news program Nieuwsuur prompted this post.
Earlier today, I was looking at 10-year yields and noticed Italy jumping to over 3.7%. As I write this, the yield is 3.713%. And that's up from a low of 1.633% in the past…
China’s doubling down on command-style economic governance as growth wanes
The big news this morning is the slowing growth in China. The third quarter numbers showed the country growing at its slowest pace in a decade. And the questions now are whether this slowdown continues and what China does about it.
This is…
The euro was always controversial: What Eurobarometers say about the EU’s legitimacy (part…
So, yesterday I parsed the EU sentiment data from the EU's early expansion period. And what we saw was rising support for the EU right up until 1991. But after that time, support for the EU collapsed and has never recovered. I want to look…
What Eurobarometers say about the EU’s legitimacy (part one)
Since 1974, the European Commission has published a twice-yearly comprehensive poll to gauge sentiment on various social and economic issues in the European Union. Today, I downloaded every one of these polls and have been busy parsing the…
The disintegration of legitimacy in western democracies
Today's daily post is going to be more of a theme post, largely because the news flow warrants it. I have at least three articles in mind, which were published over the last 24 hours that touch on the theme of a building illegitimacy in…
Lyft subscription plan is the future of ride hailing
If one thinks of it as a car-replacement service, Lyft could now work as an effective replacement for driving to work or as a replacement for a park and ride commute for many people.
Trump’s amoral stance on Saudi, Sears’ potential liquidation and a bearish fund manager…
1 - Saudi
It looks as if US President Trump is trying to support the narrative that the Khashoggi assassination was a rogue interrogation gone wrong, allowing the Saudi government to escape sanction. But condemnation is so widespread, it's…
Watch Congress on Saudi not Trump, and look at China as the key to climate change
1 - Saudi
The foreign policy crisis around Saudi Arabia's alleged assassination in Turkey of a dissident US-resident journalist is dominating headlines. As is often true, it's not clear where Trump stands on the issue. And given the…
The post-Kavanaugh midterm narrative is wrong
The narrative that emerged after the nomination battle over Brett Kavanaugh was dominated by claims that the Republican base had been energized by disgust at the so-called liberal mob that protested Kavanaugh's nomination. But I believe…