Links 24 December 2019

Global Macro / Markets / Investing:

• Harvard’s Larry Summers : We are facing backlash against globalism. We pushed hard on trade deals but we barely cared about labor protection deals or environment protection deals. The willingness of people to be intimidated into supporting cosmopolitan outcomes appears to have been exhausted. – FT
• The economics of wasteful spending: The deadweight loss of Christmas – PBS
• The Economy, 2019: A Microcosm of a Decade in Which Growth Was Slow and Market Gains Fast – Barrons

Americas:

• Effort to freeze Ukraine aid began about 90 minutes after call between Trump and Zelensky – CNN (read the transcript! /s)
• Trump administration opposes Graham’s Russia sanctions bill after meeting with Kremlin official – Salon.com
• Half of U.S. workers didn’t get a boost in pay this year despite the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, a new survey has found. – CBS News
• Trump rails against windmills: ‘I never understood wind’ – The Hill (only his own hot air)
• Christian Today Editor Says He’s Troubled By Fellow Evangelicals Who Won’t Call Out Trump – Talkingpoints (that’s because they aren’t real Christians)

Europe:

• Union anger as ‘essential’ NHS Chesterfield Royal Hospital service outsourced to US company – DerbyshireTimes (and the privatisation of NHS begins….well done Brits!)
• Saudis sentence five to death for Khashoggi murder – BBC News
• Landmark ruling that Holland must curb emissions to protect citizens from climate emergency upheld | The Dutch government will now have to cut emissions by at least 25% by the end of 2020 from benchmark 1990 levels. – Independent
• UK’s number of doctors per capita is one of lowest in Europe – Guardian
• Iran’s leader ordered crackdown on unrest – ‘Do whatever it takes to end it’ – Reuters

Asia:

Trans-Tasman: