Links 17 August 2020

Global Macro / Markets / Investing:

• Why Isn’t Everyone Buying EVs Yet? It’s Not Just The Price – Forbes
• Amazon Cuts More than 1200 Delivery Contract Jobs, Even As That Part of Its Business Boom – Technology Elevation
• Green Growth Has Made Dominica The Fastest Growing Economy In The Caribbean – Forbes
• Stock market looks like ‘hapless Wile E. Coyote, running off the edge of a cliff,’ says behavioral economist – MarketWatch
• Companies are weighing stock splits after Tesla and Apple’s announcement, expert says – MarketWatch
• U.S. Worse Off Than Russia, Mexico in 2020 Economic Misery Ranking – Bloomberg
• Wall Street executives are glad Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris to be his VP running mate – CNBC

Americas:

• Congress exits with no deal, leaving economists flabbergasted – The Hill
• Here comes the next wave of chain bankruptcies – Restaurant Business Online
• The Fed is trapped in corporate indebtedness – Finances Herald
• Profiteering off the Pandemic – Common Dreams
• Coronavirus Chased Off Tourists—Lots of Locals Don’t Want Them Ever Flocking Back – WSJ
• The Post Office’s Great Mail Slowdown Is Hurting Small Businesses – Vice
• 32% of Americans Entered August With Unpaid Housing Bills – Apartment List
• Poll: Majority of voters now say the government should have a universal basic income program – The Hill
• Fact check: Socialist policies alone did not destroy Venezuela’s economy in last decade – USA Today
• More businesses were lost in the last 3 months than all of the Great Recession – Axios

Europe:

• The EU reports the sharpest quarterly decline in GDP since the beginning of statistics – Economic Daily
• Lukashenko: “Putun and I agreed: at our first request Russia will provide comprehensive military assistance to ensure Belarus’s security” – FT
• Belarus’ Lukashenko: Air assault brigade will move from Russian borders to borders with Poland – Reuters
• France asks Afghans not to free Taliban convicted of killing French citizens – Reuters
• Belarus president says Putin ready to help ‘ensure security’ – Aljazeera
• Erdogan says Turkey ‘will not back down’ in East Med standoff – Reuters
• French daily COVID-19 cases rise above 3,000 – Reuters

Asia:

• Trump ‘looking into’ pressuring, banning Chinese companies such as Alibaba – JPost
• How the Plaza Accord helped the US destroy the Japanese economy – Medium
• UK halts military training for Hong Kong police as relations with China decline – The Guardian
• Thousands Rally Against South Korea’s Moon Jae-in Despite Coronavirus Warning – Japan Times
• Thai King Commutes Sentence of UK Pair’s Killers – BBC
• Thai Police Arrest Anti-Government Student Leader – BBC

Trans-Tasman:

• Gutless Wonders: when will politicians demonstrate the accountability they foist on the rest of us? – Michael West
• Victorian Liberal Party investigating potential branch stacking after audit finds more than 20 irregularities – ABC
• Report highlights super-exploited conditions of Australia’s casual university staff – WSWS
• Defence Department warns that ‘highly active’ spies pose ‘extreme threat’ to Australia’s shipbuilding plan – ABC
• Australia’s second-hand trade is booming as people clear out cupboards in lockdown – SBS
• Around 300 foreign students to fly in to SA under university pilot program – Sky
• The Morrison government is trying to lock in a less equitable economy for years to come – The Guardian
• Dissent in press freedom inquiries – Saturday Paper
• Scott Morrison’s coronavirus mea culpa was barely disguised score-settling with Daniel Andrews – The Guardian
• Victorian aged care leak shows Melbourne home ‘begging’ for staff after coronavirus outbreak – The Guardian
• Australia’s special forces problem: why the SAS is facing a crisis – The Guardian
• Coalition’s homebuilder scheme attracts less than 250 applicants and ‘no payments have been made’ – The Guardian
• Melbourne business owners fear eviction as they struggle to make rent under coronavirus restrictions – ABC
• ‘It’s called jobkeeper for a reason’: Morrison responds to companies subsidising dividends – The Guardian
• A resource-based perspective on immigration – Interest.co.nz
• If we can’t cut the OCR, how about GST? – Interest.co.nz