Sunday Supplement: 6 September 2020

‘The Pink Heron’ Brett Whiteley, 1969, Art Gallery of NSW

Macro & Markets

• Anthropologist and Occupy activist David Graeber dies – DW…vale, and thanks for the definitive work of our age ‘bullshit jobs’….
• China may ditch US Treasuries as decoupling risk looms: Global Times – SCMP…financialised MAD – people have been pointing out there is no way out of here since the early 2000s…
• Banks prepare for end of the world’s most important number – Asia Times
• How Covid-19 is changing international business and politics – BNE Intellinews
• Coronavirus, record stimulus halt US dollar’s show of strength – DW
• The Warning Signs of a Combustible Presidential Transition – The Atlantic
• Scenarios for the South China Sea :The good, the bad and the downright ugly – Pearls and Irritations
• American Big Pharma to stand against rushing COVID vaccine: sources – Ninefax
• Xi Jinping calls for freer service trade as China tries to counter decoupling – SCMP
• Tax evaders can help foot the world’s bill for coronavirus spending – SCMP
• Exclusive: Trump administration weighs blacklisting China’s chipmaker SMIC – Reuters
• Ex-World Bank head Robert Zoellick: ‘The world could look like 1900 again’ – BBC

Americas

• The Federal Reserve and quantitative easing: A boost for investment, a burden on inflation – VoxEU
• Kenosha’s looting is a symptom of a decrepit democracy – Vox
• A third of Americans might refuse a Covid-19 vaccine. How screwed are we? – Vox
• Cutting Unemployment Benefits Hasn’t Sped Up Hiring – Slate
• The Highly Contingent, Deeply Uncertain Case for Economic Optimism – Slate
• US unemployment rate falls in August as many workers on temporary layoffs return to work – Peterson Institute
• U.S. job growth loses speed as fiscal stimulus ebbs – Reuters
• Fed policymakers signal comfort with higher inflation – Reuters
• Powell says low interest rates could last for years – CNBC
• U.S. is still in a ‘very significant recession’ despite job gains, Fed’s Rosengren says – CNBC
• Has the US Fed buried Milton Friedman’s monetary legacy? – Pearls and Irritations
• US trade deficit with China wider than May 2016, when Donald Trump accused China of ‘greatest theft in history’ – SCMP
• Manufacturers Are Coming Home. Are U.S. Workers Ready? – Bloomberg
• An Epic Factory Jobs Boom Is on the Way – Bloomberg
• U.S. trade deficit soars to $64B, highest in 12 years – CBC
• US election 2020: What Donald Trump misunderstands about American suburbia – New Statesman
• The Service Economy Meltdown – NY Times

Asia

• India’s annual GDP to contract 10.9%: report – Asia Times
• New Rising Sun: can post-Abe Japan leave China’s shadow to lead Asia? – SCMP
• China’s biggest banks prepare for a wave of bad loans – Asia Times
• Kazakhstan slaps foreign bank account ban on officials – BNE Intellinews
• China’s rare earth exports to the US could fall by a third as global demand drops 5 per cent this year amid coronavirus, analysts say – SCMP
• Why China’s subprime credit crisis would benefit from a debt amnesty – SCMP
• Japan’s Suga signals ultra-easy monetary policy to continue – Reuters
• China officials run for cover as Xi Jinping prepares another brutal purge – Nikkei Asian Review

Europe

• Lukashenko’s crackdown leads to exodus of IT professionals – BNE Intellinews
• Climate change and the Russian economy – BNE Intellinews
• Navalny, Novichok and Nord Stream 2 — Germany stuck between a rock and a pipeline – DW
• EU presents new strategy on ‘critical raw materials’ – DW
• Italy’s ‘last chance’: How Europe’s massive stimulus plan will determine Rome’s future – CNBC
• Brexit: as the deadline looms, why are negotiations stalling? – The Conversation
• Europe Just Declared Independence From China – Bloomberg

Terra Specufestor

• “Doing it Tough”: Defence spending spin belies deluge of dollars for multinational contractors – Michael West
• Rorting of school funding – Pearls and Irritations
• It was a mistake to privatise aged care – Pearls and Irritations, Baume
• How to move out of recession? The tough decisions are ahead – Ninefax
• Worst on Ground: retirees lose as major parties reject ‘Best in Show’ for super funds – Michael West
• Privatisation of child care laid bare: women pay high price – Michael West
• Recovering water for the environment in the Murray-Darling: farm upgrades increase water prices more than buybacks – The Conversation
• Is ASIC more concerned about relationships with boards than enforcing the law? – The Conversation
• When it comes to economic reform, the old days really were better. We checked – The Conversation
• Morrison government plan to scrap water buybacks will hurt taxpayers and the environment – The Conversation
• The wild west channels those old secessionist dreams by refusing to get on Scott Morrison’s COVID bus – The Conversation
• To restore the nation’s fortunes, Morrison must not only appear humble he must be humble – Ninefax
• Use $10 billion a year to create 500,000 jobs: business – Ninefax
• Morrison has to choose whether to force the economy open – Ninefax
• Trump administration concerned about Australia’s tech giant crackdown – Ninefax
• Inside Australia’s high-stakes fight with Facebook over news – Irish Times
• Why Facebook Is Going to War in Australia – Slate
• As Australia-China ties spiral downward, why is Lee Kuan Yew’s warning a talking point? – SCMP
• Karma time for tenants as apartments lie vacant and rents plummet – Guardian
• Houses built so close in Logan, their roofs and gutters touch – ABC
• Why company profits have jumped in Australia during COVID-19 while workers are taking home less – ABC…because the system is designed to cream workers and spruce profits?…
• Australians who lost work from coronavirus describe job-hunting as ‘frustrating’, ‘disheartening’ and ‘demoralising’ – ABC
• Trump administration concerned about Australia’s tech giant crackdown – Ninefax
• Australia faces down China in high-stakes strategy – Reuters
• Eviction bans end for 8 million renters. Could this be the start of a housing disaster? – ABC
• £14k alligator bag destroyed over missing import permit – BBC…Perth Airport…
• Australians need government support to get out of this recession. Winding it back is not an option – Guardian
• Coalition plans to lure big foreign companies to Australia with tax breaks – Guardian

…and furthermore…

• Coronavirus: Russian vaccine shows signs of immune response – BBC
• ‘Selfies’ can reveal heart disease: AI research – Asia Times
• A Russian-born startup based in Singapore uses AI to penetrate the mysteries of human longevity – BNE Intellinews
• Open economy challenges: Global currencies and trading networks – VoxEU
• Dual interest rates give central banks limitless fire power – VoxEU
• The burden of non-transferable property rights: Can’t sell, can’t collateralise, can’t develop – VoxEU
• Working from home: The polarising workplace – VoxEU
• Big Oil’s hopes are pinned on plastics. It won’t end well. – Vox
• Central bankers need to overhaul outdated thinking on labor markets – Peterson Institute, Posen…do they ever…
• Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine showed antibody response in initial trials – Reuters
• Russia’s potential coronavirus vaccine shows ‘no serious adverse’ effects and creates antibody response: The Lancet study – CNBC
• Generation Work-From-Home May Never Recover: The social and economic costs borne by young people without offices – The Atlantic
• The Pandemic Has Created a Class of Super-Savers – The Atlantic
• ‘The world’s greatest psychological experiment’: When the loneliness epidemic met the coronavirus pandemic – Ninefax
• Novichok: how are victims surviving poisoning? – The Conversation
• Why sleep is so important for losing weight – The Conversation
• Russian coronavirus vaccine results have been published – here’s what they reveal – The Conversation
• Remote-work visas will shape the future of work, travel and citizenship – The Conversation…this…
• This ancient Chinese anatomical atlas changes what we know about acupuncture and medical history – The Conversation
• Author and Macquarie strategist Viktor Shvets on the impact of the Information Age and financialization, and how they are creating a different, new world – Interest.co.nz
• The anarchist: How David Graeber became the left’s most influential thinker – New Statesman