‘Swanston St from the Bridge’ 1861, Henry Burn, National Gallery of Victoria
Macro & Markets
- Dollar on borrowed time as U.S. twin deficits balloon – Reuters
- U.S. slaps tariffs on French and German wines, aircraft parts amid EU dispute – Reuters
- The key takeaways for global markets in 2020 – Ninefax, El-Erian
- Cryptocurrency going mainstream still mostly a pipe dream – Ninefax, Cowan
- US warns of potential Iran-linked attack, send B52s to region – Ninefax
- Big Economic Stimulus Works. And That’s a Problem – Bloomberg, Moss
- It’s Been a Terrible Year for Freedom – Bloomberg
- EU-China investment deal done and dusted – DW
- Price of international shipping triples because of container shortages – DW
- Stay in the doughnut, not the hole: how to get out of the crisis with both our economy and environment intact – The Conversation
- Deglobalisation in the context of United States-China decoupling – Bruegel
- Global banks see US-China tensions halting deal-fees boon in 2021 – Nikkei Asia
- COVID-19 must not be a weapon of great power politics – Nikkei Asia
- EU-China investment deal may antagonise Biden administration – Irish Times
Americas
- Cash-strapped Americans ask Mnuchin where their “stimmy” checks are – Reuters
- How military superiority made America less safe – Vox
- Where Year Two of the Pandemic Will Take Us – The Atlantic
- The Deep Story of Trumpism – The Atlantic
- The Resistance’s Breakup With the Media Is at Hand – The Atlantic…good read…
- Corporate America experiences ‘K-shaped’ recovery as largest businesses get bigger – Financial Post
- 2020 Hindsight: The pandemic has tested Canada’s social capital – Financial Post
- Air travellers entering Canada must have a negative COVID-19 test before arrival, Ottawa says – CBC
- Mexico Set to Become World’s Largest Legal Cannabis Market – Bangkok Post
- Stimulus Money Should Have Gone to the Jobless, Economists Say – NY Times
- Illinois weed sales on pace to top $1 billion in year one of recreational sales, with plenty of room to grow – Chicago Tribune
- How the Fed Will Respond to the Coming Inflation Scare – Bloomberg
- Biden should maintain restrictions on U.S. financial services companies going into China – MarketWatch
- Why the wealthiest Americans should prepare for ‘a revolt against the unprecedented inequality’ – MarketWatch
- Resurgence in coronavirus-induced layoffs to keep U.S. jobless claims high – MarketWatch
Asia
- China Is Making It Harder to Solve the Mystery of How Covid Began – Bloomberg…of course they are – it began there…
- China Caps Bank Loans to Real Estate to Curb Systematic Risk – Bloomberg
- South Korea’s inflation remained slow in December – MarketWatch
- Taiwan bans non-resident foreigners – Taipei Times
- China to Expand Anti-Money Laundering Oversight to Nonbanks – Caixin
- India should follow US lead on Tibet policy – Asia Times
- Importance of Tibet’s rivers for Asian water security – Asia Times
- 25 days that changed the world: How COVID-19 slipped China’s grasp – Japan Times
- Nepal slips toward anarchy as India and China seek Himalayan edge – Nikkei Asia
- Southeast Asia must prepare for the worst in 2021 – Nikkei Asia
- The Three Big Mistakes China Made in 2020 – Bloomberg
- China averts liquidity squeeze by pumping US$92 billion of funding into banks over five weeks to spare the havoc on bonds – SCMP
- China’s Xi Jinping vows new push to revitalise rural economy in post-coronavirus world of uncertainty – SCMP
- China’s economic activity slowed modestly in December, new data shows – SCMP
- China-EU investment deal: Joe Biden repeats call for ‘coordinated approach’ to handle Beijing – SCMP
- Indonesia’s rice racket – New Mandala
Advertisement
Europe
- A divided United Kingdom exits EU’s orbit, enters Brexit unknown – Reuters
- Tesco, Pizza Hut and Superdrug in minimum wage fail – BBC…all over the world large multinationals rip off their own employees…
- The Insider: Kremlin creating pro-Russia party in Belarus. – BNE Intellinews…word on the street in Moscow is that Lukashenko has weeks….
- What next for London, the world’s second-largest financial center? – DW
- Brexit: Spain-Gibraltar risk ‘hard border’ amid last-minute talks – DW
- Co-ops in Spain’s Basque Region Soften Capitalism’s Rough Edges – NY Times
- Europe hurried to sign China pact to preempt Biden – Asia Times
Terra Specufestor
- Government under pressure to review JobSeeker, superannuation early access – Ninefax
- End to COVID-19 foreign investment rule prompts call for broader reform – Ninefax
- China-Australia relations: Canberra’s plan to scrap research accord labelled ‘act of revenge’ over trade dispute – SCMP
- Suspected Chinese submarine drone found by Indonesian fishermen in crucial maritime passage to Australia – ABC
- Super release slows but almost 3 million Australians have sucked billions from retirement savings – ABC
- Fruit picker claims farmers know of ‘abysmal’ wages — but consumers hold key to better pay – ABC…an absolute disgrace…
- Uni fee rises and welfare cuts: six Australian government changes coming on 1 January 2021 – Guardian
- Casual and part-time jobs at record levels after Australia’s Covid recession, analysis finds – Guardian
- How Josh Frydenberg is backing the boss class amid capital-on-capital skirmishes – Guardian…Josh doesn’t support real capitalism, just crony capitalism…
- Faustian Pact: no way back from public relations for News and Nine – Michael West
- The Pitts: Government gifts Woodside $130 million Christmas present – Michael West
- Home ownership and super are far more entwined than you might think – The Conversation
- The Twerp Factory (IPA) wants to destroy the ABC – Pearls & Irritations
- Medicare Review: professional mobbing and cartel behaviour against nurses – Pearls & Irritations
- What real reform looks like: increase wages and tackle inequality, climate change – Pearls & Irritations
- 2020 and beyond. Comeback, but to what? – Pearls & Irritations
- We Australians face China’s bullying insults with honor – Nikkei Asia
…and furthermore…
- Russian scientists discover intact Ice Age woolly rhino in Siberia – DW
- Governments, business and academia must join hands to build trust in AI’s potential for good – SCMP
- Interest rates are negative and a similar dynamic is driving Google and Facebook’s fight for media content – ABC
- The year shopping changed forever – Vox
- Meatless meat is going mainstream. Now Big Food wants in. – Vox
- The World Needs to Work Together to Make Heat and Air Conditioning More Energy Efficient – Slate
- The Year That Changed the Internet – The Atlantic
- Working From Bed Is Actually Great – NY Times
- Meritocracy isn’t an alternative to inequality — it’s a justification, says this Harvard philosopher – MarketWatch
- The Caspian Sea is set to fall by 9 metres or more this century – an ecocide is imminent – The Conversation