“Republicans will not vote to increase the federal borrowing limit, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a new interview, setting the stage for a huge battle in Congress as it stares at a deadline to avoid a debt default.
“McConnell’s threat prompted outrage from top Democrats, warning the GOP leader is playing a dangerous game that could tank the US economy. Republicans argue that it’s not uncommon for the majority party to shoulder the burden for increasing the debt limit, a politically toxic vote for lawmakers up for reelection.”
“U.S. jobless claims show surprise gain, well above expectations…
“Initial filings for unemployment insurance totaled 419,000 for the week ended July 17, well above the 350,000 Dow Jones estimate and more than the upwardly revised 368,000 from the previous period, the Labor Department reported Thursday.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/22/us-weekly-jobless-claims.html
“‘My savings were gone’: millions [of Americans] who lost work during Covid faced benefit system chaos…
“Unemployed workers are pushing for reforms and changes to America’s unemployment insurance system after millions of workers experienced severe problems in receiving benefits throughout the pandemic.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/22/unemployment-systems-reform-pandemic
“A majority of Americans think children will be financially worse off than their parents, survey finds…
“More than two-thirds (68%) of U.S. respondents said they think today’s children will be financially worse off as adults than their parents, up from 60% in 2019. Only 32% think children will be better off.”
“US race relations at lowest point in more than 20 years, poll finds… For the second year running, the relationship between Black and white adults in the US is at its worst in two decades, a poll has found.
“Washington DC analytics firm Gallup published its research on Wednesday, stating that 57 per cent of American adults perceived race relations to be “somewhat” or “very” bad.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/black-white-race-gallup-poll-us-b1888730.html
“Accident waiting to happen’: Zero-down mortgages in Canada stoke U.S. subprime-like fears…
“This is year twenty-five of the great Canadian housing bull market, a nearly uninterrupted straight line up that has few parallels in the world. At a time of soaring real-estate prices all over the globe, only one major economy — New Zealand — has a frothier housing market than Canada…”
https://financialpost.com/real-estate/mortgages/zero-down-mortgages-subprime-fears-canada
“Covid ‘pingdemic’ and Brexit mean food and gas shortages in parts of UK.
“A dramatic surge in Covid-19 cases is forcing hundreds of thousands of workers to stay home in Britain, causing shortages of food and gasoline and heaping stress on supply chains that were already strained by Brexit.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/22/business/uk-covid-19-workers-pingdemic-scli-intl-gbr/index.html
“Europe’s central bank could print another $1 trillion and then some.
“The European Central Bank signaled that it would keep interest rates low [negative] for longer on Thursday following a change in its approach to prices that will allow policymakers to keep pouring on stimulus until they’re confident that inflation will get to 2% and stay there.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/22/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html
“The global semiconductor shortage is disrupting production in the German car industry just as demand rebounds strongly from the pandemic-induced downturn.
“Automakers Daimler and BMW said this week that the lack of chips had forced assembly lines to slow down or stop, cutting output by tens of thousands vehicles and leading to longer wait times for customers.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/21/business/BMW-Daimler-semiconductor-chips.html
“Sicilian towns face bankruptcy over Etna clean-up costs…
“Dozens of Sicilian towns face bankruptcy due to the cost of cleaning up the volcanic ash left by Mount Etna, which has been erupting regularly since February… “The situation is very serious,” said Alfio Previtera, a council official in the town of Giarre…”
“Alleged killing of migrant by far-right politician prompts Italy gun control row…
“Massimo Adriatici, a councillor for security in Voghera, is under house arrest after the shooting outside a bar in the Lombardy town on Tuesday night. Youns El Bossettaoui, a 38-year-old man from Morocco, was shot in the chest and later died in hospital.”
“More than 230 migrants jump fence into Spain’s Melilla…
“Over 230 migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa arrived in Melilla in the early hours of Thursday… Equipped with hooks, some 300 migrants attempted to jump over the six-metre high fence, but only 238 managed to cross to the other side, leaving several injured…”
“China rushes to set up bailout funds for indebted state-run firms.
“Local governments in China are racing to launch rescue funds worth billions of dollars to bail out state-owned groups after a flurry of high-profile bond defaults that shook international investors.”
https://www.ft.com/content/d75dcbb0-f856-4597-a679-53ecacd400bf
“Evergrande: Could This Real Estate Group Spark A Chinese Financial Contagion?
“…If not its beating heart, China Evergrande Group, with its countless development subsidiaries, is at least the distended central vein of the Chinese financial system.
A voluminous channel through which flows so much of the capital with which the central government force-feeds the economy, the heavily indebted group is now seeing its shares slide and its assets frozen by regulators. The question: Will it finally fail?”
“Hong Kong banks suspend mortgages to Evergrande projects in city.
“Banks in Hong Kong including HSBC Holdings, its unit Hang Seng Bank and Bank of East Asia have stopped approving some mortgages for properties being developed by embattled China Evergrande Group in the city, four people familiar with the decisions say.”
“Violence escalates in water-shortage protests in Iran’s Khuzestan. Six nights of protests over water shortages have turned deadly…
“A third civilian has died during protests over water shortages in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province, authorities confirmed.”
“Expats fill suitcases with medicine, cash for families in Lebanon…
“Horrified by news of the country’s spiralling economic crisis, compounded by fuel shortages and long daily power outages, Lebanese expats visiting home have stuffed their suitcases with life-saving medicine, hygiene products, baby formula, diapers, and even power banks for their families.”
“Yemen currency devalues to historic lows, exacerbating hunger needs, warns IRC.
“The International Rescue Committee is concerned about the rapidly growing level of humanitarian needs in Yemen, as the FX rate falls to 1,000 YER per $1 for the first time. The devaluation is making it impossible for citizens to afford basic necessities, including food.”
“Protests rock northern Haiti city ahead of president’s funeral.
“Unrest roiled the northern Haitian city of Cap-Haitien on Wednesday as demonstrators set up road blocks in protest against the assassination earlier this month of President Jovenel Moise, whose body will be laid to rest there on Friday.”
“‘Hunger has returned’: Covid piles further misery on Brazil’s vulnerable. Even before coronavirus, life was a struggle on Regeneration Street, a rubbish-strewn skid row on the north side of Rio de Janeiro…
“The Covid pandemic has piled further misery on what was already one of Brazil’s most depressed and vulnerable addresses, leaving its residents, like millions of fellow citizens, hungry and afraid.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/22/brazil-rio-coronavirus-hunger-poverty
“Dozens arrested in fresh Colombia protests: police…
“As Colombians returned to the streets after a weeks-long hiatus, clashes with riot police left dozens of civilians and agents wounded in the cities of Bogota, Medellin and Cali, according to the authorities.”
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210721-dozens-arrested-in-fresh-colombia-protests-police
“A few years ago, something strange started to happen in a video game called Old School RuneScape. Suddenly there were lots of new players in the game… They were winning gold in the game and then converting that game gold into actual money by selling it to other players on underground websites…
“Why? …The answer lay in one single collapsing economy. Venezuela. Rampant hyperinflation was undermining the local currency. And for thousands of Venezuelans, video game gold had become a currency of refuge.”
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/21/1018915121/video-gaming-the-system
“Covid wipes out $15T from global economic output: IMF. [No idea how they have calculated this but for reference, total global GDP is something like $80 trillion].
“The world economy has lost $15 trillion in output as a result of Covid-19 as central banks have provided more liquidity in the past year than in the last 10 years combined, a senior official of the IMF said.”
https://www.khaleejtimes.com/business/covid-wipes-out-15t-from-global-economic-output-imf
You can read the previous ‘Economic’ thread here. I’ll be back over the weekend with a ‘Climate’ thread.
If you found value in this content, please help me continue this work by becoming a patron of my work via patreon.com.
