What we’re reading (12/10)
“U.S. Inflation Hit A 39-Year High In November” (Wall Street Journal). “U.S. inflation reached a nearly four-decade high in November, as strong consumer demand collided with pandemic-related supply constraints. The Labor Department said the consumer-price index—which measures what consumers pay for goods and services—rose 6.8% in November from the same month a year ago. That was the fastest pace since 1982 and the sixth straight month in which inflation topped 5%.”
“Why High Inflation Will Persist In America Well Into The New Year” (The Economist). “If these headlines about inflation highs seem like clockwork in America, that is because, to a significant extent, they now are. Such are the basic mathematics of year-on-year price trends. The surge in inflation since the start of 2021 means that it is guaranteed to remain elevated in annual terms for a while to come. A relatively optimistic forecast would have inflation returning to its pre-pandemic norm only at the very end of 2022.”
“Reasons For Optimism After A Difficult Year” (Bill Gates). “I am hopeful…that the end [of the pandemic] is finally in sight. It might be foolish to make another prediction, but I think the acute phase of the pandemic will come to a close some time in 2022.”
“A Better Deal For The World's Workers” (Dani Rodrik, Project Syndicate). “In developing countries, where standard economic theory predicted that workers would be the main beneficiary of the expanding global division of labor, corporations and capital again reaped the biggest gains. A forthcoming book by George Washington University’s Adam Dean shows that even where democratic governments prevailed, trade liberalization went hand in hand with repression of labor rights.”
“Do Portfolios Have A UAP Risk?” (Financial Times). “What’s curious, then, is the degree to which markets have thus far ignored what is becoming the transformation of one of the greatest unknown unknowns of all time into a known unknown. We are, of course, talking about the growing seriousness with which both Pentagon officials and Congress have starting taking the phenomenon of so-called Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) -- more colloquially known as UFOs.”
