What we’re reading (3/5)
“A Strong Jobs Report Shows How The U.S. Economy Has Learned To Live With The Coronavirus” (New Yorker). “[T]he February report showed that the economy has displayed sustained strength: the employment figures for December and January were revised upward, and the updated figures show that the economy has created almost 1.75 million jobs over the past three months. That’s close to six hundred thousand a month—roughly three times the rate before the pandemic. Since November, the employment-to-population ratio, which is a broad measure of the labor market’s strength, has risen by six-tenths of a percentage point to 59.9%, the highest since the pandemic began. That, too, is a positive sign—especially during a period when the Omicron wave spread across the country.”
“Lloyd Blankfein, Cold Warrior: The Veteran Banker Watches As The System He Helped Build Turns Into A Weapon.” (New York Magazine). “‘I know this will sound very unbankerlike,’ he said, ‘but I think it crossed everyone’s moral threshold.’ […] ‘What makes these sanctions different has to do with an apparent mistake on Putin’s part: Central-bank reserves aren’t always kept in a big bank vault, and Russia had stored its money in countries that are the most enraged about the invasion…[t]hat left Russia with as little as $12 billion in cash on hand and, with sanctions against its major banks, few avenues to convert its gold and other reserves into hard currency. ‘What does it mean to have $640 billion of reserves?’ Blankfein asked. ‘Putin is not sitting on a bed, throwing it up in the air and watching it fall down on his head like Scrooge McDuck.’”
“IMF Warns That War In Ukraine Will Have ‘Severe Impact’ On Global Economy” (Axios). “‘While the situation remains highly fluid and the outlook is subject to extraordinary uncertainty, the economic consequences are already very serious,’ the IMF said in a statement…The IMF also said it planned to bring Ukraine's request for $1.4 billion in emergency financing to its board for consideration as early as next week.”
“Elon Musk Says Russia’s War Means More Oil Production Needed Now” (Yahoo!Finance). “‘Hate to say it, but we need to increase oil & gas output immediately,’ the billionaire tweeted Saturday, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine chokes off fuel supplies and drives up gas prices…’Obviously, this would negatively affect Tesla, but sustainable energy solutions simply cannot react instantaneously to make up for Russian oil & gas exports,’ said Musk.”
