What we’re reading (7/4)
Happy Fourth!
“How Crazy Prices And Yearslong Wait Times Could Doom The Electric-Car Experiment” (Vanity Fair). “According to Cars.com, which tracks sales across the U.S., demand is so high that dealer inventory of all new vehicles has plummeted by 70% over the past three years: Car dealers had 3.4 million vehicles available for sale in April 2019; by this April, that number had dropped to just over one million. The consumer-research company J.D. Power reported in April that the average number of days a new car sits at a dealership before it’s purchased was on pace to be only three weeks, compared to 49 days just a year prior.”
“Today’s Global Economy Is Eerily Similar To The 1970s, But Governments Can Still Escape A Stagflation Episode” (Brookings). “The stagflation of that era [the 1970s] ended with a global recession and a series of financial crises in EMDEs [emerging market and developing economies]. In light of the lessons of that stagflation episode, these economies need to do a quick rethink of policies to cope with the consequences of rapidly tightening global financing conditions.”
“If The U.S. Is In A Recession, It’s A Very Strange One” (Wall Street Journal). “Today, something highly unusual is happening. Economic output fell in the first quarter and signs suggest it did so again in the second. Yet the job market showed little sign of faltering during the first half of the year. The jobless rate fell from 4% last December to 3.6% in May. It is the latest strange twist in the odd trajectory of the pandemic economy, and a riddle for those contemplating a recession. If the U.S. is in or near one, it doesn’t yet look like any other on record.”
“What To Do Now To Prepare For The Next Recession” (The New York Times). “Perhaps the program most obviously in need of changes is unemployment insurance. Congress acted to shore up the program in the early days of the pandemic, expanding benefit eligibility to people typically left out, like tipped restaurant workers and gig workers, adding weeks of benefits and increasing them by $600 a week. Without those emergency actions, however, many Americans would most likely have gotten very little pay for a paltry number of weeks — or been unable to qualify at all.”
“Another Crypto Lender Vauld Pauses Withdrawals As Market Crash Takes Its Toll” (CNBC). “Crypto lender Vauld on Monday paused all withdrawals, trading and deposits on its platform and is exploring potential restructuring options, the company said.”
