Humanoid Robots are Coming

China’s Startups Race to Dominate the Coming AI Robot Boom
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-china-ai-robots-boom/ 

2025 Is the Year of the Humanoid Robot Factory Worker
https://www.wired.com/story/2025-year-of-the-humanoid-robot-factory-worker/
Long confined to the lab, humanoids finally appear ready to work in manufacturing. There are just a few hurdles to get them to market.
 
Related:
https://www.investors.com/news/technology/humanoid-robots-labor-shortages/

America Scores an Own Goal

World Scientists Look Elsewhere as U.S. Labs Stagger Under Trump Cuts
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/world/asia/us-science-cuts.html
With the welcome mat withdrawn for promising researchers from around the world, America is at risk of losing its longstanding pre-eminence in the sciences. 

Low State Capacity in America and Britain

Why doesn’t government work in the US? By Francis Fukuyama
https://www.ft.com/content/44a69ce3-7398-40f4-9fff-5c89e04b6d38
Most Americans used to think of it as a force for good — not any longer. 

Why is it that Britain cannot get anything done? By Jeremy Warner
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/31/hs2-ministers-promise-to-get-a-grip-dont-hold-your-breath/
A sclerosis continues to grip infrastructure projects in the UK despite all promises.

London’s crime epidemic ‘is scaring away tourists’
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/31/londons-crime-epidemic-scaring-away-tourists-hotel-giant/

Related:

Governments are chasing the wrong rainbows by Andy Haldane
https://www.ft.com/content/50e79018-83ac-4cf0-8747-237a8696baa6
Opportunity and upward mobility are more important than GDP growth.

The debate should be about the quality – not the size – of government by VIVEKANAND JAYAKUMAR, The Hill - 08/21/20

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/513007-the-debate-should-be-about-the-quality-not-size-of-government/

For far too long, the debate involving government’s role in society has been dominated by economists (especially those sympathetic to the small-government movement) who created the impression that the raw size of the government (measured, for instance, by government consumption’s share of GDP) was of critical importance. Recent developments and insights from political science and other related disciplines suggest that we should have placed greater emphasis on the factors that influence the quality of the government instead of being distracted by a never-ending and ideologically-driven battle over the superficial size of the government.

German Bureaucracy

The Soul-Sapping Grind of Doing Business in Bureaucratic Germany
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/germany-business-bureaucracy-9f192a46
Entrepreneurs warn that the country’s thicket of red tape has grown so dense it could choke a planned $1.1 trillion stimulus package. 

Accounting Jobs

How a ‘bulls--t jobs’ boom captured the Big Four accountants
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/30/how-a-bullsht-jobs-boom-captured-big-four-accountants/
Jobs at the top firms are now about ‘making money by pretending to be an expert’, say insiders. 

An Odd Stock Market

Why This Stock Market Makes So Many of Us Want to Scream
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/why-this-stock-market-makes-so-many-of-us-want-to-scream-fffd75d4
In these volatile times, it’s no wonder some investors are on the sidelines—and feeling stuck there. Here’s how to overcome your fear. 

US stock rally faces some stiff tests
https://www.ft.com/content/4ececb7a-8dde-4fbb-b51e-c2c99219ad7e

The Fastest Growing Major Economy

India's economy outperforms peers as it surges 7.4% in January-March
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-gdp-grows-74-jan-march-qtr-fastest-year-2025-05-30/
 
India’s GDP growth outpaces forecasts, easing pressure on Modi
https://www.ft.com/content/871c1699-8b9f-479d-b2c6-0b16051f2055 

Foreign Students - The Wrong Target

Targeting Chinese Students Threatens the Bottom Line at American Universities
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/targeting-chinese-students-threatens-the-bottom-line-at-american-universities-c64a89b5
A big decline in Chinese student enrollment could hurt the finances of many universities and damage U.S. competitiveness, experts say.
 

Demand for American degrees has already hit covid-era lows

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2025/05/28/demand-for-american-degrees-has-already-hit-covid-era-lows
Trump’s war on universities could drive away America’s brightest import. 

US to ‘aggressively’ revoke Chinese student visas
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/05/29/us-to-aggressively-revoke-chinese-student-visas/

French business schools fast-track entry for foreign students blocked from US
https://www.ft.com/content/902786e9-fd11-4089-b301-3c3c41c417fb
Institutions seek to lure elite scholars who fear being caught up by tougher US visa rules.

The TACO Trading Strategy

‘That’s the nastiest question’: Trump hits out at ‘chicken’ jibe
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/29/trump-hits-out-at-wall-street-chicken-jibe/
Traders have coined an acronym, ‘Taco’, based on the president’s tariff flip-flopping. 

This TACO Gives Trump Indigestion, So Watch Out
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-05-30/this-taco-gives-trump-indigestion-so-watch-out
The acronym — Trump Always Chickens Out — bruises the president’s ego and invites a chaotic response, mostly because it’s on the money.

Related:
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/05/taco-donald-trump-wall-street-tariffs/682994/

Gender and Society

The New Dream Job for Young Men: Stay-at-Home Son
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/stay-at-home-son-unemployment-jeopardy-c49a82bb
 
How porn and gaming sapped young men of their desire to work
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/29/how-porn-and-gaming-sapped-young-men-their-desire-work/
The rise of easy online entertainment means boys are disappearing into a digital world.
 
Britain is becoming a Left-wing country, and no one dares admit why
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/27/woke-women-are-turning-britain-left-wing-hr-feminism/
When studies consistently show that women are more likely than men to align with progressive ideologies, support identity politics and advocate for censorship, their dominance in HR takes on greater significance. They are, indeed, the woker sex, and their ideology is shaping institutions and businesses across the country. Firms have become excessively politicised, with corporate policies no longer focused solely on profitability or efficiency but virtue signalling and adherence to the creed of “diversity, equity and inclusion”. Consider, for instance, when Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc told MPs that there was no senior “non-diverse” (white male) hire made at the company without her approval. Or when Alison Rose made climate change a “central pillar” of her leadership at NatWest. 

Economies of Scale

Why it has never been better to be a big company
https://www.economist.com/business/2025/05/26/why-it-has-never-been-better-to-be-a-big-company
The upheaval brought by AI and Trump favors corporate giants—for now. 

Investment in India

India has a chance to cure its investment malaise
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/05/29/india-has-a-chance-to-cure-its-investment-malaise
Global trade turmoil presents a rare opportunity. 

Air Conditioners in India

Can India be cool?
https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/05/29/can-india-be-cool
India must both promote and prepare for a surge in air-conditioners.
 
Related:
https://www.economist.com/interactive/asia/2025/05/28/if-india-chokes-less-it-will-fry-more 

Trade Shocks versus Technology Shocks

The AI Job Suck Is the China Shock of Today by Jonathan Levin
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-05-29/the-ai-job-suck-is-the-china-shock-of-today
Big economic changes tend to leave some Americans behind. The Trump administration needs to look forward rather than focus on the past.
 
I made a similar point in February 2025:
https://thehill.com/opinion/5151848-generative-ai-economic-concerns/ 

Educated but unemployed, a rising reality for college grads
https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/US-Educated-but-unemployed-a-rising-reality-for-college-grads.pdf

For Some Recent Graduates, the A.I. Job Apocalypse May Already Be Here
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/technology/ai-jobs-college-graduates.html
The unemployment rate for recent college graduates has jumped as companies try to replace entry-level workers with artificial intelligence.

Sovereign Debt and Bond Market Turmoil

The Bond Market's Faith in America Is Facing a Severe Test
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-05-30/bond-market-s-faith-in-america-is-facing-a-severe-test
Higher yields on longer-term US Treasuries reflect real problems: excessive supply and waning foreign demand.

Japan’s Debt, Now Twice the Size of Its Economy, Forces Hard Choices
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/business/japan-debt.html
Japan’s government faces pressure to curtail debt-fueled spending that some argue has staved off populist waves.
 
The bond vigilantes are on the prowl
https://www.ft.com/content/8ea2e8b5-7ba0-46bd-bbbb-3895da1399c6
 
Investors beware, bond yields are approaching the danger zone
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/28/investors-beware-bond-yields-approaching-danger-zone/
The beloved 60/40 approach may no longer be diverse enough for your portfolio. 

Rise and Fall of El Zonte

Bitcoin Beach: How a small seaside town became cryptocurrency ground zero
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/05/27/bitcoin-beach-el-salvador-el-zonte/
El Zonte was transformed after Nayib Bukele made currency legal tender — but now the bubble has burst. 

Nayib Bukele is devolving from tech-savvy reformer to autocrat
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2025/05/29/nayib-bukele-is-devolving-from-tech-savvy-reformer-to-autocrat
El Salvador’s president is young, MAGA-friendly and ruthless.

Related:

When bitcoin is the business model, investors should beware
https://www.ft.com/content/b4bf613b-bbb9-4cac-b40f-adeacdf2d99f

Assessing China's Strengths and Weaknesses

Xi Jinping’s plan to overtake America in AI 
https://www.economist.com/china/2025/05/25/xi-jinpings-plan-to-overtake-america-in-ai
China’s leaders believe they can outwit American cash and utopianism.

China’s Soft Spot in Trade War with Trump: Risk of Huge Job Loss
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/business/china-unemployment-jobs.html
A chronic housing slowdown and high youth unemployment rate have made China more vulnerable than it was in President Trump’s first term. 

Focus on the New Economy, Not the Old: Why China's Economic Slowdown Understates Gains
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2025/02/focus-on-the-new-economy-not-the-old-why-chinas-economic.html
 
Beyond Tariffs: What the U.S. Can Learn from China's Industrial Playbook
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2025/04/beyond-tariffs-what-the-us-can-learn-from-chinas-industrial.html

How America is losing its military supremacy to China
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/05/25/china-military-capability-missiles-peoples-liberation-army/
Beijing’s army boasts almost a million more troops than the US and has the largest navy in the world.

America Let Its Military-Industrial Might Wither. China’s Is Booming.
https://www.wsj.com/world/america-let-its-military-industrial-might-wither-chinas-is-booming-7325f34b

Living in Exile

‘Everyone Around Me Thinks That I’m Crazy for Wanting to Come Back’
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/opinion/syria-migration-return-assad.html
An extraordinary piece from Lydia Polgreen:
In the modern world, we think the most profound form of punishment is confinement, the restriction of one’s freedom to move unencumbered in the world. But it is worth remembering that the most fearsome and irrevocable punishment for much of human existence was something else: exile. In our most ancient texts, across countless civilizations, being forced to leave your home to live among strangers long served as a fate akin to death.
People in rich countries fear that people imprisoned by poverty and conflict will break out of that confinement and storm their citadels of plenty. What they fail to recognize is that, absent total cataclysm, there is perhaps no force in human history more powerful than the longing for home. Nowhere is this clearer, and more moving, than in Syria today. 

Related:

Mexico Is Becoming a Beacon by LYDIA POLGREEN
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/opinion/mexico-united-states-migration.html 

Sweden Has a Big Problem by LYDIA POLGREEN
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/opinion/sweden-migration-policy.html

I Went to Dubai, and Caught a Glimpse of the Future by LYDIA POLGREEN

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/opinion/dubai-migration-trump.html 
Something Extraordinary Is Happening All Over the World by LYDIA POLGREEN
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/opinion/trump-migration-world.html

Demographics and the Stock Market

The great boomer selloff may overwhelm US stocks
https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/great-boomer-selloff-may-overwhelm-us-stocks-2025-05-23/ 

History Lesson: Franco's Dictatorship

The Truth about Franco Spain's forgotten Dictatorship
https://youtu.be/CxI4-nJEAKo 

Spheres of Influence

The Return of Spheres of Influence
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/return-spheres-influence

Trump’s Vision: One World, Three Powers?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/26/us/politics/trump-russia-china.html
President Trump’s recent actions and statements suggest he might want an arrangement where the United States, China and Russia each dominate their sphere of influence.
 
Related:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2025/05/25/fiona-hill-interview-trump-terrified-putin-seen-firsthand/ 

Immigration and California's Economy

Immigration Is the Only Thing Propping Up California’s Population
https://www.wsj.com/business/california-population-growth-immigration-h-1b-visa-4b526478
A job market without enough ‘homegrown’ engineers drives an influx of workers to the U.S.—and helps offset the residents who are leaving. 

Pop Psychology: Xi Jinping’s Mindset

Xi’s history shapes China’s diplomatic strategy: The Chinese leader doesn’t want a negotiated settlement. He wants a long war of resistance
https://www.ft.com/content/11c7580e-721b-4890-8dfa-fc24a6a82ce0
Xi was born into red royalty. His father, Xi Zhongxun, was a top party leader. But that protection vanished overnight when he was purged in the early 1960s. The teenage Xi was cast out of elite schools and branded a political liability. “Back then, our classmates all looked down on us and avoided us, as if we didn’t exist,” said a fellow student who was ostracised.
That dislocation cut deep. It instilled in him not just a distrust of political tides, but a hardened belief in self-preservation through discipline, control and loyalty to the system that had once abandoned him.
 
Related:
Don’t underestimate the Chinese consumer
https://www.ft.com/content/0e7018ef-ea66-4243-b71f-68cf5519234a 

US Trade Deficit will Worsen Again

The 90-Day Rush to Get Goods Out of China
https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/the-90-day-rush-to-get-goods-out-of-china-aa2b15b9
With a cease-fire declared in the U.S.-China trade war, firms are racing to rebook canceled orders and find space on containerships while they can. 

Related:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/shipping-bottlenecks-europe-send-warning-115200217.html

AI is Transforming the Job Market

At Amazon, Some Coders Say Their Jobs Have Begun to Resemble Warehouse Work
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/business/amazon-ai-coders.html
Pushed to use artificial intelligence, software developers at the e-commerce giant say they must work faster and have less time to think. Others welcome the shift.

A.I. Is Poised to Revolutionize Weather Forecasting. A New Tool Shows Promise.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/climate/ai-weather-models-aurora-microsoft.html
A Microsoft model can make accurate 10-day forecasts quickly, an analysis found. And, it’s designed to predict more than weather.
 
What if Making Cartoons Becomes 90% Cheaper?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/business/media/ai-cartoons-animation.html
A.I. has yet to upend Hollywood. But it is starting to make big inroads in animation.  

US Foreign Policy Errors in Africa

Short-Term Thinking Is Driving the US’s Pivot Away from Africa
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-23/trump-administration-s-rejection-of-soft-power-risks-africa-minerals-deal
Despite its interest in securing mineral supplies, the Trump administration has decided that soft power on the continent is a waste of time and money.
 
AUDIO VERSION:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2025-05-22/short-term-thinking-is-driving-the-us-s-africa-pivot-audio 

Generating Wealth

Meet the ‘Stealthy Wealthy’ Who Make Their Money the Boring Way
https://www.wsj.com/business/making-money-wealth-boring-8cc6c2cd

The Secret Path to Wealth No One Talks About. Go forth & earn money the boring way.
https://youtu.be/2gXdSUOvpgc 

Can Policymakers Think?

Why Is Policy Making So Bad?
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/why-is-policy-making-so-bad-22b87e2e
From Trump tariffs to Biden and Obama electric vehicles, shockingly little thinking is going on. 

The president’s economic policy approach is so far rattling markets, businesses and consumers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/us/politics/trump-taxes-tariffs-economy.html

The Next Financial Crisis

How the next financial crisis might happen
https://www.economist.com/special-report/2025/05/23/how-the-next-financial-crisis-might-happen
The new titans of Wall Street present the world with new risks. 

India's Sclerotic Legal System

How to fix India’s sclerotic justice system
https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/05/22/how-to-fix-indias-sclerotic-justice-system
There are plenty of ideas but not enough action.  

R.I.P Jayant Narlikar

Jayant Narlikar - the Indian scientist who challenged the Big Bang theory
https://www.nature.com/articles/d44151-025-00092-4
https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/jayant-narlikar-the-indian-astrophysicist-and-sci-fi-writer-who-challenged-big-bang/article69596819.ece 

China – The Big Bully

China and Philippines trade blame over latest South China Sea clash
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-23/china-philippines-trade-blame-over-south-china-sea-clash/105326136

The islanders facing China's menacing presence on their horizon
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxkkvw8r4no

CBS 60 Minutes witnesses international incident in the South China Sea
https://youtu.be/WEuOua8p4Pc 

A Sacred Geography

India Is Gripped by a Spiritual Tourism Boom as Faith Becomes Fashionable
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-05-23/india-sees-spiritual-tourism-boom-as-religion-becomes-cool
Sacred sites are increasingly popular as the government promotes pilgrimages and Instagram influencers help make religion cool.
 
India: A Sacred Geography by Diana L Eck – review
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/27/india-sacred-geography-eck-review 

EM Outperformance

Emerging market equity funds lure investors fleeing overvalued U.S. assets
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/emerging-market-equity-funds-lure-investors-fleeing-overvalued-us-assets-2025-05-23/
 
Related:
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/volatility-in-u-s---tariff-fight-giving-emerging-markets-the-upper-hand--pictet-says-82211.html 

Apple and China

How China Captured Apple
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/05/23/apple-china-foxconn-factories/
A giant firm and a superpower have become deeply entangled. 

Apple inadvertently became the largest supporter of 'Made in China 2025'
https://youtu.be/3F65mYgdRx4
 
The Dark History of How China Captured Apple
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/apple-in-china-patrick-mcgee-interview

Related:

Apple set to expand India supply chain through $1.5bn Foxconn plant
https://www.ft.com/content/3939b8e6-641c-443e-8b76-ac77eaad91ca

Can Allies Depend on America?

Trump’s wake-up call for India’s foreign policy
https://chellaney.net/2025/05/21/trumps-wake-up-call-for-indias-foreign-policy/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2025/05/21/japan/trump-indias-foreign-policy/
Recent actions expose an uncomfortable truth: The U.S. is not a dependable security partner.
 
The India-Pakistan Conflict Is Testing the Threshold for Nuclear War
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-05-22/india-and-pakistan-test-limits-of-nuclear-war-deterrent
Pakistan’s veiled nuclear threat probes the limits of a theory that atomic weapons deter all-out war but make smaller conflicts more likely. 

Japan's Demographics

Japan's population crisis reaches tipping point | FT Film
https://youtu.be/nmdujC0MUKA 

Harvard in the News

Harvard Derangement Syndrome
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/opinion/harvard-university-trump-administration.html

Bond Market's Message

Bond Market to Washington: We’ll Make You Pay
https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-banking/bond-market-yields-government-borrowing-4a78af80
The global savings glut is over and governments have to pay up to borrow; the U.S. situation is especially risky. 

The Bond Market Is Waking Up to the Fiscal Mess in Washington
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/the-bond-market-is-waking-up-to-the-fiscal-mess-in-washington-fcebd153
With U.S. economy close to full capacity, more borrowing adds inflationary pressure, and could lead the Fed to keep rates higher for longer.
 
How a Growing U.S. Deficit Could Hurt American Households
https://www.wsj.com/economy/how-a-growing-u-s-deficit-could-hurt-american-households-b1f54e49
Trump’s tax cuts could drive up borrowing costs across the economy.

UAE's Big Bet on AI

UAE’s AI University Aims to Become Stanford of the Gulf
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-23/uae-s-ai-university-aims-to-become-stanford-of-the-gulf
Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI is focused on building an engineering pipeline, incubating homegrown startups, and hypercharging the region’s AI development. 

Crypto's Tarnished Image

Crypto Is Good for Trump but Bad for America
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/opinion/trump-crypto-stablecoin.html
 
Hundreds Join Trump at ‘Exclusive’ Dinner, With Dreams of Crypto Fortunes in Mind
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/us/politics/trump-memecoin-dinner.html
The guests were the biggest investors in President Trump’s memecoin, and they were greeted with chants of “shame” as they arrived at Trump National Golf Course. 

Vietnam - An Economic Success Story

Vietnam’s economy is booming, but its new leader is worried
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2025/05/22/vietnams-economy-is-booming-but-its-new-leader-is-worried
Export-led growth may soon run out of steam.
 
Vietnam’s diaspora is shaping the country their parents fled
https://www.economist.com/asia/2025/05/22/vietnams-diaspora-is-shaping-the-country-their-parents-fled
As well as sending remittances, many are returning to their homeland. 

BOE's Monetary Policy Errors

The Bank of England has one job. It’s failing
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/21/the-bank-of-england-has-one-job-its-failing/
Monetary policy is an inexact science – but four years of errors is too long.
 
Britain’s money-printing experiment turns into a £150bn taxpayer ‘disaster’
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/19/bank-of-england-895bn-experiment-went-horribly-wrong/ 

Distrust of Experts

Doctor’s Orders
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/05/26/rfk-jr-anthony-fauci-and-the-revolt-against-expertise
It used to be progressives who distrusted experts. Now the revolt against expertise is the lifeblood of the MAGA movement. Daniel Immerwahr examines six decades of heated battles over knowledge—while considering the delicate balance between issuing informed judgments and turning uncertain conclusions into orthodoxies. 

Will Alberta Secede?

Alberta Stands Apart in Canada. Now It Plans a Long-Shot Bid to Secede.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/world/canada/alberta-separatism-referendum.html
The country is just emerging from a period of political turmoil. But now Alberta, a conservative Western province, is planning a referendum to break away. 

China - A Serious Challenger to US Dominance

The Fortress That China Built for Its Battle with America
https://www.wsj.com/world/china/china-us-technology-economy-advancements-bb8d7439
Beijing is racing ahead in advanced technology, including in robots, satellites and AI—and in some cases is catching up with the U.S. 

China’s universities are wooing Western scientists
https://www.economist.com/china/2025/05/22/chinas-universities-are-wooing-western-scientists
And they are reaching beyond academics with Chinese heritage.

End of US Exceptionalism?

Reconsidering the U.S. exceptionalism narrative:
Investors ask ‘what next’ as the American fever breaks by Katie Martin
https://www.ft.com/content/411650dc-b172-45b7-b043-a63a5418d87f
Inflated stock prices may have been mistaken for growth-driven superiority.
 
There's risk assigned to US assets if 'Pandora's Box' has opened
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/theres-risks-assigned-us-assets-113001541.html
 
Emerging markets outperformance is 'coming back' amid AI boom
https://finance.yahoo.com/video/emerging-markets-outperformance-coming-back-120059781.html 

Will Democrats Learn from Past Mistakes?

The Debate That Will Determine How Democrats Govern Next Time
https://www.yahoo.com/news/debate-determine-democrats-govern-next-145200576.html
 
The reckoning that wasn’t
https://the.ink/p/the-reckoning-that-wasnt
Six months ago, Trump won. Much rethinking was promised. Did it happen? 

Gen Z's Recession Indicators

To Gen Z, Everything Is a Recession Indicator
https://www.wsj.com/economy/recession-indicators-gen-z-bf37c17a
Investors have long turned to offbeat economic gauges like underwear sales and the length of hemlines. Now, the TikTok generation is taking it to the next level. 

Chengdu's Popularity

What the Appeal of One Fast-Growing City Says About China’s Economy
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/business/china-chengdu-fastest-growing-city.html
Once derided for its slower pace, Chengdu has a surging population and booming real estate market as workers look beyond China’s major coastal cities. 

Have Bond Vigilantes Returned?

The Deficit Is Unsettling Bond Traders. Here’s How That Affects the Economy.
https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/us-deficit-bond-market-economy-619614b3
The trade war has calmed down, but rising government borrowing costs pose a new worry.

Why the ‘Big, Beautiful’ Tax Bill Is Worrying Bond Investors
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/business/trump-tax-bonds-deficit-debt-tariffs.html
Tax cuts pushed by President Trump are amplifying debt and deficit concerns among the powerful market players who influence interest rates. 

‘Worse than Greece’: The debt crisis threatening to blow up the global economy
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/21/trump-sparked-debt-crisis-could-blow-up-global-economy/
Tremors in Japan’s bond market may be a forewarning for a budget-busting financial crunch.

Fiscal Policy Debates

California’s $100bn railway to nowhere exposes the stunning costs of Democrat incompetence
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/comment/2025/05/20/californias-100bn-rail-line-to-nowhere-newsom-incompetence/
 
Big Tax Hikes Are Coming
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/big-tax-hikes-are-coming-in-a-few-years-policy-reform-34a4f50b
The GOP’s ‘beautiful bill’ increases debt and ignores the coming entitlement bomb.
 
Moody’s throws Trump a curve ball
https://www.ft.com/content/480b42d9-129d-41b7-8b87-8886f53d66d4
Credit downgrade is symbolic blow to American prestige and should spur Washington to get its fiscal house in order. 

Brand Image Issues

American brands have a new image problem
https://www.economist.com/business/2025/05/19/american-brands-have-a-new-image-problem
Donald Trump is hurting products from Coca-Cola to Jack Daniel’s. 

Europe - Tech and Trade

The Tech Industry Is Huge—and Europe’s Share of It Is Very Small
https://www.wsj.com/tech/europe-big-tech-ai-1f3f862c
A risk-averse business culture and complex regulations have stifled innovation on the continent, weighing on its future.
 
U.K. Trade Deals Bare the Reality: It’s a Midsize Economy Among Giants
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/world/europe/uk-starmer-eu-deal.html
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government had to make some politically fraught concessions to eke out trade deals with the E.U. and the U.S. 

Taking the China Threat Seriously

What China's spies are doing in the U.S., and what happens when they're caught | 60 Minutes
https://youtu.be/KwwdfjNveVM

Robots are the new soldiers in China’s tech race against the West
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/18/robots-are-new-soldiers-in-chinas-tech-race-against-west/
Beijing’s early push for bot dominance should sound alarm bells in America and Europe.
 
The West’s next mass blackouts might be ‘made in China’
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/19/british-solar-farms-hooked-on-china-consequences/
Discovery of a Chinese ‘kill-switch’ in a US solar farm sparks fears of widespread power cuts.

 
The Risk of War in the Taiwan Strait Is High—and Getting Higher
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/risk-war-taiwan-strait-high-and-getting-higher 

AI and Entry-Level Jobs

I’m a LinkedIn Executive. I See the Bottom Rung of the Career Ladder Breaking.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/opinion/linkedin-ai-entry-level-jobs.html
Aneesh Raman:
There are growing signs that artificial intelligence poses a real threat to a substantial number of the entry-level jobs that normally serve as the first step for each new generation of young workers. Uncertainty around tariffs and global trade are only likely to accelerate that pressure, just as millions of 2025 graduates enter the work force.
 
My take from February 2025:
https://thehill.com/opinion/5151848-generative-ai-economic-concerns/
Looking ahead, the rise of generative artificial intelligence poses a much bigger challenge for policymakers. Generative AI appears to truly upend prior assumptions regarding the stability of high-skill positions as it can easily and rapidly perform many cognitive and non-routine tasks. Suddenly, white-collar jobs appear vulnerable. Entry-level positions in information technology, law, finance, accounting, marketing and other professional services are already experiencing cutbacks.

US college graduates enter a ‘freezing’ labor market
https://www.ft.com/content/87a393a2-0b5d-4a20-bee5-7f9484dbd870
The monthly hiring rate in the first quarter of the year was at its slowest in more than a decade. 

The ‘Great Hesitation’ That’s Making It Harder to Get a Tech Job

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/tech-jobs-hiring-artifical-intelligence-35cd66b0
Economic uncertainty and AI are causing employers to think twice about all but the most sterling candidates.

 
Will Anyone Take the Factory Jobs Trump Wants to Bring Back to America?
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/will-anyone-take-the-factory-jobs-trump-wants-to-bring-back-to-america-f6cd377b
President has pledged to bring more factory work back to U.S., but many manufacturing jobs are already going unfilled. 

Young Graduates Are Facing an Employment Crisis
https://www.wsj.com/economy/jobs/jobs-unemployment-rise-young-people-ce4704d8
Slow hiring is especially daunting for those just starting out; ‘Right now, I’m pretending employment doesn’t exist’

Brexit versus Trumpism

Brexit’s Failures Could Foreshadow Trump’s. Just Not in the Way You Might Think.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/magazine/brexit-trump-populism.html
Long regarded as two versions of the same populist phenomenon, they’re now clearly two different stories — each with its own cautionary tale. 

Moody's Downgrade - Fiscal Policy Implications

The Moody’s Downgrade Is an Alarm. Washington Better Pay Attention.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/opinion/moodys-downgrade.html
 
The Stark Math on the GOP Tax Plan: It Doesn’t Cut the Deficit
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/tax-plan-budget-national-debt-analysis-e9822072 

Crypto Safety

Severed Fingers and ‘Wrench Attacks’ Rattle the Crypto Elite
https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/crypto-industry-robberies-attacks-32c2867a
As bitcoin soars, investors and executives are taking their swollen digital wallets offline for safety. Criminals are coming after them, violently. 

Mathematics – Origin Stories

‘In Britain, we are still astonishingly ignorant’: the hidden story of how ancient India shaped the west
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/sep/01/hidden-story-ancient-india-west-maths-astronomy-historians
 
Nirvana by Numbers
https://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2013/oct/07/mathematics1
Related: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b03c2zvr
 
Many discoveries originating from South Asia have been wrongly attributed to mathematicians from Europe and the Arab world:
http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/d3ddePsFMHKZhHLmx1jAxL/The-men-who-knew-infinity-Indias-lost-history-of-mathemati.html
 
2014 Fields Medal Winner and Princeton Mathematician Manjul Bhargava notes
https://science.thewire.in/science/india-has-to-be-its-own-cultural-ambassador-but-it-has-to-be-scientific-about-it-manjul-bhargava/
“The way we write numbers today originated in India. I’m not talking about the exact shapes of the numbers, but the system of the way we write numbers. The history is that it developed in India, it got transported to the Arab world and then later it got transported to Europe. Europe learned it from the Arab world so they called it the Arabic numerals. The US continued to call it the Arabic numerals. And now India also sometimes calls it the Arabic numerals!
Of course, we had to wait for the U.S. to take a leadership role in changing things as far as the correct names – India won’t. In the U.S., about a decade ago, in textbooks, they decided to call it the Hindu-Arabic numerals with the eventual goal of changing it to Hindu numerals. And then when the United States changes it, then maybe India will!”
 
Related:
https://vivekjayakumar.blogspot.com/2017/09/zero-mathematical-history.html 

Class of 2025 Faces a Frozen Labor Market

US college graduates enter a ‘freezing’ labor market
https://www.ft.com/content/87a393a2-0b5d-4a20-bee5-7f9484dbd870
The monthly hiring rate in the first quarter of the year was at its slowest in more than a decade. 

Related:

The ‘Great Hesitation’ That’s Making It Harder to Get a Tech Job
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/tech-jobs-hiring-artifical-intelligence-35cd66b0
Economic uncertainty and AI are causing employers to think twice about all but the most sterling candidates.

The Sickness Economy

America’s sickness economy: The US’s exceptional healthcare expenditure yields second-rate resultsby Tej Parikh
https://www.ft.com/content/352bb9d9-cbdf-43e5-bb84-1c75c6267d89 

Overhyped MIT Study Retracted

What the failure of a superstar student reveals about economics
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/05/22/what-the-failure-of-a-superstar-student-reveals-about-economics
Aidan Toner-Rodgers was enjoying a meteoric rise at MIT. Then questions started to be asked about his work.

MIT disavows doctoral student paper on AI’s productivity benefits
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/17/mit-disavows-doctoral-students-paper-on-ai-productivity-benefits/

MIT Says It No Longer Stands Behind Student’s AI Research Paper
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/mit-says-it-no-longer-stands-behind-students-ai-research-paper-11434092
The university says it has no confidence in a widely circulated paper by an economics graduate student.

Related: https://economics.mit.edu/news/assuring-accurate-research-record

Author of the disputed study was interviewed by The Atlantic earlier this year:
https://youtu.be/wMEBbRHBosk 

Energy, Resources, FDI and Economic Development in Africa

Countries like Germany make a show of their virtue and insist that Africa remain impoverished.

https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trump-can-end-the-world-banks-climate-hypocrisy-5ccf1664 

Sleepwalking Into a New Imperial Age
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/foreign-aid-cuts-could-destabilize-global-south-and-fuel-resource-competition-by-ricardo-hausmann-2025-05
As donor governments slash foreign-aid budgets, the critical frameworks that have helped sustain weak developing countries are beginning to unravel. With foreign powers competing for control over natural resources, the world may be drifting toward a twenty-first-century version of the Scramble for Africa. 
 
U.A.E. Is Pouring Money into Africa, Seeking Resources and Power
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/business/uae-africa-finance.html
As the United States and other economic powers reduce their investment, aid and presence in Africa, the United Arab Emirates is wielding its wealth.

Costly Strategic and Foreign Policy Errors

Trump just undermined America’s strategic partnership with India
https://thehill.com/opinion/international/5304742-trump-just-undermined-americas-strategic-partnership-with-india/ 

Outsourcer in Chief: Is Trump Trading Away America’s Tech Future?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/business/economy/trump-chips-ai-uae.html
Big deals to sell chips to the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia have divided the U.S. government over whether they could be remembered for shipping cutting-edge A.I. overseas.
 
The World Is Wooing U.S. Researchers Shunned by Trump
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/business/economy/trump-research-brain-drain.html
As President Trump guts American research institutions, world leaders see a “once-in-a-century brain gain opportunity.”

Dangerous Chemicals in Our System

How One Company Secretly Poisoned the Planet - Veritasium
https://youtu.be/SC2eSujzrUY
The biggest chemical cover up in history. PFAS has polluted the entire global water system. Now, potentially dangerous forever chemicals are being found in the entire US population. 

Equity Market History

What We’ve Learned From 150 Years of Stock Market Crashes
https://www.morningstar.com/economy/what-weve-learned-150-years-stock-market-crashes
Though they varied in length and severity, the market always recovered and went on to new highs. 

Biden’s Infirmity

A Reckoning for the Biden Coverup
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/a-reckoning-for-the-biden-coverup-c2252093
The Democratic and media denial of his infirmity helped make Trump II possible.

How Did So Many Elected Democrats Miss Biden’s Infirmity?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/opinion/biden-age-democrats-coverup.html
Related: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/us/politics/democrats-biden-2024.html
 
Joe Biden’s Decline: The Coverup and the Story Behind It
https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-new-yorker-radio-hour/jake-tapper-and-alex-thompson-on-president-joe-bidens-decline-and-its-coverup 

US Equities - Valuations and Shifting Narratives

Just How Expensive Are Stocks After All the Ups and Downs? We Check the Math.
https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/stock-valuations-investors-76d1daa6
A look at different methods for valuing stocks and what that might suggest going forward.
 
The Ditch-America Trade Now Has Its Own Acronym: ABUSA
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/dakota-johnson-details-being-cut-201204002.html
‘Anywhere But U.S.A.’ poses questions: Are U.S. markets in a long and painful decline, or was American exceptionalism overdone?

The ‘Taco’ factor has spurred markets higher
https://www.ft.com/content/4d136adf-7e45-4ac8-937c-5151e3833e83
Katie Martin:
The Taco trade is the most popular feast in markets right now, but it still leaves a peculiar taste in the mouth. The term, coined by my esteemed colleague Robert Armstrong, encapsulates the notion that Trump Always Chickens Out, particularly in relation to his beloved trade taxes, and that risky assets rise in response…
Still, the jump in markets this week resembles an outpouring of joy that someone is now threatening to chop off only your toe, rather than your whole leg. At around 30 per cent, baseline levies on China are still well above where economists had predicted at the start of this year. The global “floor” of 10 per cent is very high, leaving the world’s biggest economy with the highest trade taxes since the 1940s.  

Shashi Tharoor Interview

Shashi Tharoor and the Trump Grift Machine | The David Frum Show
https://youtu.be/chiBgioM4Xs 

Related:

Why There’s No Battlefield Solution to India’s Perpetual Pakistan Problem

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/world/asia/india-pakistan-conflict.html

Boycott Turkey

From security, aviation to education, trade: How India is cutting ties with Turkey over Pakistan
https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/from-security-aviation-to-education-trade-how-india-is-cutting-ties-with-turkey-over-pakistan-13889032.html
 
Boycott Turkey calls: A look at actions taken in India over its support to Pakistan after Operation Sindoor
https://www.livemint.com/news/world/boycott-turkey-calls-a-look-at-actions-taken-in-india-over-its-support-to-pakistan-after-operation-sindoor-11747373891452.html
 
3.3 lakh Indians visited Turkey in 2024 but now they are turning to Greece, Kazakhstan, Georgia amid boycott calls
https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/travel/boycott-turkey-trend-indian-tourists-pakistan-support-war-conflict-greece-egypt-kazakhstan-georgia-trip-azerbaijan-101747368879079.html 

Indian Companies, Consumers Snub Pakistan and Its Allies
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-16/indian-companies-consumers-snub-pakistan-and-allies-turkey-and-azerbaijan

Sicario

The Second Life of ‘Sicario’
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/05/16/sicario-sequel-border-trump/
What a 2015 thriller about chaos on the border has to do with present-day Washington. 

South Asia's Unstable Equilibrium

Another Clash Over Kashmir Is Coming
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/05/16/pakistan-india-kashmir-military-history-escalation/
Pakistan’s army needs conflict with India to justify its own existence.
 
Drones Are Transforming South Asian Warfare
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/05/15/drones-india-pakistan-changing-south-asia-warfare/ 

How Pakistan’s military is taking over its economy
https://www.ft.com/content/f3dae073-c158-43e2-a8c6-628acc46a868
The country’s armed forces have become intimately involved in everything from canal projects to energy contracts. Investors are increasingly nervous.