Monday, March 10

Author: Patti Mohr

Patti Mohr is a U.S.-based journalist. She writes about global diplomacy, economics, and infringements on individual freedom. Patti is the founder of the Global Economic Report. Her goal is to elevate journalistic principles and share the pursuit of truth in concert with others.
Amazon.com Executive Quits In Protest of Worker Firings
4May By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Economics, Types of News: Brief

Amazon.com Executive Quits In Protest of Worker Firings

May 4, 2020-Despite surging sales, Amazon.com faces a critical time as its workers around the world raise safety concerns and as one of its top executives resigns due to "toxicity running through the company culture." Tim Bray left his position as a vice-president at Amazon Web Services May 1 in protest over the company's treatment of workers who complained about unsafe warehouse conditions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Bray said that although the decision to leave would cost him over a million dollars "not to mention the best job" he's ever had, he could no longer support power imbalances between workers and executives. In a blog post, Bray said Amazon.com executives fired two high-profile activists who had promoted a petition and organized a video call on behalf of warehouse work...
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COVID-19, From Bats to Humans: Examining the Wuhan Connection
17Apr By Patti MohrNo Comments
Communism, Dictatorship, Globalization, Global Disintegration, Organizations, IMF, WTO, G7, Types of News: Analysis

COVID-19, From Bats to Humans: Examining the Wuhan Connection

April 17, 2020--A great and tragic mystery of 2020 is the origin of the COVID-19 virus that is sweeping the world with sickness and death. Some researchers point to a seafood market in Wuhan. Others say it could have started in a Chinese lab in Wuhan. Most certainly, it came from bats. But how did it jump to humans? From Wuhan to the World To date, the COVID-19 virus that has infected over 2 million people worldwide and killed 149,000 people. Of the first 309 confirmed cases in China, 270 cases were confirmed in Wuhan. Of the first 41 patients hospitalized in Wuhan with the virus, 27 of them, 66 percent, had a connection to a food and wild animal market. Wholesale Food Market As early as December 2019, reports from China pointed to the connection to the Huanan Seafood Wholes...
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Global Economy to Shrink by 3 Percent in 2020, IMF Says
15Apr By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Economics, Types of News: Brief

Global Economy to Shrink by 3 Percent in 2020, IMF Says

April 15, 2020--The global economy is headed towards to worst economic downturn since the Great Depression due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the world's lender of last resort. The International Monetary Fund now projects a contraction of 3 percent to the world economy. It's a downgrade of 6.3 percentage points from the IMF's January 2020 estimate. The difference is due to the global pandemic and the measures taken around the world to contain it. "The magnitude and speed of collapsing activity that has followed is unlike anything experienced in our lifetimes," said Gita Gopinath, IMF's economic counselor and director the Research Department in a press briefing on April 14. "This makes the great lockdown the worst recession since the Great Depression, and far worse than t...
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Eurozone Ministers Agree to €500bn Rescue Package
10Apr By Patti MohrNo Comments
Europe, EU, Eurozone, Global Economics

Eurozone Ministers Agree to €500bn Rescue Package

April 10, 2020--Under increasing strain to hold their political and economic union together, Eurozone finance ministers agreed to a €500 billion economic rescue package for workers, businesses and governments. Eurogroup President Mário Centeno said the plan is meant to ensure Europe grows "together and not apart once the virus is behind us." The latest rescue package to deal with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 crisis comes on top of monetary and fiscal stimulus measures worth trillions of Euros. Previous measures amount to 3 percent of GDP in fiscal measures and 16 percent of GDP in new monetary policies, according to the Eurogroup. Finance ministers from the 19 Eurozone countries agreed to the latest measure after a marathon 14-hour session. "Now we are building Europe...
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9Apr By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Economics, Global Trade, Types of News: Brief

Global Economy Faces ‘Sharply Negative’ Outlook for 2020; Partial Recovery Possible for 2021

April 9, 2020-Despite fiscal stimulus of $8 trillion by governments around the world, the global economy may turn "sharply negative" this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the International Monetary Fund. Meanwhile, experts predict massive declines in global trade and employment. "Today we are confronted with a crisis like no other," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday. "Covid-19 has disrupted our social and economic order at lightning speed and on a scale that we have not seen in living memory." The outlook is bleak for both advanced and developing economies. The IMF projects negative per capita income growth in over 170 countries this year and only a partial recovery under baseline assumptions for 2021. Georgieva emphasized that 2020 wil...
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Afghanistan Peace Unlikely, As U.S. Exits Trillion-Dollar War
6Mar By Patti MohrNo Comments
Geopolitics, Types of News: Analysis

Afghanistan Peace Unlikely, As U.S. Exits Trillion-Dollar War

March 6, 2020--In the days following the U.S.-Taliban agreement, violent attacks in Afghanistan show that an intense battle is underway for control of the country. On Saturday, U.S. representatives signed an agreement with and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, otherwise known as the Taliban, in Doha, Qatar. The deal promises to "bring peace to Afghanistan." But in the week that followed, attacks by Taliban forces and other gunmen shed blood of Afghan troops, government officials and civilians. On Wednesday, the Taliban conducted a wave of attacks across the country. And today, an attack by gunmen against the Afghan government killed at least 27 people and wounded 29 others. Talks between the Afghan government and Taliban are scheduled to start on Tuesday, March 10. Today, ...
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3Mar By Patti MohrNo Comments
Currency, Debt, National Budgets & Interest Rates, Global Economics, Types of News: Brief

U.S. Federal Reserve Says Economic Outlook Has ‘Changed Materially’ as Coronavirus Spreads

March 3, 2020--Over a week into turbulence in the financial markets from a global outbreak of the coronavirus, the U.S. Federal Reserve cut its policy rate by 50 basis points amid signs that the economic outlook has "changed materially." Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he expects the COVID-19 virus to impact the global economy "for some time." It has already affected tourism and travel industries and threatens to disrupt global supply chains. "The magnitude and persistence of the overall effects on the economy, however, remain highly uncertain, and the situation remains a fluid one," Powell said on Tuesday. Globally, the COVID-19 virus has infected at least 90,893 people across 21 countries and killed 3,110, the World Health Organization reported today. Market Turbulence ...
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27Feb By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Sanctions

U.S. Provides Sanctions Waiver for Humanitarian Aid to Iran

Feb. 27, 2020--The U.S. Treasury Department published a license granting exceptions to its sanctions regime against Iran for shippers of humanitarian supplies, such as food, medicine and medical equipment. The Swiss government launched the new payment channel late last month as a pilot program in cooperation with the U.S. government. Today's action provides the legal framework for that channel Medical shortages started in Iran after the United States pulled out of the nuclear deal and started new sanctions against Iran. Although the sanctions had exempted medical supplies, trade was disrupted due to concern by traders about getting caught up in the sanctions. According to AFP News Agency, "This in turn has worsened the acute shortage of medicines and led to skyrocketing prices, agai...
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Instability in Key Trade Route ‘Jeopardizes Trade and Energy Supplies’
22Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Energy Policy, Oil & Gas, Global Trade, Types of News: Brief

Instability in Key Trade Route ‘Jeopardizes Trade and Energy Supplies’

January 22, 2020-In a sign of the escalating tensions between the West and Iran, more countries are expressing support for the international coalition protecting shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. South Korea is the latest to announce a plan to send a naval destroyer to the strait. On Tuesday, the government said it is sending an independent and temporary mission to "guarantee the safety of our people and the freedom of navigation of our vessels,” according to a news report in Stars and Stripes. Iran had previously warned South Korea against joining a US-led coalition. New European Naval Mission On Monday, the governments of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, and Portugal released a joint statement warning that rising instability in the ...
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Spain Says Climate is National Emergency
22Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Climate Action, ESG, Sustainable Finance, Types of News: Brief

Spain Says Climate is National Emergency

January 22, 2020-Spain's new socialist government declared that climate change is a national "emergency." The government plans to make it a cornerstone issue for all ministerial departments and government actions. That adds Spain to a list of more than two dozen countries that have declared climate change an emergency. The coalition government led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who took office on 13 January, plans to bring legislation to the parliament to reduce greehouse gas emissions to a net zero by 2050, according to reporting by Euractiv and AFP. If parliament approves the bill, it would require "all urban areas with a population of more than 50,000 to create low-emission zones," Reuters reported.
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