Monday, August 26
Breaking from Biarritz: G-7 Leaders Promise Aid to Fight Amazon Fires (New York Times)
As Mike Bloomberg tweeted Friday: “The fires in the Amazon rainforest are an international emergency and will only accelerate the climate crisis—but responsible action can put an end to it. The future of our planet is at stake. #ActForTheAmazon”
Unintended Consequences: Trump’s Trade War Could be Fueling Amazon Fires (Bloomberg Opinion)
Recap: Time to Spin a Win After Contentious G-7 (Bloomberg)
Several of the most high-profile participants are managing to head home with something to try to at least spin as a win. Trump and Shinzo Abe will tout their trade deal, Boris Johnson survived without any major missteps so far, and Angela Merkel opened the door to a bigger trade deal with the U.S.
Next year, it will be Trump’s turn to host, and he made clear this morning that he’s already making plans — and, in classic Trump fashion, they include using his Miami golf course as a potential venue.
Trade Today: Beijing Downplays Trade Breakthrough as Trump Claims Talks Back On (Bloomberg)
Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of China’s Global Times newspaper, said in a tweet that top trade negotiators hadn’t spoken by phone in recent days and that Trump was exaggerating the significance of the trade contacts.
U.S. Business Groups Warn of Peril as Trump’s Trade War Spirals (New York Times)
Today in Finance.
Jackson Hole Update: Mark Carney’s Libra Idea Shows How the Dollar Is Everyone’s Problem (Bloomberg)
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney warned that the global economy risks falling into a liquidity trap in which no amount of monetary easing revives prices. With Trump escalating the U.S. trade war with China, rising protectionism and central banks already deploying ultra-low interest rates to prop up growth, he said something needs to be done.
“Blithe acceptance of the status quo is misguided,” and dramatic steps will ultimately be needed, Carney said Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Asset Managers Say They’re Drowning in RFPs (Institutional Investor)
Media Watch.
FoxNews.com Rising, Breitbart Falling: How Conservative Media Has Grown Under Trump (Columbia Journalism Review)
Trump Allies Scour Internet to Punish Press (New York Times)
NRA in Crisis.
How to Lose Friends: The NRA Has Lost Allies in Congress. (New York Times)
The decline is driven by the near-total fraying of the group’s ties to Democrats in the House and the Senate.
As Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, tweeted: “This shift is the result of the unglamorous, heavy lifting of grassroots activism. ‘[In 2018], legislators who moved away from the
@NRA did better electorally than legislators who moved toward it.’”
Headlines from around the world.
Bad Ideas Section.
Good Ideas Section.
Making Cities Smarter: Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative Convenes in NYC (Government Technology)
What emerged from the meeting was a picture of an invaluable professional development experience for those who work within local government, one that used real-world case studies to disseminate, analyze and discuss a range of problems facing most — if not all — modern cities.
The attendees were a diverse group, in terms of ethnicity and gender, as well as the sizes and locations of their cities. Three quarters were public officials from the U.S., while the others came from as far as Australia, Ghana or Poland.
Sports Section.
Tennis Today: Serena Williams Will Play Maria Sharapova in First Round of U.S. Open Tonight (New York Times)
Back to School Inspiration.
Brief But Spectacular: Thanks to Judy Woodruff and PBS for their piece on my friend, the spectacular, Ben Rolnick.
Watch it here.
Best of late night.
“President Trump’s former press secretary Sean Spicer – remember him? He was 35 press secretary’s ago. Well, he’s been cast in ‘Dancing with the Stars’. Or, as the show is now called: ‘Dancing’.”
— Conan O’Brien
“A Florida couple who met at the grocery store ‘Publix’ decided to take their engagement photos in the store. This is sweet. If they ever split up, they are just going to put one of those check-out dividers between themselves.”
— Jimmy Fallon
“There’s been a winner declared in the war between Popeye’s fried chicken sandwich and Chic-Fil-A fried chicken sandwich. Ladies and gentleman, the winner? heart disease!”
— Conan O’Brien