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☆ Degrowth: A dangerous idea or the answer to the world's biggest problems?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

“An innocent 2 or 3% per year, it’s an enormous amount of growth — cumulative growth, compound growth — over time,” said Giorgos Kallis, a top degrowth scholar based at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Action Press/ShutterstockThe UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently cited degrowth in a major report. Investment bank Jefferies said investors should consider what happens if degrowth gathers steam, noting “climate-anxious” younger generations have different consumer values. She’s criticized “fairy tales about non-existent technological solutions” and “eternal economic growth.” And she’s touched on another point degrowthers raise: Is our current system, which has produced rampant inequality, even working for us? Gates, the Microsoft co-founder who’s prioritized investing in climate innovations, admits that overhauling global energy systems is a Herculean task.

☆ South Africa's Ramaphosa focuses on the poor as he seeks ANC re-election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Tim Cocks | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Ramaphosa was concluding the African National Congress (ANC) executive committee meeting before an elective conference next month chooses the party's candidate for 2024 national elections. The president faces multiple challengers from within the party, mostly allied to his predecessor Jacob Zuma. Much may depend on whether Ramaphosa is seen as the best candidate to revive the fortunes of the ANC, the popularity of which is at an all-time low. He also pledged to forge ahead with policies to improve the standard of public education and introduce universal health insurance. The ANC's black empowerment initiatives were also mentioned, with Ramaphosa saying the measures need to be more "broad-based".

☆ Alibaba mum on Singles Day sales tally, says in line with 2021
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Casey Hall | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Singles Day growth this year had been widely predicted at flat to low single digits. Alibaba did not respond to requests for comment on its decision to avoid releasing figures on the 11-day sales event ended that ended on Friday. [1/4] A delivery worker sorts parcels at a makeshift logistics station ahead of Alibaba's Singles' Day shopping festival, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China, November 10, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song 1 2 3 4Consultancy Syntun on Saturday estimated Alibaba and other Chinese e-commerce firms holding Singles Day shopping events together logged 934 billion yuan in sales, up 2.9%. The company's Tmall marketplace offered Singles Day deals on more than 17 million products, 3 million more than last year, with a record-matching 290,000 brands participating.

☆ Meet a couple who bought 19 properties in 4 years, retired at 40 and built a net worth of $1.5 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Ryan Ermey | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Debbie and Chris Emick. These days, between a mix of investments, savings and real estate holdings, Debbie and Chris, now 43, boast a net worth of about $1.5 million. Debbie and Chris Emick. The Emick family. Chris Emick

FTX and about 130 of its companies entered voluntary bankruptcy proceedings in an abrupt fall from grace for a company that was once a darling of the crypto industry. In March 2021, FTX acquired the naming rights to the bayside arena for $135 million over 19 years. "The reports about FTX and its affiliates are extremely disappointing," the Heat said in a statement. "Miami-Dade County and the Miami Heat are immediately taking action to terminate our business relationships with FTX, and we will be working together to find a new naming rights partner for the area." "We are proud of the impact our Peace and Prosperity Plan... is already having in preventing violence and creating opportunity for young people across Miami-Dade," the Heat said.

[1/4] A delivery worker sorts parcels at a makeshift logistics station ahead of Alibaba's Singles' Day shopping festival, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China, November 10, 2022. REUTERS/Aly SongSHANGHAI, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding (9988.HK) and other Chinese e-commerce firms holding Singles Day shopping events together logged a 4.7% decline in sales for the first 12 hours of the final day, a research firm said. Citi analysts said this week they were conservatively forecasting Alibaba's GMV for the event to range between 545 billion yuan and 560 billion yuan ($75 billion-$77 billion), growth of 0.9% to 3.6%. Yang Zengdong, 40, a teacher in Shanghai, said she had second thoughts about participating in Singles Day at all this year, but when the final sales period started on Thursday evening, she ended up purchasing about the same amount as last year. "I think it's something deep in the mind of Chinese people that if you don't buy on Singles Day, you are missing out on an opportunity," she said.

[1/4] A delivery worker sorts parcels at a makeshift logistics station ahead of Alibaba's Singles' Day shopping festival, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China, November 10, 2022. REUTERS/Aly SongSHANGHAI, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding (9988.HK) and other Chinese e-commerce firms holding Singles Day shopping events together logged a 4.7% decline in sales for the first half of the final day, a research firm said. Chinese consultancy Syntun said it was estimating a combined 223 billion yuan ($31 billion) for the 12-hour time period. The Singles Day shopping festival, which despite its name has evolved into a multi-week event, is a key barometer of Chinese retail demand. Citi analysts said this week they were conservatively forecasting Alibaba's gross merchandise value (GMV) for the event to range between 545 billion yuan and 560 billion yuan ($75-77 billion), growth of 0.9% to 3.6%.

☆ Alibaba's Singles Day shopping event set to end with subdued sales and no fanfare
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Casey Hall | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/4] A delivery worker sorts parcels at a makeshift logistics station ahead of Alibaba's Singles' Day shopping festival, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Shanghai, China, November 10, 2022. The Singles Day shopping festival, which despite its name has evolved into a multi-week event, is a key barometer of Chinese retail demand. But Citi predicts rival e-commerce giant JD.com (9618.HK), which also holds a Singles Day shopping event, to fare somewhat better as it is strong in consumer electronics and home appliance offerings which are expected to remain popular. Singles Day has also had contend with the absence of one its two live-streaming mega sales gurus, Viya, who has been offline since being fined for tax evasion. "Alibaba has tried to make (the event) less about just dropping prices," said Mark Tanner, chief executive of Shanghai-based consultancy, China Skinny.

☆ The Murdoch-owned New York Post, which long championed Donald Trump, mocks 'Trumpty Dumpty' for failing to put the GOP 'back together again'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The New York Post depicted Donald Trump as a nursery-rhyme character for its Thursday cover. Many Republicans saw the midterm results as a stunning rebuke of Trump's supposed hold on the GOP. The cover was shared by New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman, a former New York Post reporter herself. At the time, The Post's editorial board wrote that Trump would bring back "explosive job creation, rising wages and general prosperity" prior to the pandemic. Piers Morgan, the controversial British journalist who joined The Post as a columnist in 2021, authored the cover story.

☆ Half a million UK workers drop out of workforce, citing long-term illness
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Suban Abdulla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The increase in long-term sickness started in 2019, before the pandemic, before rising sharply by 363,000 between early 2020 and the three months to the end of August 2022 to reach 2.5 million, it said. The BoE is concerned that the number of people leaving Britain's workforce will fuel inflationary pressures and the latest labour market data pointed to a record workforce exodus. Long-term sickness was the reason given by 28% of people who were neither working nor looking for work between June and August 2022, up from 25% at the start of the pandemic. However, most people who now cite long-term sickness as their reason for not being in work or looking for a job originally dropped out of the labour market for another reason. A combination of factors including a rise in people taking early retirement, long-term illness and lower migration are depleting Britain's workforce, according to the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) which analysed the data.

☆ Biden to attend summit of Southeast Asian leaders as Myanmar looms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

BANGKOK — Southeast Asian leaders convene in the Cambodian capital Thursday, faced with the challenge of trying to curtail escalating violence in Myanmar while the country’s military-led government shows no signs of complying with the group’s peace plan. U.S. President Joe Biden will be on hand for the Phnom Penh summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which comes as Washington and Beijing are increasingly jockeying for influence in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to Myanmar, the four-day meetings are expected to focus on ongoing disputes in the South China Sea, pandemic recovery issues, regional trade and climate change. Neither Xi nor Putin is expected to attend the ASEAN talks or the parallel East Asia Summit, though both China and Russia are thought to be sending high-level delegations. “For Southeast Asia it’s really important to physically show up, and I think the Americans are very aware of this,” Daniel said.

☆ Why Hong Kong’s Makeover Will Founder
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Nathaniel Taplin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Hong Kong, newly reopened to the world, is still plastered with posters celebrating the 25th anniversary of the territory’s handover to China: “A New Era. Opportunity.” The first of those aims has been achieved, at very high cost. The outlook for the other two, particularly the last, remains poor. The city recently held a week of events—including a bankers summit drawing in the likes of Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer David Solomon and UBS Group Chairman Colm Kelleher . The events were designed to celebrate the end of its self-imposed isolation and repair reputational damage from years of heavy-handed Covid-19 policies and the government’s decision to crush the political opposition following the antigovernment protests of 2019.

☆ Moving in Together Doesn’t Match the Financial Benefits of Marriage, but Why?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Julia Carpenter | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A walk down the aisle can be a route to greater wealth and prosperity for couples in the U.S. Married people have higher net worths and are more likely to be homeowners than their unmarried counterparts their age are. The mystery, though, is why cohabitating but unmarried couples struggle to build wealth in the same way. As of 2019, the median net worth for cohabiting couples age 25 to 34 was $17,372, a quarter that of the $68,210 for married couples of that same age range, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. For singles it is $7,341.

☆ Moving In Together Doesn’t Match the Financial Benefits of Marriage, but Why?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Julia Carpenter | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ IMF chief says rich countries alone can 'never close' the funding gap for climate change
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Su-Lin Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

watch nowPublic aid and funding from governments of developed countries alone won't be enough to close the funding gap on climate change initiatives in developing countries, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva told CNBC. More private investments are needed to help developing countries to meet their climate change targets, said the managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Public aid and funding from governments of developed countries alone would not be enough to close the funding gap on climate change initiatives in developing countries. Stability in developing countries also secures trade between advanced and developing countries, Georgieva said. Disruptions in supply chains caused by climate change events could pose a bigger risk than the one posed by the pandemic, she added.

☆ Elon Musk: A lot of people 'don't want to work' once they become wealthy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Bethany Biron | Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk made a surprise appearance at the Baron Investment Conference in NYC on Friday. "A lot of people once they become independently wealthy, they just can't bring themselves to work," the billionaire said. His remarks come on the same day that Twitter announced it is laying off up to 50% of its staff. "So as a company has prosperity and then people become wealthy, then for a lot of people once they become independently wealthy they just can't bring themselves to work or they just don't want to work," Musk said, speaking to a crowd of mainly affluent clients at the annual Baron Investment Conference. "I remember a good friend of mine saying starting a company is like eating glass, and staring into the abyss," Musk said.

☆ Op-ed: The U.S. and China should not miss a historic opportunity to save the world
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Siddharth Chatterjee | The United Nations Resident Coordinator To China | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Climate Change Conference (COP 27) in Egypt approaches, the countries of the world face a stark choice between two paths. Such exploitation leads to more climate change, more floods, more fires, more hunger, more diseases, more forced migration and more war. Anyone who accepts the scientific facts of climate change understands that this must be our choice. The U.S. and China can each take dramatic climate action on their own, but they must also rise above current tensions to collaborate. Over a decade ago, cooperation between the U.S. and China laid the foundation for global action on climate change and paved the way for the 2015 Paris Agreement.

☆ Ethiopia: Warring parties agree to a truce in two-year civil war. Here's what to know
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Eliza Mackintosh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

CNN —When Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, he was lauded as a regional peacemaker. A year later, he launched a conflict that spiraled into a brutal civil war, spawning one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. In November 2020, Abiy ordered a military offensive in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region and promised that the clash would be resolved quickly. Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Tigray conflict has its roots in tensions that go back generations in Ethiopia. For months at the start of the conflict, Abiy denied that civilians were being harmed or that soldiers from Eritrea had joined the fight.

☆ Investors Lose Taste for Pricey Chinese Liquor as Xi Renews ‘Common Prosperity’ Call
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Weilun Soon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A production line at the Kweichow Moutai factory in the town of Maotai in Guizhou province, China. Chinese President Xi Jinping has a vision to distribute wealth more equally across the country. Investors are sobering up to what that could mean for the companies that make the nation’s beloved fiery booze. Mr. Xi recently doubled down on his plans for “common prosperity” during China’s weeklong Communist Party congress in October. Investors are worried that this could portend an industry crackdown, or simply be bad for the future sales of luxury baijiu distillers and companies that sell expensive goods to wealthy people.

☆ A free, democratic Taiwan is vital to America's own economic prosperity, says FCC commissioner
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailA free, democratic Taiwan is vital to America's own economic prosperity, says FCC commissionerBrendan Carr, FCC commissioner, joins 'Squawk on the Street' to discuss why he believes Tiktok needs to be banned, if Carr's belief would change were ByteDance to spin off Tiktok to U.S. owners and more.

☆ UK PM Rishi Sunak will now attend COP27, reversing decision to skip
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will attend the COP27 summit in Egypt next week, he said on Wednesday, reversing a much-criticised decision to skip the annual climate gathering in order to work on pressing economic issues at home. There is no energy security without investing in renewables," Sunak wrote on Twitter. The deal was meant to ensure that the world still has a chance to avert the worst impacts of global warming. "The prime minister has been shamed into going to COP27 by the torrent of disbelief that he would fail to turn up," the opposition Labour Party's climate policy spokesperson Ed Miliband said. Britain's COP26 president Alok Sharma, who had criticised Sunak's initial decision to skip the summit in a newspaper interview, said he was "delighted" the prime minister was going to the conference.

☆ Brazil’s President-Elect ‘Lula’ Promises Prosperity but Faces Economic Perils
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Samantha Pearson | Luciana Magalhaes | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SÃO PAULO—Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva evoked fond memories of his heady two terms in office in the 2000s when commodity prices were soaring, poverty was plunging and Brazil was optimistically seen as a country of the future. “The people will eat steak and drink beer again…they will be happy again,” Mr. da Silva told supporters in the campaign that ended with Sunday’s victory over President Jair Bolsonaro , who has yet to concede or comment on the results.

☆ Brazil’s President-Elect Promises Prosperity but Faces Economic Perils
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Samantha Pearson | Luciana Magalhaes | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SÃO PAULO—Voters who swept Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva back into the presidency Sunday fondly recall his last heady two terms in office in the 2000s when commodity prices were soaring, poverty was plunging and Brazil was finally seen as the country of the future. “The people will eat steak and drink beer again…they will be happy again,” Mr. da Silva told supporters in the campaign that ended with Sunday’s victory over President Jair Bolsonaro , who has yet to concede or comment on the results.

☆ Why paganism and witchcraft are making a comeback
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Antonio Pagliarulo | Antonio Pagliarulo Is The Author Of The Forthcoming | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

Witchcraft, which includes Wicca, paganism, folk magic and other New Age traditions, is one of the fastest-growing spiritual paths in America. Witchcraft, which includes Wicca, paganism, folk magic and other New Age traditions, is one of the fastest-growing spiritual paths in America. Berger is one of the foremost academic experts on contemporary witchcraft and paganism in America and draws knowledge about its appeal from surveys she’s co-conducted on the pagan community. This blending of faiths has been a seamless process for me and other folk magic practitioners despite what traditional religious authorities might say. Blending of faiths has been a seamless process for me and other folk magic practitioners despite what traditional religious authorities might say.

☆ Brazil votes in heated Bolsonaro vs. Lula presidential runoff
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Anthony Boadle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Bolsonaro has vowed to consolidate a sharp conservative turn in Brazilian politics after a presidency marred by the pandemic. Lula promises more social and environmental responsibility, recalling the rising prosperity of his 2003-2010 presidency, before corruption scandals tarred his Workers Party. Several polls showed the race between them tightening in the final week, with Bolsonaro eroding a slight lead for Lula. Bolsonaro outperformed opinion polls in the first round of voting on Oct. 2 among a field of 11 candidates. POST-ELECTION CONCERNSBrazil's electoral authorities are preparing for a narrow result, which Bolsonaro may contest if he loses.

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