Title: “China’s Improving Economic Data Masks Deeper Problems”

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/business/economy/china-economy-gdp.html?searchResultPosition=1

Summary: This New York Times article discusses the harsh challenges that China encountered after signing an agreement with the United States. This agreement is expected to protect the United States technology and trade secrets. As the tensions between China and the U.S. die down, China reported economic growth that can suggest its economy is finally stabilizing. China still faced a large amount of debt, putting companies and firms at major risk. Some companies ended up defaulting on bonds from local and foreign investors as they were unable to pay their bills. Due to the number of firms and companies being affected lead the Chinese government to invest in new restraints to keep the economy balanced so that they don’t have to struggle in dept. Many economists are not convinced that the momentum of the economy will continue without government help. 

Reaction/Relation to class: This article had many interesting components but I read something that caught my eye, the research firm estimated that the trade war between the United States and China, chipped out about half of a percentage of a point off China’s 2019 Gross Domestic Product and S&P Global. This article also directly relates to chapter 2 in our class textbook, as it talks about GDP throughout the article. Gross Domestic Product is the market value of all final goods and services produced within an economy in a given period of time. Knowing what GDP is, it’s components and real and nominal differences are one of the student course learning outcomes that are described in the syllabus. 

Citation: Stevenson, Alexandra. “China's Improving Economic Data Masks Deeper Problems.” The New York Times. The New York Times, January 16, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/16/business/economy/china-economy-gdp.html?searchResultPosition=1. 

Reaction/Relation to Class: At a campaign rally on February 10^th, Trump suggested that the virus would be gone by April, a claim he has stuck with until recently. This deadline has now reached the possibility of lasting through the summer until August. On February 29^th Trump said that a vaccine for this virus would be available “very quickly and very rapidly”, but just this week Trump announced that a vaccine candidate was entering a clinical trial, which is only the first phase of the process, a very long process. I was very shocked when I read these comments that our President has said, but then gone back on, or has been wrong. I think this virus is scary enough and is worry enough people, on top of that we don't need our president being unsure, or found lying about something so scary and so deadly.

Citation:
Rogers, Katie. “Trump Now Claims He Always Knew the Coronavirus Would Be a Pandemic.” The New York Times. The New York Times, March 17, 2020.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/us/politics/trump-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

The article also reports updates on how some of the states are handling the benefits. California made unemployment benefits available to people who had their hours cut due to the virus. New York waived the One-week waiting period for benefits for people who are out of work because of closures or quarantines related to the virus. Massachusetts is providing more leeway for people who are currently receiving benefits but miss a deadline because of the virus. 

Reaction/Relation to Class:  In relation to class, we have been learning about unemployment rates and the coronavirus. This is a very relevant article about what is going on in the economy because of the virus. This article discusses how a bill was passed by the Senate this week that could increase funding for State Labor Departments and would make extended benefits available in the states where the unemployment rate rises by at least 10%. This funding could provide needed support to states that are now hiring rapidly to rebuild their staffs because they fired all their employees when the virus was so bad.

Citation:
Reuters. “States Rush to Prepare for Wave of U.S. Unemployed.” The New York Times. The New York Times, March 20, 2020.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/03/20/business/20reuters-health-coronavirus-usa-unemployment.html?searchResultPosition=2

Link: https://blogs.imf.org/2020/03/05/fiscal-policies-to-protect-people-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/

Summary: This article talks about how a key role of the government is to protect the well-being of its people, most crucially during emergencies such as coronavirus. The government wants to guarantee that people are not going to die because of a lack of money. The priority for governments and the global community is to prevent people from contracting the disease and to cure those who do. The article then discusses how low-income countries urgently need grants or zero-interest loans to finance the health spending they might not otherwise be able to afford. Past epidemics show that speed in deploying concessional finance is essential to contain the spread of the disease. Then the article talks about how governments can help people and firms during this pandemic by, spending money to prevent, detect, control, treat, and contain the virus, and to provide basic services to people that have to be quarantined and to the businesses affected. The government is supposed to provide timely, targeted, and temporary cash flow relief to the people and firms that are more affected, until the emergency abates. 

Reaction/Relation to Class: In class we are learning about chapter 21, and it talked about the fiscal policy, so I related the fiscal policy to the coronavirus to see if it was being affected. I think this article was reassuring because it shows that the government is helping people during this pandemic. 

Citation: “Fiscal Policies to Protect People During the Coronavirus Outbreak.” IMF Blog, March 16, 2020. https://blogs.imf.org/2020/03/05/fiscal-policies-to-protect-people-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/

Summary: This article discusses how the World Bank is an international organization that offers developmental assistance to middle-income and low-income countries. The world bank was founded in 1944 and has 189 member nations and aims to reduce poverty in the developing world. While the World Bank Group strives to create a poverty-free world, there are groups that are passionately opposed to the international patron as critics feel that its efforts actually make things worse. The World Bank serves two mandates: To end extreme poverty by reducing the share of the global population that lives in extreme poverty to 3% by 2030; and to promote shared prosperity by increasing the incomes of the poorest 40% of people in every country. The president of the World Bank comes from the largest shareholder, which is the United States, and members are represented by a board of governors. The five largest shareholders being the U.S., U.K, France, Germany, and Japan.

Reaction/Relation to Class: In response to the current pandemic, the World Bank is taking broad, fast action to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and they have health response operations moving forward in over 65 countries. The World Bank Group is prepared to deploy up to $160 billion over the next 15 months to support COVID-19 measures that will help countries respond to immediate health consequences of the pandemic and economic recovery. These Groups operations are strongly focusing on poverty, with an emphasis on policy-based financing, and protecting the poorest households and the environment. 

“World Bank Group Launches First Operations for COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Emergency Health Support, Strengthening Developing Country Responses.” World Bank. Accessed April 22, 2020.

 https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2020/04/02/world-bank-group-launches-first-operations-for-covid-19-coronavirus-emergency-health-support-strengthening-developing-country-responses