The gold medal for “reversal of fortune” goes to… The United States of America. The annual Bloomberg Index, published on 6 August, shows the U.S. dropping from #50 all the way down to #25 on the global misery list. This puts the U.S.A. behind both Russia and Mexico. Bloomberg arrived at the current scoring based...
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GLOBAL ECONOMIC TRENDS
GERMAN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION BEGINS TO STIR. Several sectors of Germany’s industrial economy are beginning to boost production, according to a survey by the ifo Institute. The institute’s production indicator, based on the outlook of manufacturing executives, rose from a feeble collective 4.4 points in June to 14.7 in July. Among the most optimistic sectors: Germany’s...
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FOOD STAMPS FOR JUNK FOOD
In addition to schools encouraging children and teenagers to drink diabetes and obesity-causing sodas, our tax dollars every day encourage poor people to eat and drink their way to ill health… and death. Sodas and junk food are highly consumed items by over 40 million low-income Americans, with over $70 billion in benefits each year...
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DRINK LOTS OF SODA AND DIE
As the trends indisputably prove, obesity is weighing down the world, and its implications are deadly and costly. In the U.S., the Milken Institute’s 2018 study, “America’s Obesity Crisis: The Health and Economic Costs of Excess” found, “In 2016, chronic diseases driven by the risk factor of obesity and overweight accounted for $480.7 billion in...
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BLACKSTONE BUYS ANCESTRY.COM
The Blackstone Group, one of the world’s largest investment managers with $545 billion under management last year, has paid $4.7 billion for the majority ownership of Ancestry.com, the website that enables people to trace their family trees. Ancestry.com also is the world’s leading provider of DNA test kits that allow people to screen for genetic...
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DISNEY REPORTS FIRST LOSS IN 19 YEARS
The Disney Co. lost $4.72 billion in the three months ending 27 June, its first losing quarter since 2001. Its theme parks were closed, movie releases delayed, and sporting events that dotted its television broadcast schedule were canceled. A year earlier, the company had posted $1.43 billion in profits. Revenues fell 42 percent to $11.8...
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TAILORED BRANDS GOES CASUAL
Tailored Brands, owner of Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Banks clothiers, is rebalancing its inventory from business attire to a new emphasis on casual chic as it works through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, filed on 2 August. The company’s revenues fell 5.6 percent over the last two years as business dress codes loosened, a trend institutionalized...
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NEW VIRUS VICTIM: HALLOWEEN
Already dressed up with masks for Halloween and everyday life looking like a trip to the Mad House, with Al Hallow’s Eve just nine weeks away, still fearful of the COVID Goblin, planned events are being canceled. Universal Studios Hollywood’s annual Halloween Horror Nights, which runs from mid-September past Halloween night, priced tickets last year...
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SLIDING VALUE OF OFFICE SPACE HITS URBAN CENTERS
It’s old news to Trends Journal subscribers. We had forecast this back in March. But now it’s big news in the business media. First hotels, then retail storefronts. Next, the value of office space, especially in urban centers, will shrink an average of 17.2 percent in 2020, says Moody’s Analytics REIS. The value of retail...
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GOVERNMENT’S LOCKDOWN LAWLESSNESS
In the U.S., a number of legal scholars, including Bradley Moss, a Washington, D.C. lawyer with particular expertise on security issues, said, “It is unclear, absent congressional approval or every state in the union collectively agreeing to it, how any president would have the authority to impose a federal or national quarantine.” Polly J. Price,...