Health conscious brits tighten belts as food inflation proves sticky

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Memories of the Federal Reserve’s 1994 tightening cycle still tend to trigger financial PTSD here in Asia. Under the direction of then-Chairman Alan Greenspan, the Fed doubled short-term interest rates in just 12 months. The ferocity of the moves racked up some serious collateral damage: Mexico’s economic meltdown; the bankruptcy of Orange County, California; the death of 129-year-old bond dealer Kidder, Peabody & Co.; and developing Asia. It took a few years, but the dollar’s powerful rally in response to higher U.S. rates made currency pegs in Bangkok, Jakarta and Seoul impossible to maintain. The resulting devaluations in 1997 set the region back decades in terms of living standards and economic confidence. Now, the Jerome Powell-led Fed seems set to outdo the worst of the Greenspan era. Not because of the magnitude of the rate hikes Team Powell might engineer, but because of how far it’s fallen behind the … [Read more...] about Federal Reserve Is Losing Asia Faster Than In 1994

Home: a place where most of us have spent much of our time over the past two years, no thanks to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, not all is doom and gloom, as this situation proved to be a golden opportunity for us to strengthen our family bonds. Working from home, attending online classes and virtual meetings, getting food deliveries – these practices became an integral part of the new normal in our lives as we turned our houses into home bases for almost all of our daily routines. Hence, it may seem natural to expect that our family bond would become stronger as more time is spent together at home. Quantity doesn’t mean quality However, with all the tasks and roles that we needed to juggle, it may not have been as easy as we thought to find quality time with our family. Quantity time does not equal to quality time. Parents faced the new situation of having to balance their paid work with house chores, while simultaneously supervising children’s remote learning, for … [Read more...] about Tips on strengthening your family ties

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Sherwin Gatchalian views the suspension of the excise tax collection on fuel products as a “last resort” for the government. Gatchalian, who chairs the oversight committee on biofuels, said Wednesday that suspending the oil excise tax would be “too drastic” to government revenues. “I’m not gonna discuss that for now because I’m looking at that as a last resort. It’s not one of the tools that I’m looking at because its impact on government revenue is too drastic,” Gatchalian said in a press briefing. “We have to remember that our credit rating is always high because efficient magkolekta ang gobyerno. Kapag tinanggal mo yan, it will affect our credit rating (the government is efficient in collecting. If we remove that, it will affect our credit rating),” he added. If fuel prices would become severely extreme and persist for “years,” Gatchalian said that the suspension of excise tax could be considered. Nonetheless, Gatchalian stressed that he is … [Read more...] about Gatchalian: Suspension of oil excise tax a ‘last resort’