"'This cannot be expected to bring the regime to its knees,' said Elizabeth Rosenberg, a former Treasury sanctions official now at the Center for a New American Security. 'Iranian leaders have been very clear that they will turn to barter and illegal arrangements than capitulate under economic pressure...'" Read the full article here: Full Article
"One of the biggest infusions was $600-a-week in extra unemployment payments to more than 20 million jobless Americans. That expired in mid-summer, and the amount of cash going out to laid-off workers cratered, according to Jay Shambaugh, an economist at George Washington University. "'It fell from $110 [billion] in July to $34 billion in September,' he said. 'So there’s this massive drop-off to the economy and also to the most vulnerable households...'" Read the full article here: Full Article
"The geopolitical and geo-economic forces wrought by the coronavirus pandemic are likely to slow the transition to a more sustainable global energy mix. Fortunately, the pandemic has also resulted in governments gaining vastly greater influence over whether this shift stalls or accelerates..." Read the full article here: Full Article
"Elizabeth Rosenberg, a sanctions expert at the Centre for a New American Security, said that action did not significantly 'move the needle.' "'The United States has already significantly targeted Iran, and this new action doesn't ... cause much more significant pain,' she said..." Read the full article here: Full Article
"'The FinCEN files illustrate the alarming truth that an enormous amount of illicit money is sloshing around our financial system, and that U.S. banks play host and facilitator to rogues and criminals that represent some of America’s most insidious national security threats,' said Elizabeth Rosenberg, a former Treasury sanctions official. "'But the devastating problem is not that bad people move dirty money—a feature of every system of currency and exchange in history,' she said. The problem is that the U.S. doesn’t [...]
"The pandemic brought on the most quick and severe recession that the United States has ever experienced. The economy shed over 22 million jobs in just two months, and contracted at an annualized rate of 32 percent in the second quarter..." Read the full article here: Full Article
"For most people, there was nothing to celebrate when the International Monetary Fund downgraded its outlook for global economic growth in June, anticipating a contraction of 4.9% for 2020. Yet for others, such as the small but persistent group of economists and others known as the 'degrowth movement,' the Covid-induced economic slowdown has a silver lining..." Read the full article here: Full Article
“'[The treasury list] could come, if Biden is elected, in the lame-duck period for President Trump, who might be feeling particularly annoyed and frustrated and has a bone to pick with China or Hong Kong, and create the opportunity for some awfully aggressive actions as the grenade you throw as you’re walking out the door,' Rosenberg said..." Read the full article here: Full Article
"'The $300m is a rounding error compared to what the previous programme was,' said Jay Shambaugh, an economics professor at George Washington University who has been tracking the numbers. 'It's just a massive hole...'" Read the full article here: Full Article
"A fresh surge in coronavirus cases is putting pressure on governments on both sides of the Atlantic to maintain emergency labour market support mechanisms at a time when politicians had hoped their economies would be gradually returning to normal. 'This is slowly morphing into long-term unemployment problem,' said Jay Shambaugh, a fellow at the Brookings Institution..." Read the full article here: Full Article