Notes - The Economist, September 15th - 21st 2018

On how can we mitigate our leaders' decisions - "our leaders must be given no choice but to go naked into the conference chamber. No naked human being, conscious of his own essential ordinariness, the chairseat pressing against his buttocks, his toes wriggling beneath the conference table, his penis hanging limply a few feet from Mr Andropov's, could possibly play the game of international politics and barter like a god with the lives of millions of his fellow men" - Nicholas Humphrey

On the internet and companies built of top of it - "Now the tech gurus are figures of derision, and technology has joined climate change at the heart of political debate. Digital abundance is leading to digital over-indulgence as consumers gorge on the fruits of the internet and then grow sick. Internet-enabled comity is going hand-in-hand with the internet-enabled hatred. And the internet platforms are now so big that they are becoming threats to democracy itself" - Bagehot

On the art of establishing interest rates to balance the country's economy - "Too much cold water, in the form of higher rates, will choke off demand and hence jobs. Too much hot, and rising inflation will eat away at people's spending power." It also provides a warning. The economic 'stability' we are living should not make us too comfortable - "Some economists think policymakers have been too quick to conclude that dismal growth after the financial crisis indicates a new normal. A recent paper suggests that the standard ways of estimating an economy's potential are overly influenced by blips in its performance." - "Feeling the heat"

Lastly, regarding economic fluctuations - "Moreover, the origins of a crisis can often be found in the response to the previous one. [...] Prophets of doom know they will eventually be proved right." - Buttonwood

Best,

@capatazche