The banking system we take for granted is unfixable. The good news is that we no longer need to rely on any private, rent-seeking, socially destabilizing network of banks, at least not the way we have so far.
shows why the current private system is unfixable – and why we don’t need to tolerate it anymore.
Like Vladimir Putin, China's leader is so steeped in a narrative of victimhood and fearful of appearing weak that it is hard to imagine him ever leading China out of the mess he has created. He could well be remembered as the leader who squandered history's most remarkable economic success story.
about the country's increasingly worrisome trajectory, both at home and abroad.
Artificial IdiocyFrank Rumpenhorst/picture alliance via Getty Images
柏林——有一点看似非常明显,那就是制裁——西方外交政策中越来越重要的一种工具——应当在施加国不付出不可持续的高昂成本的情况下为目标国带来巨大的痛苦。但欧盟对俄罗斯的制裁——旨在惩罚该国对乌克兰发动野蛮的侵略战争——却与这一条件不符。
欧盟惩罚俄罗斯计划的核心是努力消除其对长期推动其增长的廉价俄罗斯能源的依赖,包括更多依赖从美国和其他国家进口的液化天然气。但液化天然气较之管道天然气一直是一种定价过高(而且碳密集)的替代选项:在俄罗斯入侵乌克兰之前,其价格比天然气价格 贵4~5倍。而现在,其价格更是高得离谱:自战争爆发以来,液化天然气的价格翻了一番还多。
但随着克里姆林宫大幅削减供给欧洲的天然气流量,以确保是它——而非欧盟——决定逐步淘汰俄罗斯天然气供应的时间表,欧洲国家别无选择,只能更多依赖于液化天然气进口。这为欧洲的制造业基础带来了严重的挑战,以至于某些欧洲企业现在正在考虑将生产转移到美国,美国不仅提供更廉价的燃料,而且还依据新出台的通胀削减法案(IRA)提供大量的补贴和税收抵免政策。
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