by Michel Klompmaker
Last week, the number of registered unemployed (those claiming benefits) in the USA rose to 39 million. The chairman of the FED expects a further increase in the coming month. Meanwhile, last Sunday, May 24, 2020, the New York Times opens with a more than serious report covering the entire front page. Certainly not fake news. The 6 column heading reads “US DEATHS NEAR 100,000, AN INCALCULABLE LOSS”. The full front page is filled with about a thousand names with short descriptions of deaths from Covid-19 based on obituaries. Only 1 percent of the total. And in the meantime, the president of this country, as a kind of “monkey on the rock”, quietly continues to deal unfairly with mainly female journalists from serious media.. We repeat it again, political risks will be one of the biggest risk factors in the coming years.
The New York Times comes with the names, ages, short descriptions, and places of residence of a thousand Americans who have recently died from the effects of the corona virus. “American deaths are approaching 100,000, a countless loss,” the medium headlines. According to the newspaper, figures alone cannot possibly reflect the impact of the virus. “Whether it is the number of patients treated, the job loss or the loss of lives.”
Then we have a number of other self-righteous politicians “all over the world” whose names are well known. For example, it emerged for a few days that during a meeting, the President of Brazil cares more about the private interests of his family and friends than about measures to combat the virus. Then the umpteenth People’s Congress will take place in Beijing. The results are known in advance and what was anticipated becomes true. Hong Kong can expect action from Beijing soon. They just adjust the law there and then it is arranged quickly. It is perhaps superfluous to recall the ultimate goal of the Chinese communist party: 100 years after Mao took office in 1949, so by 2049 China will at all costs be the leading world power. Not only militarily, but also economic. We previously wrote on this platform about the consequences for the Western Financial Services Industry.
With this kind of leaders at the helm, things don’t get any more fun and safer in this world. On the other hand, it is becoming increasingly clear that political risks do belong to the considerations that risk managers must make today.
