Sunday, November 28, 2021

Notations on Our World (Special M-End Edition): As December Dawns


It has been a challenging month as we present our Social Media banner courtesy of The team at Together We Stand.

As we bid farewell to November and welcome December.  We have been assessing the ongoing demonstrations in Iran, the looming Iran nuclear talks beginning tomorrow in Vienna, the advent of the new Covid Variant, the ongoing political challenges in the United States, the advent of a new government in Germany, and the looming French Presidential Elections next year.   We have also been assessing the spat between the United Kingdom and France in the aftermath of the death of 27 migrants.

We present a curated snapshot of the final week that was with thoughts courtesy the Financial Times, The Washington Times, Defense One, NBC and others.

A challenging month is before us:









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Biden Administration Unveils Management Vision That Rests on Empowering Federal Employees// Courtney Bublé
Other top priorities include serving citizens equitably, and improving the federal acquisition and financial management systems.
 
 
Biden's Management Agenda Highlights Need for High-Tech Federal Workforce// Aaron Boyd
To deliver better citizen services, the government will need a skilled workforce and the technology to support it, management officials said.

Inflation: Temporary Blip or Permanent Shock?
Above (L to R): Mohamed A. El-Erian of Allianz and Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs

Whether inflation is transitory might be beside the point—because it’s already reshaping the economy, says Mohamed A. El-Erian, president of Queens’ College at the University of Cambridge and chief economic advisor at Allianz. In response to both price and wage hikes, behaviors are changing, El-Erian tells host Allison Nathan on the latest episode of Exchanges at Goldman Sachs: “For me, [that] implies that in the true sense, inflation is not transitory, that the economy is adjusting to a price shock and that we have to ask seriously what comes after that adjustment.” But Jan Hatzius, head of Goldman Sachs Research and the firm’s chief economist, maintains that inflationary pressures will gradually subside later next year. Durable goods prices will reverse some of their previous run-up, he argues, and commodity prices will stabilize—even as wage and rent pressures are likely to persist. “I have confidence that inflation is going to come down next year. And that is basically because there's such an enormous contribution from components where it's just very difficult to believe that they’re going to keep going up at anywhere near that rate in, like durable goods,” Hatzius says. “We can debate how long it's going to take for them to normalize, but I would be pretty astonished if they kept rising at anywhere near this rate.”

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How Capital Is Fueling the Race to Net Zero
Above (L to R): Kara Mangone and Michele Della Vigna of Goldman Sachs

“Capital markets are deeply engaged in sustainability, whichever way you look at,” says Michele Della Vigna, head of natural resources research in EMEA, in a new episode of Goldman Sachs’ special podcast miniseries, Accelerating Transition. Della Vigna sat down with Kara Mangone, global head of Climate Strategy, to discuss the recent Carbonomics conference he hosted earlier this month. A key takeaway? Capital markets are fueling the transition to a net-zero economy. “Almost all of the growth in active asset management is in sustainability-linked funds. And when you look at how investors engage with corporates, we've seen a tremendous increase in engagement on decarbonization and climate change issues,” says Della Vigna.

Explore the key drivers behind the path to net zero as well as the changing cost curve of decarbonization, the role policy and capital markets can play, and the innovations that can accelerate our progress to a sustainable future in a new interactive data visualization on Carbonomics on GS.com.

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We close out with thoughts on the political scene in the United States: 
 
Biden Administration Unveils Management Vision That Rests on Empowering Federal Employees// Courtney Bublé
Other top priorities include serving citizens equitably, and improving the federal acquisition and financial management systems.
 
 
Biden's Management Agenda Highlights Need for High-Tech Federal Workforce// Aaron Boyd
To deliver better citizen services, the government will need a skilled workforce and the technology to support it, management officials said.