Don’t think a great stock market means we’ve got a great economy Share prices are way up, but the coronavirus downturn may not be over ........... This enormous positive run has prompted cheerful predictions that the stock market is telling us that better days are near at hand, despite more than 109,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic; tens of millions of recently unemployed people, last month’s reported employment gain notwithstanding; civil unrest in cities and towns throughout the country; and political and social divisiveness, which I suspect may be our country’s biggest problem of all. .............. As the late, great and occasionally playful economist Paul Samuelson wrote in a 1966 Newsweek column, “Wall Street indexes predicted nine out of the last five recessions.” ........... there’s no reason to think that optimistic predictions based on rising markets are any more accurate than pessimistic predictions based on falling markets............. In the short run, anything can happen. .... In the long run, stock prices are determined by interest rates and earnings. ......... The Federal Reserve, which has the power to create money, has thrown record amounts of cash at various parts of the securities markets to keep them afloat. .......... Given that the only thing keeping business and the economy afloat has been massive amounts of borrowed taxpayer money and Federal Reserve moves to try to stabilize financial markets, cutting back on the taxpayer money being shoveled into the economy could cause things to start sinking again. .............. Things could get ugly — I mean, really ugly — if states, cities and school districts don’t get the financial aid they need to avoid massive layoffs. Not to mention what happens if the coronavirus stages a comeback in the fall. I don’t know where stocks — and the economy — go from here. No one knows.
Australians haven’t given up on the United States — yet Today Australians still look to America. But what they see makes them heartsick and worried. ........... Donald Trump’s election as president has shown America in a strange and unfamiliar light. The official response to the covid-19 pandemic has made America look weak. The killing of George Floyd, and Trump’s militarized response to the protests that followed, have shown Australians an America that is divided and unjust. .............. Australians no longer recognize the America they see on the news. ............ This past weekend, Australians watched in dismay as Trump fenced the White House off from America, just as he wants to wall America off from the world. ........... Trump is sympathetic to isolationism; Australians are inclined toward internationalism. Trump is hostile to free trade; Australia is a trading nation. Trump swoons over autocrats and strongmen; Australia is an old democracy and a free society. ............... Trump’s America was already self-isolating before the coronavirus pandemic, sloughing off allies and stepping back from the world. The coming of covid-19 made the United States look seriously unwell: febrile, weak and disoriented. During the pandemic, Trump has flailed around like a fool. But the broader U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic has also been unimpressive. .............. poor state capacity, excessive individualism, the lack of universal health care and the hyper-partisan political culture ........ As the only country to fight beside the United States in every major conflict of the 20th and 21st centuries, Australia has a good claim to being America’s best ally. ............ China has overtaken the United States as Australia’s most important economic partner. But a region dominated by China — a superpower run by a Leninist political party — would not serve Australia’s interests. ............ Australians worry about Donald Trump’s fecklessness, but they fear Xi Jinping’s recklessness. .......... There is reason for hope in the backlash to Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic; in the spreading realization that his administration is disintegrating; in the diverse and overwhelmingly peaceful protests across the United States; in the sight of a U.S. senator joining a march or a National Guardsman taking a knee. ......... Scales have fallen from many Americans’ eyes, revealing the truth about racial discrimination but also about Donald Trump. All this dysfunction, violence and division has taken place on the president’s watch, and surely that will count in November. Perhaps this ghastly fever dream is nearly over.
Experts on how to stay emotionally connected while socially distant Remote work might be the new norm. This is how managers and experts stay connected to their teams. .......... Some people love the newfound freedom and five-second commute; others miss office colleagues and lunchtime conversations. ........ With some companies encouraging employees to stay home until 2021 and beyond, a big question is how to keep employees engaged and emotionally connected. ......... switching from long group conversations to shorter, one-on-one sessions. She’s also started sending written notes and letters. ......... having a daily call at 9 a.m. helps her keep a routine by having a dedicated time to start the day. “I’m the kind of person that needs structure to feel motivated, so this daily morning call really helps me stay connected to my team and my work” ........... For coworkers she’s known for a while but no longer works with directly, she schedules a monthly check-in as a part-social call, part-information exchange “as a way to keep the relationship warm.” For those she works with more closely, she uses instant messaging to check in. ........... Basecamp has been working remotely for nearly two decades. As a company, Basecamp uses a variety of approaches to get people to share something about themselves beyond work, and twice a year, employees have normally joined together for a week at company headquarters in Chicago. ........... the key to encouraging connection among staff members is making sure everyone feels as though they have a sense of what is going on. ............... “The number one thing you have to accept is that working remotely requires writing [because] you can’t get all the schedules to align all the time in the same way you could if you had everyone in the office” ............ being thoughtful and intentional about how we stay connected means effectively moving beyond watercooler conversations and office kitchen small talk ............ we can create work environments that more readily promote flexibility, creativity, and productivity. ........ connection is not just about physical proximity
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