IN A NUTSHELL: MUST READ
US Economy Not Doing So Hot Right NowThe US economy grew at the lackluster annual rate of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2016 in a possible sign that the seven-year recovery might be feeling some strain. The US is one of the few bright spots in the global economy with the Federal Reserve feeling so optimistic recently that they raised interest rates in December. They’ve since held off doing it again as global growth has been quite disappointing… to put it mildly.
So this is a global issue?Basically. Japan just slipped into deflation and might experience zero growth despite the Bank of Japan doing everything to increase growth short of firing money out of a cannon into crowds. Meanwhile, China is struggling under a mountain of debt, Brazil is too busy impeaching its president to worry about its terrible recession and Europe’s economy is somewhere between constipated and giving up. Central banks around the world are basically printing money to get things moving again, but governments are one-upping them by ushering in a golden era of political dysfunction.
GOOD BOOK: The Only Game in Town: Central Banks, Instability, and Avoiding the Next Collapse By Mohamed el-Erian
The Ceasefire That Never Began Just EndedThe truce is officially over after the Syrian government carried out more than 40 airstrikes in Aleppo, destroying a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders and leaving at least 30 people dead. Dr. Wasem Maaz, the last remaining pediatrician in the rebel-held part of the city, was among the people confirmed killed by an airstrike. And “ceasefire” is confirmed the official “literally” of 2016, in that it now means the opposite.
PNUT READ: Our Brief on the Syrian Civil War | 
by Steve Case.
