"The states’ methods can be aggressive: Issuing subpoenas to pore through credit card statements, bank transactions or phone records to track a taxpayer’s location, and sending auditors to interview doormen or confirm doctors’ appointments."
"The stark contrast of failure and success is an increasingly familiar sight in the Saudi capital as the 86-year-old kingdom undergoes the biggest upheaval in its modern history to adopt a Western-style model of capitalism. Since the government trimmed subsidies and costs rose, the survival of businesses is being determined by different market forces."
"The current draft omits a clause in the 1976 constitution on the ultimate aim of building a 'communist society', instead simply focusing on socialism. 'This does not mean we are renouncing our ideas,' Esteban Lazo, president of the National Assembly, was quoted as saying by state-run media. Cuba had simply moved into a different era following the fall of the Soviet Union, he added."
"The IMF also expects the Venezuelan economy to contract 15% this year, leading to a cumulative GDP decline since 2013 of 50%. Venezuela's collapse, while contained, is so profound it is now holding back the rebound of the entire region: while Latin America is expected to grow 1.9% this year, the number would be 2.5% without Venezuela according to Bloomberg."
"People depending on a pension not only likely won’t get the money owed to them in the future… but they’ll also get stuck paying more into the system today. It’s a true lose/lose."
"A Reuters analysis of U.S. household data shows that the bottom 60 percent of income-earners have accounted for most of the rise in spending over the past two years even as the their finances worsened - a break with a decades-old trend where the top 40 percent had primarily fueled consumption growth."
"What might be surprising is just how dependent some companies are on government spending for their existence."
"To Venezuelans such wisdom is essential, because when you are coping with hyperinflation, the long term is next week."
"Donald Trump is the last person who wants to see interest rates go up. Not only does his personal business empire depend on low rates… so does his political empire."
"By contrast, institutional investors and hedge funds have been net sellers of stocks in 2018."