Increased tax rates could be a positive for markets and governments as they look to manage debt accumulated over the last year and to reduce inequality, which has reportedly limited growth according to the IMF reut.rs/3lEUbb3 1/8
In both the U.S. and UK, governing parties have begun work on raising taxes. The tax rises won’t be welcomed by rich individuals, and has prompted Wall St investment banks to cut their 2022 forecasts 2/8
Yet, most investors and economists appear unperturbed and some even say targeted tax hikes that reduce burgeoning inequality will benefit markets in the longer-term. While there appears to be little appetite for a return to the ‘austerity’ policies of a decade ago 3/8
So far, investors note, efforts to raise personal taxes in major Western economies have been modest and won't necessarily knock economic growth and equities markets. Plus, redistribution may even support growth 4/8
However, global indebtedness, including government, household and corporate and bank debt, sits at nearly $300 trillion, the Institute of International Finance estimates, with $4.8 trillion added in the second quarter of 2021, much of which was financed by central banks 5/8
Nonetheless, the past year showed in fact how effective targeted spending can be; pandemic aid programmes cut U.S. poverty rates by almost half compared to 2018 levels, an Urban Institute study found 6/8
The crisis also shone a light on the wealth gap: figures quoted by Oxfam show the world's billionaires got $3.9 trillion richer between March and December 2020 7/8
A study presented at this year's U.S. Jackson Hole conference posited that income inequality exacerbated downward pressure on bond yields, since the wealthy usually save a bigger portion of their income.
The US government's first-ever negotiated prices for prescription drugs are still more than double on average, and in some cases five times what drugmakers have agreed in four other high-income countries 1/5 reut.rs/3AQ7gto
This is the first time Medicare, which covers more than 67 million people, has disclosed drug prices, usually hidden behind a system of rebates and discounts. The lower prices will result in savings of $6 billion in 2026 when they take effect 2/5
A Reuters review of available maximum prices set by other wealthy nations — Australia, Japan, Canada and Sweden — show they have negotiated far lower prices for the same drugs 3/5
Threats. Surveillance. Doxxing. Swatting. Here's why some Sikhs in the US and Canada fear Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is trying to silence them ⬇️ 1/6reut.rs/4fFgF78
California's first Sikh American assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains says someone took photos of her home, broke into her mailbox 2/6
Bains is pushing for legislation to give law enforcement training and tools to address harassment by foreign governments 3/6
Kamala Harris is preparing for the fight of her life, if her inner circle is anything to go by 1/9 reut.rs/3LQ8kjh
The vice president has surrounded herself with a group of tested operators, many of them Black women who have been involved in Democratic politics for decades, as she gears up for a brutal three months of campaigning before the November 5 election 2/9
US Senator Laphonza Butler of California, for one, struck a bullish tone this week when asked on MSNBC about the prospect of Harris facing a barrage of sexist and racist attacks. 'Bring it,' she said. 'Because we are not new to this' 3/9
French paramedic Seifelislam Benadda had just dropped off a patient at hospital on July 1, he said, when police informed him he was prohibited from leaving his hometown in the Paris suburbs, saying he was a potential threat to the Olympic Games 1/8 reut.rs/3WhFJrY
For the next nine days, instead of driving his ambulance, the 28-year-old checked in at the Nogent-sur-Marne police station at midday and fought to overturn the administrative measure, which alleged he posed a terrorist risk 2/8
As part of a vast security operation for the Paris Games authorities have turned to powers passed under a 2017 anti-terror law, placing 155 people under surveillance measures that strictly limit their movement and oblige them to register daily with police 3/8
Four decades ago, the United States deployed cruise and Pershing II nuclear missiles in Europe to counter Soviet SS-20s - a move that stoked Cold War tensions but led within years to a historic disarmament deal 1/10 reut.rs/3W97ZNj
'We can be proud of planting this sapling, which may one day grow into a mighty tree of peace,' Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev told US President Ronald Reagan in December 1987 as they agreed to dismantle the rival systems under a new treaty 2/10
The treaty scrapped all ground-based shorter-range and intermediate-range (INF) nuclear and conventional weapons - those with ranges between 500 km and 5,500 km 3/10
Israel intensified its bombardment of Rafah in Gaza's south and over a dozen members of one family were killed in an air strike, residents said, as the ruined Palestinian enclave's health ministry announced 29,313 deaths in the war so far 1/6 reut.rs/3wrVZgR
In Jerusalem, Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz cited 'promising early signs of progress' on a new deal to release hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza amid talks conducted by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to secure a pause in the war 2/6
The Israeli army said it had stepped up operations in Khan Younis, a city just north of Rafah. It made no mention of attacks on Rafah itself in its daily summary of events in Gaza and did not immediately respond to a request for comment 3/6