(Bloomberg Opinion) -- As concern mounts about the rising levels of U.S. government debt, it’s important to keep in mind two principles that are not quite opposing but not quite complementary: First, there is no looming debt crisis. Second, the U.S. needs to address the growing federal deficit over the medium term in a deliberate way.To be clear, the pandemic has created an unprecedented shock, and the economic outlook is difficult at best. If there are Depression-like levels of unemployment for an extended period, then it would be a profound economic crisis and public debt will explode. That’s very different from saying that public debt will cause an economic crisis. There are a number of reasons to think that it will not.First, for nations that issue debt in their own currency, excessive levels of public borrowing tend to produce exchange-rate crises rather than debt crises. The reason for this is straightforward: If...
Boeing Co (BA) is being sued by Kuwaiti Alafco Aviation Lease and Finance Co., for refusing to return the $336 million it paid for the delivery of 40 of its grounded 737 MAX jets.Alafco Aviation had canceled the plane order March 6 after the aerospace company allegedly failed to deliver the aircraft on time, according to media reports.The delivery of the order was expected be received in March 2010, Alafco Aviation said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Chicago.The failure to deliver the planes, “and the circumstances in which they have occurred, substantially impair the value of the purchase agreement as a whole,” Alafco said in the lawsuit. “Accordingly, Alafco has canceled its 737 Max aircraft orders and requested return of all advance payments.”The lawsuit is the latest blow to the aerospace company, which has seen shares plunging almost 60% this year. The stock slid 1% to close...
(Bloomberg) -- Follow Bloomberg on LINE messenger for all the business news and analysis you need.The owner of one of Vietnam’s biggest rice exporters, Nguyen Quang Hoa, can only watch as 500 containers of sticky rice stranded in a port container yard for a month slowly degrades.He’s furloughed 400 factory workers, but his losses keep growing. If he doesn’t ship the 12,500 tons of rice soon, he’s worried his Chinese clients will reject it, and his company will be forced to default on $13 million in bank loans.“We may have to throw away all the sticky rice, and spend more money getting rid of it,” said Hoa, director and founder of Duong Vu Co. “My company is teetering on the edge of collapse.”Hoa is one of more than 100 traders in Vietnam hurt by a government measure last month to restrict shipments on concerns that global demand will spike as the...
