On October 15th, the Spanish newspaper Le Monde published an article by Pablo Pardo titled "Six Keys to the World Economy: From Taylor Swift's Struggle with Streaming to the Geopolitical Crisis between Hamas and Israel". The full text is excerpted as follows:
Taylor Swift, an exorcist who cannot handle "streaming media"
Taylor Swift, 34, defeated cable television, internet, and entertainment giant Comcast. Swift forced Comcast to change the release time of his film "The Exorcist: The Believer". The premiere of the film has been rescheduled from Friday, October 13th, to October 6th, in order to avoid being released on the same day as Swift's tour film 'Journey to the Times'. However, despite blockbuster films such as "Journey to the Times," "Oppenheimer," and "Barbie," global (excluding China) cinema box office revenue will still significantly decline by 21% this year, to $33 billion. Streaming is more powerful than Taylor Swift.
Dad, I want to become an artist, and you become my agent
If it is surprising that Universal Pictures (a Hollywood studio under Comcast) had to change the release date of the blockbuster for Taylor Swift, what is even more shocking is that the singer's box office share in the United States was much higher than what she could achieve through a Hollywood studio to release "Journey to Time". With the help of his father Scott Swift, Taylor skipped the various studios while they were moving slowly.
The Republican Party will miss McCarthy... or the money he brings
In politics (or many other activities), purity and money often cannot be achieved simultaneously. This is something that hardliners and Trump Republicans in the US House of Representatives may discover in a year. While dismissing their Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, and replacing them with ideologically pure Jim Jordan and Steve Scalis, they also defeated the party's largest fundraiser. According to some estimates, despite McCarthy's lack of principles (perhaps because of this), he raised 70% of the Republican Party's 2022 House campaign funds. With thirteen months to go before the complex election, this is a bad omen.
Is a world without fat people good or bad for the economy?
If this question sounds absurd, then blame the weight loss drug Smeglutide produced by Danish company Novo Nordisk, which appears to be a killer of obesity. What is the impact of this drug on healthcare (both public and private)? If obesity is eliminated, people will live longer, have longer retirement benefits, require more geriatric services, and have an increase in cases of dementia, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease. On the other hand, cardiovascular diseases will be reduced, as will diabetes and bariatric surgery.
Focusing on the 2024 election, Biden discovered the oil industry
When people see the industry with the highest appreciation in the S&P 500 index, they are surprised: the energy industry. This is largely due to a 30% increase in oil prices since June. In this situation, considering the difficult prospect of re-election in 2024, the Biden administration has suspended several (although not all) measures to regulate US crude oil production. As a result, the daily production of the world's largest crude oil producer, the United States, surged to about 13 million barrels.
The Geopolitical Crisis of Oil in the War between Hamas and Israel
The daily oil production of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates can increase by over 2 million barrels. In the short term, if the war between Hamas and Israel affects the crude oil market, it will be a buffer. In the long run, things will become more complex. Iran's support for Hamas may lead Biden to no longer ignore the fact that the country has violated the oil blockade. This will push up oil prices and benefit Russia, so the United States hopes to strengthen sanctions on Russian crude oil exports. At the same time, Biden hopes that this will not lead to an increase in US oil prices, as he wants to win the 2024 election.