‘Reboot’ pitches a knowing look at sitcom revivals and Hollywood insecurities

The meta aspects of a Hulu comedy about the making of a Hulu comedy quickly pile up in “Reboot,” a fictional show about reviving a series from the early 2000s, reuniting the cast and crew with all their insecurities and old grudges. Created by “Modern Family’s” Steve Levitan, it’s a breezy and very-inside look at Hollywood, with a few too many rim shots but still a fair amount of laughs.Continue Reading

HK may finally lift quarantine rules in Nov

Hong Kong’s government is expected to announce this week a further relaxation of its Covid-19 quarantine rules by November to attract more international travelers and restore the city’s sagging standing as an international business hub, according to local press reports. All incoming travelers to Hong Kong must now stay at designated hotels at their own […]

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Race to hike rates guarantees global recession

TOKYO — Punchbowls everywhere are becoming endangered species as central bankers scramble to yank them away with increasing urgency. Nowhere more so than here in Asia.

This metaphor is courtesy of William McChesney Martin, the US Federal Reserve’s longest-serving chairman who held the position from 1951 to 1970. He famously said a monetary authority’s role is that of a “chaperone who has ordered the punchbowl removed just when the party was really warming up.”

Since the 2008 Lehman Brothers crisis, the catchphrase markets most associate with central banks is “whatever it takes.” Mario Draghi, then-president of the European Central Bank, famously uttered these words in July 2012 amid debt-market turmoil on the continent. A year later, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda would embrace a similar mantra.

Today, officials are racing to do what they can to tame inflation and keep up with current US Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell’s tightening cycle.

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