<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="" style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b class="">Excerpt: </b> </span><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Climate change was already worrying enough — now a report from the U.S. central bank cautions that rising temperatures and extreme storms could eventually trigger a financial collapse.</span></div><div class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><br class=""></span></div><p class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">A <a href="https://www.frbsf.org/economic-research/publications/economic-letter/2019/march/climate-change-and-federal-reserve/?utm_source=frbsf-home-economic-letter-title&utm_medium=frbsf&utm_campaign=economic-letter" class=""><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(5, 74, 97);">Federal Reserve researcher warned in a report on Monday</span></a> that “climate-based risk <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">could threaten the stability of the financial system as a whole.” </span>But possible fixes — using the Fed’s buying power to green the economy — are currently against the law.</span></p><p class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Climate change could soon hit the banking system “by storms, droughts, wildfires, and other extreme events” making it harder for businesses to repay loans.</span></p><p class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">“Businesses and households that produce greenhouse gas emissions, say, by driving cars or generating electricity, do not pay for the losses and damage caused by that pollution.”</span></p><p class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">A hefty carbon tax <b style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">alone</b> wouldn’t be enough to fix the problem — what he calls an “intergenerational <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);" class="">and international market failure.”</span></span></p><p class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class="">Along with </span><a href="https://grist.org/article/report-climate-change-could-make-insurance-too-expensive-for-most-people/" class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(5, 74, 97);">a report last week</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""> </span><span class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 251, 0);">from the insurance industry saying that climate change could eventually make insurance unaffordable for most people, Rudebusch’s report is part of a growing body of evidence that climate change</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""> </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/18/ending-climate-change-end-capitalism" class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(5, 74, 97);">poses an existential threat to the world economy</span></a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;" class=""> as it currently exists.</span></p><p class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Last month, Fed chairman Jerome Powell <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-25/fed-researcher-warns-climate-change-could-spur-financial-crisis?cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-politics&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_medium=social&utm_content=politics&utm_source=twitter" class=""><span class="" style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; color: rgb(5, 74, 97); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(5, 74, 97);">told legislators</span></a> that asking why the Fed doesn’t currently consider the risks of climate change was a “fair question.”</span></p><div class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 238);"><span class="" style="text-decoration: underline; -webkit-font-kerning: none;"><a href="https://grist.org/article/federal-reserve-climate-change-economy-green-bonds/" class="">https://grist.org/article/federal-reserve-climate-change-economy-green-bonds/</a></span></div><div class="">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Despite recognizing the downsides of debt, the lure of spending remains strong. After covering off on necessities, Americans said 40% </div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">of their monthly income goes toward discretionary spending on entertainment, leisure travel, hobbies, etc. In fact, when asked what </div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">financial pitfalls they are prone to, one quarter of Americans flagged “excessive/frivolous” spending.<br class=""><br class=""><div class=""><a href="https://www.northwesternmutual.com/about-us/studies/planning-and-progress-study-2017" class="">https://www.northwesternmutual.com/about-us/studies/planning-and-progress-study-2017</a><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><br class=""></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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