<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=""><b class="">Excerpts</b><span class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><b class="">: </b> </span><span class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; -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 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 could threaten the stability of the financial system as a whole.” 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;">Rudebusch warns that crops and inundated cities have already started to hurt the economy: “Economists view these losses as the result of a fundamental market failure: carbon fuel prices do not properly account for climate change costs,” he writes. “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 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);"><a href="https://grist.org/article/federal-reserve-climate-change-economy-green-bonds/" class="" style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">https://grist.org/article/federal-reserve-climate-change-economy-green-bonds/</a></p><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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