Skimm'd while packing for the long weekend

theSkimm50 West 23rd Street, Suite 5B; New York, NY, 10010, United States Update Profile

AUGUST 31, 2018

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Skimm'd while packing for the long weekend


  QUOTE OF THE DAY  

"Ok #PrinceHarry, I see you" – Halle Berry, after seeing herself on Harry's teenage bedroom wall. Because we need another reason to be jealous of Halle Berry.

A BAD TREND

The Story

Argentina is struggling with a financial crisis.

Back it all the way up.

In '01, Argentina had its worst economic crisis. It led to one in every five Argentinians being unemployed, and left millions in poverty. Many blamed the IMF (which helps countries keep currency values on the up and up) for encouraging policies that contributed to the crisis. And the IMF admitted it made a few mistakes. Now, people are saying 'can we trust you again?'

Why?

Because the value of the country's currency is tanking. And the country hasn't been able to lower inflation. Earlier this year, the gov worked out a $50 billion loan deal with the IMF to try to stabilize things. Then earlier this week, the gov said 'can we get that loan a little sooner than expected? Like now.' The goal: get people to start trusting the market again. The reality: investors were left saying 'WTF.' And the currency tanked even more. Then yesterday, the central bank said it was trying to fix things by hiking interest rates at least until the end of the year.

Why should I care?

Because this seems like a trend with emerging markets. See: Brazil, Turkey, South Africa. And now Argentina. They've been feeling the impact of the US Federal Reserve upping interest rates – which made the dollar stronger. And since a lot of emerging markets hold debt in dollars, this potentially makes it harder for those countries to pay back that debt.

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Argentina is Latin America's third-largest economy. If it defaults, millions of people could feel the effects.

REPEAT AFTER ME...

What to say to your co-worker who drank too much at happy hour…

You're cut off. Yesterday, President Trump cut pay raises for about 2 million federal employees. The reason: budget issues. Money's not the only thing on Trump's mind. Yesterday, he attacked NBC News anchor Lester Holt for "fudging" the tape of their interview. Aka the one where Trump specifically said he fired former FBI Director James Comey because of how he handled the Russia investigation. To be clear: there's no real evidence that the tape was 'fudged.' In other news about attacks on the free press, yesterday a man was arrested for making death threats to employees at the Boston Globe. Meanwhile, the Justice Dept is busy siding with Asian-American applicants suing Harvard for racial discrimination – and calling on admissions processes to be more race-neutral. And that's not the only thing the admin's getting involved in on college campuses. The Education Dept is working on some policy changes for how schools should handle sexual misconduct – to help protect students being accused, not the victims.


What people are watching…

Chemnitz, Germany. For days, the city's been in the headlines for anti-migrant protests. Reminder: in recent years, Germany's been struggling with a migrant crisis. And it's led to a rise in nationalism there, including in the gov. Earlier this week, two migrants were arrested in connection with the stabbing of a German man. Thousands of nationalists used it as an opportunity to protest the country's migration policies. And chanted things like "close the borders" and "this is our city." The far-right protesters were met by counter-protesters, who said things like "Nazis out." What also doesn't help the situation: the warrant for one of the suspects was leaked to far-right groups, raising Qs about whether nationalists were in collusion with police officers. Yesterday, hundreds of people turned out for more anti-migrant protests. All of this puts more pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel – who called the protests "hate in the streets" – to take another look at the migrant situation there.


Who people are talking about…

Colin Kaepernick. An arbitrator ruled that his case against the NFL can move to trial. Kaepernick is the former San Francisco 49ers QB who helped make the #TakeAKnee protests a thing. He's been a free agent for more than a year, but teams haven't picked him up. He filed a complaint against the NFL, saying that team owners were working together to keep him off the field because of the protests. The NFL asked an arbitrator to dismiss the case. But now, the arbitrator's saying 'nope, time for the court to handle this.' A big win for Kaepernick. The hearing could start later this year. In other news rocking the sports world, Michigan State University said the NCAA is done investigating how it handled sexual assault cases. This includes the Larry Nassar scandal, as well as another report that the school had a "pattern of denial, inaction and information suppression" in handling allegations against athletes. Now the school says the NCAA didn't find any violations and it's glad to have some "closure."


What to say when you hear Coca-Cola just shook on a big coffee deal

And what's your deal, NAFTA countries? Today, we should find out if the US, Mexico, and Canada will be living happily ever NAFTA. Canada says they're all working "very, very intensely" to get a deal done by today.


What to say to your most competitive friend…

There's you, and then there's Venus and Serena.