On Its Way.

The most ambitious hunt for life beyond Earth, ever.

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“(News Items) is the first thing I read every morning.” — Rob Manfred, Commissioner, Major League Baseball.

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1. Global public debt is set to reach $100 trillion, or 93% of global gross domestic product, by the end of this year, driven by the US and China, according to new analysis by the International Monetary Fund. In its latest Fiscal Monitor — an overview of global public finance developments — the IMF said it expects debt to approach 100% of GDP by 2030, and it warns that governments will need to make tough decisions to stabilize borrowing. Debt is tipped to increase in the US, Brazil, France, Italy, South Africa and UK, according to the IMF report, which urges governments to rein in debt. (Source: bloomberg.com, italics mine)

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2. The Netherlands retained its title as the world’s top pension system in an annual international index, which warned that too many people globally are retiring without enough guidance on how to make their savings last. Iceland, Denmark and Israel followed the Netherlands to round out the top four systems globally, according to this year’s Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index. They’re the only countries of the 48 assessed to receive an overall grade of A. The report, which rates retirement systems based on their adequacy, sustainability and integrity, said while those at the top are performing well, there are demographic challenges for pensions worldwide. (Sources: bloomberg.com)

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3. Imagine if having children came with more than $150,000 in cheap loans, a subsidized minivan and a lifetime exemption from income taxes. Would people have more kids? The answer, it seems, is no. These are among the benefits—along with cheap child care, extra vacation and free fertility treatments—that have been doled out to parents in different parts of Europe, a region at the forefront of the worldwide baby shortage. Europe’s overall population shrank during the pandemic and is on track to contract by about 40 million by 2050, according to United Nations statistics. Birthrates have been falling across the developed world since the 1960s. But the decline hit Europe harder and faster than demographers expected—a foreshadowing of the sudden drop in the U.S. fertility rate in recent years. Read the rest. (Source: wsj.com)