SAN FRANCISCO (Callaway Climate Insights) — Europe cemented yet another jewel into its sustainability crown when Italy’s government issued the European Union’s biggest-ever green bond in early March, raising more than €8 billion ($9.4 billion) to finance Italy’s green transition strategy and boosting the EU’s status as the world’s fastest growing player in today’s green bond market.

A question that bothers international audiences as well as those across the US is the extent of the divide in American society today. That was the topic of a recent conversation between India Ambassador Amit Dasgupta and Marsha Vande Berg. The conversation also highlights the evolving relationship between the US and India.

View at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE_qDVGkF7g

This interview is conducted by my colleague David Burda.

This week, a podcast and a panel.  The March 2021 Hale Report podcast is my interview with Karen Petrou, discussing her new book, Engine of Inequality: The Fed and the Future of Wealth in America. Just published, it is already the #1 book in its category on Amazon.

The outlines of a 21st century paradigm are becoming clear: a dialectic between centralization and decentralization. Although technology enables both, it makes large scale post-modern decentralization possible. Trust in institutions built over centuries allows centralization, but lack of trust, especially in media and information flows fosters an environment politically favorable to decentralization.

Maybe it’s the several feet of snow piling up on our deck that have soured my outlook on hospital pricing behaviors. Winter blizzards are one way nature reminds humans that life isn’t always the way we’d like it to be.

At the beginning of 2020, US healthcare showed every sign of continuing 2019’s wave of growth and consolidation. Soaring valuations and an influx of new investment capital bolstered the optimistic outlook.

By March, the reality of the global pandemic had set in. We knew that an unprecedented year was upon us.