The American Senate began debate on Joe Biden’s $1.9trn stimulus bill, after it passed the House of Representatives. Mr Biden will need the support of all 50 Democratic senators if it is to succeed. In one setback, the Senate’s parliamentarian said that a measure to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour could not be included in the legislation under the procedure by which the Democrats have introduced the bill.
在众议院通过拜登1.9万亿美元的刺激法案后，参议院开始就该法案进行辩论。如果想要获得通过，拜登将需要得到所有50名民主党参议员的支持。在一次法案受阻时，参议院议员表示，根据民主党提出该法案的程序，将最低工资提高到每小时15美元的措施不能纳入立法。
In Britain the government’s budget provided yet more spending on workers and businesses to cushion the blow of the pandemic. The furlough scheme, which pays staff wages and has been in place for a year, was extended to September. Fiscal support for the pandemic now totals 407bn pounds ($570bn). To pay for all this the government set out tax increases, including a rise in corporation tax from 19% to 25% in 2023. Before that there will be a two-year tax break for companies intended to spur investment.
在英国，政府的预算为工人和企业提供了更多的支出，以缓解疫情的冲击。给员工发工资的休假计划在实施了一年后，将被延长到9月份。英国为抗击疫情提供的财政支持目前总计4070亿英镑(合5700亿美元)。为了支付这些费用，政府开始增加税收，包括在2023年将公司税从19%提高到25%。在此之前，政府将对有意刺激投资的企业实行两年的税收减免。
India’s economy pulled out of recession in the last three months of 2020, but only just. GDP expanded by 0.4% in the quarter, year on year.
印度经济在2020年的最后三个月走出了衰退，但也仅仅是刚走出的状态。第三季度GDP同比增长0.4%。
A huge stimulus package helped Brazil limit the pandemic’s damage to its GDP, which shrank by 4.1% last year, a better performance than economies of similar size.
一项庞大的经济刺激计划帮助巴西限制了新冠疫情对其GDP的损害，巴西的GDP去年缩水了4.1%，这已经是同等规模下的经济体相对好一点的表现了。
February was a record month for the value of SPACs, shell companies that list on a stock exchange with the intent of merging with an existing company, and so avoid the rigours of an IPO. spacs struck 50 merger deals last month, totalling almost $109bn.
2月份是研究特殊目的收购公司(SPAC)价值创纪录的一个月。特殊目的收购公司是指在证券交易所上市的空壳公司，目的是与现有公司合并，从而避免IPO的严苛条件。上月，全球特殊目的收购公司达成了50笔合并交易，总额近1090亿美元。
Rio Tinto’s chairman decided to step down within a year because of the mining company’s demolition of a sacred Aboriginal cave in Australia in May 2020. Australian pension funds had pressed Rio’s board to hold senior executives to account for the destruction.
2020年5月，由于力拓矿业公司拆除了澳大利亚土著居民的一处神圣的洞穴，该公司董事长决定在一年内辞职。澳大利亚养老基金曾向力拓矿业公司董事会施压，要求其高管对此次拆除事件负责。
Another week and another carmaker announced an ambitious electrification strategy, as Volvo said it would phase out all petrol-powered cars, including hybrids, by 2030, and sell only fully electric ones. It also plans to disrupt the established way of selling cars by ditching dealerships and making its new cars available only online.
又过了一周，又有一家汽车制造商宣布了一项雄心勃勃的电动化战略。沃尔沃表示，到2030年，它将逐步淘汰包括混合动力车在内的所有汽油动力汽车，只销售全电动汽车。该公司还计划打破现有的汽车销售方式，取消经销商，只在线上销售新车。
