Airports of Thailand (AOT) is revising its planned Bt44-billion northern expansion of Suvarnabhumi Airport, said AoT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn.
The revision to bring the plan in line with the “new normal” concept is expected to take between one and two months to complete.
The new northern terminal will have annual capacity for 30 million passengers.
Also to be drawn up are details for projects to extend the existing passenger terminal eastwards and westwards, he added.
Nitinai expressed confidence the global aviation sector would return to normal next year when Covid-19 vaccines are expected to become available.
The number of passengers at Suvarnabhumi is forecast to return to pre-outbreak levels of 65 million in 2023.
Meanwhile, AOT expects to finish construction of Satellite Terminal 1 in 2022, boosting Suvarnabhumi’s annual capacity by 15 million passengers.
The next thing in green investing is a new kind of debt designed to help fund the trillions of dollars needed to wean the world from carbon.
Transition bonds are being developed for fossil-fuel companies and other heavy corporate emitters, which have largely been shut out of a booming green market. So-called brown industries would have to use proceeds from the sales to fund their clean-energy transformation.
Next year “will be a ramp-up phase for transition instruments,” said Marisa Drew, Credit Suisse Group AG’s chief sustainability officer. “We’ll have some experimental issuers tap the market and then we’ll see many investors lining up.”
The United Nations estimates the cost to decarbonize the world will be $35 trillion, and capital markets will have to play a role. Corporations such as Citigroup Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. and governments from Chile to Sweden raised a record $235 billion this year in green bonds, used to fund environmentally-friendly projects.
Such financing is likely to get another boost next year from the European Union’s plans to start green bonds and from U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s prioritization of climate policies. The coronavirus pandemic is also spurring an explosion in social bonds, where issuance is up eight times on last year to fund projects that benefit society as a whole.
Behind the scenes, bankers and investors are now writing rules for transition finance. The ground is fertile partly because there aren’t enough green bonds to satisfy investor demand, Drew said. That was shown by near-record bidding for a debut green sale from Germany, with the securities trading at a premium to the country’s conventional debt.
“I don’t think anybody thought in January, and certainly not since we became aware of the gravity of Covid, that this would be such a busy year for green bonds,” said Daniel Klier, HSBC Holdings Plc’s global head of sustainable finance. “It helped that governments and central banks put green topics at the heart of their recovery plans and that companies with superior environmental, social and governance profiles performed better in the crisis.”
As demand has risen for green bonds, their yields have fallen below those of conventional bonds. Enel SpA expects its cost of borrowing to decline because of the company’s decision to use sustainable finance for an increasing proportion of its debt. The Italian utility said its sustainability-linked debt cost it 15 to 20 basis points less than non-ESG debt.
The growing interest from borrowers and investors means green finance is heading for the mainstream with issuance set to surge by around 60% next year to reach $640 billion, according to NatWest Markets Plc.
Yet green bond sales alone will still fall short of what’s required to address climate change, said Tom Chinery, credit portfolio manager at Aviva Investors. Institutional funds have frowned upon oil firms and heavy industry issuing green bonds, since creating one environmental project doesn’t mean companies are cutting their overall emissions.
“What we need is for companies to sign up to whole-company, science-based, environmental targets to achieve meaningful impact,” Chinery said.
Companies have an incentive to commit to such targets because heavy polluters are facing the threat of tougher rules, as countries try to meet long-term emissions targets. Meanwhile, many banks and investors are planning to cut financing or divest funds from laggards, likely raising their cost of capital, as they pour money into ESG investments instead.
Transition bonds aim to provide a solution by tying funds to strict targets, aligning borrowers’ interests with wider policies such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change.Several ideas how this might work have been suggested, including a proposal from French insurer Axa SA, and a more recent offering from the Climate Bonds Initiative that focuses on how companies can transition to low-emission solutions. The International Capital Markets Association, whose voluntary guidelines for other types of sustainable debt are widely used, is due to release a handbook for climate transition finance on Dec. 9.Yo Takatsuki, head of ESG research and active ownership at Axa Investment Managers, and one of the ICMA group’s coordinators, said climate transition finance rules need to be ambitious and have the Paris agreement at their heart. “This will be the first global attempt by the capital markets to set a framework for the transition,” he said. “If we don’t map out how to transform brown industries to green, then we won’t be able to achieve Paris.”The ICMA working group on climate transition finance has more than 80 participants, including building materials companies Buzzi Unicem SpA and LafargeHolcim Ltd., as well as oil producers Repsol SA and Total SE.
Only a handful of companies have so far sold transition bonds, given the lack of consensus on what they should be. One of the first was from a Brazilian beef producer, Marfrig Global Foods SA, which said proceeds from the $500 million bond would be used to buy cattle from ranchers in the Amazon region who comply with non-deforestation and other sustainable criteria. Other deals include an offering Monday from Italian gas pipeline operator Snam SpA, only the third euro transition bond sold year-to-date.Total, France’s largest oil company, announced plans last month to sell a “very large” transition bond, while other European majors have stressed the importance of a transition away from oil. LafargeHolcim raised 850 million euros of sustainability-linked bonds earlier this month that will pay a 0.75% higher interest rate if the company misses a carbon-emissions target.
“If done right, transition bonds can offer an important additional asset class for issuers alongside green bonds, and with that help to prevent greenwashing in the green bond market,” Mario Eisenegger, a money manager at M&G Investments, wrote in a blog posting earlier this year calling for industrywide standards for the securities.Greenwashing, where environmental benefits are exaggerated or misrepresented, is a growing concern as the sustainable finance market expands, said James Rich, senior portfolio manager at Aegon Asset Management. But if investors can successfully identify the most promising labeled bonds, that should ultimately push issuers to increase the sustainability of their business, he said.The ability of transition bonds to grow as an asset class, particularly as quickly as backers hope, depends on ambitious action across all parts of the financial system, said Ben Caldecott, director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Program. That is needed given adapting to climate change is likely to be the most expensive shift in human history.
“All finance needs to become transition finance,” he said.
The government has set an ambitious target for itself – making Thailand one of the top 10 countries in the world for ease of doing business in the next two years, said Deputy PM Supattanapong Punmeechaow, who doubles as energy minister.
Thailand was ranked 21 in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2020 list of 190 countries surveyed.
He added that Thailand is ready on all aspects, especially logistics infrastructure, in order to achieve this goal.
Phongsaward Guyaroonsuith, director-general of the Strategic Transformation Office, said the office aims to complete 85 per cent of laws related to doing business within the next year to help boost the country’s ranking.
Nattapon Dejvitak, Loxley’s executive vice president, said the private sector is working with the government to develop a trade platform to help cut related costs for business operators in import-export transactions.
The platform, which will be linked up with 37 related state agencies, will go on trial in the first quarter of next year, before going into full use later in the year. This will help save between Bt4 billion and Bt5 billion per year on the cost of import-export documentation and related labour costs.
Thai economy shrank further in October, central bank says
EconNov 30. 2020Chayawadee Chai-Anant, senior director at the Bank of Thailand (BOT)
By The Nation
In October this year, Thailand’s economy contracted at a higher rate compared to the previous month due mainly to the fading of temporary factors and last year’s high base effect, Chayawadee Chai-Anant, senior director at the Bank of Thailand (BOT), said on Monday.
Private consumption indicators contracted after experiencing a marginal expansion in September, as the temporary factor of special long holidays came to an end. The value of merchandise exports excluding gold continued to rise from the previous month, but contracted at a higher rate compared to the same period last year partly due to 2019’s high base effect.
Base effect is the distortion in a monthly inflation figure that results from abnormally high or low levels of inflation in the same month the previous year. A base effect can make it difficult to accurately assess inflation levels over time.
Likewise, private investment indicators exhibited a higher contraction. Meanwhile, public spending also contracted as a result of the delayed disbursement of current expenditures.
The tourism sector, however, persistently experienced severe contraction due to travel restrictions on foreign arrivals, BOT’s report on October’s economic and monetary conditions said.
She added that private consumption indicators contracted after experiencing a marginal expansion the previous month, due to a decline in almost all spending categories. After the temporary factor of special long holidays came to an end coupled with last year’s high base effect during which the government implemented economic stimulus measures, spending on non-durable goods and services softened. Non-durables index contracted 3.5 per cent in October compared with 2.3 per cent growth the month before and services index contracted 24.2 per cent compared with 22 per cent contraction in September. However, the durables index contracted 4.5 per cent, slightly better than 4.8 per cent contraction in September.
The central bank said the overall private consumption continued on a recovery path, consistent with a gradual improvement of factors supporting consumer purchasing power including employment, farming and non-farming income as well as consumer confidence, together with new economic stimulus packages launched by the government.
The value of merchandise exports contracted by 5.6 per cent from the same period last year. Excluding gold, the value of merchandise exports contracted by 5 per cent, slightly worse than the previous month. Higher contraction was exhibited in some categories, particularly petroleum-related, agricultural and agro-manufacturing products influenced by the 2019 high base effect. On the other hand, exports in some categories continued to improve, for instance, electrical appliances, machinery and equipment, electronics and automotive and parts. However, manufacturing production experienced a lower contraction, mainly driven by automotive and petroleum sectors partly due to a low base effect on the industry last year.
Private investment indicators’ contraction was higher compared to the previous month, led by investment in machinery and equipment, as well as construction. Investment in machinery and equipment contracted at a higher rate mainly due to imports of capital goods. Meanwhile, investment in construction contracted slightly owing to the number of permitted contraction areas, in line with a drop in residential construction activities. Private investment index contracted 4.9 per cent in October compared with 2 per cent contraction in September.
Public spending, excluding transfers, contracted 6.2 per cent year on year after continuously expanding in preceding periods, as a result of the delayed disbursement of current expenditures. Nevertheless, capital expenditures of the government and state enterprises continued to expand and support economic recovery.
The value of merchandise imports dropped by 12.1 per cent from the same period last year. Excluding gold, the value of merchandise imports contracted by 9.9 per cent. In comparison to the previous month, a higher contraction was observed in almost all categories including fuel, consumer products and capital goods, consistent with the contraction of domestic spending.
The number of tourist arrivals contracted 100 per cent year on year as travel restrictions remained in place. Although the government began to allow foreigners holding the Special Tourists Visa (STV) to visit Thailand, the number of foreign arrivals was still small.
On the overall economic stability, headline inflation was less negative mainly due to an increase in energy prices. Core inflation decreased partly due to the sales promotion offered by entrepreneurs. Labour market continued to improve, in terms of both employment and income, but remained vulnerable. This was partially reflected by high unemployment and the elevated number of jobless claims in the social security system. The current account surplus decreased to $1 billion from $1.3 billion in September due to a higher deficit of net services, income and transfers while a surplus of trade balance stayed nearly the same.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index closed at 1,408.31 on Monday, down 29.47 points or 2.05 per cent. Total transactions amounted to Bt120 billion with an index high of 1,435.04 and a low of 1,408.02.
In the morning session, a Krungsri Securities analyst predicted the day’s index would fluctuate between 1,425 and 1,450 as investors awaited outcomes from the Opec+ meeting on Monday and Tuesday and the Constitutional Court’s ruling in a case against Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha on Wednesday (December 2). Prayut could be removed from office if found guilty of illegally benefitting by occupying his Army residence after retirement.
“Also, the MSCI’s move to rebalance its portfolio on Monday will cause volatility in the index,” said the analyst.
The 10 stocks with the highest trade value today were DELTA, PTT, STGT, KBANK, CPALL, ADVANC, IRPC, TMB, AOT and IVL.
As of 4.30pm, the price of oil dropped by US$0.61 or 1.34 per cent to $44.92 per barrel, while gold dropped by $11.20 or 0.63 per cent, to $1,776.90 per ounce.
Other Asian indices were on the fall:
Japan’s Nikkei Index closed at 26,433.62, down 211.09 points or 0.79 per cent.
China’s Shang Hai SE Composite Index closed at 3,391.76, down 16.55 points or 0.49 per cent, while Shenzhen SE Component Index closed at 13,670.11, down 20.77 points or 0.15 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed at 26,341.49, down 553.19 points or 2.06 per cent.
South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 2,591.34, down 42.11 points or 1.60 per cent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX Index closed at 13,722.89, down 144.20 points or 1.04 per cent.
Majority of Thai-Chinese businesses see Thai growth below 2.5% next year
EconNov 30. 2020Chamber president Narongsak Putthapornmongkol
By The Nation
The Thai-Chinese Chamber of Commerce on Monday revealed that around 44.1 per cent of respondents in its latest survey projected the Thai economy would grow next year at less than 2.5 per cent, while 41.3 per cent forecast growth of 2.5-3.5 per cent.
Chamber president Narongsak Putthapornmongkol said the survey on confidence in the Thai economy in the first quarter next year was conducted on its committee members, network members, more than 60 Chinese business associations, and small and medium sized enterprises.
The survey focused on Thai-China relations, Thai economic indicators and other issues.
Almost two-thirds (61.5 per cent) of respondents were confident China’s economy would expand in the first quarter next year as the country had effectively contained the Covid-19 outbreak.
About half predicted that more China companies would invest in Thailand in the first quarter next year and that Chinese tourists would return. They said China’s economic growth momentum would also help the Thai economy to recover in the first quarter next year.
Their views are in line with the International Monetary Fund’s forecast that the global economy next year will expand 5.2 per cent, China 8.2 per cent and Thailand 4 per cent.
Narongsak said the emergence of Joe Biden as new US president would help ease the US-China trade war. About 70 per cent of respondents agreed that this would boost ties between the world’s two giant economies and improve the global trade climate, which would benefit Thailand in the first half of next year.
Trade between Thailand and China in the first 10 months of this year was worth US$64.763 billion, accounting for 17.89 per cent of Thailand’s total trade volume. Thailand’s export to China during the period were worth $24.542 billion, up 2.7 per cent year on year.
There are only a few basic rules of investing: diversify, keep your costs low and probably most important, hang on when markets tumble occasionally. The last one is the trickiest. It’s not easy watching money vanish as the market plunges, particularly when many people, some of them highly respected, are carping about the end of the world, which invariably accompanies a market collapse.
So it was when covid-19 sent U.S. stocks into a tailspin in late February. The S&P 500 Index shed a third of its value in just more than four weeks, one of the steepest retreats on record, amid widespread chatter that the pandemic would plunge the U.S. into a long depression, wiping out whole industries and permanently damaging broad swaths of the economy.
Hanging on to stocks through that chaos was no small feat, and amazingly, most investors managed to do it. Research firm Dalbar, which attempts to track investors’ moves into and out of mutual funds, concluded in a recent report that “the average investor’s appetite for equities has remained unchanged throughout the covid crisis.” Vanguard Group, which oversees more than $6 trillion in assets, found that less than 0.5% of its retail clients and self-directed investors in its retirement plans panicked and moved to all cash between Feb.19, the market’s pre-coronavirus peak, and May 31.
That’s a big change from previous meltdowns, most recently the 2008 financial crisis, when investors dumped stocks in droves. It seems to have finally sunk in that all crises pass and that the stock market eventually recovers, no matter how desperate things seem at the time.
And true to form, the market recovered sooner than anyone expected. It shot higher in late March and surpassed its pre-covid high in August, even as the coronavirus showed few signs of slowing. As it turned out, the recovery began roughly eight months before news arrived that a highly effective vaccine is in hand and will start to be distributed soon. That sounds about right.
Those who dumped their stocks along the way, gambling that the market is poised for a long slump and would give them an opening to reenter at even lower prices, now face a hard choice. The market is up roughly 60% from its March low, so getting back in means coming to terms with a costly mistake. Say you had $100,000 in the market at the pre-coronavirus peak and sold roughly halfway down, recovering about $83,000. If you had stayed in the market, you would have roughly $107,000 today, or close to 30% more money than when you exited. That’s tough to swallow.
But the alternative is worse. The temptation is to wait stubbornly for the market to revisit its lows, a day that may never come. During the financial crisis, the market turned sharply higher in March 2009, even though it was not yet evident that a collapse of the financial system would be averted. When the all-clear came several months later, the market had risen roughly 60% through October.
Sound familiar? Investors who dumped their stocks during the financial crisis faced the same choice modern-day deserters do now. Those who jumped back in after the crisis eased in 2009 have more than tripled their money despite buying back at what must have seemed like an outrageous price at the time, while those who waited for the elusive ideal reentry are still waiting.
There are countless other examples. With rare exception, when the market surges from the depths of a crisis, it’s a signal that it has moved on, even if some investors have not. Chances are, the market has moved on from covid-19, and investors should, too.
The next time – and yes, there will be a next time – investors are tempted to dump their stocks during a crisis, they should focus not on getting out but getting back in. That should clarify the wisdom of staying put. No one can anticipate the bottom in advance, which means that the reentry will either be too early or too late. And too early is unrealistic. If you’re tempted to run for the exit when the market is down 20%, you probably won’t be in the mood to buy when it’s down 30% or more. That leaves one alternative: buying late, which is the pickle some investors are in now. It’s best to avoid that quandary altogether by remaining invested.
For now, those who got out should recognize that there will never be a better time to get back in, at least one that can be known in advance.
– – –
Kaissar is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering the markets. He is the founder of Unison Advisors, an asset management firm. He has worked as a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell and a consultant at Ernst & Young.
Five core leaders of the pro-democracy movement arrived at Bangkok’s Chanasongkram police station on Monday to acknowledge charges of lese majeste under Article 112 of the Criminal Code.https://www.youtube.com/embed/YXJEjmL1IVk?rel=0
Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak, Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, Panupong “Mike Rayong” Chadnok, Arnon Nampa and Patiwat “Bank” Saraiyam were charged with royal defamation over speeches they gave during an anti-establishment rally at Sanam Luang on September 19-20.
Patiwat “Bank” Saraiyam
Arnon, also a human rights lawyer, said he was unconcerned by the charge and confident the evidence would prove him innocent, adding that they would continue holding rallies.
Parit confirmed that he would also fight the charge.
Panusaya said the lese majeste charges would not stop the movement and its leaders from demanding reform of the monarchy, along with the prime minister’s removal and a new Constitution.
Meanwhile, investigators at Chanasongkram police station said they are collecting evidence to file a separate charge of lese majeste against Parit over a demonstration at Khok Wua intersection on November 14.
By The Washington Post · Jeff Stein, Annie Linskey, Seung Min Kim
WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to lead the powerful White House budget office generated early controversy Monday, with Neera Tanden emerging as an immediate target for conservatives and Republican lawmakers.
Tanden, 50, has regularly clashed with the GOP in a manner that Republicans say will complicate her Senate confirmation process. Several GOP senators said Monday that she could run into trouble during confirmation hearings, warning that her “partisan” background could make it hard for her to win Republican support.
The two Senate Republicans poised to lead committees that would hold Tanden’s confirmation hearings declined to commit to doing so. One of them – Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who is in line to chair the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee – also said he hopes that Biden will decide not to formally nominate Tanden.
“The concern I have is both judgment, based on the tweets that I’ve been shown, just in the last 24 hours . . . and it’s the partisan nature,” said Portman, a former Office of Management and Budget director himself. “Of all the jobs, that’s one where I think you would need to be careful not to have someone who’s overtly partisan.”
The other potential committee chairman who would oversee Tanden’s hearings, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chuckled when asked about Tanden on Monday, noting that she in the past has had a lot to say about him. He also declined to commit to hearings for her, saying only that senators will “cross that bridge when we get there.”
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. told reporters, “I’m not disqualifying anybody, but I do think it gets a lot harder obviously if they send someone from their progressive left that [is] kind of out of the mainstream.” Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s first budget director, told Fox News that Tanden had very little chance of being confirmed.
A loyal Democrat with decades of senior policy-making experience, Tanden has been tapped by Biden to lead the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which plays a crucial role in setting the president’s economic agenda and approving agency policies. She would be the first woman of color to lead the budget office.
She was a close ally of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and served as a senior adviser to President Obama’s Department of Health and Human Services, where she helped draft the Affordable Care Act. She most recently served as president of the Center for American Progress (CAP), a left-leaning think tank with deep ties to Democratic policy-makers. The OMB plays a pivotal role in the White House because of its role in setting the federal budget and clearing new regulations.
“She’ll be well situated to play hard,” said Dean Baker, a liberal economist. “Tanden is obviously an inside player, but she has been around Washington and will be smart on pushing stuff in ways that get through.”
If confirmed to lead the OMB, Tanden would be one of the central economic voices in the Biden administration, along with Janet Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chairwoman chosen to lead the Treasury Department; Cecilia Rouse, a Princeton University economist chosen to lead the White House Council of Economic Advisers; and Brian Deese, a BlackRock executive named to lead the White House National Economic Council. All but Deese would require Senate confirmation.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate GOP leadership, said he did not see any reason why he would oppose Yellen, but he called Tanden Biden’s “worst nominee so far.”
“I think, in light of her combative and insulting comments about many members of the Senate, mainly on our side of the aisle, that it creates certainly a problematic path,” he said Monday.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Republicans were being hypocritical after having brushed aside Trump’s frequent Twitter attacks only to now express alarm about things Tanden has said in the past.
“Honestly, the hypocrisy is astounding,” he said. “If Republicans are concerned about criticism on Twitter, their complaints are better directed at President Trump. I fully expect to see some crocodile tears spilled on the other side of the aisle over the president-elect’s Cabinet nominees.”
Republicans hold a 50-48 majority in the Senate. There is a Georgia runoff election for the two remaining seats in early January that will determine which party controls the Senate when Biden takes office on Jan. 20, 2021.
Tanden would be required to go through two Senate confirmation hearings – one through the Budget Committee and the other through the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The OMB is a rare Cabinet position in which nominees have to file their tax returns to the committees for review.
Tanden has a history of engaging in more pointed and partisan critiques of opponents than Yellen, Deese, or Rouse, feuding on Twitter with conservatives and supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
Tanden’s supporters praise her passion and willingness to fight aggressively across a range of policy issues, including her push against Republican deficit concerns at a time many economists believe further stimulus spending is necessary to propel the economy.
“You need people with toughness. Neera has that,” said former congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass. “She knows what she’s doing. She understands the politics.”
Tanden’s sometimes adversarial approach appears to strike a different tone than what Biden had promised to pursue during the campaign. In his presidential election victory speech, Biden called on Americans to “put the harsh rhetoric of the campaign behind us, to lower the temperature, to see each other again.” Biden added: “We have to stop treating our opponents as enemies. We are not enemies.”
Tanden’s comments may not be out of bounds with the climate of her party, however. Biden himself has also fiercely condemned Republicans at times. Under Tanden, the CAP worked with the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank, on a series of events, including one that featured former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican at odds with the president.
Still, Tanden probably will face the most difficult path to Senate confirmation of Biden’s picks so far, according to interviews with six Republican aides and strategists who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal party deliberations.
Tanden has occasionally clashed with Sanders and his allies, with the senator criticizing the CAP think tank over its reliance on corporate donations. The identities of these donors and whether they might have business before the OMB next year could be a source of scrutiny as Tanden navigates the Senate confirmation process.
A CAP official said in an email that less than 2.5% of the organization’s funding came from corporate sources and that its research frequently broke with the wishes of its donors.
Meanwhile, Briahna Joy Gray, a former Sanders spokeswoman, called Tanden’s selection “less of an olive branch than a middle finger to the left.” But several prominent liberal lawmakers and economists, including Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as well as Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., defended Tanden on Monday.
Tanden declined to comment for this report, as did a spokesman for Sanders.
Part of Tanden’s appeal to Biden’s team is her wide range of experience leading the CAP, which is one of the largest think tanks in Washington and deals with national security, domestic security, and economic policy – all areas that the OMB director oversees, according to person familiar with the transition. Biden’s team is expected to frequently highlight Tanden’s hardscrabble upbringing, according to people close to the nomination process who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
The daughter of Indian immigrants, Tanden was raised by a single mother who relied on government assistance programs before attending the University of California at Los Angeles and Yale University’s law school.
“After my parents were divorced when I was young, my mother relied on public food and housing programs to get by,” Tanden tweeted Monday. “Now, I’m being nominated to help ensure those programs are secure, and ensure families like mine can live with dignity. I am beyond honored.”
Tanden held prominent policy positions in the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and her resume played a role in her selection to lead the OMB. She has denied playing a role in Clinton’s welfare policy, which many Democrats now view as a mistake. At the Center for American Progress, Tanden also helped push the party left on budget and spending issues, though she initially expressed openness to cutting Social Security and Medicare along with many other Washington liberals at the time.
In 2012, the think tank was riven by a debate over how to raise taxes on the rich in their official proposal for replacing the then-expiring tax cuts from the George W. Bush administration. Tanden pushed forcefully, and successfully, for the center to adopt a position of a higher 39.6% top marginal bracket, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal the nature of the internal debate.
Tanden also oversaw the creation of a liberal coalition group, called Hands Off, devoted to fighting back against Republican efforts to cut social programs such as food stamps. The Center for American Progress helped lead the charge against many of the changes pushed by Trump’s budget office, from new policies designed to make it harder for immigrants to secure government assistance to rules limiting government regulations. Her allies say that experience makes her almost uniquely well suited to rollback many of the steps taken by the Trump administration.
“CAP has been at the center of most of the big fights through four years of Trump,” said Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of Public Citizen, a left-leaning policy group. “That speaks to someone coming in who knows what norms were broken – and where we will have to throw down.”
Melania Trump’s Christmas goodbye: Women’s suffrage, first responders and more
InternationalDec 01. 2020The 2020 official White House Christmas tree displayed in the Blue Room is a Fraser fir from Shepherdstown, W.Va., trimmed with more than 160 artworks created by students from each state and territory depicting something that captures the spirit of their state. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford.
By The Washington Post · Jura Koncius
Melania Trump seems to have a love/hate relationship with Christmas.
The Red Room salutes America’s first responders and front-line workers, who have been critical during this pandemic. The tree decorations and mantel display highlight this theme. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford.
The first lady always looks runway ready in her annual White House Christmas videos that she shares on Twitter on the day the decorations are unveiled. Today’s installment, marking the Trumps’ fourth and last Christmas in the White House – at least in this go round – highlights her 2020 “America the Beautiful” theme. Dressed in a shimmery gold top and stiletto heels, she glides, softly smiling, through the glittering, twinkling rooms in the one-minute tour of the decorations, which this year include American flag ornaments and photos of historic American female leaders.
This comes on the heels of Trump being labeled a Christmas grump after her stunning “Who gives a f— about the Christmas stuff and decorations?” comment to former East Wing adviser Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. The taped conversation, secretly recorded in 2018 and released in October, created a major stir.
Nevermind. The first lady carried on with her duties, and this year she’s dished up decorations that aptly reflect her patriotic theme, including ornaments in the Library that honor the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment and, in the State Dining Room, a gingerbread replica of the White House, including the recently renovated Rose Garden. The official White House Christmas tree, in the Blue Room, features more than 160 pieces of artwork created by students from each state honoring what they think makes their state beautiful.
The 2020 gingerbread house displayed in the State Dining Room depicts the West Wing, Executive Residence and, for the first time, the Rose Garden and First Ladies’ Garden. The pastry team used 275 pounds of gingerbread dough, 110 pounds of pastillage dough, 30 pounds of gum paste, 25 pounds of chocolate and 25 pounds of royal icing. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford.
A Red Room mantel honoring first responders, including a snow-dusted hospital, is a sobering moment in the tour, bringing attention to the pandemic that has killed more than 266,000 Americans.
The White House reported that “more than 125” volunteers worked on the project, and photos shared on the FLOTUS Twitter feed depict some wearing masks while participating in the weekend’s assembly sessions. (In 2018 and 2019, 225 volunteers worked on decorations.)
According to a Nov. 23 article from the Associated Press, the White House is still planning to host a number of holiday parties, despite CDC guidelines indicating that gatherings with family and friends who do not live with you can increase the chances of getting or spreading the coronavirus. Stephanie Grisham, first lady Melania Trump’s spokeswoman and chief of staff, told the AP that this year’s holiday events will include smaller guest lists, require masks and encourage social distancing on the White House grounds. Hand sanitizer stations will be placed throughout the State Floor.
She told the AP: “Guests will enjoy food individually plated by chefs at plexiglass-protected food stations. All passed beverages will be covered. All service staff will wear masks and gloves to comply with food safety guidelines.”
The first lady’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comments on this or questions on how many gatherings were planned.
The 40 towering crimson topiary trees that appeared in the East Colonnade in 2018 (which quickly became known on social media as “the avenue of blood red trees”) this year have been replaced by classical urns filled with “foliage representative of the official tree of each state and territory.”
The Library was decorated for the holidays to recognize the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment. Children’s artworks featuring women of achievement are displayed on the base of the tabletop tree. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford.
Certain decorations have become Christmas staples during the Trump era. Be Best ornaments honor the first lady’s children’s initiative. Her “signature wreaths” (pine circles with red bows) made their debut on exterior windows of the White House in 2017 and this year there are 106 wreaths, one adorning each window. The Gold Star Family Tree honoring military families is an annual tradition upon entering through the East Wing, and the 18th century Neapolitan Creche, now in its 53rd year on display at the White House, according to the first lady’s press office, is displayed in the East Room.
The changes in the holiday previews over the years seem to reflect the Trump family’s souring relations with the press. In Trump’s first White House Christmas, in 2017, reporters assembled to watch the first lady descend the Grand Staircase in an icy white dress to pose in front of snow-covered trees as the Marine Band played “The Nutcracker Suite.” Although she made no formal remarks, we were allowed to follow her as she made her way through the decorated rooms chatting with children who had been invited to make gumdrop trees and greenery swags. In 2018, the preview offered reporters only self-guided tours. Grisham, her spokeswoman, told me at the time that Trump decided “to let the decorations speak for themselves.” From then on, the first lady skipped the traditional press preview and released her own video instead.
The traditional red-and-green style of her annual Christmas decorations, as well as last year’s glitzy green-and-gold State Dinner in the Rose Garden for the Australian Prime Minister, will be part of Trump’s design legacy as first lady. She says this year’s theme reflects her many trips across the country over the course of her husband’s presidency.
“Over the past four years I have had the honor to travel to some of our nation’s most beautiful landmarks and meet some of the most compassionate and patriotic American citizens,” she said in a statement. “From coast to coast, the bond that all American’s [sic] share is an appreciation for our traditions, values, and history, which were the inspiration behind the decorations this year.”
Deputy PM Supattanapong Punmeechaow 
Chayawadee Chai-Anant, senior director at the Bank of Thailand (BOT) 
Chamber president Narongsak Putthapornmongkol 
From left: Panupong ‘Mike Rayong’ Chadnok, Parit ‘Penguin’ Chiwarak, Panusaya ‘Rung’ Sithijirawattanakul and Arnon Nampa. Photos by Wanchai Kraisornkhajit 
The 2020 official White House Christmas tree displayed in the Blue Room is a Fraser fir from Shepherdstown, W.Va., trimmed with more than 160 artworks created by students from each state and territory depicting something that captures the spirit of their state. MUST CREDIT: Washington Post photo by Jabin Botsford. 
SootinClaimon.Com 