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Austerity measures and economic contraction in Portugal 2010-2013- the terms of the 2011 EU-IMF loan agreement with Portugal
05/05/2011
The forecasts of higher unemployment reaching 17% and economic contraction of 7% for 2011-2013 are widely diverging from the original estimates in 2011 by EU and IMF officials. This increases the urgency for reappraisal of the terms of the original agreement including borrowing rates, giving more time to achieve deficit targets, and other action to put Portugal back on the road to growth in 2014.
Linked Articles
Portugal to Seek New Bailout Terms
Wall Street Journal 03/04/2013
Government Sees Deep Recession Ahead for PortugalNew York Times 05/05/2011
OPEC social programs and need to maintain high oil prices
04/18/2011
PFC Energy estimates a price of $90 at which Saudi Arabia would start cutting output to maintain a floor on oil price to support large spending programs after the democracy protests in Arab countries.
Linked Articles
Fears of a 2008 Repeat for Oil
Wall Street Journal 03/18/2012
Overheard: Oil and UnrestWall Street Journal 04/18/2011
Saudi expert Karen Elliott House's thirty years of experience covering the Middle East tell us that the U.S. policy is sorely out of touch in the Middle East
02/15/2011
Elliott House is a former publisher of the Wall Street Journal and a Pulitzer prize winner for covering the Middle East. She sees the Saudi Arabian princes sorely out of touch with the ordinary Saudis and the young people and U.S. policy at an impasse. Rice says the policy of supporting autocracy only brings a false kind of stability. She sees Egypt, Tunisia and the rest of the Arab world and thinks it did not have to be this way.
Linked Articles
Condoleezza Rice - The future of a democratic Egypt
Washington Post 02/16/2011
From Tunis to Cairo to Riyadh?Wall Street Journal 02/15/2011
Condoleeza Rice and Elliott Abrams question the whole policy of supporting autocracy to preserve a false kind of stability in Egypt and the Arab world
01/28/2011
This stability that comes at the expense of liberty and basic freedoms does not serve America well. This only helps give rise to malignant forces that grow when democratic voices are suppressed. This is especially true in Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world where a false stability has been created.
Linked Articles
Condoleezza Rice - The future of a democratic Egypt
Washington Post 02/16/2011
Egypt protests show George W. Bush was right about freedom in the Arab worldWashington Post 01/28/2011
Bringing peace to Kashmir- the elections in 2014 with a 70% turnout as ordinary Kashmiris turn to development and infrastructure building
01/01/2011
Weary of conflict a whole region turns to economic development and infrastructure building plans as the next step to a brighter future. South Asia makes a new beginning as it catches up with its neighbors in East Asia. A billion plus market extending from South Asia to Indonesia makes a new beginning in 2014. Even the Kashmir Valley hears the message- the synergy of technology, capital, human resources and good governance can pave the way to a better future that is within the reach of today's young generation of South Asians and Indonesians.
Linked Articles
Modi’s Campaign Stop in Kashmir Is Notable for Lack of Unrest
New York Times 12/08/2014
Kashmir's troubles: Shaking the mountainsEconomist 01/01/2011
How Apple's Steve Jobs put together the iPhone product in 2004-2007, and how Nokia missed the smartphone opportunity
09/26/2010
Linked Articles
Apple Engineer Recalls the iPhone's Birth
Wall Street Journal 03/26/2014
Nokiaâs New Chief Faces a Culture of ComplacencyNew York Times 09/26/2010
Job saving in Germany, "kurzarbeit" and the experience of piecemeal implementation in France by 2014
07/29/2010
Piecemeal implementation of "kuzarbeit" type job preservation efforts leads to failure in France with unemployment reaching 10.4% by the third quarter of 2014, according to Insee. Proper implementation would require changes in the legal system, and a change in the culture for business, trade unions.
Linked Articles
French Attempt at German-Style Labor Reform Flounders
Wall Street Journal 12/05/2014
The Price of Saving Jobs in GermanyBusinessWeek 07/29/2010
How America's need for low wage manufactured products is colliding with worker demands inside China.
06/03/2010
The beginnings of a Chinese workers movement for higher wages and better working conditions that has support within the universities, state run media and the government. The government sees the need to build up domestic consumption as austerity measures in western countries threaten the sustainability of the old export model; and sees higher worker wages make sense in this context.
Linked Articles
The Rise of a Chinese Worker's Movement
BusinessWeek 06/10/2010
Why Apple and Others Are Nervous About FoxconnBusinessWeek 06/03/2010
The public finances of France affect the credibility of the $1 trillon eurozone support package.
05/13/2010
How this affects Spain, Portugal, Italy and other countries facing financial crisis.
Linked Articles
French Cracks Are Showing in Euro-Zone Core
Wall Street Journal 05/13/2010
Italy's debt fuels worriesWall Street Journal 05/14/2010
The Project on Government Oversight Report in 2013 and the revolving door at the S.E.C. in the U.S.
04/24/2010
Robert Khuzami was enforcement chief at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the critical period following the 2008 financial crisis. He was also a lawyer at Deutsche Bank during the period when the problems at Deutsche Bank happened which resulted in legal settlements. The revolving door has affected the way the S.E.C. carried out its enforcement responsibilities.
Linked Articles
S.E.C.'s Revolving Door Hurts Its Effectiveness
New York Times 02/11/2013
SEC's Top Cop Oversaw Deutsche CDOsWall Street Journal 04/24/2010
China's policy makers make moves to make the economy less dependent on exports.
01/07/2010
Since 2004 China's consumer spending has fallen behind even more from 40% to 35% as a share of the economy. Steps to reverse this by allowig wages to increase significantly as at this Honda facory in Foshan.
Linked Articles
Unrest May Signal New Phase in China Economy
New York Times 05/29/2010
China Aims to Transform a Nation of Savers Into SpendersWall Street Journal 01/07/2010
Procter and Gamble (P&G) takes early success at low price points in Mexico to other emerging markets Brazil and China- 2009-2014
12/12/2009
Linked Articles
P&G Sales Rise on Strong Demand in Emerging Markets
Wall Street Journal 01/27/2014
P.& G. Sees the World as Its ClientNew York Times 12/12/2009
Merkel's shaky hold on public opinion in Germany.
09/28/2009
Merkel's Christian Democrats and the Free Democrats now have only 34% support, compared to 47% for the Social Democrats and Greens, according to a poll for Stern magazine by polling institute Forsa.
Linked Articles
Merkel Looks to Recharge Her Ratings
New York Times 07/21/2010
Victory Brings Risk of Conflict With Merkel’s AlliesNew York Times 09/28/2009
Republicans, John Taylor, and a U.S. budget that is at about 20% of GDP
04/22/2011
John Taylor makes the arguments for a budget that is around 20% of GDP, which it was in 2007- before the financial crisis of 2008.
Linked Articles
GOP Hopefuls Betting Voters Want Deep Cuts
Wall Street Journal 07/18/2011
Obama's Permanent Spending BingeWall Street Journal 04/22/2011
The safety failures that could have been prevented with stronger oversight and control for the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster
03/21/2011
The independent parliamentary panel in Japan concuded in its July 2012 Report that the nuclear accident at the Fukushima plant was "a profoundly man-made event." Here in its investigations after the accident the Wall Street Journal finds some of the safety flaws that could have been corrected but were not due to the compete lack of effectiveness of the safety agency and its failure to do its job. As a result licenses for forty year old nuclear reactor designs and installation designs were simply renewed without requiring changes or shutting down these reactors. It is these older designs that were also improperly installed that failed.
Linked Articles
Japan Plant Had Troubled History
Wall Street Journal 03/21/2011
Design Flaw Fueled Nuclear DisasterWall Street Journal 07/01/2011
Michael Gerson was with Condoleeza Rice in a rare meeting in Cairo, Egypt, in June 2005, to support democratic voices.
02/01/2011
The meeting set up in a conference room in Cairo, Egypt, had 9 opposition figures, including Ayman Nour, a presidential candidate.
Linked Articles
Condoleezza Rice - The future of a democratic Egypt
Washington Post 02/16/2011
Michael Gerson - Arabs' urge for self-government shouldn't be a surpriseWashington Post 02/01/2011
Chinua Achebe and Nigeria- correcting past missteps, building a better African democracy and economy
01/15/2011
Linked Articles
Chinua Achebe, Famed Nigerian Writer, Dies
Wall Street Journal 03/22/2013
Nigeria's Promise, Africa's HopeNew York Times 01/15/2011
Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany- (1) in 2010 20 years after reunification of Germany, and Erfurt in 2015 as it copes with a wave of refugees in 2015
09/30/2010
Linked Articles
Empathy and Angst in a German City Transformed by Refugees
New York Times 09/11/2015
For Some Germans, Unity Is Still Work in ProgressNew York Times 09/30/2010
Local governments and state-owned companies are fueling a real estate bubble in China in 2009-2010.
07/29/2010
Northwestern University Prof. Shih estimates that state banks in China hold $1.68 trillion in debt of local investment companies which invest for local governments. In many cases the banks have little collateral. The central government in China aggressively supported this lending to quickly get money to projects in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, but this may have backfired with money going into speculation and building a bubble.
Linked Articles
Chinaâs Real Estate Boom and Conflicting Policy
New York Times 08/01/2010
Where China Hides Its DebtBusinessWeek 07/29/2010
Greece's referendum and the 3 year bailout of July 12, 2015- military spending, shipowners taxes, and cuts to pensions
07/10/2010
Greece's left Syriza government almost pulled the country out of the eurozone over pension cuts, even as military spending in Greece remained at 2.4% of GNP compared to close 1.4% for the EU average. Greece did not propose further cuts to military spending to bring the Greece ratio closer to that of Germany and other countries in Europe, raising questions about prudent spending. Which is why Greece sometimes has aspects of the surreal to people not just in Germany and Holland, but other parts of Europe, and outsiders. Under the reform proposal and bailout of July 12, 2015 following the "no" referendum, Greece's parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of the similiar cuts in pensions from an earlier EU proposal, with cuts of $300 million to the military spending by 2016. Greek shipowners will also pay taxes under the new bailout, negotiated by Greece with France's help when the referendum had damaged relations with the rest of the EU, particularly Germany with only 10% in polls willing to support any further concessions.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 07/11/2015
The Submarine Deals That Helped Sink GreeceWall Street Journal 07/10/2010
The European financial crisis of 2010 starting in Greece tests the social model of Euope.
05/14/2010
Officials see the need for more growth to support the social model and experts see the need for stronger action.
Linked Articles
Amid Europe's challenges, citizens face lifestyle shifts
Wall Street Journal 05/14/2010
Spain is simply shifting the problemWall Street Journal 05/14/2010
Efforts to keep the problems of Greece from spreading to Spain and Portugal.
05/03/2010
Germany's approval of aloan for Greece, the $110 IMF plan, the announcement of trillion dollar EU support plan, and the new Zapatero austerity budget are designed to keep the problem from spreading.
Linked Articles
Spain is simply shifting the problem
Wall Street Journal 05/14/2010
Germany Clears Rescue for GreeceNew York Times 05/03/2010
The problems facing Sony after developing the first e-reader in 2004 and the first OLED set in 2007- lack of a consumer mindset
04/22/2010
Competition from lower cost manufacturers adds to earlier problems of not keeping a consumer point of view for new products. A problem common to many of Japan's electronics companies.
Linked Articles
How Japan Lost Its Electronics Crown
Wall Street Journal 08/15/2012
How Vizio Beat Sony in High-Def TVBusinessWeek 04/22/2010
Danone and P&G's (Procter & Gamble) innovative strategies for reaching low income customers in emerging markets.
12/12/2009
In 2004 Indonesian managers showed Franck Riboud, CEO of Danone, a pyramid of customers in Indonesia's population of 240 million people. It showed only 20 million customers at the top of the pyramid as the only ones who could afford Danone products. At that point Ribaud made up his mind to go after the large number of people at the lower end of the pyramid and come with strategies to do this profitably. By 2010 46% of Danone's sales were from emerging markets, up from 10% a decade earlier, showing the pace of the change. Unilever, P&G, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive and other companies are following similiar strategies. P&G has used Mexico as a lab for experimenting with new products at low price points and Danone has done this in Indonesia.
Linked Articles
Danone Expands Its Pantry to Woo the World's Poor
Wall Street Journal 06/25/2010
P.& G. Sees the World as Its ClientNew York Times 12/12/2009
David Rieff provides insights on why all developing countries, Mexico, Brazil, India, Indonesia and China need to take child malnutrition seriously
10/11/2009
The Indian lower house of parliament passed a Food Security bill in August 2013. Rieff says China made serious progress to reduce malnutrition from over 21% for children under 5 years to around 7% today after 1990. In India malnutrition for children under 5 years is above 40%. There is a lot that developing coutnries can learn from each other in this area including the Bolsa Familia program in Brazil which uses the concept of improving vaccination for children and school attendance as requirements for subsidy payments to the poor. Mexico and Indonesia have different versions of programs to help the poorer sections of society. The problem is acute in India because of indifference induced by caste and other considerations and the high level of malnutrition for children. Rief says how good is ademographic dividend when many of these children are permanently and silently impaired by malnutrition by the age of three. India's Congress party leader, Sonia Gandhi, put it differently in parliament: "What is our responsibility to these people?"
Linked Articles
New York Times 10/11/2009
India's Lower House Passes Food Bill to Help PoorWall Street Journal 08/26/2013
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