World News Insights
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Browse Articles or use Lyrarc's US patented "Groups" and "Links" for new insights. A Lyrarc Group of Articles on a topic gives insights into particular angles shown in the Group Title. A Lyrarc Link shows more specific insights for 2 articles.

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LyrArc brings in selected articles from many of the world's top publications.

Articles are selected by experts and you can see the gist of the important articles.

The Great Retirement Rethink

1 Groups   
BusinessWeek - 10.27.2011 Original article ›
Elizabeth Ody, Elizabeth, Ody
LyrArc Article Gist
Good practices for planning retirement in today's environment. Delaying retirement and working longer is important to increase the amount of money available for retirement, especially in today's low return environment. Avoiding increasing the ratio of stocks to bonds and cash beyond the 40% that has become an established practice is important say experts. The 4% rule for withdrawals after retirement should be modified to 3% because of uncertain returns in today's environment. Delaying Social Security adds 8% each year to monthly benefits, says one expert, making this an important and necessary practice in planning for retirement for all Americans.
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Original article 1 minute, gist 1 minute

Spain Comes to the Aid of Its Banks

2 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 01.25.2011 Original article ›
Christopher Bjork, Christopher, Bjork
LyrArc Article Gist
Spain's finance minister, Elena Salgado, says the state backed Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring, will acquire direct equity stakes in the Cajas, Spain's regional banks, for upto 5 years. The Bank of Spain's preliminary estimates of the capital needs of the banking sector are below 20 billion euros, according to Salgado. The Spanish government will raise the Tier 1 capital requirements for all banks to 8% and will inject capital into lenders that do not meet the new requirements. The moves are designed to reassure investors who lack information about the true financial condition of the cajas.
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TARP Lawyer Barofsky Leaves, Cites Successes and a Failure

  
Wall Street Journal - 02.15.2011 Original article ›
Liz Rappaport, Liz, Rappaport
LyrArc Article Gist
Liz Rappaport of the Wall Street Journal interviews Neil Barofsky, inspector general of the U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program. Barofsky is asked what is his biggest failure. He says the biggest failure is the failure of TARP to preserve home ownership. He goes on to say that the biggest nonfinancial cost of TARP is "too big to fail." And he warns that the there will be another bubble because of all the money that is going into the housing, commodities and other markets. The next blow he says could be much more signifcant for the U.S. economy. Is Fed chairman Bernanke listening?
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Bulk of Stimulus Spending Yet to Come

  
Wall Street Journal - 02.17.2010 Original article ›
Louise Radnofsky, Louise, Radnofsky
LyrArc Article Gist
Most of the $180 billion in infrastructure spending in the stimulus plan will be spent in 2010 and 2011. Only $20 billion was spent in 2009. This includes money for rail lines and water projects. But this will not make adent in the jobless numbers because much of that work is mechanized, and the unemployment rate is expected to continue moving upwards. In all only one third of the $787 billion for the Stimulus that was approved has been spent in 2009. According to IHS Global Insight the ramped up stimulus spending could contribute 1.4 percentage points to GDP in 2010.
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Calm Academic Tries to Tame Nigeria’s Electoral Chaos

1 Links 2 Groups   
New York Times - 08.31.2010 Original article ›
Adam Nossiter, Adam, Nossiter
LyrArc Article Gist
Attahiru Jega, Vice Chanellor of Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria, is the new head of Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission with responsibility for the first fair election in Nigeria's history. He has to come up with an entirely new list of voters for a country of 70 million, and very little time to do this. The task involves tens of thousands of computers with finger printing technology and video to be used in 12,000 polling stations, training 360,000 workers, and all this in a country where electricity is mostly generated by private gas powered generators and transport links are poor.
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Days of Reflection for the Man Who Defined Singapore

2 Groups   
New York Times - 09.10.2010 Original article ›
Seth Mydans, Seth, Mydans
LyrArc Article Gist
Lee Kwan Yew reflects on life in his 87th year with his wife, 89 years, mute and bedridden. He keeps active with a regimen of cycling, swimming and massage and keeps up his schedule of meetings and work as he understands not doing this wold be to go downhill quickly. And also laughs at the futility of it all, as each year he has less energy than the last. His wife Kwa, has been a constant companion since their days as law students in London. He misses the comfort other people find in religion and prayer.
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Rare and Foolish

1 Groups   
New York Times - 10.17.2010 Original article ›
Paul Krugman, Paul, Krugman
LyrArc Article Gist
Krugman cites the near monopoly of rare earth materials by China, and the embargo on export to Japan, as an irresponsible exercize of economic power by China. These materials are used in many high-tech devices.The monopoly itself was a result of the US neglecting its production of these materials in the US. In one case, he says, the US allowed the Chinese to literally pack up all the equpment of a US factory and ship it to China. Low wages and lax environmental standards helped China to price below the U.S. industry, leading to its shutdown.
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A Hedge or a Bet? Trade Highlights Ambiguity in Volcker Rule

5 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 05.12.2012 Original article ›
Victoria Mcgrane, Victoria, Mcgrane, Kristina Peterson, Kristina, Peterson
LyrArc Article Gist
The $2 billion losses at Chase highlights the need for completing the Volcker Rule with language that prevents banks engaging in risky trading activities. Former FDIC chairman Sheila Bair says precise language is needed to clarify the defiinition of hedging after the losses by a single trader's complex hedging bet in London. Individual traders have too much authority in existing trading arrangements to make complicated bets in finanial markets. Large losses were incurred by Swiss bank UBS when an individual trader in London made risky bets in 2011, raising all sorts of questions about the bank's risk management systems.
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In India, an Inflation Dilemma

6 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 05.15.2012 Original article ›
Anant Vijay Kala, Anant, Vijay, Kala
LyrArc Article Gist
The Indian government reports the benchmark wholesale price index for April 2012 was at 7.23%, up from 6.89% in March. The wholesale price index measures bulk sales between corporations and is considered a better measure than the old consumer price index, which lacks representative data from all regions. The wholesale price index does not include services, which make up half of the economic output. A new CPI has been introduced, but more data has to be gathered for it to become a dependable measure of inflation. Core inflation excluding food and energy, which focusses on the manufacturing sector, increased 5.1%.
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Indian Fiber Weaves a Crisis

3 Links 4 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 06.23.2012 Original article ›
Biman Mukherji, Biman, Mukherji, Tom Wright, Tom, Wright
LyrArc Article Gist
In June 2012 India's Food Minister K.V. Thomas agreed that 13% of India's 50.2 millon of wheat grains from a record crop were under makeshift shelters which could be damaged by the monsoon rains. Another complicating factor is that a law from the 1980's intended to protect workers in the jute industry requires all packaging of foodgrains for storage to use jute bags. Since 1990 jute products have increased by about 30% compared to an increase of 82% for the wheat crop, as a result there is a severe shortage of jute bags to store foodgrains in states like Madhya Pradesh.
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Fed Launches Review of Practices for Supervising Big Banks

14 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 11.20.2014 Original article ›
Ryan Tracy, Ryan, Tracy
LyrArc Article Gist
U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Yellen launches a sweeping review of practices for supervision of large banks in Nov. 2014. The review is designed to check "whether there are adequate methods for decisionmakers to obtain all necessary information to make supervisory assessments and determinations," and whether channels exist for decision makers to take into account divergent views when important issues arise. This is in response to questions about how the culture at the New York Federal Reserve may have stifled differing opinions on how banks should be supervised and what is proper information sharing between regulators and banks.
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Search for the 'Next Big Thing' leads to Soaring Valuations

1 Links 6 Groups   
New York Times - 01.21.2014 Original article ›
Steven Davidoff, Steven, Davidoff
LyrArc Article Gist
Davidoff describes the hype in Silicon Valley that leads to soaring valuations- hype about Nest includes founder Fadell's reference to his vision for home thermostats that would change the world. All the participants benefit says Davidoff, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, venture capital firms and firms acquired such as Nest. Nest was acquired by Google for $3.1 billion, when it would have been valued at about $2 billion before Google showed interest. The hype lets Google present itself as the company of the future, and boost its image, which means a lot in getting investors to support the huge valuations.
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Spanish House Prices Decline Again

4 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 05.28.2014 Original article ›
David Roman, David, Roman
LyrArc Article Gist
Housing prices declined for the 22nd consecutive quarter in Spain, declining by 0.5% in the 1st quarter of 2014 over the 4th quarter 2013, and 3.5% over the 1st quarter 2013, according to the Development Ministry. Inventory of unsold newly finished home is about 1 million, many with Spanish banks taken from bankrupt property developers. Prices in the open market are down 30.6% from the high in 1st quarter 2008, according to INE. Except for Greater Madrid and Balearic Islands with large number affluent Northern Europeans with slight price rises, house prices dropped in all regions.
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Merkel Cites ‘Threats’ in Warning to Cameron

10 Groups   
New York Times - 06.10.2014 Original article ›
Alison Smale, Alison, Smale
LyrArc Article Gist
Germany's chancellor Merkel sees Britain as necessary for Europe and the European spirit. This even though she has differences with British prime minister Cameron on how to elect the new president of the EU following EU parliamentary elections in May 2014. She told the German parliament in June 2014- "Britain is really no cozy partner. Yet Germany and Britain share values and interests. I consider it grossly negligent, in fact unacceptable, how easily some people say that it is really all the same whether Britain goes along or not, or more: whether Britain remains a member of the European Union or not."
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A Growing Chill Between South Korea and Japan Creates Problems for the U.S.

6 Groups   
New York Times - 11.23.2013 Original article ›
Martin Fackler, Martin, Fackler, Choe Sang Hun, Choe, Sang Hun
LyrArc Article Gist
Historical reasons spanning generations which have led to an impasse in Japan-S. Korea relations under president Park and prime minister Abe. The colonization of S. Korea and president Park's need to distance herself from her father who served in the Imperial Japanese Army when S. Korea was a colony of Japan, all serve to keep the two countries apart. The U.S. "pivot" to Asia under president Obama and pressure on S. Korea to improve relations with Japan has not helped. S. Korea prefers to stay neutral in Japan's disputes with China because of trade relations with the two neighbors and historical reasons.
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Russia to aid NATO on anti-missile network in Europe

1 Groups   
Washington Post - 11.20.2010 Original article ›
Edward Cody, Edward, Cody
LyrArc Article Gist
An historic milestone is reached in cooperation between NATO and Russia in setting up a anti-missile network that would protect all countries in Europe, including Russia as cooperation develops. An accord is reached between the US, Russia and the European countries. The threat is seen to be from Iran. Russia offers a full-fledged strategic partnership with NATO and the US. Russian President Medvedev says this should not be just a gesture in the direction of Russia to spare Russian feelings, while the rest of Europe tends to its own defenses working with the US.
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Chinese Delay Plan for Censor Software

  
Wall Street Journal - 07.01.2009 Original article ›
Loretta Chao, Loretta, Chao, Jason Dean, Jason, Dean
LyrArc Article Gist
The Chinese government allows PC makers in China to postpone installation of Green Dam filtering software on new computers. This was in response to the growing criticism of this requirement for pre-installation of filtering software on all new PC's sold in China. See the accompanying graph that shows the growth of internet users in China from data of the China Internet Network Information Center. It shows internaet users going from about 25 million users in 2000 to 300 million in 2008, showing how quickly internet technologies are penetrating and changing lives in rapidly changing developing countries like China.
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Angry Liberals Edge Toward a Mutiny

3 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 12.18.2009 Original article ›
Naftali Bendavid, Naftali, Bendavid, Peter Wallsten, Peter, Wallsten
LyrArc Article Gist
The healthcare reform bill has lost the support of the SEIU (the Service Employees International Union) , and the AFL-CIO union. Its also lost the support od Howard Dean and of his Democracy for America. Voters aged 18-34 and Hispanics are much less enthusuastic for he party. And only 23% of blue collar workers in December 2009 express positive feelings about the Democratic party in a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, a 30 point drop from February 2009. And the same poll showed that there just isn't the same level of interest in voters who back Democrats or Obama.
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Detroit Is Facing a Scary New Normality

12 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 01.12.2009 Original article ›
Liam Denning, Liam, Denning
LyrArc Article Gist
IHS Global Insight estimates that output in the US for the auto industry for 2009 will be 9.5 million vehicles, with capacity of 16.9 milllion vehicles this amounts to 56% capacity utilization number which is very low. Center for Automotive Research estimates that the sales began moving ahead of trend in 1996 and really accelerated after 1998. The easy financing fueled the boom. Now the 16-17 million sales years that were considered normal are seen as inflated and way above the trend. All this suggests that there is a lot of restructuring ahead for the auto industry.
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Economy Dives as Goods Pile Up

3 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 01.31.2009 Original article ›
Kelly Evans, Kelly, Evans
LyrArc Article Gist
GDP of the USA contracted by 3.8% in the 4th quarter of 2008. Excluding the inventory adjustment which is the inventory of products made but sitting on inventory shelfs, the GDP contracted by 5.1%. In the last week of January 2009 there were 70,000 layoffs in the U.S. in all sectors from trucks to technology. 2009 is going to get a lot worse which does not bode well for Detroit automakers and other industries, and for economies overseas like China and South Korea which are heavily dependent on exports, and in turn for Germany which is dependent on the Chinese market.
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A house built on Sandy

8 Groups   
Economist - 01.15.2009 Original article ›
Economist.Com
LyrArc Article Gist
Citigroup is bleeding even as the government has ringfenced $300 billion in bad assets and its not likely to go under. The next step may be to get these bad assets into a bad bank as Bernanke has suggested. Citigroup is now divesting many of the assets like Smith Barney that were hastily put together by Sandy Weil as some kind of financial supermarket. None of the companies with their separate cultures melded together, and managing this was a huge undertaking which never really got off the ground. Now its all coming apart and Citigroup will go back to its core assets.
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Original article 5 minutes, gist 1 minute

Plans Emerge for New Troop Deployments to Afghanistan

2 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 02.04.2009 Original article ›
Yochi J. Dreazen, Yochi, J., Dreazen
LyrArc Article Gist
Map shows new troop deployments for tens of thousands of new troops (20 to 30 thousand) to be sent to Afghanistan under the new strategy to salvage the situation there. All of these new troops will go into the countryside and especially in the opium growing region in the south and Helmand valley region. And also on the border with Pakistan. This will effectively double the number of American troops in Afghanistan. The boom in growing opium in the south has increased the funding of Taliban insurgents to hire new trrops and to get new weapons.
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U.S. to Toughen Finance Rules

1 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 03.16.2009 Original article ›
Damian Paletta, Damian, Paletta
LyrArc Article Gist
The administration hopes to seize the initiative on the regulatory framework agenda before the G20 meeting on April 2, 2009. Broad outlines of the approach will be laid out. One of them is to give the Fed the authority to oversee the regulatory framework and oversee systemic risk. It includes stronger capital requirements for banks especially in good times, give regulators power to take over financial firms that are failing. Also included will be consumer protections, and strict enforecement of consumer protection laws opn credit cards and mortgages, and giving the government comprehensive authority over all financial products marketed to consumers.
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GM Plans $10 Billion In Cuts to Bolster Cash

2 Links 1 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 07.16.2008 Original article ›
John D. Stoll, John, D., Stoll, Sharon Terlep, Sharon, Terlep
LyrArc Article Gist
GM's plan for the current crisis in sales with sharp drop in sales of trucks and SUV's is to cut costs in many areas, 20% in salaried expenses, cut dividend payments, and cut development expenditures, and other moves that will cut $10 billion in costs.It will make competing with the Japanese and the Germans and Koreans difficult, and difficult to hold onto market share it currently holds as it will spread the limited resources over the many existing brands. Henderson says it cost $2 billion to close Oldsmobile with no return so GM will continue with all the brands in its lineup.
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S&P Email: 'We Should Not Be Rating It'

  
Wall Street Journal - 08.02.2008 Original article ›
Aaron Lucchetti, Aaron, Lucchetti
LyrArc Article Gist
SEC 38 page draft report on its investigation of the ratings agencies shows internal e mails confirming a lot of what was suspected- huge increases in workload but no adequate increases in staff, changing criteria for ratings to win business, and the willingness to issue ratings even when it was "ridiculous" or when "we should not be rating it". One S&P e mail between managers in the collateralized debt obligations group openly says it is creating an "even bigger monster- the CDO market. Let's hope that we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters."
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