LyrArc Article Gist
This editorial in the WSJ responds to Donald Trump's comments about the system being "corrupt" and "crooked" and saying there could be violence at the convention. It says the rules are transparent and long standing in Wyoming, Colorado and other states where Trump has not campaigned or sought support. It calls on the Republican National Committee not to be intimidated by Trump's statements, especially as it says the the Republican party should not nominate a candidate who has the highest negative perceptions rating of a shocking 65% with national voters in a general election. Trump never complained when he won 99 delegates in Florida with 45% of the vote and 50 delegates in South Carolina with 32% of the votes cast- securing the most delegates because of a winner take all or winner take most system. It says Trump has so far won only 37% of all votes cast and won about 45% of the delegates, a process that can be seen as disproportionately favoring Trump because of the rules. This is particularly true because Trump's core support has remained at about 35%, and the fragmentation of the remaining vote has hurt the other candidates. About 83% of eligible voters have not voted in the primaries, making the process less representative than it should be. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
U.S. president Obama's nominee for U.S. Supreme Court Justice to fill the seat open after the death of Justice Scalia is Merrick Garland. Garland is described here by the NYT as a centrist looking more for the right answer than pursuing any ideological agenda. He is from Harvard Law School and finished a clerkship under Supreme Court Justice Brennan. He is seen as a listener interested in getting a better understanding of what people are saying, and thinking things through. Garland is chief judge of the federal appeals court in Washington D.C.

LyrArc Article Gist
Thomas Hoenig was Governor of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank for 20 years. Here he talks about the dangers of "too big to fail" with Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times. He is due to retire at the age of 65 in 2011. Hoeinig has stood for conservative safe financial practices for U.S. financial institutions throughout his 20 year old career, and cautioned against extending the government safety net for banks that engage in risky financial activities including derivatives trading. And essential element of safe financial practice and part of necessary market discipline, he has pointed consistently, is the fear that taking on risky activities or acting recklessly has a price- creditors can take out their funds if they see a banks as unsafe, and the financial institution may have to be broken up or closed. He joins Alan Meltzer in his criticism of Federal Reserve policies under first Greenspan and then Bernanke that take on the job of stimulating the economy and creating jobs through a very loose monetary policy after the collapse of a bubble. Hoenig sees the role of the Fed in such situations as a neutral player. The reason say Meltzer and Hoenig is that the Fed has not given enough thought and attention to the long term consequences of its policies. What were the consequences of the low rate policies in 2003 asks Hoenig? It promoted another bubble and the mortgage meltdown of 2008. What were the consequences of QE II asks Meltzer in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal on August 11, 2011, "The Folly of Economic Short-Termism?" It has failed to revive the economy or reduce unemployment. Hoenig also points to questions of fairness and equity that arise when banks are treated differently and farmers, seniors and other groups are asked to make sacrifices....

LyrArc Article Gist
Romney says in the first presidential debate he will not increase taxes on the middle class: "I will not reduce taxes paid by high income Americans. And I will not, under any circumstances, raise taxes on middle-income families. I will lower taxes on middle income families." How he would do this is through limiting or eliminating deductions and loopholes among several measures, with work done on this by his advisor Martin Feldstein, Reagan's economic advisor and a professor at Harvard University- Romney's Tax Plan can raise revenue, WSJ, 8/28/2012. Where the Democrats and Republicans differ is that economic growth generated by creating incentives for business to invest and hire also plays a part in generating the additional revenues as it did under Reagan's economic plan. Behavioural factors play a large part of this as much as the incentives and other steps, to create a climate of business confidence- search in Janvoo for the Group "Reagan memo of 1980 by Shultz, Friedman," for more on this....

LyrArc Article Gist
Even China has not campaigned the way Canada, Mexico and British, American media have against DJT Tariffs because China knows it is basically about getting an even playing field when it is the only country with $1 trillion in trade in its favor in 2024, 12 times the Japanese high of $82 billion trade surplus in 2007. But why should China campaign when the American and British, German media are going to do the job for China? A simple quiz to K-12 would ask school children when is the last time a country has a $1 trillion trade surplus? Answer: Never. Greg Ip has written a few years back that the devastation of China outshoring of American factories and jobs was unlike the 1980's Japan trade invasion because of first China's size, second by the speed with which it happened at 10-14% Chinese GDP growth. There is a third Japan was an ally needing US for security and backed down, China's case is different it is challenging the US for control of the world economy and will fight this one over the long haul. Greg Ip of WSJ on the 53 countries asking to negotiate US Liberation Day April 2, 2025 Tariffs. These countries include Allies of the US in full support asking to negotiate Israel, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, India Allies of the US in partial support asking to negotiate Britain Allies of the US not in full support asking to negotiate Germany, France Allies of the US in the past campaigning against the US, asking to negotiate Canada, Mexico Not Allies of the US, not in full support, not campaigning against the US China A look at his list tells one only one thing, mostly all trading partners except for the $146 billion exports of the US which represents exports to China are the exports that are at risk if things don't work out on tariffs. This is what the media today WSJ added this last week to the NYT, Wash. Post and the BBC, Guardian of UK, German media will not tell the reader.  The DJT Tariffs and Tariff negotiations are Lighthizer Tariff negotiations which won the fight with Japan in the 1980's over unfair trade and gaining a level playing field. Lighthizer as Deputy US Trade Representative conducted the tough negotiations with Japan. He was USTR in 2016-2020 and his Deputy Jamieson is now USTR in 2025       ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Of 21 reader comments to this piece on banker pay, all except for 4-5, were very critical of the bankers behaviour, including many of their colleagues in the financial industry who commented. The lack of any response from the FSA on the grounds that its not the FSA's job, or from the Treasury, is disconcerting. Treasury is said to have not said a word, when RBS hired a head trader for a rumored 7 million pounds. All this coming on the heels of the RBS and Lloyds debacle, makes the Labor government open to attack from the Conservatives under Osborne and Cameron. and from Mervyn King of the Bank of England. They have expressed strong disapproval of the busines as usual attitude of bankers.

LyrArc Article Gist
Wessel summarizes the existing thinking of the administration and its critics on ways to prevent the next banking crisis. The Shultz-Mervyn King School which says breakup the largest banks into smaller banks so they are not too big to fail. The Volcker school which says separate utility banking from thre risk taking banking of the trading desks of investment banks. And the Geithner-Frank school of avoiding these tough choices in the face of intense lobbying by the banks by glossing over the problem, their latest proposal suggesting that Treasury collect the bill of abank bailout from the remaining weakened banks in afinancial crisis of the future. But the Geithner -Frank solution still has Treasury, meaning the government footing the bill, as collecting the bailout from remaining banks that are weak in such a financial crisis may not be feasible. and it would further worsen the government's finances, raising questions about these proposals which may amount to doing a little better than nothing. In effect avoiding the tough choices of breaking up the larger banks or separating utility banking from trading desks of investment banks....

LyrArc Article Gist
Trump's doctor's letter was written by Dr. Bornstein. His father was Trump's doctor for many years. The letter Dr Bornstein says was written with language that is normally used by Trump, and not the kind of letter he is used to writing. Dr. Bornstein says he was rushed. The Trump limousine was waiting outside and he had 5 minutes to write the letter certifying to Trump's good health to be president of the U.S. Experts say the most noticeable thing about the letter is the hyperbole. They, including Sanjay Gupta, raise questions about the letter's hyperbole, that does not show the serious minded attitude and language that this kind of letter requires such as the words "astonishingly excellent." 

LyrArc Article Gist
A report from the U.S. Federal Reserve on the impact of the financial crisis of 2008-2009 on the wealth of American households. Between 2007 and 2010 says the report the median net worth of American families went down by 39%, from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010. This had the result of putting Americans back to the level of net worth in 1992. Much of the loss in net worth was from asset value reductions. The median value of stock market based retirement accounts decreased by 7% to $44,000. The biggest drop was in housing values- falling by 42% to $55,000 in the three years. Americans are working down their debt- a quarter of families are debt free, credit card balances declined 16% to $2600 from $3100 from the period 2007 to 2010 of the report. Yet the median level of family debt remains the same as more families support their kids education by taking out college loans. Median income fell about 8% to $45,800 in 2010, with income losses especially large in the manufacturing industries as the U.S. manufacturing sector worked to improve competitiveness. Other factors supplement this picture. The burden of college loans increased to over $1 trillion for middle and working class families. With the burden of college debt young people were more likely to delay buying first homes, indefinitely dealying recovery in the housing market. Seniors on retirement see interest income from savings negligible with low interest rates and higher risk in a volatile stock market. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
In exchange for not developing nuclear weapons of its own, the US is giving South Korea a greater say in the deployment of nuclear weapons response to an attack from North Korea through a new agreement. The South Korean president Yoon Yeol met with Mr. Biden at the White House. 

LyrArc Article Gist
A thin Republican majority in the single digits, many elected with an investigative mood, and 3 newcomers from New York who are moderates to be targeted at the outset by Democrats will make the House ungovernable says this analysis in the NYT of the US Congress midterms of 2022. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Fears that a US Supreme Court with many Trump appointed judges could further upset women's rights after the SC's decision not to uphold women's right to abortion, lead to passing a bill in the US Congress that protects women's right to contraception.

LyrArc Article Gist
This NYT report looks at the gradual breakdown in Silicon Valley of the "fake it till you make it" culture. A vast misallocation of resources by startups and other business, a waste of hundreds of billions of dollars needed for investment in rebuilding the American economy and manufacturing.

LyrArc Article Gist
The effects of school closures on the mental and emotional health of children is the subject of this report in the NYT by Ellen Barry. It is more evidence of the role that schools play in protecting children at difficult times and when homes come under severe stress. 

LyrArc Article Gist
The heart of the American idea is fair competition. US president Biden says "capitalism without competition is not capitalism, it is exploitation," in this transcript and video report in the WSJ. Biden has signed an executive order for government agencies to take action to increase competition in business,

LyrArc Article Gist
The Times looks at whether female leaders are better in handling situations like the pandemic. When it looks at all the information without cherry-picking this report says they are no better than male leaders. Sanna Marin of Finland and Angela Merkel are not better than a Biden or a Modi.

LyrArc Article Gist
This report in NYT says games are decided in a few moments but England were second best throughout the game in the finals of World Cup Soccer 2023 with England playing Spain. Olga Carmona does something that is rare with the one winning goal against Sweden and now against England.

LyrArc Article Gist
Thodex cryptoexchange in Turkey lost $2 billion for users who could not withdraw funds. It imploded in 2021. The founder of this cryptoexchange was sentenced for a lengthy period by Turkey's prosecutors. WSJ compares sentences in Turkey to the sentences in the US for fraud and money laundering.

LyrArc Article Gist
The increase in child care costs in the US and impact on families is the subject of this report in NYT. In New York City Montessori in affluent neighborhoods can run $4000 a month and working class families have to stretch budgets to pay for $2000 a month for child care.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Swiss form of government with a permanent Unity government and one that steers to the moderate and centre is shown here in France 24 report. The recent elections showed immigration an important issue. Yet climate change has not receded as an issue after progress in passing a climate bill.

LyrArc Article Gist
Being blind was not a disability in this situation described by the BBC's Chief North America Correspondent Gary O'Donoghue, who has overcome difficult odds to cover North America. Here he describes what happened on the day of the shooting at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania.

LyrArc Article Gist
Revamping enclosed malls that are no longer needed is not working. Two projects of Brookfield Partners are failing. Needs are different today from what they were in the 1950's and there is a need to build using entirely new designs on the land occupied by the enclosed malls. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Quite a bit see the WSJ look at this health risk of artificial dyes in foods- and these dyes are unnecessary for nutrition, just a lack of awareness that we should not be deluded into thinking colors matter as much as healthy nature of the food we eat.

LyrArc Article Gist
The second wave is here in Britain with Stage 4 "exponential" increase seen in Britain. Cases could rise four fold from over 4000 today, after rising four fold in the last month Aug 20- September 20, and that could make it reach 50,000 cases a day and 200 deaths a day. New restrictions include- Masks required in all retail stores and restaurants and public places. Businesses that breach rules could be closed or shut down. Pubs, bars and restaurants close by 10 pm and only table service. Weddings and receptions limited to 10 people. Individual fines for first time breaches doubled to 200 pounds. Adult indoor team sports not allowed. This is the first response. If infection rates are not down from the over 1 R rate and the transmission increases a national lockdown is considered as the next step. To not harm the economy and strike a delicate balance all who can work from home are encouraged to work from home.      ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The Republican tax law of 2018 is unpopular, according to a new NBC/WSJ poll in April 2018. Only 27% of people in the poll view the tax law favorably, 36% view the tax law unfavorably. About one third or 32% say they have no opinion, possibly because they have no clear idea of how it will impact them or the country. On trade and other economic issues the Republican Party is viewed more favorably, including for its tougher stance to give the U.S. a level playing field. Even though the Republicans are not viewed so favorably on taxes, the poll findings show the Democrats are not seen as better on taxes and economic issues. The poll also shows the Democratic Party better able by large margins to handle issues such as gun violence, sexual harrassment and health care. This shows that under an aging Democratic leadership of Pelosi, Hoyer and Schumer, and the failure of Hillary Clinton, the younger Democrats with a more Progressive tendency are having to make their own case with people not clear how the Democrats can offer a better alternative. ...