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Problems with China's statistics that understate the extent of the bubble in housing and other sectors
05/24/2011
The lack of reliable statistics in China and the tendency to understate the extent of the bubble effects in the economy will make it harder to to achieve a soft landing for the economy when the time comes.
Linked Articles
For Global Steel Industry, China Poses Guessing Game
Wall Street Journal 05/24/2011
The Great Property Bubble of China May Be PoppingWall Street Journal 06/09/2011
Basic misunderstanding- (1) one point in the Israel- U.S. relationship on May 20, 2011, with president Obama's call for a return to pre-1967 borders
05/20/2011
When Ambassador Oren says Obama abandoned Israel, he refers to the "surprises" and "no daylight" or open disagreements that marked the relationship during the two terms of the Obama administration. One such point was on May 20, 2011, with Obama's call for pre-1967 borders.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 06/16/2015
Netanyahu Rejects Obama Compromises on TalksNew York Times 05/20/2011
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 Volcker Rule and the actions taken by the Independent Commission on Banking in Britain
04/07/2011
Britain has a much larger financial sector as aproportion of its economy than the U.S. For this reason the U.K.'s Independent Commission on banking takes a serious view of systemic risks- separating investment banking from deposit taking.
Linked Articles
Volcker to Push Back on Banks' Trading
Wall Street Journal 02/13/2012
British Bank Proposal Expected to Include Stiff RulesNew York Times 04/07/2011
Apple's low tax rate of 9.4% on global profits
03/24/2011
Companies ranging from Apple and Google to GE pay low tax rates. The New York Times reports that corporate share of U.S. tax receipts dropped from 30% in the 1950's to 6.6% in 2009. This has a serious impact on states and local governments and the federal government as they cut essential services and education to balance their budgets or lower deficits.
Linked Articles
Apple's Tax Strategy Aims at Low-Tax States and Nations
New York Times 04/28/2012
G.E.'s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes AltogetherNew York Times 03/24/2011
The mismatch in skills that will make it harder to bring down the unemployment rate in the U.S. in 2012-2013
03/15/2011
Labor Department and other information points to a serious skills crisis in the U.S. that will make it harder to tackle unemployment.The lack of emphasis on jobs training by the Obama administration is also making the situation harder to tackle.
Linked Articles
On Jobs, No Time for a Celebratory Beveridge
Wall Street Journal 04/11/2012
Many Workers Seen Lacking Skills for New JobsWall Street Journal 03/15/2011
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
Israelis fears and hopes for the Peace Treaty with Egypt
02/01/2011
Israeli opinion is gradually shifting from fears and uncertainty about the situation in Egypt to hope that the Peace Treaty with Egypt will be preserved. The poor economic conditions in Egypt and the need to attract foreign aid and foreign investment reinforce the view that new leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt will focus on economic issues. Ehud Barak put this clearly when he said early in the Arab Spring that the movement towards democracy in the Middle East is setting the pathway to modernity.
Linked Articles
Israelis Cling to Faith in Peace Treaty
Wall Street Journal 05/24/2012
Islamists at the GatesNew York Times 02/01/2011
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
Dim outlook for Rebalancing the World Economy
01/20/2011
The widening U.S. trade deficit with China in 2011 and no evidence of a shift to domestic consumption in the Chinese economy make it increasingly unlikely that there will be a rebalancing in the world economy.
Linked Articles
No Appreciation for the Rising Yuan
Wall Street Journal 06/21/2011
Don't Bank on China 'Rebalancing'Wall Street Journal 01/20/2011
Inequality, the middle class and economic growth
01/15/2011
Studies show a growing middle class and lower middle class as one of the conditions underpinning steady economic growth. Adam Smith also points this out in his book The Wealth of Nations, written in the 18th century as England began its transformaton with the Industrial Revolution. Growing wages created a middle class and demand for goods and services that enable England to prosper. A similiar process took place in the U.S. with Henry Ford's effort to provide higher wages in his automobile plants in the 1920's that led to a growing middle class able to afford automobiles.
Linked Articles
Inequality: The rich and the rest
Economist 01/15/2011
The 1 Percent Clubâs Misguided ProtectorsNew York Times 12/10/2011
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
Failures in China's financial system as seen by two bankers
12/11/2010
Failures in China's banking system as seen by two bankers Walter and Howie. The risks to the Chinese economy of real debt to GDP ratios that are upwards of 80% of GDP when local government and other debt that would end up as sovereign debt is taken into account. The inability of the system in China to control lending to state enterprises and local government.
Linked Articles
China's financial system: Look again
Economist 12/11/2010
Beijing's Financial Day of Reckoning Is NearWall Street Journal 06/21/2011
Pernambuco and other states in Brazil's northeastern region- lack of investment in public health, education and transportation services infrastructure
05/21/2011
During the boom years much of the investment, about three fourths of the growth rate of over 4%, came from infrastructure investments that supported exports of soyabeans, iron ore and other commodities to China. Under the Worker's party socialist governments that get much of their support from the northeast, this disguised the low investments in public infrastructure services for drinking water, health sanitation, public schools and transportation services. This is a problem in developing countries of Latin America, South Asia, and Africa, with some regions lagging behind in essential infrastructure services, even with high growth rates.
Linked Articles
The Brazilian Doctors Who Sounded the Alarm on Zika and Microcephaly
Wall Street Journal 01/30/2016
Brazil's north-east: Catching up in a hurryEconomist 05/21/2011
Turkey's unsustainable current account deficit and overheating economy in 2011-2012
05/07/2011
The dangers that economic policy may not be effective in managing the huge increase in credit and capital inflows. This is especially true with the distraction presented by the efforts of the AKP to win a sufficient majority to change the constitution.
Linked Articles
Turkish Leader Rides Spending Toward Win
Wall Street Journal 06/11/2011
The Turkish economy: OverheatingEconomist 05/07/2011
BP's steady focus on safety under CEO Bob Dudley
04/20/2011
Dudley says BP is not going to get off the path of focus on safety, and "stepping up the accelerator of performance, thats not going to happen." BP's second quarter 2012 performance reflected lower levels of production to permit maintenance and improvements in infrastructure at its deep water oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico. Similiar maintenance will be undertaken at North Sea fields in the rest of 2012. Cost cutting on maintenance and infrastructure improvements to improve profit performance created an environment that led to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and created huge legal liabilities.
Linked Articles
BP Posts Unexpectedly Large Loss
New York Times 07/31/2012
The Lessons of Deepwater HorizonWall Street Journal 04/20/2011
Mario Cuomo and Andy Cuomo- dissonance and affinity
04/07/2011
Mario Cuomo's speech is cited by Matt Bai where he refers to the concern for helping the poor without crushing the middle class and the tone shifting now to helping the middle class without crushing the poor. As Andy Cuomo goes for another term as governor of New York, voters talk about the elder Cuomo and show acceptance but a lack of enthusiasm for the younger Cuomo.
Linked Articles
A Tepid Thumbs Up Is the Best Many Can Muster for Cuomo
New York Times 11/02/2014
Mario Cuomo, Available for Elder Statesman DutyNew York Times 04/07/2011
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
Questions of fairness- could the U.S. government have done more to help homeowners in foreclosure? (3)
02/28/2011
Linked Articles
Fannie, Freddie Payments Nearly Match Aid
Wall Street Journal 11/08/2013
Only 1 in 4 Got Mortgage ReliefWall Street Journal 02/28/2011
Nathan Sharansky says there are limits to how much you can control people through the use of fear and all people everywhere want freedom
02/05/2011
Nathan Sharansky makes the case for democracy. Rice talks about the long arc of history and trusting America's best idea and the principles of 1776, as a guide that will serve us well. Sharansky is a former human rights activist from the former Soviet Union, who worked with Soviet physicist Andrei Sakharov for human rights and democracy before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Linked Articles
Condoleezza Rice - The future of a democratic Egypt
Washington Post 02/16/2011
Democracy's Tribune on the Arab AwakeningWall Street Journal 02/05/2011
Angela Merkel's experience with the reunification of East and West Germany and her views of the eurozone crisis
01/30/2011
The perceptions of the eurozone crisis of ordinary Germans and of former East German Angela Merkel are colored by the period of reunification of the two Germany's. This was paid for with a"solidarity surcharge" tax paid by Germans amounting to $1.7 trillion and led in its early stages to 4 million unemployed in the eastern part and 20% unemployment. It took over a decade for East Germany to build new modernized industries in the larger cities of the east, but still leaves the rural parts of former East Germany in a neglected state as young peoplemoved out. During this period industry in the west also regained lost global competitiveness, especially in industries such as automobiles and advanced machinery, using wage restraint agreements with unions and increases in productivity. Germans see the need for eurozone countries in the southern part of Europe needing to make similiar sacrifices and see the tax evasion in Italy and Greece as unacceptable. The real estate bubble, the lack of transparency for banks bad loans, and out of control regional spending in Spain is also seen in a similiar light. Greece is seen as the most egregious offendor because of the bad financial accounting that grossly understated the extent of the bad loans. Less publicized in Germany is the role played in the bad loans through poor lending practices of German and French banks and that as experts have pointed out Germany was to some extent bailing out German banks when it was bailing out Greece- till German banks reduced their exposure to Greece in 2011.
Linked Articles
In former East Germany, anxious residents resent paying for Europe’s problems - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/21/2012
Merkel's Defense of Euro Forged in East GermanyNew York Times 01/30/2011
How a services-led consumption based economy has failed America through a loss of jobs, prosperity and prestige.
01/21/2011
Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of GE, says the concept that the US could transition from a technology based export-oriented economic powerhouse to a services-led consumption based economy was fundamentally wrong. Mathew Slaughter of the Tuck School, Dartmouth, in a WSJ op-ed piece argues for a textbook principle of comparitive advantage, without considering the way it operates in a real the real world situation facing America as it struggles for economic renewal.
Linked Articles
Comparative Advantage and American Jobs
Wall Street Journal 01/26/2011
Jeffrey R. Immelt - A blueprint for keeping America competitiveWashington Post 01/21/2011
Women's maternity leave- how society, women, and men benefit from women's maternity leave arrranged in a way that lets women make important contributions
01/17/2011
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/29/2015
At Toshiba, a Pioneer for Women in Japan's Work ForceNew York Times 01/17/2011
Contrasts in the approaches of S. Korea in 1997 and the U.S. in 2008 to banking crises, and the hobbled U.S. economic recovery
01/06/2011
S. Korea in 1997 at the urging of Treasury Secretary Rubin took decisive step to unwind failed financial institutions. This in stark contrast to Treasury Secretary Geither, regulators and U.S. Fed officials actions in 2008 to merge troubled mortgage institutions such as Countrywide and Washington Mutual with Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. In the process creating mega banks that are hard to manage and hard to run, and "too big to fail," according to former and current Fed governors Hoenig and Fisher. Prof. Cochrane of the University of Chicago says the U.S. Federal Reserve's new job as financial regulator after the 2008 financial crisis, is an impossible one.
Linked Articles
Red Flags said to Go Unheeded at Chase
New York Times 05/14/2012
South Korea Makes a Quick Economic RecoveryNew York Times 01/06/2011
New York Mayor Bloomberg calls for letting the Bush tax cuts expire for all income groups to address the U.S. deficit
12/16/2010
Bloomberg tells Republicans and Democrats that promoting the idea of a free lunch or getting something for nothing is delusional. He points to the road for U.S. economic recovery based on this step combined with an up or down vote on the Simpson Bowles plan in Congress.
Linked Articles
Federal Budgets and Class Warfare
Wall Street Journal 03/29/2012
Washington Taxes Own CredibilityWall Street Journal 12/16/2010
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