LyrArc Article Gist
The Indian 2024 election involved huge giveaways and caste based selection that takes India backwards, which explains some of the gains of opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, two large states. As the WSJ points out giveaways to buy votes for Rs 1 lakh for every woman in the state of Uttar Pradesh with population of 120 million women was part of the strategy used by a leading opposition party. Caste selection was carefully deployed by another large political party in Uttar Pradesh. Fears and misinformation about the BJP party changing the Indian Constitution to remove protection of lower castes enshrined in the Constitution by Ambedkar, was also a factor that swung votes to the opposition. The effects of the pandemic and the unemployment levels for a largely rural population in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra in north and west of India played a role as the BJP failed to get an outright majority following its majority wins in 2014 and 2019. The Opposition parties and the BJP main difference is that the Opposition parties have accepted the leakages of funds as part of the culture that has prevailed since 1960 which makes rapid development and modernization impossible as the pool of funds for investment in infrastructure is diminished. BJP party under Modi has fought this leakage every step of the way and by executing projects of infrastructure with on time delivery created the prospects of India modernizing and industrializing the way Japan and China have achieved. The other difference is the execution and the Master Plan Gati Shakti developed by BJP and Modi and a 20 year execution model developed in Gujarat state by Modi from 2001 to 2021. This has made India the fifth largest economy in the world with plans to make it the third largest by 2030 and do what Japan and China have achieved in Asia. It is not really about religion or so called Hindutva that is driving the hard work it is about making India a modern industrial nation with the standard of living of US, Europe, Japan and China.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Under Mette Frederiksen immigration which reached 21,000 in 2015 was down to a little over 1000 a year. She is a strong fighter for workers and families and labor rights and yet tough on illegal immigration. She has been proven right about this as Britain and the US under Biden are seeing illegal immigration as a threat to workers and labour, are seeing the risks of distraction from illegal immigration doing a serious disservice to workers and families by making it hard to fight for workers and families on wages, cost of living and other issues.  Even with a strong record of fighting for workers and families, Frederiksen was one of the first European leaders to see the dangers of illegal immigration to society. It gave parts of the political spectrum that had no interest all along in workers and families doing well, an issue to run on that would come to cause grave harm to workers and families. This turned out to be the error of Angela Merkel a CDU leader brought up in Communist East Germany, who had no idea of the risks of her approach for open immigration. As Merkel let this chapter unfold it created fissures in Europe, with Tories and Nigel Farage taking Britain out of the EU and laying waste to its economy for 5 years till Labour's Starmer adopted a tough immigration policy and became prime minister in 2024. That danger then spread to the US in 2016 which also suffered as Republicans and Trump did the same in the US around rhetoric but without serious action on immigration till the Lankford- Biden legislation.  That bill would have closed the border with Mexico and ended immigration as an issue forever if passed into law in December 2023, as Senator Lankford says would have happened. Ending immigration as an issue forever alongside foreign wars as an issue, so that a concentrated effort could be made on improving badly damaged lives of workers and families. And on rebuilding badly damaged manufacturing in the US, rebuilding collapsing infrastructure, and competing with better education and healthcare with the large Asian countries China, Japan/ South Korea, India. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
How to build a global port network with less cash- China's state owned Cosco and it's European ports network is an example of savy buying during financial crises, and when companies in Europe and the US were keen to make sales of ports. China simply integrated it into a vast exports network, using containerized terminal expansion modernization to build its manufacturing for export model. This was an extension of its domestic network where it added new port infrastructure to newly built rail and road connections.  India today is learning from this example. By 2000 the Chinese global export model was entrenched. It was also the year when the junior Bush president extended the wars of Reagan/Bush in Iraq of the 1980's to Afghanistan. China had a clear road ahead to build state of the art infrastructure of ports, logistics and exports over the next 10-15 years without any defense costs.  Piraeus in Greece south of Athens, a port concession acquired in 2004 Antwerp in Belgium (Austrian Netherlands), a minority stake in a container port acquired in 2008. In 2013 with sale of Terminal Link ports in a 49% stake deal by CMA of France holding 51%, China has stakes in Zeerbrugge and Antwerp, Busan South Korea, and Le Havre, Montoir and Fos in France, Xiamen in China, Miami and Houston in US. Rotterdam, Netherlands- Cosco acquired in 20126 a 35% stake in Euromax Terminal in Rotterdam from Hong Kong's Hutchison's Holdings for $125 million. Valencia and Bilbao majority  51% stake for $270 million, when JP Morgan paid as much as $950 million to ACS of Spain for these ports after the 2009 crisis led to Spanish divestments. Today in TEU's shipping containers China sends goods to Europe 10 times what it takes in through Spanish ports. Hamburg-In May 2023 Germany's Scholz overruled Habeck to let sale of 24.9% of Hamburg port to COSCO go through ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The Wall Street Journal in a recent editorial called the European Union's June 2011 plan for Greece "the French Deception," because it favored French and German banks but made Greece's debt burden even less manageable. The Economist views the European Union actions with disdain and says they are sure to fail. It is skeptical whether the spending cuts will work because Greece's politicians are not likely to address the problems of poor tax and other payments collection, and is too interconnected with favored groups and lobbies to be able to take the needed actions. And spending cuts will fall hard on ordinary Greeks. Even with job cuts the sense is that it will fall not on full time civil servants with permanent contracts but people with temporary contracts. The Economist cites the example of items such as the overgenerous markup allowed for pharmacists that adds another 1.5 billion euros to the budget which will remain untouched as an example of many such items where the cuts will not fall because of strong lobbies and favored interests. The privatization scheme is deemed unrealistic because it expects to raise 51 billion euros in a crash sale of assets, which only makes it more likely that assets could fall into the hands of cronies with the right connections. The current efforts only make ordinary Greeks worse off with spending cuts and new taxes. The negative impact on economic growth of the austerity cuts creates the prospect for a deeper recession, political turmoil, and a debt default....

LyrArc Article Gist
This WSJ editorial says the EU bailout deal for Cyprus of March 25, 2013, which shut down Cyprus Popular Bank, and aggressively downsizes Bank of Cyprus, is the right move. Under this bailout deal no money from the EU's $10 billion to the Cyprus government goes to bailout banks. Cyprus Popular Bank is allowed to go bust, with only insured deposits below $100,000 protected. Larger depositors are compensated with equity shares in a "bad bank," holding this bank's questionable assets. The good assets of this bank are transferred to the Bank of Cyprus. Bank of Cyprus, the largest bank, will have depositors and creditors take haircuts so that it can maintain a 9% capital ratio- estimated losses of depositors being 35%. All this leaves Cyprus with lower debt of 140% of GDP than under other plans. A large part of these losses will be borne by Russian depositors taking advantage of Cyprus as an offshore tax haven. Germay's Angela Merkel and finance minister Schauble face German voters in 2013 elections. Merkel and Schauble did not want to be seen burdening German taxpayers for bailouts in Cyprus to help affluent Russian depositors....

LyrArc Article Gist
Just one scheme by a Dallas doctor, Dr. Jacques Roy, cost Medicare $350 million over 5 years. HHS data analysis showed Dr. Roy approved 500 times the number of patients normally approved per physician for home health care services- he approved 5000 instead of 100. A case in 2011 resulted in charges against 115 doctors, nurses and company managers, in 9 cities leading to $240 million in false billings.

LyrArc Article Gist
The German Statistical Office reported that GDP growth in Germany was 0.1% in the second quarter of 2011. This compares with GDP growth of 1.3% in the first quarter. This is slower than Italy which came in at 0.3% for the second quarter. France had no growth in the second quarter. The German Statistical Office said the causes were: lower household consumption and construction investment, imports rising faster than exports and a buildup of inventories. Analysts at Commerzbank say the warm spring resulted in construction activity starting earlier and taking out some of the growth in the second quarter, in its absence the growth would be 0.4% for the second quarter. The statistics office said an additional 553,000 persons were added to employment compared to the prior year, with a total of 41 million employed.

LyrArc Article Gist
Living wills of BNP Paribas SA, HSBC Holdings PLC and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC come under increased scrutiny from the U.S. Fed. These banks were added to 11 U.S. banks required to submit new drafts of "living wills" by the end of 2015, which ensure no damage to the U.S. economic system from a bank collapse. Only Wells Fargo & Co.'s "living will" was accepted by regulators as not causing economic damage. In making the decision the Fed and the FDIC agreed that the "living wills" were "not credible."

LyrArc Article Gist
With inflation low at about 1.5% for an inflation measure used by the Federal Reserve, this article by Neil Irwin points to the low unemployment rate of 4.3% as the determining factor for raising interest rates. The Federal Reserve increased interest rates by a quarter percentage point in June 2017.The Federal Reserve under Janet Yellen raised interest rates for the second time in 2017 and the fourth time in 18 months, as it sees a tightening in the jobs market.

LyrArc Article Gist
Unemployment in the eurozone drops to 7.7% in 2017. Unemployment in Spain drops to 17%.

LyrArc Article Gist
Missing 8th grade algebra in San Francisco school curriculum is the subject of this editorial in the WSJ. The Department of Education calls algebra a gatekeeper course to future success. Taking Algebra 1 before high school can set students up for a foundation of STEM education and open the door for various career options. Yet San Francisco dropped 8th grade Algebra in the name of reducing inequities in 2014, says WSJ.

LyrArc Article Gist
US Senator Elizabeth Warren says the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank happened after president Trump signed a law with the help of Congress and the US central bank the Fed to roll back some of the strict oversight and regulations that were setup after the 2008 financial crisis from the failure of bank practices. The Guardian reports that the CEO of SVB lobbied to reduce the regulatory oversight needed leading to its collapse.

LyrArc Article Gist
Rosario, Argentina is the hometown of Lionel Messi. DW.com looks at this city, the third largest in Argentina, and capital of Santa Fe state. Two of Argentina's famous soccer coaches were born in Rosario. Lionel Scaloni, the current national coach and 1978 coach Cesar Luis Menotti. Argentina lost to Germany 1-0 in 2014, and 8 years later locals are sensing something big as Argentina meets France on Sunday.

LyrArc Article Gist
Jimmy Pitaro at ESPNsports network is navigating adifficult landscape looking for new sports streaming custmers. Joining other media companies to compete with streaming against Google and Apple TV. As more Americans cut the cord cable TV is collapsing. From 2011 onwards to today cable lost 29 million subscribers. ESPN, part of Disney, is a division that once supported Disney growth, its growth in 2023 was 2% for revenue with decline of 2% for profit.

LyrArc Article Gist
A You.gov poll shows Europeans by 64% consider reclining seats fully "unacceptable" compared to 46% in the US. The seats squeezed into a tight space make it more difficult for passengers making airline decisions on seat arrangement an issue. Delta tried limiting reclining to 2 inches to improve passenger comfort on 20% of its planes in 2019, but has not moved ahead to do this with the rest of the planes.

LyrArc Article Gist
Fiona Katauskas of the Guardian has this cartoon of "I just love the way he always speaks his mind," about the choice before Americans in 2024. Workers were being ignored in 2016- not anymore. In 2024 there is also action for climate change, for infrastructure building, for manufacturing renewal, for building working class incomes and wages, to consider. America has a choice for the right Way Forward.

LyrArc Article Gist
A retired Air Force general who was Associate Director of Military Affairs at CIA 2021-2024 working with Central Command on special missions is known to DJT since 2019. Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, a F-16 fighter pilot, is the choice for Joint Chiefs in 2025. He is a 1990 graduate of Virginia Military Institute where he graduated with a degree in economics. He got a Masters degree in Air Warfare from American Military University.

LyrArc Article Gist
This is an adaptation in the Washington Post from the book by Neil Irwin- "The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire," published by Penguin Press in April 2013.

LyrArc Article Gist
U.S. Secretary of State Clinton and Turkey's foreign minister Davutoglu met in early August 2012 and agreed to set up intensive operational planning and coordination of the two countries efforts on Syria to end the Assad regime. The two foreign ministers said a unified task force with intelligence, military and political leaders would be set up immediately and will look at all options including direct assistance to the democracy movement and forces fighting the Assad regime.

LyrArc Article Gist
Care home care or nursing home in Germany goes from $1700 a month in 2018 to $3760 in 2025 doubling in 7 years. Most of it is from increase in nurses pay and training that has gonu up after years of stagnant pay levels.

In Germany 85% of older citizens elder care is in their own homes with help of relatives and outpatient care assistance is covered from a nursing care insurance fund that pays $330 to $990 a month depending on level of care required. The average pension is $1100 a month.

Statutory long term care insurance is part of German Social Security System with long term care insurance compulsory paid for by employers and employees and 3.6% of pay income going to contributions for this long term care.

LyrArc Article Gist
International arrivals to the US that were still down by about 35% in June last year over the pre pandemic levels of 2019, are going to be only about 20% below prepandemic 2019 levels this summer 2023. The cost of gasoline for people in the US is about $3.57 a gallon compared to $4.60 last summer. Justin Lahart in WSJ says Americans with steady checks and low unemployment are willing to spend on trips this summer. Among Americans about 40% still avoided travel by airplane, train or subway in 2022. This is now down to 18% or less in 2023.

Traditional vacations are up as old style remote work vacations are receding. Marriott, Hilton and other hotels, and airlines report strong demand. Older people who spend more are also joining the trend this summer leading to higher spending. This may even help the US avoid a recession, says Lahart.

LyrArc Article Gist
IBM's Watson Computer business has set a target of $1 billion in sales by 2018 and $10 billion by 2024. Current sales are in the $100 million range. Manoj Saxena is the head of the Watson business unit. The Watson ranks medical treatments by "confidence scores" and incorporates learning from errors. The way Watson works is for IBM engineers to study the technical details of a customers business and store this information for the computer to use. Uses so far are insurer WellPoint using it for determining if doctor's treatments meet company guidelines and a patient's insurance policy. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is developing a version that recommends leukemia treatments for patients by data mining medical literature. Watson was moved to commercial phase in 2011 after beating 2 Jeopardy champions. IBM has a $15 million deal, its largest so far, with M.D. Anderson. It has taken frequent interaction between developers and IBM engineers to develop a version that recommends cancer treatments. The versions are only as good as how well knowledge in the field is translated into usable software, a long and difficult process. Applications in health care are seen as the best prospects for revenue generation. Google with its data mining capabilities is seen as the closest competitor....

LyrArc Article Gist
A government report gives a second by second account of a high speed train collision in China on July 23, 2011. It shows major equipment failures, human errors, and confusion in communications.