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Efforts made by Texas governor Rick Perry and the board of regents to control tution costs for colleges and universities in the state of Texas. The idea that a college degree should cost about $10,000 in total pushed by governor Perry, and early efforts to achieve this.

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How one war widow is coping with the death of a husband in the war in Afghanistan. Lisa Hallett in Puget Sound with three small kids has kept alive her husbands memory as she makes a 26 mile run through the streets near Puget Sound, Washington.

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Stocks that did better than Google in the tech field are Apple, Sales Force, Western Digital, Priceline, Netflix. Keurig and Monster Beverage followed by Priceline are the all time leading stocks for returns. Google made about 1294% return since the IPO, taking $10,000 inital investment to $139,000.

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Andrew Ross Sorkin of the NYT interviews Bill Gross, former head of PIMCO, in May 2015. Gross says the separation with PIMCO was hard, like a painful divorce, especially because he is sensitive. He continues working at 71 because he wants to show PIMCO made a mistake.

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U.S. president Obama made negotiating a Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement with the EU a priority for his second term. Further reduction of tariffs would increase trade by over $120 billion over 5 years from the current $1 trillion level, according to the U.S Chamber of Commerce.

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People are more thougtful about making purchases and making gifts that are personal themselves. And they see more value in closeness of family members than in things to buy. They are also bypassing fancy electronics and expensive things as they make more of their own gifts.

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China's rapid eanings growth is illusory because behind the numbers there is an illusory element- the profits from stock gains. Luizhou a maker of toothpast and soaps is one example where its earnings increased by 19 times the leel in 2006 from sale of Citic securities. Wow!

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Ford Credit which made close to $5 billion in pretax profits in 2002 is now down to zero profits and this means Ford does not have the large dividends that it had from Ford Credit. And the economy is likely to hurt Ford and Ford Credit.

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As David Ignatius points out in his trip to China, the China of post 2010 is a lot of things depending on who you talk to in China- cocky, scared, anxious. He comes away perplexed by the range of questions that come up in his mind. The wealth of the coastal cities is stunning, and at the same time as the leaders insist China is still a poor country with deep regional imbalances, and what is less mentioned, the rising inequality in society. How to pull it all together to make possible a transition to development that is evened out across all regions and sections of society and to allow freedom of expression, is a challenge for the new leadership of Xi Jinping in 2011.

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Following the Nuclear Security Summit in March 2016, U.S. president Obama says world leaders had expressed concern about Mr. Trump's comments in private conversations with him. Obama said- "even those countries that are used to a carnival atmosphere in their own politics want sobriety and clarity when it comes to U.S. elections because they understand that the president of the United States needs to know what's going on around the world." Obama said that comments by Mr. Trump showed a person "who doesn't know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally. Mr. Trump said in a NYT interview that "Now, wouldn't you in a certain sense have Japan have nuclear weapons when North Korea has nuclear weapons?" Trump has defended these comments in a televised townhall meeting held by CNN in Milwaukee. Obama was critical of these comments as upsetting the situation in Asia where the U.S. has made great sacrifices in World War II, and today "underwrites the peace and prosperity of that region." Adding that "you don't mess with that."...

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Sanford Weill built Citigroup into a mega bank through repeated acquisitions. He was the strongest voice for the repeal of the Depression era Glass Steagall Act banning banks from risk taking activities in investment banking. The Glass Steagall Act was repealed in 1999, and repeal legislation was given the name of "Citigroup Authorization Act." On July 23, 2012, Weill told CNBC: "I am suggesting that they (the big banks) be broken up so that the taxpayer will never be at risk, the depositors won't be at risk... Mistakes were made." Weill said that the housing bubble and the financial crisis has proved that the repeal was a mistake.

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A tentative Brexit deal with the EU is reached but it is not clear that it can win support of the Cabinet of prime minister Theresa May, even before it has any chance in the British parliament. March 29, 2018 is the 2 year period for negotiations to arrive at a deal with the EU. The pro-EU transport minister Jo Johnson resigned and called for a second referendum, saying that the decision in the first referendum to leave the EU was made because false prospects had been presented by the Leave EU campaign. 

Because of the issue of Northern Ireland the U.K would remain indefinitely in the customs union, and this is opposed by the Leave EU supporters in the Conservative party government of prime minister May.

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This report in WSJ shows that AI or Artificial Intelligence cannot work without human intelligence behind it. As the Facebook Russian episode of inauthentic accounts shows it can lead to dire results. Human have to play a active and constantly overseeing role for it to work. In fact the bigger the AI effort the bigger the need for humans to actively conduct and monitor it and back it up with human intelligence. Truckloads of human intelligence are needed for a primitive AI system to be able to sort out data and process it. The process continues once a AI system is created or it will likely fail with disastrous results. Context is critical. Oxford University experts say hundreds of thousands of people are involved in human intelligence to make AI work.

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Imagine a place that is rural, far from industrialization, and facing high levels of air pollution. In Gaborone, Botswana, the social prestige of driving cars and increasing car population is creating levels of air pollution from second hand older cars with poor emissions control. People driving cars see cyclists as coming from poor families and simply drive them off the road. 

See how cycling to work is being promoted as normal and dignified by a Swede who is the Ambassador of the EU to Botswana, and how many in the middle class and colleges are cycling to work to promote a return to older ways of doing things that make sense as healthier for the environment and for one's health.
 

 

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The hardest hit group in this downturn are workers who have not completed high school, with the unemployment rate for this group going up to 15.5% compared to 8.4% last year. Workers with 4 year college degrees have unemployment at 4.8%, comparedto 2.3% a year ago. The unemployment rate for women in May is at 7.5% and for men at 9.8%. Women who have finished high school have an easier time finding jobs in health care and education. The male dominated manufacturing and construction industries are among the worst hit. Harvard University labor economist Katz says the recessions of 1990 and 2001 were more "egalitarian" than the present one, which is more like the recessions of the early 1980's and the 1970's when the less educated group was the hardest hit.

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Garry Wills doesn't like what he saw in the Bush Presidency with the elder Bush's advisor Dick Cheney having an influential role and almost independent powers within the Bush Presidency. What happens if the executive power has a former President and a newly elected President in the White House. He says that question was resolved in favor of not having this kind of plural Presidency when James Wilson of Pennsylvania's argument that executive power could best be checked with accountability in one individual as President was accepted by the framers of the Constitution. There appears to be a alienation from having a repeat of the Bushes Presidency in a Clintons Presidency among older white male voters, is this a trend that will hold true for the rest of the year?

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Boris Johnson made many gaffes, with inappropriate comments and patronizing attitudes, sometimes looking boorish, during his short period in office for 2 years 2016-2018 as Foreign Secretary. Johnson was a journalist who pushed for a hard line on Brexit and appealed to extreme right wingers in the Conservative Party.

Former prime minister Harold Macmillan described the persons holding the job of Foreign Secretary as either being dull or dangerous. Johnson rarely showed a dull moment tangling with foreign leaders at every opportunity and as he said once creating "opportunities for fresh disasters."

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This opinion in DW.com says Donald Trump has done exactly the opposite of what he said during the election campaign when he was severely critical of China on trade issues. This report cites the many statements in some detail made by Trump about China. During a recent visit to China he says president Trump seemed to go out of his way to show agreement with president Jinping, quite the reverse of what he said he would do during the election campaign. U.S. influence and prestige is seen as declining as a result of president Trump's policies.

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Remote work offers flexibility yet household chores and childcare make it feel like they are doing two jobs. Women hold 79 million jobs in 2024 Labour Department says. Of the prime age group of 25-54 years 78% of women are working or seeking work. Women doing remote work sometimes feel caught in a situation where after the pandemic and years of doing childcare and chores they do not have the opportunities of fulltime work that men have.

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The walkoff grand slam hit by Freddie Freeman in the last minutes of the 1st game in the American baseball World Series between finalists NY Yankees and LA Dodgers, a great sports rivalry since 1941. The great hitter Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees even made it into literary fame in Ernest Hemingway's nostalgic stories of an aging sailor in Cuba remembering Yankee hitter DiMaggio's grit and persistence in Old Man and the Sea.

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Lagging growth in GDP per capita, productivity growth, in Italy, with small family business unwilling to take risks for growth, and bureaucratic hurdles for business. To get an idea how Italy has lagged severely behind other countries in Europe, consider that GDP per capita increased by 28% in Spain, and 22% in France, compared to only 8% in Italy during the 20 year period 1993-2013, according to the Conference Board. Productivity growth measured by GDP per hour worked for Italy showed growth of only 13% in that 20 year period, compared to 30% in France and 23% in Spain. Since the 2008 global financial crisis the Italian economy has shrunk by 9% and growth is barely 1% in 2014. During 1993-2003 top performers Germany showed 31% increase in GDP per capita and 32% increase in productivity growth, the UK showed 44% increase in GDP per capita and 38% in productivity growth. Because of slowing population growth GDP growth has to come from productivity increases in Europe. France is the strongest in terms of productivity with $59 of GDP per hour worked, UK $51, and Germany $57. Italy at $45 has fallen behind Spain at $50. Conference Board statistics show GDP per capita in inflation adjusted, purchasing power adjusted 2013 dollars at $35,847 for France, $40,868 for Germany, $30,145 for Spain, $39,904 for Britain, and Italy lagging behind at $31,386. Most of the gains were made before 1993 for Italy, whereas Spain surged in the period after 1993 only slowing after 2008. The struggles in the U.S. auto industry showed how well meaning changes for labor in the early postwar period if not adapted to changes in the global economy decades later can lead to sharp decline before adjustment is made. In Italy well meaning labor laws in the early postwar period not adapted to changes in the global economy decades later, combined with cultural behaviour of entrenched group interests, and a bureaucratic government, have stifled growth and productivity....

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Mark Reuss is chosen by CEO Whitacre to run the North American division. Reuss and Whitacre share an informal style and respect middle managers to take on more responsibility. Whitacre made the decision after talking to many people in the company. Reuss headed GM's Holden subsidiary in Australia.

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Google introduces the Nexus 7 tablet for $199. It has a 7 inch screen and is designed to show books and media available on Google's Play service. It was developed with Asustek Computer and is intended for reading books similiar to the Kindle Fire tablet made by Amazon.