LyrArc Article Gist
Efforts to break the logjam for a $2 trillion infrastructure investment for the U.S.

LyrArc Article Gist
Ten years after the severe banking crisis in Ireland that led to a collapsing economy and a lost decade, the curtain finally comes to a close on the actions of banking executives at Anglo Irish bank. 

David Drumm of Anglo Irish bank is sentenced to 6 years in jail for his role in the crisis. Lise Hand describes the total silence in the court as the sentence is handed out, accepting the severity of what had happened for Ireland and the Irish people affected by flashy money of banks, politicians as well as regulators who failed to live up to their duties to Ireland.

LyrArc Article Gist
Vast migration of about 5 million kob antelope and other antelope species across South Sudan near Boma National Park- viewed from light aircraft or helicopters stretching for miles and miles. Antelope seek to move in the rainy season to where there is more water. The lack of human settlement in this space lets the migration go on unimpeded.

LyrArc Article Gist
Of streaming services Netflix, Paramount, Peacock, ESPN, HBO, Hulu, Disney+, and Fox One only Netflix is consistently and hugely profitable since 2023. Netflix made $3 billion a quarter compared to losses of $1 billion a quarter for Comcast Peacock and Disney+. Peacock is offering bundling deals with Apple TV, and other streaming services are also teaming up. For Netflix the fastest growing and profitable segment is the $7.99 with ads per month which has grown from one third of customers to half of Nertfliz customer base. By contrast the general information market is captured by You Tube which gets about $12 billion a quarter from ads and subscriptions with 75% of profits from ads.

LyrArc Article Gist
VW sales of automobiles in the U.S. declined by 15% in November 2015 providing the first indication that buyers in the U.S. are responding to the emissions cheating scandal. More disclosures and statements by VW about "a chain of mistakes" going back to 2005 could lead to further erosion in the U.S. market.

LyrArc Article Gist
Bilateral trade between China and Russia is down 31% for the first half of 2015, and Chinese investment in Russia down by 20%, according to Moscow Carnegie Center. This is a result of the fall in oil prices, declining demand for commodities in China, and the economic downturn in Russia. After the western sanctions on Russia Chinese investors are cautious about making investments. This means Russia's large expectations that this would act as an offset for economic relations with Germany and other western nations is not working out in reality. The contract for the second gas deal for gas from western Siberia, for which a memorandum was signed with China in Nov. 2014, was not signed during Putin's visit to Beijing in September 2015. Experts say the economic environment is not favorable for gas deals with the uncertain economic outlook in China.

LyrArc Article Gist
President Trump wins two victories in his efforts to build a border wall on the southern border with Mexico and control the flow of migrants which he has called a national security crisis. The Supreme Court votes 5 to 4 to allow president Trump to use $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds to proceed building the wall. Mr. Trump also made an agreement with Guatemala where that nation will act a a gate keeper for people seeking to get asylum in the U.S. from economic problems in Central America.

LyrArc Article Gist
Potash a potassium based fertilizer mined from the earth is environmentally friendly unlike nitrogen and phosporous based fertilizers. When Belarus and Russia which make 40% of world supply of potash could not supply the world market because of the war in Ukraine, Canadian producers which make 30% of potash stepped in to increase market share. Two Canadian producers will increase production to meet demand after a 28% increase in the price of potash. Potash has the added advantage of being good for the environment and for climate change action. The use of potash needs to double to meet climate change action goals. Nutrien, the world's largest producer of potash in Saskatchewan, Canada will increase production by 2026 from 15 million tons to 18 million tons a year. BHP has a new plant coming up in Saskatchewan in 2026 for 4.35 million metric tons of potash. 

LyrArc Article Gist
About $33 billion new investment in new EV related auto manufacturing in the US in 2023. This follows $37 billion invested in 2022. Many of these plants are in the South from Kentucky to Tennessee.

LyrArc Article Gist
US economic growth for the fourth quarter 2021 was at the annual rate of 6.9%. Economic growth rate for full year 2021 was 5.5%. This is the fastest growth since 1984 when  growth followed a double dip recession and high inflation. Most of the surge in growth in 4th quarter 2021 was from companies restocking merchandise and shelves and not from people buying more stuff. Without these inventory effects growth in fourth quarter 2021 would be 1.9%, according to the Commerce Department. Sales of durable goods, of cars refrigerators, actually fell in December.

For the current quarter, the first quarter of 2022, forecasts show growth will slow to 2%.

LyrArc Article Gist
There are serious issues facing crude oil production from Alberta tar sands which stem from environmental concerns, and the captal intensive, energy intensive, nature of production from tar sands. According to a recent RAND study energy production from tar sands causes 10-30% more greenhouse gas emissions. Add to that destruction of boreal forest, destruction of bird life, and the contamination of water supplies from the lake size tailings ponds used to store spent water from oil sands projects. Large amounts of steam are needed to separate the dirt from the oil in the tar sands. According to Environmental Defence about 4 billion litres of contaminated water leaked from these tailings ponds and this seepage is polluting rivers in Northern Canada. The technology for trapping and storing the carbon dioxide from the production process is still in the research stage. The other hurdle facing the tar sands development is the price of crude which is around $49 a barrel. While some older tar sands plants can operate even at $30 a barrel, newer operations need $60 or $70 per barrel for acceptable returns, according to Prof. Leach, a professor of environmental economics at the University of Alberta. For these reasons Canadian tar sands production which is now at 1.2 million barrels a day is not likely to go much higher or approach the 3.5 million barrels a day predicted for 2015. Petro-Canada said it would suspend 23.8 billion dollars of expansions in Alberta to tar sands projects, and Canadian Natural Resources is cutting its capital spending in half. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The large stimulus effort in Canada is about $382 Canadian dollars or $300 billion U.S. dollars for help to families, workers and businesses. It is about one fifth of Canada's total economic output. This has helped Canadian banks RBC and TD avoid major loan losses. 

LyrArc Article Gist
It is no surprise what we see in the US today- the loss of the middle class, the unaffordability crisis for education, healthcare, childcare, and poor, broken infrastructure. Over 10 years the US trade deficit with China has led to loss of about 25 million jobs and $250 billion in taxes that support local infrastructure and public services. Where 20% of the people do 80% of the spending, 80% of the people only 20% of spending (Moody's Analytics). This is how the uneven trade led to the destruction of manufacturing centers and communities across the 51 states in America, devastating families and young people. This is no longer Washington's, Lincon's or FDR's land of opportunity. Each $1 billion in additional imports to the US costs 4252 jobs. (CPA) This can be read as how many jobs are being lost in the additional trade of goods when one side is exporting more than the other.  There are three levels of losses. There is also an indirect job loss in the number of jobs created by that one job in manufacturing to serve the needs of these factory families in communities. This can be estimated at 1 job that depends on 1 manufacturing job. Together this means 8500 jobs lost for every $1 billion of goods in a trade deficit. US trade deficit of $295 billion in 2024 with China translates into about 2.5 million jobs lost every year. Over 10 years this is about 20-25 million jobs, enough to decimate America's entire manufacturing capabilities and manufacturing infrastructure, whole communities and towns disappearing or suffering destruction across the country.  With the loss of these jobs comes a third cost, the taxes paid that maintain small town infrastructure and public services like libraries, schools and health centers where these factories are located. At $10,000 in taxes lost per job, for 8500 jobs lost per $1 billion in uneven trade there is a loss of $85 million.  For the $295 billion deficit the US has with China this loss adds up to $25 billion per year. Over 10 years this means taking out this much in local infrastructure and public services like libraries, schools and health centers worth $250 billion.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This video report in WSJ says it is clear to see that rental is a better option for young people than buying at this time when home prices have gone up, and with it the monthly mortgage payment, in a way that is completely out of proportion to renting cost increase. The monthly mortgage payment increased between the second quarter of 2022 and the same quarter in 2021 by about 44%. Higher mortgage payments are a result of steeply higher home prices and higher mortgage rates. Buyers of homes also have higher property taxes in this situation. The median monthly rent payment went up by 10% in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. There is a $600 difference between the median monthly payment for rent and the median monthly mortgage payment that can be invested by young people, says this report in WSJ, considering that home prices have peaked and are gradually coming down.

LyrArc Article Gist
Italian leader Meloni comes to the White House for a meeting with US president DJT on April 17, 2025. DJT says there will be a deal with the EU "100 percent."

"There will be a trade deal, 100 percent, but it will be a fair deal."

Meloni criticised "woke ideology" and said she fully supported the "war against illegal migration".

"The goal for me is to make the West great again, and I think we can do it together."

"I'm proud of sitting here as prime minister of an Italy that today has a very good situation - a stable country, a reliable country."

LyrArc Article Gist
Financial markets are pricing in 2 quarter point percentage interest rate cuts from Bank of England. But the weaker economic outlook could lead to 4 such cuts creating more room for Labour's Budget as it struggles to fight austerity spending, meet aspirations for better public services and infrastructure and still be seen as responsible in spending goals.  In September 2023 analysts referred to the mini-Truss British budget and the speed with which borrowing costs increased for England as the "moron premium." As debt servicing costs increase in 2025 and less optimism about growth, there is concern that the 9.9 billion reserve that Rachel Reeves had planned after balancing day to day spending with tax receipts to 2029-30 would disappear. The Labour Budget had planned on about 105 billion pounds as debt servicing cost for 2.6 trillion pounds in UK debt as indicated by Office of Budget Responsibility. The 30 year yield is up to 5.3% in Jan 2025 and this could erase the 9.9 billion reserve with higher interest costs. The situation is different from Truss but will need to be watched carefully. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Keith Bradsher describes the life of one family of migrant workers in China struggling to get their ony daughter through college. Wu Yiebing is a worker in coal mining and his wife Cao works on farms nearby. He has managed to send his daughter Wu Caoying to college. She is a sophomore in college but fears for the future because of the lack of opportunities for new college graduates in China. She also feels the heavy burden as the parents spend half their income to get her through college and have no retirement savings. This is typical of many migrant families in China who see education as the only way for the next generation to have better lives than their parents.

LyrArc Article Gist
EV sales worldwide in March 2024 went up by 30%. New battery technologies are making EV cost competitive with combustion engine cars. This transition is nearer than we thought. Kurt Kelty of GM who worked on Tesla battery technology for 11 years says “When we reach cost parity with internal combustion engine vehicles, I think that’s one big milestone. When you get there, then you’re really going to see the transition happen very quickly—and we’re not that far away from it.” The EV industry continues to make progress even as the industry has slowed with the new government not behind it with incentives. GM is setting its sight on 2028 and is investing in bringing costs down with new battery technology. It is new battery technology that enabled BYD in China to increase production and sales. In 2024 GM hired a Tesla engineer Kurt Kelty with 11 years experience to lead the effort to reduce cost and increase the power and duration of batteries. Kelty really believes in the EV revolution.“I’m a firm believer. Switching to an electric powertrain means better performance, less maintenance, more space inside the vehicle, a lower center of gravity and a higher crash rating. Evolution away from fossil fuels is unstoppable.”   ...