World News Insights
1-3 Minute Gist
Search, personalize, or simply browse. Follow the world around you from gist and context to insights.
Who we are | Our Credo | Ways of using Lyrarc | FAQ | Send Feedback | First Letter From the Editor
Sign up. It's free and easy to use
Create an account
to personalize your feed of articles and topics.
Browse Articles or use Lyrarc's US patented "Groups" and "Links" for new insights. A Lyrarc Group of Articles on a topic gives insights into particular angles shown in the Group Title. A Lyrarc Link shows more specific insights for 2 articles.
All Topics Links
Drug cartels emerging in Afghaistan.
07/27/2008
The UN OFfice of Drugs and Crime ses the growth of drug cartels in Afghaistan as 10,000 tons of drugs from the opium crop have been stockpiled inside Afghistan and are controlled by narco-gangs. This is estimated as 2 years of world demand. This as efforts to curb opium growing have reduced the land devoted to the crop by 22% and reduced the crop by 10%.
Linked Articles
U.N. Sees Afghan Drug Cartels Emerging
New York Times 09/02/2009
Is Afghanistan a Narco-State?New York Times 07/27/2008
Geneal Motors Board and its top management hobble along without a vision or timely decisions at critical turning points.
06/28/2008
The lack of vigorous discussion at the Board and top management levels of Gneral Motors is the most striking thing about the company. Classic example how the larger and more successful an institution, there is no assurance that even the vital skills of vigorous discussion and openness to fresh thinking promoted by its founders like Alfred Sloan in this case in one of his meetings, that these skills will be available in the future.
Linked Articles
GM's Massive Quarterly Loss Adds to Turnaround Pressure
Wall Street Journal 08/02/2008
McCain Offers Aid, No 'Bailout' on AutosWall Street Journal 06/28/2008
Geithner's style and the contrast with Summers as they contend for Treasury Secretary
05/30/2008
Geithner's has a prepared structure of questions which he uses to get informed, and other aspects of his style and how he has approached crises in the past.
Linked Articles
Summers and Geithner, Two Contenders for Treasury Job, Have Close Career Ties
Wall Street Journal 11/08/2008
Fed's Fireman On Wall Street Feels Some HeatWall Street Journal 05/30/2008
IHS Energy Associates's Yergin sees shale technologies changing the energy business by 2020, and IEA misses this completely
05/22/2008
Long term forecasting is a difficult business. IEA's 2015 forecast missed the situation in 2015 completely. Yergin was right but did not see how fast this would happen with oil prices down to $50 per barrel in 2015 and prices at the pump below $2.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 12/12/2011
Energy Watchdog Warns Of Oil-Production CrunchWall Street Journal 05/22/2008
Board meetings at GM and the how the culture and style of management stalled decisions on fuel efficiency and small car development.
05/15/2008
The evolution of the old management styles and attitudes as Ford brought in outside management and Bill Ford took a new tack, and at GM where old management plodded on inexorably in the old way. Which is quite different from what Alfred Sloan had advocated in his memoirs when he insisted on discussion and debate on critical decisions in board meetings for them to be worthwhile.
Linked Articles
BusinessWeek 05/15/2008
Bill Ford on Tipping Points and Thinking SmallBusinessWeek 07/31/2008
Marchionne's transformation of Fiat, followed by the transformation at Chrysler
04/24/2008
How Marchionne accomplished the transformation at the two companies.
Linked Articles
Economist 04/24/2008
Fiat Will Hike Stake in ChryslerDetroit News 04/21/2011
Ford's Fiesta for the American market.
03/13/2008
Ford Fiesta to be launched in the USA in 2011. It will get 40mpg on the highway.
Linked Articles
Customizers ready for launch of Ford Fiesta
Detroit News 12/31/2009
One World, One Car, One NameBusinessWeek 03/13/2008
Default_Link_Name
02/01/2008
How Chinese goods are boosting prices in the USA for the first time.
Linked Articles
U.S. Import Prices Soar, Boosted by Chinese Goods
Wall Street Journal 02/15/2008
China’s Inflation Hits American Price TagsNew York Times 02/01/2008
Nokia in Emerging Markets.
01/25/2008
How Nokia stayed ahead of the market and with new competitors like Apple's Iphone and stayed ahead of the rapid changes in the cell phone market, customers needs, new ways of using the phones, and new technologies and software changing the way cellphones are used every 1-2 years.
Linked Articles
Motorola to Spin Off Handset Unit, As Icahn Waits
Wall Street Journal 02/01/2008
Nokia Earnings Jump on Emerging MarketsWall Street Journal 01/25/2008
Default_Link_Name
01/23/2008
The EU has newbiofuels law that requires that a biofuel production and use reduce emissions by 35% to meet its standards, rapeseed oil at 37% passes and corn for ethanol as in the US at 22% fails.
Linked Articles
EU Is Planning Measures To Protect Biofuels Industry
Wall Street Journal 01/23/2008
U.S. Given Poor Marks on the EnvironmentNew York Times 01/23/2008
IBM's aggressive internationalization.
01/15/2008
The aggressive internationalization plan of IBM. How its being executed and the financial results that show this in 4th quarter 2008 with 10% gain in revenues and 24% in profits.
Linked Articles
Foreign Sales Help I.B.M. to a Strong Quarter
New York Times 01/15/2008
IBM Sales, Profit Give Tech a Healthier LookWall Street Journal 01/15/2008
Rapid expansion of Starbucks 2000-2008
01/07/2008
Starbucks with 10,000 store locations in the USA and 1600 planned new stores for 2008 finally realizes that this breakneck expansion was destroying the original starbucks experience and vision as its reduced to becoming more like a fast food place.
Linked Articles
Schultz Takes Over to Try to Perk Up Starbucks
Wall Street Journal 01/08/2008
McDonald's Takes On A Weakened StarbucksWall Street Journal 01/07/2008
The increase in temporary workers in the U.S. and Japan and the consequences in higher inequality and poverty.
01/07/2008
About one third of workers in Japan, and one fourth in the U.S., are temporary workers. The consequences for Japan include the effects of lower consumer spending in the economy reducing the growth rate.
Linked Articles
The Rise of the Permanent Temp Economy
New York Times 01/26/2013
Growing Reliance on Temps Holds Back Japan's ReboundWall Street Journal 01/07/2008
How good were the U.S. Federal Reserve's stress tests of 2012?
07/16/2008
Reilly questions the leveraging aspect of the Fed's 2002 stress test results as they leave U.S. banks leveraging at between 20-30 times capital, the situation that prevailed before the crisis. Experts including Anil Kashyap at the University of Chicago pointed out how the process of deleveraging works in reverse before the collapse of Lehman in 2008- for every $1 of bank losses the deleveraging cycle reduces bank lending by $20- $30.
Linked Articles
Stressing the Bank 'Stress Tests'
Wall Street Journal 03/14/2012
How Bad Will It Get on Wall Street?BusinessWeek 07/16/2008
CarMax used SUV and truck prices for early months of 2008 show stunning declines prompting GM rethinking its entire product lineup.
06/19/2008
CarMax, a used car retailer says price declines for SUV's and pickup trucks were severe in early months of 2008 with a 25% decline. The declines were sharpest in May and early June suggesting that things could get very bad for carmakers which don't make an abrupt and dramatic shift away from these types of vehicles.
Linked Articles
GM Puts Off Truck, SUV Redesigns In New Focus
Wall Street Journal 06/19/2008
Grim CarMax News Hits Auto MakersWall Street Journal 06/19/2008
Europeans protest of fuel taxes.
05/28/2008
Europeans protes fuel taxes but public opinion especially in Germany favorsreducing fuel consumption. It requires agreement by 27 EU member states to reduce fuel taxes so this is unlikely to happen.
Linked Articles
Europeans Protest Fuel Taxes But Accept High Prices
Wall Street Journal 05/28/2008
Irate Europeans Protest the Soaring Price of GasolineNew York Times 05/30/2008
How all carmakers and Detroit automakers in particular missed what was happening in the economy and the market with dire results.
05/20/2008
Even as late as May 22, 2008 Ford pared its outlook to 14-15 million cars as reported by Jeff Bennett in the WSJ. That puts the situation in October 2008, with a 30-40% drop in sales year over year only 5 months away.
Linked Articles
Car Makers' Boom Years Now Look Like a Bubble
Wall Street Journal 05/20/2008
Ford Motor Pares OutlookWall Street Journal 05/22/2008
FDIC Bair's proposal to aid homeowners anticipating the banking and mortagage crisis.
04/30/2008
FDIC Sheila Bair seen in retrospect after her anticipation of the mortgage and credit crisis and helping prepare FDIC for it. And for the comprehensive approach she took and which later convinced people at Treasury who had earlier adopted a case by case approach not realizing how deep and far reaching this crisis would be.
Linked Articles
Agency’s Head Expects Banking’s Crisis to Worsen
New York Times 08/27/2008
Bair Proposal Seeks Government Loans To Aid HomeownersWall Street Journal 04/30/2008
Labor costs in China, Ireland, and newly emerging countries.
03/27/2008
How the foreign investment model for countries that attracted Foreign Investment with lower wages is changing and the differentials with the US are closing, Irish hourly pay higher than US hourly pay.
Linked Articles
Ireland: The End of the Miracle
BusinessWeek 03/27/2008
China's Factory BluesBusinessWeek 03/27/2008
How parttime workers are shaping the unemployment picture in the US.
03/08/2008
Just as happened in Japan and continues to this day parttime workers are shaping the USA unemployment picture as employers increasingly resort to parttime workers to cut costs. With underutilized workers the USA unemployment rate reached 12% in October 2008.
Linked Articles
Labor Data Show Pain Across Economy
Wall Street Journal 11/08/2008
More People Pushed Into Part-Time Work ForceWall Street Journal 03/08/2008
The Bush domestic agenda by 2008
01/28/2008
How the Bush Presidency lost out on the potential and the possibilities for action in domestic policy through ideological politcs and disregard for cooperation with Democrats. The influence of Secretary Paulson to reverse this during the last year as an economically risky situation unfolds.
Linked Articles
Paulson’s Deal-Making Revives Treasury’s Relevance
New York Times 01/28/2008
The Bush Who Got AwayNew York Times 01/28/2008
The decline of Motorola's mobile phone business.
01/24/2008
Nokia and Motorola how one followed up and came up with a viable strategy and the other just let things slip after the Razr a one time hit with no followup and no clear direction. Nokia set the direction and tone in the emerging markets and took the lead.
Linked Articles
Nokia Earnings Jump on Emerging Markets
Wall Street Journal 01/25/2008
Without a Hit Razr Sequel, Profit Drops for MotorolaNew York Times 01/24/2008
Foreign investment and the global recession of 2008-2009
01/20/2008
How foreign investment will soften the duration and severity of the current recession.
Linked Articles
Overseas Investors Buy Aggressively in U.S.
New York Times 01/20/2008
U.S. Warning Signs Point Toward a Deep RecessionWall Street Journal 01/21/2008
Sharp and precipitious decline in auto sales in Japan and Germany in the global financial crisis of 2008
01/08/2008
Auto sales in Japan go back to the sales level of 1972, and auto sales in Germany decline to the level in 1990. Shows the maturing western markets and how this is affecting automakers strategy, and the shift to focus more on developing countries where the market is growing rapidly but which present challenges like the need to develop lower priced cars.
Linked Articles
German Car Demand Hits New Low as Fuel Costs Rise
Wall Street Journal 01/08/2008
Auto Sales in Japan Drop to a 35-Year LowWall Street Journal 01/08/2008
How McDonalds has changed by borrowing ideas from Starbucks and from the next generation of franchisees
01/07/2008
McDonald's takes the ideas of baristas from Starbucks and gets ideas for picture based ordering, credit card payment and community event participation from younger franchisees. Along the way it is trying to change perception of the chain as not being healthy eating. A lot remains to be done to move away from the super size obsesson.
Linked Articles
McDonald's Takes On A Weakened Starbucks
Wall Street Journal 01/07/2008
'Super Size Me' Generation Takes Over at McDonald'sWall Street Journal 03/08/2012
We took a different way to help millions around the world build educated informed mindsets that affects and shapes their lives. For a future that is open, global and digital, with everyone having access to high quality information. We believe in the renewal of America, renewal of Europe, the renewal of India, the rest of Asia, Latin America and Africa. The renewal of our supply chains, health, education, infrastructure, as we rebuild our countries after the pandemic. Literacy and knowledge we believe cannot thrive and grow in a world of web bots, web crawlers, or AI. This requires human curiosity, human learning, and human imagination. We take as inspiration the saying- “One has to be free, and as broad as sky. One has to have a mind that is crystal clear, only then can truth shine in it.” Every contribution whether big or small is precious- in this crisis and ahead.
Support Lyrarc from as small as $1
Terms and Conditions | Copyright Policy | Privacy Policy | Contact Us