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The story of Lee Kun-hee who over 3 decades transformed an obscure electronics parts maker into the company Samsung is today, as a leader in smartphones and electronics. He was born in 1942, during the Japanese occupation of Korea and lived through the war years. He studied at Waseda University in Japan and George Washington University in the U.S. By the time he took on the position of CEO in 1987 from his father Samsung had grown from roots as a small fish and produce trading firm. It had then added after the war with Japan and the Korean War in the 1950's other lines of business such as sugar refining, textiles and diversified later into simple electronics such as radios and microwaves.  He was for change and once said to Samsung employees "change everything, except your wife and children." He was both mentor and inspiration at Samsung, with self-discipline and resolve to make Korean companies match their Japanese counterparts in technology and growth. He was like Konsuke Matsuhita of Panasonic in some ways- keen on learning new technologies and bringing excellence and quality to the Korean peninsula. Companies in India and other developing countries can look to the experience of South Korea in making similar transformations in South Asia and beyond. ...

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The U.S. unemployment rate shows a surprising improvement. The unemployment rate drops to 13.3% in May dropping from 14.7% in April. Employers added 2.5 million jobs, as states reopen in phases. Hiring was seen in the hospitality, construction and education sectors. This is a piece of good news suggesting that the pandemic is likely to follow a pattern of rapid decline in economic activity and rapid gain in economic activity in 2020, till it gets back to close to the original level in January before the pandemic hit the U.S.  One of the reasons for the rapid gains after steep loss in economic activity is that the errors in preparing for the pandemic led to a loss of crucial weeks before responses were made giving the very contagious virus time to spread. Yet once the response was made in mid March it was coordinated - with U.S. and India acting together, and Europe also moving together with the U.S. The economic response was unprecedented in scale with the U.S. putting in close to 1.5 trillion and the European Union and British response also about $1.5 trillion. Jobs were protected in different ways either by loans to business, or payment of wages by the government or from funds for this purpose. After some vigorous debate the reopening also was done rapidly with regions less affected, and others following soon afterwards even taking some risks so that the economy could recover. ...

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Claudia Sheinbaum's father was a biology professor at UNAM, her mother a chemical engineer. She studied physics at UNAM (Universidad Autonomo de Mexico) and did her dissertation for doctoral work comparing energy use of the US and Mexico at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Berkeley, California. She returned to the faculty of engineering at UNAM in 1995. In 2000 she was appointed energy minister in the Mexico City government by the city's Mayor Lopez Obrador.  From 2018 to 2023 she was Mayor of Mexico City and a close associate of Lopez Obrador who supported her for president in 2024. Mexico limits presidents to one six year term. This period was overshadowed by the migration crisis with the US, building of the Border Wall by Trump, the negotiation of the new trade agreement with the US and Canada, the pandemic and its impact on the poorer classes in Mexico. Obrador attacked corruption in Mexico that had become entrenched under previous parties to bring good governance. Under Obrador Mexico brought millions out of poverty. Sheinbaum's sweeping election win shows that Obrador is one of the most popular presidents in the world. Mexico has an opportunity to bring tens of millions more into the mainstream economy under Sheinbaum. As a neighbor of the US Mexico stands to benefit from a diversifying supply chain for the US that includes Mexico and India that will boost Mexico's manufacturing, create jobs and increase economic growth. ...

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This report in WSJ by Thomas, Hughes and Wise says despite the concerns about Biden he is tied with Trump at 46% in a recent Ipsos Wash Post survey of voters. Lyrarc.com's Analysis of readers comments of WSJ, NYT and Wash Post reports on Biden for the last week show that most readers support Biden and see the media overreaching and lacking balance and good judgement in reporting. This report also shows 42% of Democrats support Biden continuing his candidacy. There is clearly misinformation with 4 specific examples of gross distortion of images of the president spread online, cited in reports. A true grass roots assessment would show a large majority of Democrats support the president once the dust has cleared. Lyrarc's assessment of the President at the NATO press conference Q and A gives the president a 9 out of 10 for the sharpness and ability to handle a huge number of details and complex policy issues, and for his delivery and viewer comprehension. Biden explained complex issues in simple plain English which also stands out. On the same day India's Modi said he was glad to be welcomed by Australia when he was in Vienna, Austria, with its chancellor, correcting it immediately. No one mentioned it even though it happened twice for Modi. Media made it their headline for Biden for similar mixing up and immediate correction. Going over complex issues for 60 minutes with 9 reporters in A+ fashion- no mention at all by the Media. In Movement for Global Literacy we cited the low degree of confidence and trust in media- only 20% of the American people trust the media such as the TV news shows and the newspapers. To know the true picture go directly to the grassroots and find out in every part of the Union. Lincoln,TR, FSR and Truman all in their own way faced the twisted rhetoric of politicians and the media in their time, yet retained the confidence of Ameica. ...

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Bharat Jagdeo, vice president of Guyana tells the WSJ it wants to produce as much oil as it can quickly before renewble energy takes over. Guyana has $40 billion of Mobil projects that can add 1 million barrels a day by 2030. Non-OPEC producers US, Brazil and Guyana can boost output by 5.1 million barrels a day, OPEC+ can only increase production by 800,000 barrels a day. This means the US can help keep oil prices at levels that help India/Indonesia, Europe and the US grow.  Brazil and Guyana do not want OPEC mandated production cuts.

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The BBC looks at some of the claims made by president Trump about India's rapid progress in delivering services to the people in electricity, sanitation, roads infrastructure, cooking gas, internet connections. BBC confirms that the economy size is now 6 times that in 2000, as Mr. Trump stated on his visit to Ahmedabad. It was in terms of the total value of all goods and services in the economy or GDP at $477 billion (IMF figures) in 2000. In 2019  it is $2,940 billion.  270 million fewer people were living in poverty in 2016, this is confirmed in a UN report. Here is the list for services as checked by The BBC. 1. Providing electricity to every one of the 600,000 villages in India. By 2014 most of the villages were electrified- at 96%. It is defined as having schools, health centres and 10% of households having electricity in each village. 2. About 600 million people having access to toilets under the Clean India mission launched in 2014. 100 million new toilets were built. 3. 70 million women were given access to cooking gas. 80 million new connections were built. 4.  320 million new internet subscribers. The figure is low about 600 million total internet subscribers. 5. It is true that infrastructure building is moving quickly says the BBC. About 10,000 kms were built in 2018-19 double that in 2013-2014 under a previous administration. The Mumbai Metro is mentioned in the WSJ as a project that has made remarkable progress. A bullet train project is moving ahead with Japanese financing and technological help from Mumbai to Ahmedabad.  Access to banking accounts and direct deposit of government transfer payments to all Indians is another project. Healthcare access through health care payments directly for health care costs incurred for low income families is another more recent project to reduce the uncertainty and improve finances of poorer citizens. ...

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An extraordinary moment in history took place at Rajghat Gandhiji Memorial in New Delhi on September 10, 2023. The leaders of 20 largest nations from all over the world observed a moment of silence after devotional hymns at the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. Click on original article to pull up the larger picture and take our On the Spot Quiz on which countries were paired together on either side. On either side of Modi are Widodo (Indonesia) and Lula (Brazil), next to them either side Macron and Biden, Albanese and Sunak, EU's Michel and Leyen , Erdogan and Yeong, Fernandez and Meloni, Qiang and Kishida, Lavrov and Scholz, Sissi and Ramaphosa, Rutte and Trudeau. Can you tell which countries each pair of leaders are from? Answer below for our first On the Spot Quiz. Answer: France and US, Australia and UK, EU's pair, Turkey and South Korea, Argentina and Italy, China and Japan, Russia and Germany, Egypt and South Africa. It is an exceptionally well thought out arrangement. With Indonesia and Brazil on either side of India, you have the core of the aspiring population of 1.7 billion people more than anywhere else on the planet Earth, who think alike, act alike. And next to them are leaders of France and US, Australia and Britain, and the European Union, who are resolutely backing the shift in agenda- debt assistance, tripling renewable energy, and a new infrastructure building effort for ease of living.   ...

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A slowing economy is expected to worsen the situation for nonperforming loans at India's banks. At State Bank of India nonperforming loans are at 5.7% on total loans at June 30, 2013, increasing from 5% the prior year. Standard & Poors figures show the ratio of nonperforming loans increasing sector wide from 3.4% in March 2013 to 3.9% in March 2014 and 4.4% in March 2015.

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Old Right vs. Left arguments become redundant or outdated in the present state of aspiring young people looking for education opportunities in the private sector, and in the context of the 2018 budget with fair price for farmers, health insurance for rural poor, and better environment for industry. Efforts with GST implementation were called "biting the bullet" by finance minister Jaitley, which he said previous administrations had failed to do in taking up challenges of implementation. The picture for a growing and rapidly developing country is much more complex than the old labels, as actual results count the most.

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A meeting of the Financial Action Task Force in February gave Pakistan months to move against the money sources and assets of terrorist groups. This could lead to action against banking links with the outside world.  This financial group acts against money laundering and terror financing. It is arguing for sanctions in the event no action is taken. Pakistan's deputy interior minister says Pakistan is taking a proactive approach and banning one group, detaining members of another group named Jaish that operates in the Kashmir region.

Similar action was taken since 2002, and since then the ebb and flow of terrorist groups in Pakistan has taken place over 2 decades, with the groups also attacking internal targets in Pakistan.  In the period of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the U.S. trained and Pakistan supported jihadist groups so that the problem goes back to 1979.

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Strange as it may sound the retired coal power stations in Europe were back in operation and highly profitable during the COP26 Glasgow conference. Unknown to speakers at the conference calling stridently for complete coal phaseout instead of rapid phasedown including speakers from the European Union and from Tuvalu (population about 1500) this was happening not just in China but also in Europe. This was dictated by energy economics as coal prices have come down by half and natural gas prices have risen ten fold, and natural gas shortfall in Europe.  This report in the WSJ shows coal and lignite plants making huge profits for electricity companies in Europe. As a result the calls for phaseout were seen as hollow by China and India in the last days of the conference leading to the language change in the final agreement to "phasedown of fossil fuels." Natural gas producing power stations are losing 2.26 euros for every megawatt hour, compared to 57 euros per magawatt hour for coal powered power plants, 4 times as high as the previous highest levels in 2017, as reported in the WSJ. Estimates are for coal power stations to be more than gas rivals till 2023. Germany says WSJ still has highest level of addiction to coal and lignite. It generated 40 gigawatts of electricity from coal and lignite in September and October, the highest for these 2 months since 2018, Poland is doing the same exporting its coal based power to the rest of Europe. In the same way coal power plants that were idled are back producing electricity in Spain, Portugal and in UK home of the COP26 Glasgow conference.   ...

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The U.S. Congress passed free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama, in October 2011. The deals are expected to increase U.S. exports by $13 billion, including $11 billion to S. Korea.

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Germany's growth rate for GDP in 2016 was 1.9% compared to 2015. This is the highest growth rate in half a decade, and better than 2015 when the growth in GDP was 1.7%. Fiscal surplus was 0.6% of GDP in 2016. Germany's Economics and Technology Ministry says the economy is improving because of the positive labor situation, rising incomes and consumer spending. Real estate boom is also helping growth, and also the state spending including on refugees accomodation. Exports have surged and the economy has recovered from the Brexit effect. Exports surged to 1.1 trillion euros in 11 months of 2016.

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China after American and European offshoring of supply chain and manufacturing over three decades is going through a rapid reversal. People to people contacts are also falling off a precipice as it were, showing how badly structured efforts by business focused on profit and not people to people fail miserably, hurting the long term prospect of peaceful cooperation. Foreign Investment that was $100 billion in the first quarter of 2022 is now $20 billion. Tourism down by about 80%. At Zhangjiajie National Park goes from half a million foreign tourists to 50,000 last year. It is typical of this staggering change.  People are not going from America and Europe to China unless they have to. It shows the complete failure of a purely business relationship such as offshoring manufacturing when it hurts workers and families in America and Europe, who turn against it leading to a free fall in relations. American and European business and the governments allied with it failed in this sense to build a world of better interpersonal relations between Asia and the western world. China's experience with industrialization and modernization begun in 1990 is now a cautionary tale for other regions such as India and the Middle East that are planning their own modernization. Much of it happened less from a people to people relationship than from an effort by US business to seize the opening of China after Mao's revolution to offshore American manufacturing as if realizing a new opportunity without understanding its long term consequences for the American people. European business followed American business in this offshoring. It damaged the basic structure of the American and EU peoples based on locally based supply chains and manufacturing at home needed for strong healthy communities, leading to this situation today. The rancor and deeply seated discontent all across America and Europe from communities losing factories and the jobs and wealth coming from it from offshoring by business interests has created this situation.  ...

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A stronger U.S. economy, gradual upswing in Europe and Japan, makes the stock market downturn in Jan. 2016 of a completely different nature than the one in 2008. Problems are seen in some emerging markets, including China. Oil price decline helps India and oil importing countries.

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US Representative Katherine Tai sets out the policy of the Biden administration on trade with China. The policy is simply to keep Trump administration policy on tariffs in place and seek dialogue with China. This report in the WSJ explains what this means.  The Biden administration is preparing a long term policy to restore American leadership in the world in technology, trade and industry. This means as in semiconductors providing $52 billion to assist US firms to make semiconductors at home. The US will build a new supply chain that is resilient and brings more of the critical technologies in manufacturing back to the US. Where Mr. Trump was the initiator of a new policy on trade but lacked a long term vision Mr Biden is giving the Trump policies new vigor and shape and a long term vision of belief in America's role in the world. He is doing this by building on America's key strength - its people. The only way to do this is to invest massively after three decades of disinvestment under previous administrations. This comes in the shape of the $3.5 trillion plan for infrastructure and the Families and Workers Plan. Biden is also building stronger relationships with allies Australia, Britain, Japan, India, and Germany for trade, supply chain, and defense.   ...

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Adriana Kugler a Labor economist at Georgetown is president Biden's nominee for the Federal Reserve Board. In 2021 she was nominated as Executive Director at the World Bank. Her work is on how labor and social policies can improve the lives of working people, help create jobs, and help the less well off get education and training. Asked about Biden nominating labor economists to top jobs she says-"This is the key issue of our time. This is what we need to fix." As the first Latina in this position at the World Bank, Kugler who is a Colombian-American says, "they view me differently," and have a sense of being heard by someone who understands what it is like ot grow up in a developing country.

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For an institution the size of the World Bank at a time when most of the developing world is suffering from debt burden and climate change, the skepticism on climate change of its head David Malpass was coming under heavy criticism from the Biden White House. He was appointed by president Trump in 2019. He resigned today. 

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Additional funding of $100 billion is proposed for the World Bank to meet the needs of Africa, and other countries in Latin America and Asia. These needs are for climate change investments, renewable energy, and for health and education that has suffered as debt repayments have increased with higher interest rates, putting 52 countries near default on debt. The US with 16% of the shares in World Bank would contribute $3.2 billion for this to happen.

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Retired Union Health Secretary Sujatha Rao answers questions about the role of the elected government in Delhi and the role of the Lieutenant Governor in running the administration. Rao says that Delhi as the national capital, should have been designated like Chandigarh as a Union Territory without a legislature. The current structure gives the elected government insufficient powers to fulfill campaign promises.

The IAS is still relevans Rao says as is evident in India's politics so that day to day running of the administration can always be carried out when there is no stable government, as in Tamilnadu today. This is the role Sardar Patel envisioned for the IAS.

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Pakistan has always suffered from tax collection that is some of the poorest in the world. This leaves little money for badly needed infrastructure and roads. At a time when countries such as Indonesia and India are rapidly building roads and infrastructure, Pakistan depends on projects and financing almost entirely from China.  This means dependence on foreign debt financing such as that of the $2 billion Orange Line, Pakistan's first Metro line in Lahore. This is one of the first projects one of $16 billion in projects started from a planned $62 billion under China's Belt and Road Initiative. The problem is that taking on so much debt leaves Pakistan dependent on Chinese financing, with increased debt payments leading to a debt crisis. External debt will double to over $100 billion from a little over $50 billion in 2013, according to the IMF, reaching 30% of GDP. External financing needs have doubled from 4% of GDP or about $10 billion in 2013-2015 period doubling to over $20 billion and 8% of GDP. A steep increase in debt in a space of only 3 years. Pakistan faces problems similar to that faced by other countries including Ceylon, Burma. Pakistan has fallen behind on debt payments for electricity projects, because of problems getting Pakistanis to pay electric bills. Other problems are that the projects use Chinese workers and Chinese contractors so that they do not generate jobs the way projects would normally generate domestic jobs and growth including pushing domestic firms up the experience and knowledge curve in construction and technology. The opaqueness of the deals lead to a lack of required transparency. The projects also lack the almost zero interest financing from Japan of projects such as the first bullet train in India on Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor because of the lack of negotiating leverage and other problems.  By early fall 2018 Pakistan is expected to seek IMF financing, which would lead to conditions set by the IMF on how much it can borrow and spend under the Belt and Road Initiative, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC. This means effectively that the Wst will bail out a country after investments under the Belt and Road Initiative. ...