LyrArc Article Gist
This report in the Mint suggests that there is strong economic growth in India today yet more needs to be done to broaden the economic recovery to reach all segments of the population. Pent-up demand is leading to economic spending for higher income segments of the population, yet sales of two wheelers for the moderate and lower income segments as shown in graphs here have fallen badly.

The next step is for a broad based recovery as India expands its vaccination drive. There is no room for relaxation of the vaccination drive as prime minister Modi pointed out to lagging district heads in a national virtual meeting on the same day that he returned from COP26 Glasgow. So much has happened in 2021 with the surge in coronavirus in India in the middle of the year, and the economic rebound is in its early stages requiring vigilant and careful attention from industry and government in the months ahead through 2022.

LyrArc Article Gist
Jim Tankersley of the NYT is the author of the book- The Riches of This Land- The Untold, True Story of America's Middle Class. He is NYT's White House Correspondent with a focus on economic policy, and has written for more than a decade on the decline in opportunity for American workers. Here he tells readers why president Biden's plan to invest in human capital as well as the tangible capital of infrastructure building is so badly needed in America today. Human capital is found in education of children and college students, in support to women to get back into the workforce during this pandemic to bring their skills and talent to the workforce. This means financing education pre K through college, and paid leave for caregivers who are mostly women. Also part of the plan is investment in a rapid transition out of this period of dependence on fossil fuels and in the nation's scientific and technological capacity to come up with new solutions.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The UK is open to American proposals for a global minimum tax rate given that it includes a fairer split of the taxes from US tech companies. Discussions are taking place under the umbrella of the OECD, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. This is intended to prevent tax escape by large companies which choose the lowest tax jurisdictions that are set up just for that purpose. The result has been that Europe and the US have suffered from decades of underinvestment and neglect of essential infrastructure and weakened the health and education systems leaving essentials of quality of living underfunded in cities and towns across Europe and the US. The pandemic has brought the lesson home in many ways. The UK has already increased the corporate tax rate to 25% in March to help pay for pandemic related help packages. The US Biden administration has proposed a 28% tax rate, and Treasury Secretary Yellen has suggested 21% as the minimum corporate tax rate. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The bicentenary of Napoleon is remembered in 2021 in France and the French speaking world.  Napoleon helped defend the French revolutionary ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, in the period 1789 to 1799 including the efforts of the French Army in Italy and other countries freeing people from feudal powers. In the period that followed Napoleon ruled France 1799-1812 during which he introduced new ideas of the Civil Code and revolutionary France to countries in different parts of the world. It was in Britain and the Iberian Peninsula that his policies faltered and his regime was seen as tyrannical after the early years.  George Washington was a contemporary of Napoleon and brought both these ideals that the French Revolution cherished to the American colonies, and yet did not seek anything beyond this-as he said the "approbation of good and virtuous people is the limit of my ambition." The British education of that time he received may have made a difference. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Gary Starkweather, son of a dairy farmer in Lansing, Michigan, invented the laser printer in 1977 with the Xerox 9700.  He did this while working for Xerox Corporation, with his idea that optical technology could be used to provide pulses of laser striking a photosensitive drum, with toner attaching to the spots touched by light, the toner then fusing to the paper. His initial idea was rejected by his bosses at Xerox so he got a transfer to the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center where he worked on developing the first laser printer and then better laser printers. Interesting and useful are his thoughts on productivity and use of technology. His views were that it was not a good thing having people pressured working from the 40 hour week to the sixty hour week. He also disapproved of the pressure for people to stay digitally connected all the time. For him the concern about the future of information technology was- can I still be human in the process. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
How the need for better power management for mobile, PC and Cloud helped ARM  Holdings compete effectively with much larger Intel Corporation. This report tells the story of the rise of ARM as a dominant supplier of chips for mobile phones. Apple is looking at "performance per watt" as a key parameter in selection of chips. This comes at a time when global cloud computing makes up 1% of global electricity use. Cambridge UK based company Arm Holdings licenses its microchips to 500 companies. Arm has 90% of the market for small processors going into smartphones and tablets, laptops. Intel does not license its microchip designs for them to build their own versions except for AMD and Via Technologies. Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm and Nvidia pay Arm for the license and make variants customized for them with their own engineers.  but all compatible with Arm's ecosystem and "instruction set (which is the instructions used for software to talk to hardware). ...

LyrArc Article Gist
China and Nepal differ on the exact height of Mount Everest. Nepal says is measurement shows it at 29029 feet or 8848 metres above sea level. China calculates it to be 8844.3 metres. Nepal uses as sea level the Bay of Bengal, China uses the Yellow Sea. It varies whether the rock base is used or the variable level of snow and ice at the top. There is more climbing activity on the Nepal side than the Chinese Tibetan side. The mountain is always moving even if it is minutely. Seismic activity has raised it 5 metres. Till 1840 Kanchenjunga was considered the highest till the British surveyed the mountain. In 1856 Andrew Waugh, Surveyor General of India stated that the peak 15 of Everest was 29002 feet or 8840 metres high. In 1865 the mountain was named after Sir Colonel George Everest a fellow surveyor in the British Army. In 1955 India declared the current height given by Nepal. The Chinese occupation of Tibet by 1956 made China a neighbor of Nepal and for Mount Everest. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This Times leading article on UK government's coronavirus policy says it is inconsistent, and a muddled effort just as the third wave is accelerating. It asks the public to be cautious when going outside and still opens nightclubs with covid passports not required till the end of September. By August cases could reach 100,000 say experts so that the nightclub and bars reopening can only fuel the rise in cases. The British government must be aware that the Netherlands opened nightclubs and bars in June and this led to a sudden jump in cases with 40% of new cases coming from nightclubs.  The policy is undermining public confidence. It is doing this at the same time as it is asking people to self isolate for 10 days. The policy also does not require covid vaccination pass for all events and for shops and restaurants as is being done in France and in other countries on a regional basis as in Germany. 

 

LyrArc Article Gist
The WSJ covers men's falling enrollment in colleges, with a sharp drop in community college enrollment during the pandemic, in a recent report. The NYT look at this issue from the perspective of women pointing out that women have historically experienced a disadvantage. Women are shown to be struggling in lower paid professions, and underrepresented in higher income fields and positions. Seen from this perspective what is seen as a calamity for men is also not happening in a way that is providing visible advantage for women. Women stayed home more than men during the pandemic and were more likely to quit work during the coronavirus pandemic to take care of children when schools were closed. This was happening not just in the US, but also in Europe. The result is that both men and women have suffered setbacks during the pandemic. Biden's families and workers plan investment in America comes at a time of severe stress for families and workers. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Indian foreiign minister S Jaishankar meets with his counterpart Wang Yi in Dushnabe, Uzbekistan, to restore peace in border region of Ladakh after the violent clash in 2020. Jaishankar tells China not to view ties with India through "the lens of a third country." China agrees. Jaishankar was actively involved in setting up cultural and other Sino-Indian contacts in Chinese cities when he was Indian ambassador to China. Jaishankar also tells China that India China relations set the tone for peace in Asia. China says it agrees with this idea. India's strong response to China's border infrastructure building and its moving forces close to the border line of control, has led to China reconsidering its policy following deteriorating relations with Australia, US and UK. China now sees that it has little to gain with worsening India relations and border issues or clashes, when the US and UK, Australia, are moving forces into the Indo-Pacific region and in the seas around Taiwan. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Olaf Scolz, Germany's Vice Chancellor and Minister of Finance, since 2018. He  wants to counter the myth that individual success is always self-made. As candidate for the Social Democrats he is the leading candidate to succeed Merkel. Scolz believes in genuine "respect." If elected chancellor he will take Germany in a new direction after the Merkel years marked by neglect of infrastructure, increased division among Germans and fragmentation of parties, addressing euro currency issues left behind by her mentor CDU chancellor Helmut Kohl, poor migrant policy that divided German opinion, lack of social mobility for working class Germans, and failing families in childcare, other services.  Biden in the US, Scolz in the European Union, could offer an opportunity for combining the strength of Europe and the US in tackling the problems the world faces today- restructuring supply chains, reducing divisions sown through neglect of families and the working class, climate change, competing with an assertive China using western technology and resources. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A supply chain crisis with shortages of goods is affecting all economies in the world. The price of oil has increased to $80 and supply chain shortages are affecting most industries. Power shortages in China lead to cutbacks in consumption for industry and some large cities not having essential  electricity for traffic lights. Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted supply chain factories in Vietnam and Malaysia because of lockdowns. Once a product is manufactured it still has to be shipped from far flung places in today's cumbersome and costly supply chain. Cost of shipping is up 3 times according to one shipping index in one year. Prices to ship from China to Rotterdam in Netherlands is up 6 times in one year. Global supply chains at such high cost of shipping means that companies will look to invest in manufacturing at home so that they do not pay high shipping costs and also create jobs at home, and are able to build critical experience in manufacturing technology. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
PM Modi describes situation of Indian Rail from Himalayas to Ceylon after 1947. The budget is now six times that in 2014. Action was taken to include Rail India under government of India's budget so that the government could directly invest in modernization of Indian Rail as top priority. Parts of northeast were not included in Indian Rail. Today the entire country is integrated in a modern network for the 21st century with Vande Bharat high speed trains. It opens possibilities of setting up these rail networks in other parts of Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe with new technology trains at a fraction of the cost. This was the vision of John F. Kennedy in his New Frontier of the vast potential of India when he told the US Senate on March 25, 1958- "India today represents as great a hope, as commanding a challenge as Western Europe did in 1947- and our people are still, I am confident equal to the effort."   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
France has renewable energy potential for wind farms that is similar to Britain with its long coastline. The Saint Nazaire wind farm with 80 turbines opens on the Atlantic coast with president Macron saying it is time to go twice as fast as other countries in Europe. France gets only 7% of its energy from wind compared to 22% for the UK, 23% for Germany and 44% for Denmark.  Saint Naziare wind farm took 10 years after protests from environmentalists, fishermen and other groups. France is looking at diversifying its energy capabilities so that it is not too dependent on nuclear energy. Macron says- "Our neighbors are going twice as fast. we have to get rid of the legal disputes and the delaying tactics."

Three wind farms will come on stream in months in Normandy and Brittany. A floating wind farm is proposed for the Mediterranean. Macron wants to see more nuclear reactors. He also says the key to better energy supply is diversification.

LyrArc Article Gist
What is the best way to get ahead in a company? New studies show that the most important thing to do is to pick the right company for mobility and advancement, getting further education and skills, and for job stability. The studies shown here were done by the Burning Glass Institute in Philadelphia and the Harvard Project on Managing the Future of Work, the Schultz Family Foundation. The study looked at workers in 200 companies over a 5 year period to understand what helps workers build good careers. Companies that rank high for employee retention and pay are Adobe, Alphabet, Boeing, Microsoft. Companies promoting workers without a college degree are Southwest Airlines, AT&T, American Express, CISCO. For launchpads to further mobility Apple and AT&T do well. The main thing is that a person gets into the right company which has big consequences yet the workers starting out they don't have the visibility to make an educated choice, says an expert who did the study.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
PM Modi's address to the Law Conference in October 2022. Modi talks about the importance of laws in society playing a constructive role to promote ease of living, ease of justice, and innovation. Laws from the British times are still on our books, says Modi. About 1500 laws that were outdated have been scrapped and 23,000 compliances that were not needed and a burden on people were scrapped by his administration, says Modi. These laws and compliances had become a "loko ka dabai" a burden on society.  In Gujarat delays in justice were lessened by the introduction of evening courts. During Covid virtual hearings have facilitated the work of judges and made it possible to continue the work of the courts during the pandemic. It is imperative, says Modi, that the courts and the law officials keep this idea of ease of justice and ease of living in mind as they tackle the work of implementing the law, so that respect for the law is enhanced. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This report in The Times shows how Africa is tackling malaria by using modern methods such as drones. Drones are used in Ghana to send medicine to remote parts of the country. The rollout of the world's first malaria vaccine is taking place in Malawi, Ghana and Kenya. The Glaxo developed vaccine requires 4 doses over 18 months. Gavi is a partnership that brings UNICEF and WHO in partnership with private companies to  buy vaccines in bulk and distribute them where it is not affordable. Gavi supported 66 million vaccines in 2018 for children, yet about 20 million children in Nigeria, Congo and other parts of Africa lacked routine immunizations in 2018. UPS and health service workers are joining in the effort for administering this vaccine correctly.  Software that tracks the taking of the vaccines by children is essential for success and this is being implemented with Ghanian authorites. This report shows how it is done in Dateng, Ghana, a town of 800 people 3 hour drive from Accra.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
India moves forward with ports and maritime development with projects worth 38,000 crores or $4.75 billion including Mangaluru Port Authority and refinery, petrochemical industries. Priority is being place in port connectivity and development for 150 projects on a 7500 kilometres coastline. Ports are important for logistics and exports, a key priority for linking India to the new supply chain being built by the US and EU, which would link India to manufacturing supply chain in Vietnam, Japan and other countries. Natural gas brought in through ports would enhance green development to reduce climate change emissions. India's coastline of 7500 kms compares with 20,000 for the US, 25,000 for Australia and 14,000 for China. India's coastline is about that of Brazil and a bit less than Mexico. New Zealand with a coastline of 15,000 has more coastline than China or India showing how the Pacific ocean coastlines are of a magnitude higher. Japan's is similar to Australia stretching across the Pacific. Canada has the largest coastline in the world. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Abdulrazak Gurnah who left Zanzibar for England in the 1960's was given the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2021 for his "compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee caught between cultures and continents." In his acceptance speech Gurnah says in his writings he engaged in a refusal to accept the attitudes, the stereotypes and disdain towards people of British colonies that he met daily. He says that after a prolonged period of poverty and alienation in England it became clear to him that there was something he needed to say. Gurnah says he came to the "deeply unsettling realization that a new simpler history was being constructed, transforming, even obliterating what had happened." Writing he said was to show "what can be otherwise, what it is that the hard domineering eye cannot see, what makes people apparently small in stature feel assured about themselves, regardless of the disdain of others." ...

LyrArc Article Gist
At the New Year's eve service on National Day of Prayer January 1, 1942 president Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill worshipped together at Christchurch Episcopal in Alexandria, Virginia. The Reverend Wells said on this day 82 years ago. The idea that we could not prevail with military strength alone but with deep humility depend on God's help was one of the great strengths of Franklin Roosevelt. That it says much to the present, to the divisions of the present and lack of humility cannot be overstated.

"Our president has appointed this first day of 1942 as a Day of Prayer, for asking forgiveness for our shortcomings of the past, power for the present task of achieving victory... but spiritually we are in bad shape. We must have a deep spiritual unity that will make us ready to sacrifice our material possessions and even life itself for the moral principles for which this war is being fought." 

LyrArc Article Gist
Jaishankar  of India and Blinken of the US join to say the world should not be divided into political blocs and that there is room for working together in different groupings such as the Quad, in the Indo-Pacific economic cooperation, as two largest democracies, and for the rule of law, open navigation in the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific. Both agree that polical complexity should not be reduced into black and white and simplified. For India Jaishankar says it means we are in a certain location in the world, there is history, our experience is different, all this shapes how we see the world. India gives voice to the aspirations of over 2 billion people in India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and other countries. It created the G20 out of the G7 nations.

Baerbock of Germany adds that Europe has to accept that in the past it when it backed colonialism based on attitudes at the time, when it supported Apartheid in Africa, it had made mistakes.

LyrArc Article Gist
UBS buys Credit Suisse for $3 billion when the tangible book value of Credit Suisse was $45 billion. Tangible book value means little says this report in the WSJ. More significant for investors was that Credit Suisse was losing billions each year and its governance, its investment banking activities were seen negatively. It either had to stop the losses or shrink quickly. Another lesson is that digital banking makes it easier to withdraw deposits and digital communication magnifies the damage. Bonds can be risker than stocks in this situation. Tier One capital ratios also mean little in this situation as both UBS and Credit Suisse had capital ratios of about 14.2. 

What is notable is that even the $3 billion UBS paid was seen as risky so that the Swiss government had to step in with a guarantee that it would provide $9 billion to cover losses after the first $5 billion in losses were taken by UBS, after that the losses would be split between the two.

LyrArc Article Gist
Pope Francis recalls his days as a boy playing soccer on the streets outside his home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a rag ball because they did not always have a leather ball. "There was not always someone with a leather ball so we played with a ball made of rags, a pelota de trapo." Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio to Italian immigrants in Argentina. He calls it a great school of life for him being the goalie and having to take all the shots taken at him. His leadership has shown concern for the marginalized and the poor through the repeated economic crises and the current pandemic. In his talks with world leaders including Trump, Biden, and recently Modi of India he has shown the importance of taking good care of the environment, the downtrodden and the marginalized in society. 

Some of the influences in his life come from his father, an accountant from Asti in northwest Italy, who loved reading to the children and had a library.

LyrArc Article Gist
A states attorney generals lawsuit filed against Google states Google operates a monopoly that harms advertisers and publishers by lowering sales of publishers and charging inflated prices to ad buyers. Cases will go on trial in 2023. The Justice Department and 35 states attorney generals have a separate antitrust lawsuit against Google's search services. Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are pushing forward a bill that would treat Google search engine like a railroad operator making it illegal for it to give an unfair advantage to Google products and charge inflated prices by distorting the markets. This report in WSJ shows the way Google ran a series of programs named Project Bernanke, Reserve Price Optimization and Dynamic Revenue Share, to distort the normal operation of markets so that Google obtained an unfair price advantage. Bernanke program was operated between 2010 and 2019. In some cases the lawsuit says publisher revenue was reduced by 40%, according to internal company communications quoted in the complaint, as shown in this WSJ report. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Heather Stewart and Jessica Elgot ask if Johnson's Conservative party can deliver for Britain, can deliver for women, can deliver for climate change, can deliver for health, education and infrastructure, can deliver for workers dignity, can deliver for families and children, by looking at one of its leaders. He looks at the polished image of Rishi Sunak after his Stanford days. This Guardian report says Treasury insiders see this Tory leader with respect rather than warmth, with some saying that the smooth veneer or polished tech-bro image is hard to penetrate. In a separate piece Ian Jack looks at Jacob Rees-Mogg in The Guardian in January 2022. This comes as Johnson's leadership is challenged because of Christmas partying at a time when the Queen was alone in Westminster Abbey mourning for Prince Philip to follow Covid-19 protocol. What kind of leadership Britain needs for the future after the pandemic is the question put forward by these writers in The Guardian. ...