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Corporate America's choices between corporate buybacks and increasing stagnant wages/making capital investments in 2018
03/01/2018
Linked Articles
Boom in Share Buybacks Renews Question of Who Wins From Tax Cuts
WSJ 03/01/2018
Opinion | Corporate America Is Suppressing Wages for Many WorkersThe New York Times 02/28/2018
Rex Tillerson of ExxonMobil as Secretary of State and U.S. relations with Russia
12/15/2016
Linked Articles
Rex Tillerson’s Company, Exxon, Has Billions at Stake Over Sanctions on Russia
The New York Times 12/13/2016
Under Rex Tillerson, Exxon Mobil Forged Its Own Path AbroadThe New York Times 12/13/2016
Why initiating Brexit by invoking the Lisbon Treaty's Article 50 could go into 2017, or even past 2020 into new general elections- (4) the elections in France and Germany in 2017, and chancellor Merkel likely to link granting benefits of the single market to free movement within the European Union
08/16/2016
Chancellor Merkel has clearly stated that she sees the benefits of a single market going along with the idea of free movement within the European Union. With elections in 2017 and after not giving into Eastern European states in 2016, Merkel is likely to again remind Germany and France of the the true spirit in which the founders setup the European Union.
Linked Articles
Wait and see: Theresa May is in no hurry on Brexit | Europe | DW.COM | 15.08.2016
DW.COM 08/15/2016
EU Governments Gird for Steely New British LeaderWSJ 07/12/2016
VW's top management and the diesel emissions scandal
07/22/2016
Lawsuits filed against VW by state attorney generals in the U.S. say knowledge of the diesel emissions cheating went all the way to top management..
Linked Articles
Volkswagen Scandal Reaches All the Way to the Top, Lawsuits Say
The New York Times 07/19/2016
VW Emissions Cheating Ran Deep and Wide, State AllegesWSJ 07/19/2016
Donald Trump's proposal for 45% tariff on China's exports to the U.S.- how a policy of bringing jobs home could lead to the loss of 1 million U.S. jobs
03/08/2016
By damaging the international trading system including with allies such a Canada, Britain, France and Germany, the result of a downward spiral through higher tariffs in other countries, could end up costing the U.S. 1 million jobs. Under such a system the U.S. would lose many of the advantages of its booming tech sector, its tech driven global advantages in many industries, without signifcant gains in low cost imports such as clothing which would simply migrate to other countries such as India. The problem of worker wage stagnation in the U.S., and loss of jobs in certain sectors, is very real, but this is the wrong way to tackle the problem. China is already moving towards a consumer driven economy. Economists show that trade with Mexico would be seriously hurt both ways, creating more pressure of migrants at the border under such proposals as a 45% tariff and its indirect effect on Mexico, when the actual fact is that net migration from Mexico is the lowest it has ben in decades. Politics can do strange things as when two senators Smoot and Hawley from agricultural states Utah and Oregon, at the head of important committees in the U.S. Congress pushed and passed legislation for a 60% tariff in 1930 for the industrial sector they had no idea about. When Smoot and Hawley lost reelection in 1932 they left behind a lot of damage, especially for the farmers and workers they thought they were fighting for.
Linked Articles
How Trump’s Hard Line on Trade Could Backfire
Wall Street Journal 03/25/2016
Can Trump Start a Trade War?Wall Street Journal 03/08/2016
The problems threatening the white working class in America and the rise of cultural illiberalism
11/12/2015
Experts point to the economic anxieties of the white working class in America, a broad group that has increasingly fallen behind as technology advances in the 21st century with globalization and mobile capital, causing serious social fissures in society. One of the dangers is to the ideas of liberal society itself with the rise of cultural illiberalism, such as that presented by the Trump candidacy for president in 2016, and Marie Le Pen's National Front in France, as liberal elites in centre right and centre left lose their hold on working class voters.
Linked Articles
The Bleak Reality Driving Trump’s Rise
Wall Street Journal 12/16/2015
The missing working class - The Washington PostWashington Post 11/12/2015
China's efforts to transition to a new model for development in 2016-2017, based on consumers and not on heavy state spending
08/25/2015
Xi-Jinping and Li Keqiang face a challenge and choices not unlike the one facing Deng Xiaoping in the 1980's- now the challenge is how to move China beyond the middle income status it has achieved with all its accompanying problems of environmental destruction, corruption and aging population.
Linked Articles
Economist 01/23/2016
Political Risks May Foil Economic Reform in ChinaNew York Times 08/25/2015
Judge Barbier's decision that BP acted recklessly and the final 2015 settlement with states and the U.S. government for $18.7 billion on the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Spill
07/03/2015
Linked Articles
BP Faces Up to $13.7 Billion in Fines in Deepwater Gulf Spill Case
Wall Street Journal 07/03/2015
BP Agrees to Pay $18.7 Billion to Settle Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill ClaimsWall Street Journal 07/03/2015
U.S. shale oil producers confounding Saudi price strategy- (1) 77 U.S. companies acting like tech startups with access to capital markets
03/14/2015
Linked Articles
OPEC’s Problem: There Is No Minister of Shale
Wall Street Journal 06/03/2015
U.S. Producers Ready New Oil WaveWall Street Journal 03/14/2015
U.S. president Obama's 2015 State of the Union address- a disconnect with Congress and programs that have no prospect of being implemented
01/20/2015
Linked Articles
Bold Call to Action in Obama’s State of the Union, Even if No Action Is Likely
New York Times 01/20/2015
In State of the Union, Obama Makes Middle-Class PitchWall Street Journal 01/21/2015
German chancellor Merkel and U.S. president Obama on an increasing NATO presence in the Baltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
08/23/2014
Linked Articles
Obama Pledges NATO Backing for Baltic Allies
Wall Street Journal 09/03/2014
Merkel Seeks to Defuse Ukraine Crisis as Convoy Returns to RussiaWall Street Journal 08/23/2014
Obama's second term- (5) the U.S. president's foreign policy failures in Syria and Iraq seen up close by Clinton and Panetta
08/11/2014
A Defense Secretary and Secretary of State in the Obama administration describe up close president Obama's failure to act at key moments in the crisis in Iraq and Syria. This has badly damaged the U.S. credibility and what it stands for in the Middle East and the rest of the world.
Linked Articles
A Rift in Worldviews Is Exposed as Clinton Faults Obama on Policy
New York Times 08/11/2014
Former Defense Chief Panetta Criticizes Obama in New MemoirWall Street Journal 10/07/2014
The other side of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) Sunni extremist militia- a large money raising organization offering high salaries in a region with frustrated unemployed youth
06/11/2014
NYT indepth accounts of the ISIS and its money raising organization.
Linked Articles
Sunni Fighters Gain as They Battle 2 Governments, and Other Rebels
New York Times 06/11/2014
Iraq Insurgents Reaping Wealth as They AdvanceNew York Times 06/20/2014
Kristof and Heutteman on Republican Senators Collins, Capito, Murkowski and president Trump- a failure to listen to people affected in the home districts
07/20/2017
Linked Articles
Opinion | If Dr. Trump Were Your Surgeon ...
The New York Times 07/20/2017
The 3 Republicans Who Doomed a Senate Repeal of the Health LawThe New York Times 07/18/2017
Chancellor Merkel and listening to German public opinion reflected in state elections of 2016
09/20/2016
Here we argue that contrary to general media coverage in the NYT, WSJ, Economist, and German media, a year from now Merkel may be seen more positively. This is because Merkel has always listened to public opinion carefully, and has told the German public frankly what happened- that she and the German government were caught unprepared in the refugee crisis that came up in summer 2015.
Linked Articles
German politics is turning into a six-party system
The Economist 09/19/2016
Opinion: Berlin, capital of mediocrity | Opinion | DW.COM | 19.09.2016DW.COM 09/19/2016
Donald Trump's economic advisory team- executives from the finance industry and the real estate industry with strong connections to Wall Street
08/05/2016
Linked Articles
Trump Announces Economic Policy Advisory Team
WSJ 08/05/2016
Donald Trump’s new team of billionaire advisers could threaten his populist messageWashington Post 08/05/2016
The Trump campaign organizational and advertising effort financing falling way behind Hillary Clinton in April 2016, and behind Mitt Romney at this stage in April 2016
04/20/2016
Linked Articles
Trump’s Campaign Spending on the Rise
Wall Street Journal 04/22/2016
Group Backing Hillary Clinton Begins Reserving $125 Million in Ads for the FallNew York Times 04/20/2016
China's currency, the yuan, and the central bank PBOC's effort to limit depreciation of the currency and capital outflows in 2016-2017
01/15/2016
Linked Articles
China’s Jittery Savers Could Pose Capital-Flight Threat
Wall Street Journal 01/15/2016
Confused by China’s Yuan? It’s IntentionalWall Street Journal 01/15/2016
2016 U.S. presidential candidate Jeb Bush's Tax Plan that spells out details, and takes a shot at 4% growth for restoring lost social and economic mobility in the U.S.
09/09/2015
The efforts to wrestle with the deficit in 2011-2012 led to a vigorous debate on changing the tax code, yet political leaders failed to take up new ideas or spell out the details. Jeb Bush, with advisors Martin Feldstein and Kevin Warsh, takes the unconventional approach of putting in the details, and taking up ideas such as the idea of limiting itemized deductions to 2% of adjusted gross income proposed by Feldstein in that debate. On the $2.1 trillion in income held overseas by U.S. companies Bush proposes 8.75% tax paid over 10 years. On business investment he proposes capital investment be allowed to be deducted in full immediately. It is based on the idea that business investment can drive a vigorous recovery, that workers bear 50% of the burden of higer taxes through sluggish wage growth. It levels the playing field for debt and equity capital, removing "carried interest" provision, as a lesson from the excessive leverage taken by financial institutions in the past.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/10/2015
Jeb Bush Tax Plan Makes Forays Into PopulismNew York Times 09/09/2015
Hillary Clinton's plan to change the way the capital gains tax works to encourage long term investors
07/27/2015
Under Hillary Clinton's plan the lower rates for capital gains tax would be introduced with a sliding scale at the highest tax bracket of 39.6%, with the rate gradually declining in year 4, and the rate not reaching the current rate of 23.6% (20% plus a 3.6% surcharge) till year 6 following the investment. Clinton calls it a way to restrain "quarterly capitalism," disincentivize "cut and run shareholders," and incentivize investors "to build companies." One unintended effect of this could also be the shift away from investments that do not support improving productivity levels, to investments that have a longer horizon and have a material effect on productivity growth. Especially considering the low productivity growth improvements in the last decade, as productivity growth will be needed to break out of a period of stagnant wages.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 07/29/2015
Hillary Clinton Aim Is to Thwart Quick Buck on Wall StreetNew York Times 07/27/2015
Hard realities- what a Greek exit from the eurozone in 2015 could do for Greece and for the European Union
04/29/2015
The Economist says Greece could end up becoming a failed state at the doorstep of the European Union. With the major parties losing support extreme parties on the right and left would increase support. The economy of Greece would suffer serious damage. As prices have declined by 16% with no surge in exports, a devaluation of the drachma would not be of much help. Argentina went through a period of severe hardship following the default on the currency. Greece, says the Economist, may be engaging in a strategy to extract concessions from the EU by waiting till the last minute. Yet this strategy has its drawbacks because of the damage to Greece's economy in the process, with the slight growth under the Samaras administration turning into a recession with the 6 months of the Syriza government in 2015.
Linked Articles
What Greece Faces if It Defaults
New York Times 04/29/2015
My big fat Greek divorceEconomist 06/20/2015
What Greece won in the negotiations and what Greece lost in the failure of talks with the EU, capital controls, closing of banks and the referendum on July 5, 2015
02/27/2015
Major concessions were won by Greece on the most important issues of the surplus, and the size of the public sector with high unemployment. Compromise was being reached on the value added taxes and age for getting pensions, next down the list. Next on the list were pension cuts which undoubtedly would hurt pensioners but in the larger picture of the economy would come after the size of the surplus and dateline, and the size of public sector. The size of these cuts is small compared to the cost of 60 billion euros from the damage done to the economy, and the alternatives for pensioners and the rest of the country. under bank closure. For the EU this was seen as part of pension reforms and for left leaning Syriza compromising on behalf of pensioners.
Linked Articles
IMF Raises Referendum Stakes With Call for More Aid for Greece and Debt Relief
Wall Street Journal 07/03/2015
What Greece WonNew York Times 02/27/2015
The challenges facing K-12 education in the U.S. in 2015 with a larger proportion of children from less affluent and poor backgrounds, and two thirds of American children failing math and reading proficiency required levels in 8th grade for 2015
01/17/2015
With a majority of children in California, Texas, and some midwestern states in the U.S. from less affluent or poor backgrounds, and about two thirds of all American students failiing to meet required proficiency in math and reading at 8th grade, the educational challenge of of creating a well qualified work force to build America's future is daunting. Eight years of policy changes in education and private efforts have failed to produce adequate results.
Linked Articles
U.S. student performance slips on national test - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/28/2015
Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty - The Washington PostWashington Post 01/17/2015
Gen. James Jones, former National Security Advisor to U.S. president Obama, joins Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State, describing the failure of Obama's Middle East policy
08/11/2014
Linked Articles
How to Save Iraq and Honor American Sacrifice
Wall Street Journal 08/15/2014
A Rift in Worldviews Is Exposed as Clinton Faults Obama on PolicyNew York Times 08/11/2014
Islamic State as a vast money raising organization with highly paid fighters
06/20/2014
Linked Articles
Iraq Insurgents Reaping Wealth as They Advance
New York Times 06/20/2014
In Islamic State Stronghold of Raqqa, Foreign Fighters DominateWall Street Journal 02/05/2015
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