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Breakthrough in vaccine for coronavirus - Astra Zeneca, Serum Institute and the Oxford Vaccine
06/05/2020
Serum Institute of India plans to manufacture 400 million doses of the Oxford vaccine by December 2020, in alliance with Oxford University and Astra Zeneca of UK.
Linked Articles
Drugs firm to begin making potential virus vaccine
BBC News 06/05/2020
How One Indian Company Could Be World's Door to a COVID-19 VaccineNYTimes.com 06/04/2020
A Tale of Two Italian Cities - Bergamo, Lombardy and Vo, Veneto- In the time of Coronavirus
04/12/2020
Bergamo in Lombardy, northern Italy, did not heed the warnings calling for strict quarantines, Vo in Veneto region did contact tracing and strict quarantines. This made all the difference. Bergamo turned into a disaster, Vo recovered quickly. Vo is 85 miles to the east of Bergamo. This is a warning to cities around the world, act late and without strict quarantine or lockdown and there is a huge disaster looming from the coronavirus spreading quickly, because it is in the words of Dr Birx "very, very contagious."
Linked Articles
Italy’s Slow Progress in Fighting Coronavirus Is a Warning to West
WSJ 03/27/2020
A tale of two provinces: mistakes that fuelled Italy’s coronavirus outbreakThe Times 03/26/2020
Ashwini Bhide and the Mumbai Metro- getting infrastructure done in India on time
10/05/2019
The desperate need for good infrastructure and millions of people in Mumbai who have put up for too long with creaky infrastructure. The Mumbai Metro led by Ashwini Bhide is a path breaking effort to speed things up, as the WSJ points out. As before petitions and other methods are used to stall projects. This time the courts not only dismissed the petition about cutting trees in Aarey Colony, north Mumbai, but also fined the petitioners Rs 50,000 for filing a frivolous petition. Trees are important, as few trees as possible are being cut for the new Metro, and new trees are being planted to replace them.
Linked Articles
WSJ 05/08/2023
‘Activists should accept defeat honourably’: Mumbai Metro MD on Aarey rowHindustan Times 10/05/2019
The U.S. plan to reverse the withdrawal from Afghanistan to prevent a repeat of the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq after 2011 leading to terrorism and a chaotic situation
08/22/2017
Linked Articles
Angry Trump Grilled His Generals About Troop Increase, Then Gave In
The New York Times 08/22/2017
Trump announces new strategy for Afghanistan that calls for a troop increaseWashington Post 08/22/2017
Republican House health care bill in 2017 and shift in priorities- $337 billion in savings, expected lower premiums, but leaving 14 million more uninsured in 2018
03/13/2017
A shift in priorities from the poor to the middle class- targeting lower premiums for people who have seen their premiums increase sharply, reducing the overall cost with savings of $337 billion, yet leaving 14 million more people uninsured.
Linked Articles
CBO Sees 24 Million More Uninsured, $337 Billion Deficit Cut in Coming Decade With GOP Health Plan
WSJ 03/13/2017
US health bill 'to leave 14m more uninsured' - BBC NewsBBC News 03/13/2017
"Deaths of Despair", the causes and effects in a larger context, and the drop in America's ranking in the Social Progress Index to 19th in 2016
07/01/2016
How the middle aged white Americans 45-54 are faring in the current environment with fewer opportunities and greater vulnerabilities in health, education incomes, savings, quality of life, mortality, upward mobility, for this group. Tragically this means their children and the next generation is also affected in the way fewer opportunities are available in the future. The situation is unique to America with weaker social protection than Europe, and to Britain because of years of austerity. There are no quick fixes with easy slogans, and requires first a national awareness, national consensus, and may require the better part of a generation to solve and restore the hope and promise of Jefferson in making the "inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" available to all.
Linked Articles
Rising Death Rates for Middle-Aged White Americans Are Forcing a Policy Rethink
WSJ 06/30/2016
The U.S. Now Ranks 19th in ‘Social Progress,’ With Finland and Canada Topping the ListWSJ 06/30/2016
The Donald Trump campaign for U.S. president in 2016- strategies from "The Art of the Deal"
02/25/2016
Thinking big embracing the entire electorate, using social media to the fullest, improvising often based on voter sentiment, commonsense approaches, worked for Trump in the Republican primaries in 2016. The failure of the other candidates to address issues of voter frustration, and splitting of the vote with many candidates, created the opportunity for Trump to succeed with his unconventional campaigning style coupled with a careful attention to what troubled voters.
Linked Articles
Donald Trump’s Campaign Blueprint: His Own Book
Wall Street Journal 03/03/2016
Trump and the Also-RansWall Street Journal 02/25/2016
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
Norway parliament's decision to divest holdings in companies 30% dependent on coal opens up debate on coal- (3) Coal India and the 1 billion ton target for 2020
05/14/2015
With about 300 million people without electricity, and India lagging behind Brazil and Indonesia in the percentage of population lacking electricity, the goal is to modernize the coal industry and increase production. This shows the different tradeoffs in less developed countries such as India, which face a completely different set of tradeoffs, and are moving in the opposite direction out of necessity. China is just entering a period after rapid modernization where the discussion about the tradeoffs is shifting, whereas India remains in a very different phase.
Linked Articles
Norway Will Divest From Coal in Push Against Climate Change
New York Times 06/05/2015
Indian Prime Minister Prods Coal MonopolyWall Street Journal 05/14/2015
Warren Buffett and Berkshire Holdings- a future without Buffett and a careful look at Buffett's performance
05/01/2015
Linked Articles
After Warren Buffett: Berkshire Prepares for Life Without Legendary Leader
Wall Street Journal 05/01/2015
Warren Buffett Has a Tough Act to FollowWall Street Journal 05/01/2015
The miscalculations and missteps of Russian president Putin in 2014 leading to a major crisis for the Russian economy in 2015
12/18/2014
A major miscalculation was totally misjudging Merkel and post-war German public opinion about policies that remind people about the period between the two World Wars- this is anathema to Germans who see the European Union as a way to build a new and different Europe. The other miscalculation was on how a foreign adventurous policy in Syria would affect Sunni world opinion, in particular Saudi Arabia. Just as Brezhnev took Russia into Afghanistan where Russia had no vital interest leading to eventual Soviet collapse, Putin risked alienating a key member in OPEC pricing moves and hurting Russia's economic interest. By not listening to Kudrin, the head of Sberbank, and other economic advisers from the first and second terms of the Putin-Medvedev administrations, Putin opened the door to two years of serious missteps, risking the very real accomplishments of the first and second term of creating a stable growing Russian economy with close economic ties to Europe. The only positive outcome of the crisis and low oil prices would be making the shift away from oil dependence, which was talked about but never seriously attempted in the Putin administrations. For this to happen major new investments would have to be made and technology links to the outside strengthened, both hammered by the missteps in 2013-2014. The irony of all this is that Putin gained the support of rural Russians in the countryside in the 2012 presidential elections by promising no return to the economic crisis conditions following earlier ruble collapses. Now by ignoring Kudrin and other wiser counsel from the first and second administrations he does just that.
Linked Articles
Putin’s Year of Defiance and Miscalculation
Wall Street Journal 12/18/2014
Russian President Vladimir Putin Seeks to Reassure on EconomyWall Street Journal 12/18/2014
The failure of Maliki to reduce sectarianism in Iraq, and the failure of the Obama administration's Middle East policy, lead to reversal of years of effort in Iraq
08/15/2014
WSJ reporter Bradley talks to Maliki's aides who say he is only interested in personal power not the future of Iraq. Gen. James Jones, National Security Advisor to U.S. president Obama 2009-2010, says Maliki's corrupt policies and using increased sectarian conflict to further personal power, and president Obama's failure to act in Syria when chemical weapons were used as well as not maintaining a training presence after the withdrawal, are both responsible for the summer 2014 collapse in Iraq.
Linked Articles
How to Save Iraq and Honor American Sacrifice
Wall Street Journal 08/15/2014
Iraq Crisis: Nouri al-Maliki QuitsWall Street Journal 08/15/2014
China, the U.S. and Japan- the task of reestablishing peaceful cooperation in the Pacific region after the missteps of 2011-2013
07/09/2014
Meetings for the sixth round of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Bieijing between the U.S. and China, and Japanese prime minister's address to the Australian parliament in Canberra, at about the same time in July 2014, showing how the path of peaceful cooperation will have to be actively pursued to remain a reality. Underpinning the hopes of China, Japan and neighboring countries in Asia is the U.S. will and purpose for maininting the post war peace and stability for the benefit of all, that at times has been missing in the words and actions of the Obama administration. Lack of peace in the region would seriously affect China's effort to bring better incomes to the large majority of people still in the countryside and leave China stuck in middle income status of countries like Mexico, damage the prospects of improving incomes of billions of people in India, other parts of Asia and Latin America. In this sense the Japanese people have shown the wisdom of keeping the conditions of peace that have prevailed for the post war period, and the U.S. with undiminished will and purpose in its post war role can affirm the hopes of the people of the region, including the hope of people in China, India, Japan, S. Korea, and Latin America.
Linked Articles
U.S., China try to emphasize potential for cooperation - The Washington Post
Washington Post 07/09/2014
Abe's Constitutional Reform Push SlowsWall Street Journal 07/09/2014
What Bill Gates and France had in common in the fight for health preparedness
05/11/2020
France had learned lessons from SARS epidemic and prepared for the H1N1 epidemic at the time that Bill Gates of Microsoft was pushing for greater awareness of public health priorities. Today Gates says this was not enough, that he did not do enough and feels terrible about it. The irresponsible banking practices that caused the financial crises first in the global financial crisis of 2009 and then in the eurozone financial crisis that followed by 2011 led to the ditching of the pandemic preparedness effort in France and Britain. In all of the western world including the U.S. austerity practices were the response without addressing the root causes of financial crises. Investments in public services and infrastructure were neglected leading to a level of unpreparedness that is shocking. Countries in lesser developed countries with more consciousness of the importance of public services and care of the vast majority of people were better protected in the crisis as a result than the more developed countries.
Linked Articles
WSJ 05/11/2020
Pandemic disarmament: Why France was ready for Covid-19 a decade too soonFrance 24 05/17/2020
Broken promises to Ireland- Boris Johnson's version of Brexit
10/05/2019
Even dire hard loyalists in Northern Ireland are now shifting their position to favor a united Ireland, says a report in The Times. Polls now show a majority in Ireland may now be in favor of a reunited Ireland for the first time in history. The Unionist DUP party may no longer reflect the views of the people of Ireland. The Guardian points out that Boris Johnson's version of Brexit means broken promises to Ireland made by Britain. People in Ireland are beginning to realize that they may be better off in a united Ireland than in the Britain visualized by Boris Johnson which puts Ireland's interests last.
Linked Articles
How Brexit is pushing even loyalists towards a united Ireland
The Times 10/05/2019
The Guardian view on the backstop proposals: Britain’s broken promise | EditorialThe Guardian 10/03/2019
Brazil's Amazon rainforest and the threat from deforestation, fires
09/09/2019
Linked Articles
‘I Thought the World Was Ending’: What’s Fueling the Amazon Rainforest Fires
WSJ 08/31/2019
Why Brazilian farmers are burning the rainforest — and why it’s difficult for Bolsonaro to stop themWashington Post 09/04/2019
Gen. Mattis and the policy for Afghanistan in 2017 - learning from the experience of the 2011 Iraq withdrawal, and giving meaning to earlier sacrifices
08/22/2017
Linked Articles
Trump announces new strategy for Afghanistan that calls for a troop increase
Washington Post 08/22/2017
The Meaning of Their ServiceWall Street Journal 04/18/2015
Deutsche Bank- the road to dire straits
01/01/2017
Linked Articles
Opinion: Deutsche Bank in dire straits | Opinion | DW.COM | 27.09.2016
DW.COM 09/27/2016
Deutsche Bank Flew and Fell. Some Paid a High Price.The New York Times 12/30/2016
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
Criticism of the $8.3 million Dec. 2015 'comfort women' agreement between Japanese prime minister Abe and South Korean prime minister Lee
12/29/2015
Linked Articles
South Korean and Japanese Leaders Feel Backlash From ‘Comfort Women’ Deal
New York Times 12/29/2015
Coming to Terms on Japan’s Wartime Sex SlavesNew York Times 12/30/2015
The huge contrast between Chancellor Merkel's approach and the approach of Obama and Cameron to the Syrian refugee crisis
08/20/2015
The German chancellor will be remembered in history for the way she handled the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015, and for the courage to say, "if Europe fails on the question of refugees, its close connection with universal civil rights will be destroyed." Reports in the Guardian newspaper say Germany is likely to accept about 1 million refugees in 2015. Chancellor Merkel says about 800,000 refugees will be admitted in 2015. Contrast this with the UK reports the Guardian which has 166 refugees admitted to the UK, and reports in the WSJ that about 1500 refugees have been admitted to the U.S.. Merkel has taken on the challenge in a spirited way as Europe faces anti-immigrant sentiment and rallied German society in a way that is remarkable. The withdrawal of the Obama administration from the Middle East led to the collapse of the fragile situation in Libya, Iraq and Syria, and the unravelling of these countries, leading to the current refugee crisis with about half of the Syrian population dislocated and large parts of the population of Libya, Iraq, and Kurdish regions dislocated.
Linked Articles
U.S. Pressed to Take More Syrian Refugees
Wall Street Journal 09/05/2015
Why some German universities will educate refugees for free - The Washington PostWashington Post 08/20/2015
Ban on election advertising on commercial television and radio in Britain and strict limits of $29.5 million for each party in general elections- contrast with the U.S.
05/02/2015
Britain disproves the popular belief that an ever upward trajectory for election spending is inevitable. The 2010 general election in Britain cost half that of the 1880 general election in 2002 prices, say researchers. In the U.S. spending has increased to the point where candidates may be spending more time fund raising than talking about the issues. The 2016 presidential election in the U.S. is estimated to lead to $10 billion in spending. India, Brazil, and other developing countries face a similar situation.
Linked Articles
Britain’s Campaign Finance Laws Leave Parties With Idle Money
New York Times 05/04/2015
F.E.C. Can’t Curb 2016 Election Abuse, Commission Chief SaysNew York Times 05/02/2015
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
Abenomics advisers Yamamoto and Hamada, and Japanese prime minister Abe's decision in Nov. 2014 to challenge the Finance Ministry's views
11/20/2014
Abe calls for a snap election in Dec. 2014 after delaying the second increase in the consumption tax from 8% to 10% in 2015. About 53% of the Japanese public opposed the doubling of the consumption tax by 2015 in 2011 poll as the DPJ party Noda administration pushed for it on the advice of the Finance Ministry. Now after the 3rd quarter showed Japan in a recession over 70% of the Japanese public oppose a second increase in the consumption tax to 10% from 8% in 2015. Abenomics advisors Hamada and Yamamoto now say this increase in the tax (especially when wages are only gradually increasing) was never a part of the Abenomics.
Linked Articles
Japan’s No. 1 Reflationist Does a Victory Dance
Wall Street Journal 11/20/2014
With Bad Economic News for Japan, Abe’s Magic Seems to EvaporateNew York Times 11/20/2014
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
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