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McDonald's and a shift in nutritional habits in the U.S., especially in the younger age groups
01/17/2014
With about one third of the population in developed countries considered obese, there is greater awareness especially among younger people, about the need to read nutritional labels carefully, look for fresh food, and manage calorie intake. There is a shift also away from fast food to places where there is greater nutritional choice and to eating at home. The recession may have induced more people to consider eating less outside.
Linked Articles
Americans' Eating Habits Take a Healthier Turn, Study Finds
Wall Street Journal 01/17/2014
McDonald's Faces 'Millennial' ChallengeWall Street Journal 08/25/2014
The crucial link of good educational system and test scores with economic growth in countries
09/07/2013
Linked Articles
Peterson and Hanushek: The Vital Link of Education and Prosperity
Wall Street Journal 09/11/2013
The Great Stagnation in American EducationNew York Times 09/07/2013
The Reagan tax reforms of 1986 and U.S. tax reforms in 2013
11/22/2012
Contrasting views on how the Reagan tax reforms of 1986 and the approach used can help come up with a good plan in 2013.
Linked Articles
New York Times 11/29/2012
A Starting Point for Tax Reform: What Reagan DidNew York Times 11/22/2012
Spain macroprudential supervision of its banking system once lauded now turns out to be "timid" and false, could the same be true for China?
07/18/2012
Spain's central bank had a reputation of providing good supervision for Spain's banking system. The problems at the Cajas Savings banks and the current assessment after the request for $125 billion in EU funds for Spain's banks shows how this turned out to be false. Does China face a similiar problem with its housing bubble. The U.S., UK and Spain, failed to control and manage the effects of a housing bubble, can China be a lone exception? Rapid growth enabled China to cope with bad loans in the banking system, with slower growth, a weak European market for exports, and a stimulus that is about one eighth the size in annual investment- one trillion yuan over 4 years in the current stimulus compared to 4 trillion over 2009-2010 in the last stimulus plan. Can China manage this bubble, does it have the experience managing this type of problem or has it papered over the problems as Spain did? This has repercussions for industries and countries from the export sector in Germany, Australia and Brazil to industries such as the German automobile industry, and companies such as Caterpillar.
Linked Articles
As China’s economy slows, real estate bubble looms - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/03/2012
Spanish Official: Slow Reaction to CrisisWall Street Journal 07/18/2012
Hong Kong's new chief executive Leung Chun-Ying and the mood in Hong Kong
05/25/2012
Linked Articles
Hong Kong's New Leader Is Sworn In
Wall Street Journal 07/01/2012
Hong Kong's New Leader Seeks GrowthWall Street Journal 05/25/2012
How a law from the 1980's requiring use of jute bags for storage creates problems for food storage in India (1)
04/13/2012
Linked Articles
India's Grain Storage Comes Up Short
Wall Street Journal 04/13/2012
Indian Fiber Weaves a CrisisWall Street Journal 06/23/2012
Britain, the eurozone crisis and a mood shifting towards Britain's exit from the European Union
12/07/2011
A British mood moving away from the positive engagement its economy needs with its largest trading partner, the other nations of the European Union. A Opinion/Observer poll in Nov. 2012 shows a majority of people in Britain would vote yes on a referendum to leave the European Union.
Linked Articles
New York Times 11/22/2012
Britain Suffers as a Bystander to Europe's CrisisNew York Times 12/07/2011
Reagan-Bush and Obama on immigrants- A Reality Check
09/29/2011
A Better Way. The question of who was more humane in their response is one for the public in a nation of immigrants. Bush and Reagan stood up for the state paying for illegal immigrant children getting schooling in the straightforward honest way to a difficult question in the primary debates years ago. There is no empty rhetoric when Bush says he does not want 6-8 year old children to live in fear and deprived of an education thinking they were living outside the law. And Reagan points out that rather than talk of putting up a fence lets work out our mutual problems with Mexico. The elder Bush goes further and stands up for immigrants in a way that the country has not seen for a long, long time. "They are good, strong people," he says, and "part of my family is Mexican."
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/29/2011
More Deportations Follow Minor Crimes, Records ShowNew York Times 04/06/2014
Rising energy and food costs and India's failure to control inflation
09/12/2011
Repeated increases in interest rates in 201-2011 by India's central bank, the RBI, has failed to control inflation. This is slowing the growth rate.
Linked Articles
India Grapples With Soaring Energy Costs
Wall Street Journal 04/11/2012
India's Inflation Is a Lesson for Fast-Growing EconomiesWall Street Journal 09/12/2011
Inequality, the middle class and economic growth
01/15/2011
Studies show a growing middle class and lower middle class as one of the conditions underpinning steady economic growth. Adam Smith also points this out in his book The Wealth of Nations, written in the 18th century as England began its transformaton with the Industrial Revolution. Growing wages created a middle class and demand for goods and services that enable England to prosper. A similiar process took place in the U.S. with Henry Ford's effort to provide higher wages in his automobile plants in the 1920's that led to a growing middle class able to afford automobiles.
Linked Articles
Inequality: The rich and the rest
Economist 01/15/2011
The 1 Percent Clubâs Misguided ProtectorsNew York Times 12/10/2011
The increasing risk of a Double Dip Recession.
05/14/2010
Shiller, Wood and other experts on the risks.
Linked Articles
Don't Rule Out a Double Dip Recession
Wall Street Journal 05/24/2010
Fear of a Double Dip Could Cause OneNew York Times 05/14/2010
The inaction at GM 2009-2013 for the defective ignition switch recall and the inaction at Toyota for unintended acceleration recall
02/10/2010
GM's management lost track of quality issues that were buried at lower levels during the bankruptcy period. Toyota's management in the U.S. referred the NHTSA to quality managers in Japan who did not make the necessary effort to look into and address the problem. This shows that quality is not just a technical issue for the engineers and requires management atention at the highest levels, direct reporting to top managers. It also shows that quality problems never go away, will always be present, no matter how good you think you get. Small mistakes can be very costly as BP, TEPCO in the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Toyota, have shown in the recent past.
Linked Articles
General Motors Misled Grieving Families on a Lethal Flaw
New York Times 03/24/2014
Safety Agency Scrutinized as Toyota Recall GrowsNew York Times 02/10/2010
The declining value of the euro and China's export industry.
10/23/2009
This affects American exports to the Chinese market also making european goods more competitive.
Linked Articles
Europeâs Debt Crisis Is Casting a Shadow Over China
New York Times 05/17/2010
The Chinese DisconnectNew York Times 10/23/2009
Low wages for workers at retail branches of banks and fast-food retail outlets
12/04/2013
Linked Articles
Low bank wages costing the public millions, report says - The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/04/2013
Fast-food workers plan a new wave of walkouts across the nation - The Washington PostWashington Post 12/04/2013
Poverty and hunger for the working poor in Britain's post industrial north- 2009-2014
08/20/2013
Food charities working in Africa now concentrate their efforts in Britain's post industrial northern towns.
Linked Articles
As the Working Poor Become More Common in Britain, So Does Hunger
New York Times 01/02/2014
U.K. Moves To Tackle Income SqueezeWall Street Journal 08/20/2013
The dealmaking that is needed to build an agreement on deficit reduction- the challenge for Obama and Republicans
11/10/2012
The need for Obama and Republicans to build on proposals by Romer, Simpson-Bowles, Toomey, Hensarling, Feldstein, Romney Conrad and others to put dealmaking ahead of futile ideological battles. This would be good for the country and good for jobs and growth, good for building a strong middle class economy.
Linked Articles
Budget Showdown Offers an Opportunity for Progress
New York Times 11/10/2012
Obama the DealmakerNew York Times 11/12/2012
Tackling food insecurity in India and Pakistan- use of metal storage containers instead of jute bags or mud silos (2)
06/23/2012
Linked Articles
Hungering for a Solution to Food Losses
Wall Street Journal 12/25/2012
Indian Fiber Weaves a CrisisWall Street Journal 06/23/2012
India's huge foodgrain storage problems
04/13/2012
For a country with a large proportion of children facing malnutrition the food storage problems show how far India has left to go in modernizing its economy.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 06/23/2012
India's Grain Storage Comes Up ShortWall Street Journal 04/13/2012
Eliminating all Bush tax cuts to generate the revenue base to support spending programs for the middle class down the road
03/29/2012
Jared Berstein of the Economic Policy Institute, Peter Orszag, former director of the Congressional Budget Office, and Mayor Bloomberg of New York, say eliminating all Bush tax cuts would provide the revenue base needed to support middle class programs for future years. Orszag says making the tax code more progressive is desirable especially considering the inequality but this does not do much good if the revenue base to support middle class programs down the road is insufficient.
Linked Articles
Middle Class Malaise Complicates Democratsâ Fiscal Stance
New York Times 12/12/2012
Federal Budgets and Class WarfareWall Street Journal 03/29/2012
Tax evasion in Italy and Greece and Germany's insistence on good governance and financial practices for a sound euro currency
11/25/2011
One estimate of tax evasion in Italy cited by Faiola in the Post is $340 billon a year. Greece has a similiar problem. This is one area in which the culture and practices of individual countries have to converge to acceptable norms to make a common currrency viable, something the founders of the euro currency did not take as seriously as needed and account for in a disciplined framework. The political enthusiasm for a union of European countries of EU founders led to ignoring the dangers of not having controls and convergence in place.
Linked Articles
New York Times 12/01/2011
Amid crisis, Italy confronts a culture of tax evasion - The Washington PostWashington Post 11/25/2011
Free trade and its impact on counties and communities across the U.S.
09/27/2011
About one-third to two-thirds of the benefits from trade are erased by the cost of government payments in the form of unemployment insurance, food stamps and disability benefits for U.S. communities that fare worse from a surge in imports. This is one of the conclusions in a research study by professors Hanson and Autor of 722 clusters of counties in the U.S.
Linked Articles
Cities Adapt With Mixed Results
Wall Street Journal 09/27/2011
Tallying the Toll of U.S.-China TradeWall Street Journal 09/27/2011
The slow shift to healthy choices at grocery chains and restaurants in the U.S. even as the healthcare costs reach alarming proportions
01/20/2011
U.S. companies, workers, and the U.S. economy is squeezed between the growth in obesity related diabetes and other obesity related diseases and the growth in health care costs to treat these diseases. Yet no coordinated action plan exists to tackle the problem between companies, government, universities, public interest groups, and other groups. And the progress charted out by grocery chains, restaurants and other organizations in the food business to provide and encourage healthy choices is incredibly slow.
Linked Articles
Wal-Mart Plans to Make Its House Brand Healthier
New York Times 01/20/2011
Low-Cal Items Fuel Restaurant SalesWall Street Journal 02/07/2013
Bringing peace to Kashmir- the elections in 2014 with a 70% turnout as ordinary Kashmiris turn to development and infrastructure building
01/01/2011
Weary of conflict a whole region turns to economic development and infrastructure building plans as the next step to a brighter future. South Asia makes a new beginning as it catches up with its neighbors in East Asia. A billion plus market extending from South Asia to Indonesia makes a new beginning in 2014. Even the Kashmir Valley hears the message- the synergy of technology, capital, human resources and good governance can pave the way to a better future that is within the reach of today's young generation of South Asians and Indonesians.
Linked Articles
Modi’s Campaign Stop in Kashmir Is Notable for Lack of Unrest
New York Times 12/08/2014
Kashmir's troubles: Shaking the mountainsEconomist 01/01/2011
Lack of credible progress in Afghanistan in 2010.
04/29/2010
A Defense Department biennial report and an independent report by Ann Marlowe after her sixth embed with American forces on the ground both confirm the lack of credible progress and attribute it to the lack of credible governance in Afghnistan. Failure of the current US administration to take good governance seriously.
Linked Articles
Strategy vs. Tactics in Afghanistan
Wall Street Journal 06/02/2010
U.S. Report on Afghan War Finds Few Gains in 6 MonthsNew York Times 04/29/2010
From online retail to selling consumer goods - different ways of selling in Nigeria, rural India, rural Brazil and other emerging markets
12/12/2009
Linked Articles
In Nigeria, Rising Dreams of Web Commerce
Wall Street Journal 06/03/2012
P.& G. Sees the World as Its ClientNew York Times 12/12/2009
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