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

Bill Gates Has Regrets

WSJ 05/11/2020

Betsy Mc Kay

France 24 05/17/2020

Pope Francis meets U.S. president Trump at the Vatican to share views on topics ranging from poverty to climate change

05/25/2017

Linked Articles

Trump Meets With Pope Francis After Policy Clashes

WSJ 05/24/2017

Carol E. Lee, Francis X. Rocca

The New York Times 05/24/2017

Mark Landler, Jason Horowitz

France's 2017 presidential election-uncertain path or steps for renewal

04/15/2017

Linked Articles

Can French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron deliver on his promise to remake the country?

Washington Post 04/14/2017

James Mcauleyjames Mcauley

The New York Times 04/14/2017

Roger Cohen

Catholic France, family, traditional values, and France's 2017 presidential candidate Francois Fillon

12/10/2016

The shift in mood in France where people find comfort in family, and the old traditional values, the awakening of Catholic France in towns and in Paris, is increasing the popularity of Francois Fillon, the Republican Party's candidate.

Linked Articles

Fillon Victory Shows France Returning to Conservative Roots - SPIEGEL ONLINE

SPIEGEL ONLINE 12/08/2016

Spiegel Online, Hamburg, Germany

Washington Post 12/09/2016

James Mcauley

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.

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How Trump’s Hard Line on Trade Could Backfire

Wall Street Journal 03/25/2016

Bob Davis, Bob, Davis

Wall Street Journal 03/08/2016

Holman W. Jenkins Jr., Holman, W., Jenkins, Jr.

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.

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The Bleak Reality Driving Trump’s Rise

Wall Street Journal 12/16/2015

William A. Galston, William, A., Galston

Washington Post 11/12/2015

Andrew J. Cherlin, Andrew, J., Cherlin

Manuel Valls of France and Dutch finance minister Dijsselbloem- two perspectives on the Greece crisis following the referendum of July 5

07/09/2015

Linked Articles

Eurozone Finance Chief Recounts Brinkmanship That Led to Greek Deal

Wall Street Journal 07/17/2015

Gabriele Steinhauser, Gabriele, Steinhauser

New York Times 07/09/2015

Liz Alderman, Liz, Alderman, James Kanter, James, Kanter

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.

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What Greece Faces if It Defaults

New York Times 04/29/2015

Uki GoÑi, Uki, GoÑi

Economist 06/20/2015

Economist.Com

Deep differences in 2015 between Alexis Tsipras of Syriza and the Merkel government in Germany on debt forgiveness and the bailouts for Greece

01/26/2015

The deep differences between Greeks and Merkel operate at two levels. On the level of austerity policies Greece shares the view with other EU countries, the governments of Hollande in France and Renzi in Italy that austerity is not the best course for the eurozone. This view is also shared by people in Spain facing unemployment exceeding 20%, though the government of Rajoy in Spain like that of Samaras in Greece lived with the austerity policies with some changes. At this level there is also support from within Merkel's coalition government from Social Democrats. The other level of deep differences is on debt forgiveness and bailouts where Greece has to find its own way out in negotiations hoping that the EU and the IMF will agree to make concessions based on action taken by Syriza to ensure prudence in fianncial management. On issues such as minimum wage one would expect Syriza to be firm and make concessions where the hardship does not fall on the poorer and working class, winning support from the Social Democrats in Merkel's coalition. Beyond the symbolic moves and posturing the actual negotiations are likely to take into account the eurozone's need for help on the fiscal side desired by the ECB's Draghi to support monetary easing to fight deflation, and the need to keep the eurozone intact at a sensitive time. Syriza for its part is aware that a majority of Greeks favor staying in the eurozone.

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Greece’s new prime minister wants Germany to pay for Nazi war crimes - The Washington Post

Washington Post 01/26/2015

Ishaan Tharoor, Ishaan, Tharoor

Washington Post 01/27/2015

Griff Witte, Griff, Witte

Much needed boost from lower oil prices for eurozone countries Germany, France, Italy and Spain

10/09/2014

For countries like Germany in the eurozone with what Draghi calls "fiscal space" but did not use it, the drop in oil prices from $100 to $65 in 2014 offers relief at the right time to get back to growth in 2015.

Linked Articles

Falling Oil Prices Spur New Bets on Global Economic Growth

Wall Street Journal 12/08/2014

Ian Talley, Ian, Talley

New York Times 10/09/2014

Jack Ewing, Jack, Ewing, Alison Smale, Alison, Smale

Air France-KLM's Transavia low cost airline plan and the competition with Ryanair

09/11/2014

Linked Articles

Air France-KLM Restructuring Puts New Focus on Its Low-Cost Airline

New York Times 09/11/2014

Nicola Clark, Nicola, Clark

New York Times 09/25/2014

David Jolly, David, Jolly

U.S. households debt to income ratio drops from 130% in 2007 to 108% in 2014, still above historical ratio of 90%

02/18/2014

High student debt of over $1 trillion, banks restricting home loans to higher credit scores, continuing effort to reduce credit card debt, limit spending as U.S. consumer spending recovers very gradually.

Linked Articles

Americans’ Debt-Cutting Levels Off

Wall Street Journal 12/12/2014

Neil Shah, Neil, Shah

New York Times 02/18/2014

Shaila Dewan, Shaila, Dewan