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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
Trump and the skeptics about the direction of the country- contrasting views of Brooks and Krugman about how the message is conveyed
01/09/2018
Linked Articles
Opinion | The Decline of Anti-Trumpism
The New York Times 01/09/2018
Opinion | The Worst and the DumbestThe New York Times 01/08/2018
Goldman Sachs and the Trump administration- Steven Mnuchin at Treasury and Gary Cohen at the National Economic Council
12/09/2016
Bank stocks are up with the election of Donald Trump, Goldman Sachs share price up 34%, with the push back against regulation of banks following the 2008 financial crisis.
Linked Articles
Goldman Sachs No. 2 Seen as a Top Economic Adviser to Trump
The New York Times 12/09/2016
Trump Plans to Name Steven Mnuchin as Treasury SecretaryWSJ 11/29/2016
The 1976 Montreal Olympics, the 2004 Athens Olympics, the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the Rio Olympics- decades long debt hangovers and costs growing from the $1+ billion in Montreal to $50+ billion in Sochi
08/24/2016
Developing and developed countries alike have seen the cost of the Olympics as a huge burden. Many countries or cities that committed to hosting the Olympic games during boom years were facing economic hard times by the time of the games. Corruption and mismanagement of public funds, overspending and cost overruns added to the problems. Citizens uproar caused cities such as Boston and Oslo to withdraw bids for the Olympics. The Olympics appears to be a costly way to show off a country, and raises questions about better allocation of funds in other directions, especially when upward mobility is a problem for the middle and working class, countries have other infrastructure needs, and neglected basic needs in education, healthcare, public services.
Linked Articles
The 40-year hangover: how the 1976 Olympics nearly broke Montreal
The Guardian 07/06/2016
Rio Games Highlight Problems With the Olympic ModelThe New York Times 08/23/2016
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
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
A Republican narrative for the 2016 U.S. presidential election from Karl Rove and a different narrative from Stanley Greenberg for the Democrats
11/20/2015
The Republican narrative finds a parallel in the 2016 U.S. presidential election which led to the election of president McKinley and bringing Teddy Roosevelt as running mate for the 1900 election. It focusses on economic recovery under the gold standard and U.S. asserting itself on behalf of Cuban independence in the uprising against Spanish rule. The Democratic narrative looks at immigration, women, minorities and the surge in inequality to see continuing shift to Democrats, accepting some voter disillusionment with both parties showing up in reduced voter participation.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 11/20/2015
Terrorism Becomes a Campaign IssueWall Street Journal 11/20/2015
Lack of individual accountability for banks in legal settlements with regulators- (2) the old management still in place, " a solution to the problem or part of it?"
05/24/2015
The question put by Mr. Han Martin-Buhlmann of shareholder association VIP at the June shareholder meeting of Deutsche Bank was- "Mr. Jain are a solution to the problem or part of it?" Over a week later a new CEO was appointed.
Linked Articles
Economist 06/13/2015
Shareholders’ Rebuke Pressures Deutsche Bank CEOs to PerformWall Street Journal 05/24/2015
How the Trans Pacific Trade Partnership Agreement (TPP) fell apart- (4) a narrow view by the Obama administration using TPP as a counter to China's Infrastructure Development Bank
04/27/2015
Linked Articles
Obama Presses Case for Asia Trade Deal, Warns Failure Would Benefit China
Wall Street Journal 04/27/2015
Trade and TrustNew York Times 05/22/2015
Two party systems and Malaysia's UMNO Party- (2) the future economic prospects of Malaysia under Razak, India under Modi, Indonesia under Widodo
12/08/2014
Najib Razak follows his father Tun Abdul Razak, Mahathir before him, all the way back to Tunku Abdul Rahman, all of the UMNO party, in an uninterrupted control of the United Malay Naional Organization Party which has ruled Malaysia for almost 6 decades. Malaysia has followed the example of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore by keeping the opposition parties weak to maintain control. Both the UMNO and the party of Lee in Singapore face questions about the merits of suppressing the development of two party systems, at a time when government is changing hands to opposition parties in most of the region and improving economic prospects in each country with a change of government- Abe in Japan, Widodo in Indonesia, Modi and Sharif in India and Pakistan, Aquino in the Philippines, Wickremesinghe in Sri Lanka. A economic drift with no clear direction under Singh and Bhutto in India and Pakistan was reversed with the election of Modi and Sharif, the economic drift and deflation under the Kan and Noda governments was reversed in Japan with the election of Abe, and the economic drift in Indonesia is being reversed by the Widodo government. This shows how critical two party systems are to functioning democracies as middle classes develop and voters look for competing views of the future to choose from.
Linked Articles
Fund Controversy Threatens Malaysia’s Leader
Wall Street Journal 06/19/2015
Indonesian President Joko Widodo Pledges to Cut Investment BarriersWall Street Journal 12/08/2014
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
BaFin, German federal financial regulatory authority, and the problems at Deutsche Bank- regulators slow to act on information
03/28/2014
Eyk Henning of the WSJ points out the slow response of regulator BaFin to information about problems at Deutsche Bank that suggest a broken culture in a report on March 28, 2014. This comes 6 years after the WSJ first reported the LIBOR rate manipulation in 2008 leading to British and U.S. regulatory investigations. In April 2015 Deutsche Bank made a legal settlement for LIBOR rate manipulation of $2.5 billion with U.S. and British regulators. As the time when regulatory authority passes to the European Central Bank, and after a period of 7 years since the 2008 WSJ report, BaFin finally sends its report on the broken culture at the bank. A month later the two co-CEO's at the bank resign.
Linked Articles
Germany Blasts Deutsche Bank Executives Over Culture
Wall Street Journal 07/17/2015
German Financial Watchdog Bites BackWall Street Journal 03/28/2014
Faces of workers quitting work or reducing hours as they qualify for subsidies on health insurance under the Obama Healthcare Law
02/05/2014
Faces of the workers taking subsidies available to lower income workers under the Obama Health Care Law. The Congressional Budget Office projections for 2021 show about the equivalent of 2.3 million workers worth of hours reduced as a result of the healthcare law subsidies giving workers more choice. Many use the time to work on startup business or child care for grandchildren. The jobs freed up and the hours could be taken up by other workers looking for jobs. Gains in childcare would be another result.
Linked Articles
Health Law To Cut Into Labor Force
Wall Street Journal 02/05/2014
They quit their jobs, thanks to the health law - The Washington PostWashington Post 02/09/2014
India's general election in 2019- performance and flaws of the Modi government
06/05/2018
Differing views of the Modi government, views of the middle class hurt by demonetisation uncertainty from Dhume and views representing the interests of the rural, lower income and other part of the middle class from Arvind Panagriya. Some of the changes brought about by the Modi government reflecting the vision of Mahatma Gandhi for fundamental change from the ground up in the villages and rural parts of India- health and sanitation, access to bank accounts, access to health care- coupled with Nehru's vision of modernization using the technologies of the twenty first century.
Linked Articles
Times of India Blog 06/05/2018
Modi government at four years: It has pushed through a range of structural reforms whose results will showTimes of India Blog 05/30/2018
Jean-Claude Juncker and Der Spiegel on the idea of politicians from traditional parties using the rhetoric of the populist parties
06/16/2017
Linked Articles
Essay: The Dangerous Nationalism of Europe's Left - SPIEGEL ONLINE
SPIEGEL ONLINE 06/16/2017
Juncker Interview: Europeans 'Must Learn World Affairs' - SPIEGEL ONLINESPIEGEL ONLINE 06/09/2017
Sharp contrast between the Trump and Clinton economic plans- Trump's negative in the long run, Clinton's positive in the long run
10/18/2016
Economic experts look at the Trump and Clinton economic plans, Trump's based on extreme borrowing and Clinton's careful about deficits. Trump's plan aggravates the wide disparities in income in America after the tech booms and Clinton's reduces these disparities. Clinton's preserves global trading system while addressing the problems, Trump's moves in the direction of protectionism and high tariffs with potential unintended consequences for the global economy.
Linked Articles
Donald Trump’s Economic Plan, Up Close, Doesn’t Add Up
WSJ 10/18/2016
Donald Trump’s Tax Plan Would Boost Economy in Short Run but Not Long Term, Analysis FindsWSJ 10/17/2016
Goldman Sachs and U.S. regulators in 2015-2017- cutting risks in trading activity and private equity/hedge fund investments following the excessive leveraging of the 2008 financial crisis
08/04/2016
Stronger regulation takes shape through the efforts of Daniel Tarullo at the Federal Reserve and the LISSC. The situation with Goldman Sachs, one of the highly leveraged banks during the 2008 financial crisis still hoping to earn high profits with large trading activities.
Linked Articles
At Goldman Sachs, Stress Test Results Could Endanger an Important Profit Source
New York Times 03/08/2015
Goldman Sachs Not Sure It Can Sell Private-Equity StakesWSJ 08/04/2016
The presentation of a well meaning Trump in a 2016 general election against Hillary Clinton
03/08/2016
Linked Articles
Suffering From Trumphobia? Get Over It
Wall Street Journal 03/10/2016
Only Trump Can Trump TrumpNew York Times 03/08/2016
The damage done at Yahoo with failed acquisitions, flawed news strategy investments, followed by costcutting that led to low morale and departure of mobile engineer talent
01/10/2016
A series of bad moves by CEO Marissa Mayer leads to costcutting, layoffs and departure of mobile engineers to rivals Facebook and Google, depriving Yahoo of talent in the mobile business. The internet business is now up for sale with Verizon, Britain's Daily Mail bidding for it, and investor Starboard Value hedge fund pushing for the sale.
Linked Articles
Yahoo’s got millions of users, but it’s still in decline. What went wrong? - The Washington Post
Washington Post 04/20/2016
Yahoo’s Brain Drain Shows a Loss of Faith Inside the CompanyNew York Times 01/10/2016
The devaluation of the yuan in August 2015 as China responds to lower exports, the appreciation of the euro and the yen, and the U.S. Federal Reserve's plan to raise rates
08/12/2015
China's currency appreciated 9.2% against the euro and 57% against the Japanese yen with its soft peg to the dollar in 2013-2015. The 8.3% decline in China's exports for July 2015 over the prior year led to the policy action to devalue the Chinese currency, the yuan on August 11, 2015.
Linked Articles
China is trying to save its economy with a cheaper currency - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/12/2015
China’s Devaluation GambitWall Street Journal 08/12/2015
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
How Google hires people and the work environment at Google
04/07/2015
Linked Articles
Amit Singh of Google for Work: A Respectful Clash of Ideas
New York Times 01/22/2016
Silicon Valley Star SearchWall Street Journal 04/07/2015
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
Merkel Hints at Economic Policy Shift in GermanyNew York Times 10/09/2014
Google and intense competition in cloud services
04/16/2014
Linked Articles
Google Renews Its Cloud Efforts
Wall Street Journal 11/04/2014
A Price War Erupts in Cloud ServicesWall Street Journal 04/16/2014
GE (General Electric) low tax rate of 4.2% in 2013, 10.3% in 2014, and the move to a normal tax rate in 2015
03/05/2014
An aggressive policy of tax reduction using GE Capital at GE leads to an astonishingly low tax rate. Shareholders see the uncertainty from GE Capital's volatile earnings and tax strategies with great skepticism. GE shares dropped to $6 during the 2008 global financial crisis because of GE Capital losses, and GE needed government rescue funds. The day CEO Immelt announced the decision to exit the banking business GE shares went up by 11%. GE's tax rate without the banking business will go up to about 20%.
Linked Articles
Price of Selling GE Capital? Tax Breaks
Wall Street Journal 04/14/2015
How corporate America is losing the debate on taxesWashington Post 03/05/2014
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