LyrArc Article Gist
Lt. Gen John Kelly loses his son Robert in Afghanistan and talks about the immense burdens facing military families. Robert is out on patrol duty in a mine filled area of Afghanistan's Sangin district. Only 1% of the population serves in the military. And Kelly says his is only one of 5500 American families that have lost a child in this war. There is a sense among military families that the war and these military families have been forgotten. One Marine Corps general wrote to Kelly that service to and sacrifice for the country has become a legacy affair for a small number of military families. Before the midterm Congressional elections only 2% of the people rated Afghanistan as a top issue and hardly any candidates mentioned this issue. Tom Brokaw, a well known anchor of NBC News, wrote in a major daily that the war and the sacrifices have been forgotten in the election and hardly discussed. Adm. Mike Mullen went so far as to say that he worries that we could wake up one day and that the American people will no longer know us and we won't know them....

LyrArc Article Gist
Leonhardt points out that public workers receive lower salaries and higher benefits than private workers. They are being paid in the wrong ways. For example with health insurance coverage that require little or no co-payment, which lead to overuse of healthcare services that don't necessarily improve health. Politicians and unions appear to have accepted this practice over the years. Public sector unions have blocked efforts to improve efficiency and find better ways of doing things from the classroom to work in government offices. Reforms in states such as Indiana have produced some results. But even these improvements do not address the magnitude of the problems facing the U.S. which stem from the public's desire to have it all- from large defense spending, public services, low taxes and no changes to Social Security and Medicare. Polls show Americans want to reduce deficit spending, but the same polls show Americans unwilling to make some difficult choices.

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Prof. Culbert of UCLA describes the problems of the Performance Reviews used in business and government. By using goal setting and getting bosses to work as mentors and partners for continuous improvement, a Performance Preview works to improve the system currently in use.

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The situation in the Japanese consumer market. There is a slow decline in Japanese department stores over the last 14 years. Car sales are also in decline. A number of trends are converging. Japan's population is declining. About one third of Japanese jobs are now non-permanent, part-time or contract jobs.The result is a decline in demand and move to lower priced goods. Smaller cars that have engine displacements below 660 cubic centimetres are seeing increasing sales. The cost is less than $10,000, and cost less to run and maintain. These cars were 20% of the total car sales in 1995, now they are 30%, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturer's Association.

LyrArc Article Gist
The increased oil supply in the Middle East will come largely from Saudi Arabia and Iraq by 2015. By 2020 the increased oil supply from Iraq will surpass increased Saudi production, when compared with 2009, according to the International Energy Agency. Iraqi production is currrently 2.7 million barrels a day. This jumps significantly in coming years. JBC Energy expects Iraqi oil output to increase to about 8 million barrels a day by 2020. This is a result of modernization and participation of foreign oil companies in the Iraqi oil industry. Comparitively Libyan output shows only a small increase.