LyrArc Article Gist
McCain can take Michigan, it doesn't help that Detroit is one of the most segregated cities in the country and racial politics could hurt Obama here. McCain is also seen as a outsider who can shake things up. It would be hard for Obama to make up for a loss in Michigan and in one of the states like Ohio, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin. The Kilpatrick scandal also does not do much to help Obama.

LyrArc Article Gist
Budget cuts leading to cutting of gym classes in American schools.

LyrArc Article Gist
Exhibitions in Istanbul from the period 1970-1980 and the violent activity from protest groups and others during that period. Lingering effects today with crackdown on journalists by the Erdogan government and polarization of public opinion.

LyrArc Article Gist
The example of airline restructuring after September 11, 2001, as a guide for the Detroit automakers rescue package.

LyrArc Article Gist
This editorial in the WSJ tackles the issue of Russian hacking during the U.S. presidential election by saying that this should not be seen as a move by Democrats after the election defeat, and yet at the same time supports the Republican Congress's efforts to hold an inquiry into the hacking during the election. 

LyrArc Article Gist
The structure of the deal that is coming up for a vote in Congress on August 1st, a day before the August 2 deadline. A deal put together mainly by Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and Vice President Biden after other deals failed. It gives the government $400 billion immediately and another $500 billion in the fall for raising the debt ceiling. Another 1.2 trillion will be added in 2012. The entire burden for raising it falls on Obama. Obama will be able to get the debt ceiling raised without another long struggle before 2012 elections. On spending cuts- agency spending will be cut by $900 billion over the next 10 years. A new legislative committe will be set up to come up with $1.2 trillion in additional savings by the end of 2012. The mechanism that would force the committe to act or make sure spending cuts were taken if the committee failed, was set up as one in which the trigger is to force automatic across the board cuts. The automatic across the board cuts would be for $1.2 trillion to agency budgets for the next 10 years, and split this half and half between domestic programs and defence. Programs aiding the poor including Medicaid and Social Security would be exempted, but Medicare payments to providers could be touched. No new taxes are part of this deal....

LyrArc Article Gist
Chancellor Merkel visits Latvia in August 2014 and calls for a "persistent NATO presence" in the Baltic states. Merkel also visits Ukraine for talks with Ukrainian leaders. Germany is also mediating in the crisis and helped to arrange a meeting between Russian president Putin and Ukraine president Poroshenko in Belarus.

LyrArc Article Gist
France has a large public sector which gives it protection in this crisis from mounting job losses. According to the OECD France had91 public sector jobs for every 1000 peopple compared to 49 for Germany. Public spending is 52.4% of GDP in 2007, compared with 44.4% for the UK, and 37.4% for the USA, according to the OECD. Still the unemployment rate is rising. The unemployment rate was 7.9% in November 2009.

LyrArc Article Gist
Daimler's operating margins trail badly behind BMW and other competitors. Operating margins for 4th quarter 2012 were 5.3%, about half of margins at BMW in recent quarters. Mercedes sales have slowed in Europe and China. Growth in China has rapidly lost momentum after a strong 2011.