LyrArc Article Gist
This NYT report by Patrick Kingsley shows how the hopes for peace with Kurds in Turkey under the Erdogan government have faded. By 2015 peace talks faltered with Kurdish separatist groups. Kingsley's report shows towns such as Sirnak and Cizre in the southeastern part of Turkey are now ghost towns after government troops and tanks moved in. This means that Turkey not only has about 3 million refugees from Syria and Iraq fleeing the war there, but also large numbers of refugees in Kurdish areas inside Turkey. Added to this are the tensions between the party of prime minister Erdogan and the opposition, following a crackdown and as the referendum for granting new powers to the presidency under Mr. Erdogan approaches.

LyrArc Article Gist
Kingsley of the NYT provides this report from Turkey describing the impact of the conflict with the Kurds inside and outside the country.

LyrArc Article Gist
The contrast between Carlos Tavares and Elon Musk can be seen in this exchange between Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk. Carlos Tavares plans a big manufacturing effort for Stellantis in electric cars- 75 models by 2030- with a very different culture than that of Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk, that builds on the dignity of each worker and family. Social media is used by Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk for their own benefit, by manipulating culture and beliefs including how capital of society should be allocated away from HEIRS (Health, Education, Infrastructure, Retirees, and Societal needs). Absent Mr. Musk America would still be producing electric cars as is evident from the intense competition between the major car companies and their complete switch to electric on a scale needed for tackling climate change. Who is the better role model for young people in the US or Europe? Carlos Tavares with his simplicity and caring for dignity of workers or Donald Trump, Elon Musk with their rancorous exchanges and comments, and extravagant behaviour.     ...

LyrArc Article Gist
WSJ Editorial Board on 2025 DJT version of Eisenhower's 1954 Operation Wetback to curb foreign born employment. After the Biden years when foreign born employment surged the decrease by 773,000 shown by Trend Macro in foreign born employment for Jan- April 2025 in the WSJ, is an adjustment from the effects of Biden open border policies. This also prevents downward pressure on wages for American workers in construction, hospitality and retail- the story of the last 20 years. This is similar to what would have been seen in the Eisenhower years after Operation Wetback led by Gen. Swing and AG Brownell in 1954. Just as by 1956 the foreign born employment declined after years of uninhibited illegal migrant growth and open borders in the years of World War II. Note that Mexico's agribusiness owners were against open borders in that period and the Mexican government was also against open borders and the loss of labor from Mexico needed in agribusiness. Today the situation is somewhat different but in the sense of an adjustment it may be very similar. Just as in 1956 Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 had a mandate for making this adjustment DJT has won a mandate for a similar adjustment in 2024. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
New affordability and choice in EV's in US under $40000 in 2025. Even without incentives from the government EV's remain an attractive option now that new gasoline cars cost an average of $49,000 and affordable EV's come at price range uder $40,000. In Germany VW has EV models for about $30,000 and this pricing and choice of models can be expected in the US in 2026. Mims looks at how EV's are now a realistic option for car buyers in 2025. Americans drive an average of 33 miles a day- the 300 mile range of new EV's means charging once a week is good enough. New EV batteries are better and can outlast a vehice's life. Savings from low maintenance costs can make up for any shortfalls for EV's.

LyrArc Article Gist
U.S. auto companies are steadily reducing the incentives that reduced profit margins for many years. Cash back offers of various kinds to subsidized leasing programs are being pared back steadily in a determined effort to raise profit margins by Ford Motor, GM and Chrysler. The average incentive was $2,124 per vehicle in October, which was 1.4% below the level the prior year, according to Edumnds.com. The increase in demand helps automakers. The annualized rate for sales in 2012 was 14.4 million. The figures for incentives by automaker released by Edmunds.com show GM with the highest figure of $3037 per vehicle in incentives for October 2012, followed by Ford Motor at $2788, and Chrysler at $2683. The gap between U.S. car makers and the Japanese has narrowed, with Toyota at $1621 and Honda at $1420 per vehicle in incentives for Oct. 2012.

LyrArc Article Gist
Greek yogurt sales have doubled every year since 2006. It is praised by nutritionists for its flavor and protein content. The market leader is Chobani, founded by Hamdi Ulukaya, of Turkish origin, who has dairy plants in Johnston, New York. Chobani's sales were $196 million, as of Oct 3, 2010, having nearly tripled from the prior year. The irony is hat Chobani bought Kraft's yogurt plant to set up this business. Kraft had decided to exit the yogurt business in 2005. Now with sales climbing rapidly, Kraft is back in the business. Kraft has introduced its new Athenos brand Greek yogurt at Wal-Mart stores. General Mills introduced Greek Yoplait yogurt in March 2010. A change in American eating habits is driving this trend, as more people are substituting yogurt for breakfast instead of cereal. Overall yogurt sales are up 7.8% over the past year, according to UBS analyst Palmer. The CEO of Yoplait, General Mills, says there is room for continued growth, as Americans eat yogurt less per person than people in the U.K., Australia or Canada. The No 2 yogurt maker is brand is Fage, which started in a small dairy shop in Athens. Fage began exporting to the US in the 1990's, and set up a dairy plant in New York state. To reach the main demographic for yogurt- health conscious women- this brand advertised in Women's magazines Vogue and Elle, and ran banner ads on the New York Times website, as well as ads on food and wine sites. Fage's sales were up 50% by Oct 3, 2010, and reached $123 million in the US market....

LyrArc Article Gist
A Consumer Financial Product Safety Commission will take over financial and regulatory oversight of the credit card and mortgage industry from the Fed and other banking regulators. Its job will be to protect consumers and ordinary investors. The Fed under former chairman Greenspan failed to do anythingabout the deceptive practices in these industries which led to the current crisis.

LyrArc Article Gist
BMW is investing 530 million euros to build an all new zero emission electric Megacity car at an assembly plant in Leipzig, East Germany. This will create 800 new jobs. BMW CEO Reithofer, says this demonstrates BMW's committment to invest in Germany as a high-tech location.

LyrArc Article Gist
Interview with Honda CEO Takeo Fukui. In June Honda will rollout a new hydrogenpowered fuel cell vehicle called the FCX Clarity. Its powered with electricity produced by combining hydrogen and oxygen in batterylike fuel cells. Honda will have this vehicle available for lease this summer in California and aims to deliver about 200 of these cars by 2010. Fukui's attitude is refreshing when compared to that of other automakers when answering a question by John Murphy of the WSJ about why try to build a hydrogen car when the stations to power the cars do not exist yet. He tells Murphy if you asked were there any gas stations when Henry Ford came up with the Model T, there weren't any, lets build the cars first and the infrastructure will follow. And Honda is working on the technology that will make it possible to charge hydrogen into fuel-cell vehicles at home . He sees it happening first in California and some other states, and in Japan and Europe. And he sees it taking about 10 years to get some sort of infrastructure in place. Considering the long term nature of the demand side with the gradual inclusion of billions of people in China and India as well as Brazil and Russia into the world economy as well as people in other developing countries this is a solution that takes patient and focused development of technology which Honda is setting out to do. He does not see a safety issue in use of hydrogen vehicles as he is confident Honda can develop the expertise to handle the safety issue for hydrogen. What is his thinking on green vehicles? What happened to the Insight the first hybrid car that Honda introduced? The Insight was never intended to be a mass seller, only to establish Honda's record as having the best record in fuel efficiency. What is Honda doing in this area. Honda does see a problem in this area. Toyota he says developed a green image largely on the back of one car the Prius. Honda will come up in 2009 with a dedicated hybrid vehicle to match the Prius. And Honda is setting the bar high for this Honda hybrid, saying that his feeling that this model will have to overwhelm and overtake the Prius. He goes on to say that this is key for us. Honda he says will take on the challenge and compete with Toyota with its products, its technology, and its racing spirit. This gasoline-electric hybrid will be introduced early next year in the USA, Japan, and Europe, and it will be the first of 4 hybrid models Honda will introduce by 2015. Regarding price the company says it will be "affordable". Honda's goal is to sell 500,000 hybrid vehicles a year. Toyota aims to sell 1 million hybrid vehicles early in the next decade and is working on developing its own hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle. Is Honda developing electric cars? Takeo Fukui thinks the practical feasibility of the electric vehicle is very limited. The two biggest issues in his view being driving distance and recharging time. The FCX Clarity can be recharged in one minute, compared to the several hours for an electric vehicle. In his view the electric vehicles will be uselful only for restricted applications like golf carts. Nissan and General Motors are planning to launch electric vehicles. What is Honda's environmental strategy? Honda being a smaller company has to focus its resources wisely with strategic choices. His focus is on the hybrid as the core product, and after that comes fuel cell and clean diesel as the core products to tackle fuel eficiency and CO2 issues. Takeo has spent more than a decade on Honda's racing teams. He drives a CR-V and enjoys driving up and down the mountains, does not race but does get on Honda's test track once or twice a year. And what has he learned from all the years in racing. When he was fully engaged in the motorcycle racing teams he says the pressure was very high and if they did not do well they got bashed by managers and the media. And actually the results were disappointing for years and the teams kept losing. For hime the series of difficulties and challenges was something that he feels everyone should experience because in some ways he acquired wisdom and creativity to get through these experiences. This is some thing Honda and Fukui will need as they try to develop their own hybrid to take the lead from Toyota and come up with industry leading technology in tackling fuel efficiency and CO2 issues. His own approach to management? Two things he always keeps in mind are take time to keep up good communication with associates at work, and testing Honda's own products with his own hands. What does he think about the auto industry in 2008, is it a turning point? He says it has becom clear in 2008 that a company has to have the technology to deal with carborn dioxide and fuel efficiency issues. And its clear that smaller vehicles are more attractive than larger vehicles. And its possible he says that we may go back from automobiles to motorcycles. In fact in India Honda is promoting motorcycles in a big way, while Tata is developing the Nano for mass market, so Takeo is talking about something that Honda sees happening in some places. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The Chevy Niva is a $14,000 sports utility vehicle manufactured in the Volga River industrial city of Togliatti in Russia. It is manufactured through a joint venture between Russia's AvtoVaz and GM. It is considered a reliable car and about 500,000 Nivas were sold in the last decade. GM plans a $200 millon investment in a new plant that will increase production to 120,000 Nivas a year by 2015.