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This WSJ editorial is critical of the Bank of England's policy of accepting a higher inflation rate of 2.5% when the target for inflation is 2%. The Bank of England's effort to bring down the unemployment rate by keeping interest rates low and continuing its bond purchase program is seen as going beyond the BOE's single mandate of maintaining price stability.

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Competing effectively for passengers on Asia routes and on other global routes is critical to generate 90% of synergy savings for the new American Airlines after the merger with US Airways, says Denning. Winning passengers from Delta and United will require good execution.

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LinkedIn's IPO is offered at a price of $45. This is up from estimates of $10 a week before the IPO. The career networking site opened at $83 and in a few hours zoomed to $122, before closing at $94.

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According to the U.S. Labor Department the average private sector work week went up from 33.7 hours during the recession to 34.3 in July 2011. UBS Securities estimates every one tenth of an hour increase in the workweek is equivalent to 320,000 jobs.

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The OECD forecast is for close to 3% U.S. annualized growth in the first and second quarters of 2012, and a mild contraction in Europe.

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Changes that are ocurring in Pakistan that are different from what was seen in the past. Pakistan's elite appears to have lost touch with ordinary Pakistanis. The country is becoming more Islamic in its thinking. America is now cited as the biggest threat for Pakistan in Pew Research and Gallup surveys by close to 60% of those surveyed. India is seen as much less of a threat, less than 20% see India as a threat. Over 10% see the Pakistan Taliban as a threat. Pakistan may be looking more inward now than in the past. In the past India dominated the military's thinking. Now it is concerned about too large of an American footprint in Pakistan, and may be encouraging the perception that America is a threat to Pakistan's having nuclear weapons. Pakistan's failure to invest in education, a budget for the military that takes a disproportionate share of resources, lack of investments in infrastructure continue to affect Pakistan. Female literacy is low, at about 40%. Support for democracy is not strong because of poor governance. Democracy in Pakistan is distorted by the large landowning families dominating Parliament. And the two main parties are dominated by the Bhutto and Sharif families. Only 42% of those surveyed said democracy was the best form of government in the Pew poll. Both the military and civilian governments have failed to make wise decisions that would bring opportunities to ordinary Pakistanis. Too much of the nation's resources were wasted in costly conflicts with India, and involvement in Afghanistan, which have not done much for Pakistan. In this situation Pakistan and Pakistanis continue to struggle along with no clear direction, but somehow make things work. A pullback from conflicts in neighboring states and focus on improving the lives of ordinary Pakistanis requires some far-sighted leadership....

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This article in the Economist describes the different perspectives on the Greece crisis in July 2015 as seen inside Germany. It cites a poll showing German 51% to 41% favoring a Greek exit from the eurozone. About 85% reject further concessions in a July 1, 2015 poll, including 68% of the supporters of The Left, a post-Communist party. Social Democrats leader Sigmar Gabriel, said of the Greece timeout from the euro proposal by finance minister Schauble- that it was the appropriate thing to consider all options. And 78% polled see Greeks not keeping their side of the deal. Some experts see stronger sentiment about Greece after the events in July 2015, and the raising of the issue of the debt haircut given to Germany in 1953, because Germans see themselves as having gone to great lengths to build a strong Europe after their own troubled history in the 20th century. If the goal was to win German support in 2015, this has come across as poor tactics and poor strategy, considering how it has changed German opinion across the spectrum of political opinion....