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DW.com says Greenland has some of the largest mineral deposits in world. Greenland is an island in the Arctic region that was first extensively explored by US Admiral Perry in the 1890's. In 1867 it was a planned American acquistion of Seward with the Alaska Purchase. Harry Truman planned acquisition of Greenland in 1947 after the War. The Nazis had planned to use it in the War.  Yet the BBC, Wash Post, NYT, and other media simply ignore this and take what Denmark has to say and present Denmark's view as something thought up at the White House. Clearly Denmark was a colonial power and acquired this territory totally averse to the interests of local population of tribes in the period since 1800. It acquired it in negotiations with colonial powers including Britain, Sweden, and Norway through the Treaty of Kiel in 1800 during the Napoleonic Wars. There is no legal basis for Denmark's colonization of Greenland. Germany and Britain understand this for whom the main interest lies in US being able to protect the eastern seaboard of the US from hostile nations who would also be hostile to Europe. Denmark's role in this is zero and it is totally useless for Denmark. It has less than the size of the NYC police department in Greenland and the population of Greenland would easily fit into a baseball stadium in the US. The US Navy with Adm. Perry discovered the North of Greenland from the southern part by dog sleds for the first time in the 1890's. It is hundreds of times the size of Denmark and covers the eastern seaboard of the US essential to US security since its founding- it is of no value to Denmark as Truman's Commanders in Chief pointed out in 1947, when after Seward in 1867 US moved to acquire it. Climate change and loss of 140 billion tons of ice over decades means it is becoming a navigable waterway- and poses risks for the security of the US requiring the US to take action in the interests of both the US and Europe, on which Denmark has ineptly chosen to misrepresent or obscure the facts as the facts can easily be researched. ...

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This opinion piece in De Zeit says there are different ways to look at Chancellor Merkel's refugee policy, as a failure, as an act of compassion, influenced by her experience in East Germany, her Christian upbringing as a daughter of a pastor, or Germany playing a role in Europe after Barrack Obama failed to provide American leadership in the refugee crisis. It says some of this commentary in the media ignores the fact that it was always the intention to accept a large number of migrants as part of a policy of European humanism in the face of misery of refugees, but to carefully manage this influx, to reduce the flow of refugees, and wind down the flow by vigorously addressing the causes. From this point of view the commentary about Merkel's failure is overdone. It is interesting that some of the weirder descriptions describe Germans conscious of the history as being outpatients in a American clinic closed down by president Obama. In any case American presidents have overreached, consider Reagan and Bush with German's strong or cautious reaction, and underreached with Obama providing cause for concern and efforts to fill in for a missing American role, with both roles difficult to fill for Germany by itself. America is not defined by its presidents and its politics alone, but by its own history, which has reflected the same values since the founding fathers Jefferson and Washington. Germany's policy has merely reflected these same values, at a time when the U.S. was simply taking a pause from its foreign involvements in regions fragmented by tribal, religious and other divisions. In doing so being the true partner it was its intention to be. ...

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This WSJ report looks at the situation in American cities where black people suffer disproportionately from the lack of resources to build better lives. Detroit, Milwaukee, St. Paul and St Louis are some of the worst hit cities in the lack of decent housing in the cities. Lenders once used redlining during the Depression era when most of the white population was still in the city so that the areas with black people were burdened with more restrictions and higher rates on loans. This report shows that the situation has changed little after the 1950's after 70 years of alternating Republican and Democratic administrations.   Now that most of the wealth and the white population has left the city of Detroit the population has declined from about 1.8 million to about 700,000. Only 1700 mortgages were made in the city because banks do not make money on tiny mortgages with the declining value of houses in black areas of the city. Black residents are largely shut out of financing, making home ownership harder, says this WSJ report.. Banks made subprime loans in the city and other cities in the U.S. before 2008 with politicians in both political parties supporting this in the name of home ownership. But these loans lacked financial due diligence as loans were made without attention to lender ability to pay off mortgages. After 2008 a financial crisis and higher unemployment hit the U.S. economy from the impact of these bad mortgages packaged and sold as assets. These loans ended up with foreclosure on homes leading to a drop in home ownership from 50% to 40% after a slight increase from 50%. Lacking genuine good intentions with sound financial sense these intentions of improving home ownership fell by the way side, worsening instead of improving things. The pandemic has hit black people and cities particularly hard. With the situation in Detroit continuing to languish from a lack of resources and a system that is failing, says this report in the WSJ.  The loss of manufacturing jobs has hurt black Americans particularly hard and a reversal of the manufacturing decline in the U.S. of the past three decades is needed for the situation to improve. This loss of manufacturing jobs has only increased the gap between the white and black unemployment rates in urban areas of the U.S., as it has also increased the gap in unemployment rates between white professionals with college degrees and whites lacking college education.  This ripping apart of the social fabric is a problem also seen in Europe with decline in manufacturing and other  problems leading to economic decay, coupled with housing and other issues inside cities.      ...

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You didn't have to be poor to be frugal. American frugality was a way of life on the prairies and farms of America for most of the eighteenth, nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. It was only after 1950's that piles of consumer products were discarded to pile up in rubbish mountains somewhere in the Atacama desert in Chile by 2020. The over use of plastic contaminated the land and the oceans. The consumer debt led to money sent overseas that could be invested in America so that workers could have good jobs and American manufacturing could hold its place in the world as second to none.

As old habits are revived some areas in America from upstate New York to upstate Michigan still cling to the old values as shown in this report by Claire Ansberry in the WSJ. 

 

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The other title of this article in the NYT was "California's fading Political Machines and volatile race for Governor." Gone are the days when Pat Brown was able to put his son Jerry Brown in the race for governor, there are 9 persons running for governor of California in 2026. The current governor Gavin Newsom is said to be promoting his book in Nashville, Tennessee, where many Californians are moving with the inflated cost of housing in the state. Gavin Newsom's grand father gave a $5000 check to Pat Brown in 1943 to run for District Attorney, this report says citing the book. From that time Pat Brown became Attorney General and then governor of California in 1958, defeating Richard Nixon in 1962. In 1962 Pat Brown seemed vulnerable as his signature accomplishment setting up the UC system of college campuses and the water reservoir, tax increases to pay for this, were in their beginning stages and their lasting value not recognized at the time. Nixon from Whittier, California, was a former Vice President and was seen as likely winner. This toughly fought election created the Pat Brown myth and so called machine that helped his son Jerry Brown to two terms as governor 1975 to 1983, and again after serving as Mayor of Oakland and Attorney General to come back to governors race again in 2011 (because term limits came after 2011) and be governor again 2011-2018. Another way of looking at it is that in his last two terms it was also Jerry Brown's careful balancing of the budget and finances of the state, his environmental support, that made him a reliable figure for the public interest not just the political machine backing him.  California to be sure has had popular governors on both sides Reagan won in 1966 as governor of California to succeed Pat Brown. The Kennedys and Pat Brown are matched by the Reagan supporters in the state. In today's situation where China's dominance in industry and manufacturing has affected all parts of deindustrialized America, California is no exception, where much of the middle class has seen their savings eroded, the issues are different and the challenges are different. ...

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Hedge funds betting against China's currency in Jan. 2016 puts Wall Street at odds with China's central bank's effort to manage the decline in the currency. Some hedge funds see a large drop in the value of the yuan in 2016-2017. China also faces the risk of large capital outflows. This is happening against the backdrop of China's effort to cut overcapacity in steel and other industries, manage large debt and the slowing economy, to shift towards a less export dependent and more domestic consumption oriented economy. Hedge funds are taking short positions against the yuan, as they expect China will need to recapitalize its banks considering the rapid acceleration in debt, leading to further depreciation in the currency.

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Samuelson of the Washington Post thinks lowering the mortgage payment to 31% through loan restructuring or allowing bankruptcy judges to make decisions about amount owed by borrowers is not the solution. He says give homeowners a10% tax credit upto $15,000 to stimulate home purchases. This is what the National Association of Home Builders is asking for. But in todays tight credit environment and job insecurity would this have any chance of working, fearful consumers and home buyers simply postpone purchases of big price items like cars and homes. This is an entirely rational decision especially when the consumer is overextended and pension funds value in stock holdings has dropped by around a third. These types of arguments have stalled any serious effort to prevent foreclosures by helping borrowers under water, as Martin Feldstein has suggested since early 2008, which only worsens the effects on home prices and on the economy.

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A popular show on Japan's television network TBS and on Netflix Japan is "Extremely Inappropriate" that takes a widowed physical education teacher boarding a bus in 1986 Japan straight into 2024 and shows him with his rebellious teenage daughter. It contrasts the casual sexism, long work hours and culture of that time in the early postwar years with the concern for sexual harrassment in the workplace, and a culture that is moving away from long work hours. It sees something to value in both eras as the father changes as he adapts to the present and still keeps some of the better parts of the previous era. 

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Steven Press of the Stanford History Department says "buying Greenland is not a new idea."  Actually Denmark sold hubs in India to the British Empire, offered Greenland for sale to US in 1900's,  and US president Harry Truman offered $100 million in 1946 for Greenland because of it's strategic value in the Cold War. Then why are the EU countries sounding indignation. Denmark was a colonial power in India in the 19th century. Denmark was explored in its widest extent by Robert Peary in the 1880's who proved it was an island by reaching it's northernmost side. Peary advocated for Greenland to be part of the US and the Commanders in Chief all agreed in 1946 the island "was completely worthless to Denmark," yet was vital to the United States, to protect its eastern seaboard. DJT is hardly the first to say this even though the Europeans want to excoriate hime for doing so. In fact it was Secretary of State William Seward in 1867 who looked at acquiring Greenland, when he negotiated the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire. Alaska is a lot ,a lot better for natives compared to it being under Russia, and this would be true for Greenland than being under Denmark. Denmark's claim was not even accepted till 1921 with Norway disputing it.  Denmark had not explored the northern part of the country when Robert Peary reached it for the US Navy and claimed it for the US inthe 1880's. It can be said that for these reasons Denmark has little reason to be in Greenland except as a colonial power. Its claims are from 1814 Treaty of Kiel with Prussia. Denmark can hardly protect Greenland's vast shoreline with 6 dogsleds, and security less than the New York Police Department, from Russian and Chinese submarines and ships in the Arctic. The native Inuit population of Greenland has little in common with Denmark as a colonial power. About 60,000 Inuit origin native residents, in the whole island, most of them would fit into one or several American bases, Okinawa alone has 80,000 people. Who would have per capita incomes many times what they are today with better living conditions and standards of health and education, security and air transport under the US.    ...

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A video of how the French people have come together during this crisis from France 24. It is an inspiring video of how France is returning to family values, a return to basics, about helping neighbors, children and others. Volunteers are helping, the state is helping by supporting 10 million people who have lost work and wages by paying these wages, a way in which the collective in France is helping the individual. There is also an interview with the founder of French app "Hello Neighbor" who describes the changes happening in France and a new sense of what it means to be human and loving thy neighbors. He says this is a time it is lucky to be French because of the respect in France for a strong public health service that serves all its citizens.

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Kamala Harris is a lifelong learner, this is how she has overcome different situations that were not favorable to her running for District Attorney, running for Attorney General, and running for president against Biden, then after being chosen VP nominee and VP elect navigating the last 4 years. Each time the effort to learn and always with a sense of belief that one associates with some of the Olympic athletes in cycling and rowing in the recent Paris event. BBC News looks at different events in her career and how there were doubts about her, she was put in unwinnable situations,  yet she continued her work resolutely with determination, keeping her values she gained from her mother and grandfather and learning from each situation to be better. So that when the time came after the first Biden Trump debate one long time Democratic supporter told her "Put on your seatbelt," to which she replied "I was born with a seatbelt."

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California has gone to put residential solar panels big time. Consider 47 gigawatts of production of solar energy installed , can supply 13.9 million homes and cover 25% of California's energy use. From desert landscapes in the Central Valley to rooftops in southern California it has spread so fast that the power grid does not know what to do with it during the day when demand is not high and supply is plentiful, a duck curve. About 5% of it goes to waste unused, and solar energy during the midday period is now not worth much to the grid. Officials want to switch from the 0.20 or 0.40 cents incentive per kilowatt hour  California pays for solar supplies to net metering that means pay only what is of value to the grid. In the Spring months this can be a net zero value to the grid and zero payments. In summer demand picks up because of air conditioning use middday. This has raised alarm that it will lead to a 40% drop in solar installations in the next year. It shows the challenges that more states will face. Nevada with 23% solar energy power is facing this situation. So is Hawaii. The Biden administration has $7 billion in grants to support rooftop solar in other states, to power 900,000 low income households. ...

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The New York Times editorial page on the day following the passage of the second bailout or rescue plan of $700 billion in the Senate after it was voted down in the House of Representatives. It points out that the bailout bill does little to prevent a wave of foreclosures which the NYT estimates at six million people expected to default in the rest of this year and 2009. It faults lenders unwillingness to reduce the loan balances amount. At a Congressional hearing for the Hope for Homeowners program in which the governmet wold insure upto $300 bilonin new affordable loans for troubled borrowers if the lenders voluntarily refinance delinquent mortgages by reducing loan balances to 90% of the homes' current market value, lending banks were lukewarm about taking these losses in exchange for bigger losses in foreclosures. These lenders include Wels Fargo, Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup. The FDIC's Sheila Barr has also advocated reducing loan balances in her proposal for tackling the housing crisis presented after the Bear Stearns crisis. She is taking this approach to banks that like IndyMac were taken over by FDIC. But the numbers are not large letters were sent to 28,000 delinquent borrowers of IndyMac recently to reduce loan balances. This is a serious problem and either Congress and Treasury are leaving this problem to the next administration taking office 3 months from now as there is no real consensus on this issue even today or they are missing the impact this has in dropping home price values even further in neigborhoods across the nation as foreclosures drive prices down even further compounding the problem. For the financial institutions it would appear that they are letting this drag out because their capital is at frighteningly low levels and taking losses at one time is harder than taking the foreclosure losses dragged out over 1-3 years and they are also looking for a way in which they can let the government bear the burden of losses as the crisis intensifies which can make sense from the point of view of each institution. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal on September 29, 2008, Sheila Barr told Congress this month that in recent years troubled loan portfolios have yielded about 32% of book value, compared with more than 87% for loans in which the borrower is current. These are strong statistics in favor of lenders taking an informed decision to lower loan balances voluntarily with some government help along the way but the fact that this is not happening leads one to think that something is falling between the cracks, initial lender reluctance to take losses through voluntary balance reduction at the time of Bear Stearns crisis given taxpayer reluctance and lack of government initiative to help lenders in doing this, sort of what Martin Feldstein suggested in a series of articles during the time before and after the Bear Steans crisis. And then as the credit crisis worsened with collapse of Lehman, WaMu, Freddie, Fannie and Wachovia in September 2008 fear gripping the markets and LIBOR interbank lending rate at close to 8%, banks gripped by the fear prevailing in the market, frozen practically about any steps other than preserving their hammered capital, and reluctant to take losses which would further impair their capital. Also in the WSJ Sept 8, on help for homeowners, Deutsche Bank estimates 40% of homeowners or about 20 million households will owe more than their home is worth by the time the housing market stabilizes. This will lead to some homeowners making the rational decision as Martin Feldstein argued to walk away from their homes, leading to more foreclosure losses for th banks. This article Rescue Includes Steps to Help Borrowers Keep Homes by Ruth Simon also has some information that confirms the NYT editorial. An analysis it says of 144 mortgage modifications by the Massachusetts Attorney General's office found that none reduced mortgage balances and onoly a handful reduced monthly payments. Even with interest rate reductions, the study showed borrrowers wound up paying more because of missed paymmets penalties and fees. Another study by Credit Suisse mentioned in the same article points out that the percentage of borrowers who were behind 6 months after loan modifications dropped to 17% when lenders reduced the loan balances and 13% when mortgage companies froze the interest rate of adjustable rate mortgages. A bigger problem is the effect on consumption, if 40% of homeowners end up owing more to the bank than their home is worth as Deutsche Bank estimates, combined with higher unemployment and higher parttime employment, by the time things stabilize. And this is the big looming problem for a new administration in January even if the bailout plan passes Congress this week after revisions and eases the crisis in the credit markets. ...

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McCain's Plan announced in the debate with Obama moderated by Tom Brokaw was clarified further and looks more like the plan proposed by Hubbard in the WSJ. The government would step in and clear up the old mortgages and issue new 30 year mortgages at 5%. Taxpayer money would be involved, about $300 billion but the effect would be immediate relief to all homeowners, and the opportunity to stabilize home prices before a recession makes the situation worse with higher unemployment, more foreclosures. As much as 40% of all mortgages acccording to Deutsche Bank expected to go under water with home values dropping below the outstanding mortgages, and encouraging default in that situation. Lenders who made mistakes would get off without punitive price but even in the purchase of toxic assets by the government there is no certainty that private equity and other buyers of the assets from the government would not benefit. And the banks themselves could unload these assets at below their value to the Treasury because of asymmetric information, the lenders having a better idea than Treasury what these assets are really worth. And bad lending practices especially abusive ones can be prosecuted through investigation, the courts, and tough negotiations by the states and the government just as Jerry Brown obtained a settlement against Countrywide/Bank of America for $8 billion. And some of the people involved in the abusive practices and who benefited from them could have charges filed against them and end up serving time. The advantage of such a plan is that it would be decisive action and comprehensive action to see immediate effects of preventing whole neighborhoods being blighted across the nation, as most people underestimate the speed of this downturn from 6% to 16% home foreclosures from 2007 to 2008 and expected to hit as much as 40% of all mortgages in 2009 or 2010 absent any such action. Making what seems sensible letting lenders take the pain for their mistakes could then end up causing systemwide pain. When other ways of punitive action or shared pain or burden could be found especially prosecuting such behaviour and getting settlements through investigations and tough negotiations with the offending lenders. ...

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This opinion piece in De Zeit says there are different ways to look at Chancellor Merkel's refugee policy, as a failure, as an act of compassion, influenced by her experience in East Germany, her Christian upbringing as a daughter of a pastor, or Germany playing a role in Europe after Barrack Obama failed to provide American leadership in the refugee crisis. It says some of this commentary in the media ignores the fact that it was always the intention to accept a large number of migrants as part of a policy of European humanism in the face of misery of refugees, but to carefully manage this influx, to reduce the flow of refugees, and wind down the flow by vigorously addressing the causes. From this point of view the commentary about Merkel's failure is overdone. It is interesting that some of the weirder descriptions describe Germans conscious of the history as being outpatients in a American clinic closed down by president Obama. In any case American presidents have overreached, consider Reagan and Bush with German's strong or cautious reaction, and underreached with Obama providing cause for concern and efforts to fill in for a missing American role, with both roles difficult to fill for Germany by itself. America is not defined by its presidents and its politics alone, but by its own history, which has reflected the same values since the founding fathers Jefferson and Washington. Germany's policy has merely reflected these same values, at a time when the U.S. was simply taking a pause from its foreign involvements in regions fragmented by tribal, religious and other divisions. In doing so being the true partner it was its intention to be. ...

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General Electric, GE, experienced a steep decline in the last decade. The worst news came in 2018 with the loss of half its share price and market value. One story tells about an employee who was forced out of retirement back to work seeing the loss of value in GE shares in 2018. Rarely has a company of this size seen a fall in stock price this steep, for a stock that was once seen as safe for widows. About 60% of GE business comes from jet engines, electric power generators and wind turbines. GE now plans to sell its health care business and other business that do not relate to core infrastructure in energy, aerospace, and other markets. Under Jack Welch a faulty model of adding diverse businesses that had nothing to do with its core business and expertise in infrastructure were added. A home mortgage lending business was added and GE Capital expanded. NBC Universal was added with little justification in a period when CEO's acted without much consultation. The home mortgage lending unit collapsed with large losses during the 2008 financial crisis and GE's share price dropped drastically to $6.00. Under Welch's successor Mr. Immelt the GE Capital unit was shrunk in size, but losses continued to mount. An oil field service unit was added which also sustained losses.  Immelt's successor Flannery faced a loss of $15 billion from the financial lending unit. Sale of some businesses was not sufficient to meet the loss. Flannery is now taking GE out of all the businesses which were not core business. The NBC Universal television business was sold to Comcast in 2013. GE Healthcare is next. This closes a bad chapter in GE's story under Welch and Immelt. GE's dividend was cut for the second time since the Great Depression. The story of GE is also the story of American business during the last two decades, with icons such as GM, Ford and GE suffering decline, businesses that operated like little fiefdoms of old nobility in Europe, with CEO's operating in a CEO centric culture, not tolerating contrary opinion for informed debate on issues facing the business. Alfred Sloan founder of Genral Motors called constructive debate central to good management. Later Intel CEO Andy Grove coined the phrase constructive confrontation as a way of constructive debate, and the CEO was shown as the first of equals. The CEO centric management ignored these warnings and admonitions in running their fiefdoms.   ...

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This editorial in the WSJ shows a different view of the passage of the $280 billion semiconductor bill in the US Congress and the Biden Schumer negotiation for the $369 billion climate change and tax bill that was done at rapid pace in the span of 24 hours. It sees this from the view of the Republican party that hoped to present president Biden as a failure, unable to tackle inflation or achieve much for action on climate change, renewable energy, and building America's supply chain.  All this is happening quickly and shows the value of patience and persistence, and faith in the ultimate fairness of the American cause during a difficult time of war in Europe and rancor at home. It is not that 17 Republican Senators got played as the WSJ puts it, they voted for the $280 billion semiconductor bill on its merits and their ultimate faith in the fairness of the American cause and faith in America's workers and families, in its people. ...

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The impact of foreclosure in one Detroit neighborhood called Boston-Edison, where Henry Ford once lived and how the residents who have a neighborhood association going back many years to the 1920's are coping. The human consequences of foreclosures for a neighborhood. How could either side win, the lenders or the borrowers in a foreclosure situation and the need for the government to step in and bring some sense to the whole thing before it sinks both and blights towns and neighborhoods across America. One home bought for $179,000 in April 2006 was sold in the Boston-Edison area for guess how much, $6,500. Which shows that by the time thieves who for the copper and metal mining of these homes can destroy tens of thousands of dollars in value in minutes, and the deterioration of the neighborhood with crime and boarded up looks, and the very presence of foreclosures on each street destroys enormous amounts of value so that in this case the bank and its lenders got how much, less than $6500 or less than 4% of its original price. Repeated all across America this just does not make sense. Just as it never made sense for those who benefitted from the housing boom to say that subprime lending was a good thing because it brought home ownership to the less well off. Only lending that is at rates that are reasonable and considers the borrowers true finances, and on ethical and fair terms can be good lending and only government regulation designed to be easily enforceable and keeps lenders responsible, can ensure that this happens, as a free market is not good for this sort of thing. And this is all the more true for lending to those who are less well of because their ability to screen these contracts and their wording is not adequate and their own understanding of their finances inadequate. Barclay's Capital estimates that there are 811,000 bank owned homes in the USA, up from 129,000 in 2006, and predicts that it will grow by 60% before peaking in late 2009. ...

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Millets are small seeded grass grown since ancient times in India and Africa that have the advantage during climate change of being resilient to drought, adverse weather patterns, require less water, and provide high nutritional value. In India known as bajri and ragi, in Sri Lanka as Kurakkan, and in America as finger millet, these ancient grains similar to ones in Eastern Europe that also lost popularity, were during the Industrial Revolution replaced by wheat and rice over most of the planet. The return of hope with a path for climate change action, a path out of inflation, also includes a path to better health through a transformation in food habits and in agriculture for Europe, the US, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Here Lyrarc brings to readers the UN Exhibition at the delegates entrance in New York Feb 15-17 that showcased millets. Dr.  Arun Nagpal says we often feel that healthy products involve a compromise in taste- "However millet products carefully crafted and combined with other ingredients can bring taste and value to almost every world cuisine today. From flours to breads, cookies to pizzas, pastas, cakes, breakfast cereals, smoothies and so on." He emphasizes that millets don't have to be forced into our diets but can easily be integrated into an existing style or pattern across ages and cultures, across cuisines and nations, and across the dietary preferences. ...

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Lawmakers in Congress finally get overwhelming bipartisan support behind a plan to help homeowners facing foreclosure. The rate of homeowners going into foreclosure is 8000 a day or 2,920,000 between now and the same time next year, with the burden falling more heavily in some regions or states like Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida, and in states where the economy is weak as in the auto industry states of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. This took some time apparently as there was some hope a couple of months before that the economy would recover and taxpayer money need not be spent to rescue homeowners and lenders from their folly. Now the economy looks sure to go into a serious downturn and homeowner prices measured by the Case-Shiller index show a 16.5% drop in prices from this time last year. Lenders earlier had balked from reducing the size of the loans and balance owed by lenders as part of their contribution. Now with losses of 40-60% in foreclosure the new federally guaranteed mortgages which require reducing the loan money owed to 85% of current value are looking attractive. The new mortgages are 30 year fixed loans with a federal guarantee. Only borrowers wanting to stay in their primary home are eligible. Borrowers also have to pay hefty fees to save taxpayer money. Buyers who purchase unoccupied properties will get a $8000 refund tax credit. There is some concern that because the bill is fairly complicated homeowners and lenders would not make larger use of it....

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This piece in the Economist says the men involved in sexual harassment in Cologne identifed so far were Moroccans and Algerians, not Syrians. The police in Cologne are seen as failing to identify sexual attackers and apprehend them on the spot. Tensions will exist because of the different values in the Middle East, and as in America, the Economist says the refugees must be required to adopt the values and norms of the new country. Because most of the refugees are men, this could skew the men to women ratio in some places which welcome refugees, and for this reason the men should be allowed to bring their spouses. So far German chancellor Merkel has acted firmly, calling the sexual attacks "disgusting," passing laws that would make it possible to quickly deport those migrants and refugees who break the law in Germany. This is the right way to tackle the problem. In the long run the immigration will help countries such as Germany tackle the problem of aging of the labor force, yet in the short run stronger action is needed to prevent any abuses to the humanitarian welcome offered refugees. The problem of economically motivated migrants remains- Britain, Germany and France all agree that these migrants should go back to their home countries, as prime minister Cameron and chancellor Merkel have already affirmed....

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John Fritze gives this exceptional report in USA Today with a gallery of black and white pictures on the life and work of an American who truly embodied some of the best spirit of America. Born on a ranch in the Arizona-New Mexico region in America's southwest in the 1920's she built in herself a remarkable resilience to start work in the law when women were not hired for legal work, choosing to start work as an unpaid legal worker at the county attorney's office in San Mateo because he had hired a woman once. Her response -"I loved my work and it was great," shows a remarkable attitude and one that reflected some of the ethos of America in the nineteenth century, what makes America and wins the respect of the world in Asian, African and Latin American countries. Her response at 75 years when retiring was to engage in work she loved and brought value to the nation- creating iCivics website to teach civics knowledge to children. She also led the College of WIlliam and Mary and engaged with young people. ...

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The Trader Monthly embodied a certain Wall Street trader culture that was unlike anything that the national values we as anation have valued and handed down for generations. It was not only about extravagant outrageously large earnings and flamboyant spending but a sense that these people were a special breed of winners. A $300,000 turntable was not the only thing that characterized this culture. In 2006 Trader Monthly took into its hall of Fame a Chicago mercantile Trader and described him admiringly as " aconqueror, physically imposing, and at times, verbally abusive. Clad in his signature white jacket, he would crush anyone who dared to cross him or tried to pick his pocket." And the justification for all this was that traders delivered. Except that many of these gamblers and overaggressive complex people who had somehow lost the Christian ethic of their forefathers, had helped messed up the delicate gears that work the capitalist economy in positive ways, and caused a massive misallocation of capital that would bring grief for years to come through high unemployment, closing small businesses, and dislocations of the nation's economy. ...

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There is a surge in online classes and web based learning by 2017. About 36 million people in the U.S. who have some college but no degree benefit from these classes. The low overhead and value of these classes is making colleges move ahead with investment in this field. Arizona State, University of Massachusetts, are some of the universities pushing ahead. Purdue University as part of its "You Can, Go Back" initiative under president Mitch Daniels,is planning to acquire Kaplan University to supplement its efforts. 2U which runs online school programs has revenue growth of 30% a year. It runs marketing and the web platform, nuts and bolts, while schools provide faculty, in a unique collaborative effort. Colorado State University Global Campus went from 200 students to 18,000 half from Colorado, with only a $12 million loan from the University in 2007, which it paid back by 2012, showing the financial viability of these classes. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Bondholders and the Greek government are stalled in talks and waiting for Germany and the IMF to come up with the 14.5 billion euros that is due on March 20, 2012. It may suit the bondholders holding out for a higher interest rate in the 4-5% range for the new bonds to be issued at 50% of face value with long term maturities, but is bad for Europe. This Journal editorial points out that this is bad for European taxpayers and points to other steps that can be taken which are being discussed in European circles. One step is for acollective action clause to be inserted for the existing Greek bonds under which all bondholders have to accept losses if two thirds of the bondholders agree to accept losses. To ensure the safety of the Greek banking system Greece would restructure the bonds held by Greek banks so that they continue to be acceptable as collateral with the ECB, and issue new bonds to the ECB with face values, interest rates and maturities matching existing holdings. The idea is to make it possible for Greece to reduce its total debt and its debt servicing costs- which is really the only way out of the crisis. The ECB and Greece would use the collective action clause to restructure the Greek debt to reduce interest and debt servicing costs on new bonds to be issued. The Journal editorial says it should also mean Greece and the ECB are not required to put up the 30 billion euros in up-front cash that was agreed to in a poorly devised agreement in 2011....