LyrArc Article Gist
A sense of public perceptions that the IRS scrutiny of conservative groups is not something that happens in America.

LyrArc Article Gist
In this essay in Der Spiegel, Charles Hawley says that the Trump movement has become a movement of patriotic downtrodden whites, with a whole range of interests-of extreme right talk show hosts, Tea Party politicians, white power supremacists, those left out by globalization in the working class especially in the midwestern states. The danger he says is that this movement of which Trump has become a part, rejects the narrative on which America is based of the Constitution and the Founding Fathers establishing a country based on principles of "the inalienable rights of man," that have evolved through the years to include black people, women, and minorities.  To put this in perspective, president Obama writing for The Economist magazine in October 2016, puts this movement in a different context- that of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, Know Nothing Movement of the 1800's, the anti-Asian sentiment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, periods when anti-immigrant or anti-foreign sentiment gained prominence. Obama's view is that it is not fundamentally economic. In this he is right in that some of the forces on the far right do not stem from globalization. Yet he would be missing a great deal if he did not address the economic problems for the middle and working class that have given such views the support of a broad segment of the population, especially in some midwestern and older industrial states compared to say the economy of California or New York. Obama is aware of the problems in his essay as he points to the problems of workers trying to get a decent wage, of job losses through globalization, and the aggravation of these problems by the financial crisis of 2008 when some of the potential physicists and engineers as he calls them went into the financial sector to create faulty mortgages. Yet he goes back to the free trade and global networks of supply chains as having reduced global poverty, without showing a keen awareness of how it has through a combination of events and decades of policy indifference to manufacturing communities in the U.S.- as documented by experts and shown in Lyrarc, with David Autor and Gordon Hansen in the WSJ, 2016- 08-16. A Gallup Study, WSJ, 2016-05-16, supports Obama's assertion by showing that many of Trump supporters are actually self-employed and not in economic distress. Yet the movement would not have taken its proportions without the merging of different groups particularly largely disadvantaged working class voters, and fortunately Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, have a better sense of this than the president. It is by their efforts that income and wealth disparities can be tackled in a way that restores the social fusion of all parts of society- in Hillary Clinton's emphatic words in the final debate by "growing the middle," growing the middle class. This is the task of the next decade, or possibly two decades. (For Gallup study see WSJ, How Economic Anxieties Explain Trump's Appeal- And Where They Fall Short, Nick Timiraos, 08-16-2016. And for Autor, Hanson, see Tallying the Toll of U.S.-China Trade, Justin Lahart, 08-27-2011)   ...

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Section 230 is a law passed in 1996 that makes the Social Media Companies and Media companies such as Meta and Google and others to have no liability for content posted on their sites. This has allowed these companies to grow and develop monopolies on the internet. Here CSPAN covers the hearings in the US Senate today December 9  with the following US Senators speaking at a Senate hearing on Online Safety for Children. Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island describes the biggest problem as being the Section 230 which needs to be removed. The following mothers who are Senators and mothers or grand mothers of children were very vocal on this point- Katie Britt-Alabama, Martha Blackburn-Tennessee, Ashley Woody-Florida (former Attorney General of Florida).  Senators who are fathers or grandfathers of children speaking are-Josh Hawley-Missouri,      Whitehouse-Rhode Island, Bluementhal-Connecticut, Corbyn-Texas, Chuck Grassley-Iowa. Senator Whitehouse says-  "I understand Senator Graham was with respect to getting rid Of Section 230 Um, I strongly believe that Section 230 has long outlived its use, and it is now a real vessel for evil. That needs to come to an end. Um, the laws that Section 230 protects these big platforms from are very often laws that go back to the common law of England. that we inherited when this country was initially founded. I mean, these are long lasting, well tested. Important Legal constraints that have They've met the test of time, not by the year, by the decade, but by the century. And yet because of this crazy Section 230, these Ancient and highly respected doctrines just don't reach these people. And it really makes no sense that if you're a Internet platform you get treated one way. You do the exact same thing. And you're a publisher, you get treated a completely different way. And so I think that the time has come. I think it's pretty widely known that there were a core 4 of us. Ready to proceed with a bipartisan bill 2 and 2. And a A lot of work, important work, good work, valuable work has gone into making sure that other members of the committee and other members of the Senate have a chance to look at that and decide whether they want to join or not. And I'm at the stage right now where I think we just need to go." The Online Safety Act passed overwhelmingly in the US Senate recently still languishes in the House of Representatives. Ostensibly because of free speech but really because of monopolies and campaign contributions, and beyond this because of the idea that rapid internet growth gives the US economic and business leadership in the world. That is not how it has turned out instead by weakening the education of the children of the Nation this has created the idea in China and other nations that the US's period of world leadership has passed. In the overall scheme of things social media has weakened education in America as children of the Nation spend countless hours away from classroom education on their smartphones. Australia and other countries including China regulate the use of the smartphones and internet social media for children under the age of 14. This regulation strengthens education in these countries at the same time that the absence of limits weakens education competitiveness in America, and creates the idea that America's days of leadership in education have passed.The loss of this leadership means the loss of American leadership in the world in a decisive way. ...

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Iran's Ahmadinejad's speaks to reporters and editors in New York before his address to the UN General Assembly. He says: "During a historical phase, the Israelis come into the picture and are then eliminated." This WSJ editorial finds President Obama's response and his address at the General Assembly of the United Nations inadequate to convince Iran's government and ruling mullahs that the program has to be ended. Sanctions have not produced the needed results and have only gradually been tightened showing a lack of resolve. President Obama failed to speak up for young people and university students in Iran who held demonstrations against the Ahmadinejad regime when it changed the election results- just as he did not speak up for the young people fighting a dictatorship in Libya and Egypt, or just as has failed to do for the young people fighting today in Syria. In this respect Obama has abandoned America's role as a beacon of hope for countries around the world. It is left to American media and public opinion to vigorously express these ideas in unison, as it has already done every step of the way. Clearly Ahmadinejad does not speak for the Iranian people, especially the young generation, and Egypt's president Morsi like every other Arab leader may have problems with Israeli policy but sees the need for peaceful coexistence. It would be more accurate to say that the Iranian people, like the people of Syria, are trapped as Morsi put it to the General Assembly, in "the tragedy of our era," moving from dictatorship to dictatorship....

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With Bud Lights sales declining for the last 3 years, Anheuser Busch is responding with new "craft" beers and new malt beverages which have the taste of iced tea and tequila. Anheuser has 46.9% of the U.S. market, down from 48.9% in 2008, according to Beer Marketer's Insights. Shipments declined by 3.2% in 2011. The emergence of many small independent "craft" beers as consumers look for variety and new alternatives, has cut into sales for Anheuser and MillerCoors. MillerCoors, a joint venture between London based SABMiller and Denver based Molson Coors Brewing, is increasing its advertising budget by 50% to boost Miller Light. In the U.S. "craft" breweries increased production by 13% in 2011, reaching 10 million barrels according to the Brewers Association. This is 5% of the total market in the U.S. of 200 million barrels. Anheuser's new product introductions include Bud Light Platinum, with higher alcohol content, and new packaging, which has taken a 1% share in the market. Anheuser has a research brewery which is trying out new beers- one is a wheat India Pale Ale with its strong taste, introduced under its Shock Top Label. In the malt beverage category Anheuser has Bud Light Lime-a- Rita, with 8% alcohol coming to stores in April, that has the flavor of margarita. Anheuser is also heavily promoting its Belgian beer Stella Artois, which increased sales by 24% in 2011, to reach 1 million barrels. Another strategy is buying craft breweries, such as Chicago based Goose Island, which Anheuser acquired for $39 million in 2011....

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DW.com shows the Straits of Hormuz where the Persian Gulf meets the Gulf of Oman before it meets the Arabian Sea facing India. Ships cross a narrow space of 2 miles in the narrowest point that is 21 miles wide in the Straits of Hormuz. The UAE, Oman face Iran in that area. 20 million barrels of oil by tanker traffic cross the Straits of Hormuz every day. India, China, Japan and EU depend on the Straits of Hormuz for oil supplies making it critical for sea navigation. Iranian parliament  has threatened closing of the Straits as aresponse to the US strike on nuclear weapons development sites. China and India lose cheaper oil supplies from Iran as a result of the Israel-Iran war. Russia, Saudis, UAE, Qatar, gain because it increases the price of oil supplies from Russia. Iran loses a source of oil revenue with damage to its oil facilities. The Israeli economy is resilient and its stock markets are showing rapid growth as the war changes the Gulf region and  Southwest Asia, South Asia moving it in the direction of economic and business deals and agreements that enhance improvement in the lives of the people away from decades of conflict from the colonial era in which the British and the French gained control of the Gulf region and Iraq, Syria after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the anti colonial regimes that failed to provide development, the CIA's intervention under Dulles and Eisenhower to remove the democratically elected government of Mossadegh in Iran in 1953 and its repercussions in the Reagan period with Rumsfeld/Reagan compounding that error by supporting Iraq's Hussein leading to 3 decades of loss of American lives in the region's wars and also endangering Israel. ...

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Volkswagen sales for the VW brand decline by 5.3% in October 2015 over the prior year following the emissions scandal.

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The Dow Jones Average is outdated says the WSJ, and belongs to the age of slide rule, human stock selection, and does not belong in an age of automated index tracking.The 7 large Tech stocks make up 13.9% of the Dow Jones Average and 33% of the S&P 500. And Alphabet, Meta and Tesla are not part of the Dow Jones Average. As a result Dow Jones was outperformed by S&P 500 by 10 percentage points in 2023 and 2024.

Just 5 stocks United Health, Goldman Sachs, Home Depot, Caterpillar and Sherwin Williams make up 32% of the Dow Jones Average.

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Texas regulators approved a new wind transmission project which will add a network of transmission lines from west texas to the big cities like Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio. These lines will handle 18,500 megawatts of power, enough for 3.7 million homes on a hot day when air conditioners are running. It will add to the 5300 megawatts of already installed capacity. The project will cost $4.93 billion and will come on stream by 2013. Texas now leads the nation in wind energy with twice the capacity of the next leading state California. Texas is unique because it has its own transmission grid so it can move faster without needing approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Transmission is a big problem because in west Texas some of the wind generators have to be turned off because of lack of transmission capacity.

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The present grid was conceived 100 years ago so it cannot accomodate the transmission demands of wind energy turbines. First the location of these wind farms is in places like upstate New York or in places in the prairies like Kansas and possibly in places like Wyoming where the wind blows relentlessly and the major population areas are farther away, the transmission capacity of lines in these sparsely populated areas is small and so getting the wind energy out to where its needed is a problem. Building bigger transmission lines runs into getting support from different states and property owners as the states have jurisdiction and not the federal government over transmission lines and this requires a lot of people giving approvals thus holding up a rapid improvement except in Texas where Pickens is trying to get energy from the western parts to the Dallas area and has the full support of the state apparatus.

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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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Andrew Lownie's book provides glimpses into the lives of the Mountbattens, Edwina and Dickie. Mountbatten was the head of the British government in India in 1946 as negotiations were started with Nehru, Gandhi and Jinnah for independent India. The Cabinet Mission (including Cripps) plan of 1946 was  to setup a federation in India with provinces in A, B, and C categories. A being the Central Provinces, United Provinces, Bombay, Madras and other parts of what is now India, B being the Punjab, Sind and what is now Pakistan, and C being the region of Bengal, what is now Bangladesh and West Bengal.This was rejected by Nehru, Sardar Patel, and the Indian National Congress, leading to  Jinnah's call for action, a civil war, and the partition of India 9 months before the plan date of June 1948, in chaotic circumstances, in a hurried manner. The legacy of that two year period is with us today in the upheavals in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, drawing the U.S. and western nations also into endless wars. The period 1939-1941 is covered when Edwina's rather aimless life upto that point changed completely with service to war wounded and for the Red Cross. She also visited the U.S. in 1941 when Mountbatten was given command of an aircraft carrier at Norfolk, Virginia, visiting 28 states. Edwina made up for he aimless years by relentlessly pushing herself to be an equal to her husband in the war effort. This has given the couple their fascinating character. It was also a period of great change as the Labour party under Clement Atlee winning a post war election made the decision to end the British Empire in India. The war had depleted British wealth and Britain lacked the resources to continue the Empire in India. The job of managing the transition went to Mountbatten, a naval officer in the Royal Navy, coming in the tumultuous years of 1946-48 with the quick partition of India under Mountbatten in 1947. Mountbatten stayed after independence in August 1947 as the first Governor General of India.  Edwina and Dickie Mountbatten struck a friendship with Jawaharlal Nehru, and this review in The Hindu shows Jawaharlal, Edwina, Dickie and their daughter Pamela having tea at the residence in Shimla, 1946. Nehru's rejection of the Cabinet Mission plan leading to the appointment of Mountbatten as Viceroy was partly based on his idea that priorities for India post independence was modernizing the economy and reducing poverty. Seven decades later the priorities are still the same, following the experience of Japan, South Korea and China at modernizing the economies in east Asia requiring a greatly accelerated effort.    ...

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Google, Meta, Apple, Microsoft effort to cancel all AI regulation by states, effectively leaving AI unregulated. What was Senator Ted Cruz doing sponsoring a 10 year rule of this kind that required protections to be put in place for child online safety so that the dangerous AI law for unregulation, no supervision, would not intrude into other areas such as child online safety. What was Senator Blackburn of Tennessee thinking when she joined that effort and had second thoughts pulling back to 5 years from 10 years of unregulated AI. Everyone from the entire Democratic caucus, Steve Bannon and advocacy groups fighting for citizen control over AI, and many Republican Senators who were not clear why such a law was being proposed by AI interests and Cruz's willingness to take the Tech monopolies interests in a dangerous direction of no regulation. “The way these provisions are written, they’re very sweeping, and they would trip up almost any attempt to regulate the harmful use of AI.”  -Ed Wytkind, interim director of the AFL-CIO’s technology institute. “Google and Meta had AI amnesty in the bag yesterday at 10 a.m. Then the Article III Project and Steve Bannon’s War Room sprang into action. Sometimes feeling the heat makes people see the light. We are pleased 99 senators finally decided to side with kids and content creators over AI amnesty and Big Tech profits.”-Mike Davis founder Article III Project ...

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Jaishankar on the connection between the Indian and Pacific Ocean region into one integral whole with the emergence of independent nations from the British, French, and Dutch Empires in the region, and the growth of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand. The growth of trade and use of sea lanes for supply chains, modern shipping and logistics, have created sea lanes that stretch from the Gulf and Suez to Hawaii and Seattle. India plays a critical role with the US, Australia and Japan to ensure international law and open shipping lanes for all nations in the Indo-Pacific. Jaishankar also touches on infrastructure developments such as the new Trilateral Highway that connects India's northeast to Burma and Thailand. This opens up ties on land between the three nations with connections into Malaysia and Indonesia. That would enhance the movement open people and goods, and cultural connect that would create a new northeast- southeast Asian connection. It restores what was the long lost connection that India once had with nations from Thailand to Indonesia, and Vietnam to Japan through China. This is the connection that brought Buddhism from India's north east in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh to these countries.  Look East, Act East, the Quad, Indo-Pacific Economic Framework are all ways of saying the same thing of making the East connections the vital ones in India's social, economic and political, cultural life, restoring the connections in which India thrived and existed as one entity. It also brings life to the Gulf countries which are otherwise isolated in a sea of European nations on one side of the Mediterranean and Russia on the other side near the Black Sea that have different historical interests and cultures. This sees the central Asian connections through Afghanistan as being secondary and of less significance in the long history of nations such as India, China, Korea and Japan from the Buddhist era. That secondary connection brought an interruption of the long Buddhism and Vedanta civilization in India, intermittent wars, and the division of the country under the British Empire. It is a natural progression in a long history that seeks to restore the natural and intuitive connections to the Vedanta and Buddhist regions in the East that are part of the Indo-Pacific. These are now integrated with the settlers from Britain who sought to build better and fairer societies based on the rights of man in the new nations of Australia and America. This gives new life and meaning to this vast Indo-Pacific region. The British Empire and the other colonial empires simply bring back an orientation to the period of colonial wars of the nineteenth and twentieth century, which tore apart China and then Japan, and used resources in India for these wars, and which ended with the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These wars also leave behind memories in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan and Korea that can only be truly be put behind by looking at Vedanta and Buddhist Asia as it once was from India to China to Japan. And to the regions of Australia and the US that brought new meaning to the modern scientific period and the rights of man in settler societies away from Europe. ...

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Fundamentals such as private inventories buildup, are about 10% higher than last year according to EIA, suggesting prices $3 to $15 lower than they are now. Prices are higher because of uncertainties in the VIIN countries (Venezuela, Iran, Iraq and Nigeria) which combined produce just as much as the Saudis. And the VIIN component is there for the long haul. OPEC does not need to cut output, output is cut by the VIIN countries with their political and geopolitical issues.

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GE's earnings shock is leading experts to believe that it was the easy acess to cheap and abundant capital that created the gains in earnings and stock prices that we have seen so far With tighter credit conditions and the era of cheap and abundant capital things ane now expected to look much different as tight credit leads to shrinking capital spending. This suggests stock prices throughout the economy in the USA and in the global economy as well will be affected.

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Mario Monti takes office as prime minister of Italy as Italian bond yields reach 7.4%. Italy faces the task of refinancing 200 billion euros of maturing bonds by April 2012. Bond yields exceeding 7% make the task of refinancing Italian debt even more difficult. Monti said he would try to restore Italy to financial health without giving up "social equity," and added that "we owe it to our children to give them a dignified and hopeful future."