LyrArc Article Gist
Indian prime minister Modi says he welcomes US president Biden's strong commitment to strengthen India-US strategic partnership, and says it will be a force for global good. The first action planned on which discussions were made is how to make vaccine supplies accessible and affordable in needed quantities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. US and India bring technology and manufacturing knowhow to do this. 

LyrArc Article Gist
To make a dent in carbon emissions governments in Europe and North America need to support the use of low carbon solar panels in solar facilities installed there. This would enhance solar energy panel production in the US and Europe, India, other countries. Experts say the use of solar panels made using electricity from coal use in China creates more emissions in China while reducing emissions in the West. The result is that global emissions remain the same as if no solar panels were installed.  The global solar panel production is mostly concentrated in China because of the lower cost of electricity from coal used in production of panels- a critical factor in the lower prices of Chinese made solar panels. This allowed China to gain a monopoly in production of  world's polysilicon, an essential component in solar panel production, that consumes large amounts of electricity in the manufacturing process.  This use of coal generates twice the amount of carbon emissions in China than the solar panels made in Europe, say experts. As a result the governments and companies in Europe, US and India are shifting to local manufacturing of solar panels. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
What the US wanted in the initial hours- use of Diego Garcia base and RAF base in Haverford Gloucestershire. UK's Keir Starmer first denied use of the bases and till he could verify US attacks were within international law. When Iran responded with a a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles 840 drones and 340 ballistic missiles and attacked the British base RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, suddenly Starmer saw the opportunity to justify US use of British bases on defensive grounds. DJT called the British response "very disappointing." Starmer told parliament-  "To be clear, the use of British bases is limited to the agreed defensive purposes; we are not joining the US and Israeli offensive strikes. The lessons of history have taught us that it is important when we make decisions like this, that we establish there is a lawful basis for what the United Kingdom is doing. That is one of the lessons from Iraq, and that there's a viable thought-through plan with an objective that can be achieved or has a viable prospect of being achieved.That is the principle that I applied to the decisions that I made over the weekend. This government does not believe in regime change from the skies." The situation Starmer faces domestically is that voters for Reform UK and Conservatives support full use of the airbases. Voters who vote for Liberals, Greens and Labour do not support use of the British airbases. Local elections in which Labour is seen losing a large share of its 2024 vote to Greens and Liberals is one factor the premier had in mind, in addition to issues in the war in Iraq.  Another is the consideration that Britain has a large presence in the Gulf from the days of the Empire when they were British colonies.Already in 24 hours 100,000 Britons have registered for help in the Gulf region. Britishers run much of the tourism, airlines and other business in the Gulf region as the Gulf states are small in area, with small populations and a large population from South Asia for certified migrant labor, and British managers at the higher levels. When Iran attacked UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia with drones and ballistic missiles it was clear that Britain was also being attacked though the attack on the RAF base in Cyprus was cited. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Showing where a product is from helps by giving reassurance to customers especially when there is a suspicion that tainted products are on the market. Sometimes there ar several sources and IBM has developed a traceability systm that helps users with the source and safety of the product on grocery drug store or supermarket store shelves. This can lead to suppliers obtaining bettter prices for their proucts and greater investment in safety of products.

LyrArc Article Gist
Increasing college enrollment for women in the US shows no sign of changing. Women now make up 60% of college students for the 2020-21 college year, men 40%., according to National Student Clearinghouse. Another alarming piece of information is that there are 1.5 million fewer students at colleges and universities in the US, and men make up 71% of the decline. 3.8 million women filled college applications compared to 2.8 million men for 2021-2022 college year in the US, according to Common Application. The enrollment rates of poor and working class whites show alarming decline with rates of enrollment less than people from Black, Latino or Asian income backgrounds. Decline in male enrollment is highest for community colleges with family finances the main cause. The pandemic has accelerated this negative trend that is bad for America. 700,000 fewer students were enrolled in college in 2021 spring than 2019 spring, according to a WSJ analysis.  During the pandemic millions of women left jobs to stay at home with children. Many turned to sons for help, with some young men quitting school to work. Some examples shown in this report show parents having gone to college and sons deciding the skyrocketing costs of education make it too risky to take out loans that cannot be repaid. Many just feel lost, doing work landscaping for $500 a week or packing boxes at Amazon warehouses at $15.50 an hour. With so much going wrong in the way America is investing in its future generation, issues like wars in distant lands fade into insignificance, and president Biden's decision is surely "a wise decision." As is his effort to make community college at no cost given to young Americans. The $3.5 trillion investment in workers and families that Biden plans could not have been developed at a time of greater need than today. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
GM has invested in a company that will make ethanol from crop wastes, wood chips, scrap plastic and including municpal garbage. Coskata will have its first pilot plant in Warrenville, Illinois. It uses a process of gasification and bacteria to produce ethanol. It doesn't use corn, uses only a gallon of water for a gallon of ethanol, uses a raw material available everywhere and is estimated to cost 0.50 cents to $1 cheaper than gasoline. The total production cost is less than $1.00 when it comes onstream by 2010, and uses techologies that are ready.

LyrArc Article Gist
Kevin Warsh was appointed by George W. Bush in 2006 as Fed governor. He was the youngest governor in Fed history at that time at age 35 years. His education is public schooling in California, a degree in public policy at Stanford and a law degree from Harvard. His term at the Fed was 2006 to 2011. During the financial crisis he gained experience, and after term at Fed was lecturer at Stanford Business School, and scholar at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. Warsh was considered by DJT for the position of Fed chair but was considered to lack enough experience compared to Powell who was made Fed chairman. In 2026 Warsh 56 years old and with more experience was considered by DJT as the top choice when Hassett was retained at the National Economic Council NEC.

LyrArc Article Gist
Anthropic's settlement for $1.5 billion at $3000 a book, and it's efforts in Education that conflict with the Nation's need to get 4th graders to Read and Learn. Anthropic's website shows it trying to get into Education and to measure the Economic Index from effects of AI. Yet the pretensions to goodwill for the public cause is not supported by facts, facts that the AI companies have nothing to show for the dismal situation for Global Literacy that is the case today. Literacy in the US that is dismal with about two thirds of 4th graders not able to read and comprehend the English language at a level of proficiency in American schools. These AI purveyors care only for the money they can make using vast amounts of electricity for these servers, and pretensions for public purpose are intended to smooth their access to public resources not some genuine interest in whether kids can read, which requires the hard work of the teachers in the public and private schools of this Nation and others in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. The Movement for Global Literacy is Lyrarc's effort to support reading and learning and Lyrarc serves this purpose without such massive funding and without charging for the public service to the Nation and to other Nations in the world community. Anthropic settlement of $1.5 billion at $3000 a book for its AI bots use of copyrighted books, can lead to future litigation for OpenAI model that consumes vast amounts of data. Anthropic was founded by siblings Daniela and Dario Amodei after leaving OpenAI in 2021 in San Francisco. It hired Google Books Turvey to scan books for its large language models on a massive scale to train Claude its version of OpenAI's ChatGPT.  An investment of $4 billion by Amazon and additional $2 billion by Google provided funding. In this way it is a competitor to Microsoft funded OpenAI which made early advances in AI.  This article in WSJ says by making the settlement for $1.5 billion Anthropic is trying to make it harder for Open AI to scan material easily without paying for the access and thus blocking it's rival.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
India's trade strategy is to provide access to its markets to its own firms and countries under a new supply chain initiative with the U.S. To make this work under Atman Nirbhar initiatives and Made in India manufacturing India has to accelerate its manufacturing and technology accumulation capabilities in the next 5 years. A parallel effort for advanced infrastructure is also needed for modernizing roads, rail, air, shipping and other infrastructure.

LyrArc Article Gist
Where does US president DJT get his "good genetics" for his health? It comes from his mother's side where for generations his grandparents and previous generations were fisherman on the shores of the northern British Isles islands. Specifically Tong, a village on the island of Lewis in Scotland. These were rugged coastlines where fisherman fought hard to make a living in the 19th century. His mother immigrated from Scotland to the US as a young girl seeking a better life. She later married a up and coming builder of homes in New York state.

LyrArc Article Gist
Japan to protects its supply chain in Vietnam Philippines Malaysia, Thailand, with $10  billion in aid, says PM Takaichi on April 15 2026 during anaval blockade of Iran. This is about 1 years worth of oil imports for these countries. "Japan will not simply provide oil to countries struggling due to the situation in the Middle East, but will work together with Asian countries to build a resilient energy and critical mineral supply chain.” This means products made in that region for export to Japan will get attention and support to protect the supply chain.

LyrArc Article Gist
How to build a global port network with less cash- China's state owned Cosco and it's European ports network is an example of savy buying during financial crises, and when companies in Europe and the US were keen to make sales of ports. China simply integrated it into a vast exports network, using containerized terminal expansion modernization to build its manufacturing for export model. This was an extension of its domestic network where it added new port infrastructure to newly built rail and road connections.  India today is learning from this example. By 2000 the Chinese global export model was entrenched. It was also the year when the junior Bush president extended the wars of Reagan/Bush in Iraq of the 1980's to Afghanistan. China had a clear road ahead to build state of the art infrastructure of ports, logistics and exports over the next 10-15 years without any defense costs.  Piraeus in Greece south of Athens, a port concession acquired in 2004 Antwerp in Belgium (Austrian Netherlands), a minority stake in a container port acquired in 2008. In 2013 with sale of Terminal Link ports in a 49% stake deal by CMA of France holding 51%, China has stakes in Zeerbrugge and Antwerp, Busan South Korea, and Le Havre, Montoir and Fos in France, Xiamen in China, Miami and Houston in US. Rotterdam, Netherlands- Cosco acquired in 20126 a 35% stake in Euromax Terminal in Rotterdam from Hong Kong's Hutchison's Holdings for $125 million. Valencia and Bilbao majority  51% stake for $270 million, when JP Morgan paid as much as $950 million to ACS of Spain for these ports after the 2009 crisis led to Spanish divestments. Today in TEU's shipping containers China sends goods to Europe 10 times what it takes in through Spanish ports. Hamburg-In May 2023 Germany's Scholz overruled Habeck to let sale of 24.9% of Hamburg port to COSCO go through ...

LyrArc Article Gist
US Defense Spending charts as percentage of GDP since 1929 startling fact seen in this chart of Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis- that in 2026 we are seeing 1929-1937 levels of military spending to GDP ratio of 2-3% just before it jumped to 45% in 1940 in World War II. It is a cautionary tale not to spend too little (2-4% is a danger point), as lack of military modernization means a lot more spending soon after, almost 10 times that- 10 times 4% or 40%. Message to the US is not what Starmer and company are saying in Europe- it is that don't invite the existential crisis of 1940 again for western (US, EU, Canada, UK) and eastern democracies (India, Japan, Indonesia, Australia) by ignoring costs of military modernization. And 2-4% of GDP for military spending is not going to do this.

LyrArc Article Gist
DJT's 32% reciprocal tariff on Taiwanese goods including chips is working. When reports under president Biden showed TSMC investing in Arizona it was still a slow process with much foot dragging including articles by TSMC executives about how difficult it was to make in US. Lyrarc commented specifically on this as TSMC founders got their education and training in the US and it sounded a bit too condescending. Now that the Trump administration has its tariffs in place this WSJ report says the factory in Arizona is advancing production by several quarters, and it has started production late in 2024 with quality comparable to TSMC plants in Taiwan. How quickly DJT's approach with tariffs to level playing field and letting Taiwan know it owes defense and its education in semiconductors to the US is working, is shown by this example like others. And the $65 billion investment is now up to $165 billion in the US that TSMC is planning. The extra $100 billion is a commitment made to DJT. TSMC revenue growth is higher now at 30% than 20% it had previously with AI and robotic demand in 2025 so that it needs to make more chips quickly. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
As part of the effort to become more competitive with Asian automakers, VW is using new strategies with labor to reduce costs. VW made a one-off payment of about 6,300 to each of 80,000 employees at its western German manufacturing plants. In return VW secured union agreement to change work schedules at the plants to 33 hours a week from 28.8 hours, without having to make a pay increase. This is part of concessions being made by labor as Germany tries to improve its competitiveness. VW's second largest shareholder is the German state of Lower Saxony, and VW makes many automobile parts in its German plants in addition to automobile assembly, making employment a major issue for industry, labor and government.

LyrArc Article Gist
Shri Ranga Polymers of Karur in Tiruchirapalli district, Tamilnadu, takes 15 lakhs of single use discarded plastic bottles a day from different part of the state to produce fabric. It takes 6 to 9 bottles to make a jacket like the one worn by the prime minister in parliament. The process of making the fabric is for washing, drying and crushing the bottles, and passing the chips through a machine to form the polyester fibre that is then knitted into polyester fabric. As an exporter Karur is one of the largest foreign exchange earning cities in the country, says Mr. K. Sankar of Shree Ranga Polymers.

LyrArc Article Gist
Peter Goodman who covers the consequences in the lives of ordinary people of the industrial changes going on around us, gives this report from Michigan. He shows how today's Michigan, was home to Henry Ford's automobile plants that made it a major part of the industrial revolution in the US after 1910, when Ford's first assembly line manufacturing was set up in Highland Park, Detroit. Industrial growth till 1960 made the US the leading industrial nation in the world. Followed by Japanese imports and auto manufacturing shifting to Asia and Mexico, that led to deindustrialization and neglect in Michigan and the midwestern US.  Key aspects of resurgence today is coming from lessons learned in the period of deindustrialization. From labor and management not working together, from huge pension obligations and costs that had to be overcome, that made existing wage and cost structures uncompetitive with Asian manufacturing. Labor concessions in the last decade have made a rearrangement of cost structure possible, yet along with the financial crisis of 2008 further worsened worker incomes. The first steps of a return for Michigan to its role in the early industrialization of America, the new labor contract negotiated in 2023, the support of president Biden and the government, the investment in the new technology of electric car manufacturing by Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. Goodman shows how the state, federal government, community colleges and other educational institutions training workers and students, and car companies are working together to promote interests of workers and communities. There is uncertainty created about the fewer parts in the electric car manufacturing process, automation advances, and fewer jobs. Yet the process is a transition over many years and this is accepted by the Biden administration and by the industry as it responds to slower demand for electric cars in 2024. This provides the time to bring up new training programs for workers, enable the funding of new research into battery technologies that would bring down the cost and make electric car prices accessible to the wider population. Uncertainty and fears about the transition are counteracted by the effort the Biden administration is making to bring up all manufacturing and to make large investments in American manufacturing.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Car buying has changed permanently in 5 ways, says this report in WSJ. There are fewer cars made and fewer cars on manufacturer's and dealer's lots, cars are more expensive these days. Car sales have dropped from 17 million before the pandemic to 13 million and up only to 15 million in 2023 as more cars were made. Carmakers have learned to make money by selling fewer cars concentrating on the pricier cars and reducing cars available in the lower end of price range. Used car prices are up on average to $30,000. New car prices have surged to an average of $47,000 in 2022 and 46,000 in 2023.  New car loans are up from average $562 to $733. The share of leased light vehicles has dropped from 30% to 20% of cars sold and carmakers are offering fewer lease deals as demand is easily fulfilled. With fewer leased cars coming in the dealers have to actually go out and buy them.