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LyrArc brings in selected articles from many of the world's top publications.

Articles are selected by experts and you can see the gist of the important articles.

From Cheap to Cool, Revamped Car Is Aimed at India's Young Buyers

7 Groups   
New York Times - 05.23.2014 Original article ›
Sugita Katyal, Sugita, Katyal
LyrArc Article Gist
Competing models from Suzuki and other manufacturers have better acceleration for highways and are more durable than the Tata Nano or its successor the Tata Twist. The Tata Twist is pricd at $400,twice the price of the Nano, and has features such aspower steering. The small engine with power closer to that of a motorcycle is a serious handicap for the Nano concept, as buyers are looking for more power on Indian highways. The Tata Nano sold as low as 5000 cars in Nov. 2013, with the 250,000 capacity of the Nano plant in Gujarat remaining unutilized.
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Novo Nordisk Sees 'No Strategic Reason' For Big Mergers

5 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 06.17.2014 Original article ›
Clemens Bomsdorf, Clemens, Bomsdorf, John Stoll, John, Stoll
LyrArc Article Gist
Novo Nordisk's plans to continue a strategy it has pursued since the founding of the two original companies in the 1920's, of focussing on diabetes treatment worldwide and not pursuing major merger or acquisition deals. Novo Nordisk will pursue a strategy of increasing R&D hiring by 3000, hiring 6000 new employees by 2022. Novo Nordisk has market caitalization of $120 billion and is the largest Nordic company. With the increasing number of diabetes population Novo Nordisk is growing at 12% a year. Novo Nordisk Foundation has 74% of the voting rights and 25.5% of voting capital in the company.
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Paul English of Kayak, on Nurturing New Ideas

2 Links 4 Groups   
New York Times - 07.25.2013 Original article ›
Adam Bryant, Adam, Bryant
LyrArc Article Gist
Paul English favors teams of three people to get things done quickly. He gives employees freedom to test ideas, including one intern who was allowed to test an idea on the first day at work by writing the code. He says no innovation happens with too many people in a room, and its easier for two or three people to nurture an idea. A clicker hangs outside the door of the main conference room. It is meant to send the message that for things that one cares about you need about three people smart enough to move forward.
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Power Outages Hobble Pakistan's Biggest Exporters

8 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 12.01.2013 Original article ›
Saeed Shah, Saeed, Shah
LyrArc Article Gist
Losses of about 75% of production at some textile plants in Pakistan from severe electricity shortages. Demand outstrips supply by a huge margin. The Ministry of Power estimates demand at 18,0000 watts for a country of 180 million and supply is only 12,000 megawatts. There is a electricity crisis in Pakistan. The first priority of prime minister Nawaz Sharif is to get electricity production up significantly. This means textile plants cannot operate, fans can't operate in the heat of the summer months, and children cannot do homework because of lack of lighting, the whole country and people suffer from the lack of electricity.
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Joblessness Hits 9.5%, Deflating Recovery Hopes

1 Groups   
New York Times - 07.03.2009 Original article ›
Peter S. Goodman, Peter, S., Goodman
LyrArc Article Gist
Unemployment hits 9.5% in June, with a loss of 467,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department. The labor underemployment rate which shows not only the unemployed but also those working part time because their hours are cut or they cannot find afulltime job is up to 16.5%. The average length of official unemployment increased to 24.5 weeks, the largest its reached since 1948. Economists say that as other sources of spending power have been lost, employment remains a very significant source of spending power. And employed consumers are also watching their spending as unemployment goes up, and a new frugality sets in.
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Jack Ma to Resign as CEO of Chinese E-Commerce Firm Alibaba

5 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 01.16.2013 Original article ›
Paul Mozur, Paul, Mozur
LyrArc Article Gist
Jack Ma tells employees in an email: "At 48, I am no longer 'young' for the internet business. The next generation of Alibaba people are beter equipped to manage an internet ecosystem like ours. I believe they understand the future better than I do." Ma plans to give up the CEO role May 10, 2013, and let other managers inside the company run Alibaba. Alibaba runs the Taobao and Tmall shopping sites. Recent investments by Alibaba have focussed on improving its logistics system. Management changes include improving efficiency and giving more independence to managers to run their units.
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Japan’s Moves to Weaken the Yen Have a Global Effect

29 Groups   
New York Times - 04.08.2013 Original article ›
David Jolly, David, Jolly
LyrArc Article Gist
Equity markets in Europe and the U.S. are likely to see some of the 62 trillion yen, or $630 billion, which the Bank of Japan plans to add to holdings of banks and households in two years 2013-2014. A senior advisor to Deutsche Bank, Thomas Mayer, says equities of Germany, France and Britain are likey to see interest from Japanese investors, as are bonds and equities of the U.S. Japanese companies such as Toyota and consumer product companies such as Sony and Panasonic will now be able to better compete on price against their S. Korean, American and European competitors.
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National Security Adviser Tries Quieter Approach

  
New York Times - 05.07.2009 Original article ›
Helene Cooper, Helene, Cooper
LyrArc Article Gist
A more thoughtful, getting things done behind the scenes, and smoothing things out on issues with other countries for the President as needed, and delegating to his staff and others, is the team approach adopted by Jones who is National Security Advisor. And it is a deliberative role that suits Mr Obama. Its different fromt he high profile Advisors of the past , but things are too complex today to be handled in that manner, and the President's style and the challenges he faces require this team approach and multitalented team of Holbrooke, Clinton, Jones, Gates and others.
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Many Sources Feed Taliban’s War Chest

1 Groups   
New York Times - 10.19.2009 Original article ›
Eric Schmitt, Eric, Schmitt
LyrArc Article Gist
About $106 million comes to the Taliban from individuals in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and oter Arab countries. A Taliban fighter receives $200 a month and the cost of financing the war for the Taliban is somethig it can do indefinitely from local souces, as it is not costing much. Opium is one source but even if this is cutoff the Taliban can continue fighting indefinitely using other sources, according to experts. The drug trad provides in the range of $70 million to $400 million ayear. And efforts to cut the flow of financing have not been successful.
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Short Memories at Goldman

2 Groups   
New York Times - 10.24.2009 Original article ›
Joe Nocera, Joe, Nocera
LyrArc Article Gist
Goldman is no longer aprivate partnership. It is apublicly traded firm. Which publicky traded firm pays 50% of its profits as bonuses, asks Joe Nocera of the NYT. And which publicly traded firm can do so with the knowledge that the government would never let it fail. And he asks wasn't it the cheap money that Goldman had access to that was abig source of its large profits. And at the point when Goldman was allowed to become abank holding company along with Morgan Stanley were there no trepidations at Goldman that the firm might fail?
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Deal Reached on Bank Crackdown

6 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 10.28.2009 Original article ›
Damian Paletta, Damian, Paletta
LyrArc Article Gist
The FDIC with help from the Treasury would bail out the creditors and the counter parties in the event a large financial institution fails. And then the FDIC would collect the money from some 120 banks. This is the idea behind a Geithner- Rep. Frank proposal. But critics point are skeptical whether the FDIC can collect the money from banks, which would be too weak themselves in a financial crisis. One critic said it allows the government to spend another $1 trillion to bailout banks, and then perhaps in one year or a hundred years collect that money back.
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Maybe a New Day for Doctors’ Pay

2 Groups   
New York Times - 11.08.2009 Original article ›
Robert H. Frank, Robert, H., Frank
LyrArc Article Gist
Atul Gawande in the New Yorker shows how doctors in McAllen, Texas prescribe half the tests that doctors in other comunities in Texas do. Frank cites the effectiveness of the salaried model used by the Mayo Clinic. This battle has been postponed for another day the current halth care reform bill. But crucially the failure to tackle this program and have the country shoulder another deficit burden for healthcare leaves the country with a serious liability of overspending, with guns and butter if the Afghnistan war adds up another big bill to the Iraq war bill.
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Toyota slips up

  
Economist - 12.10.2009 Original article ›
Economist.Com
LyrArc Article Gist
Is Toyota in decline? In the first quarter of 2009 Toyota suffered ahuge loss comparable to GM's. Toyota's CEO, Mr Toyoda, thinks it is in decline. And having read Jim Collins book "How the Mighty Fall", Toyoda thinks Toyota is already at the fourth stage of decline in the five stages Collins has outlined. Collins looks at the traumatic steps before IBM, HP reemerged from crisis and How Motorola failed to emerge. Same is true for Apple. Success at something is now guarantee of continuation, infact at the point of everything going well things are already in place to cause the rapid decline.
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Original article 5 minutes, gist 1 minute

Angry Liberals Edge Toward a Mutiny

3 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 12.18.2009 Original article ›
Naftali Bendavid, Naftali, Bendavid, Peter Wallsten, Peter, Wallsten
LyrArc Article Gist
The healthcare reform bill has lost the support of the SEIU (the Service Employees International Union) , and the AFL-CIO union. Its also lost the support od Howard Dean and of his Democracy for America. Voters aged 18-34 and Hispanics are much less enthusuastic for he party. And only 23% of blue collar workers in December 2009 express positive feelings about the Democratic party in a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, a 30 point drop from February 2009. And the same poll showed that there just isn't the same level of interest in voters who back Democrats or Obama.
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Citigroup Is Keeping a Japan Unit, Nikko Cordial

1 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 01.15.2009 Original article ›
Alison Tudor, Alison, Tudor
LyrArc Article Gist
Citigroup will keep Nikko Cordial, Japan's third largest brokerage firm, for which it paid 1.6 trillion yen or $17.95 billion in 2008 before the global financial crisis. The hope is that it will be worth a lot more in future years as Japanese households with $15 trillion in assets mostly in cash buy more financial products from Nikko. Today only 10% of Japanese assets are invested in stocks and other similiar financial assets, compared to 30% in the USA. Citigroup is also keeping the retail banking business of Grupo Financiero Banamex in Mexico as part of its overseas expansion strategy.
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Thain Resigns From BofA

7 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 01.22.2009 Original article ›
Dan Fitzpatrick, Dan, Fitzpatrick
LyrArc Article Gist
Bank of America CEO loses confidence in Thain after a brief meeting on January 22, 2009, in which Thain was asked about mounting losses at Merrill, which Lewis had learned of from other Merrill executives and not from Thain. Lewis says he could not get agood explanation of what was happening or why. Thain was head of Merrill when Bank of America made the $50 billion acquisition of Merrill on Sept 15, the same week that Lehman Brothers collapsed. Merrill was in a perilous situation with the government intervening to arrange the acquisition on short notice.
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House Passes Expansion of Programs for Service

  
New York Times - 03.19.2009 Original article ›
David M. Herszenhorn, David, M., Herszenhorn
LyrArc Article Gist
The House voted 321 to 105 to expand the AmericCorps service program and create volunteer programs with focus on education, health care, clean energy, and veterans. Americorps would grow from 75,000 to 250,000. The bill would raise the education stipend for volunteers to $5350- same as aPell Grant. President Obama's budget provides $1.2 billion for the expansion of programs in next fiscal year. AmeriCorps will get financing of $6 billion over the next 5 years. The current economic situation creates a lot of opportunities for volunteer service and may do a lot of good for the nation and the spirit of community service.
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Imbalance in Nations' Savings Clouds Forecasts for Recovery

4 Links 3 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 03.23.2009 Original article ›
Mark Whitehouse, Mark, Whitehouse
LyrArc Article Gist
Global imbalances in savings had alot to do with the current economic crisis, says Prof. Richard Portes of the London Business School, and president of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. See graph that shows net cross border flows doubled from 1997 the year ogf the Asian financial crisis to 2008. By 2008 these cross border flows from Asia to the West reached 3% of global GDP. This says Portes was what was ultimately the cause of the crisis, as it enabled bankers to be reckless and mortgage lenders to be reckless with all the extra money in the American banking system.
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GE's Environment Push Hits Business Realities

  
Wall Street Journal - 09.14.2007 Original article ›
Kathryn Kranhold, Kathryn, Kranhold
LyrArc Article Gist
GE's environmental campaign. How CEO Immelt sees and how he calls it from the Hudson River cleanup from GE's past to company products, GE emissions count, and the ecoimagination project, and what has shaped his own convictions in this matter of emissions. The progress GE is making in this direction under Immelts leadership. For Immelt personally without getting involved in ideological debate working to live in a world that will limit CO2 emissions, as a political necessity, and to do this shaping that very world with GE's own initiative rather than sit passively by the sidelines, that is what makes intuitive sense.
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How GM Handles a Hit: Build Fewer

  
Wall Street Journal - 10.31.2007 Original article ›
John D. Stoll, John, D., Stoll
LyrArc Article Gist
How GM is imitating BMW and Honda by limiting production and supply of the Buick Enclave crossover vehicle so that the model continues to generate full price and remains a hot customer item. Wit less need for revenue just to meet worker health and other obligations and obligations to retired workers GM now has a modified cost structure that gives it flexibility to do the things healthy auto manufacturers like the Japanese and the Germans have been doing, limiting supply and getting full price, while keeping the excitement of a hard to get product for longer periods of time.
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S&P Email: 'We Should Not Be Rating It'

  
Wall Street Journal - 08.02.2008 Original article ›
Aaron Lucchetti, Aaron, Lucchetti
LyrArc Article Gist
SEC 38 page draft report on its investigation of the ratings agencies shows internal e mails confirming a lot of what was suspected- huge increases in workload but no adequate increases in staff, changing criteria for ratings to win business, and the willingness to issue ratings even when it was "ridiculous" or when "we should not be rating it". One S&P e mail between managers in the collateralized debt obligations group openly says it is creating an "even bigger monster- the CDO market. Let's hope that we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters."
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Dell Plans to Sell Factories In Effort to Cut Costs

  
Wall Street Journal - 09.05.2008 Original article ›
Justin Scheck, Justin, Scheck
LyrArc Article Gist
Dell is mired in two touch manufacturing for PC's which is costly especially for the more labor intensive manufacture of notebook computers. It is now planning the sale of all production asssembly factories to contract manufacturers. For Dell a contract manufacturer in Asia puts together the parts for a PC and the its assembled at a Dell plant hence the term two-touch. HP has more than half of its manufacturing done by contract manufacturers and its more cost effective so Dell is caught in a more costly production process which it could do with deskops for bsiness but not viable for notebooks.
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U.S. Investigates Venezuelan Oil Giant

5 Groups   
Wall Street Journal - 10.22.2015 Original article ›
Jose De Cordoba And Juan Forero, Jose, De, Cordoba, And, Juan, Forero

Nixon's Keynesian Strategy

5 Groups   
New York Times - 07.21.2011 Original article ›
Joan Hoff, Joan, Hoff
LyrArc Article Gist
U.S. President Richard Nixon adopted Keynesian policies to boost the economy after tightening monetary policy failed in 1970. In 1971 Nixon turned to higher fiscal spending to get the economy closer to full employment. He also adopted wage and price controls. By 1972 the economy had recovered, inflation was at 5.7% and unemployment at 4.9%, and Nixon won re-election. This was the only recovery in an election year since World War II. In international affairs Nixon's policy was to leave the Bretton Woods system and floating the dollar. With a new administration in 1974 inflation surged to 11% and unemployment to 5.6%, because wage and price controls worked only for a short period.
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Outsider Status for Obama and Romney

9 Groups   
New York Times - 05.25.2012 Original article ›
Jodi Kantor, Jodi, Kantor
LyrArc Article Gist
Race and religion as a quiet issue for both candidates in the 2012 U.S. presidental candidates, with Obama and Romney both reticent and unwilling to talk about the defining aspect of their lives fearing voter prejudice.
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