LyrArc Article Gist
Michael Heise, chief economist of Allianz SE, says the ECB needs to assure financial markets that the deflation risks in the first half of 2015 are not all negative, as the declining price of oil adds to purchasing power in the eurozone economies. He points out that ECB needs to define price stability not as inflation of "nearly 2%" but as inflation of "below 2%," to take into account the impact of declining oil prices on inflation. His concern is about financial markets expecting strong quantitative easing program from the ECB in 2015.

LyrArc Article Gist
Bjorn Lomborg of the Copenhagen Consensus Center says about the decision by the Obama adminisration to stop contributing to World Bank financed coal power plants- including one in South Africa- does not take into account the simple fact that 1.2 billion people living in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia have no access to electricity. In the sub-Saharan region of Africa (excluding S. Africa) the entire electricity generating capacity is about 28 gigawatts, or about the same as Arizona with a population of about 9 million compared to 860 million in the region. He says China was able to lift 680 million people out of poverty with urbanization and industry powered by coal. There is no alternative to low cost fossil fuels for the poorer regions of the earth. This is why the International Energy Agency esimates fossil fuel generated energy to remain about the same percentage in 2035 as it is today- 81%. Shale based naural gas can make a difference for air pollution and China is begining to make the shift away from coal- for sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, this goal will take time. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
British budget cuts announced in Parliament by Britain's Finance Minister, George Osborne. About 83 billion pounds in cuts by 2015 were announced. But Joseph Stiglitz, writing in The Guardian, argued that the plan was a big gamble, as declining tax revenues with lower growth, would lead to smaller deficit reductions. The gamble is that the private sector will pick up, and make up for the reduction in public outlays. If this does not happen, this risks sending the economy into a tailspin. Osborne said that 490,000 jobs will be lost over the next 4 years, some from attrition. Payments to the long term unemployed will also be cut for those who fail to seek jobs, saving $11 billion a year. A new 12 month limit will be imposed on long term jobless benefits. Increase in the retirement age will start in 2020, from 65 to 66 years. At the same time free eye tests, prescription drugs and bus passes remain. Premier Cameron promised not to make cutbacks in health care in the period before the election. This was his way of helping the Conservatives make a comeback to power....

LyrArc Article Gist
Just 2 weeks before president Xi's arrival in New Delhi for a G-20 Summit, Xi meets prime minister Modi at the Johannesburg BRICS summit. Modi and Xi agree on an expeditious disengagement of forces at the Line of Actual Control after Modi tells Xi that maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas and respecting the LAC is essential for a normal India China relationship.  

LyrArc Article Gist
The Guardian celebrates the children's book Good Night Moon which turns 75 years in 2022. It had a slow start because it was at first rejected because of its simplicity- a book that had pictures of a small rabbit in bed and mother rabbit in a rocking chair, and the words as captions Goodnight bears, Goodnight kittens, Goodnight mittens, Goodnight chairs, and no moral to present. Margaret Wise Brown, the author, saw the world as children saw it, she just listened and put pen to paper to bring alive and make wondrous this world. And there is a point here about listening to children, without adult thoughts intruding into this. 

LyrArc Article Gist
This report from Germany in DW.com says Germany tried to build a softer relationship with Russia during the leadership of Adenauer of CDU and  Brandt of SPD. This continued under Schmidt and Schroeder. Under Merkel of CDU the emotional aspect of the relationship as Russia retreated from Bolshevism and Soviet Union collapsed was lost. Little attention was paid to East Germany and to how the fall of the Soviet Union had affected Russia negatively,and became purely focused on German industry and trade with cheap Russian gas supplies. Even as Germany did not invest in shared burden for defense with the US, and Germany under Merkel increased dependence on Russian gas supplies to 55% with the Nordstream gas pipeline from Russia, and shut down nuclear energy.  As a result the emotional or mental health aspect of the relationship with Russia of Germany was lost under Merkel. The focus on purely financial aspect of things has been proved wrong both for the economy as physical infrastructure was neglected under Merkel and social infrastructure such as child care and other social aspects of society were sorely neglected. A new broader framework that needs to be built will have to keep this in mind.  All the hard work and good intentions of the Adenauer and Brandt years has been lost with the short sighted basis of relations based purely on finance and trade under Merkel's leadership. This happened also in the US relationship with China with the relations based purely on finance and trade under Clinton, Bush, Obama proving to be too fragile as they did not protect other social aspects within the two countries as inequality widened and whole segments of society were neglected.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
After a Giancarlo hit into the ballpark the Yankees were ahead in the first 6 innings. A base hit by Ohtani brought one run in before the walkoff grand slam by Freeman with bases loaded put the LA Dodgers ahead in the final innings with all but one out.

LyrArc Article Gist
This report in The Times shows that from April to October the Tory red wall seats in the north of England have been hit hard by the coronavirus, much harder than the south of England. The infection rates in October are about three or four times in the north of England. The second lockdown came earlier in the north, in Liverpool Greater Manchester and Yorkshire. The result is that instead of levelling up the great disparities in wealth and income that are seen between the south, London and the north of England the gap is widening under the impact of coronavirus. Deindustrialization in the north after their prominent role in Britain's industrial revolution was followed by the same type of decline seen in parts of the American midwestern states. Imports from China and globalization, hit these areas in a sort of second wave, just as America was hit first by the wave of Japanese imports, followed by an even bigger wave of imports from China and complete loss of manufacturing. With it the loss of well paying jobs for workers in manufacturing and the decline of industrial cities. Influx of cheap labor from other parts of the European Union also affected the north. The result is that the popularity of Boris Johnson and the Conservatives with 58% approval rating in April in the north of England is replaced by a rating of about 31% in October 2020. The 40 Tory MP's in the Northern Research Group expressed their serious concern to the prime minister. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
BP will cut an additional 5000 jobs by mid 2009 with most of these cuts at places like its London headquarters. This is on top of about 9500 jobs that are part of a plan to sell gasoline stations in the USA. The refinery that had a fire in Texas will be back to production at full capacity by mid 2008. Profit excluding one-time items was $4.0 billion for 4rd quarter 2007, less than analysts expected because of declining production and smaller refining margins. BP sees oil at between $60 and $90 a barrel for 2008 and 2009, and plans to increase production to 4 million barrels a day in 2009 and 4.3 million barrels a day in 2012. New production will come from places like Canada, Oman and Libya. Spending for exploration will increase by $3 billion to $22 billion this year. Under Browne BP had stayed away from Canadian oil sands, but Hayward has formed a joint venture with Husky Energy to link a BP refinery in Ohio with Husky's Sunrise oil sands project in Alberta.

LyrArc Article Gist
Alexandra Stevenson provides this insightful glimpse into a highly inflated property market. Microflats in Hong Kong of 275 square feet, smaller than a bedroom, sell for $722,000. Smaller flats of 165 square feet are planned by developers. Since 2003 property prices are up 300% in Hong Kong. Experts see another fall in prices similiar to the one in 2003 during the Asian financial crisis. Mainland Chinese investing in Hong Kong flats have never experienced a collapse in prices. Hong Kong mortgage rates are low, about 2%. Experts see a rise in U.S. interest rates affecting buyers, as Hong Kong interest rates are tied to U.S. interest rates. With low rates on savings accounts, savings are going into an highly inflated unsustainable property market. One estimate shows 41% of household wealth in China is tied up in the property market. A downturn in prices could lead to a large decline in consumer spending. Nicholas Lardy of the Peterson Institute of International Economics sees China not immune to the kind of housing price collapse that hit the U.S., Spain and other countries in the last decade....

LyrArc Article Gist
This WSJ editorial points out that the current corruption drive in China is opaque and politically driven. Transparency International in its Corruption Perceptions Index shows China at 36 points having dropped by 20 places because of the lack of transparency in tackling corruption. Whistleblower protection should be part of an effecive drive says Transparency International. Also needed is an independent judiciary, free speech and the rule of law, institutions China has still to develop.

LyrArc Article Gist
Krugman points out the risks for the U.S. economy as the U.S. loses export competitiveness with the euro reaching parity with the dollar. The huge shift from $1.50 to the dollar at one point to parity gives Europe a sudden strong boost. Europe needs the boost to escape a deflationary trap, and there is little that can be done for capital flows and exchange rates, says Krugman. He points out that many Federal Reserve governors were clueless of the impact this could have on U.S. growth, sanguinely assuming the U.S. would boost growth in 2015. Better says Krugman for the Fed to be very careful about raising rates at a time when wage growth is sluggish, and inflation low.

LyrArc Article Gist
Kamakura is only an hour from Tokyo by train. The city has shrines and temples including the Great Buddha. A city of 170,000 attracting millions of people from around the world to its shrines and gardens. NHK Japan takes an early spring trip to Kamakura and its ancient temples of the Buddha.

LyrArc Article Gist
This Indian religious festival draws tens of millions every day to ancient cities Prayagraj, Nashik, Hardwar, Ujjain, on sacred rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari and Shipra. It happens every 6 years as half Kumbh. The Mela or gathering in 2025 is in Prayagraj on the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati river waters where they meet. It is the Maha or great Kumbh Mela that happens once in 144 years. Much preparation went into the gathering by the Indian government and some estimates of the total over 45 days are 600 million religious devotees seeking a bath in the holy river. 

BBC News shows different aspects of this Kumbh Mela religious gathering in Prayagraj, India. For the first time millions of people have come to India from all over the world for this Mela or gathering for Lord Shiva. Today is Maha Shivarathri, the day of Lord Shiva.

LyrArc Article Gist
About 60% of Swiss voters in this Sunday's referendum on keeping Covid passes and restrictions in place favor keeping them. The referendum vote is likely to provide $6 billion for increasing nurses pay and benefits, which is a good thing as nurses are exhausted after 2 years of non stop work.  Vaccination rate is 65% of people vaccinated in Switzerland. In the US state of Michigan the vaccination rate is 58%, resulting in a surge in cases. Vaccination rates had stalled in Germany and Switzerland resulting in a surge in cases. New variant from South Africa adds to the problem of the unvaccinated in Europe and the US.