LyrArc Article Gist
The mood in West Bengal state and the conflict between a communist state government which wants to push for industrialization similar to what they see in China, against more doctrinaire communists in the party who operate at the federal level -who opposed the India-USA nuclear cooperation treaty- and a party led by an activist Mamta Banerjee, who opposes the acquisition of land for industrial development and factories.

LyrArc Article Gist
Scott Sperling, co-president of THL Partners, one of the oldest private equity firms, says rather than be anticapitalist the Obama administration is capitalism at work, as the restructuring is rebuilding two auto companies through bankruptcy by reducing unsustainable legacy obligations and making the bankruptcy process work right for these two companies. It also helps these firms get a new start. The process of "creative destruction" that helps make capitalism work is put to work in an enlightened way so there is creation as well as destruction, destruction through the tough choices that all stakeholders had to make, and creation through the new structures that are coming up. Preservation also works here through keeping what was good in these firms, which are the employees who had no part in management's mistakes, and workers who may be just as badly trapped in union ways. Scott also explains why the government's offer of 10% ownership shares to debtholders is fair, considering that without the government's money Chrysler would be worth little....

LyrArc Article Gist
Proposals for a single banking regulator and giving more powers to the Federal Reserve in the regulatory reform proposals under discussion at the White House.

LyrArc Article Gist
A summary of President Obama's financial regualory reform proposal by the WSJ Washington Wire. The official document is titled, A New Foundation: Rebuilding Financial Supervision and Regulation, running 89 pages.

LyrArc Article Gist
To meet a billion dollar deficit fares on MTA in NEw York city could go up 8%.

LyrArc Article Gist
Shoichiro Toyoda and Okuda who ran Toyota in the eighties and nineties to make Toyota what it is today, question Toyota's strategy. The precise criticism is outlined in this article at the timwe Tooyota was considering its eigth plant in Tupelo, Mississippi. Their criticism focusses on the complacency to tolerate higher labor costs, to accept less manufacturing efficiency in overseas plants compared to Japan, and put in billions of dollars in new plants which may not be profitable quickly when the same result can be accomplished by adding more assembly lines to existing plants. The Toyota Tundra plant in Texas has overcapacity as the pickup has not sold as expected and this could happen at other plants if Toyota is not careful enough. Also the decisions to build plants in many different states appears to be based not just on manufacturing efficiency but also on desire to win political support in those states- California, Indiana and 6 southern states. Has that gone too far even when it is cheaper to manufacture in Japan because of the weaker yen? If it helps to keep the targets for Toyota vehicle content made in the USA (when imports have increased significantly) cannot this be accomplished by adding more assembly lines to existing plants? These are the points made by Shoichiro and Okuda. Especially that complacency may be getting into decisionmaking at Toyota. Behind all this is the fear that the Big Three may finally be breaking free of the higher unionized wage and benefit costs that put them at a disadvantage. And at the same time the quality gap may be shruinking between Toyota and the US manufacturers. This is evidenced in other articles, one recently on Ford's progress in JD Powers surveys. Here the figure of 2.3 million vehicles recalled in 2005 by Toyota is cited as showing Toyota slipping in the quality it was known for....

LyrArc Article Gist
How does this compare with Lever Brothers trying to access the small budget customers across Asia and the developing world? And how might this compare with the efforts by Tata Motors and other European and Asian car manufacturers to sell cars to the small budget customers in Asia and elsewhere? Note the different ways Citigroup is expanding its presence to get closer to the buying public with small outlets that are not regulated like branches are. Note the partnership with Singapore's subway system for outlets at 51 stations. And note how is using cell phone users prepaid credit cards to initate funds transfer in Malaysia for overseas workers. Citigroup has combined this with acquisitions to get a retail banking presence in Korea, China and other places.

LyrArc Article Gist
Comments on the health care system in Holland, article frontpage Sept 6, 2007, wsj. See also Mayo Clinic's recommendations.

LyrArc Article Gist
Remaining challenges Merck faces to wrap up the Vioxx settlement .The main fear is that enough plaintiffs opt out of the settlement that it ends up costing Merck substantially more than anticipated like the Wyeth settlement that ended up costing Wyeth $21 billion fo afen-phen diet drug litigation because enough plaintiffs opted out. Tho prevent this Merck has include language in it agreeemtn that requires plaintiff lawyers to recommend settlement to those holding out and requires them to drop representing them.

LyrArc Article Gist
Details of the the way Sheila Bair tackled the Wachovia merger with first Wells Fargo and then Citigroup and then finally back with Wells Fargo. Throughout the negotiations FDIC say was firm and offered Wachovia few options either merge or go into receivership and be seized by the federal government and FDIC. She was also the one who worked with Well and Wachovia to complete the final deal.

LyrArc Article Gist
With Democrats controlling 51 votes and 11 Republican votes needed in the Senate to reach the 60 votes for passing aid to automakers legislation, the whole issue remains clouded for now. Politicians of both parties made statements but the reality is that there is not enough support in Congress for aid to automakers. And if the $25 billion that has been already approved for retooling plants for higher fuel efficiency is now released for salaries and operations by congressional vote to change this it still has to pass a poosible veto by President Bush. And Republican opposition is hardening as they call for real changes in how these companies are being run and at the same time some Democrats may also support this position.

LyrArc Article Gist
The public and the NHS pay a lot for childhood obesity. Starmer is doing something about it. He plans to put junk food television ads past 9 pm, ban high sugar and salt, high fat food online ads. Ban on high cafeeine energy drinks. And giving councils power to prevent fast food outlets opening near schools.

The plan includes checkups at workplaces for adults.

Starmer said-

There’s diet, there’s healthy lifestyle, we are going to have to get into that space. I know some prevention measures will be controversial but I’m prepared to be bold, even in the face of loud opposition. Some of our changes won’t be universally popular, we know that, but I will do the right thing for our NHS, our economy and our children.”

LyrArc Article Gist
Mr. Trump told Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar at the White House he is disappointed with the way Brexit has evolved in the three years since he supported Brexit during the election campaign. Trump said "it is tearing the country apart. Its actually tearing a lot of countries apart."  After a series of votes in the British parliament Trump told reporters he gave May some negotiating advice. "I gave the prime minister my ideas on how to negotiate. I think she would have been successful., she did'nt listen to that." So what happened? What advice did Trump give on negotiating? There are only some hints on this. Theresa May told the BBC in an interview after Trump's visit to London in July 2018- "He told me I should sue the E.U. -not go into negotiations., Sue them."  Trump made a prediction a day after the referendum to Leave saying "the E.U. is going to break up." This was at the time of the financial crisis in the European Union with problems in Greece, Spain and Portugal. Since then the economies of these countries revived. Spain has 3% growth for three years even though it faces fresh elections. In his 2000 book "The America we Deserve" Trump pointed out his sense threat the U.S. should pull back from the E.U and save millions of dollars annually. In recent years he has suggested that the E.U was "a foe"  and "it was formed as a consortium so that it could compete with the United States." The problems in Europe happened in the period 2016-2018 with divisions emerging on the issue of immigration. This wave of immigration was a result of Arab and African conflicts and lag in Africa between development and the rapidly rising population. Chancellor Merkel was ill prepared to handle this wave of immigration and in retrospect her policy did little to address the roots of the problems of immigration from North Africa, a policy later adopted when popular support for immigration of this kind and scale declined. It affected the vote for Brexit playing into deep seated doubts about the benefits of EU membership in parts of Britain.  Mr. Trump supports no-deal Brexit which was defeated by large margins in the British parliament and lacks support across all parts of society, business and political parties in Britain. Trump own sense that Brexit has divided many countries and his dialogue with the Irish prime minister must show an awareness of the views of Ireland about the hard won peace and E.U. borders in Ireland.     ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Restaurants in UK have large price increases. UK restaurant owners say they are facing a squeeze with 55% of revenue going to pay taxes in 2026, and 45% left for rent, employees wages, electricity, food and other costs. Unclean streets and closure of restaurants during covid affect the prospects in the restaurant business. 38% of restaurant customers say they cannot afford to go to restaurants the way they used to.

LyrArc Article Gist
In a game where the physical push and shove happened abundantly with many fouls including some involving Toni Kroos and leading to the sending off of Pedri, the Spaniards simply were the more resilient side. Spain led for most of the regular play period with a goal from Dani Olmo from a Yamal pass. Wirtz scored for Germany only in the 86th minute with a scramble taking place in front of goal. Spain were the better team overall and scored in extra time in what was a quarter final game but could have been the final, such was the intensity displayed by Germany who were seen by their fans as not having the determination to win in other games. Spain simply had some of the best players- Rodrigo, Yamal , Olmo and Morata and the play was relentless on both sides.

LyrArc Article Gist
Officials of 130 countries met virtually to agree on a global minimum tax rate. A minimum tax rate of 15% would be paid by corporations in each of the countries in which they operate so that tax avoidance is prevented. The Group of 20 major economies including India and China also agreed to this change in taxation to ensure that all companies pay their fair share of taxes. It is also part of the Biden plan for tax revenue generation to fund the infrastructure and human needs in health, education and public services that were neglected for so long. US president Biden says- "This will level the playing field and also make America more competitive. And it will allow us to devote the additional revenue we raise to make generational investments, which are necessary to keep America's competitive edge razor sharp in today's global economy." This tax change was needed to prevent companies shopping for low tax locations such as Ireland. This kind of locating in low tax rate locations worked badly for the major G-20 economies for decades as it prevented the generation of revenues needed for essential services and infrastructure investments. Tax changes include Biden's plan to increase the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, and raise the minimum tax on US based companies foreign profits to 21% from 10.5%.  ...