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The growth compact for Europe: union-government cooperation to build competitiveness in France
04/17/2012
Unions and major parties in France are in agreement on wage restraint and accepting lower wages to preserve jobs, similiar to the effort in Germany during its period of high unemployment.
Linked Articles
France Moves to Make Labor More Flexible
Wall Street Journal 05/01/2012
French Presidential Election Stokes Investor ConcernNew York Times 04/17/2012
The Way Out for the U.S,. Europe, India and Pakistan- Boskin and Shaikh push for expanding trade and a free trade agreement
04/16/2012
A way out of conflict, wasted resources, and misshaped priorities, through a strong push for expanded trade and a free trade agreement between India and Pakistan. After several generations of conflict a way out. An opportunity to do in South Asia what happened between France and Germany under Adenauer, Monnet and De Gaulle. The Shaikh-Boskin proposal calls for expanded trade between India and Pakistan, and a free trade agreement between the two neighbors similiar to NAFTA in North America, and the European Common Market in Europe. This would generate a surge in growth in South Asia similiar to what happened in China in the last two decades and create new opportunities for hundreds of millions of people in South Asia.
Linked Articles
Pakistan's Untold Economic Story
Wall Street Journal 04/24/2012
A Passage to India-Pakistan PeaceWall Street Journal 04/16/2012
Toyota's strategy with the International Multipurpose Vehicle (IMV) and Renault's with the Logan and Dacia models
04/07/2012
Toyota goes after the lower price points in emerging markets with the IMV series. Renault goes for a lower price point for buyers in its home markets in France and the rest of Europe with its Dacia and Logan models. Both are expected to cross the 1 million mark sales point in 2012. Renault achieves a 6% operating margin on the low price point vehicles priced at around $10,000, breaking the myth that lower price points cannot generate profits.
Linked Articles
Toyota Pushes Emerging-Markets Production
Wall Street Journal 04/07/2012
Renault Takes Low-Cost LeadWall Street Journal 04/16/2012
The case for increasing the minimum wage (3) Apple stores and "Why Nations Fail"
03/31/2012
Linked Articles
Apple Stores Army, Long on Loyalty but Short on Pay
New York Times 06/23/2012
Why Nations FailNew York Times 03/31/2012
The IMF's view on austerity measures, the "German hypothesis," and the British economy
02/17/2012
The IMF's view is that it could take 5 years before the breakeven point on the effects of austerity measures is reached and it turns positive. The "German hypothesis" based on German experience as an exporting nation is that the benefits come sooner in the short term. For Britain, which is not an exporting nation like Germany, the benefits from exports are likely to be limited when the rest of Europe is'seeing declining or stagnant growth. The IMF view means Britain may be faced with the costs of the Cameron-Osborne austerity measures till 2016.
Linked Articles
Britain's Economy Contracts More Than Predicted
New York Times 03/28/2012
Austerity Debate a Matter of DegreeWall Street Journal 02/17/2012
Policy response in Spain and France to increasing temporary workers and high youth unemployment- 2012-2013
02/10/2012
Linked Articles
France Pins Hopes on Youth Jobs Plan
Wall Street Journal 12/25/2012
Spain Approves Changes to Labor PolicyNew York Times 02/10/2012
Competitiveness and job creation- the U.S. and France
12/10/2011
Contrasting experiences, problems and new approaches.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 05/29/2013
The Next First (and Only) 100 DaysNew York Times 12/10/2011
Reagan-Bush and Obama on immigrants- A Reality Check
09/29/2011
A Better Way. The question of who was more humane in their response is one for the public in a nation of immigrants. Bush and Reagan stood up for the state paying for illegal immigrant children getting schooling in the straightforward honest way to a difficult question in the primary debates years ago. There is no empty rhetoric when Bush says he does not want 6-8 year old children to live in fear and deprived of an education thinking they were living outside the law. And Reagan points out that rather than talk of putting up a fence lets work out our mutual problems with Mexico. The elder Bush goes further and stands up for immigrants in a way that the country has not seen for a long, long time. "They are good, strong people," he says, and "part of my family is Mexican."
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/29/2011
More Deportations Follow Minor Crimes, Records ShowNew York Times 04/06/2014
Inequality, the middle class and economic growth
01/15/2011
Studies show a growing middle class and lower middle class as one of the conditions underpinning steady economic growth. Adam Smith also points this out in his book The Wealth of Nations, written in the 18th century as England began its transformaton with the Industrial Revolution. Growing wages created a middle class and demand for goods and services that enable England to prosper. A similiar process took place in the U.S. with Henry Ford's effort to provide higher wages in his automobile plants in the 1920's that led to a growing middle class able to afford automobiles.
Linked Articles
Inequality: The rich and the rest
Economist 01/15/2011
The 1 Percent Clubâs Misguided ProtectorsNew York Times 12/10/2011
The threat posed by China's local government debt to China's banking and financial system
07/29/2010
Because of the opaqueness of the financial system the estimates of the local government debt varies from 27% to 42% of GDP. Prof Shih of Northwestern University, an expert on this subject, now estimates this to be $2.6 trillion or 42% of GDP. Other estimates from the National Audit Office put this at 27% and from China's central bank put this at 30%. Prof Shih's earlier estimate was 34%. Because of the large number of local government entities and the lack of transparency the figures may actually turn out to be higher as China's regulators and other analysts improve their estimates. The 42% estimate is $2.6 trillion in local government debt. China's large foreign exchange reserves of $3 trillion and low interest rates will give China some space for addressing the problem with another round of injection of capital into the banking system.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 06/28/2011
Where China Hides Its DebtBusinessWeek 07/29/2010
Job saving in Germany, "kurzarbeit" and the experience of piecemeal implementation in France by 2014
07/29/2010
Piecemeal implementation of "kuzarbeit" type job preservation efforts leads to failure in France with unemployment reaching 10.4% by the third quarter of 2014, according to Insee. Proper implementation would require changes in the legal system, and a change in the culture for business, trade unions.
Linked Articles
French Attempt at German-Style Labor Reform Flounders
Wall Street Journal 12/05/2014
The Price of Saving Jobs in GermanyBusinessWeek 07/29/2010
The public finances of France affect the credibility of the $1 trillon eurozone support package.
05/13/2010
How this affects Spain, Portugal, Italy and other countries facing financial crisis.
Linked Articles
French Cracks Are Showing in Euro-Zone Core
Wall Street Journal 05/13/2010
Italy's debt fuels worriesWall Street Journal 05/14/2010
Danone and P&G's (Procter & Gamble) innovative strategies for reaching low income customers in emerging markets.
12/12/2009
In 2004 Indonesian managers showed Franck Riboud, CEO of Danone, a pyramid of customers in Indonesia's population of 240 million people. It showed only 20 million customers at the top of the pyramid as the only ones who could afford Danone products. At that point Ribaud made up his mind to go after the large number of people at the lower end of the pyramid and come with strategies to do this profitably. By 2010 46% of Danone's sales were from emerging markets, up from 10% a decade earlier, showing the pace of the change. Unilever, P&G, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive and other companies are following similiar strategies. P&G has used Mexico as a lab for experimenting with new products at low price points and Danone has done this in Indonesia.
Linked Articles
Danone Expands Its Pantry to Woo the World's Poor
Wall Street Journal 06/25/2010
P.& G. Sees the World as Its ClientNew York Times 12/12/2009
The challenges facing Peugeot Citroen with its focus on low-cost small fuel efficient cars and the high labor costs in France
04/16/2012
Linked Articles
Big Car Plant Closure Shows Europe Woes
Wall Street Journal 07/12/2012
Renault Takes Low-Cost LeadWall Street Journal 04/16/2012
The Gallois Report and reviving France's competitiveness
04/12/2012
Linked Articles
Departing EADS Chief Urges Europe to Recommit to Industry
New York Times 04/12/2012
France Looks to Halt Industrial DeclineWall Street Journal 11/06/2012
Wide divergence in P/E ratios of France and Germany compared to the U.S. in March 2012
04/06/2012
The 10 year P/E ratios of France and Germany at 12 compared to the U.S.'s at 22 show a wide divergence in the P/E ratios. Analysts say this shows the U.S. equity market is overextended. One estimate shows a price valuation divergence of 10%, more than what is justified by "safety" and other concerns.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 04/07/2012
Job Growth Loses SteamWall Street Journal 04/06/2012
China's Stimulus plan in 2012-2013 and the problem of "uncoordinated, unbalanced and unsustainable development"
03/06/2012
China's premier Wen Biao told the National People's Congress, China's parliament, in March 2012, that it was urgent to tackel the "problem of uncoordinated, unbalanced, and unsustainable development." He called for "an acceleration of the transformation" of the economic model towards consumption and away from exports and infrastructure spending. The accelerated approval of 254 investment projects in May 2012 puts off this task of rebalancing development for China and the world economy. With slowing growth in China and the last Stimulus of 2008 having propelled the housing bubble, the options were limited. A decrease in the reserve requirement by 0.5% in 2012 for China's banks was not expected to spur growth because lending was not expected to increase, as the demand for loans is low. A sharp falloff in growth below 7% was feared leading to the acceleration in investment.
Linked Articles
China’s stimulus policy means trouble down the road - The Washington Post
Washington Post 05/31/2012
China Speeds Economic 'Transformation'Wall Street Journal 03/06/2012
The likelihood of greater public contribution towards Greece's debt and changes to the IMF program after May 2012 elections in Greece and France
02/13/2012
France's Socialist presidential candidate Hollande considers the EU-IMF programs a failure of governance in Europe. He predicts larger public contributions to Greece's debt after the elections in Greece and France.
Linked Articles
Watch Athens, Not Paris, This Weekend
Wall Street Journal 05/04/2012
French Candidate Hollande Assails European Policy on GreeceNew York Times 02/13/2012
"Hiroshima" 1945 and the Siege of Leningrad 1941-1942 - What a post war Russian, American and Japanese generation could understand and what is lacking in the Middle East
01/27/2012
Noonan asks the question about what a post war generation of Americans, Russians and Japanese could understand about the horrors of nuclear war and of the Second World War, and how this is lacking in the Middle East as each nation strives for nuclear weapons from Iran to Saudi Arabia. Separately in another link Kaname Harada asks a different question- has a new generation in Japan born after 1945, both leaders and the public, forgotten about that period including "Hiroshima."
Linked Articles
Vladimir Putin Describes Loss of a Brother at Ceremony
New York Times 01/27/2012
Misplaying America’s Hand With IranWall Street Journal 04/04/2015
Britain, the eurozone crisis and a mood shifting towards Britain's exit from the European Union
12/07/2011
A British mood moving away from the positive engagement its economy needs with its largest trading partner, the other nations of the European Union. A Opinion/Observer poll in Nov. 2012 shows a majority of people in Britain would vote yes on a referendum to leave the European Union.
Linked Articles
New York Times 11/22/2012
Britain Suffers as a Bystander to Europe's CrisisNew York Times 12/07/2011
Contrasting approaches of Germany and France after the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in Japan
05/11/2011
Linked Articles
Panel Urges Germany to Close Nuclear Plants by 2021
New York Times 05/11/2011
France's Election Heats Up over Nuclear PowerBusinessWeek 12/01/2011
The growth compact for Europe: increasing German wages to benefit German workers and increase imports from other eurozone countries
08/17/2010
German workers exercized a decade of wage restraint under the Hartz reforms. This has led to a large increase in the sector of lower paid workers. Polls show 4 out of 5 workers feel they have not benefitted from the growth in the economy in Germany. Higher German wages coupled with wage restraint in France, Spain, Italy and other eurozone countries would help increase imports into Germany from other eurozone coutnries. This would help rebalance the eurozone economies.
Linked Articles
Germany's Inflated Fear of Inflation
Wall Street Journal 02/14/2012
German Workers' Wages Belie Country's ReboundWall Street Journal 08/17/2010
The shift to digital for newspapers in the U.S. with shrinking number of journalists to cover local and national news- 2010-2015
07/29/2010
Linked Articles
New Orleans Times-Picayune to limit printing to three days per week - The Washington Post
Washington Post 05/25/2012
Mixed Ad Message From NewspapersWall Street Journal 07/29/2010
Greece's referendum and the 3 year bailout of July 12, 2015- military spending, shipowners taxes, and cuts to pensions
07/10/2010
Greece's left Syriza government almost pulled the country out of the eurozone over pension cuts, even as military spending in Greece remained at 2.4% of GNP compared to close 1.4% for the EU average. Greece did not propose further cuts to military spending to bring the Greece ratio closer to that of Germany and other countries in Europe, raising questions about prudent spending. Which is why Greece sometimes has aspects of the surreal to people not just in Germany and Holland, but other parts of Europe, and outsiders. Under the reform proposal and bailout of July 12, 2015 following the "no" referendum, Greece's parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of the similiar cuts in pensions from an earlier EU proposal, with cuts of $300 million to the military spending by 2016. Greek shipowners will also pay taxes under the new bailout, negotiated by Greece with France's help when the referendum had damaged relations with the rest of the EU, particularly Germany with only 10% in polls willing to support any further concessions.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 07/11/2015
The Submarine Deals That Helped Sink GreeceWall Street Journal 07/10/2010
The need for a new European economic government to back the euro currency.
04/29/2010
The French view that there should be a common economic government and clear institutional responsibilities and the German view that is not so willing to cede national sovereignty in economic matters. The fiscal and structural flaws that need to be repaired for the euro currency to work.
Linked Articles
Economist 05/13/2010
As Greek Drama Plays Out, Where Is Europe?New York Times 04/29/2010
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