The 1976 Montreal Olympics, the 2004 Athens Olympics, the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the Rio Olympics- decades long debt hangovers and costs growing from the $1+ billion in Montreal to $50+ billion in Sochi

08/24/2016

Developing and developed countries alike have seen the cost of the Olympics as a huge burden. Many countries or cities that committed to hosting the Olympic games during boom years were facing economic hard times by the time of the games. Corruption and mismanagement of public funds, overspending and cost overruns added to the problems. Citizens uproar caused cities such as Boston and Oslo to withdraw bids for the Olympics. The Olympics appears to be a costly way to show off a country, and raises questions about better allocation of funds in other directions, especially when upward mobility is a problem for the middle and working class, countries have other infrastructure needs, and neglected basic needs in education, healthcare, public services.

Linked Articles

The 40-year hangover: how the 1976 Olympics nearly broke Montreal

The Guardian 07/06/2016

The New York Times 08/23/2016

Michael Powell

Speaker Paul Ryan's House seat in Janesville, Wisconsin- improving economy in a U.S. midwestern factory town and the debate on trade, help for working class families

08/10/2016

The unemployment rate in Janesville, Wisconsin drops to 4.4% in May 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It was over 9% following the closing of the GM plant and the recession from the 2008 financial crisis. A working class town Janesville was hit hard by the closing of the GM plant in 2008. Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post describes the impact of losing about 5000 jobs at the GM plant, and the problems typical of most manufacturing dependent towns. Throughout the period since being first elected to Congress in 1998 Ryan has continued to be able to get elected on the basis of faith, family and public service, even though some of his policies may not have helped the poor and elderly or laid off workers. Ryan voted for rescuing the auto industry and worked hard to keep the GM plant, and listens to his constituents, and as the economy recovered by 2016 won easily in this old industrial midwestern town. His influence in national politics gives Janesville an opportunity to be heard, as it tackles problems common to many midwestern towns in the U.S.

Linked Articles

Could Paul Ryan’s ideas help his struggling home town? - The Washington Post

Washington Post 08/19/2012

Amy Goldstein, Amy, Goldstein

The Guardian 08/10/2016

David Smith

How the few Oxford educated politicians forming an old boy's club and their infighting by 2016 led to the vote for Brexit

07/08/2016

How Cameron, Osborne, Gove and Johnson, a few Oxford educated politicians put their narrow interests and party politics ahead of the interests of Britain and the interests of the European Union.

Linked Articles

British Politics Gives a Sense of Government by Old School Chums

The New York Times 07/07/2016

The New York Times 07/05/2016

The pause in the U.S. economy with the May 2016 U.S. jobs report showing 38,000 jobs added

06/06/2016

Krugman discusses the U.S. May 2016 jobs report from the Labor Department. He says it will be harder to come up with a response to the political uncertainty in an election year, especially now that rates are near zero.

Linked Articles

Sharp Fall in U.S. Hiring Saps Chance of Fed Rate Increase in June

The New York Times 06/03/2016

The New York Times 06/06/2016

Trump's solution for creating jobs- an illusion?

03/23/2016

With no tangible solutions for creating jobs, and a policy of high tariffs that could create trade wars and destabilize the global economy hurting growth worldwide, jobs lost in the last decade mostly not coming back, questions raised about how this will improve the prospects for jobs, upward mobility for middle class, working class people.

Linked Articles

Trump’s Useless Revolution

Wall Street Journal 03/24/2016

Holman W. Jenkins, Holman, W., Jenkins

Washington Post 03/23/2016

Donald Trump, Donald, Trump, The Editors Of The Washington Post, The, Editors, Of, Washington, Post, Ryan Jr., Ryan, Jr., Hiatt, Lane, Marcus, Diehl, Armao

Donald Trump's proposal for 45% tariff on China's exports to the U.S.- how a policy of bringing jobs home could lead to the loss of 1 million U.S. jobs

03/08/2016

By damaging the international trading system including with allies such a Canada, Britain, France and Germany, the result of a downward spiral through higher tariffs in other countries, could end up costing the U.S. 1 million jobs. Under such a system the U.S. would lose many of the advantages of its booming tech sector, its tech driven global advantages in many industries, without signifcant gains in low cost imports such as clothing which would simply migrate to other countries such as India. The problem of worker wage stagnation in the U.S., and loss of jobs in certain sectors, is very real, but this is the wrong way to tackle the problem. China is already moving towards a consumer driven economy. Economists show that trade with Mexico would be seriously hurt both ways, creating more pressure of migrants at the border under such proposals as a 45% tariff and its indirect effect on Mexico, when the actual fact is that net migration from Mexico is the lowest it has ben in decades. Politics can do strange things as when two senators Smoot and Hawley from agricultural states Utah and Oregon, at the head of important committees in the U.S. Congress pushed and passed legislation for a 60% tariff in 1930 for the industrial sector they had no idea about. When Smoot and Hawley lost reelection in 1932 they left behind a lot of damage, especially for the farmers and workers they thought they were fighting for.

Linked Articles

How Trump’s Hard Line on Trade Could Backfire

Wall Street Journal 03/25/2016

Bob Davis, Bob, Davis

Wall Street Journal 03/08/2016

Holman W. Jenkins Jr., Holman, W., Jenkins, Jr.

The U.S. manufacturing sector and the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement- U.S. manufacturing job losses and why leading candidates Clinton, Sanders, Trump and Cruz oppose it

01/25/2016

Linked Articles

Trans-Pacific Trade Pact Would Lift U.S. Incomes, but Not Jobs Overall, Study Says

New York Times 01/25/2016

Jackie Calmes, Jackie, Calmes

New York Times 01/26/2016

Steven Rattner, Steven, Rattner

An extended period of low oil prices expected in December 2015 as Saudis and other producers plan no changes to production

12/07/2015

Linked Articles

As Oil Keeps Falling, Nobody Is Blinking

Wall Street Journal 12/07/2015

Erin Ailworth And Bradley Olson, Erin, Ailworth, And, Bradley, Olson

New York Times 12/07/2015

Clifford Krauss, Clifford, Krauss

The Chinese market in 2015 and pitfalls for Yum Brands and its KFC, Pizza Hut stores in China

10/21/2015

Rapid growth and then a public scare with media reports of falling quality standards hurt KFC outlets. Local Chinese and Taiwanese brands offer more options at the higher and lower ends of the price range. Other European competitors partnering with local Chinese companies offer better value and quality upscale hurting Pizza Hut stores. And suddenly the whole landscape has changed for Yum Brands in China. It shows the Chinese market is no place for the complacent, that the discriminating tastes of consumers and search for healthier alternatives is taking place in China, India and other developing countries, just as much as it is in the U.S.

Linked Articles

China Isn’t the Easy Market It Once Was for Fast-Food Chains

Wall Street Journal 10/21/2015

Laurie Burkitt, Laurie, Burkitt

Wall Street Journal 10/21/2015

Julie Jargon, Julie, Jargon

2016 U.S. presidential candidate Jeb Bush's Tax Plan that spells out details, and takes a shot at 4% growth for restoring lost social and economic mobility in the U.S.

09/09/2015

The efforts to wrestle with the deficit in 2011-2012 led to a vigorous debate on changing the tax code, yet political leaders failed to take up new ideas or spell out the details. Jeb Bush, with advisors Martin Feldstein and Kevin Warsh, takes the unconventional approach of putting in the details, and taking up ideas such as the idea of limiting itemized deductions to 2% of adjusted gross income proposed by Feldstein in that debate. On the $2.1 trillion in income held overseas by U.S. companies Bush proposes 8.75% tax paid over 10 years. On business investment he proposes capital investment be allowed to be deducted in full immediately. It is based on the idea that business investment can drive a vigorous recovery, that workers bear 50% of the burden of higer taxes through sluggish wage growth. It levels the playing field for debt and equity capital, removing "carried interest" provision, as a lesson from the excessive leverage taken by financial institutions in the past.

Linked Articles

The Bush Growth Plan

Wall Street Journal 09/10/2015

Editorial

New York Times 09/09/2015

Alan Rappeport, Alan, Rappeport, Matt Flegenheimer, Matt, Flegenheimer

China's efforts to transition to a new model for development in 2016-2017, based on consumers and not on heavy state spending

08/25/2015

Xi-Jinping and Li Keqiang face a challenge and choices not unlike the one facing Deng Xiaoping in the 1980's- now the challenge is how to move China beyond the middle income status it has achieved with all its accompanying problems of environmental destruction, corruption and aging population.

Linked Articles

A crisis of faith

Economist 01/23/2016

Economist.Com

New York Times 08/25/2015

Eduardo Porter, Eduardo, Porter

Errors made by the IMF, Syriza Tsipras far left government, leading to the third bailout program of 2015 for Greece

07/06/2015

Just when the first signs of growth in the economy were taking place in 2014 the IMF held back on a 7.2 billion euro payment to Greece which would have increased liquidity to the private sector for growth. The IMF hope to gain leverage with a future Syriza far left government. The first half of 2015 led to economic anxiety in Greece with a failed negotiating strategy of Syriza far left government focussing only on the debt and not on the economy. The damage led to about 85 billion in addtional financing needed following the closing of Greece's banking system in July 2015.

Linked Articles

IMF Warns Eurozone That Greece Needs Far More Debt Relief

Wall Street Journal 07/15/2015

Ian Talley, Ian, Talley

New York Times 07/06/2015

Gikas Hardouvelis, Gikas, Hardouvelis