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Assessment of U.S. president Obama's two terms in office 2008-2016 (1) - a declining middle class and a struggling working class
01/13/2016
Linked Articles
The Obama era has damaged liberalism - The Washington Post
Washington Post 01/13/2016
A voice in the wildernessEconomist 01/19/2016
The lost sense of moral purpose in the Obama presidency (3)
11/17/2015
Linked Articles
U.N. Says 60 Million People Have Been Forced to Flee War
New York Times 12/18/2015
A Syrian Refugee Lesson for LiberalsWall Street Journal 11/17/2015
Jeremy Corbyn and the proposal in 2015 for a National Investment Bank in Britain to make investments in education, health services and infrastructure
09/11/2015
A new leader of the Labor Party in Britain proposes a National Investment Bank. Some of the funding would come from an estimated 20 billion pounds of tax debt, 20 billion pounds in tax evasion, and 80 billion pounds in tax avoidance, according to experts in the Labor Party. Corbyn says he would reverse the introduction of fees for university education by previous Labor governments and has publicly apologized for the fees. The fees plan would cost about 7.1 billion pounds and be paid for by a 2.5% increase in the corporate tax, slower deficit reduction or increase in the insurance tax, says Corbyn. Germany continues to provide free university education.
Linked Articles
Leftist Jeremy Corbyn elected leader of Britain’s Labour Party - The Washington Post
Washington Post 09/12/2015
Jeremy Corbyn, Unlikely Front-Runner for Labour Leader, Poised to Win Party VoteNew York Times 09/11/2015
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
How to Undo the Damage in GreeceNew York Times 07/06/2015
Restoring Deutsche Bank's image in Germany in 2015- (1) the new management
05/24/2015
Linked Articles
Shareholders’ Rebuke Pressures Deutsche Bank CEOs to Perform
Wall Street Journal 05/24/2015
Deutsche Bank Co-Chief Executives ResignNew York Times 06/07/2015
How the Trans Pacific Trade Partnership Agreement (TPP) fell apart- (4) a narrow view by the Obama administration using TPP as a counter to China's Infrastructure Development Bank
04/27/2015
Linked Articles
Obama Presses Case for Asia Trade Deal, Warns Failure Would Benefit China
Wall Street Journal 04/27/2015
Trade and TrustNew York Times 05/22/2015
The nuclear agreement negotiated with Iran in April 2015 and the views of U.S. president Obama on the deal
03/29/2015
Linked Articles
New York Times 04/05/2015
Iran Backs Away From Key Detail in Nuclear DealNew York Times 03/29/2015
What Greece won in the negotiations and what Greece lost in the failure of talks with the EU, capital controls, closing of banks and the referendum on July 5, 2015
02/27/2015
Major concessions were won by Greece on the most important issues of the surplus, and the size of the public sector with high unemployment. Compromise was being reached on the value added taxes and age for getting pensions, next down the list. Next on the list were pension cuts which undoubtedly would hurt pensioners but in the larger picture of the economy would come after the size of the surplus and dateline, and the size of public sector. The size of these cuts is small compared to the cost of 60 billion euros from the damage done to the economy, and the alternatives for pensioners and the rest of the country. under bank closure. For the EU this was seen as part of pension reforms and for left leaning Syriza compromising on behalf of pensioners.
Linked Articles
IMF Raises Referendum Stakes With Call for More Aid for Greece and Debt Relief
Wall Street Journal 07/03/2015
What Greece WonNew York Times 02/27/2015
Lt. Gen "Ben" Hodges, Commander U.S. Army in Europe, on the Russian moves towards Mariupol in eastern Ukraine in Feb. 2015
02/08/2015
Ben Hodges describes the Russian threat to peace in Eastern Europe under president Putin and the need for U.S. preparedness.
Linked Articles
The View From NATO’s Russian Front
Wall Street Journal 02/09/2015
Desperation and Destruction in Contested Ukraine CityNew York Times 02/08/2015
U.S. president Obama's 2015 State of the Union address- a disconnect with Congress and programs that have no prospect of being implemented
01/20/2015
Linked Articles
Bold Call to Action in Obama’s State of the Union, Even if No Action Is Likely
New York Times 01/20/2015
In State of the Union, Obama Makes Middle-Class PitchWall Street Journal 01/21/2015
The challenges facing K-12 education in the U.S. in 2015 with a larger proportion of children from less affluent and poor backgrounds, and two thirds of American children failing math and reading proficiency required levels in 8th grade for 2015
01/17/2015
With a majority of children in California, Texas, and some midwestern states in the U.S. from less affluent or poor backgrounds, and about two thirds of all American students failiing to meet required proficiency in math and reading at 8th grade, the educational challenge of of creating a well qualified work force to build America's future is daunting. Eight years of policy changes in education and private efforts have failed to produce adequate results.
Linked Articles
U.S. student performance slips on national test - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/28/2015
Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty - The Washington PostWashington Post 01/17/2015
The miscalculations and missteps of Russian president Putin in 2014 leading to a major crisis for the Russian economy in 2015
12/18/2014
A major miscalculation was totally misjudging Merkel and post-war German public opinion about policies that remind people about the period between the two World Wars- this is anathema to Germans who see the European Union as a way to build a new and different Europe. The other miscalculation was on how a foreign adventurous policy in Syria would affect Sunni world opinion, in particular Saudi Arabia. Just as Brezhnev took Russia into Afghanistan where Russia had no vital interest leading to eventual Soviet collapse, Putin risked alienating a key member in OPEC pricing moves and hurting Russia's economic interest. By not listening to Kudrin, the head of Sberbank, and other economic advisers from the first and second terms of the Putin-Medvedev administrations, Putin opened the door to two years of serious missteps, risking the very real accomplishments of the first and second term of creating a stable growing Russian economy with close economic ties to Europe. The only positive outcome of the crisis and low oil prices would be making the shift away from oil dependence, which was talked about but never seriously attempted in the Putin administrations. For this to happen major new investments would have to be made and technology links to the outside strengthened, both hammered by the missteps in 2013-2014. The irony of all this is that Putin gained the support of rural Russians in the countryside in the 2012 presidential elections by promising no return to the economic crisis conditions following earlier ruble collapses. Now by ignoring Kudrin and other wiser counsel from the first and second administrations he does just that.
Linked Articles
Putin’s Year of Defiance and Miscalculation
Wall Street Journal 12/18/2014
Russian President Vladimir Putin Seeks to Reassure on EconomyWall Street Journal 12/18/2014
Two party systems and Malaysia's UMNO Party- (2) the future economic prospects of Malaysia under Razak, India under Modi, Indonesia under Widodo
12/08/2014
Najib Razak follows his father Tun Abdul Razak, Mahathir before him, all the way back to Tunku Abdul Rahman, all of the UMNO party, in an uninterrupted control of the United Malay Naional Organization Party which has ruled Malaysia for almost 6 decades. Malaysia has followed the example of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore by keeping the opposition parties weak to maintain control. Both the UMNO and the party of Lee in Singapore face questions about the merits of suppressing the development of two party systems, at a time when government is changing hands to opposition parties in most of the region and improving economic prospects in each country with a change of government- Abe in Japan, Widodo in Indonesia, Modi and Sharif in India and Pakistan, Aquino in the Philippines, Wickremesinghe in Sri Lanka. A economic drift with no clear direction under Singh and Bhutto in India and Pakistan was reversed with the election of Modi and Sharif, the economic drift and deflation under the Kan and Noda governments was reversed in Japan with the election of Abe, and the economic drift in Indonesia is being reversed by the Widodo government. This shows how critical two party systems are to functioning democracies as middle classes develop and voters look for competing views of the future to choose from.
Linked Articles
Fund Controversy Threatens Malaysia’s Leader
Wall Street Journal 06/19/2015
Indonesian President Joko Widodo Pledges to Cut Investment BarriersWall Street Journal 12/08/2014
A Republican narrative for the 2016 U.S. presidential election from Karl Rove and a different narrative from Stanley Greenberg for the Democrats
11/20/2015
The Republican narrative finds a parallel in the 2016 U.S. presidential election which led to the election of president McKinley and bringing Teddy Roosevelt as running mate for the 1900 election. It focusses on economic recovery under the gold standard and U.S. asserting itself on behalf of Cuban independence in the uprising against Spanish rule. The Democratic narrative looks at immigration, women, minorities and the surge in inequality to see continuing shift to Democrats, accepting some voter disillusionment with both parties showing up in reduced voter participation.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 11/20/2015
Terrorism Becomes a Campaign IssueWall Street Journal 11/20/2015
The problems threatening the white working class in America and the rise of cultural illiberalism
11/12/2015
Experts point to the economic anxieties of the white working class in America, a broad group that has increasingly fallen behind as technology advances in the 21st century with globalization and mobile capital, causing serious social fissures in society. One of the dangers is to the ideas of liberal society itself with the rise of cultural illiberalism, such as that presented by the Trump candidacy for president in 2016, and Marie Le Pen's National Front in France, as liberal elites in centre right and centre left lose their hold on working class voters.
Linked Articles
The Bleak Reality Driving Trump’s Rise
Wall Street Journal 12/16/2015
The missing working class - The Washington PostWashington Post 11/12/2015
The devaluation of the yuan in August 2015 as China responds to lower exports, the appreciation of the euro and the yen, and the U.S. Federal Reserve's plan to raise rates
08/12/2015
China's currency appreciated 9.2% against the euro and 57% against the Japanese yen with its soft peg to the dollar in 2013-2015. The 8.3% decline in China's exports for July 2015 over the prior year led to the policy action to devalue the Chinese currency, the yuan on August 11, 2015.
Linked Articles
China is trying to save its economy with a cheaper currency - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/12/2015
China’s Devaluation GambitWall Street Journal 08/12/2015
The lack of individual accountability of bank management in the U.S. and Britain 2009-2015
06/13/2015
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/16/2015
A bigger stickEconomist 06/13/2015
Lack of individual accountability for banks in legal settlements with regulators- (2) the old management still in place, " a solution to the problem or part of it?"
05/24/2015
The question put by Mr. Han Martin-Buhlmann of shareholder association VIP at the June shareholder meeting of Deutsche Bank was- "Mr. Jain are a solution to the problem or part of it?" Over a week later a new CEO was appointed.
Linked Articles
Economist 06/13/2015
Shareholders’ Rebuke Pressures Deutsche Bank CEOs to PerformWall Street Journal 05/24/2015
The Obama administration's efforts on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), after losing allies in Asia and Europe to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
04/17/2015
The Obama administration pushes a free trade pact that includes the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. This free trade pact is now seen as a U.S. effort to counter China in the Asian region. India, UK, Germany, France, Italy and other European countries decided to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank sponsored by China, on its merits, after the U.S. refused to join.
Linked Articles
TPP: Momentum on Trade Deal Bolsters U.S., Japan Efforts to Counter China
Wall Street Journal 04/17/2015
Lawmakers Introduce ‘Fast Track’ Trade Bill, Triggering Democratic DiscordWall Street Journal 04/17/2015
The Trans Pacific Trade Partnership (TPP) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)- competing for influence in Asia
03/19/2015
Linked Articles
TPP: Momentum on Trade Deal Bolsters U.S., Japan Efforts to Counter China
Wall Street Journal 04/17/2015
Hostility From U.S. as China Lures Allies to New BankNew York Times 03/19/2015
Elvira Nabiullina, head of Russia's central bank, and Russia's response to the collapse in oil prices that helped avoid effects on the economy
02/09/2015
Exceptional performance by an exceptional economy minister and banker. Elvira Nabiullina's humility, drive and policies help shape Russia's careful management of the collapse in oil prices.
Linked Articles
Economist 04/19/2016
Ruble’s Fall Tests Governor of Russia’s Central BankNew York Times 02/09/2015
Lost sense of moral purpose in the Obama presidency (1)
02/07/2015
Linked Articles
The quiet impact of Obama’s Christian faith | The Washington Post
Washington Post 12/23/2015
Obama the TheologianNew York Times 02/07/2015
Large losses of investors as the Swiss National Bank removes its cap on the Franc in Jan. 2015- from brokerage firm FXCM to retail investors
01/19/2015
Linked Articles
Swiss Franc Bets Turned on a Dime
Wall Street Journal 01/19/2015
Surge of Swiss Franc Triggers Hundreds of Millions in LossesWall Street Journal 01/19/2015
A Cuba stuck in the 1950's with little sign of change- NYT reporter Neuman's 17 hour road trip and president Obama's observations of the visit
01/06/2015
Linked Articles
On the Open Road, Signs of a Changing Cuba
New York Times 01/06/2015
Along With President Obama, the 21st Century Visited CubaNew York Times 03/27/2016
The combination effect of lower oil prices, lower commodity prices, and depreciating currencies on Africa- on S. Africa, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, Angola, Ghana, aand other countries
12/12/2014
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 03/25/2015
Fall in Oil Prices Threatens Africa’s Economic GrowthWall Street Journal 12/12/2014
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