LyrArc Article Gist
Krugman in the NYT describes the dangers of plutocratic power to American democracy. When exercized by the Murdochs, the Elon Musks, the Harlan Crows of this world. He cites presidents who are Republican and broke up the large oil companies in the 1900's, Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) who warned about "a small class of enormously wealthy and economically powerful men, whose chief object is to hold and increase their power." This is happening with the power of the so called Tech companies today and both parties seeking to break  up the Tech companies.  Then there is a Democratic president from this period Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) who followed Theodore Roosevelt. Wilson says- "If there are men in this country who are big enough to own the government of the United States, they are going to own it." Theodore Roosevelt fought political machines such as Tammany Hall in New York as well as Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company. Wilson, a professor from Princeton, continued this tradition by protecting the working class of that time through his New Freedom campaign in 1913.  As a professor Wilson wrote the textbook The State used in colleges of that period, which set forth for the first time the basic idea of the state that we see today- "that forbids child labor, supervises the sanitary condition of factories, limits employment of women in occupations hurtful to their health, institutes official tests for the purity or quality of goods sold, that limits the hours of work in certain trades, and by a hundred and one limitations the power of unscrupulous or heartless men to outdo the scrupulous or merciful in trade or industry." Both were progressive Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Wilson under his New Freedom platform for the 1913 election, asserted that it was the task of government "to make those adjustments of life that will put every man in a position to claim his rights as a normal human being." What president Biden is doing today is closest to what Wilson and Roosevelt were trying to achieve, and what Modi is doing today in India is also closest to what Wilson and Roosevelt were trying to achieve. In 1913 Wilson won 42% of the vote, Roosevelt 27% because of a split within the Republican party with Robert Taft. Wilson proposed breakup of oil companies to provide a level playing field for all companies. Similar decisions are being considered by president Biden today for Tech Companies. The future of both the US and India is being decided in these difficult times after a pandemic and in the middle of a European war, and a supply chain overconcentrated in one country in Asia. Wilson's idea "to put every man in a position to claim his rights as a normal human being," is being set forth by president Biden through the word "dignity," by Modi in India as "sab ka vikas, sab ke sath" (development for all, with all). The Greens and SPD's Scholz also set forth this idea as "dignity" for the worker for Germany.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
China's retail sales were up 10% in March. The economy expanded 4.5% the first quarter of 2023 over the prior year and is dependent on consumers spending in the domestic economy. Over the prior quarter growth was 2.2%. Investment in buildings, fixed assets and machinery declined by 0.2% over the prior month, in real estate over the prior quarter it declined by 5.8%. The recovery is a rebound from three years of weak consumer spending during the pandemic as Chinese people went out- traveled and went out shopping. 

LyrArc Article Gist
What is behind the anti-vaccine movement in the US? This NYT report looks at some of its unlikely origins- the anti-vaccine efforts of Robert Kennedy's son, Robert Kennedy Jr.. Mr. Kennedy is planning to run against Mr. Biden for the White House. Kennedy's opposition to vaccine's is traced back to his getting involved in cases as an environmental lawyer. Parents who had intellectually disabled children from other chemicals asked Kennedy to look into vaccines. Around 2010 Thimerosal, a mercury based preservative which been used for many years to prevent bacteria from growing in multiple dose vials of vaccine, was suspected to cause autism.  Already by 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics, federal health agencies and pharmaceutical manufacturers agreed that thimerosal should be removed from childhood vaccines.  Yet it is still used, says this report.  This led to Mr. Kennedy's getting into vaccines in general by the time of the pandemic. He had a book out that was critical of Dr. Faucci, during the pandemic. Mr. Kennedy cautioned about the unintended effects of vaccines. He has another book out called the Wuhan Coverup that looks into the origins of the coronavirus. It refers to research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology that was funded by the US. Mr. Kennedy believes that more transparency is needed on decisions made in the health care sector, and that critical views need to be aired for the public to be able to decide the right course of action. Vaccination is generally supported by people in America though there is a subsection of people who have concerns about side effects. On issues outside of vaccination there is a sense that America's health sector needs more transparency.     ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Weyerheuser is cutting down as many trees as ever, while appearing as a company that supports the environment, says this report in WSJ. Weyerheuser says its 10.6 million acres of US timberland act as huge sponge to reduce carbon emissions. From Douglas fir in the Pacific Northwest to pine plantations in the South, to North Maine Woods, Weyerheuser has forested land the size of New Jersey.

LyrArc Article Gist
The US and Japan are coordinating efforts to limit transfer of sensitive technology to China and increase trade and cooperation within the G-7 in high technology sectors. Efforts are being coordinated with South Korea. Janet Yellen says the IMF has overblown the effects on the world economy from the US decoupling from China. IMF reports have also in addition presented India incorrectly as a non aligned country, when it is a close partner of the US. In 2023 US is the largest trade partner of India.The US position is to limit flows of technology in sectors considered vital, and continue world trade in other areas with China. US is committed to friendshoring to India, Vietnam and other countries. Germany's three parties CDU, Greens and SPD are reversing close trade and technology links with China. This is also the policy of the Modi administration which seeks close trade and technology ties to US and EU. The shift is in response to what is really an overconcentration of the supply chain in China that happened as business in the US and EU and the Merkel and the Bush-Obama-Trump administrations failed to see the risks of overconcentration. And carried out misguided policies in trade and investment that are now being reversed by US president Biden, Kishida in Japan, and Modi in India. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A new 1.6 gigawatt nuclear reactor at Olkiluoto island on the west coast of Finland will produce one third of Finland's electricity. This comes with the cutoff of electricity supplies from Russia.

LyrArc Article Gist
Kristine Tompkins donates 1 million acres, the Chilean government donates 9 million acres, together this is being used to create 5 national parks and expand 3 in Chile. Since 1994 she and Mr. Tompkins a founder of North Face, who made $150 million from selling his apparel company Espirit, have accumulated land in Argentina and Chile as part of a passion for conservation. Tompkins died in a kayaking accident and Ms. Tompkins has decided to give it all away in national parks. Their story is part of a new documentary "Wild Life," by Chin and Vasarhelyi.

LyrArc Article Gist
Kemal Kilicdaroglu is the leader of the Republican PHP party of Kemal Ataturk, who built modern Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire. He was a civil servant for 30 years and headed the social security administration. Kilicdaroglu campaigns in a modest way with videos made in his kitchen in a big contrast to Mr. Erdogan. Since losing the election for Istanbul in 2009 and 2014 he has lost 2 presidential elections to Mr. Erdogan during the period of economic growth in Turkey. He now heads an alliance of 6 parties that includes popular mayors of Istanbul and Ankara. With inflation at over 50%, Turkey seen as stalling strengthening of NATO by blocking Sweden's membership, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the earthquake leaving over 50,000 people dead in Turkey and the government seen as having allowed substandard construction in Turkey, there is a sense that Turkey is ready for a new government. Kilicdaroglu says he will restore the parliamentary system, and restore independence of the judiciary, central bank and foreign ministry if he wins.    ...

LyrArc Article Gist
David French in the NYT describes a moral center that is avoiding extremes on college campuses. French quotes from W.B. Yeats poem The Second Coming that was written in the period after the First World War during the Russian Civil War, when things appeared to be in disarray. "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold... The best lack all conviction/ while the worst are full of passionate intensity." The United States is built on a series of ideas from the Declaration of Independence, ideas that were revisited and relived at important times such as the Civil War with Lincoln and the Great Depression with FDR. It is that moral center that French speaks of when he cites Yeats and talks about it being challenged from extreme views on the right and the left in politics and in society.

LyrArc Article Gist
Poland's ruling party, the Justice Party, faces elections in 2024. The influx of grain from Ukraine has lowered prices for farmers in Poland, and this affects the largely rural base of the Justice Party. As a result the government has acted to stop Ukrainian grain from entering the country, and also bans the shipment of grain through Poland to other EU countries. The UN sponsored Black Sea ports agreement that allows Ukraine to ship from Odessa and other ports is also coming up for renewal.

LyrArc Article Gist
The 90,000 tons of steel and the technological improvements to handle cyclone winds in the Bay of Mumbai, the proximity to the Tarapur nuclear station, and the oil pipelines in the sea, are all part of the engineering that went into building the MTHL bridge in Mumbai. 16 of the 22 kilometres are over the sea. The bridge is built to last 100 years.