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Christopher Miller says time can strengthen our sense of purpose instead of erasing it. That our being here and what we do can help shape not just our life but hat of coming generations. What he calls the Object Lens is a perspective that comes with lived experience and this can only develop and mature with the passing of time, so that as we age there is this additional dimension that we can bring to our life. George Washington as he assumed the presidency also described how this makes life richer at an older age than during the younger years. In practical terms this means accepting the current situation as a starting point, not diminished by this in any way as we age. Not to sell ourselves short and to consider so valuable all that we have learned through trial and error, and suffering. Minds of other people are not waht we can control. Adapting is essential and dispelling feelings of despondence by softening expectations of children and others, deepening and building new social networks with peers for a feeling of acceptance and belonging. ...

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U.S. president Trump's statement calling for a list of goods for tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods leaves China without a clear response and facing new risks. The U.S. exports about $150 billion in goods to China so that China would have to impose penalties to respond at the same level. Placing restrictions on American firms on access to China's market, and imposing other penalties would have the effect of reinforcing the perception of unfair practices targeting American business and lead to hardening of U.S. response.  The U.S. sees itself as being in a better position with the U.S. economy experiencing a growth trend. China with large local government and bank debt faces a difficult situation. President Jinping's policy of reducing the risks of bad debt in the banking system involved sacrificing some growth to stabilize the system. China's GDP growth in 2017 was 6.9%, the target at 6.5%. Future targets and actual growth now look to be much lower.The trade war with the U.S. has the effect of dampening growth leading to calls for the central bank to loosen its monetary stance. In response to Trump's announcement the People's Bank of China pumped $31 billion into the nation's banks. China is studying Japan's response in the 1980's and 1990's when the U.S. took strong action against Japan's growing trade surplus. Japan responded by appreciating its currency and using stimulus to cushion the effect of lower exports on the economy. The stimulus led to the housing bubble and over time a period of low growth and stagnant economy. The large China stimulus in 2008-2009 has compounded the problems in the banking system. Not deleveraging and controlling financial risks in China's banking system because of the trade war would bring a new set of risks. ...

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DW.com reports there is a state of uncertainty about Brexit, when it will happen, whether it will even be stalled till the next British elections in 2020. According to British newspapers the British prime minister Theresa May could wait until October 2017 before requesting exit from the European Union. There is a chaotic situation in the British government on Brexit, according to the Sunday Times. First it appeared that it would be the end of 2016 before Britian invoked Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, initiating Britain's exit from the EU. Now it looks like the decision is put off indefinitely. The latest economic numbers from the Bank of England do not offer encouragement, showing a loss of 1% of Britain's GDP each year for the next 3 years, even after the stimulus action by the central bank. British people might just have time to reflect on this by October 2017 after elections in Germany and France, the next date that is cited for invoking Article 50 to start Brexit. German EU lawkmaker Elmar Brok has doubts. He says Britain is'nt legally bound to take action on the Brexit vote. Theresa May, the British prime minister, is committed to the union with Scotland and Northern Ireland, and it means a lot to her. Invoking Article 50 would mean Scotland's SNP would move forward with a second independence referendum. In Northern Ireland there is a first lawsuit against Brexit.  ...

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The WSJ responds to president Biden ramping up renewable energy plans and linking Republicans with Senator Rick Scott's plan for sunset provisions on federal legislation every 5 years that Biden says would include Medicare and Social Security. WSJ is critical of Biden's renewable energy plans and calls for increasing production of oil and gas to meet energy shortages and price increases. It is also against a wealth tax, Biden's $2 trillion Workers and Families Plan, and Biden's plan for Medicare to negotiate drug prices. WSJ says real disposable personal income increased $4205 under the Trump presidency 2017-2020, and has since declined by $374 with high inflation depressing purchasing power. The impact of climate change requiring brave choices and strong action is missing in the Republican plan as Republicans focus on attacking Democrats controlling the presidency and Congress on the issue of inflation. The issue of remaking supply chains are on both the Republican and Democratic agendas with president Trump giving more rhetoric against China's role in dominance of supply chains and Mr. Biden taking stronger action in Theodore Roosevelt's style of carrying a big stick and quiet posture in restoring America as a manufacturing powerhouse. The impact of climate change is short term rather than long term as seen by the heat wave in South Asia today, the fires in North America and Europe. Republicans are losing sight of the importance of making the shift on renewable energy quickly with some short term pain, as they push for oil and gas solutions and a less effective program for renewable energy. Mr. Biden is taking on bigger risks in the short term in the midterms and beyond but following a sound policy of aggressively pushing renewable energy. This can also be seen in the importance renewable energy is being given even in countries with a need for coal and natural gas such as India. Modi's plans in India are to buildup renewable energy capacity with aggressive targets for 2030. ...

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Germany faces the possibility of a pandemic surge of the unvaccinated, something that is happening today in the southern United States.  For days the percentage of people that are fully vaccinated remains at 62%. Some vaccination centers are closed. A vaccination center outside the train station in Cologne offers passersby free vaccinations. Berlin's Social Democrat mayor Michael Muller is very frustrated. He says "I am now coming to a point where I think we have exhausted what we can do in politics."  At 62% the rate of fully vaccinated people in Germany is too low to prevent a surge of the Delta variant in the way that it has hit the southern US, and California. Vaccination rates of close to 85% are needed to tackle the risk of another surge in highly contagious delta variant. Not everyone remaining is die hard opposed to vaccines. The Robert Koch Institute estimate is that 5 to 10% of people are in that die hard category. The remaining 20-30 % are people who have various other concerns and fears, hesitancy, that may be changed.  The chairman of the World Medical Association Frank Ulrich Montgomery favors a vaccine mandate, what he calls a 2G rule, that should be introduced in Germany requiring vaccination to attend events, sports, restaurant visits, adopted nationwide. German government has rejected idea of mandatory vaccination of health personnel, that was adopted in France. Vaccination drives are regionally based. Some are ineffective such as the Deutsche Bahn train system vaccination drive for commuters that only had a few hundred doses of J&J vaccine and ran out quickly in Berlin. One prick J&J some say is better for vaccine skeptics. Vaccine skeptics think they may get away without getting covid infection. How does one get over this misconception? Others including members of the Greens party say vaccine needs to be delivered where people are- transit points, bus stops, doses offered in evening and early morning hours, trying new ways to reach people and inspire confidence. Germany now ranks behind France but ahead of Bulgaria in terms of vaccination percentage in September 2021, not a good situation. ...

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Senator Schumer the Majority Leader in the Senate has shown a unique ability to bring together Republicans and Democrats in bipartisan efforts that would have been daunting to lesser men. He was a key driver of the efforts to bring Republican and Democrats together to invest in the country's aging infrastructure. This is a win-win situation for both. He did this again when at Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's suggestion at the end of October that action on the border be an essential part of aid to Ukraine, Schumer  did not say no, he struggled with it talking with his staff till he says an epiphany sort of lightning strikes. He realized it was needed to be tough on the border and to do it right was a win-win situation for both supporters of Ukraine and getting the border situation under control. Because so many Democrats were for Ukraine they would vote for a good border security bill. This report shows him making calls even on Christmas Day.  Only someone of Schumer's dedication, ability to talk and persuade others, and hard work could have done this. As in getting bipartisan support for infrastructure bills he had Democrats who had good relationships with Republicans to persuade Republicans that Democrats were sincere about taking strong action on the border. It is to the credit of president Biden and shows that his decades spent in Congress were worth it for America that he supported Schumer and worked with Republicans. It is this sincerity that made it possible for 22 Republican Senators nearly half of Republicans in the Senate to join Schumer in the new aid package for Ukraine, after a former president shut down the earlier bill that combined the border action with Ukraine. Many in the media and in the country have not grasped the meaning of the way some of the most senior members of Congress including Mr. Biden who was one of the longest serving senators in history are working together showing courage and wisdom in the face of many distractions and factional differences on the fringes of different parties. ...

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The WSJ provides an excellent guide to working at home, how to overcome the struggles and get some of the benefits from working at home. A large part of the struggles in working from home is not being able to unplug, and working like you are in an office. Working from office is different because of meetings and office distractions, and one gets less done, maybe 4 hours of decent work in a workday. So that in solo work one would say work 5 hours and accomplish what one would have done in 8 hours at the office.  At home consistently working 5 or 6 hours at a stretch can get a person exhausted and isolated.  Don't look at the clock for it to say 5 pm. Take breaks early, if one reaches ones limit or gets restless it is time to take an extended break or get outside for a walk, or do some stretches, yoga, or something else. Loneliness is another part of the struggles. Important to setup some video calls to make sure you get human interaction. Get some chance to refresh and talk to humans, get some interaction.  Leave stuff such as clearing inbox and less brainy tasks for the evening. Set top 3 priorities for the day or week so you have an idea of progress in a larger task. Time theming is a way to set aside certain days or time periods to get specific things done. Staying physically fit and mentally rejuvenated is the big challenge.  Exercize routines, stretches, yoga, meditation early morning, help keep ones mental and physical health. They are most important. They form the basis for the whole day and lay the foundation for getting things done. This is where the process sets the tone and helps get the best results. Once this is established one can let the ebbs and flow of work motivation and feeling ready to work happen, seeing them as natural, without concern that one won't get done what needs to be done to be effective. ...

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Vance says he is skeptical and inherently mistrustful about the constructive influence of Silicon Valley on America, on the broader economy in all parts of America, and on education expanding opportunity for all. Vance says of his stint in Silicon Valley starting in 2013 when he moved to the Bay Area after graduating in law from Yale to 2022 when he ran for the US Senate from Ohio, that it taught him something about the influence of venture capital on America. He is skeptical about its constructive influence when seen from the American heartland, from the Kansas prairies of Eisenhower to his own rust belt state of Ohio and the hinterland of Appalachia across the eastern US from New York through Tennessee to Mississippi. Vance says: "I've certainly personally been very close to the technology sector. Because of that experience, I inherently mistrust it or worry about its influence in the broader economy." WSJ's Angel Au Yeung calls it short lived but it stretched for 10 years and Vance returned to Ohio for Narya Ventures, worked with AOL founder Steve Chase on Revolution to look at what could be done in places such as Chattanooga, Tennessee, in the south and midwest with these venture concepts. This is enough experience just to understand its effects on all parts of America. Realizing in the end that it failed to support education or expanding opportunity for all. Even Apple's much touted iPad succeeds as a potentially useful tech device but fails when one sees what little interest or effort Apple put into developing its educational potential to expand opportunity for all. The reasons are that that was never the intended goal to subordinate public interest to profit, when education is inherently public interest. And because tech tools alone cannot do the work of educating minds. Only human beings and knowledge, ideas in books can do this, as they have done in all of America's and Europe's past. ...

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Michael Boskin, Professor of Economics at Stanford University, and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors during the Presidenc of George H.W. Bush writes about Obama's economic policies, what looks good and what might fail. He thinks the paln for toxic assets is one that might expose the USA to the risks of a Japanese style lost decade. He doesn't like the idea of the Fed as asystemic risk regulator. He thinks the health care bill should level the tax subsidy playing field so individuals can purchase low-cost, high deductible, catastrophic insurance. And he sees abetter alternative to the climate change bill in a broad based transparent carbon tax, and energy efficiency intitiatives. He sees the tax hikes proposed by Democrats in California driving marginal rates on earnings to among the world's highest at 57%. He calls for a rethinking of many aspects of Obama's economic plan.

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Krauthammer quotes Congressional Budget Office Director, Elmendorf, who said "we don't estimate speeches," when Elmendorf was asked about President Obama's April 13 debt plan speech. President Obama has failed to come up with specific ideas for debt reduction and not taken up any position on debt reduction, including removing tax expenditures as recommended by the President's Bowles-Simpson Commission report. Krauthammer says the President is using the discussion on debt reduction and the debt talks as a way to move forward with his reelection campaign. This President Obama has done by not putting forward any new ideas of his own or backing the ideas of the Bowles -Simpson Commission, and by putting Republicans on the defensive for coming up with any new ideas which may be unpopular. He calls the President's February 2011 efforts on debt issues a farce, and the April 2011 efforts empty, lacking any substantial specifics.

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Christie's London based head of wine, David Elswood, says what he has seen in the last year from Chinese buyers is people paying virtually any price for wine. He calls this uncontrolled spending. Value of wine auctions reached $120 million in 2010, double the $64 million in 2009. Auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's say their auctions of wine in Hong Kong will raise more than sales in London and New York combined. Sales broke auction records at an Oct 29 auction, when three bottles of Chateau Lafite's 1869 vintage each sold for a record $230,000. The number of billionaires in China jumped by 60% in 2010 and this is inflating the bubble in wine. Chinese collectors now hold one in 4 bottles of vintage wine globally, according to Crown Wine Cellars. This company stores HK$1 billion of wine in a network of converted ammunition bunkers in Hong Kong.

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The Deficit Commission setup by US President Obama recommended changes in the tax codes including elimination of the deduction for mortgage interest. It calls for limiting spending on health care, gradually raising the retirement age, and lowering the tax rate. The commission identified $200 billion in discretionary spending cuts, with half coming from defense spending. The federal gasoline tax rate would increase from 2013, increasing by 15 cents a gallon at that point. It would gradually increase the retirement age to 68 by 2050. And combine a reduction in benefits with an increase in taxes on wealthier senior's benefits. It seeks to slow Medicare growth to control health care spending. Other proposals. A freeze on salaries and bonuses of federal employees for three years, to save $15 billion by 2015. And proposes cutting the federal work force by 10% to save additional $13 billion by 2015.

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Taiwan's president Ma Ying-jeou calls on Beijing to allow true democracy in Hong Kong. For the first time in the debate on Hong Kong and democracy Mr. Ma challenged the idea that democracy is not suited to China. He told the Taipei National Day audience "Now that the 1.3 billion people on the mainland have become moderately wealthy, they will ofcourse wish to enjoy greater democracy and rule of law. Such a desire has never been a monopoly of the West, but is the right of all humankind." Ma called on China to experiment using the pragmatic sense shown by Deng in adopting capitalism- "Thirty years ago, When Deng Xiaoping was pushing for reform and opening up in the mainland, he famously proposed letting some people get rich first. So why could'nt they do the same thing in Hong Kong, and let some people go democratic first."

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Ring-fencing the retail operations of UK banks from possible losses in the investment banking activities was part of proposals by the Independent Commission on Banking in the UK. Now a parliamentary commission calls for periodic reviews of such ring-fences to ensure this separation is actually still in place, and not been diluted or otherwise removed by bending the rules to favor banks because of lobbying by the banks. It says "over time the ring-fence will be tested and challenged by the banks. Politicians too could succumb to lobbying from banks and others, adding to pressures to put holes in the ring-fence." The report emphasized that a lot more needs to be done to restore standards in banking, especially after recent reports of LIBOR and other revelations of market rigging and corruption. The emphasis in the report is for banks "to be discouraged from gaming the rules."

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Brazil lost 650,000 jobs in December 2008, with automobile manufacturing one of the hard hit industries. Also affecting Brazil is declining demand worldwide for Brazilian exports of iron ore and other commodity exports. The job loss is higher than the job loss of over 524,000 jobs in the USA in December 2008, and 533,000 jobs in November 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Brazil will see a contraction in GDP in the fourth quarter 2008, and first quarter 2009. Brazil has an inflation of 7%, but there is a always a fear of hyperinflation from its experience in past decades, and even a trade union leader like President Lula has resisted calls for rate cuts in the last 6 years because of this. This time Brazil's central bank has relented and reduced rates by 1% to 12.75% which is still the highest rate in Latin America.

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The people like Stephen Dixon who day in day out do the work that keep New York functioning and the streets clean. Stephen Dixon. He did the hard work hauling trash on a route that did this manually, and helped clean up the snow also. He joins the sanitation department at the age of 41 but works just like the younger people on the job, and does this for 20 years. He walks with a limp, talks about getting his knees fixed at retirement once he finished 20 years and qualified for a pension. With 4 daughters he needs the steady job with the Sanitation Department. One day on the Queens route he collapses with aheart attack. Mayor Bloomberg calls the family. An immigrant from Panama at the age of 9, Stephen Dixon's story is a different one from the ones that make the headlines these days.

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Leonhardt points out in the NYT that Hillary Clinton actually won in the popular vote by a substantial margin, by more than 2 million votes and more than 1.5 percentage points. He says that Democrats need to pay more attention to the working class in midwestern states- the job losses, crumbling infrastructure, and the plight of communities such as Detroit, Michigan which suffered through the bankruptcies of Chrysler and GM, and again with the foreclosure crisis, the financial crisis of the City of Detroit. With a similar situation in the neighboring states of Wisconsin and Ohio, in places like Toledo and other parts of communities facing industrial decline. While the Silicon Valley centred region powered the economy in California, and the financial industry and real estate powered New York, older midwestern communities never really recovered from a long decline stretching over 2 decades. The result was the loss of faith in Democrats among union workers and young people, leading to the loss of Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan. For most of its history the Democratic Party was based on its union and working class base including a large number of white voters. Only under Obama because of his unique candidacy was the coalition so dependent on the minorities vote. Before minorities were part of the Democratic coalition, but not in the way under the Obama candidacy. A return to its historic and normal base among whites in unions and working class communities, liberals, minorities, is a way to go back to the historic and natural base of Democratic support. In a sense dependence on tech communities for election funding and the tech booms, globalization, may have distorted Democrats sense of their historic role as champions of the working class and middle class communities throughout the country. There is now an opportunity to restore this lost mission of protecting the interests of the middle and working class who have seen huge drop in net worth as reported by Janet Yellen of the Federal Reserve at the Inequality Conference on October 17, 2014-"62 million households with a net worth of $11,000 for the year 2013." Poorly covered in the media and not made the utmost priority by Democrats (or Republicans). In the words of Janet Yellen, this was in the past several decades "the most sustained rise in inequality since the 19th century after more than 40 years of narrowing inequality since the Great Depression." She added the shocking words "by some estimates, income and wealth inequality near their highest levels in the past hundred years, and probably much higher than much of American history before then." Even discussion in the media goes back to the Obama coalition and treats it as a way forward for Democrats, when history shows it was different and the situation described by Yellen calls for a serious response. ...

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Startup small business falls flat after a poorly conceived business expansion.

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Calls for more cooperation between supervisory authorites of Banks in Germany.

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The 'Querdenker" ("lateral thinkers") movement in Germany now has branches in 50 towns across the country, and calls for freedom of opinion, expression, and assembly. Some of these protests are against the coronavirus restrictions, particularly because of economic difficulties and cultural attitudes towards restricted life during the first and now second lockdowns. It covers all backgrounds including far right and far left fringes and people of different views on other issues. A Berlin demonstration in late August brought out about 38,000 people and briefly some demonstrators attempted to rush into the Reichstag or parliament building. The police in Germany can only act if the town and municipal authority says it is right to intervene against unruly behaviour in demonstrations. The other factor protecting the Basic Law which protects freedoms in the German Constitution is that the courts in Germany have acted in favor of the demonstrators so that there remains a fair balance between the need for covid restrictions and the need to demonstrate against these restrictions affecting the right to work and economic freedoms. As well as the pushback against these restrictions for cultural and other reasons.  The initial fear of being infected is now being strongly offset by fears of the economic consequences of an extended lockdown particularly for vulnerable groups who cannot work from home such as in construction, manufacturing, transportation, retail and tourism related industries. The next big demonstration is set for Saturday November 14 in the eastern city of Leipzig with about 20,000 demonstrators expected and police getting reinforcements from neighboring states and federal police. ...

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A riverside project on the banks of the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad gives the city of 10 million a new look. The project is similar to ones on the Thames in London and Seine in Paris bringing new park space and areas for of public space for a rapidly growing city. Guardian Cities is looking at 15 new cities with population growing to exceed 10 million by 2035- from Tehran, Iran, to Luanda, Mozambique, Hyderabad, India, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Surat, India, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Chengdu, China, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The way this was done was to develop a self financing model. This was the work of architect Bimal Patel who proposed selling 14% of riverfront land of 200 hectares to recover costs. The Sabarmati Riverfront Development Corporation spent 161 million dollars to build new housing for 11,000 displaced families who worked in squatter type housing on the riverbanks as domestic workers, clothes washers. The riverbed had become for decades a dumping ground for city waste. The goals were to provide access for public to the river front and clean up the water with water treatment plants. Bimal Patel calls the project one of three generations as  will take another three years for new water treatment plants. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation bears the cost of about $220 million. The famous Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi lies along this riverfront and it gives this sacred space in India's history, the home of Mahatma Gandhi for many years in the struggle for independence, a healthier, brightened space along the river. ...

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Western nations including Europe, Canada, Japan and South Korea, are members of the International Enerrgy Agency, which has 1.5 billion barrels in reserve. The IEA will release oil from its reserves to support president Biden's plan to release 180 million barrels over the next 6 months. OPEC that includes Russia plans to increase production by only about 432,000 barrels a day.  During the Trump administration Saudi Arabia and Russia were at odds on production levels leading to Russia increasing production to higher levels than OPEC would allow. This led to a temporary collapse of oil prices to levels as low as $30. To help the US oil fracking industry which could not operate at these low prices president Trump brought the two sides together into what is now OPEC+. The Biden administration has ties with both Iran and Saudis, and aims to revive the Iran nuclear deal, withdrew support for Saudi air strikes on Yemeni Iran backed Huthi rebels. In this geopolitical situation Saudis are reluctant to respond to US calls to increase production as they have done in the past. With climate change and the COP26 agenda in Glasgow there is a plan to shift away from fossil fuels such as coal and oil that are supplied by OPEC and Australia. This means that a shift away from Russian or Saudi oil is also a shift towards renewable energy such as wind and solar which is needed to combat climate change. The Ukraine war and efforts to wean Europe away from Russia sourced energy will accelerate the changes needed to tackle climate change, even though the US fracking industry will step in to increase production at oil prices at $100+ in 2022. After 2023-2024 the push for conservation and renewable energy from today's crisis and Glasgow COP26 commitments, sharp slowdown in China and renewable focused India is likely to bring down oil prices to reasonable levels for a transition period to renewable energy. ...

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Biden's very conservative choices for his cabinet which one British reader of The Times calls UK One Nation type choices. Many of the cabinet members could easily have served under a Republican administration before Trump or a Democratic administration in the tradition of Harry Truman in the 1950's. No members of the cabinet belong to the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party.  A look at the Truman administration after 1950 shows John Wesley Snyder, who headed a bank in St Louis and worked for the Reconstruction Finance Corporation under Franklin Roosevelt performing a key role for integrating 8 million GI soldiers into the economy, and implementing the Marshall Plan. A similar job awaits another banking official Janet Yellen in Biden's cabinet to keep people employed during the pandemic. Xavier Becerra, currently attorney general of California, and formerly Congressman for 24 years, who endorsed "medicare for all" is the new Health Secretary. He grew up in a one room apartment with his Mexican parents. Secretary of State goes to Anthony Blinken, Dean Acheson was in this role under Truman as the Cold War surged with the Berlin crisis and the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe. Today the challenges from Russia and China are taking the shape of a revival of tensions. George Marshall who led American forces in the war, was secretary of defense. This position is given to a soldier Gen. Lloyd Austin who led forces in the wars in the Middle East. This has the potential to deliver better results after the years when America veered off course under the administrations of Reagan, Clinton, Bush and Obama, following the Truman, Eisenhower administrations that setup the recovery after World War II. Today after the banking crisis of 2009, disastrous healthcare and infrastructure neglect in the U.S., followed by the pandemic, a recovery like the one after World War II is needed.   ...

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This is one of the strongest worded statements on Syria made on the editorial pages of the Washington Post, as editorial page editor Fred Hiatt talks about the situation in Syria created by the policies of president Obama and his closest advisors. He calls the failure of these policies Obama's achievement, failing to find any other word to describe the years of deliberate inaction and appearing to act in crisis when simply stalling, during 2011-2015, that reversed all the gains and opportunity presented by the Arab Spring. Instead it has put that part of the world back into a dark period similiar to 17th century Europe with the religious and sectarian conflicts that lasted for the better part of that century, compounding the serious errors under Republican administrations since Reagan, with new errors by taking the opposite extreme in policies- without giving a place for thoughtful courageous policies and making difficult choices.

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Nancy Koehn calls this a brave and insightful book, with relevance for readers watching the debt ceiling negotiations unfold in the U.S. in July 2011. The question he asks about how the elites could have got so many things wrong relate to Greece as well as the bubbles and ensuing crises in the U.S. in the last decade. Manolopoulos points to the problems of using GDP indicators if the economic activity it measures is not reflecting an increase in the productive capabilities and competitiveness of the country. He also cautions about the negative impact of liberalization of capital flows if this results in a large pool of global credit that short termist governments can access without regard to the longer term consequences of repayment. The creation of bubbles is one danger of access to large pools of capital. another danger is that this capital leads to governments relaxing all conservative practices of budgeting in managing a nation's finances.