LyrArc Article Gist
Pistachio orchards in San Joaquin Valley, California, produce 1.6 billion pounds of pistachios in 2025 increasing to 2 billion by 2031, largest in the world. Pistachios are increasing in price and valued as a health food and in chocolate with climate in the San Joaquin Valley dry and cold ideal for this crop.

LyrArc Article Gist
A Pakistani court finds former prime minister Nawaz Sharif guilty of corruption. Sharif is sentenced for 10 years in prison and his daughter Maryam Sharif to 7 years. The corruption case is based on 4 apartments in central London which prosecution claims were bought with money from kickbacks during Sharif's period as prime minister in the 1990's, and later passed on to his sons and daughter. Mr. Sharif's party is the frontrunner in the upcoming election.

LyrArc Article Gist
Jose Igncacio is only an hour away from Punta del Este, Uruguay. A look at Uruguay destinations, Julia Buckley in The Times describes the attraction of Uruguay as a simpler less well known and less crowded place with big skies and good coastal hotels.  Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, a small nation near Buenos Aires, Argentina, is compared to Lecce in Italy and Buenos Aires to Milan. New wineries provide new coastal hotel locations. And there is a small town quiet feel. Vineyards here are from fifth generation vintners from places like Piedmont, Italy.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Biden plan for families includes paid maternity leave of 4 weeks. It was shortened from 12 weeks in the original $3.6 trillion Biden Families and Workers Plan. This paid leave also applies to caretakers of ill family members such as elderly parents. The lack of such paid leave for mothers or ill parents care meant the US lacked one of the basic necessities of a decent state. Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations paid much attention to how capital, land and labour could be combined to invest in improved quality of life, and how to build a decent society. Smith wrote this book around the time of the Industrial Revolution in England in the late eighteenth century. Capitalism taken outside this context of benefiting society in the country that started the Industrial Revolution, leads to problems that now exist in the US, China and parts of Europe.

LyrArc Article Gist
This leader article in The Economist refutes the notion in an article by Greg Ip in the WSJ that Britain would benefit by being self reliant. Self reliant on what it asks? Self reliant on British selves for people outside of London by limiting contacts with mainland Europe and keeping out people. It points out that it is not just a rejection of Europe but also of London, the main financial centre of Europe before Brexit. It refutes the notion that the decline in the value of British currency, the Pound, would automatically lead to higher exports by saying that this was always one of the "inanities of Brexit"- that with supply chains spread out in many countries Britain which was integrated into the supply chain in Europe could suddenly integrate into supply chains far away in Asia. It predicts pain from Brexit, and sees the "hard Brexit" as a bad choice for Britain, as announced by Theresa May in October 2016 and planned for 2017.

LyrArc Article Gist
PM Modi inaugurates India's first Vande Bharat Express in Ahmedabad. New Metro in Ahmedabad and the Express trains increase multi-modal connectivity in Gujarat. Modi says the Vande Bharat train operates quietly with sound that is one hundredth of the sound that is heard on modern aircraft. A new rail station is planned for Ahmedabad and twin city arrangement with Gandhinagar. Modi says the transport infrastructure in Ahmedabad would be taken to the whole nation. He says Ahmedabadis have calculated the cost of travel by other transport including buses, and found the value that is in travel by Metro with ease, speed and time saved. And found that this beats transport by any other way for seamless connectivity and ease of use. Modi says he had a vision of such service when a global connectivity committee visited Ahmedabad when he was chief minister. Yet it was only in the last 8 years that he having moved to the federal government was able to get both federal and state funding to develop the new rail and Metro services in Gujarat using new technologies and experience. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Some of the concern about the economy comes from the economic damage done by the coronavirus. The longer the shutdowns continue the more the damage. About 17 million have filed claims for unemployment benefits. The WSJ consensus of 57 economists is that 14.4 million jobs will be lost in coming months, and the unemployment rate will rise to a record 13% in June, from a 50 year low of 3.5% in February. The earliest the economy could go back to the level in February 2020 is 27 months says the WSJ economist survey. The brighter side of this comes in two aspects of this pandemic recovery curve. By flattening the curve and strict testing, contact tracing and isolation till the vaccine is developed about half the jobs lost can be recovered by the end of summer, says Moody's Analytics. The vaccine a year from now or in 9 months by November 2020 would allow the economy to recover faster. A more optimistic view comes from Daiwa Capital Markets which predicts many of people laid off will be recalled quickly allowing the labor market to recover in 6 months by September or October 2020. Only finance and real estate might take longer but most of the industries where the vast majority of jobs are could be back on their feet. The credible evidence supporting this perspective of a rebound comes from Colorado and Washington which require large employers to specify whether layoffs are temporary or permanent, 70% this year are temporary. Compare this to the prior 2009 recession where this figure was less than 1%- as reported by WSJ. The big push in this direction will be the $2 trillion that the Trump administration and U.S. Congress have committed to this task. Even more so is the determination of president Trump to protect American workers at all costs, that every job counts, and that businesses without exception to get the money have to show that workers are retained. The very success of the aid is being judged by how quickly people are back to work. Now for a look at where the situation is today- Oxford Economics, a UK based forecasting and consulting firm, projects 27.9 million jobs lost with industries other than those ordered to close making up 8 to 10 million of that number. It projects April's report will will capture late March layoffs. It will show cuts to 3.4 million business services workers, including lawyers, software groups, architects and consultants, advertising professionals, in addition to 1.5 million non-essential healthcare workers, 100,000 information workers. One conclusion of this report is that the virus does not discriminate across business groups and business service workers are also affected. Many companies that were hiring will cancel that move and many will cut hours worked. Many of these business services are not a priority. Hospitals are affected too, as they cut elective surgical procedures and routine care that are major revenue sources. Some are now charging for telemedicine visits to maintain some revenue stream. State and local governments employ 20 million workers. As tax receipts decline these local governments will face choices of cutting payrolls and services without enough federal government relief. In a way laying off workers and having them take unemployment benefits shifts that burden to the federal government so that services for overtime to police and paramedics, retention and deployment of nurses in schools.    ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Steps taken by Secretary of State Tillerson are drawing criticism from Senator McCain and Democrats in Congress for weakening the diplomatic efforts of the U.S. Before taking office Tillerson, who believes the State Department has a bloated staff, announced a 31% cut in its budget. A year later  the cuts are leading to the departure of many senior diplomats. Some like Mr. Miller have received only a few minutes to talk to Tillerson, six top career diplomats were fired by Tillerson. Most hiring is stopped and a $25,000 buyout is being promoted to get 2000 career diplomats to leave by October 2018. This report describes a retirement class for diplomats with 26 senior employees, including two acting secretaries of statein early 50's who would normally wait many years before retiring. The top two position ranks at State are career ambassador and career minister. This is cut from 39 to 19. Political appointees are also missing to fill positions with only 10 of 44 political positions filled. Some experts see a loss also in diversity as this happens. Differences between the Nikki Haley, who is the next senior official in America's foreign service and a potential successor to Tillerson, and Mr Tillerson are also complicating the situation at the State Department. During the Obama and Bush administrations experts cited the weak role played by the institutions such as diplomatic services in promoting America's role in the world. This was not corrected in any significant way in the last decade. The position of the diplomatic service has weakened further, along with the abandonment of America's leadership role under the presidency of Mr. Trump. It will require a future president's concerted effort to restore the diplomatic service under new leadership and with a new generation of diplomats more in tune with the multipolar world of today.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Because the battery pack in an EV vehicle goes on the floor of the vehicle instead of the engine up front, it frees up space in the front for the trunk. The term for this trunk up front is "frunk" or e-trunk. No one really knows what to call it.

LyrArc Article Gist
This astounding story in WSJ by Jiyoung Sohn in Seoul and Yang Jie from Tokyo, shows how South Korea stopped the illegal transfer to China of entire  computer chip factory setup information of Samsung by a South Korean engineer in Singapore. This shows president Biden has accomplished what no other president has been able to do in the last 40 years. Biden brought Japan and South Korea together reminding them that their differences over wartime occupation can be overcome, leading to the US, Japan and South Korea forming  close cooperation in 2023. After all it was the US that helped setup the democratic framework in the two Asian neighbors after 1945. This story shows how the problem of South Korean and Japanese technologies illegally transferred is being tackled by both countries in 2023. This is part of overall cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region that includes India and Australia, for an open Indo-Pacific region based on the rule of law. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
In Rural America in 2024, in places such as Wisconsin, people are looking for government to fund roads, library services and healthcare. It comes after decades of austerity in the state have starved funding for public services. This report looks at the city of Wausau, the seat of Marathon County, in north central Wisconsin, 90 miles northwest of Green Bay.

LyrArc Article Gist
Postponing hearing loss tests can lead to cognitive decline and reduce the enjoyment of activities essential for good health, say experts. About 14.1 million or one in 6 people will have some degree of hearing loss in the UK by 2030. Hearing tests is an habit one needs to take up especially after reaching 50 years of age.

LyrArc Article Gist
Holman Jenkins on the fuel efficiency standards, energy independence, green cars, social security and the auto company rescue plan.

LyrArc Article Gist
Greenland was originally explored by both the US and European explorers. It is sparsely populated only on the shores in one part of the island and Denmark has laid claim on it and now handles foreign affairs for the country and security. With its location near the Arctic and Chinese ships increasingly found near the Arctic, the US feels it is important for security in the Arctic. The US and Denmark now both lay claim to the island of Greenland.

LyrArc Article Gist
What is the Winter Fuel Payment in the UK? The Independent provides some answers. It was introduced in 1997 by a Labour government in Britain. It now provides 200 pounds to people over age 66, and 300 pounds to people over age 80. To get this payment pensioners and retired people have to be eligible for pension credits. This is possible if your income level is - Income at £11,343.8 a year if single, or a shared income of £17,313.4 for two or a couple is what qualifies one for this winter fuel allowance. The British energy authority says winter fuel costs will rise by about 300 pounds. This means a 500 pound hit to budgets of pensioners who are not eligible for winter fuel allowance under the Labour plan. The Labour plan is to do this because of the hole in public finances left by the Tories of 22 billion pounds. Starmer and Reeves say this is needed and the responsible decision. One million pensioners face a loss of Winter Fuel allowance and Age UK says: “Older people in this group often tell us they really struggle financially; the proposed change will make it even harder for them to afford to stay warm when it gets chilly. ...