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How the U.S. debt and deficit problems emerged- turning a surplus in one decade into rising deficts in the next
08/07/2011
Linked Articles
Deficit Is Again Set to Top $1 Trillion
Wall Street Journal 02/01/2012
Running in the red: How the U.S., on the road to surplus, detoured to massive debt - The Washington PostWashington Post 08/07/2011
The Wall Street Journal calls the June 2011 E.U. plan for Greece "the French deception," and the Economist says it is doomed to failure
06/30/2011
Doubling the interest rate on loans owed by Greece to French and German banks is called "the French deception" by the Journal . The Economist sees the sharp spending cuts and tax increases having enough detrimental impact on economic growth to make the debt load larger than before.
Linked Articles
Greece and the euro: The abuses of austerity
Economist 07/02/2011
The French DeceptionWall Street Journal 06/30/2011
Turkey's prime minister Erdogan and the need to build a bridge between the two Turkeys- the secular and the one looking to its Muslim roots
06/13/2011
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 06/13/2011
Identity Shift Giving Rise to 2 TurkeysNew York Times 11/30/2012
The risks to the Chinese economy of accumulated problems in the financial system
05/25/2011
A Wall Street Journal editorial that draws attention to the opaqueness of the financial system and its accummulated problems. It raises questions about how this will come out. Other expert observers have raised these questions.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 05/25/2011
Beijing's Financial Day of Reckoning Is NearWall Street Journal 06/21/2011
Basic misunderstanding- (2) one point in the Israel-U.S. relationship on May 20, 2011, with president Obama's call for a return to pre-1967 borders
05/20/2011
When Ambassador Oren says Obama abandoned Israel he refers to moments such as the one on May 20, 2011, when Obama called for Israel to return to pre-1067 borders. At its shortest point the distance to Tel Aviv from the West Bank then was 9 miles, leading Israel says to "repeated wars," and not really a border for peace.
Linked Articles
In meeting with Obama, Netanyahu rules out Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders - The Washington Post
Washington Post 05/20/2011
The 1967 Line of FireWall Street Journal 05/21/2011
The safety failures that could have been prevented with stronger oversight and control for the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster
03/21/2011
The independent parliamentary panel in Japan concuded in its July 2012 Report that the nuclear accident at the Fukushima plant was "a profoundly man-made event." Here in its investigations after the accident the Wall Street Journal finds some of the safety flaws that could have been corrected but were not due to the compete lack of effectiveness of the safety agency and its failure to do its job. As a result licenses for forty year old nuclear reactor designs and installation designs were simply renewed without requiring changes or shutting down these reactors. It is these older designs that were also improperly installed that failed.
Linked Articles
Japan Plant Had Troubled History
Wall Street Journal 03/21/2011
Design Flaw Fueled Nuclear DisasterWall Street Journal 07/01/2011
Saudi expert Karen Elliott House's thirty years of experience covering the Middle East tell us that the U.S. policy is sorely out of touch in the Middle East
02/15/2011
Elliott House is a former publisher of the Wall Street Journal and a Pulitzer prize winner for covering the Middle East. She sees the Saudi Arabian princes sorely out of touch with the ordinary Saudis and the young people and U.S. policy at an impasse. Rice says the policy of supporting autocracy only brings a false kind of stability. She sees Egypt, Tunisia and the rest of the Arab world and thinks it did not have to be this way.
Linked Articles
Condoleezza Rice - The future of a democratic Egypt
Washington Post 02/16/2011
From Tunis to Cairo to Riyadh?Wall Street Journal 02/15/2011
Inequality, the middle class and economic growth
01/15/2011
Studies show a growing middle class and lower middle class as one of the conditions underpinning steady economic growth. Adam Smith also points this out in his book The Wealth of Nations, written in the 18th century as England began its transformaton with the Industrial Revolution. Growing wages created a middle class and demand for goods and services that enable England to prosper. A similiar process took place in the U.S. with Henry Ford's effort to provide higher wages in his automobile plants in the 1920's that led to a growing middle class able to afford automobiles.
Linked Articles
Inequality: The rich and the rest
Economist 01/15/2011
The 1 Percent Clubâs Misguided ProtectorsNew York Times 12/10/2011
Taylor and Cochrane say the French and German banks exaggerated the effects of contagion in the Greece debt crisis from the beginning
12/02/2010
Prof. Cochrane at the University of Chicago and Prof. Taylor at Stanford University, say French and German banks exaggerated the effects of contagion from the beginning as a way to delay writedowns on Greek bonds held by the banks. The appearance of lurching from one summit negotiation to the next throughout 2011 dented confidence in the eurozone with slowing or negative growth in eurozone economies, and is likely to hurt banks operating in the new economic enviroment.
Linked Articles
'Contagion' and Other Euro Myths
Wall Street Journal 12/02/2010
A Better Grecian BailoutWall Street Journal 02/22/2012
The warnings on trade in 2010-2011 and sharply shifting public sentiment in the U.S. across all age, income and education groups
10/02/2010
A WSJ poll in 2010 showed that between 1999 and 2010 public sentiment had completely changed seeing trade as hurting American workers. A study by counties in the U.S. by Autor, Hanson, and Dorn showed the damage done by trade policy for American manufacturing workers. By March 2016 in the U.S. presidential election Michigan primary large gains were made by Republican and Democratic candidates opposing trade agreements including TPP negotiated by president Obama.
Linked Articles
Tallying the Toll of U.S.-China Trade
Wall Street Journal 09/27/2011
Americans Sour on TradeWall Street Journal 10/02/2010
Long standing reputations for quality and safety damaged by failures in quality systems at J&J McNeil and Toyota.
02/02/2010
Both Toyota and J&J Mcneil unit responded poorly and with long time lags to federal agencies that supervise safety for their products. Both companies took along time to investigate the consumer complaints, one for faulty brake pedal and the other for musty odor from Tylenol Arthritis caplet bottles.
Linked Articles
Maker of Tylenol Explains Actions Taken to Alleviate Musty Smell of Pills
New York Times 03/17/2010
Obama Administration Says It Is 'Not Finished With Toyota'Wall Street Journal 02/02/2010
Danone and P&G's (Procter & Gamble) innovative strategies for reaching low income customers in emerging markets.
12/12/2009
In 2004 Indonesian managers showed Franck Riboud, CEO of Danone, a pyramid of customers in Indonesia's population of 240 million people. It showed only 20 million customers at the top of the pyramid as the only ones who could afford Danone products. At that point Ribaud made up his mind to go after the large number of people at the lower end of the pyramid and come with strategies to do this profitably. By 2010 46% of Danone's sales were from emerging markets, up from 10% a decade earlier, showing the pace of the change. Unilever, P&G, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive and other companies are following similiar strategies. P&G has used Mexico as a lab for experimenting with new products at low price points and Danone has done this in Indonesia.
Linked Articles
Danone Expands Its Pantry to Woo the World's Poor
Wall Street Journal 06/25/2010
P.& G. Sees the World as Its ClientNew York Times 12/12/2009
The slow and faltering progress on USAID and other rural development projects in Afghanistan
10/28/2009
This will rank as one of the great failures in this decade old war. Most of the progress is patchy and on-again and off-again as described here.
Linked Articles
Afghanistan Doesn't Need More Troops
Wall Street Journal 10/28/2009
U.S. military dismayed by delays in 3 key development projects in Afghanistan - The Washington PostWashington Post 04/29/2011
Failure to stabilize the euro with the agreements reached by eurozone leaders including the July 2011 deal
07/13/2011
Experts suggest an approach that tackles the whole problem compared to the fragmented approach used so far based on dealing wiht the individual countries one at a time.The lack of agreement on shared sacrifice for bondholders, banks and eurozone governments.
Linked Articles
Greece Gets New Bailout as U.S. Nears Brink
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2011
How to Save the EuroWall Street Journal 07/13/2011
The U.S Fed's Daniel Tarullo and the 15% of assets held in capital reserves by banks rule to prevent another banking crisis like the one in 2008
06/16/2011
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 06/16/2011
Weâre All Still Hostages to the Big BanksNew York Times 08/25/2013
Impact of a slowdown in China and a global slowdown on different countries
06/08/2011
A slowdown in China will affect commodity exporting countries such as Australia, Brazil and Chile, and exporters of machinery such as Germany and Japan. A global economic slowdown will make it harder for troubled eurozone countries such as Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain to reduce their debt burden. It will affect U.S. exports which are increasing in 2011, and are the one bright spot for a economic recovery.
Linked Articles
What a China Slowdown Means for the World
Wall Street Journal 06/09/2011
Euro-Zone Cuts Face World of PainWall Street Journal 06/08/2011
Basic misunderstanding- (1) one point in the Israel- U.S. relationship on May 20, 2011, with president Obama's call for a return to pre-1967 borders
05/20/2011
When Ambassador Oren says Obama abandoned Israel, he refers to the "surprises" and "no daylight" or open disagreements that marked the relationship during the two terms of the Obama administration. One such point was on May 20, 2011, with Obama's call for pre-1967 borders.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 06/16/2015
Netanyahu Rejects Obama Compromises on TalksNew York Times 05/20/2011
Pfizer and Merck organize R&D using international innovation hubs- 2011-2015
05/02/2011
Efforts to tap into the latest external science at universities and research centers outside company labs is leading pharmaceutical companies to try a different approach to R&D. Pfizer closed its R&D facility in Sandwich, England and opened one in Cambridge. It opened hubs in Boston, La Jolla. Merck has followed this approach with a decision to setup innovaton hubs in Boston, San Francisco, London and Shanghai.
Linked Articles
Merck Plans Radical Overhaul of Drug R&D Unit
Wall Street Journal 12/28/2013
Life Beyond Lipitor for Pfizer ChiefWall Street Journal 05/02/2011
Forgotten sacrifices in a forgotten war- the American people, military families and the war in Afghanistan
03/02/2011
Linked Articles
For one war widow, moving on is a marathon - The Washington Post
Washington Post 07/09/2012
Lt. Gen. John Kelly, who lost son to war, says U.S. largely unaware of sacrificeWashington Post 03/02/2011
Sobhi Saleh of Egypt- from parliament to protests and the panel rewriting the constitution
02/04/2011
Nicholas Kulish's account in the NYT Feb 4, 2011, must rank as an exceptional piece of international coverage and journalism. It provides a heart rending account of the member of parliament from Alexandria. Arrested in the protests for democracy, Saleh makes his way out from a prison set on fire. Saleh is a member of an eight member panel rewriting the constitution in Feb. 2012.
Linked Articles
Egypt's Military Names Constitutional Panel
Wall Street Journal 02/15/2011
Why a Member of the Muslim Brotherhood Was Late to the RevolutionNew York Times 02/04/2011
Contrasts in the approaches of S. Korea in 1997 and the U.S. in 2008 to banking crises, and the hobbled U.S. economic recovery
01/06/2011
S. Korea in 1997 at the urging of Treasury Secretary Rubin took decisive step to unwind failed financial institutions. This in stark contrast to Treasury Secretary Geither, regulators and U.S. Fed officials actions in 2008 to merge troubled mortgage institutions such as Countrywide and Washington Mutual with Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. In the process creating mega banks that are hard to manage and hard to run, and "too big to fail," according to former and current Fed governors Hoenig and Fisher. Prof. Cochrane of the University of Chicago says the U.S. Federal Reserve's new job as financial regulator after the 2008 financial crisis, is an impossible one.
Linked Articles
Red Flags said to Go Unheeded at Chase
New York Times 05/14/2012
South Korea Makes a Quick Economic RecoveryNew York Times 01/06/2011
The prospects of a stalled economy in China as the productivity of capital deteriorates
11/23/2010
Inflation, repressed consumers, and the failure of current economic policy to produce the kind of sustainable growth China needs. One of the concerns raised before the Asian economic crisis of 1997 was the poor and declining productivity of capital in some Asian countries.
Linked Articles
New York Times 01/20/2011
Sclerosis in China's Economic VeinsWall Street Journal 11/23/2010
Tan Guocheng and Yuan Yandong- migrant workers on production lines in China and change in 2010-2013
06/13/2010
David Barboza's exceptional journalism talking to production workers on assembly lines in China. Here he tells the story of Tan Guocheng and Yuan Yandong, young migrant workers on assembly lines at Honda and Foxconn in the middle of major changes in China after the first wave of urbanization.
Linked Articles
In China, Unlikely Labor Leader Just Wanted a Middle-Class Life
New York Times 06/13/2010
A Night at the Electronics FactoryNew York Times 06/18/2010
Shiller sees risks of a double dip recession from sudden events that further damage confidence.
01/31/2010
Shillers definition of adoubel dip recession is one in which unemployment stays stubbornly high for some years and a second recession occurs before a recovery is achieved from the first one. Statistical models and confidence indexes are poor at grasping and presenting this.
Linked Articles
Fear of a Double Dip Could Cause One
New York Times 05/14/2010
Stuck in Neutral? Reset the MoodNew York Times 01/31/2010
Why the Obama health care law gets an "F" grade from the Dean of Harvard Medical School
11/18/2009
The failure to replace the "fee-for-service" system in favor of capitated payments is cited as one of the main reasons. The other reasons are it does not resolve the issues of introducing competition in quality of care and cost, and continues the practices that disguise the true cost of care with a highly fragmented system of care. In a op-ed, Jeffrey Flier, Dean of the Harvard Medical School, gives a detailed account for the reason for his grading. A poorly drafted or incomplete law says Flier can make things worse, citing the example of the health care law in Massachusetts which is driving up costs, as it does not change the old dysfunctional system's key features such as "fee-for service," and instead tries to build a new system on broken foundations. Pearlstein in the Washington Post says the Obama health care law has addressed the "fee-for-service" problem, but this is really not the case, and Flier's reasoning may be the clue to the deeper problem for the Obama health care law.
Linked Articles
Steven Pearlstein: Eat your broccoli, Justice Scalia - The Washington Post
Washington Post 04/01/2012
Health 'Debate' Deserves a Failing GradeWall Street Journal 11/18/2009
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