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Angela Merkel's experience with the reunification of East and West Germany and her views of the eurozone crisis
01/30/2011
The perceptions of the eurozone crisis of ordinary Germans and of former East German Angela Merkel are colored by the period of reunification of the two Germany's. This was paid for with a"solidarity surcharge" tax paid by Germans amounting to $1.7 trillion and led in its early stages to 4 million unemployed in the eastern part and 20% unemployment. It took over a decade for East Germany to build new modernized industries in the larger cities of the east, but still leaves the rural parts of former East Germany in a neglected state as young peoplemoved out. During this period industry in the west also regained lost global competitiveness, especially in industries such as automobiles and advanced machinery, using wage restraint agreements with unions and increases in productivity. Germans see the need for eurozone countries in the southern part of Europe needing to make similiar sacrifices and see the tax evasion in Italy and Greece as unacceptable. The real estate bubble, the lack of transparency for banks bad loans, and out of control regional spending in Spain is also seen in a similiar light. Greece is seen as the most egregious offendor because of the bad financial accounting that grossly understated the extent of the bad loans. Less publicized in Germany is the role played in the bad loans through poor lending practices of German and French banks and that as experts have pointed out Germany was to some extent bailing out German banks when it was bailing out Greece- till German banks reduced their exposure to Greece in 2011.
Linked Articles
In former East Germany, anxious residents resent paying for Europe’s problems - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/21/2012
Merkel's Defense of Euro Forged in East GermanyNew York Times 01/30/2011
Gome Electrical Appliances and competition from online retailer 360Buy.com in China
12/27/2010
Gome faces from 360Buy.com the kind of competiton Best Buy faces in the U.S. from Amazon.com.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 03/28/2012
Wal-Mart Agrees to Deal With 360buy.com of ChinaNew York Times 12/27/2010
Greece's referendum and the 3 year bailout of July 12, 2015- military spending, shipowners taxes, and cuts to pensions
07/10/2010
Greece's left Syriza government almost pulled the country out of the eurozone over pension cuts, even as military spending in Greece remained at 2.4% of GNP compared to close 1.4% for the EU average. Greece did not propose further cuts to military spending to bring the Greece ratio closer to that of Germany and other countries in Europe, raising questions about prudent spending. Which is why Greece sometimes has aspects of the surreal to people not just in Germany and Holland, but other parts of Europe, and outsiders. Under the reform proposal and bailout of July 12, 2015 following the "no" referendum, Greece's parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of the similiar cuts in pensions from an earlier EU proposal, with cuts of $300 million to the military spending by 2016. Greek shipowners will also pay taxes under the new bailout, negotiated by Greece with France's help when the referendum had damaged relations with the rest of the EU, particularly Germany with only 10% in polls willing to support any further concessions.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 07/11/2015
The Submarine Deals That Helped Sink GreeceWall Street Journal 07/10/2010
America, Jobs and Competitiveness- (2) "Getting it right", the legacy of Andy Grove at Intel Corp. and Jeffrey Immelt at GE
07/01/2010
Linked Articles
Jeffrey R. Immelt - A blueprint for keeping America competitive
Washington Post 01/21/2011
Andy Grove: How America Can Create JobsBusinessWeek 07/01/2010
Strike at Honda and suicides at Hon Hai reflect worker dissatisfaction.
05/29/2010
Wages an issue at both companies. Military style discipline and monotony of life and work an issue at Hon Hai which employs 800,000 workers in China and is a key part of the Chinese manufacturing system which makes all kinds of electronic products
Linked Articles
Why Apple and Others Are Nervous About Foxconn
BusinessWeek 06/03/2010
Unrest May Signal New Phase in China EconomyNew York Times 05/29/2010
From online retail to selling consumer goods - different ways of selling in Nigeria, rural India, rural Brazil and other emerging markets
12/12/2009
Linked Articles
In Nigeria, Rising Dreams of Web Commerce
Wall Street Journal 06/03/2012
P.& G. Sees the World as Its ClientNew York Times 12/12/2009
Bill Gates and David Rieff on the untapped resource for India and the global economy of India's children
10/11/2009
The challenge of getting hundreds of millions of rural Indian children into the development mainstream through better healthcare, pharmaceuticals, nutrition, education and agricultural improvement is the next major challenge for India and the global economy. It is a huge untapped resource for India and the global economy.
Linked Articles
Bill Gates: What I Learned in the Fight Against Polio
Wall Street Journal 11/10/2013
India’s Malnutrition DilemmaNew York Times 10/11/2009
Obama's Cairo speech on June 4, 2009 to the Muslim world coincides with Moussavi taking on Ahmadinejad for his extremism in Teheran in an election debate.
06/04/2009
Moussavi debated forcefully with Ahmadinejad on Iranian television calling for good sense in relations with the rest of the world and calling Ahmadinnejad an extremist. He called Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust as undermining Iran's dignity, while Obama called it baseless, ignorant and hateful. Something that could only occur in the climate created by Obama's opening of a dialogue with the Muslim world and helping melt old attitudes and perceptions.
Linked Articles
President Obama's Cairo Appeal
Washington Post 06/05/2009
Iran President and Challenger Clash in DebateNew York Times 06/04/2009
Laffer says inflation and high interest rates are a sure thing with the $1 trillion increase in the monetary base since Sept 2008.
04/23/2009
This is the largest increase in the monetary base in the last 50 years by afactor of 10, and is unlike anything ever experienced before. He sees inflation and rising interest rates as a result surpassing anything seen in the 1970's. Bernanke he says faces a Hobson's choice between contracting the monetary base and putting the economy back in recession and letting things go the way they are resulting in steep inflation. He sees the Fed having the option of increasing the reserve requirements at banks, to restrain the increase in the monetary base.
Linked Articles
Economist 04/23/2009
Get Ready for Inflation and Higher Interest RatesWall Street Journal 06/11/2009
WPost editorial thinks Obama's speech at Georgetown scored well on clarity and grasp of facts, but poorly on candor and courage to address entitlement reform.
04/14/2009
The WPost editors agree that defict reduction and entilement reform are a hard sell for the President, whereas the rest of his agenda can sail through a Democratic Congress. It asks the question, is the President dodging the tough choices?
Linked Articles
From President Obama, Economic Clarity but Little Courage
Washington Post 04/15/2009
Text of Obama Economic SpeechBusinessWeek 04/14/2009
Child hunger in India and India's Food Security legislation in August 2013
03/13/2009
Food expert Rieff cites figures showing child malnutrition at over 40% in India for children under the age of 5 in 2009. A World Food Program report says 230 million people in India are hungry each year. India's Food Security legilation has to be seen in this context. Rieff says India is in danger of losing its demographic dividend as a result of child malnutrition. All developing countries can learn from each other and their programs to reduce child malnutrition, improve health care and vaccinations, and introduce healthy food and sanitary practices. Programs are in place in Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, India, and China.
Linked Articles
As Indian Growth Soars, Child Hunger Persists
New York Times 03/13/2009
India's Lower House Passes Food Bill to Help PoorWall Street Journal 08/26/2013
The Economist's view of nationalization as an option.
02/03/2009
The Economist says that as in the case of Northern Rock and RBS, because of the scale of the problem and it only getting worse over time, nationalization is the best option. And it says its no use exacerbating the problem by pretending otherwise.
Linked Articles
Economist 02/03/2009
Financial Policy DespairNew York Times 03/23/2009
An Alternate View of U.S., and EU relations with Russia from Gates and German public opinion
01/05/2009
A look back at former Defense Secretary Gates views about Russia in the larger context of the postwar years and what it is today, including Georgia (and Crimea) and other issues. A similiar perspective fom the German side as seen by former chancellor Kohl, Merkel, Schroeder, and Ischinger, going back to the days of Wily Brandt. Brandt was Mayor of West Berlin in the period of enormous tensions between the Soviets and the Federal Republic during the sixties and later initiated the policy of constructive engagement.
Linked Articles
Pentagon Chief Sees Opportunities In Russia and the War on Terrorism
Washington Post 01/05/2009
Germany's Angela Merkel Treads Softly With Russia's Putin On UkraineWall Street Journal 04/08/2014
Condoleeza Rice and Elliott Abrams question the whole policy of supporting autocracy to preserve a false kind of stability in Egypt and the Arab world
01/28/2011
This stability that comes at the expense of liberty and basic freedoms does not serve America well. This only helps give rise to malignant forces that grow when democratic voices are suppressed. This is especially true in Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world where a false stability has been created.
Linked Articles
Condoleezza Rice - The future of a democratic Egypt
Washington Post 02/16/2011
Egypt protests show George W. Bush was right about freedom in the Arab worldWashington Post 01/28/2011
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
Reviving American Manufacturing- the views of Anthony Liveris and Andy Grove
07/01/2010
Anthony Liveris is CEO of Dow Chemical and Andy Grove headed Intel Corp.
Linked Articles
Dow Chemical's CEO on How to Revive Manufacturing
Wall Street Journal 02/23/2012
Andy Grove: How America Can Create JobsBusinessWeek 07/01/2010
Andy Grove of Intel and a reminder about Silicon Valley's role now missing role as a serious innovator and job creator at home
07/01/2010
Andy Grove reminded Silicon Valley about the dangers of forgetting manufacturing's important role in the U.S. in 2010. This is even more true today with the working class lagging behind in this recovery. He asked at the time what kind of society are we creating with professionally employed workers and lots of unemployed. It reminded him of 1932 with troops holding bayonets facing unemployed people outside the White House, and of his days in Hungary in the 1956 uprising. Grove also called for serious innovation which he did not see happening at the time in Silicon Valley.
Linked Articles
Andy Grove’s Warning to Silicon Valley
New York Times 03/25/2016
Andy Grove: How America Can Create JobsBusinessWeek 07/01/2010
Hope and reality in Nigeria (2)- President Goodluck Jonathan 2011-2015, and President Muhammadu Buhari 2015-2019
02/20/2010
The hope of so many young Nigerians rest on Buhari getting things right and restoring confidence in government and the management of the economy after four years of the Jonathan adminsitration.
Linked Articles
Muhammadu Buhari Defeats Goodluck Jonathan in Nigeria Election
Wall Street Journal 04/01/2015
An Accidental Leader Stirs Hopes in NigeriaNew York Times 02/20/2010
David Rieff provides insights on why all developing countries, Mexico, Brazil, India, Indonesia and China need to take child malnutrition seriously
10/11/2009
The Indian lower house of parliament passed a Food Security bill in August 2013. Rieff says China made serious progress to reduce malnutrition from over 21% for children under 5 years to around 7% today after 1990. In India malnutrition for children under 5 years is above 40%. There is a lot that developing coutnries can learn from each other in this area including the Bolsa Familia program in Brazil which uses the concept of improving vaccination for children and school attendance as requirements for subsidy payments to the poor. Mexico and Indonesia have different versions of programs to help the poorer sections of society. The problem is acute in India because of indifference induced by caste and other considerations and the high level of malnutrition for children. Rief says how good is ademographic dividend when many of these children are permanently and silently impaired by malnutrition by the age of three. India's Congress party leader, Sonia Gandhi, put it differently in parliament: "What is our responsibility to these people?"
Linked Articles
New York Times 10/11/2009
India's Lower House Passes Food Bill to Help PoorWall Street Journal 08/26/2013
Intractable conflicts and a way out- the U.S., Europe, India and Pakistan in Afghanistan, and South Asians in Kashmir
09/23/2009
Linked Articles
Obama Is Considering Strategy Shift in Afghan War
New York Times 09/23/2009
Kashmir's troubles: Shaking the mountainsEconomist 01/01/2011
The youth vote in India's 2014 and 2009 parliamentary elections
05/02/2009
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 05/02/2009
Hopes of a Generation Ride on Indian VoteNew York Times 05/15/2014
Edmund Phelps, Nobel winner 2006, on what capitalism really is, and Obama's speech at Georgetown on its current crisis.
04/15/2009
Phelps gives alucid and admirable description of what capitalism is and what it is not, and how best to understand it and employ it.
Linked Articles
Uncertainty bedevils the best system
Unknown 04/15/2009
From President Obama, Economic Clarity but Little CourageWashington Post 04/15/2009
Can bank recover while the rest of the economy is faltering?
04/07/2009
Manufacturing capacity utilization tells adifferent story. What are the chances for banks once this fizzle evaporates and can the Obama administration avoid making the tough choices?
Linked Articles
Economists Seek Breakup of Big Banks
Wall Street Journal 04/21/2009
Economy Falling Years Behind Full SpeedNew York Times 04/07/2009
Astra Zeneca suppresses information about the link between best selling psychiatric drug Seroquel and diabetes.
02/27/2009
Now disclosed court documents show that AstraZeneca carefully suppressed information about the links between Seroquel and diabetes from a 2000 study from one of its drug safety experts.
Linked Articles
AstraZeneca Papers Raise Seroquel Issues
Wall Street Journal 02/27/2009
AstraZeneca Drug's Effectiveness QuestionedWall Street Journal 02/28/2009
Board of Directors, auditors, management and bad governance- Satyam in India and Olympus in Japan
01/09/2009
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 01/09/2009
Panel Releases Findings in Olympus CaseWall Street Journal 12/06/2011
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