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An assessment of the Financial Regulatory Reform that is emerging in House and Senate Bills. Yes reforms will be passed but will they prevent another crisis and are they tackling the root causes of the financial crisis. The assessment here is that they fail on both accounts. According to Christopher Whalen of the Institutional Risk Analyst it tackles the symptoms more than it responds to the causes of the crisis. He sees the response in the areas of derivatives trading, credit ratings agencies, consumer proteciton agency, as inadequate to meet a future crisis.

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Spiegel Online provides a inside look at the leader of the Law and Justice Party which was elected to power in 2015. The liberal opposition that was in power since the fall of communism has seen its popularity decline in the rural areas of Poland, especially in the east. The urban-rural divide seen in other countries such as France is acutely present in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe, with poor governance and a tendency for economic gains made under capitalism following the fall of communism to go to more educated people in the large cities. The party's leaders are Lech and Jaroslav Kaczynski who were president and prime minister from 2005 to 2007. At the time they were seen as outsiders lacking the sophistication and experience in government of the liberal opposition under Donald Tusk, who now is head of the EU Council since 2014. Tusk was prime minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014. Lech Kaczynski was killed in a plane crash in 2010. Jaroslav Kaczynski appoints members of his party to key positions in government including prime minister Duda. Kaczynski is strident about the manner in which the gains since Poland joined the European Union have gone only to certain groups able to benefit from capitalism. At a recent party congress near Warsaw he is quoted here as saying: "We are here to ensure that everyone in Poland has the same opportunities, regardless of where they live, in the cities or the country." Kaczynski's appeal is in offering a generous welfare state for the middle classes- small businessmen in villages and towns across Poland, common people, with subsidies to tackle the cost of living. His focus is on the "pathological" consequences of economic liberalism after the fall of the Iron Curtain, privatization that benefitted a few, including Kaczynski says former communists and dissidents. Small businessmen felt the inroads of large private retail chains, and families felt the problems of lack of investment in schools and kindergartens. The liberal opposition can only offer the hope that being a reliable EU ally will ensure prosperity, which does not go well with the eastern part of Poland. As a result the Kaczynski government is moving away from the ideas that anchor the European Union. It sees the rule of law and independence of the judiciary as something that can be changed to where the president appoints members of the Supreme Court and the judiciary. Protests in Warsaw and the large cities are taking place against these moves. Der Spiegel says this could end up the way it happened in Britain where it simply stumbled into leaving the EU just by accident. This is the situation in 2017. It could be a temporary process that is a response to the excesses of capitalism. As Kaczynski says to create a level playing field for all parts of Polish society by smoothing out some of the harsh effects of rampant capitalism. Or as Spiegel Online points out a shaky period in which the EU and Poland are at odds- ironically with Donald Tusk as the head of the EU confronting both Theresa May and Kaczynski.  ...

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The Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Republican healthcare plan advocated by Mr. McConnell, Senate Majority leader, is that it would add 22 million uninsured if implemented. That plan ran into opposition from Republican Senators Collins, Capito, Murkowski, Paul, and Moran, and lacked enough support in the Senate. All Democrats opposed it and with the thin majority Republicans were divided. By taking away some benefits given under the existing Affordable Care Act the plan hurt the elderly and low income people, making some Republicans listen to their constituents in home districts and not the Republican leadership. The NYT profiled two in particular who astonishingly in a sign of today's strange politics were the only ones publicly holding townhall type meetings to hear the views of people in their voting districts- Susan Collins of Maine and Jerry Moran of Kansas. Both senators were listening to rural communities and Moran stated his opposition with the words- "I am a product of rural Kansas." With it the nation takes a breather and the message goes out that it is best to listen first and then to seek middle ground, not do what both parties Democrats and Republicans did in 2009 and 2017- rush serious legislation through without support across party lines and without serious discussion.   ...

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The Republican party (GOP) chances with Trump as the candidate in 2024 are seen with much skepticism by Karl Rove in the WSJ. Republicans need to keep the presidential field of candidates not too crowded for too long, as pluralities in primaries led to Trump winning a large share of delegates even with about one third of the vote in the early primaries for the 2020 election. Another challenge is the work of Trump supporting leaders in states such as Michigan who want to select delegates by convention and not through primaries. Ron de Santis, Governor of Florida, is seeking the Republican nomination, and faces a strong challenge from the former president. De Santis, 44 years, is from Dunedin, Florida, His mother was a nurse and his father installed Nielsen TV rating boxes, with great-great grandparents immigrating from Italy Benevento, Avellino) in 1904. He studied history at Yale and went to Harvard Law School, Navy Justice School after joining the Navy. De Santis was elected to the US Congress in 2014 and 2016 where he served as the chariman of the sub committee on National Security. He founded the Freedom Caucus in these years. In 2018 he ran for Governor of Florida winning by 0.4%, running again in 2022 he won by about 20 percentage points. ...

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NYT's Mokoto Rich provides this excellent report from Daegu, the fourth largest city in South Korea, where the current president's father attended teacher's college, and where she draws her base of support. Her father is the dictator president Park who ruled South Korea from 1961 to 1979, known for efforts to modernize South Korea and protect it from the Communist North.Most of the city's residents no longer support president Park Geun-hye because they say even though she herself is a good person, she had poor judgement in having a friend who they say swindled her. That friend Ms. Choo Soon-Sil won favors and contracts using the powers of the presidential office with the full knowledge of the president. This makes her incompetent for the presidential office say even conservative supporters who disagree with the opposition's protests. 

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A hybrid gas-electric bus costs 60% more, but is 30% more efficient for the hybrid model and 65% more fuel efficient for plug-in models, says a Navistar executive. Navistar is the first U.S. maker to bring out a hybrid bus model. Experts say buses are ideally suited for electric versions because of short routes within city limits and predicatable routes. School buses also spend a lot of time in depots where they can be charged easily. Trans Tech Bus is planning to start production of a electric school bus in partnership with Smith Electric Vehicles. Trans Tech's president says the new electric school bus will be priced so that districts could recover the added cost- a $30,000 premium at this time- in fuel savings of 3-5 years. The savings for diesel are about $60 a day for a school district near Fresno with poor air quality. Recharging the battery costs about $17.

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David Car describes Steve Jobs unique contribution to product development and marketing through revolutionary products in different categories from iPad to iPhone. Carr shows how Apple manages the marketing through complete secrecy and buildup of excitement.

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As Indian pharmaceutical industry sees drug testing in India as an opportunity, conditions for obtaining the best results are being established by taking necessary steps. With ashortage of experienced people to run drug trials, Indian government has stepped up training, setting up partnerships with the U.S. FDA, Health Canada, the World Health Organization, and other similiar organizations, The emphasis should be on credible dat and the safety of subjects says A.K. Pradhan, India's Assistant Drug Controller. After the death of an infant in a Wyeth Pharmaceuticals drug testing effort, the Drug Controller of India though supportive of Wyeth has raised certain issues that Wyeth is addressing.

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Walgreens is changing its growth model to add the business of Health and Wellness buying two companies I-trax Inc. and Whole Health Management which run 350 health centres at corporate offices. Pharmacies will be added to these centres. Its targeting 7600 office sites with 1000 or more employees that could use a health-care center. Its competitors CVS and Walmart are going into managing employer drug benefit programs, with Walmart's selling point being reducing costs of paying for prescriptions for employers.

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Of the nine positions on China's Politburo Standing Committee, which effectively runs the country, only Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang will remain as China moves to a transition in leadership. There is considerable uncertainty about the direction in which Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang will take the country- whether continuing the status quo or making efforts to introduce democratic processes in the country and shift away from the export model for the economy.

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Young people in India express their rising expectations for the next government- for better infrastructure, for jobs and better incomes and a better vision for the future. Narendra Modi, leader of the BJP party and chief minister of Gujarat state, gives the development and high growth rates in his state as an example for what can be achieved in the the rest of India.