World News Insights
1-3 Minute Gist
Search, personalize, or simply browse. Follow the world around you from gist and context to insights.
Who we are | Our Credo | Ways of using Lyrarc | FAQ | Send Feedback | First Letter From the Editor
Sign up. It's free and easy to use
Create an account
to personalize your feed of articles and topics.
Browse Articles or use Lyrarc's US patented "Groups" and "Links" for new insights. A Lyrarc Group of Articles on a topic gives insights into particular angles shown in the Group Title. A Lyrarc Link shows more specific insights for 2 articles.
All Topics Links
Views of experts from Raghuram Rajan, Paul Krugman and Simon Johnson are at odds with the Obama administration's recycling of prior Paulson's bank rescue plans
04/21/2009
Rajan and Johnson call for smaller, more transparent financial institutions through the government takeover of insolvent banks and breaking them up into smaller financial institutions that pose less risk to the country's economy and are easier to manage, and less prone to excessive risk taking. And they propose crafting policy and antitrust laws to make this work. Questions raised about the administration having too many people on its economic team who are deferential to Wall Street and not with a mindset that questions key assumptions -some call them sacred cows- that are put forward by Wall Street.
Linked Articles
Economists Seek Breakup of Big Banks
Wall Street Journal 04/21/2009
Time for Bank Creditors to Share the Pain?New York Times 04/29/2009
Krugman and the editors of NYT see the G-20 coming out short in addressing the crisis.
04/03/2009
The Europeans failed top support the USA in the push for strong stimulus and global regulatory reform is still uncertain. About $1.1 trillion for supporting trade and the IMF, with IMF asked to promote social help in emerging countries in addition to fixing finances.
Linked Articles
New York Times 04/03/2009
The Economic SummitNew York Times 04/03/2009
The different positions taken by the Europeans and the US and Britain at the G-20 summit.
04/02/2009
The different positions taken by the US and the Europeans and the thinking and culture behind each position.
Linked Articles
Steven Pearlstein - A Rare Triumph of Substance at the Summit
Washington Post 04/03/2009
Obama Hits Resistance at G-20Wall Street Journal 04/02/2009
The efforts of banks in better shape but still weak to wish the crisis away.
03/06/2009
Chase and Goldman's efforts to rewrite history, and act as though they did not benefit from government help is wrong and dangerous says the Economist. Its dangerous because it sends the message that any resoultion of toxic assets on banks books is unnecessary, and these banks should be treated differently when it comes to setting new prudent bank regulations, including setting regulation for incentives that do not support excessive risk taking and leveraging. A change in the economic climate for the worse could make this a dangerous complaceny.
Linked Articles
New York Times 03/06/2009
Thanks, for nothingEconomist 06/11/2009
The idea of one Europe and financial crisis in Eastern Europe.
02/26/2009
How leaders of Germany, France and Britain respond to calls for help from Eastern European countries will determine the future of the European community and the European Union. Will a differentiated approach develop that provides help to the newer members of the EU. Will the Swedish example with the Baltics lead to a supportive role by Germany?
Linked Articles
The bill that could break up Europe
Economist 02/26/2009
Growing Economic Crisis Threatens the Idea of One EuropeNew York Times 03/02/2009
GM's lead director Fisher reflecting the Board's lack of initiative and vision.
12/04/2008
The marked tendency to brush off any criticism to decisionmaking errors with the comment (that would not stand scrutiny) that one cannot imagine GM making all the right decisions all of the time because it was too big and complex.
Linked Articles
Lead Director Pins G.M.’s Hopes on Federal Rescue
New York Times 12/04/2008
Terms of a Rescue PlanBusinessWeek 12/11/2008
GM and Ford spent $175 million lobbying in the last 10 years with focus on fighting fuel efficiency standards.
11/15/2008
A misstep that leads to falling behind the Europeans and the Japanese in innovating and investing early in the area of fuel efficiency.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 11/15/2008
Clout Has Plunged for Automakers and Union, TooNew York Times 11/18/2008
Gordon Brown enjoys a moment of satisfaction as his plans are followed around the world.
10/14/2008
Gordon Brown sees the ups and downs with equanimity but he must have the satisfaction that this crisis for Europe and the world has brought out the best in him.
Linked Articles
British Prime Minister’s Stock Rises as His Bank Plan Lifts Stocks Worldwide
New York Times 10/15/2008
U.K. Chiefs Repair Image With BailoutWall Street Journal 10/14/2008
Cable by British Ambassador in Kabul on the loss of trust in Karzai government
10/04/2008
Cable by a career foreign service officer, the British ambassador in kabul on the loss of trust in Karzai government. The head of the provincial council in Kandahar is Karzai's brother who is said to be involved in the heroin trade.
Linked Articles
Reports Link Karzai’s Brother to Heroin Trade
New York Times 10/05/2008
‘Dictator’ Proposed for Afghanistan in Leaked CableNew York Times 10/04/2008
Britain puts Europe including Russia first before old style cold war replays.
08/20/2008
Britain and other European countries want to continue dialogue and integration with Russia and not let Georgia affect their relationships with Russia.
Linked Articles
U.K. Takes Softer Tack In Dealing With Russia
Wall Street Journal 08/20/2008
Russia Never Wanted a WarNew York Times 08/20/2008
The Afghan war as asort of political football for the Democrats to burnish their anti soviet or now Obama to burnish his antiterrorist credentials.
07/30/2008
Friedman warned about the overhyping of the Afghan war as being the right war by Obama. Charlie Wilson, Rep. from Texas, is described as doing this during Reagan's contras war in Nicaragua, making that one the bad war and the anti soviet war in Afghanistan as the good war.
Linked Articles
Stephen G. Rademaker - Obama Strategy Raises Questions on Afghanistan
Washington Post 09/05/2009
Drilling in AfghanistanNew York Times 07/30/2008
US energy policy in cars showed the Detroit automakers falling way behind the Europeans and the Japanese in this chart.
07/06/2008
Detroit automakers sticking with the status quo let a wide gap build up in fuel efficiency and smaller cars with the Europeans and the Japanese. Upto the point that it became difficult for them to make a profitable small car because they had less expertise in that area.
Linked Articles
American Energy Policy, Asleep at the Spigot
New York Times 07/06/2008
GM plans $500M for 45-mpg small carDetroit News 08/22/2008
Europeans protest of fuel taxes.
05/28/2008
Europeans protes fuel taxes but public opinion especially in Germany favorsreducing fuel consumption. It requires agreement by 27 EU member states to reduce fuel taxes so this is unlikely to happen.
Linked Articles
Europeans Protest Fuel Taxes But Accept High Prices
Wall Street Journal 05/28/2008
Irate Europeans Protest the Soaring Price of GasolineNew York Times 05/30/2008
By achieving US goal for stimulus spending and European goals for regulatory reform the G20 summit has achieved a lot for all countries.
04/03/2009
The US agrees to the European demands for strict global regulation, and the Europeans agree to stimulus committment of $850 billion through the IMF for emerging countries, making the summit a success.
Linked Articles
Steven Pearlstein - A Rare Triumph of Substance at the Summit
Washington Post 04/03/2009
Conceding U.S. Lapses, Obama Resists New Bank RulesNew York Times 04/03/2009
Interest rate swap contracts sold by banks to the city of Detroit in 2005 and the "kiko" derivative contracts sold by banks to exporters in S. Korea before the 2008 global financial crisis
04/03/2009
The huge losses suffered by Detroit and by exporters in S. Korea and how the issues raised were handled in the two places. What takes precedence fairness or contracts, how much of a contract has to be intelligible to the investor and the broader question of why banks needed to write such contracts or conduct business in this way which could hurt their reputation. An example is given by Floyd Norris of NYT where Bankers Trust reputation suffered badly in 1994 for selling such contracts to P&G.
Linked Articles
New York Times 04/03/2009
'Safe Harbor' in Bankruptcy Upended in Detroit CaseNew York Times 12/23/2013
The crisis in Eastern Europe and other developing countries and the G20 policy mandate to the IMF to support social help and stimulus spending
03/28/2009
The G-20 mandate that the IMF be the conduit for funds to help emerging countries, with the policy direction that an additional $850 billion be used not only to fix finances, but also emphasize social goals, and help people in these countries cope with the crisis. This is of great help to countries in difficulty, and assurance that the social fabric in these countries will not be torn apart as has happened before, and that people will get the necessary assistance.
Linked Articles
Steven Pearlstein - A Rare Triumph of Substance at the Summit
Washington Post 04/03/2009
Eastern Europe and the Financial CrisisWall Street Journal 03/28/2009
The financial crisis poses a challenge to the idea of a single European Community, the EU itself.
02/26/2009
The countries of Eastern Europe and the banks of western European countries are enmeshed in a growing financial crisis that threatens the unity of Euope, and the idea of the European Community. What kind of help will Germany and other nations of western Europe provide. Will this be differentiated by different groups of countries like the Baltics different from Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic, and how will leaders like Angela Merkel of Germany negotiate the political winds, as she faces an upcoming election.
Linked Articles
The bill that could break up Europe
Economist 02/26/2009
Sweden Aids Bailout of Baltic NationsNew York Times 03/13/2009
The shift in management at Toyota to Akio Toyoda and the changing priorities as the market changes.
02/24/2009
What worked for Toyota in the past doesn't work anymore, and rapid expansion by CEO's before Akio Toyoda brings a whole range of problems even before the recall disaster of 2010. The company's narrow Nagoya, Japan, based management world view, with hardly any American representation on its Board, only makes things worse.
Linked Articles
Akio Toyoda - Toyota's plan to repair its public image
Washington Post 02/09/2010
A Scion Drives Toyota Back to BasicsWall Street Journal 02/24/2009
In the past decade China's consumption as percentage of GDP drops 10% to 37%, America's rise to 96%.
11/26/2008
This leads to the global imbalance in savings that London B-School's Prof. Portes complains about. Cross border flows fro, Asia to the West reach 3% of global GDP, pumping extra money into the US banking system, and the European banking system leading to bad lending and a consumption binge. The reluctance of China and the U.S. to change the staus quo till things simply collapsed.
Linked Articles
Imbalance in Nations' Savings Clouds Forecasts for Recovery
Wall Street Journal 03/23/2009
Global Economy: No Help from China's ConsumersBusinessWeek 11/26/2008
UAW opposes any consolidation or merger as it would mean loss of may more jobs.
10/14/2008
From UAW President Gettelfinger's view consolidation would only mean loss of even more jobs to a devastated Detroit. A better source of cash for GM would be more loans from the federal government as democratic candidate Obama has suggested a $50 billion loan package. At that point a Chrysler consolidation if it were to occur could be done through a rationall consolidation or merger as opposed to the large closures that the present situation might require.
Linked Articles
UAW chief opposes GM-Chrysler merger
Detroit News 10/14/2008
Howes: One of Big 3 may not surviveDetroit News 10/14/2008
Wall Street Journal editorial says the British Plan is the right way to go.
10/09/2008
Gordon Brown's rescue Plan goes directly to the problem of recapitalizing the banks and gets ownership stakes in return for taxpayer money and is a good one in the view of the WSJ.
Linked Articles
Britain Takes a Different Route to Rescue Its Banks
New York Times 10/09/2008
A Plan -- at LastWall Street Journal 10/09/2008
Bob Woodward on decisionmaking in the Obama White House and the Bush White House
09/15/2008
In "The War Within" Woodward described how Bush persevered to get the job done right in Iraq. In "The Price of Politics," Woodward describes how Obama failed to use his presidential leadership and suthority to get all sides to reach an agreement. Bill Keller of the NYT says Obama failed to make the "unpleasant choices" a president has to make, including supporting the president's own Simpson-Bowles Commission on the U.S. deficit.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/15/2008
Notable & QuotableWall Street Journal 09/07/2012
The Russian side of the story on Georgia, and the Europeans putting Europe including Russia first in their views.
08/20/2008
Rusia presents its views including Gorbachev and Lavrov in the American press and the British views putting Europeans including Russians first before the American views for old style cold war replay.
Linked Articles
New York Times 08/20/2008
America Must Choose Between Georgia and RussiaWall Street Journal 08/20/2008
Reports linking Karzai's brother to heroin trade fit in with Scweich's account in the NYT.
07/27/2008
Schweich is deputy to Anne Patterson Asst Secretary of State for international narcotics and law enforcement. His story in the New York Times fits in with accounts of links to the heroin trade of Karzai's brother who heads the provincial council in Kandahar. This also shows how trust is being lost in the Afghan government among the people as stated in a cable by a senior career foreign service officer from Britain in Kabul to the French government.
Linked Articles
Reports Link Karzai’s Brother to Heroin Trade
New York Times 10/05/2008
Is Afghanistan a Narco-State?New York Times 07/27/2008
Differing timelines for Bill Ford and Mullaly at Ford and Wagoner at GM in their shift to smaller cars.
06/04/2008
GM was late in the shift to smaller cars than Ford even as the shift was taking place. Both companies though remained mired in a decades long stagnation in fuel efficency even as companies like Honda moved forward, and as the gap with the Europeans and the Japanese in the technology and skills of making small cars widened.
Linked Articles
G.M. Closing 4 Plants in Shift From Trucks Toward Cars
New York Times 06/04/2008
Bill Ford on Tipping Points and Thinking SmallBusinessWeek 07/31/2008
We took a different way to help millions around the world build educated informed mindsets that affects and shapes their lives. For a future that is open, global and digital, with everyone having access to high quality information. We believe in the renewal of America, renewal of Europe, the renewal of India, the rest of Asia, Latin America and Africa. The renewal of our supply chains, health, education, infrastructure, as we rebuild our countries after the pandemic. Literacy and knowledge we believe cannot thrive and grow in a world of web bots, web crawlers, or AI. This requires human curiosity, human learning, and human imagination. We take as inspiration the saying- “One has to be free, and as broad as sky. One has to have a mind that is crystal clear, only then can truth shine in it.” Every contribution whether big or small is precious- in this crisis and ahead.
Support Lyrarc from as small as $1
Terms and Conditions | Copyright Policy | Privacy Policy | Contact Us