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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
Aspects of the Reform proposal that were influenced by the work of Prof Sunstein and Prof Thaler at the University of Chicago.
06/17/2009
Sunstein and Thaler's book "Nudge" talks about the role psychology plays, and behavoural aspects play in human behaviour. The President is a friend of Sunstein from their days at the University of Chicago law school. The onsumer Financial Protection Agency and its role, says Zweig, takes some ideas from Prof. Sunstein's work to protect consumers.
Linked Articles
Obama’s Financial Reform Plan: The Condensed Version
Wall Street Journal 06/17/2009
About Time: Regulation Based On Human NatureWall Street Journal 06/20/2009
Even when the recovery occurs and inventories get replaced gorwth will be slow, as deleveraging process takes many years.
05/28/2009
Mr. Mecksworth, chief economist at MAPI says even when arecovery happens it will mean slow growth as companies will be saving money and paying off debt for many years to come.
Linked Articles
Once a Key to Recovery, Detroit Adds to Pain
New York Times 06/01/2009
Sharper Drop Is Forecast for Factory ProductionWall Street Journal 05/28/2009
Is the Obama administration too deferential to Wall Street?
04/21/2009
Geithner's ties to Wall Street and tendency to think like Wall Street.
Linked Articles
Economists Seek Breakup of Big Banks
Wall Street Journal 04/21/2009
Geithner, as Member and Overseer, Forged Ties to Finance ClubNew York Times 04/27/2009
How the Japanese experience in their banking crisis holds new lessons for America as it grapples with its own banking crisis.
02/13/2009
Experts who tackled the Japanese banking crisis say America is facing the same train wreck as politicians take ineffectual action in tackling the bad debt, and not until this bad debt is cleaned up will the broader economy recover.
Linked Articles
In Japan’s Stagnant Decade, Cautionary Tales for America
New York Times 02/13/2009
Ailing Banks May Require More Aid to Keep SolventNew York Times 02/13/2009
Sales slowing, inventories piling up of electronics goods, and the Capps and Muirs of Boise, Idaho.
12/31/2008
The dramatic shift to a savings oriented and thrifty lifestyle reminiscent of the thirties and forties in some ways, is seen in the new lifestyles and spending habits of the Capps and Muirs in Boise, Idaho. With its high tech factories Boise has held up well in previous recessions. If things are changing this much in a place like Boise then its aserious sign of changes in the whole country. This is leading to buidup of inventories of cars, electronics goods, and other goods in retail stores. It has a serious global aspect as products made in China are affected, and products made elsewhere that go into these products are affected, and the equipment manufacturers in Germany for these products made in China are also affected.
Linked Articles
BusinessWeek 12/31/2008
Hard-Hit Families Finally Start Saving, Aggravating Nation's Economic WoesWall Street Journal 01/06/2009
The scene if one walked at the port in Savannah or Long Beach and Mr. Bailey wanting to be just debt-free and happy not rich and acquisitive.
11/30/2008
Mr Bailey's changing philosophy on life, happiness defined as debt free and able to enjoy life with his family. What this does to Savannah and Long Beach's port area.
Linked Articles
When the Downturn Sailed Into Savannah
New York Times 11/30/2008
Frugality Forged in Today's Recession Has Potential to Outlast ItWall Street Journal 04/06/2009
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
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
Did Putin overreact in Georgia 2008 and Ukraine 2014? Russia and the dangers to the Russian economy of not maintaining good relations with the West
08/13/2008
Russia tones down its overreaction as 66% of Russians polled in June say Russian forces should not enter Ukrainian terrritory. Putin and Russians in the administration policy making may have underestimated the reaction in the U.S. as reflected in this WSH editorial saying Americans should remember the words of Gen. Lucius Clay during the Berlin Blockade and the subsequent airlift. This could be why analysts in Russia now maintain that good relations with the West must be maintained, and entry of Russian forces into Ukraine would have disastrous consequences for Russia in terms of western sentiment and foreign investor sentiment. In such a situation Germany would be likely to support the stronger U.S. position seeing this in terms of the language used in theBerlin Airlift of 1948. For Germany and Russia this would be reversing the hard won gains of building relations from the time of Brandtand Kohl till today, fifty years of effort to build better relations and economic relationships- just too much for sober heads in Moscow Paris, and Berlin to accept, and closing another chapter in Russia's interactions with the West.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 08/13/2008
Seeing Cost of Saber Rattling in Ukraine, Putin Alters CourseNew York Times 07/11/2014
GM to tap debt markets for only $3 billion depending on $10 billion of cost cutting .
07/16/2008
GM will cut spending in many areas like ad spending and marketing so as to have less dependence on loans secured against its international operation.
Linked Articles
GM Plans Debt Offering To Accompany Cost Cutting
Wall Street Journal 07/16/2008
GM Plans $10 Billion In Cuts to Bolster CashWall Street Journal 07/16/2008
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
Rising wages in China a definite trend as sentiment of workers and the government changes towards low wages and low wage jobs
06/30/2008
The government's efforts to shift China away from low wage sectors to more advanced technologies with higher wages. And the growting sentiment in China among workers with the rise of the internet and mobile phones to organize efforts for higher wages in industries that range from older textile plants to automobile factories of Japanese makers, and factories that make parts for western tech hardware companies such as Apple, Dell and H-P. This includes Honda plants and Foxconn factories. This sentiment is shifting to other emerging markets such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Linked Articles
China's Export Machine Threatened by Rising Costs
Wall Street Journal 06/30/2008
The Rise of a Chinese Worker's MovementBusinessWeek 06/10/2010
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
Bernanke's views on how the underutilization of labor in todays markets should make inflation less of a threat.
06/11/2009
Remarks by Bernanke to the Open Market Committee of the Fed in 2003, have a relevance to the situation facing the economy today. Rising raw materials prices and the falling dollar are likely to have a muted effect on inflation. The impact of slowing wages and the high unemployment and growing underutilization of labor, in the midst of a manufacturing capacity utilization rate of 68% and continuing to fall, are likely to be the deciding factors.
Linked Articles
Slack Labor Markets Will Hold Down Prices
Wall Street Journal 06/23/2009
Get Ready for Inflation and Higher Interest RatesWall Street Journal 06/11/2009
The smaller stimulus and selective investments in 2012-2014 in China and how this affects construction and heavy equipment manufacturers
04/30/2009
The impact on Caterpillar, Volvo AB, Komatsu, John Deere, Cummins and domestic Chinese manufacturers of the smaller stimulus and selective investments in China in the years ahead. Manufacturers are exporting from China during this period of slowing sales in China.
Linked Articles
China Bets Sour for Heavy Equipment Firms
Wall Street Journal 08/16/2012
China's Stimulus Spurs U.S. BusinessWall Street Journal 04/30/2009
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
For a Nobel prize winning economist a sick feeling in the stomach in February 2009.
02/13/2009
Is the US going the way of a train wreck as Japan did from the mid 1990's to 2003 with every set of actions falling short of the task of cleaning up the banking system and economic recovery? Krugman and Japanese experts who tackled the Japanese banking crisis sense something like this is happening in the US.
Linked Articles
New York Times 02/13/2009
In Japan’s Stagnant Decade, Cautionary Tales for AmericaNew York Times 02/13/2009
Global trade number showing sharp decline and what you see if you walk at the port in Savannah.
11/30/2008
Savannah and Long Beach ports and what you see happening there is reflected in the foreign trade numbers.
Linked Articles
When the Downturn Sailed Into Savannah
New York Times 11/30/2008
Global Trade Posts Sharp DeclineWall Street Journal 01/14/2009
The ports of Long Beach and Savannah tell the story of rapidly slowing imports and foreign trade- 2008-2009
11/19/2008
The ports of Savannah and Long Beach tell the story of rapidly slowing foreign trade and imports from China and Japan. Its a signal of an impending slowdown in the economies of China and Japan as their export driven economies slow down.
Linked Articles
New York Times 11/19/2008
When the Downturn Sailed Into SavannahNew York Times 11/30/2008
One of the Big Three may not survive.
10/14/2008
Talk of a possible merger between GM and Chrysler. Efforts by GM motivated by need for about $10 billion from external sources to make it through 2009. Chrysler has $11 billion in cash.
Linked Articles
Howes: One of Big 3 may not survive
Detroit News 10/14/2008
GM could use Chrysler's cashDetroit News 10/14/2008
Petraeus describes his information gathering efforts and Bret Stephens talks with Zardari
10/01/2008
The war in Afghanistan is beginning to take a new turn as Petraeus looks for ways to reverse gains by Taliban and Zardari commits Pakistan to work alongside the US.
Linked Articles
The Most Difficult Job in the World
Wall Street Journal 10/04/2008
Insurgents in Afghanistan Are Gaining, Petraeus SaysNew York Times 10/01/2008
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
Japanese automakers like Honda and the Detorit automakers went divergent paths of fuel efficient and smaller cars.
07/06/2008
This put Honda in arelatively better position than the Detroit automakers as SUV sales slumped and the shift to smaller cars was ocurring in abig way by the second half of 2008.
Linked Articles
American Energy Policy, Asleep at the Spigot
New York Times 07/06/2008
Sized for the TimesNew York Times 10/19/2008
General Motors Management
07/02/2008
Questions raised about General Motors Management and also indirectly about the insular Board of Directors as GM's market share and stock reach a low not reached for several decades and both are comfortable with the status quo.
Linked Articles
GM Weighs More Layoffs, Sale of Brands
Wall Street Journal 07/07/2008
Can Teflon Last for GM's Wagoner?Wall Street Journal 07/02/2008
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