LyrArc Article Gist
Timothy Egan points to the huge gap between a T.R. in 1910 making the speech in Osawatomie, eastern Kansas, and Professor Obama making an election speech in 2011. T.R.'s was an election manifesto that brought up the issues of conservation, child labor, a plea for an income tax, call for worker protections, limits on corporate power and influence on the laws and direction of the country. The speech was made in 1910, after Taft had assumed the presidency with Roosevelt's backing, and would lead to T.R. running against Taft and Woodrow Wilson. Most of what T.R. advocated became part of the country's social and economic fabric, much of the work beginning with Theodore Roosevelt's two terms as president, and also pursued by Woodrow Wilson, the president elected in 1912. By contrast, in line with the timidity of today's politics, Obama's speech called for approving his nominee for consumer protection bureau chief, and continuance of tax cuts for the middle class. Egan calls it a curse of today's politics and national debate that no politician can set the course for revitalizing America the way T.R. did. Some of what T.R. said in Kansas that day is: "There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done." "The right to regulate the use of wealth in the public interest is universally admitted." Jackie Calmes covered the extensive ties of both candidates, Obama and McCain, to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in her report for the New York Times, on September 9, 2008- "For 08' Rivals a Skein of Ties to Loan Giants." Paul Gigot, editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal, who with his reporters did some of the difficult reporting on Fannie and Freddie, wrote in one of his columns with a note of pessimism, that he wasn't sure that either of the presidential candidates were interested in what was happening. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
What Peter Bernstein, 90, remembers about the Great Depression. He says one was conscious of it evertime you walked outside on the stree, and people looked so threadbare. A mass of policy errors made the situation worse. And life was different then, more like a developing country as the USA went through the throes of urbanization and industrialization. Food took up about a quarter of disposable income compared to one tenth today. About 20% of the jobs were in agriculture in 1930, compared to 2% today. Less than half of the jobs were in service industries in 1930 compared to 75% today. And there were no food stamps, no unemployment insurance, no social security, no medicaid and medicare, none of the automatic income things that maintain income in the USA today for people out of work. Economist Robert Solow, 90, remembers growing up in Brooklyn, New York, and how his parents constantly worried about the next month's money. Paul Samuelson, another economist, 93, remembers attending classes at the University of Chicago during the depression years. And he says the economics lecures were on laissez-faire principles, which stopped making sense when he looked out the windows and from what he saw and heard on the street. Showing how out of touch policies were in the early years when the depression's worst chartacteristics took shape. However we are in the early stages of this, and it can still be very painful as people make it through the storms ahead. What will things look like as the nations unemployment rate hits 10% by 2010,? Which means things are much much worse in parts of the country like the midwest, where industries like the automobile industry depend on sales of vehicles which have seen sales go down from 15 million vehicles down to 9 million annualized in 2009, and may see further declines in 2010....

LyrArc Article Gist
Chrysler looks the weakest of the big three US automakers. Now that Daimler is out of the picture Chrysler depends on Cerberus for support and financing. And not much of this is there because Cerberus is having problems of its own. The GMAC investment of $12 billion for Cerberus has soured because of subprime loan losses in GMAC. All this is going on while Chrysler looks more like a company in disarray and Daimler does'nt appear to have left it in any good condition, considering that Cerberus finished its acquiistion of Chrysler only 4 months ago, and only now are executives like Mr Nardelli and Jim Press getting familiar with the company, its people and its products. Chrysler will have to come up with new fuel saving technologies but how is it going to fund this is losses in 2008 don't look much better than 2007 as is now expected. With a 15.5 million car year as estimated by industry experts Chrysler looks to lose more sales. Nardelli was shocked to learn that Chrysler was running its plants based on a forecast of 17 million sales in 2008 which goes to show that things are in disarray at Chrsler. The models which lost money on each car sold Pacifica, Magnum and Crossfire should have been discontinued by Daimler a long time ago, but this decision was reached only recently. And a program that was supposed to save $250 million was actually saving only $1 million in parts executives at Chrysler found. Its a difficult environment for engineers to work in especially when on one hand the direction is to improve quality and on the other hand to reduce cost, all in an environment in which no major new investment funding is seen fromCerberus or other sources and the sales outlook doesn't look good at all with competition well financed or better financed and with greater resources....

LyrArc Article Gist
The world would need 3 Germanys to provide the resources that one Germany consumes today. Earth Overshoot Day looks at the sustainable resources and how much each country consumes of resources. By July 28 planet earth had already consumed all the natural resources it could sustainably regenerate for the year. Experts say Earth would need three quarters of another Earth to provide the amount of resources consumed by our planet today. Everything makes a difference as European Union plans to cut energy use by 15%. Drying clothes on a line instead of in the dryer, shorter hot water baths, turning off lighting for monuments in cities, changing household lights to LED's, lowering the thermostats by a few degrees in winter, cutting out meat for just one or two days a week. The way Overshoot Day works out the arithmetic 1970 was the year when Earth passed the line where sustainable resources that could be regenerated and the consumption of these resources were equal. From then on it was a wild spree in places like Germany and then China, and it is how countries like India take up the work of renewable energy and limiting use of valuable resources that will affect the future. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Special Counsel Miller who conducted the long investigation into the president's conduct during the election campaign protests that the 4 page report of Attorney General Barr does not reflect the findings of the investigation. Mueller wrote to Barr in a letter that "The summary letter the Department and released to the public in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature and substance of this Office's work and conclusions." Because Barr's summary in 4 pages was meant to preclude Congress from arriving at its own conclusions Mr. Mueller's comments are significant. The House of Representatives is questioning the conduct of Mr.Barr. Mr. Mueller says in his letter that "There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations." Mr. Barr calls the letter "snitty." Congress plans to subpoena Mr. Barr as he has turned down appearing before the House of Representatives, leading to a subpoena and a showdown with Congress.     ...

LyrArc Article Gist
US District Judge O'Toole of Massachusetts allows DJT Musk DOGE buyout offer to go ahead on Feb 12, after freezing it to have enough time to study it. The buyout offer originally expired Feb 6. It was accepted by 60,000 federal employees. Of 2 million federal workforce about 8% are expected to take it. It is seen as a way for people doing remote work and now required to come to office 5 days a week full time to take early retirement, sort of an off ramp for these workers. DJT says some of these workers may be doing other second or even third jobs. This is part of a Republican effort to reduce the cost of the large federal bureaucracy, and make it more efficient. One of many actions including action on budget discipline at agencies of the government. PPBS or Zero Based Budgeting, since the 1970's is one of the managemt ideas which involves justifiying every item in the budget every year to cut costs and cut unneeded spending. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has spent years identifying pet projects of bureaucrats that are in budgets but lack common sense. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The revised AIG rescue plan helps banks recover some of their losses on collateralized debt obligations and helps AIG by cancelling the credit default swaps it wrote on these CDO's, and thus helps shore up the financial system. This is what happened. During the boom period banks bought protection from the insurer AIG on securities backed by now-troubled mortgage assets. These securities are called CDO's or collateralized debt obligations backed by subprime mortgage bonds, commercial mortgage loans and other assets. Banks in the US, and Europe bought credit default swaps on these securities from AIG, and AIG promises to compensate them if the securites default. Now with the housing and the credit crisis the values of these CDO's plummet, banks go to AIG and AIG has to provide them collateral to help cover these losses of the banks. AIG ends up giving $35 billion in collateral to the banks including Goldman, Merrill, UBS, Deutsche Bank and others. The continuing fall in value of the CDO's meant AIG had to give more and more collateral to the banks leaving AIG severly exposed, which is along with other problems on its accounting books when the government stepped in in early October to bailout AIG with loans, with interest rates that became punitive for AIG leaving it in a struggling condition. What does the new revised plan do. It eases conditions on the interest rates and the New York Fed puts $30 billion of its money to buy the multisector CDO's at market prices averaging 50 cents to the dollar and AIG provides an additional $5 billion. With than one action banks get to recover their $35 billion and AIG gets to cancell its credit default swaps on these CDO's, in effect freeing AIG from thses swaps that were creating a hemorrhaging effect as it had to keep posting more and more collateral to banks, and banks got to recover the money on CDO's. In effect helping shore up the financial system. There are other problems at AIG but this was the biggest and most draining, and it helps AIG protect its other businesses, and banks get to put this dismal chapter behind them. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The Trump administration released its framework for NAFTA negotiations. The framework is designed to reduce the U.S. trade deficit and promote "Buy America" provisions. It will challenge Mexico on labor and environmental matters, which is likely to win the support of Democrats. A mechanism for preventing countries from getting unfair advantage through currency manipulation is part of the framework, yet less of an issue with Mexico and Canada. It will also work to protect U.S. trade interests in an effort to appeal to workers who supported Trump in the 2016 election. Overall it does not deviate much from established U.S. trade policy, according to the WSJ. For this reason the new guidelines were welcomed by the Mexican and Canadian governments. Mexico and Canada also see this as an effort to modernize the agreement to reflect changes in technology and commerce since NAFTA was signed. Under fast track trade promotion authority the president's Trade Representative Mr. Lighthizer can start negotiations in 30 days. One of the matters up for change is the Chapter 19 dispute settlement mechanism which makes it easier for Canada and Mexico to avert trade sanctions. Mexico's economic prospects have improved as the NAFTA renegotiation avoids the sharp rhetoric of the election campaign. The Mexican peso which traded at 22 to the dollar in January 2017 following the U.S. election, is now trading in July 2017 at 18 to the dollar.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
How Sonatrach of Algeria is working in joint relationships with Statoil-Hydro of Norway, both national oil companies, who are creating a new pattern in bringing capital and technology resources of national oil companies together to tackle projects throughout the world. Statoil for example, has been invited to work with Gazprom on Shtokman gas field project in the Barents Sea. This alliance has taken may forms including Statol taking a 10% ownership in the Algerian Petroleum Institute and setting up a training program which has already trained 6000 Algerian Sonatrach employees in western health and safety standards. This Institute trains Algerian engineers. As Statoil and Sonatrach look outside for new exploration as their reserves are declining, they are working together in different parts of the world. Sonatrach and Statoil-Hydro launched a successful joint bid for 2 offshore gas deposits in Egypt. And Statoil has given Sonatrach equity in one of its North Sea gas fields and given it capacity at a liquefied natural-gas import terminal in Cove Point, Maryland. Algeria has set goals of having international reserves account for 30% of its production by 2015 by taking exploration tracts in places like Libya. Note that this type of collaboration is increasing. PFC Energy a consulting firm says that were 2 such deals for technical cooperaton and sharing access to resources and markets in 2000, in 2006 there were 16. So expect more of this type of collaboration and joint work....

LyrArc Article Gist
Labour party shadow chancellor McDonnell takes charge of party affairs as Britain prepares for a general election with uncertainty on how long the minority government of Boris Johnson can remain in office. Misssteps by leader Jeremy Corbyn at the annual Conference- the failed effort to abolish the post of deputy leader held by Tom Watson, and the resignation of Andrew Fisher, a senior Corbyn aide.This led to a backlash against Karie Murphy Corbyn's chief of staff for her brash aggressive style.  Karie Murphy was informed by a former head of the civil service advising Labour that she and Corbyn's political director will now work at party headquarters on election campaign shifting from the leader's office. McDonnell wants to see more female members in senior positions, and his casual style in promoting Labour's agenda as a kind of normalcy after the austerity years and divided Britain under Cameron, May and Johnson, is critical to winning support for Labour's programs. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Shamil Shams interview with Shakuntala Banaji, expert on media and communication at the London School of Economics, on the general election in Britain. Banaji says there has been persistent negative coverage given to Jeremy Corbyn of the Labor Party for the last two years. A lot of hard work has been done by Labor MP's, Labor activists, volunteers, to get the Labor message across. Corbyn is seen as giving a calm composed performance in the face of hostile media and audience, including the televised interview in which he talked of real issues facing ordinary British people. One of the ways Corbyn has softened the media distorted image of him is by acting calmly under pressure and not taking on an autocratic style. This was best seen on the day he first handed out the Labor party manifesto with the focus on the message- for the many, not the few. Some of the coverage of Corbyn is described here as being improper and unacceptable.

LyrArc Article Gist
The $6.3 billion settlement of Bank of America for mortgage securities and acquisition of Merrill Lynch under Ken Lewis. This settlement is for a lawsuit for troubled mortgage securities sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the 2008 financial crisis. It was filed by the regulator Federal Housing Finance Agency.

LyrArc Article Gist
What were the stories in the Economist magazine that were the most read stories of 2019? Not on president Trump. On Malaysia, China under Jinping, and exodus from San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The most read article was on the newly elected president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro. The mismanagement of the economy particularly extravagant state spending on the Olympics and soccer stadiums for the World Cup at the expense of basic sanitation services, bus and transport services, health services, led to the result of a majority of Brazilians rejecting the Workers Party and its leader former president Lula. Unfortunately most of the media including the Economist did not draw attention to this gap. During a period in which income from mining with export of iron ore, and soyabeans to China, enabled Brazil to live beyond its means, there was no effort to draw attention to glaring gaps in development of public services such as sanitation, bus services and transport, lack of building infrastructure other than to support mining. Glaring gaps in education and health services made the situation worse. The second most read piece in the Economist  was on March 10th- Malaysia's PM is about to steal an election. Here the Economist magazine joined the Wall Street Journal which originally broke the story on the 1MDB fund and irregularities in Malaysia where a development fund was misused by the government. Najib actually lost that election and the WSJ covered the story of the developments that followed in which Malaysia's new governemnt led by a returning former prime minister in his nineties Mahathir Mohammed, ousted his own protege Mr. Najib.  The third most read piece in the Economist magazine was - How the West got China Wrong.  Unfortunately the Economist magazine and most of the media covered China in the two decade long boom years without covering the other emerging story as well in which Mr. Lighthizer (now president Trump's top trade adviser) and others questioned the huge unsustainable trade surpluses in U.S. trade with China. With the economy facing huge downside risks and rising trade tensions with the U.S. Chinese president Jinping's move to remove the limit on terms in office in the Constitution was considered a shift from the notion that China was likely to turn into a democracy. Mr. Jinping had already completed his first term in office and the anti-corruption campaign, managing the economic boom for a soft landing, was carried out with the central leadership of the party, after the destabilization evident in the early part of Xi Jinping's first term. Much of China's path was predictable and rational behaviour in its national interest, what was not clearly defined or defended was the way the U.S. could sustain the trade deficits that had reached a billion dollars a day. Leading to Mr. Trump seizing on this as an election issue to form a bloc of voters separate from the two main parties, the Republicans and the Democrats. The fifth most read piece was on Oct 11, 2018- the next recession. It pointed out that with low interest rates central banks in the U.S. and Europe and America could not cope effectively with a recession. The sixth most read piece was on June 29, 2018- Bullshit jobs and the yoke of managerial feudalism. It cited Prof. David Graeber of the London School of Economics, who wrote a short essay that went viral on the prevalence of work that had no social or economic reason to exist, work he called "bullshit jobs". Graeber said people want to feel they are transforming the world around them in a way that is leading to a positive difference. No. 7, 8, 9, were on Bitcoin, Netflix and programming language Python. No. 10 most read was on Aug. 30, 2018- Why startups are leaving Silicon Valley. It showed that in 2017 more people left the county of San Francisco than entered. The main reason the cost of living was burdensome and out of control. As Amazon shifts attention to India and Brazil, and Apple pulls back from India, social media companies coming under fire for disinformation, this period of Tech is making way for a shift in a new direction. A direction that focuses on people's lives, wages, spending on much needed infrastructure and services. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Gretchen Morgenson of the Times distills key insights from 633 page report by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Morgenson points to the role of the Federal Reserve in Washington and New York in being as she describes it, defiantly inert and uninterested in controlling the mortgage bubble even when it had grown to enormous proportions.The problem now is that the same Fed has received more regulatory powers under the Dodd-Frank law. The same Fed repeatedly did not exert its authority on predatory lending. Page 94 of the report cites a total of only three institutions referred to prosecutors by the Fed from 2000 to 2006. Page 164 shows why there have been so few prosecutions for mortgage fraud from the bursting of the mortgage bubble. William Black, a former fraud investigator and professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law, says the FBI has received virtually no assistance from the regulators, the banking regulators and the thrift regulators. The report contains some outrageous comments by one of the key players in fueling the mortgage bubble, Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide Financial. Morgenson describes him as a lender that roped unsuspecting borrowers into poisonous loans. Mozilo says in an interview on page 105 that his company prevented "social unrest" by providing loans to 25 million borrowers, many from minority groups. Never mind that this wave of poisonous loans has clogged the arteries of the nation's financial system, and resulted in foreclosures for millions of homeowners, creating a troubled housing market that hobbles the economy. Neil Barofsky, special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, sees further bailouts ahead. He said in a report to Congress in late January 2011: "Unless and until an institution like Citigroup is either broken up, so that it is no longer a threat to the financial system, or a structure put in place that it will be left to suffer the full consequences of its own folly, the prospect of more bailouts willl potentially fuel more bad behaviour with potentially disastrous results." ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Farmers are switching from paddy rice cultivation to apples in areas an hour from Srinagar in Kashmir. Farmers using traditional varieties of apples are also changing by planting high yielding varieties of apples imported from Europe, and doubling yield, profits. New varieties are also less susceptible to damage from hailstorms. By providing farm machines, tractors, sprayers, juice preservation plants, the government hopes to change the economic future of Kashmir. This sector has potential as a major employment generator, with 71% of India's apple production in Kashmir. In the last 3 years alone the sector has grown 50% from 6000 crore to 9000 crore rupees. Because apples are far more profitable than paddy rice cultivation it also enhances incomes in the state, with the additional benefit of generating many man days of work in orchards- one hectare creating 400 man days. Today 700,000 farming families or 3.3 million people are supported by apple production in Kashmir. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A landmark ruling and a huge win for consumers and for the country, as the Supreme Court says states can enforce fair-lending laws and other consumer protection measures against the largest banks in the USA. The Suprem COurt said that the rules issued by the federal banking regulators like the Comptroller of the Currency under the NationalBank Act - a law passed in 1864- could not block sfforts by the states to enforce their laws. For the country its a win because the lack of enforcement of state laws only allowed abuses in the subprime area to continue and helped create the subprime mortgage crisis. The case began with letters by the New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in 2005 to several national banks including CItigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo inquiring about lending practices to minorites. The letters referred to "troubling" disparities that suggested black and Hispanic borrowers were being charged disproportionately higher interest rates on mortgages compared to whites. THe letters asked for information "in lieu of subpoena." Protection of minorities and the weak in American society is part of the moral fabric of America and that it had eroded in recent years is evident in the manner the banking sector responded. A banking trade group and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency brought a lawsuit to block the New York Attorney General's request saying that the National Bank Act nd rules issued by the Bush administration in 2004 gave that type of authority to comptroller and prohibited such efforts by the states. And then afederal district court ruled against the states, aand the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Court affirmed that decision. These are instances where the system failed to protect the weak even with the laws that states had on their books. Justice Scalia voted in favor with a 5-4 vote to allow states to enforce consumer protection laws, even though his written opinion was based on an interpretation of what "visitorial powers" of a federal regulator were, and not about the importance of fair lending in the proper functioning of the American economy. Justices Roberts, Alito, Kennedy and Thomas voted against....

LyrArc Article Gist
Professor Patterson of Harvard University has some serious observations on what has happened and what could be the way forward in America as it faces the lack of opportunities for a better life for minority communities trapped in cities with a deteriorating quality of life.  Between 1985 and 2000 a higher percentage of black children, about two thirds of black children, grew up in high poverty segregated areas than in the period between 1955 and 1970, according to a Pew Trust study of 2009. This affects everything from social mobility, life chances, potential for downward mobility. Particularly so because by 2016 the gap between black and white incomes has worsened, says professor Patterson. With this segregation has become worse in America at the level of neighborhoods where people actually meet, he says, citing a 2015 paper by Daniel Lichter of Cornell University.  In some ways segregation says Dr. Patterson is worse than in the 1960's. This could be because of downward social and economic mobility. Events such as the mortgage financial crisis of 2009 with bad decisions by the banking industry disproportionately hurt the black and minority communities. The trade imbalance and shift of manufacturing overseas hurt manufacturing jobs for white and black communities. Weakness in education and health services also hurt poorer communities of all races and color. In some ways the work of presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson in the 50's and 60's may have created more hope and a sense that "a rising tide lifts all boats" in economic opportunities that may have been lost in the work of presidents after Clinton with loss of jobs in manufacturing for ordinary black and white Americans alike. The bad decisions by the banking industry and selling of bad mortgages, worsening health care options with overpricing in the medical field, all compounding the effect on  ordinary Americans. In a separate interview in the Harvard Gazette professor Patterson says de-ghettoization, moving to the suburbs is one way to better opportuntiies in the suburbs. For this to happen more moderate income housing is needed in the suburbs. A cultural change in attitudes comes with a shift to neighborhoods where communities can interact and meet. For this to happen strict zoning laws that prevent moderate income housing in suburbs such as in California and many other states needs to change. As professor Orlando Patterson says here in the Harvard Gazette and in the WSJ more Americans with liberal views need to put their money where their voices are. A stronger economy, education for changes in cultural attitudes in classrooms, cultural literacy, more manufacturing in America to create better middle class wages and jobs for Americans of all communities giving industry a role, and more of the affluent putting their money where their voices are for better integrated living in the suburbs not just for a few, are ways to bring better life for Americans.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This Journal editorial points out the U.S. labor force participation rate for Nov. 2012 declined to 63.6%. This happened even as the Labor Dept. reported a decline in unemployment from 7.9% to 7.7% for Nov. 2012. About three million fewer workers are looking for work now than in 2009- 86.8 million compared to 89.2 million.

LyrArc Article Gist
In Bagour, Egypt, in the crowded Nile delta, the old order was represented by Kamal-al-Shazli, a member of Parliament from the ruling party for 46 years. This means he entered Parliament in 1964, eight years after the Suez Crisis of 1956, when Egypt under a young military officer Gamal Abdel Nasser confronted the British and the French over the Suez Canal. Everything here in this town was done through Mr Shazli, the ultimate system of paronage was in place, and everything was named after him. Only the slogans of the anti-colonialism days, the days of hope of improving the living conditions of the people, remain. Everything else has stayed much the same for the vast majority of people. Now the task of changing things requires people to think for themselves and learn to work together to guide their own affairs under a democratic system of government and free expression. And this is quite different from the system in place for over 50 years, just as happened in the old Soviet Union. The old system was held together through a patronage system, bribes, enforced by the ruling party and its state security, and one in which individuals had to trust in the state to do their thinking for them about running the country....

LyrArc Article Gist
See some of the sculptures from a striking display of Buddhist art from the first century BC shown till Nov 13, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

LyrArc Article Gist
This NYT report by Thrush, Shear and Sullivan, looks at retired Marine general John Kelly, the head of Homeland Security till he was made the new chief of staff at the White House. He replaces Vince Priebus, who was the Republican National Party chairman during the 2016 election, becoming the new White House chief of Staff in January 2017. Priebus lasted only 6 months. This report points out that presidential family members Kushner and Ivanka Trump now report to Kelly, as part of the new discipline imposed by Kelly in an effort to reverse the chaotic situation in the White House with different quarreling factions. Kelly made this a condition for his taking the position, which Trump accepted as he was keen on firing Vince Priebus and had asked Kelly to take the job since May. Kelly is shown here as monitoring the contacts of Cabinet secretaries with the president. Who sees the president and for how long is now determined by Kelly to impose rigorous discipline. Kelly supported McMaster in the dismissal of a National Security Council member supported by Bannon and Kushner, in an effort to bring discipline. There is one area Kelly does not get into- the tweeting and personal affairs of the president. His job as he sees it is to put some bureaucratic competence around the president. In doing this he takes a tough approach that so far is respected by president Trump, as the presidency suffered from repeated setbacks from infighting and leaks. Will Kelly last where others have failed is a question posed in this report. Two people who were superiors of Kelly give their opinions. Kelly reported to Leon Panetta, a former chief of staff under Bill Clinton who was Defense Secretary, and to Robert Gates,  a Republican who was Defense Secretary. Panetta may know him closely as Kelly was his chief military aide as Defense Secretary. Panetta says of Kelly, that Kelly never minced words, said what he thought looking at you in the eye- if he thought a proposal was nuts he would say it right out. The big question Panetta says is whether president Trump will give him the authority for long. Also stated in this report is that Kelly called Comey when he was fired as FBI Director, and that Kelly even considered resigning in protest.  Less noticed even in this report is the way in which a team of experienced politicians and the senior most officials in defense and national security are working together in August 2017. In an interview with Washington Post editor Ignatius broadcast on PBS, Republican Senator Corker described how he works closely with them, and how the key people in defense and national security work together before they see the president. The appointment of Kelly helps to create a core independent group of advisors around the president, which is positive in the event the U.S. has to respond to a crisis. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The new coalition government in Britain has cut direct state funding for teaching in universities by 40%. The current cap on tution fees of 3,290 British pounds a year will be removed The universities Minister, Mr Willetts, suggested a cap of 9000 pounds a year. Students pay after graduation and after earning more than 21,000 pounds, at a rate of 9% of income above that level. Graduates in future will pay 3% interest above retail price index of inflation, compared to zero percent before this. But the interest rate drops to zero if the graduate loses his job or enters lower paid work.