LyrArc Article Gist
Lipton, Austin and LaFraniere of the NYT tell the story of how the serious differences between the prime contractor for the federal healthcare website, CGI Federal, and the Obama administration officials handling the website, evolved into conflicts that could not be resolved. This led to the flawed website being rolled out on schedule ignoring serious problems with the website. The detailed report comes after interviews with Obama administration officials and specialists who worked on the project and looking into government and contractor documents. A month ago in October 2013 the healthcare website for the Obama healthcare law was up only 42% of the time with 10 hour failures happening frequently. Basic steps for the functioning of website backup systems in case there is a failure, testing to ensure negligible or no outages, were not secured. The government officials responsible for the rollout did not have the capabilities to handle such a project. Henry Chao, who worked in the Medicare agency for 19 years was left to oversee day to day questions for the website HealthCare.gov, but lacked a formal background in software engineering and no authority to make the decisions needed. The $630 million project was setup inside the Medicare Agency, instead of a separate agency specially setup for this project and staffed with the appropriate skills as originally proposed. Five different lower level government officials made decisions without the authority needed and no one person with the necessary skills was given overall responsibility and decisionmaking. A series of missteps were allowed to take place- settting many added requirements that made it difficult for contractors to focus on basic steps and get them right, use of the MarkLogic database system instead of systems from IBM or Oracle against the advice of contractors, multiple contractors without a way to control the overall project, shifting requirements from the government and bureaucratic delays for resolving basic issues such as use of social security numbers, all worked to create delays. With the delays came a deterioration of relations between Obama administration officials and the contractors. The government officials response was to stick to the deadline of Oct. 1 rollout, with Michelle Snyder, chief operating officer of Medicare agency telling people she would fire the contractor if possible. In the end no one took responsibility for a safe reliable rollout, even though the system failed a test of 500 users in late September and was down half the time in mid-October. President Obama or his advisors were either not kept fully informed, or did not grasp the significance of the collapse in relations between contractors and the government and a project out of control. His aloof distanced approach was not an asset in such matters- saying about the rollout and use of the website: "this is real simple" like using the Kayak website for travel bookings- and he saw no need to take action leading to the major failure for the administration that followed....

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Rina Bliss, a professor of sociology at Rutgers, says while AI can bring information to kids it cannot make them think. To truly learn children will have to do it themselves and in interaction with teachers, parents and other children. She took the approach of a scientist and let her two children try out AI tools and software and came to this conclusion. One reason she says is that AI is based on computational intelligence and the human mind and brain are not quantifiable. The brain is flowing like a river and always learning from its environments.  There is a social environmental piece says Marin, there is interaction, there is a drive to know and connect, curiosity and passion that are part of learning.  Basically AI is developed through taking vast amounts of information collecting it and ordering it in a certain way. How each originator of the AI orders it affects how it will work. And what is in the basket of information collected will affect how it will work. There is no thinking brain outside of the human originator who put a particular version together. Like every piece of software there are implicit or explicit instructions on how to use the basket of information collected that is put in by an originator who developed the AI software. For these reasons it will only do basic tasks and is not intended for complex tasks that involve thinking processes and social-emotional aspects of human behaviour. The risks of using it begin to grow as soon as it is used for tasks it was never intended to perform such as replacing the human thinking  processes and the socio-emotional aspects of these processes.  If it is used to do things it was never intended for, the larger the activities it performs, the larger the mistakes and risks it it is liable to make or create. If it is assigned the task of transportation for a country, it will at some point be asked to think and at that point it will fail to make the right decisions, making the risks grow exponentially, very, very fast, leading to disaster. ...

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 U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, views China's response in trade negotiations as one of conducting extended negotiations that lead to little change. This has continued says Lighthizer for over a decade putting the U.S. at a serious disadvantage in trade. At a White House meeting in August 2017 Lighthizer convinced president Trump that China was in his words "tap, tap, tapping us along."  This confirmed president Trump's own instincts about the U.S. trading relationship with China. Lighthizer is a veteran of trade negotiations, having experience in the Reagan administration as the Deputy Trade Representative in 1983 in negotiations with Japan, when Japan was in a similar situation that China is today. At the time trade negotiations with Japan were getting nowhere. Lighthizer is said to have turned one Japanese response in negotiations into a paper plane and sent it flying right back. Lighthizer does not seek the limelight but is serious about his role having published op-eds in the NYT and WSJ since 2000 about how U.S. trading relationships were putting the U.S. and U.S. workers at an unfair advantage. Many of these op-eds are in the Lyrarc archive and a Search with the term "Lighthizer" would bring up these articles. This report in NYT shows how the role of Lighthizer was not anticipated by China when it sent Liu He to Washington in November 2017 to negotiate with the U.S. President Trump made certain Liu He and other Chinese leaders would have to talk to Lighthizer first. In a session with president Jinping laid out U.S. views that the past negotiations had accomplished little and new negotiations had to be undertaken very differently from negotiations in the past. Earlier in July trade negotiations conducted by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross were "shut down" by president Trump because China continued to repackage earleir offers which meant little to the U.S. As a lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher LLP Lighhizer represented steel industry clients hurt by subsidized Chinese steel industry imports. Mr. Trump and Lighhizer have bonded well because their instincts have been the same- that the U.S. had not been well represented in earlier negotiations by lawyers who saw themselves as speaking for American exporters.  Lighthizer is also a seasoned trade negotiator and has waited for the right time and situation to tackle the unbalanced trading relationship with China. For 30 years Lighhizer represented American manufacturers as he practiced trade law at the Skadden law firm. His strategy has been to get the administration to unite behind a clear trade strategy. He says "I try to be friendly in trade negotiations. I am not the theatrical type. The art of persuasion is about knowing where the leverage is." At this time the leverage lies in the huge trade surplus of about $300 billion China has with the U.S. The U.S. goal is to bring this down by $100 billion through this new negotiating strategy as earlier negotiations have failed. ...

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Will Detroit automakers be able to respond to a change in consumer preferences and a shift to cars from SUV's and light trucks? Gasoline prices are expected to rise significantly in 2011, and could approach $4 a gallon. The Detroit carmakers are better prepared now than in 2008. The question is are they prepared enough considering that there was a renewed emphasis on light trucks and SUV's in the lineup of Detroit carmakers in 2010, and compared to Asian competitors in the market whose focus is still on cars. To rebound to profitability GM and Ford took advantage of a pickup in SUV and light truck sales. Chrysler benefitted from a revamped Jeep Cherokee. All three Detroit carmakers sold more light trucks and SUV's than cars in 2010, and GM's car sales went down in 2010. By comparison Toyota and Honda sold more cars than SUV's and light trucks in 2010, and Hyundai does not make any light trucks. Toyota brand US sales head, Bob Carter, says as vehicles are becoming more fuel efficient across all sizes he does not expect the impact to be as dramatic as in 2008. The impact of fuel prices is becoming evident at some Toyota dealerships where sales of Prius vehicles are up significantly. In 2007 before a gas price surge SUV and truck sales were at 53% in the US market, they were down to 47% in 2009, and are now back up to 50%....

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This NYT article describes the disastrous investment in Valeant Pharmaceuticals by hedge fund manager William Ackman. The hyped up investment was portrayed as resembling Berkshire in its early days, but ended badly. So badly that Valeant stock price went from $262 to $11. This is a blow to the personality cult in hedge funds where focus is on a few personalities and their investing approaches taking huge risks. Ackman's approach was to take large stakes so he could influence the management. In this situation of Valeant there was a breakdown in the due diligence analysis of the company say experts, and a troubling aspect was that the hype about the company was not toned down early. 

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This NYT report by Patrick Kingsley shows how the hopes for peace with Kurds in Turkey under the Erdogan government have faded. By 2015 peace talks faltered with Kurdish separatist groups. Kingsley's report shows towns such as Sirnak and Cizre in the southeastern part of Turkey are now ghost towns after government troops and tanks moved in. This means that Turkey not only has about 3 million refugees from Syria and Iraq fleeing the war there, but also large numbers of refugees in Kurdish areas inside Turkey. Added to this are the tensions between the party of prime minister Erdogan and the opposition, following a crackdown and as the referendum for granting new powers to the presidency under Mr. Erdogan approaches.

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Republicans have supported less regulation. After the 2009 financial crisis with faulty mortgages and excessive leveraging one would expect that there would be a shift among Republicans favoring necessary regulation of banks. This did not happen after the Obama administration failed to articulate a new culture after 2009 and lost control of Congress in 2010 by as much as 64 seats in the House 6 in the Senate, and in all demographic and income groups. The result was that the 2009 crisis changed some laws but not the culture of laissez faire that less regulation was better for the economy. It is left to president Biden to tackle this problem of culture and the Silicon Valley Bank clearly shows that the parts of the Republican and Democratic parties that support less regulation even where the regulation is essential for a good economy for workers and families, are self serving. No where is this culture of laissez fairre in its other manifestation in not planning for the US manufacturing base to be strengthened by government action more evident than in the way it has prevailed to turn a blind eye to not just sending manufacturing overseas, but over concentrating it in one country China with additional supply base from Japan into China. This is the challenge that the country faces- only if the culture or mindset changes will laws have the needed impact.  This report in the NYT shows that when president Trump appointed Randall Quarles to vice chair of banking supervision in 2017, Congressmen both Republicans and Democrats believed that less supervision was better for the economy. Democrats such as Congressmen Barney Frank were themselves part of the new culture when Frank joined Signature Bank's board in 2015, one of the banks that along with SVB bank caused the banking crisis of 2023. Its association with risky crypto assets is considered by the WSJ as being one reason the government decided to close it. Frank did not see this aspect of its risk insisting that the bank was in sound condition.  This culture is also manifested in its approach to the cost of living crisis and support for workers and families. The Biden administration sees the problem of culture and of clearly making the changes that create a new culture, and a new understanding of what is right for America, for its economy and for its role in the world, and best for its people.   ...

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This is an interview with Columbia University economic historian Adam Tooze about the international trade and economic issues brought about by globalization. The rapid emergence of China in manufacturing and overcapacity in steel has led to action on steel tariffs by president Trump. Tooze is typical of opinion that sees action by Trump not as limited action to level the playing field  as proposed by Trade Representative for the U.S., Robert Lighthizer, but as reckless move on trade.  Lyrarc.com shows articles from the WSJ and NYT showing how opinion got to this point in the U.S., on Robert Lighthizer's views that the U.S. was not facing a level playing field, and  on how trade has hurt communities across the U.S. a long distance away from Silicon Valley. President Trump's views reflect a different perspective that says the U.S. has to balance the favorable situation obtained by China and the European Union through moves of its own to protect U.S. interests. Political commentary that the U.S. was starting a trade war is not supported by the facts showing China's response as muted and a willingness by China to negotiate a balanced trading relationship as its trade surplus with the U.S. continues to grow. The trade surplus is so large that the Trump moves do not tell the real story. They are likely to be overshadowed by the increasing value of the U.S. dollar leading to a continued favorable situation for Chinese exports and a larger trade surplus in 2018, regardless of Mr. Trump's action.  Trump's moves are more significant in other areas- limiting China's access to advanced technologies, with the European Union also taking the same action. This is now the new field of competition for the major world economies. ...

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This NYT report on Mohamed Bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, who comes from Abu Dhabi one of the 7 emirates in the Gulf Coastal region, is rare and unusual. It provides stories the prince loves to tell that make a point about how he sees the world. Here he tells them to Robert F. Worth, in the only interview Mohamed bin Zayad has ever given to a journalist from US or Europe. It took a year just to get the interview. The title about a Dark Vision is inappropriate as Mohamed Zayad simply reflects what is a British way of looking at things- valuing the Constitution, keeping religion private even its deeply held beliefs and cultural traditions such as Bedouin's practice, and a general tolerance that characterizes British society and similar societies throughout the history of Europe and Asia that were sitting on shipping lanes and practiced trade for a livelihood. It is also important because the other Mohamed, Mohamed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia is seen as someone influenced by the ideas of Mohamed Bin Zayad of Abu Dhabi. President Biden plans a trip to the region in coming months to continue on building a narrative of development for the region. This provide an insight into the coastal regions that include Gujarat across the Gulf in India, that for centuries traded with the Gulf kingdoms. They have a trading mentality and with it comes a tolerance that is also seen in trading nations such as England. This is what brought Britain to India (and China) says Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi went so far as to say that if there was trade on the moon you would find a British shopkeeper was first to setup shop there. Zayed has as a minister in his cabinet, a woman who is minister of Tolerance, Sheikha Lubna al Quasimi.  Zayed is unique for three reasons. He has embedded in his views the spirit of tolerance. As Worth puts it in NYT, Zayed has grasped what is true to the spirit of the Gulf region. The country's location on an ancient shipping lane has bred a type of Islam in the Gulf region, that is open to the world and tolerant.  His father Zayed Nahyan's  tendencies to openness and frank demeanor combine with this tolerance to provide a different kind of leadership. His father had the pluralist instincts that combined traditional Bedouin attitudes with a rare liberal mindedness. He died at age 86 in 2004. Zayed bin Nahyan MBZ's father was selected for these very reasons by the British in 1966 to rule the small Gulf kingdom of Abu Dhabi. In 1966, says this NYT report, the country was mostly illiterate, half of all children died during childbirth and one third of the women during childbirth, there was a complete lack of western medicine. Zayed Nahyan's brother was averse to development making the British select Zayed Nahyan at the request of Abu Dhabhi families. These early years shaped Mohamed Bin Zayed's views of how to see the world. Zayed the son loves to tell stories, and this one in the NYT shows how Mohamed bin Zayed the son and Mohamed bin Nahyan the father share a sense of what it means to be human and support all people's aspirations for a better life. This is the narrative in India and the region of 1.8 billion people that extends from India to Indonesia and Vietnam. This was seen at the G7 when leaders of India and Indonesia were invited to meet with the G7 in Munich, Germany and taken as utterly serious participants in the discussions to shape the Free World. To see the difference- UAE has signed agreements to increase trade with India to $100 billion over 5 years and was thanked by prime minister Modi for treatment of 8 million Indian workers in the Gulf region during the pandemic. Saudis are now stabilizing the Turkish and Egyptian economies with aid and providing some of the funding assistance for Siemens to modernize the entire Egyptian rail system with the latest technology over the next 5 years. Projects of this size that have never been undertaken since 1945. Sometime in the 1980's when Zayed was a young military officer having completed training at the Royal British Military Academy at Sandhurst, England, and educated in Scotland, he went to the grasslands of Tanzania. During his visit to Tanzania he went to several villages to see the Masai tribes. When he returned he sat with his father crosslegged on the floor in traditional Bedouin and Asian style and told him about his travels. His father asked Zayed about all the details- the wildlife, the Masai people and their customs, the extent of poverty in the country. After hearing it all his father asked Zayed what he had done for the people he had encountered. In response Zayed shrugged and answered, the people he met were not Muslims. Zayed still recalls his father's reaction, sudden, forceful and indelible from memory. Zayad says his father took a sudden hold of his arm and spoke to him in a harsh tone and stern demeanor- " We are all God's children."     ...

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Mental health is no longer an issue during the pandemic and its aftermath just for a few. It has assumed a mainstream character. Here in this NYT report one finds the Surgeon General of the United States, Vivek Murthy, describe his problems with mental health. To create an awareness among the public that it is important to pay attention to what may be lost in a overly large focus on work or business, ignoring the social signals whose importance may not be realized till much later. As Surgeon General he says he simply focused on work and did not pay attention to the simple social interactions that help one relate to other people, and knowing about other people's lives that add a new dimension to living.  In Lyrarc during the pandemic we described the German mental health practice of Feierabend of consciously breaking away from work- especially remote work that lacks preset boundaries- so that by 5 or 6 pm one just calls it a day. At that point going out for a bike ride or walk or some activity in the outdoors that helps revive mind and spirit in ways that keep good health. It also prepares one for the next day's activity, to be able to approach it feeling refreshed and invigorated. ...

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US president Biden campaigns in Nevada. His focus is on the cost of living actions and has proposed 15,000 affordable housing rental units on underused federal land repurposed for housing, action which can be taken on presidential orders. Other cost of living action is being prepared by Biden and he closely follows the mortgage rate increases from 3% to 8% that are leaving families stuck without owning an home. Biden is also focussing on the threats to democracy coming from the former president's rhetoric and actions, something that he devoted time to in his address in Philadelphia's Independence Hall, where the founders of this Union gathered together to draft the Constitution. This happened early in his first presidential term and in the 2020 campaign Biden focused on this threat to democracy. Peter Baker points out that Biden is best qualified to convey a sense of hope to America, yet what the NYT, W. Post and WSJ, and the television news channels -that are not watched as much by the core 25-54 years with a shift to digital- fail to do is to do their own introspection on how Biden has forged the consensus in Congress from his vast experience and wisdom to make the multi trillion dollar investments in America's future through infrastructure, job creation, manufacturing, chips and science. Not since FDR has America seen this happen and it shapes 2030. ...

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  US reaches agreement that would restore oil supplies and bring down oil prices. The supply chains may have to be reconstituted for replacing much of the 20% of the oil that flows through Hormuz if the US, Europe,China and India, Japan, rest of the world are to gain from this experience. The only way to understand the change of mind of the DJT US government and the Saudis/UAE/Qatar for bringing an end to the war without immediately fulfilling required nuclear conditions is from the Saudi point of view it has sought to avoid damage to its oil facilities from Iranian drone and missile attacks. From the US point of view it may see that the US + ramped up Venezuelan production by 2027-2028 with increased push for supplies in other parts of the world with better security than Hormuz, could make up for most of the loss in supply from Hormuz. For the remainder acceleration of the renewal energy in Europe and in China, India could reduce dependence on oil from Saudis/Iran.  US Energy Information Administration forecast is for oil prices currently $103 for Brent crude oil to stabilize at $89 at the end of 2026 and $79 in 2027. The year started in 2026 at $60 per barrel. The UAE oil agency ADNOC says it would take 4 months to get 80% of production back on stream and full flows by 1st quarter 2027. Rystad Energy estimates repair and restoration at oil facilities to cost $58 billion. The MAGA base which opposed wars by Bush and Obama in the region would then look at it this way. The billions that Obama poured into Iran for Iran to rebuild its nuclear program would not happen again, as the US would continue its sanctions till all nuclear materials are removed from Iran. Iran would stall in negotiations that are now put off with only a Memorandum to show for commitment of Iran- though an agreement would only be a piece of paper that Iran may not implement as the failed Obama agreement showed- but yet not have the billions of dollars to support its nuclear program. It would give the US, Israel, and the world 10-15 years in which to respond to another nuclear program by Iran. Iran will need $270 billion to repair the damage to industrial facilities, which shows the cost of the war for the Iranian people just to get a nuclear weapon is prohibitive, considering that the Iranian economy was already in trouble before the war. Inflation and the overall economy will be in difficult shape for many years. Public sentiment in Iran may change the future course of Iran away from the course currently pursued. The entire Middle East  region has not benefitted from its dependence on oil. For the rest of the world finding alternative sources of supply is the best way and EU, China, India should accelerate renewable technologies and goals for energy independence shortening the transition from fossil fuels. ...

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Margraten, Netherlands, where over 8000 American servicemen are buried,adopted and remembered for their contribution to the Allied victory through France in 1944-45 on Veterans Day 2025. A visit to Margraten and guest essay in NYT by Jonathan Darman, author of the book- Becoming FDR.

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Krugman points out that the Obama administration has not been forthright in addressing critics of the Trans Pacific Trade Pact (TPP). He says the administration has simply talked about the benefits of free trade which finds general support, but not addressed specific issues about the pact, worker protections, the issue of access to drugs in developing countries of Latin America and Asia if intellectual property rights are strictly enforced, keeping U.S. financial industry regulations in place, and other issues raised by previous pacts.

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The Bishop of York presents the Church's position that it needs time to pause and reflect- as people within the church can read the Christian scripture differently and understand tradition and lived human experience to arrive at different conclusions. That there are more differences than the Church of England was ready to admit. After three years of experimentation the Church of England is stopping the "Living in Love and Faith" program in a vote 252 votes to 132 votes. The General Synod of Bishops conclusion is that consensus cannot be reached. In the words of Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York- “This is not where I want us to be and not where we hoped we would be three years ago … I know that many of you are feeling angry and disappointed. There is a lot of pain and that pain cuts across so called ‘party lines’ or theological convictions held.” But, “knowing how divided we are on these issues, we haven’t been able to find further ways forward that honour the consciences of those who, faithfully led by their conscientious reading of scripture and their understanding of tradition and of lived human experience, arrive at different conclusions”. The bishops and the synod, he says are “more deeply divided than I think we knew – or admitted."   ...

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100 ships pass through Straits of Hormuz daily 5-6 daily in March 2026. BBC Verify looks at the kinds of ships from India, Pakistan, Iran, and Greek shipping that have made it through the Hormuz shipping lane.  Some of these ships go close to the Iranian coast and not in the middle of the channel. The mountainous terrain along the coast, the peculiar geography of the channel have made it difficult to secure the Straits of Hormuz for international shipping . The channel is itself narrow at one point about 24 miles of water separating Oman from Iran. The shipping lanes are 2 miles wide, a separation zone of 2 miles between inbound and outbound ships. This makes it hard to secure from fast speedboats, missiles, and drones without securing both sides of the channel on mountainous terrain. 

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Reggio Emilia and support for early childhood education attracts Princess Kate to make a visit to Italy in May 2026.  "Ciao Kate," nice public greeting for Kate in Reggio Emilia, Italy, welcoming her after cancer diagnosis and recovery.  This is the town where the Italian tricolor flag originated. It is also a town with a strong tradition of support for public services and education. Kate wants to create a global conversation on early childhood education. This is an important idea and part of the concepts behind the Movement for Global Literacy in Lyrarc. Literacy for a child in China is not much different in its basic idea from that of a child in Britain, India, Italy or America. And reading, knowledge of the outside world forms a critical part of this early education, little concepts that are built into larger concepts of the world.

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There are about the same number of borrowers 3.6 million instead of 3.4 million yet over 10 years Parent Plus Loans have grown by 61% or $44 billion to a whopping $115 billion burdening parents and students. Yet no one mentions that it is the colleges that are causing much of this increase with their failure to control costs. The government is now stepping in and it is up to parents to do their homework on school value so that this overburdening with debt that colleges take for granted becomes a thing of the past. If colleges cannot control costs they should feel public dissatisfaction and be ruled out. Colleges and Universities act as if they are not in a market system economy where costs cannot be simply passed on, costs have to be managed or consumers of a service will turn down that product.

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In Argentina the Right and Left politics have failed for most of this century, the economy struggles again in 2026- Millei and Argentina as shown by the NYT's Cohen. Yet inflation is down and something different is being tried. Bloated bureaucracy is cut down to basics, investments in mining and oil, manufacturing weak and infrastructure investments lacking, no clear solutions. Mexico benefits from American reshoring of factories in automobiles yet is the place where drug trafficking is happening and this is a problem of major dimensions, Brazil benefits from its vast agricultural wealth in the Amazon region, Argentina is seeking a mining boom, Venezuela after a deep shock from Chavez ideas and hyperinflation only now recovering, much of Latin America and Africa have missed the economic and technological changes that are underway in Asia for the last 50 years.

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Building self-confidence and difference from self-esteem. Self-esteem is about who you are. Self confidence is about how you can get things done, the self-efficacy. Both need protection from negative thoughts, and fostering a belief in trusting oneself, learning good habits that help get things done. Confidence is action oriented only by doing one learns. And resilience comes from overcoming adversity, taking the steps to overcome one by one, that tells you it can be done. Sometimes this is done in small steps and small goals. True self confidence is about getting up and trying, and trying again not thinking about the outcome, simply making the effort again and again. There is no attachment to results and this can be good for the human Spirit in a religious sense, a way that also connects to God and the Universe.

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WSJ Editorial Board on the Media's obsession with "Results" for the XI-DJT meetings when mutual respect and understanding was a key goal achieved. China's goal was clear from the start. It was that the US would recognize China for its achievements in manufacturing and infrastructure, in science and technology in the last 100 years. General Joe Stilwell who was the leading American in China in the first half of the 20th century, FDR's man in China, and who had a deep affection and attachment for the Chinese people and culture. Stilwell could not have been more gratified by the presence of the American president in Beijing after the struggles China has seen in his lifetime against the Japanese invasion and the struggles inside China for the road to industrialization in the second half of the 20th century. 

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A health care practitioner says the real problem is the high cost of medical care in the U.S. when compared to other countries. She points out that the Obama bill in 2008 did not take effective steps to bring down the cost of health care before enacting legislation to cover the uninsured, leading to higher premiums for the middle class. The link between healthcare and profits is seen as the main problem. 

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A report from Roubini Global Economics says state and local government financial problems are not of a systemic nature and should not affect the U.S. financial system. The report sees defaults as isolated events. Still it says reforms will be needed only some of which have been made, and preventing a crisis will require real austerity. The report predicts $100 billion in muni-bond defaults over 5 years.

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Saeed Jan Qureshi, with only a high school education and a passion for books, started an extraordinary bookstore in Islamabad, Pakistan. Th store is now one of the largest in the world, with 42,000 square feet over 3 stories, displaying 200,000 titles, and an inventory of 4 million books in 5 warehouses, books mostly in English. Rod Norland of the NYT provides an exceptional and heartwarming story of the man, his son, and a passion for books that gives a different picture of Pakistan, the country and its people. Saeed's son Qureshi provides advice to readers, referring them to a book "Fallen Leaves," by American historian Will Durant. The story shows the passion for reading and books in South Asia.