LyrArc Article Gist
!5,000 of the 25,000 coronavirus cases recorded in India on March 14, 2021 are in the state of Maharashtra, with the rest mostly in 6 other states, including Kerala. 

A team sent by the government in New Delhi to Maharashtra found the increase in cases in the state due to- "lack of fear of the disease," pandemic fatigue, missed cases, super spreading events from recent panchayat elections, marraiges, reopening of schools, and crowded public transport. The report  says that these factors are not unique to only Maharashtra and apply for other affected states also, including Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka.

LyrArc Article Gist
It is OK to haggle in this economy says this report in WSJ, and shows how to do it. Because retailers are increasing their profit margins significantly. Here is advice. From an expert at the University of Pennsylvania - try practicing with a script and always show respect.  An expert at Carnegie Mellon University says if you never hear no then you have not been assertive enough. Food prices are up  5-10% in the US, 15-20% in Europe. Car prices are up significantly in US, so are airline prices. Prices of all kinds of products are up out of line with anything that happened in the past.

LyrArc Article Gist
After mentioning the transformative game of Van Dijk, Sadio Mane, Firmino, Alexander Arnold, one can only turn to the incredible resilience of Jordan Henderson against many setbacks and being written off more than once. Here he is put forward as the choice for Footballer of the Year. Precept and example counts for more here than individual game performance.

The "mentality monsters" Germany's Klopp talks about in coaching is about calming the mind and continuous improvement, hard work in practice that makes this happen. Henderson shows a lot of this work ethic and resolve.

LyrArc Article Gist
Andrew Higgins provides this exceptional account of how the political and administrative authorites in Belgium are so divided because of ethnic and poltiical reasons, that they are often paralyzed. It is described as the Belgian disease. Belgium is a country that has French, Dutch and German ethnic groups and languages. Divided along linguistic lines, all centralized authority is resisted, leading to parts of Belgium becoming a haven for terrorist activity. Terrorists from Molenbeek, a part of Brussels, carried out the Paris attacks in November 2015. The German and French media coverage now ridicules the way Belgium is run.

LyrArc Article Gist
Of 26 competitive House districts in coming midterms of 2026 in the US about 16 have median income of $86,000 (close to US median $79000), looking like Caroline County in Virginia. There Democrat Spanberger who won handily by 70% in the wealthy suburbs was even with Republican opponent with a deficit of 13 votes. It is this type of County that will determine the midterms says the WSJ Analysis. Republicans and Democrats face even headwinds in such counties, Cost of living continues in 2025 to be the concern for voters, similar to what it was in 2024.

LyrArc Article Gist
Swing in districts where Spanish is spoken at home for Democrats was large in 2025 governors races in Virginia and New Jersey, the swing was smaller in districts where English was spoken in districts where Hispanics make up a larger part of the voter base. This helped Democrats in the 2 governors races and was about cost of living and other concerns.

LyrArc Article Gist
Douglas Feith was Under Secretary of Defense for policymaking between 2001 and 2005. He cochaired the U.S.-India Defense Policy Group (DPG) with Jaswant Singh opened his first DPG meeting in December 2001. He talks about the need to bolster the one area in which the Bush administration fell way short which is to combat terrorism with ideas and communicating anew bold vision and view of the world that using key channels of expresssing ideas in the developing world and having measures to track progress year after year. He also talks about the need to partner with India and the importance of democratic ideals and ideas and a country like India which has established a long track record of peaceful democratic government.

LyrArc Article Gist
Stock markets have declined about 1% during the current banking crisis. This shows that the action taken by president Biden quickly taking over Silicon Valley Bank and closing Republic Bank is working. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and the central banks of US, EU, Swiss, worked together to take immediate action. Swiss central bank and the government stepped in to arrange the backing for UBS to takeover Credit Suisse bank.  The crisis affected market sectors in differing ways. Information technology stocks were up 5.7%, energy stocks went down by 7%, bank stocks declined 6%, sensitive materials sector stocks went down by 3.5%. Risks remaining are that the loss of confidence in regional banks could affect lending. The Fed's policy of containing inflation by raising interest  rates could continue say experts leading to information tech stocks losing any gains. Any drop in the price of oil could help the economies of the US and EU, India, Japan and China. By March 15 prices of US crude had dropped for West Texas Intermediate benchmark to $67. Any drop of prices to the $60 level increases growth in the EU, US, China, India and Japan, reducing chances of a recession. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
At Lyrarc we pointed out how US president Harry Truman had to persuade the US Congress to get aid to Greece and Turkey bills passed to prevent an imminent Communist takeover with Soviet bloc aid in 1948. Paul Krugman points out that this happened before when FDR had to persuade the US Congress to pass bills for Lend Lease agreement aid to Europe in 1942. Much of that aid was in food and other non military aid because the US arms manufacturing was beginning to ramp up.  Krugman also corrects the former president's statements regarding Ukraine aid that the European have done less. Counting all assistance to Ukraine he says the EU has done more than the US. It is because the arms production in the EU has to be ramped up and the US has arms production factories better prepared in military aid the US has done more in military aid, not overall or in other aid. He also points out that $13 billion FDR got from Congress for Europe in 1942 was 10% of US GDP, whereas Ukraine aid is only one fourth of one percent of US GDP, and much of it going as Mr. Biden pointed out, going into investment in American factories and jobs to supply Ukraine. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Venezuela faces an uncertain future after U.S. efforts to support Mr. Guaido and call for new free and fair elections have failed. With help from Russia the Venezuelan economy is showing signs of recovery from the steep decline and high inflation in 2019. Oil production is expected to reach 1 million barrels a day in 2020 after falling to 650,000- 700,000 barrels a day in 2019. Russia's oil company Rosneft provides critical help for Venezuelan oil sales and maintenance in oil fields.  National Security Adviser John Bolton is faulted for his advice to president Trump on Venezuela, that merely voicing support for 36 year old Guaido, would lead to regime change without action from the U.S. With the recovery in Venezuela with help from Russia and Cuba, Mr. Guaido's popularity has dropped by 20 points to 38%, according to a Venezuelan pollster Datanalisis. Most Cubans and Venezuelans in the U.S. are in Florida where there is support for new elections, and Mr. Trump continues to support Mr. Guaido. The lack of support for change from other countries including Europe, India, Turkey, and Mexico have led to a stalled situation in Venezuela. There is concern for the steep inflation, the migration of about 4.5 million Venezuelans, the shortages of critical supplies as a result of the economic collapse in 2019. The situation is stabilizing for the government yet the future of Venezuela with U.S. sanctions and weak economy leaves Venezuela in a precarious situation. Venezuela continues to be an example of how well meaning changes for social justice can lead to political changes that bring about economic collapse. This happens  when business and the economy flounder under mismanagement and corruption under crony socialism, a variant of crony capitalism. The old capitalist class and the privileged families who ran the country under its old two party system are gone. Replaced with a new class. The trying out of untested economic ideas in the quest for social balance leads to economic mismanagement, loss of critical human resources which leave the country, and a higher degree of poverty with shortages than before.  Today in Latin America Brazil shows how allowing generous pension benefits at the expense of basic needs and public services in the budget can hurt the economy. Argentina's overborrowing once again shows how this leads to IMF loans and harsh economic austerity. Chile shows how not financing pensions and public services can lead to collapse of public confidence and riots. Venezuela shows how the quest for social justice and reducing privilege can itself get flawed, leading to mass migration of as many as 4.5 million citizens. This happens under models that vary from free enterprise models to socialist or nationalist models showing that models can be less relevant than good sense and good management. In the beginning and for some time each of these models worked well, commodity price supported booms concealed real problems. Avoiding extremes, prudent spending, good investment and hard work, investment in education and infrastructure, building consensus, and good management, is critical for the future to avoid the bad outcomes facing much of Latin America. A lesson also for Asian and African countries that basic virtue is more important than socialism or free enterprise or nationalism when it comes to development.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Justice Kennedy's Sacramento roots and how this may have given him tolerance and respect for gay people.

LyrArc Article Gist
New restrictions in parts of New York, Queens and Brooklyn soon after schools reopened. Certain zip codes will have schools closed as a second wave is expected.

LyrArc Article Gist
Prodigous AI investment is crowding out essential investments in US infrastructure in factories, schools, roads, rail, bridges, airports, ports, and energy for homes/manufacturing in 2025 that are needed badly to make the US competitive with other advanced industrial nations.

LyrArc Article Gist
India make a stunning comeback after being bowled out for 150 runs in the First Test against Australia at Perth in November 2024. Jasprit Bumrah led the Indian team. Here is how he approached the game where he took 8 wickets and Jaiswal -Rahul had a double century partnership turning everything around.

"I played here in 2018 so I remember the wicket can be a little soft here and then get quicker, so I was relying on that experience. We were really well prepared so I just told people to have faith in their process and ability.

"We have the opportunity to do something special."

After losing 3 Tests against New Zealand India never lost courage and confidence to turn things around. 

 

LyrArc Article Gist
This report by Martin in the NYT points out that Ohio no longer plays a critical role in U.S. presidential elections. It was critical for a Bush win over Gore, and president Obama carried it by 2 points against Romney in 2012. It is critical for Trump to win. For Hillary Clinton other states are gaining importance as they better reflect the demographic changes in the U.S. and the mix with minorities- states such as Georgia, N. Carolina, Colorado and Florida. Ohio has not seen an influx of Hispanics as other states, and is now more white, more evangelical voters, and reflects a mix that was prevalent earlier. 

LyrArc Article Gist
BBC reports on Iran protests January 2026. Protests happened with students, with women periodically over the last two decades. Iran over the years since the monarchy in the 1880's and democratic movements (parliaments) in 1900's, monarchy in the 1930's and 1960's, socialist governments 1960's. Cold War and restored monarchy in 1970's, religious theocracy 1990's till today has gone through many different governments. It was part of the British Empire (that included India/Pakistan) and Russia's buffer region in the 18th and 19th century.  After economic sanctions from US and Europe the economy depends on sanctioned oil exports. Its defense operations divert much of the funding from oil based resources away from economic development . Much of that was a result of the anticolonial socialist ideologies that spread from North Africa (Algeria, Egypt) to Iraq and Syria that led to wars in Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan- which also led to Iraq's version the Baathist ideology invading Iran. Russia and the US have extracted themselves at much loss from these conflicts by 2025 and are posed at a historic rapprochement in relations. For Iran there is today no danger from the region or from European powers, and like the US the people and the country are asking questions about the economic and living conditions from so much in resources now diverted to external conflicts- like the US the people in the region of Iran and the entire Middle East apart from a few small oil rich regions with a tiny part of the overall population- maybe 5% in Qatar and UAE, and Saudi- feel the impact of little investment in rapid economic development of the overall region. A region with a population close to the European Union of 500 million but a tiny fraction of economic development investment for the vast majority of people in Egypt and other parts of North Africa and regions of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan. Most of the investment of $1 trillion is concentrated in the 10% of the population of over 500 million people in oil resource Saudi Arabia, UAE/Qatar monarchies, the rest languishing in war, and now meaningless- in terms of living standards- of anticolonial ideologies or militant religious ideologies, or internecine/ethnic conflict. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
With more women getting higher education and pursuing careers, young Chinese women now prefer to be independent and postpone marraige. This has important consequences including smaller households and lower demand for some products. Women now make up more than half of all undergraduate students and half of graduate students in China. Beyond pursuing a career many women also see the importance of a loving relationship before marraige as opposed to being introduced to someone and finding a partner to go through life.