World News Insights
1-3 Minute Gist
Search, personalize, or simply browse. Follow the world around you from gist and context to insights.
Who we are | Our Credo | Ways of using Lyrarc | FAQ | Send Feedback | First Letter From the Editor
Sign up. It's free and easy to use
Create an account
to personalize your feed of articles and topics.
Browse Articles or use Lyrarc's US patented "Groups" and "Links" for new insights. A Lyrarc Group of Articles on a topic gives insights into particular angles shown in the Group Title. A Lyrarc Link shows more specific insights for 2 articles.
All Topics Links
Sobhi Saleh, member of parliament from Alexandria, Egypt, and Egypt's path to democratic processes.
02/04/2011
Sobhi Saleh represented Alexandria in parliament from 2005 to 2010, for the Muslim Brotherhood. Nicholas Kulish provides an heart rending account of how Saleh makes his way out of a prison set on fire after his arrest during the Egyptian protests. He was selected by the Egyptian military as a member of the eight member panel asked to rewrite key articles of the constitution.
Linked Articles
Egypt's Military Names Constitutional Panel
Wall Street Journal 02/15/2011
Why a Member of the Muslim Brotherhood Was Late to the RevolutionNew York Times 02/04/2011
Dim outlook for Rebalancing the World Economy
01/20/2011
The widening U.S. trade deficit with China in 2011 and no evidence of a shift to domestic consumption in the Chinese economy make it increasingly unlikely that there will be a rebalancing in the world economy.
Linked Articles
No Appreciation for the Rising Yuan
Wall Street Journal 06/21/2011
Don't Bank on China 'Rebalancing'Wall Street Journal 01/20/2011
Fitting a long term trend line to the Case-Shiller Index Peter Schiff says the index should be at 126. It was 159 in Oct 2010.
12/30/2010
Linked Articles
The Sickness Beneath the Slump - Economic View
New York Times 06/11/2011
Home Prices Are Still Too HighWall Street Journal 12/30/2010
A Brady Plan type solution to the debt crisis in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and other EU countries
11/30/2010
The extension of maturities for the debt of these countries is a key part of the solution. The Brady Plan that helped sove the Latin American debt crisis of the eighties and nineties is an example of the way out of the crisis. Resistance from bankers to taking losses of upto 30% and extending the maturities for debt. The need for Germany and other countries to set aside money that would be needed to recapitalize banks that need funds to handle these losses. Nicholas Brady when asked about this says it is important for this to be "a unified decision." This would create the confidence in the financial markets that will be needed.
Linked Articles
Europe's Central Banker Seeks Deeper Fiscal Union
Wall Street Journal 06/03/2011
Nervous Europe Trying to Halt Economic CrisisNew York Times 11/30/2010
Stiglitz and Krugman point to the dangers in the Cameron-Osborne austerity measures in Britain
10/20/2010
Jospeh Stiglitz writing in the Guardian in 2010, at the time of the first Osborne Budget, said it was a huge gamble that the private secotr would pick up enough to make up for the impact of the budget cuts. Lower growth would mean lower tax revenues and deficit reduction targets would be missed. Krugman points out that the 490,000 job losses planned through attrition under the Osborne plan is similiar to 3 million in job losses in the U.S., a huge risk for the British economy.
Linked Articles
Britain Details Radical Spending Cuts, Citing Debt
New York Times 10/20/2010
British Fashion VictimsNew York Times 10/21/2010
Lixin Fan's documentary "Last Train Home" and the poetry of China's migrant workers- a society in transition and the price being paid
08/27/2010
Linked Articles
Poetry of a former Foxconn Worker Vividly Evokes Alienation of Factory Life
BusinessWeek 11/04/2014
Lixin Fan, Trailing Chinese Migrant WorkersNew York Times 08/27/2010
What the U.S. and other eurozone countries can learn from Germany to reduce unemployment (2)
07/29/2010
The "kurzarbeit" program for job retention in Germany and how it is beginning to be applied in the U.S.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 11/21/2011
The Price of Saving Jobs in GermanyBusinessWeek 07/29/2010
Andy Grove of Intel and a reminder about Silicon Valley's role now missing role as a serious innovator and job creator at home
07/01/2010
Andy Grove reminded Silicon Valley about the dangers of forgetting manufacturing's important role in the U.S. in 2010. This is even more true today with the working class lagging behind in this recovery. He asked at the time what kind of society are we creating with professionally employed workers and lots of unemployed. It reminded him of 1932 with troops holding bayonets facing unemployed people outside the White House, and of his days in Hungary in the 1956 uprising. Grove also called for serious innovation which he did not see happening at the time in Silicon Valley.
Linked Articles
Andy Grove’s Warning to Silicon Valley
New York Times 03/25/2016
Andy Grove: How America Can Create JobsBusinessWeek 07/01/2010
strikes and wage increases in Chinese factories and the effects on inflation..
05/29/2010
Inflation reached a high of 3.1% increase in May 2010 over the previous year according to government data. The wage increases are still to be reflected in eventual inflation. The need for stronger measures such as increasing interest rates and revaluing the currency.
Linked Articles
China Inflation Rises to a 19-Month High
New York Times 06/11/2010
Unrest May Signal New Phase in China EconomyNew York Times 05/29/2010
Germany's rescue plan for Greece.
05/03/2010
Germany finally cleared a plan to aid Greece after weeks of delay that created tension in global financial markets with Greece being shut out of capital markets.
Linked Articles
Germany Clears Rescue for Greece
New York Times 05/03/2010
The Greek Economy ExplainedWall Street Journal 05/07/2010
The Project on Government Oversight Report in 2013 and the revolving door at the S.E.C. in the U.S.
04/24/2010
Robert Khuzami was enforcement chief at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the critical period following the 2008 financial crisis. He was also a lawyer at Deutsche Bank during the period when the problems at Deutsche Bank happened which resulted in legal settlements. The revolving door has affected the way the S.E.C. carried out its enforcement responsibilities.
Linked Articles
S.E.C.'s Revolving Door Hurts Its Effectiveness
New York Times 02/11/2013
SEC's Top Cop Oversaw Deutsche CDOsWall Street Journal 04/24/2010
Hatoyama fails to implement his vision for Japan.
12/23/2009
Perceived as indecisive over issues related to cutting wasteful spending and reducing the deficit, and the shift of an American base out of Okinawa, Hatoyama's popularity drops to 25%. He resigns (teary- eyed) after only 8 months in office. It shows how difficult it has become to find aleader since Mr Koizumi left office.
Linked Articles
Japanâs Premier Will Quit as Approval Plummets
New York Times 06/01/2010
Harsh Realities Stand in the Way of a Leader’s Vision of a New JapanNew York Times 12/23/2009
Bank of England's Mervyn King and the new Business Secretary Cable see a need to shrink the banks.
10/21/2009
Policy on banking regulation will be shaped by two visions of the future of banking, Tory and Liberal, both agree on the need to reduce sysemic risks posed by large banks.
Linked Articles
Economist 05/13/2010
BOE's King: Big Banks Should Get Broken UpWall Street Journal 10/21/2009
Israelis fears and hopes for the Peace Treaty with Egypt
02/01/2011
Israeli opinion is gradually shifting from fears and uncertainty about the situation in Egypt to hope that the Peace Treaty with Egypt will be preserved. The poor economic conditions in Egypt and the need to attract foreign aid and foreign investment reinforce the view that new leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt will focus on economic issues. Ehud Barak put this clearly when he said early in the Arab Spring that the movement towards democracy in the Middle East is setting the pathway to modernity.
Linked Articles
Israelis Cling to Faith in Peace Treaty
Wall Street Journal 05/24/2012
Islamists at the GatesNew York Times 02/01/2011
How Samsung jumped ahead of Sony in the smartphone market- the dismal failure of the Sony-Ericsson joint venture
01/07/2011
The glaring weaknesses of the Sony-Ericsson mobile joint venture was the slow decisionmaking and the inability to take advantage of Sony's strengths in manufacturing and its companywide technological capabilities. As late as 2011 Samsung was struggling behind other competitors. A key advantage was the quick decisionmaking and marshalling of resources within the company for the smartphone effort in Samsung. The joint venture proved to be a disaster for Sony.
Linked Articles
Samsung Moves in Smartphone Race
Wall Street Journal 01/07/2011
Sony Stakes Recovery on New SmartphoneWall Street Journal 03/01/2013
New York Mayor Bloomberg calls for letting the Bush tax cuts expire for all income groups to address the U.S. deficit
12/16/2010
Bloomberg tells Republicans and Democrats that promoting the idea of a free lunch or getting something for nothing is delusional. He points to the road for U.S. economic recovery based on this step combined with an up or down vote on the Simpson Bowles plan in Congress.
Linked Articles
Federal Budgets and Class Warfare
Wall Street Journal 03/29/2012
Washington Taxes Own CredibilityWall Street Journal 12/16/2010
Criticism and reservations about the Fed's second round of quantitative easing.
10/25/2010
The likelihood that the US Federal Reserve's move to buy an estimated $750 billion of Treasury bonds will be ineffective in the absence ofiscal policy options.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 10/26/2010
Our Fiscal Policy ParadoxWall Street Journal 10/25/2010
The 61 million children of migrant workers left behind in China- 75% visited only once a year and 70% under the age of 11
08/27/2010
The price of rapid industrialization in China being paid by children of migrant workers and their parents- about 200 million people or close to 20% of the population. Government policy requires migrant workers leaving rural areas to work in factories to leave behind their children.
Linked Articles
Left-Behind Children of China's Migrant Workers Bear Grown-Up Burdens
Wall Street Journal 01/17/2014
Lixin Fan, Trailing Chinese Migrant WorkersNew York Times 08/27/2010
The threat posed by China's local government debt to China's banking and financial system
07/29/2010
Because of the opaqueness of the financial system the estimates of the local government debt varies from 27% to 42% of GDP. Prof Shih of Northwestern University, an expert on this subject, now estimates this to be $2.6 trillion or 42% of GDP. Other estimates from the National Audit Office put this at 27% and from China's central bank put this at 30%. Prof Shih's earlier estimate was 34%. Because of the large number of local government entities and the lack of transparency the figures may actually turn out to be higher as China's regulators and other analysts improve their estimates. The 42% estimate is $2.6 trillion in local government debt. China's large foreign exchange reserves of $3 trillion and low interest rates will give China some space for addressing the problem with another round of injection of capital into the banking system.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 06/28/2011
Where China Hides Its DebtBusinessWeek 07/29/2010
David Stockman says Republicans have given up their role in doing financially responsible budgeting for decades.
07/11/2010
The budget deficits, Reagan's Budget director says, developed to this point after decades of irresponsivble budget behaviour that has lasted gone on for four decades. He says the Greece style deficit of 120% of GDP for the USA by 2015 calls for austerity.
Linked Articles
Four Deformations of the Apocalypse
New York Times 07/31/2010
Crisis Awaits Worldâs Banks as Trillions Come DueNew York Times 07/11/2010
Tan Guocheng and Yuan Yandong- migrant workers on production lines in China and change in 2010-2013
06/13/2010
David Barboza's exceptional journalism talking to production workers on assembly lines in China. Here he tells the story of Tan Guocheng and Yuan Yandong, young migrant workers on assembly lines at Honda and Foxconn in the middle of major changes in China after the first wave of urbanization.
Linked Articles
In China, Unlikely Labor Leader Just Wanted a Middle-Class Life
New York Times 06/13/2010
A Night at the Electronics FactoryNew York Times 06/18/2010
Shiller, Charles Scwab and other experts on the nervousness of the individual investor.
05/14/2010
Charles Schwab says about 98% of individual investos are nervous in mid 2010. He questios whether safety an soundess mean anything anymore. Shillers Buy on Dips Index confirms Schwab's observations.
Linked Articles
Chuck Schwab Is Worried About Small Investors. Should We Worry Too?
BusinessWeek 05/27/2010
Fear of a Double Dip Could Cause OneNew York Times 05/14/2010
The need for a new European economic government to back the euro currency.
04/29/2010
The French view that there should be a common economic government and clear institutional responsibilities and the German view that is not so willing to cede national sovereignty in economic matters. The fiscal and structural flaws that need to be repaired for the euro currency to work.
Linked Articles
Economist 05/13/2010
As Greek Drama Plays Out, Where Is Europe?New York Times 04/29/2010
The inaction at GM 2009-2013 for the defective ignition switch recall and the inaction at Toyota for unintended acceleration recall
02/10/2010
GM's management lost track of quality issues that were buried at lower levels during the bankruptcy period. Toyota's management in the U.S. referred the NHTSA to quality managers in Japan who did not make the necessary effort to look into and address the problem. This shows that quality is not just a technical issue for the engineers and requires management atention at the highest levels, direct reporting to top managers. It also shows that quality problems never go away, will always be present, no matter how good you think you get. Small mistakes can be very costly as BP, TEPCO in the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Toyota, have shown in the recent past.
Linked Articles
General Motors Misled Grieving Families on a Lethal Flaw
New York Times 03/24/2014
Safety Agency Scrutinized as Toyota Recall GrowsNew York Times 02/10/2010
Why the Obama health care law gets an "F" grade from the Dean of Harvard Medical School
11/18/2009
The failure to replace the "fee-for-service" system in favor of capitated payments is cited as one of the main reasons. The other reasons are it does not resolve the issues of introducing competition in quality of care and cost, and continues the practices that disguise the true cost of care with a highly fragmented system of care. In a op-ed, Jeffrey Flier, Dean of the Harvard Medical School, gives a detailed account for the reason for his grading. A poorly drafted or incomplete law says Flier can make things worse, citing the example of the health care law in Massachusetts which is driving up costs, as it does not change the old dysfunctional system's key features such as "fee-for service," and instead tries to build a new system on broken foundations. Pearlstein in the Washington Post says the Obama health care law has addressed the "fee-for-service" problem, but this is really not the case, and Flier's reasoning may be the clue to the deeper problem for the Obama health care law.
Linked Articles
Steven Pearlstein: Eat your broccoli, Justice Scalia - The Washington Post
Washington Post 04/01/2012
Health 'Debate' Deserves a Failing GradeWall Street Journal 11/18/2009
We took a different way to help millions around the world build educated informed mindsets that affects and shapes their lives. For a future that is open, global and digital, with everyone having access to high quality information. We believe in the renewal of America, renewal of Europe, the renewal of India, the rest of Asia, Latin America and Africa. The renewal of our supply chains, health, education, infrastructure, as we rebuild our countries after the pandemic. Literacy and knowledge we believe cannot thrive and grow in a world of web bots, web crawlers, or AI. This requires human curiosity, human learning, and human imagination. We take as inspiration the saying- “One has to be free, and as broad as sky. One has to have a mind that is crystal clear, only then can truth shine in it.” Every contribution whether big or small is precious- in this crisis and ahead.
Support Lyrarc from as small as $1
Terms and Conditions | Copyright Policy | Privacy Policy | Contact Us