LyrArc Article Gist
  In a way that recalls FDR Biden backed dockworkers on wages that fell behind.  Former Fed Governor chief economist at the White House, Lael Brainard, together with the Transportation and Labor Secretaries Buttigieg and Julie Su, with White House chief of staff Zient, all in a Zoom call at 5.30 am with shipping company management in the EU and Asia. Brainard made proposal the shipping companies accepted for 62% increase in wages over 6 years, increasing top wages $24. The dockworkers union Longshoreman's Association asked for 77%, a decent share in the large shipping company profits after decades when wages lagged behind cost of living. Zient told the shipping companies in that Zoom call- “I need the offer today — not tomorrow. I’m going to brief the president in an hour that you believe you can get this done today.” Stein, Duncan and Gurley tell the extraordinary story of how Biden backed the call for raising 45,000 workers wages on the port docks along the East.  Coast. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Rumelt argues that efforts to induce aconsumption led recovery won't work in 2011-2012 because of the high debt to income ratio of American households, reminiscent of the situtation in the 1930's as America went into World War II. It took a long period of over a decade to bring debt to income ratios down during the 1940's to 20% for America to once again stage a consumption based recovery. Since the solution of war time engagment and lower consumer spending due to wartime rationing is not a feasible solution today, a lot depends on stimulating investment. Rumelt does not say how this would happen in practice as corporations invest to increase production in a consumer based economy. Corporations can invest on increasing production for growing emerging markets such as India, China and Brazil, and this is happening today. But this does not increase growth in the U.S. economy, except in the limited sense that some of the high end development work takes place in the U.S. Policies that stimulate investment would set the stage for a future recovery. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Rising inflation at 20% in Iran in Dec 2011. Cash payments by the government to soften the impact of lower subsidies on fuel and other products brings more rials into circulation, leading to higher inflation. Sanctions are also affecting the economy. The rial has declined in value from 7000 rials to the dollar in October 2011 to 15,150 rials in December 2011, according to the Fars News Agency.

LyrArc Article Gist
China's GDP growth of 8.7% for 2009 is based on private sector investment in housing and infrastructure spending through the stimulus funds. Now with a asset price bubble developing from excesssive lending in 2009 the government is trying to slow bank lending. Experts see a situation similiar to Japan, as an asset price developed there in the 1980's after rapid industrialization. Even though China will still be a developing country after this phase of growth. Property prices are going up by 20% a year in the major cities. And with it making housing unaffordable for most people except the top 20% of the people who comprise about 120 million. This raises issues of equitable growth for Beijing. Much of the rest of the country is being left behind when it comes to housing and in other areas like health care.

LyrArc Article Gist
Uniqlo plans to open 20-30 new stores a year in shopping malls in the U.S. for the next 8 years. Uniqlo's strategy is to go for larger size stores and get more visibility to stand out because the name is not well known to shoppers in the U.S. The Japanese retailer markets to price conscious customers who want basics in clothing.

LyrArc Article Gist
Flexibility from the IMF, the ECB and the EC in negotiating new terms for Greece after the June 2012 elections and initial efforts for revising the March 2012 loan agreement.

LyrArc Article Gist
Real estate website Zillow says it will partner with brokerage firms, following its acquisition of No. 2 real estate website Trulia Inc. CEO Randy Marsh of Zillow says Zillow was started as a media firm depending on advertising revenues, not a real estate brokerage. As Zillow was started by employees who left Expedia brokerage firms are nervous about the deal, considering what happened to travel agencies following the shift to sites like Bookings.com, Expedia and Kayak. Broker acceptance is important for the success of the combined firms. Brokers rely on the websites for information, but realize they have lost control of the information they once controlled. The two firms have combined revenue of $400 million, but lost money during 2014. Zillow plans to issue $3.5 billion in stock in the deal closing by 2015.

LyrArc Article Gist
The supply of shale oil in the U.S. is changing the landscape for Mexican crude exports to the U.S. especially light Olmeca crude. Mexico's exports of crude oil declined to 881,000 barrels a day in 4 weeks through Jan 10, compared to 1.8 million barrels in Feb 2013, according to the Energy Information Administration. The Keystone Pipeline from Canada could also impact Mexico's exports.

LyrArc Article Gist
Signs of a permanent shift in property and housing markets in China in 2014 as the new administration of premier Li Keqiang shifts policy to focus on employment and indicators of wellbeing such as pollution, education, and healthcare.

LyrArc Article Gist
A sign that investors are moving too quickly is the manner in which investors are putting money in emerging markets. THe sovereign credits of Argentina, Ecuador, Pakistan and Ukraine have risen by 100% to date on teh benchmark JP Morgan's Energing Markets BOnd Index Global. Gavin of Barclays Capital says the odds that current level rise to bubble levels are very high. Emerging market funds have absorbed more than $40 billion so far this year according to EPFR GLobal fund tracker, reversing the outflows during the crisis in early 2009.

LyrArc Article Gist
Fountain Set, a Hong Kong based textiles company that sent toxic waste product from its Fuan factory in China directly into the river using underground pipes to save on water treatment facilities. Toxic materials from China's textile industry are destroying China's rivers through rampant pollution without heed to China's environmental laws.

LyrArc Article Gist
How to have two pronged approach to climate action- give fossil a chance to address concerns of the poor and struggling, and move forward with renewable energy installation. This is the accepted approach in 2025. It is increasingly accepted on different sides of the poltiical and economic spectrum. Technological advances in addressing climate change will accelerate and provide room for rapid action in the future, while at the same time the problems for health and supplies of electricity are tackled for working class, marginalized and struggling populations in both US, EU and the rest of the developing world.