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The situation in Athens, Greece, in Dec. 2011, with the German insistence on strict austerity measures
11/27/2011
The likelihood that Greeks would vote against austerity measures as a condition for staying in the euro, if a referendum were held as proposed.
Linked Articles
Greeks Balk at Paying New Property Tax
New York Times 11/27/2011
The Spirit of EnterpriseNew York Times 12/01/2011
The U.S. Supreme Court's review of the health care law in 2012 and the Wickard-Filburn decision of 1940
11/15/2011
In the Wickard-Filburn decision the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled against an Ohio farmer, Mr. Filburn, who questioned a federal law that imposed a penalty for every extra bushel of wheat grown beyond a stipulated amount. The briefs presented by both parties present arguments about what are the limits of federal power under its powers to regulate interstate commerce and in what circumstances- with the Obama administration arguing that it imposes larger costs on people in all states if some people refuse to buy insurance.
Linked Articles
At Center of Health Care Fight, Roscoe Filburn's 1942 Case
New York Times 03/19/2012
Health Insurance and the Broccoli TestNew York Times 11/15/2011
How the Sony-Ericsson mobile joint venture turned out to be a big mistake for Sony
10/06/2011
The CEO of Ericsson says Ericsson's strengths are not in the areas Sony needs for developing smartphones to compete with Apple and Samsung. The joint venture was made at a time when Nokia dominated the mobile phone market. This changed with the smartphone a decade later. Critical to Samsung's success in smartphones was speedy decision making and company wide manufacturing capabilities. Sony-Ericsson's glaring weaknesses were in these two areas. Sony acquired Ericsson's stake and now faces the challenge of tackling entrenched competitors starting with its home market.
Linked Articles
Sony Stakes Recovery on New Smartphone
Wall Street Journal 03/01/2013
Sony Nears Deal to Buy Out Ericsson From Joint VentureWall Street Journal 10/06/2011
Cochrane's view reflecting that of other experts is that the only way out for Greece is a sovereign default, and starting over like Argentina
09/28/2011
Linked Articles
Greeks Balk at Paying New Property Tax
New York Times 11/27/2011
Last Chance to Save the EuroWall Street Journal 09/28/2011
Erfurt, Thuringia, Germany- (2) in 2011 with the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the monastery where Luther studied, and in 2015 with arrival of Syrian refugees
09/24/2011
Linked Articles
Empathy and Angst in a German City Transformed by Refugees
New York Times 09/11/2015
Pope Visits Venerated Lutheran MonasteryNew York Times 09/24/2011
Germany's Pirate party of digital activists and anti-establishment sentiment
09/19/2011
The Pirate party won about 9% of the vote in the Berlin election. It is likely to win a similiar share of the vote in other state elections.
Linked Articles
'Pirates' Deal a Blow to Germany's Political Status Quo
Wall Street Journal 04/10/2012
Berlin Poll Hits Merkel CoalitionWall Street Journal 09/19/2011
Harvard labor economist Lawrence Katz's solutions to the job crises and high unemployment in the U.S.
09/06/2011
Katz suggest a number of steps including a subsidy for companies creating new jobs. A form of this subsidy is used in Germany with the "kurzarbeit" program which preserves jobs in a downturn. Katz reminds us that there are three job crises facing America- long term unemployed not reflected in government unemployment figures, effects of foreclosures and debt, and the impact of automation with lower job creation in manufacturing. A sustained andmultipronged approach over a number of years is needed and no single panacea or misguided optimism will work.
Linked Articles
The Next First (and Only) 100 Days
New York Times 12/10/2011
Help Displaced WorkersNew York Times 09/06/2011
Problems with the EU July 2011 Plan for Greece and other troubled eurozone countries
07/28/2011
The lack of funding and powers for the European Fiinancial Stability Facility to deal with future crises. EFSF lacks adequate funding and power to buy bonds of troubled eurozone countries including Italy and Spain. Other issues that remain unresolved A sense that the EU leaders are a step behind each developing crisis and have not wrapped their hands around the whole problem.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 08/08/2011
The Euro Crisis: Big Rescue, Big DoubtsBusinessWeek 07/28/2011
EADS Airbus and manufacturing of the Airbus 320 and Neo at a new plant in Alabama
07/21/2011
Manufacturing in the U.S. will reduce the impact of currency fluctuations as planes are priced in U.S. dollars. It also improves the public perception of Airbus in the U.S. in its effort to secure orders from airlines in the U.S.
Linked Articles
Airbus's New Push: Made in the U.S.A.
Wall Street Journal 07/02/2012
AMR Adds Airbus as SupplierWall Street Journal 07/21/2011
Failure to stabilize the euro with the agreements reached by eurozone leaders including the July 2011 deal
07/13/2011
Experts suggest an approach that tackles the whole problem compared to the fragmented approach used so far based on dealing wiht the individual countries one at a time.The lack of agreement on shared sacrifice for bondholders, banks and eurozone governments.
Linked Articles
Greece Gets New Bailout as U.S. Nears Brink
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2011
How to Save the EuroWall Street Journal 07/13/2011
The cost of the electric battery in electric cars and building a viable electric car industry
07/02/2011
Major advances in battery technology and cost are needed for electric cars to take off. Gasoline needs to be higher than $4.50 a gallon in the U.S. for electric cars to be economically attractive. This includes a rebate of $7500 towards the higher cost of the electric cars. Battery cost is a major component of the extra cost.
Linked Articles
Ford CEO: Battery Is Third of Electric Car Cost
Wall Street Journal 04/18/2012
Long and Winding Road for Electric VehiclesWall Street Journal 07/02/2011
The Wall Street Journal calls the June 2011 E.U. plan for Greece "the French deception," and the Economist says it is doomed to failure
06/30/2011
Doubling the interest rate on loans owed by Greece to French and German banks is called "the French deception" by the Journal . The Economist sees the sharp spending cuts and tax increases having enough detrimental impact on economic growth to make the debt load larger than before.
Linked Articles
Greece and the euro: The abuses of austerity
Economist 07/02/2011
The French DeceptionWall Street Journal 06/30/2011
The signs of slower growth in China in 2012-2015 and what this means for commodity producer countries and producer countries of high tech machinery
06/09/2011
How the slower growth will affect commodity exporters Australia, Canada, Chile, S. Africa and high tech machinery exporters like Germany and the U.S.
Linked Articles
What a China Slowdown Means for the World
Wall Street Journal 06/09/2011
In China, Sobering Signs of Slower GrowthNew York Times 03/05/2012
Tax evasion in Italy and Greece and Germany's insistence on good governance and financial practices for a sound euro currency
11/25/2011
One estimate of tax evasion in Italy cited by Faiola in the Post is $340 billon a year. Greece has a similiar problem. This is one area in which the culture and practices of individual countries have to converge to acceptable norms to make a common currrency viable, something the founders of the euro currency did not take as seriously as needed and account for in a disciplined framework. The political enthusiasm for a union of European countries of EU founders led to ignoring the dangers of not having controls and convergence in place.
Linked Articles
New York Times 12/01/2011
Amid crisis, Italy confronts a culture of tax evasion - The Washington PostWashington Post 11/25/2011
The Christian Democratic Union, the 2011 CDU convention in Leipzig, and the shifting German view on strict austerity policies
11/15/2011
A faction of the CDU favors a strict interpretation of austerity policies for the eurozone. As CDU leader, Angela Merkel shifts policies to accomodate growing weariness in the rest of Europe with strict austerity policies to accomodate growth, Merkel faces dissent in the CDU. This is evident in the conflicting statements from the EU trade commissioner Mr Gucht, and its economic affairs commissioner Mr. Rehn, on Greece continuing in the eurozone, after Merkel's stated willingness to compromise at the Camp David G-8 summit.
Linked Articles
Greek Stimulus Is an Option, Merkel Says
New York Times 05/16/2012
Merkel Party Seeks Euro Exit PolicyWall Street Journal 11/15/2011
Reagan-Bush and Obama on immigrants- A Reality Check
09/29/2011
A Better Way. The question of who was more humane in their response is one for the public in a nation of immigrants. Bush and Reagan stood up for the state paying for illegal immigrant children getting schooling in the straightforward honest way to a difficult question in the primary debates years ago. There is no empty rhetoric when Bush says he does not want 6-8 year old children to live in fear and deprived of an education thinking they were living outside the law. And Reagan points out that rather than talk of putting up a fence lets work out our mutual problems with Mexico. The elder Bush goes further and stands up for immigrants in a way that the country has not seen for a long, long time. "They are good, strong people," he says, and "part of my family is Mexican."
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/29/2011
More Deportations Follow Minor Crimes, Records ShowNew York Times 04/06/2014
Free trade and its impact on counties and communities across the U.S.
09/27/2011
About one-third to two-thirds of the benefits from trade are erased by the cost of government payments in the form of unemployment insurance, food stamps and disability benefits for U.S. communities that fare worse from a surge in imports. This is one of the conclusions in a research study by professors Hanson and Autor of 722 clusters of counties in the U.S.
Linked Articles
Cities Adapt With Mixed Results
Wall Street Journal 09/27/2011
Tallying the Toll of U.S.-China TradeWall Street Journal 09/27/2011
Question for Turkey- can it reduce its current account deficit of 10% in March 2011 to 6% before a sharp swing in capital inflows leads to a crisis?
09/21/2011
Only 25% of capital inflows to Turkey are direct foreign investment. The current account deficit of 10% is partly financed by foreign capital inflows. Any swings in consumer sentiment- especially as the eurozone crisis continues in 2012-2013- could mean rapid capital outflows leading to a crisis. The IMF's Warning Light Indicator in 2011 for countries with excessive credit growth to GDP ratios covers Turkey.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 04/13/2012
A Warning Light to Alert the I.M.F.New York Times 09/21/2011
Stanford's John Taylor, Yale's Robert Shiller and other experts provide different proposals for U.S. job growth
09/06/2011
Proposals for reducing U.S. unemployment in 2012-2014 from experts with different perspectives of how the U.S. economy functions.
Linked Articles
Long-Term Unemployment Carries Risks for U.S.
New York Times 11/26/2011
Not More of the SameNew York Times 09/06/2011
Alan Meltzer and Thomas Hoenig's criticism of Federal Reserve Bank chairman Bernake's failure to look at long term consequences of low rates
08/11/2011
Hoenig points to the Fed's lowered rates in 2003 after the burst of the dot com bubble and higher unemployment of 6.5% in 2003 and Meltzer which led to the mortgage meltdown of 2008. Meltzer points to QE II's $600 billion monetary easing in 2010 which failed to revive the economy or reduce unemployment in 2011. They emphasize the Fed's lack of attention to the long term consequences of their actions. Both question the role of the Fed in creating jobs and see the role of the Fed as a neutral player, as deeper structural changes such as ashift to export driven economy, lower consumption take time and are only delayed by a continuation of old policies.
Linked Articles
Kansas City Fed President Defies Conventional Wisdom
New York Times 08/13/2011
The Folly of Economic Short-TermismWall Street Journal 08/11/2011
Small spurts in U.S. real estate markets from foreign or out of state buyers that fizzle out- S. Florida and Phoenix, Arizona
07/26/2011
Sporadic bursts of activity in real estate markets first in Miami in 2011 and then in Phoenix. The surge in activity is from buyers from Brazil for S. Florida, and buyers from Canada for Phoenix, as well as out of state buyers looking for speculative or rental properties to rent out to homeowners who go into foreclosure. The buyers from Canada and Brazil are in these markets because of a real estate bubble of their own in their home countries and is hardly the basis for a dependable recovery on housing prices, as the IMF has signalled a warning light for economies such as Brazil.
Linked Articles
Rise in Phoenix Housing Shows Path for Other Cities
Wall Street Journal 03/13/2012
Affluent Buyers Reviving Market for Miami HomesNew York Times 07/26/2011
The politicizing of the 2011 budget process- Obama, Cantor and McConnell (1)
07/14/2011
The negotiations taking place for the U.S. budget behind closed doors is against the spirit of the Budget Act of 1974, says a former CBO assistant general counsel and Stanford professor of constitutional law. The law requires transparency and accountability and sets forth a process for public scrutiny of the budget in Congressional hearings. This has not happened and in its place both political parties are seeing this as a start to the 2012 presidential election, with the public sorely left out of the process.
Linked Articles
Budget Shell Games Are Contrary to Law
Wall Street Journal 07/14/2011
Top Democrats laud GOP debt-ceiling move - The Washington PostWashington Post 07/14/2011
Deficit reduction talks between the Obama White House and Republicans in July 2011.
07/07/2011
The talks are part of an effort to reach agreement on raising the debt ceiling by an August 2011 deadline. Skepticism among Democrats about the talks and the deep cuts proposed that could lead to a setback for the economy.
Linked Articles
Negotiating the Debt Ceiling on a Knife's Edge
New York Times 07/07/2011
What Obama WantsNew York Times 07/07/2011
The June 2011 European Union plan for Greece faces strong criticism for being unworkable
07/01/2011
This plans doubles the interest rate for Greece debt owed to French and German banks under a French banking proposal. Sharp spending cuts and tax increases face opposition inside Greece and their negative impact on economic growth may leave Greece with a much larger debt to GDP ratio in 2011 than in 2010.
Linked Articles
Greece and the euro: The abuses of austerity
Economist 07/02/2011
Move Buys Time for Greece, But Growing Debt LoomsWall Street Journal 07/01/2011
Increasing domestic consumption in Saudi Arabia will diminish reserve supplies and put pressure on oil prices in 2012-2013
06/23/2011
Saudi domestic consumption increasing at 10% a year will diminsh the Saudi role as a reserve supplier. Estimates are for zero reserve supplies by 2020 and oil imports by 2038, so large is the effect of growing use of oil at home. The Arab Spring means subsidies and social spending will increase, supporting continuing use of oil at current levels for a rapidly growing population.
Linked Articles
The End of the Saudi Oil Reserve Margin
Wall Street Journal 04/03/2012
Rising Saudi Thirst for Oil Drives Plans to Go NuclearWall Street Journal 06/23/2011
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