LyrArc Article Gist
The UAW added 7000 workers to the 18000 already on strike at Ford, GM, Stellantis.The UAW is making progress in its talks on Stellantis on cost of living adjustments and outsourcing, and says it will spare Stellantis from more walkouts. Stellantis also has the least hourly workers of the three US auto companies. Stellantis has operations in Europe and gets half of its profit outside the US. The UAW is also not stopping work at the largest SUV and pickup truck plants that make the most money for the auto companies. The idea is to do only what is needed to achieve its goals of fair pay and benefits for the auto workers.

LyrArc Article Gist
President Biden has asked for $18 billion for child care stabilization, the children's infrastructure of today. Republican controlled Congress is not responding. Nationwide 16000 childcare providers closed their doors across 37 states in 15 months of 2020 through March 2021. Childcare givers in the US make less than parking attendants, says this story in The Washington Post. Federal grants provided help in Wisconsin and other states, but this money dried up and more childcare centers have closed. This is the soft infrastructure that America needs and is so crucial- for its children and for mothers and fathers. The losses reverberate through local economies. And it disrupts parents, especially mothers ability to work. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Minimobility can be seen in some locations in the US such as Peachtree City, a town south of Atlanta where golf carts are popular. In Europe it is taking off and popular on its small streets and with its  culture of smaller vehicles. The Renault Duo, Citroen Ami, Swiss Microlino, Swedish Luvly, are electric vehicles for 1-2 passengers made at prices from $8000 for the Ami to $16000 for the Microliner. The Microliner has a range of 150 miles and max speed of 55mph. By 2030 about $100 billion of these small electric vehicles could be on the road compared to $3 billion in 2023. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Biden's vision for America is genuine and it works, in resources put to the task and in manufacturing, in technologies, in infrastructure that rebuilds America, says Brooks in NYT.  Biden has to frame his own narrative, tell America's 21st century story, says David Brooks in the NYT. To do this he has to get out of the protective walls that have been built around him, and make himself the center of the nation's attention. Because the media is too fractured and the nation too fractured to grasp that it is possible after four failed administrations- Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump's.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Trump speech at Motera stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in which he quotes Swami Vivekananda, with the line- "While our nations have many differences they are propelled by a fundamental truth, the truth that all of us are blessed with divine light, and every person is endowed with a sacred soul." 

Mr. Trump visited Sabarmati Ashram, the site where Gandhi spent many years,  right after landing on a 8000 mile non- stop flight to Ahmedabad, and is shown trying his hand with Gandhi's cotton textile making wheel and reflecting on the stone bench in this place by the river Sabarmati where so much happened.

 

LyrArc Article Gist
Michigan has three highest elected officials who are women Gretchen Whitmer Governor, Benson Secretary of State, and Nessel as Attorney General. The former Governor was Jennifer Granholm who is now in the cabinet of president Biden as Secretary of Energy.  Harris has moved up by 5 percentage points in Michigan and has the support of people across all communities in the state. Even though Michigan and Wisconsin are shown as states similar to Kansas and Iowa, they have in Michigan a strong manufacturing worker base, and in Wisconsin the influence of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, that make the state very different and forward looking in its thinking.

LyrArc Article Gist
New York Governor Kathy Hochul halts a congestion pricing plan for New York City saying it would have unintended consequences and hinder New York's economic recovery. It would make it harder for cost of living for families after the effects of the pandemic. The plan was to charge $15 fee to enter New York Manhattan south of 60th Street. It was seen as a way to support a financially strapped MTA subway authority. Hochul said- "Let's be real. $15 may not sound a lot to someon who has the means but it can break the budget of a hardworking middle class household." 

LyrArc Article Gist
The Guardian shows what J.D. Vance really thinks from his words in 2016 before his run for the US Senate depended on the backing of the former president. Most important are Vance's thoughts on whether the policies of Trump would work in a second term to meet the needs of Americans struggling to make a living. Like the yellow vest supporters before the pandemic in France, another burden was placed on ordinary Americans when the pandemic hit with the cost of living crisis. Vance did not think the economic policies of a Trump second term  would work in his thoughts expressed in 2016 before his run for the Senate.

LyrArc Article Gist
Kamala Harris stands by her values in her positions on fracking which she says can be combined for transition with a clear timely pursued climate change strategy Biden-Harris has pursued. The investments in climate change action are being made in a way that will protect us from climate change. On immigration she repeated her pledge that she will get the Biden Lankford immigration legislation that closes the Border to her desk and will sign it into law. She pointed out that Biden has served the interests of the American people with the large investments in manufacturing, in climate change action, and in infrastructure, child care, that will be remembered by the American people.

LyrArc Article Gist
The election of Merz in Germany as chancellor means a sharing of minds with Macron of France, the two leaders share the same approach, coming 3 years after the inertia under chancellor Scholz. It means the steps will be taken for European defense and for a European alternative to NATO. It also means efforts will be made for the French-German economic engine to be revived. 

UK's prime minister Starmer also supports this effort for a united Europe to tackle defense and economic challenges in 2025. Leyen, head of the European Union is also a member of CDU party of Merz and led the defense ministry under Merkel.

LyrArc Article Gist
WSJ calls in April 2025 for accountability push from DJT and the US including all agencies of the government on Wuhan Lab leak so that all the facts are available to the people of the US after millions dead, and lives, economies destroyed. WSJ says we cannot trust scientists with dangerous pathogens to make decisions with bureaucrats and universities, foreign governments and agencies of the US government, that affect the lives of billions of people in the US and the world. WSJ has covered this issue and its evolution in detail since 2019. Honoring the dead and being prepared for the future requires being honest with ourselves, says the WSJ.

LyrArc Article Gist
Jimmy Carter holds the record for appointing federal judges in one term- 262 judges, 55 minorities, 42 women. In 1978 a Democratic Congress responded to a federal case backlog by creating positions for 150 more federal judges, all of which would be filled by Carter. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one of these judges. Carter did not appoint a single Supreme Court Judge yet Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer another of these judges made it to the US Supreme Court.

By comparison for a single term Biden has appointed 235 federal judges. Reagan with 383 and Clinton with 378 hold the record for federal judges appointed  in two terms.

LyrArc Article Gist
A final U.S. State Dept. review of the XL Keystone pipeline shows there will be no negative environmental impact. The amount of oil from oil sands will not be increased by the building of the pipeline. The final decision will be made by president Obama.

LyrArc Article Gist
Former Fed chairman sees the "resolution agency" as a key feature of new financial reform legislation in Congress. This agency would have the power to takeover a large troubled financial institution. It would have the authority to quickly shut it down and this would make it less likely for large financial institutions to take risks knowing the federal government would rescue them.

LyrArc Article Gist
The sale buy Allianz of Dresdner Bank which it acquired in 2001 to Commerzbank will result in a bank with the largest number of retail branches. It will also make Commerzbank the leader with Mittelstand companies.

LyrArc Article Gist
As many of China's state owned companies go public questions are raised about the quality of corporate governance. The appointments or terminations are all handled through important party meetings like the one expected this fall. A termination was made earlier for Sinopec, Asia's largest refiner, with little other information on June 22 when the chairman Chen resigned. Rumors late appeared in media that this had to do with corruption investigations. This does not help bring transparency about how appointments are made or how terminations are made.

LyrArc Article Gist
The European Stabilization Mechanism, setup this week will bailout member states but also enforce strict conditionality. This conditionality means coming in and telling a country what it must do in taxes, spending and economic policy as a price for being rescued. This is amajor adjustment to the system setup originally for the euro, which had the European central bank for price stability and the individual states handling their own finances with no bailout provision. With bailouts made part of the system, each country gurantees the others debts in the eurozone. And this comes with strict conditionality. The agreement last week makes a big change to the original Lisbon Treaty, which had no provision for a bailout. Lagarde says it was wishful thinking to think that the euro would work without something more coercive and stronger discipline. Jolis and Carney quote a former German central bank chief Tietmeyer in describing the challenge facing the euro:"it requires the degree of solidarity characteristic of a nation." They cite the violence and protests in countries from Greece to France when austerity policies are implemented on the basis of such discipline....

LyrArc Article Gist
The Guardian in its Editorial on Keir Starmer on February 10, 2026, says Labour was in the political wilderness for 18 years, and yet it has taken only 14 months for the project which put it into power to implode. It is referring to the project of McSweeney from County Cork, Ireland, and others to put a centrist to replace Corbyn, and selecting Keir Starmer. This was a weakness from the start as a candidate has to emerge on his own merits not be put in place by handlers like McSweeney, as he would not be able to govern on his own thinking and make his own decisions.  McSweeney was a campaign organizer and not successful at that as portrayed as Labour could have taken more than the 34% of the vote it received after 18 years of Tory rule without the likes of McSweeney. The Guardian says "excessive power and influence" was given by Starmer to McSweeney, and that the outsourcing of Britain's direction served neither the prime minister or the country well.  This is aserious flaw. McSweeney did not have the long experience of advisers that backed up Biden in the White House. And even the long experience of Biden group of advisers failed Biden when it came to immigration policy and the Border. And yet the question remains why was there such a lack in the talent pool for good governance for Labour, as it was for the Conservatives, for 3 decades since the 1990's? Similar to the situation with Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama governance in the US, why is there not a good talent pool for effective governance in the UK and the US? The Guardian goes on to question the judgement of Starmer and the clique around him including McSweeney for their attitude towards helping the working class in support payments during a cost of living crisis- what it calls a contempt filled approach of the cliques to the normal priorities of a Labour party. The Editorial concludes that Labour has lost control of the trajectory of events- as more Mandelson emails are expected- and that it is hard to see how this trust can be won back. For Britain having 5 prime ministers over 4 years is a shocking lack of the talent, of confidence, that once prevailed in the nation that once led the world with the Industrial Revolution, and in science and technology. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A Lebanese shopkeeper's son who is a lawyer, did his Masters degree in Economics at the University of Sao Paulo. In this interview he is shown as a tucano, a member of the white, college educated, wealthy and male group in Brazil, also the name of the centre right Social Democracy party of Cardozo since the 1994 elections. PT's Lula da Silva elected as president in 2002 turned to Haddad to run the Education ministry in 2005. Since then Haddad has mediated between worker's factions and the moderate elements in the PT Party of Trabajadores or Workers Party, the party Lula founded with others in 1980 during the redemocratization period. During the period when Lula was in prison in 2018- after the election in which Haddad lost 45% to 55% to a representative of the military and centre far right parties Captain Jair Bolsanaro- Haddad visited Lula in prison.  Haddad is now Finance Minister in Brazil with inflation at 4.5%, unemployment at 7.5%, and GDP growth of 1.5% following 3% growth in GDP in 2023. Haddad says in this interview that he is seen as austerica within the PT because of his economic policies. Popularity of PT has dropped with Lula's approval at a low of 28 percent in June 2025. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Hakeem Jeffries of Brooklyn NY accomplishes little from a 43 day shutdown of the US government. Tim Kaine expresses his view on the pages of the NYT that he knows the key actors and the prospect of Republicans negotiating agreement on restoring ACA Obama subsidies were zero, just zero he says. BBC's Zurcher's analysis says the Jeffries based NYC leadership accomplished little, that a sober assessment by the region of New Hampshire and Maine, leaders from Robert Frost country with their keen sense of the right direction for the people and country- separate from warring ideologies and vested interests-has put the US on the right path to the future. As Robert Frost of the New Hampshire countryside says-

"Two paths diverged in the woods and I- I took the one less travelled by.  And that has made all the difference."

LyrArc Article Gist
It took 12 hours after Maduro's capture for Berlin to respond. Chancellor Merz of the CDU and Lars Klingbeil of the SPD Deputy Chancellor are in a coalition government, with the SPD taking a different and cautious view than the CDU. Both agree that the Maduro government was illegitimate and about human rights abuses.The final statement said the Maduro government was illegitimate and had human rights abuses, and welcomed the change. It also was cautious in its wording as it was concerned about implications for international law. No mention was made of drug trafficking to the European Union from Venezuela and its impact on European society as a concern, but this must be a concern that European leaders have. European leaders have failed to bring this up which can be mystifying for people outside Europe knowing the increasing damage drug trafficking is doing to European society, including France, Italy and Germany.

LyrArc Article Gist
German chancellor Merz says the old order is unraveling. He says -

"We have entered an era of great power politics," Merz said. "The new world of the great powers is founded upon power, strength and when necessary, force. It is not a cozy place."    

The German chancellor says Russia's invasion on Ukraine is the beginning of a "new era, but change runs much deeper."

"China, with strategic foresight, has worked its way into the ranks of the great powers," Merz says. He said Washington is reacting to these challenges from these other "great powers" by radically reshaping its foreign and security policy."

"Europe [and its] like-minded partners must stand closer together. European countries must do more to make their economies competitive and to invest massively in our ability to defend ourselves."

LyrArc Article Gist
Senator Lamar Alexander is a kind of misssionary for electric cars and for a major push with government assistance in this area. A bill sponsored by Alexander and Senator Byron Dorgan plans to designate 5 to15 urban areas as model locations for electric car use. These areas would get money for infrastructure such as recharging stations, and people in the areas would get an additional tax credit to take the tax credit from $7,500 to $10,000. The bill has important provisions for promoting research at companies and universities to improve electric car batteries. $1.5 billion would be allocated for research in electric car batteries, and a $10 million prize for the person or company able to build a battery with a 500 mile range. The total cost- $10 billion.

LyrArc Article Gist
Most countries in Europe and North America are observing a locked down Easter. In France 160,000 police officers and gendarmes are on duty to make sure people respect the lockdown. Fear that people will gather in parks and transmit the virus leads to officials in Germany, France and Britain to keep tight restrictions. The virus transmission has not abated in these countries. Religious services in Germany will be held online. Police in London patrolled parks and green spaces to prevent people going outside on sunny Spring days. 

LyrArc Article Gist
At a time when family physicians in Britain are experiencing burnout a plan for patients to use text messages to rate family physicians by the new Health Secretary Sajid Javid arouses intense criticism. A former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and the British AMA say the Boris Johnson government's effort to increase in person appointnments by offering incentives of 250 million pounds was a bad idea. They say efforts should be made to attract 6000 more general practitioners rather than demoralize family physicians who are already burned out.