LyrArc Article Gist
Krugman draws attention to the statement of the E.U. leaders put out in mid-July, 2011. This statement calls for strong deficit reductions "in all countries except those under a programme" to take place "by 2012 at the latest." He says this is a call for all of Europe to cut spending. Krugman points out that there is nothing to show that the European private sector will be ready to pick up the slack in the next 2 years. He sees a similiar situation playing out with the deep cuts proposed in the U.S. deficit reduction plans being discussed and the unwillingness of the private sector in the U.S. to invest when demand is weak and household debt is high.

LyrArc Article Gist
Greece's problem says Carney, is that borrowed money simply financed the incomes of the large number of government employees- with one third of the workforce in the public sector- the unemployed and those on state pensions. It was not achieved by increasing productivity or increase in production. Nominal private sector labor costs went up by 62% in Greece from 2000 to 2008, when they increased by 15% in Germany. All this was done by using borrowed money after Greece joined the EU in 2001. And all this reckless borrowing was not visible to ordinary Greeks- worse it was being covered up till 2009 by the government till the IMF's Traa pointed this out. And Greeks still cannot come to terms with what happened.

LyrArc Article Gist
Of 21 reader comments to this piece on banker pay, all except for 4-5, were very critical of the bankers behaviour, including many of their colleagues in the financial industry who commented. The lack of any response from the FSA on the grounds that its not the FSA's job, or from the Treasury, is disconcerting. Treasury is said to have not said a word, when RBS hired a head trader for a rumored 7 million pounds. All this coming on the heels of the RBS and Lloyds debacle, makes the Labor government open to attack from the Conservatives under Osborne and Cameron. and from Mervyn King of the Bank of England. They have expressed strong disapproval of the busines as usual attitude of bankers.

LyrArc Article Gist
China put out a new map with Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin as part of China. China sees it as part of South Tibet. China annexed Tibet that was independent for centuries until invaded in the early 1950's, after the Communist Party under Mao formed the new Chinese government in 1949. Because of the map controversy president Xi may stay away from the G20 leaders meeting in New Delhi on September 9, and send Li Quang in his place.

LyrArc Article Gist
The U.S. commander in Europe, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, says Russia respects strength, and the U.S. must add capability in this situation where Russia is no longer a partner with the U.S. and Europe as it appeared to be previously. He sees the U.S. as ready to meet all its commitments and protecting democracy. He also says Twitter is not the best way to communicate policy as president Trump does, and that he receives his instructions through the chain of command.

LyrArc Article Gist
The Washington Post closes its remaining domestic bureaus in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. It will cover all domestic news from Washington with travelling reporters. The Post lost $167 million in the first 3 quarters of 2009.

LyrArc Article Gist
Syrian refugees number 1 million in Germany and Austria. In Turkey 3.5 million, in Lebanon 800,000, Jordan 600,000. 6-7 million Syrian refugees all over the world. The figures are large for displaced people and refugees worldwide. About 60 million displaced, over 30 million refugees and about 6 million asylum seekers. (UNHCR figures). Some are in transit as one report in The Times shows 800,000 entered Greece in 2015. It was at the time of the financial crisis in Greece and other countries, putting a great strain on resources. Even as illegal migration is criticized in many European countries, the fact that Europeans have given refuge to so many at risk of strain in their social systems is also something the says a lot about the goodwill and resilience in European societies after two world wars. A similar show of sentiment is appropriate from these countries in the Middle East and Africa, from the diaspora, and needs to be translated into action by looking at better models of managing the economies and government of these nations so that mistakes of the past are not repeated and there is a place for all. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
WSJ poll in January 2025 shows DJT has the support of the American people to make changes and at the same time not enough support for major changes the president elect has promised to make. Deport all migrants with criminal records 75% support. On large scale deportation of migrants 70% disapprove deporting long time residents who have no criminal records. Does this long time resident mean people who are here before 2021 when for the first time migrants reached 200,000 in mid year 2021 exceeding the 150,000 peak in DJT's first term, is not made clear by this report on the WSJ poll. This is the point mid 2021 when Biden was supposed to have removed Mayorkas as Homeland Secretary and come up with new legislation with Republicans to close the border before a surge.  Ending birthright citizenship- 64% disapprove 31% approve. Set tariffs on all foreign goods- 48% approve 46% disapprove Eliminating programs for healthcare, education, social safety net- 60% disapprove 34% approve. Eliminate the Department of Education, and eliminate replace career civil service officers- 60% disapprove. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
China imports most of Iran's oil exports about 1.8 million barrels a day which flow through the Straits of Hormuz. Iran is heavily dependent on these exports for oil revenues that support it's economy. All Asian economies are heavily dependent on the oil flowing from Saudis, UAE and Iran through the Straits.  For Iran it would mean the loss of oil revenues needed to support its economy if the Straits are shut down. Iran's central bank says it get $67 billion from oil exports 90% of it going to China alone.  82% of oil imports of Asian countries  from Saudi, UAE, Qatar and Iran sources go though the Straits.  The US is not dependent on the Straits- less than 10% of its oil. Also true of Germany. The US  would have to use air strikes to prevent any mining of the waters seaway, and China, US, Japan, India would join in combined effort to keep all sea navigation open for international shipping.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
"What the hell kind of system is this?" That is what Jim Rogers, a co-founder with George Soros of the Quantum Fund, asks as he sees Chuck Prince taking out hundreds of millions of dollars out of Citigroup, and other Citigroup executives take many more hundreds of millions of dollars out of the company. As he sees Stan O'Neal get $150 million for leaving Merrill Lynch after he ruined the company. And Frank Raines he says did worse accounting than Enron with Fannie Mae, fradulent accounting year after year, and yet Raines is walking around with millions of dollars. One can add to Rogers list, Mozilo of Countrywide who was one of the principal figures behind pushing bad mortgage deals for homeowners that profited those in the business of real estate, and he is walking around with millions. So is Citigroup's Robert Rubin if one looks at those who had reputations to preserve, and he hopes to devote his time to charites as he says in his resignation letter to Citigroup CEO Pandit. See groups and links for Mozilo and Rubin. Jim Rogers thinks Long Term Capital Management should have been allowed to fail. Greenspan, Rubin, Summers, and Geithner were behind the rescue of LTCM. In the worst case scenario the economy would have recovered from a LTCM collapse, and the intervening period of dislocation would have sent a strong signal to financial institutions about excesses, risk taking, leverage, and put a necessary element of caution in all financial arrangements. Jim Rogers says Lehman would have lost a lot of money with an LTCM failure and it would have slowed Wall Street down for years. Some small degree of grief from time to time may be a normal part of any economic system, especially with excesses of one type or another, just as it is for the human condition, and may be away for the system to protect itself from bigger dangers by addressing and controlling the excesses. By eliminating this grief one may be subjecting the system to bigger and more life threatening stresses later on, as these excesses assume an exaggerated form. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This report in the Guardian shows that the election win by popular activists in Iraq under Moving Forward led by Moktada al-Sadr reflects popular sentiment opposing any interference from the U.S. or Iran in Iraq.

LyrArc Article Gist
Can a company encourage doctors to prescribe a drug for conditions other than what it is approved for by the FDA. Lilly settles with federal prosecutors that it broke fedral laws on marketing drugs and agrees to settlement of $1 billion. About $4 billion of Zyprexa prescriptions are sold each year.

LyrArc Article Gist
Children in the US should not be directed to educational content developed by tech companies using writers in Kenya and Philippines who lack the education to do this. A data labeler that hires people in Philippines and Kenya at $8 an hour, hundreds of thousands of low cost contractors, to create content. Some of the content is of such low quality that it had to be redone by Scale employees, says this story in WSJ. It started out providing this to self driving technologies companies needing data labeling, and now does this for AI.  Samples of questions for content are - explain a moon landing to a 6 year old, says the WSJ. Serious questions about quality of content going to AI and the willingness of Tech companies including Google and Apple to not make this a priority.  Education requires a different approach for quality of content and the tech monopolies are not the ones who should be in this role to build the educational content that a team of scientists and faculty envisioned in cultural literacy for the US under ED Hirsch since the 1970's. More than at other times in US history this is important to preserve the Nation the founders envisoned. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Friedman highlights the importance of an interview with President Obama by Atlantic magazine's Jeffrey Goldberg. In this interview Obama gives a thoughtful understanding of what it means if Iran acquires nuclear weapons. The greatest danger is in nuclear proliferation. Obama brings to this an understanding of this issue from the time he focussed on this issue as a student at Columbia University, when he described the risks of nuclear proliferation in the Columbia student newspaper. There is the risk of an escalation in the development of nuclear weapons in the Middle East first, and then elsewhere. And there is the risk that nuclear weapons fall into the wrong hands. The situation would create problems like that faced in North Korea or in the India-Pakistan region, but increased by many times the current dangers. The entire nuclear de-proliferation effort and the efforts to de-nuclearize weapons stockpiles that took decades to accomplish with the Soviet Union could come undone- and it would then be necessary for all countries to invest in advanced technologies for defending against nuclear weapons, setting in motion another arms race. The current situation reminds people that the issues raised by nuclear weapons development will always be with us, and require a worldwide concerted effort, at official and public level, bringing in scientists, public opinion worldwide, and educating the public in all countries of the larger danger to mankind. The issues need to be put in the right context beyond nations and politics, beyond international conflicts and competing interests or ideologies, including Israel, Iran and any other nation looking for nuclear weapons as a solution for conflicts. Shultz, Perry, Kissinger and Nunn after a series of meetings at the Hoover Institution called for the update of the old policies of nuclear deterrance based on mutually assured destruction used with the Soviet Union, to reflect the new threat of terrorism- in an op-ed NYT 3/7/2011. The focus of this effort is on a new Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, with all nations giving up nuclear material to an international nuclear material bank. Senator Obama strongly supported the efforts of Senators Lugar and Nunn in de-proliferation work after the collapse of the Soviet Union and joined the senators on one of their trips- Broad and Sanger, NYT, 7/5/2009. A major effort to reduce NATO, U.S. and Soviet nuclear weapons is called for to lead by example, providing a framework for other means of settling regional conflicts and educating public opinion in these countries, and moving forward the negotiating of the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. In many ways public opinion will have to lead the way in all countries as governments can lag behind- the efforts of Sam Nunn and Dick Lugar and the many unnamed people in the Soviet Union who aided their efforts show the importance of this....

LyrArc Article Gist
This is a WSJ special report on Nissan and the failure of Carlos Ghosn's management style at Nissan leading to deep discontent in management ranks and employees, and also in Japan. Ghosn failed to invest in Japan seeing it as an aging society, and preferred the U.S. for investment. This was an affront to many Japanese, not just Nissan employees.  A big problem was that Ghosn's salary was larger than that of all nine top Nissan executives combined. Even during the 2008 financial crisis and cost cutting Ghosn's salary was understated by using accounting methods not approved by its auditor Ernst & Young. Under new Japanese rules oversight on compensation was given to Mr. Imazu who had to uncover the different shell companies that were used to shield the compensation and benefits going to Ghosn from public view. Lack of transparency and frugality was a major issue as one Nissan executive put it- "where is the transparency, and where is the frugality." New laws introduced in Japan in 2015 required release of compensation for any company executive making more than $800,000. Under these rules Japanese prosecutors were able to investigate the situation at Nissan.  In the end when the CEO of Nissan, appointed by Mr. Ghosn announced the arrest and detention of Mr. Ghosn, the Japanese audience applauded, showing how deep the discontent was in Japan. On November 19, in a carefully managed operation that would make a detective type story Japanese prosecutors arrested Mr. Ghosn as his plane landed in Tokyo, and arrested his assistant Mr. Kelly on the same day after his plane landed and his car was taken off the road to a rest area. Ghosn story has also its management lessons as this type of hard driving management with time spent jet-setting more than in contact with people and employees of the company is becoming unpopular. It is bad for employees and presents a rather unhealthy lifestyle, lacking any kind of role model for the rest of the company and society where the company is located. In this case not just Yokohama, but all of Japan, which resented the way it was treated. Recent articles have highlighted the situation at other companies. The General Electric story about the failure at GE in the U.S. - also explored this week in the WSJ -tells a story of hard driving management style of some executives that is increasingly becoming unpopular. A more thoughtful management style, with mindfulness, not based on personality or ego, is more productive leading to better decisions after taking in all views and enabling participation of other top and middle managers. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Some ideas from Robert Shiller of Yale University who has widely written about bubbles including the stock bubbles and has jointly developed the Shiller-Case index of housing prices. Shiller suggests creating futures contracts tied to home prices. And the thinking goes once there is enough trqding in these futrues contracts people can sell the housing market short-that is bet on afall in house prices- so that there is a restraining effect on housing bubbles developing. But the reviewer thinks that this is debatable because its possible to sell stocks short and yet we have stock market bubbles. Shillers other suggestion is for developing new types of insurance to protect people from a fall in house prices or from a longterm loss of income as a result of jobs becoming obsolete, but its not clear who would pay for this insurance and its cost. Another suggestion is for the government to to give subsidies or tax credits for ordinary people to get unbiased financial advice. This could be a useful suggestion if there are credible and honest sources of such advice and they are identified and made widely available to the general public by the government. A related suggestion is the development of a supplement to the consumer price index that is based on a realistic basket of goods and services that people use that gives people a realistic idea of what is happening so that they do not assume that houses are always a good long term investment and can separate inflation. And Shiller suggests a standard mortgage contract be developed so that people who cannot understand the fine print like most of us especially when its put in by lawyers for mortgage companies can turn to htis contract. This is an excellent suggestion but one wonders why something so obvious has been not already widely available as an alternative to those who cannot figure out all the machinations behind all that small print. The book is titled SubPrime Solution and one wonders whether much more than this is needed to control all the fog and euphoria about housing prices, and all the incentives and pressure in hard selling tactics of most of the large mortgage companies, and all the ethical violations of credit ratings companies who rated mortgage securities and ethical violations of mortgage companies....

LyrArc Article Gist
This report by Jia Lynn Yang in NYT covers only the Coolidge period and the JFK period ignoring the wider trend since the 1850's when immigration from Asia to the US was discouraged. The laws limiting Japanese, Chinese and Indian immigrants were put in place long before 1924 by the 1890's. Japan agreed to limit immigration to the US under an agreement with the US after 1900. China was undergoing a transition under the Boxer Rebellion and upheaval in government in the period after 1900, India was part of Britain's colonial Empire.It does not mention that Chinese laborers helped do the dangerous work to build the railroads east to west. It also ignores the immigration from Mexico which was a special case in immigration because of Mexico's relationship along the border, first with the Mexican American War that achieved Jefferson's idea of a continental nation coast to coast. Mexico was a source of labor for US agriculture in the 1930's and 1940's when Asian immigration was severely constrained. When Gen. Eisenhower won the election in 1952 immigration policy was on the agenda, in fact Truman had a commission look at it by 1950. Operation Wetback was launched by Eisenhower and returned millions of Mexican migrants back to Mexico. Fearing the lack of farm help for Mexican agriculture Mexican agricultural interests supported the return of migrants. All this is left out by Lynn Yang. For almost a century Asian immigration was discouraged till JFK with experience in Asia during the war looked at Asian immigration to US differently passing new legislation to support this in the JFK/LBJ terms as president. In this sense the operations under DJT at the Border  and in the US in 2025-2026 are similar to what happened under Operation Wetback under a popular president Eisenhower, after the surge in Mexican migration adding millions of migrants to the US population in the 1930's and 1940's. A greater glimpse of the US can only be imagined if after the early immigration and discovery of the continent by the Spanish, the French and the British by 1600, the continent had not been unified first by the war of 1756-1763 with the French and Indian Wars creating the original 13 British colonies before the War of Independence in 1776, and the expansion to Spanish/Mexican territory to the West and South including California, Texas and Florida in the Mexican American War of 1846-48. In that situation there would be five sectors in America- British, Spanish, French, Mexican and American. The US could not have advanced as an industrial power divided in this way and would not have attracted immigrants from Europe the away it did. If it was split into two Southern confederacy and Northern Union states it would also have led to a similar situation. There would be conflict. It is only divine intervention and the courage and ideas of Jefferson and Washington, the work of president Polk, the leadership of Lincoln, and the industrial revolution on a large scale of one Nation in peace for most of the 19th century, that it became a haven for immigrants from a troubled Europe, a struggling Asia and Mexico. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
By taking action in Venezuela in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people (and similar action in the long run interests of the Iranian people to dedicate most of the resources for development and increase share of oil revenues without discounting and removing sanctions ill effects on economy and quality of life) major new changes can improve quality of life in the world.  Venezuelan production which was 3 million barrels a day has declined to 900,000 without US investment and technological upgrades. With US investment this can be increased to put additional oil supplies on the market lost in the war with Iran and smaller traffic through the Straits of Hormuz. Venezuelan crude is best suited to US refineries which frees up shale oil for export to meet needs of India and Europe. China which had hyper growth through massive oil consumption would reduce its growth rate and its impact on climate change as it adjusts to the loss of 3 million barrels a day it no longer gets from Iran. Slower growth rate in China is good for the climate as it is the hyper growth of China that put the most pressure on climate even as Europe and the US had cut  fossil fuels consumption over the last decade. China made 2 coal plants a week and 95% of all new global coal construction in 2023. India needs additional oil supplies as it increases its growth rate from a much lower point of development (and electricity poverty) than China. By simply settling for normal development compared to hyper development targets( China has reached a point of Oil Fairness Percentage where each country gets to use the same percentage of oil as its population is as a percentage of world population- the number being about 17% for China for both, with the number being 18% for India and it having a shortfall of 12% based on its oil consumption being only 6% of the world total). China can reduce oil and coal consumption reducing pressure on oil prices and absorbing most of the impact from the loss of Iranian oil. China and Russia + (old Soviet territory) Canada, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, make up about 40% of the world's territorial landmass, would be large beneficiaries with improved climatic conditions from burning less coal. They are now highly developed countries and do not need hyper growth which requires China to build 2 coal plants a week and consume excessive amounts of crude oil and coal based on artificially set targets that make no sense by destroying the climate when no child in China lacks electricity to read. Marathon Philipps Valero with over half a million barrels of refining capacity for heavy Venezuelan crude can now put this to use using the imports by US of lower priced (by $9 to Brent crude) Venezuelan crude oil. In a few months of 2025 US has imported 280,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan crude in February 2026 alone some of it going to the large Valero refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. American oil refiners make larger margins using the Venezuelan crude than they make on light crude from shale oil producers in the US. What this does is to increase the supply of crude and refined oil products on the market as the light crude get shipped overseas to India and Europe- including countries like Spain which took in 100,000 barrels a day of shale crude from US in February 2026. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Ajami cites his own memories of Egypt's Gamal Abdul Nasser, who had a way with crowds and rhetoric in the Arab world, as giving him an insight into the way Barack Obama found his way into the American imagination as a popular leader in 2008. He points out that the coalition of black people who put their faith in him as one of their own, of white educated professionals who liked his cool image, of Hispanics who had hope for better immigration policies, and working class Americans who set aside reservations of elitism to give their support, was put together on the basis of hope and charisma and the uncanny ability of Obama to let himself be seen as all things to all people. Because of the way it was put together it was bound to come apart, particularly for a candidate without enough experience, says Ajami. The aloofness of the president, reliance on Congressional leaders Reid and Pelosi, and relying on a very small circle of advisors whose eyes were focussed on reelection, made this more so. He cites as one example, the controversial decision on Syria's chemical weapons made on a walk with chief of staff Dennis McDonough. Ajami gives a picture of how Obama may be seen from the outside, especially in the Arab and Muslim world- from Turkey and Egypt to Saudi Arabia- a sense of illusions. A European and particularly a German perspective also may have similiar sense of illusions about having gone for the ride and believing the image put out by image handlers. The lack of sensitivity to German sentiments about the tapping of chancellor Merkel's mobile phone- herself a former East German resident of the Soviet backed GDR- bringing this out. A similiar sense seems to have taken hold in Brazil, after Brazilian president Rousseff cancelled a trip because of lack of sensitivity to the tapping of her phone, as she is a survivor of brutal dictatorships in Brazil. This is ironically a full circle, as happens in these situations of euphoria encouraged by politicians inevitably followed by disillusionment, because Turkey, Germany and Brazil were some of the countries where enthusiasm for the new president was highest. More so because president Lula of Brazil, Merkel of Germany,and Erdogan of Turkey were leaders Obama seemed to relate to the most. This acts as a cautionary note for the future....

LyrArc Article Gist
The main thrust of the article is contained in 3 content links: first one is how the Resistance as the Hezbollah cals itself has made itself part of the social fabric, the second the peculiar set of events thaat led to this, the third about the peculiardemocratic representation system that was designed after the Lebanese civil war. Content Links 1. Hezbollah as part of the social fabric. Hezbollah legislators pushed through a $35 million drinking water faility, a waste disposal project of about $35 million and a $68 million road project in the Shiite dominant Bekaa Valley. See the reference to the organic farm and other economic and charitable projects in Solomon/Leggett WSJ 7-21-06, financed by Iran. 2. The Peculiar Set of Events that Led to Hezbollah integrating into the Lebanese social and political fabric. The Lebanese civil war began in 1975 and formally ended in 1989 with accord that reserved ccertain number of parliamentary seats and key positions for each sect or religious group. The Shiites had 27 and Sunnis 27, the Christians 64 and the Muslims 64 in the 128 member Parliament after the 2005 elections. The President has to be a Maronite Chrisitian, the Prime Minister a Sunni Muslim, and the Speaker of Parliament a Shiite Muslim, according to the accord. The Shhites led by Hezbollah took the maximum number of seats available to Shiite Muslims during the election, 35 according to this article though 27 is shown under the earlier Solomon Democracy article. After the election which followed Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, the Shiite parties joined the coalition government an took 2 ministries , energy and labor, and negotiated veto powers over any cabinet decisions. 3. The Lebanese Democratic System that emerged from the 1989 accord. This gave Maronite Christians, Sunni Muslims (for long time priviliged and better educated groups in Lebanon compared to the less well educated Shiites having higher rates of unemployment and illiteracy as well as less access to governace, ) a proportionally bigger say in the government. About 40% of Lebanon's population is Shiite, but their representation in the Parliament of 128 seats is a maximum of 35 seats, with the rest going to other Muslims and Christians. Ali Nasr refers to this in his key article for this group. In a Lebanon with a Shiite Revival this still leaves more progress in democratic representation for the Shiiites in the future. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Tom Friedman explains why Applied Materials is one of the largest solar panel manufacturers in the world but makes its panels in 5 factories in Germany, four in China and one each in India, Taiwan and Italy. With no factory in the USA. And all 14 factories put up in the last 2 years, put up overseas. Applied Materials is opening its largest worldwide research facility in Xian, China, in October 2009. Applied develops the knowhow for solar energy at its research facilities for manufacturing technology. These solar panel factories says Applied CEO Splinter go for about $200 million each. Solar panels technology can vary from thin film coated onto glass with nanotechnology using crystalline silicon, to other technologies. Germany is at the forefront of the world solar energy industry. It is the second largest industry in Germany employing some 50,000 people. China is putting a new emphasis on pollution free energy. What Germany has done says Friedman after visiting Applied Materials research facilities, is to allow any business or homeowner to generate solar energy, and if they decide have the power utility to connect them to the grid as well as buy the solar power at apric and duration attractive to the homeowner or business user. Something the USA has still to do. As a result solar energy consumption in the USA lags way behind these countries. Applied Materials largest USA customer is a German owned company in Oregon says Applied CEO Splinter. Splinter points to the fact that solar energy is becoming an important industry, similiar to the way the auto industry assumed importance. For Applied Materials this means revenues of $1.3 billion in the last 12 months, according to Splinter. ...