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Severe floods in Germany 2021 Italy 2023 and effects of climate change in Europe
05/21/2023
The floods in Germany and Europe, the severe drought in parts of Spain and Italy are seen as signs climate change is here. At one southernmost point in Sicily the temperature recently reached about 49 degrees centigrade the highest ever in Europe.
Linked Articles
Italy’s disasters suggest the climate crisis is at the gates of Europe
The Guardian 05/18/2023
Scores dead, hundreds missing after massive floods in Germany, BelgiumFrance 24 07/16/2021
Guru Tegh Bahadur forgotten hero and saint of the Punjab for his discourses in many languages, and for his meditation like the Buddha
04/25/2022
Guru Tegh Bahadur is forgotten for his discourses like the Buddha across the length and breadth of India in many languages, and for his meditation that goes back in tradition to the Buddha and Shiva. Guru Tegh Bahadur saw one nation in many communities speaking different languages and with different traditions.
Linked Articles
The Times of India 04/22/2022
Explained: Life and legend of Guru Tegh Bahadur, who stood up to the MughalsThe Indian Express 04/21/2022
Prevention tips for coronavirus or other virus infections
02/09/2020
Masks are a way to prevent infection from air around you. Use of sanitizers for hands is important to avoid infection. Other tips are given here.
Linked Articles
Many in China Wear Them, but Do Masks Block Coronavirus?
NYTimes.com 01/23/2020
How to Handle Air Travel During the Coronavirus OutbreakWSJ 02/04/2020
John Glenn, American hero
12/11/2016
Linked Articles
John Glenn survived space and celebrity — and still had a great marriage
Washington Post 12/09/2016
John Glenn, American Hero of the Space Age, Dies at 95The New York Times 12/08/2016
Goldman Sachs and U.S. regulators in 2015-2017- cutting risks in trading activity and private equity/hedge fund investments following the excessive leveraging of the 2008 financial crisis
08/04/2016
Stronger regulation takes shape through the efforts of Daniel Tarullo at the Federal Reserve and the LISSC. The situation with Goldman Sachs, one of the highly leveraged banks during the 2008 financial crisis still hoping to earn high profits with large trading activities.
Linked Articles
At Goldman Sachs, Stress Test Results Could Endanger an Important Profit Source
New York Times 03/08/2015
Goldman Sachs Not Sure It Can Sell Private-Equity StakesWSJ 08/04/2016
The damage done at Yahoo with failed acquisitions, flawed news strategy investments, followed by costcutting that led to low morale and departure of mobile engineer talent
01/10/2016
A series of bad moves by CEO Marissa Mayer leads to costcutting, layoffs and departure of mobile engineers to rivals Facebook and Google, depriving Yahoo of talent in the mobile business. The internet business is now up for sale with Verizon, Britain's Daily Mail bidding for it, and investor Starboard Value hedge fund pushing for the sale.
Linked Articles
Yahoo’s got millions of users, but it’s still in decline. What went wrong? - The Washington Post
Washington Post 04/20/2016
Yahoo’s Brain Drain Shows a Loss of Faith Inside the CompanyNew York Times 01/10/2016
Calpers decision to exit investment in hedge funds and the losses at Carlyle hedge fund- poor returns for hedge funds
09/15/2014
Linked Articles
Calpers, Nation's Biggest Pension Fund, To End Hedge Fund Investments
New York Times 09/15/2014
Carlyle Fund Walloped in Commodities RoutWall Street Journal 08/01/2015
Traders at JP Morgan Chase bank's Chief Investment Office- were they hedging risk or simply making wild bets and taking purely speculative positions
04/10/2012
As speculative positions these were trades that were massive bets on money loaned out by depositors. The CIO manages $350 billion in assets.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 05/20/2012
Making Waves Against 'Whale'Wall Street Journal 04/10/2012
Former Fed chairman Volcker on the Volcker Rule and the ban on proprietary trading by banks
10/27/2011
Volcker's letter of comments on the Rule and the interview with Pete Rose. Here he says why this will make financial markets a safer place and why it will lead to healthy financial markets. The financial industry is opposing the Volcker Rule.
Linked Articles
Volcker to Push Back on Banks' Trading
Wall Street Journal 02/13/2012
Charlie Rose Talks to Paul VolckerBusinessWeek 10/27/2011
Angela Merkel's experience with the reunification of East and West Germany and her views of the eurozone crisis
01/30/2011
The perceptions of the eurozone crisis of ordinary Germans and of former East German Angela Merkel are colored by the period of reunification of the two Germany's. This was paid for with a"solidarity surcharge" tax paid by Germans amounting to $1.7 trillion and led in its early stages to 4 million unemployed in the eastern part and 20% unemployment. It took over a decade for East Germany to build new modernized industries in the larger cities of the east, but still leaves the rural parts of former East Germany in a neglected state as young peoplemoved out. During this period industry in the west also regained lost global competitiveness, especially in industries such as automobiles and advanced machinery, using wage restraint agreements with unions and increases in productivity. Germans see the need for eurozone countries in the southern part of Europe needing to make similiar sacrifices and see the tax evasion in Italy and Greece as unacceptable. The real estate bubble, the lack of transparency for banks bad loans, and out of control regional spending in Spain is also seen in a similiar light. Greece is seen as the most egregious offendor because of the bad financial accounting that grossly understated the extent of the bad loans. Less publicized in Germany is the role played in the bad loans through poor lending practices of German and French banks and that as experts have pointed out Germany was to some extent bailing out German banks when it was bailing out Greece- till German banks reduced their exposure to Greece in 2011.
Linked Articles
In former East Germany, anxious residents resent paying for Europe’s problems - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/21/2012
Merkel's Defense of Euro Forged in East GermanyNew York Times 01/30/2011
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
Bogle at Vanguard Group says we live in an agency society where agents like pension fund managers and mutual fund managers make decisions for us.
04/12/2009
Its this agency society and not an ownership society that we have syas Bogle. Ownership society was 50 years ago. And what did these agents do, they did not ask the questions and exercize their civic obligations in the business sense, which means scrutiny for things like selection of board members, corporate governance, executive compensation and conflicts of interest, and dilution of responsibility where it has to be exercized. Here private equity firm Carlyle Group is shown to have given millions of dollars to get access to New York State pension fund investments in Carlyle Group. In the process pension fund managers made millions of dollars, and Bogle's agents have sold their obligations to fiduciary responsibility.
Linked Articles
He Doesn’t Let Money Managers Off the Hook
New York Times 04/12/2009
N.Y. Pension Deals Seen as Focus of Wide InquiryNew York Times 04/14/2009
A hedge fund story of comeback from collapse- Citadel hedge fund and founder Ken Griffin in 2008 and in 2015
10/25/2008
Linked Articles
Citadel’s Ken Griffin Leaves 2008 Tumble Far Behind
Wall Street Journal 08/04/2015
Citadel Chief Denies Rumors of TroubleNew York Times 10/25/2008
Softbank the epitome of massively distorted capital markets even as healthcare, childcare, manufacturing technolgies, infrastructure suffered severe lack of funding
08/08/2022
How Softbank became the epitome and poster child for the distorted capital markets of today is shown here in the WSJ. It is a sad story of how America and Europe failed to invest in its people with egregious harm to 900 million people as healthcare, childcare, manufacturing technologies and infrastructure were neglected.
Linked Articles
WSJ 08/08/2022
SoftBank Reports Record $23 Billion Quarterly Loss as Tech Downturn HitsWSJ 08/08/2022
French and British preparation for pandemics after SARS and H1N1 and losing interest with Brexit (Britain) eurozone austerity policy (France) by 2019
05/16/2020
Both Britain and France learned and prepared for pandemics all the way to H1N1 in France in 2009, and to the 2016 Cygnus exercize for pandemic in Britain, then lost interest and ditched the efforts. How did this happen, learn why here in extraordinary reports from the Le Mode cited by France 24 and in a report from the Times of London. A must for a dynamic participatory informed mindset needed more than ever today.
Linked Articles
Pandemic disarmament: Why France was ready for Covid-19 a decade too soon
France 24 05/17/2020
Coronavirus: 38 days when Britain sleepwalked into disasterThe Times 05/16/2020
The Women20 Summit in Berlin and the path for women to the workplace in Europe, the U.S., and other countries
05/08/2017
The views expressed at the Women20 Summit at the G-20 summit in Berlin reflect the views of women leaders including Angela Merkel. Problems women in the U.S. are facing are covered here by Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen. For the first time leaders of the stature of Merkel and Yellen are talking about these issues openly to drive the debate and clear the path for women.
Linked Articles
The real issues at Women20 | Business | DW.COM | 26.04.2017
DW.COM 04/26/2017
To Lift Growth, Janet Yellen Says, Make It Easier for Women to WorkThe New York Times 05/05/2017
Chancellor Merkel and listening to German public opinion reflected in state elections of 2016
09/20/2016
Here we argue that contrary to general media coverage in the NYT, WSJ, Economist, and German media, a year from now Merkel may be seen more positively. This is because Merkel has always listened to public opinion carefully, and has told the German public frankly what happened- that she and the German government were caught unprepared in the refugee crisis that came up in summer 2015.
Linked Articles
German politics is turning into a six-party system
The Economist 09/19/2016
Opinion: Berlin, capital of mediocrity | Opinion | DW.COM | 19.09.2016DW.COM 09/19/2016
How Argentina's new government of Mauricio Macri achieved the difficult negotiation and final settlement of $9.3 billion with U.S. hedge funds
03/03/2016
Linked Articles
How Argentina Settled a Billion-Dollar Debt Dispute With Hedge Funds
New York Times 04/25/2016
After 15 Years, a Bond Trade Now Pays OffWall Street Journal 03/03/2016
Trump's casinos and Griffin's Citadel hedge fund- risky financial investments and path from collapse to recovery
08/04/2015
WSJ reporters Grant and Berzon on Trump, and Copeland on Ken Griffin of the Citadel hedge fund provide an inside look at the financial dealings and maneouvring of Trump, the huge risk and leverage taken on at Citadel by Griffin. In doing so they provide insights into the manner of operating and personality of the two businessmen.
Linked Articles
Trump and His Debts: A Narrow Escape
Wall Street Journal 01/04/2016
Citadel’s Ken Griffin Leaves 2008 Tumble Far BehindWall Street Journal 08/04/2015
Span's Cajas Savings bank, problems with managment and culture, lack of financial controls, and the large losses from the real estate bubble
05/24/2012
Bankia was the new name for seven troubled cajas savings banks that were merged. The failure of the government's handling of the bad real estate debt, the collapse of the IPO price for bankia's IPO, and the insovency followed by takeover of Bankia by the government, is what led to the $125 recapitalization request by Spain to the EU. The cajas in Galicia give an insight into the operation of these savings banks, in many cases run by leaders who became influential in the political system and expanded healvily int real estate during the bubble years. Management remained in place for decades with authoritarian leaders and there were no financial controls.
Linked Articles
Clash of Cultures Upends Spain's Cajas
New York Times 08/20/2012
Spain to Recapitalize Bankia in Latest BailoutWall Street Journal 05/24/2012
The absence of solutions to the underlying problem of increasing U.S. health care costs in fiscal cliff deficit negotiations
04/03/2012
Without a new approach to increasing health care costs, especially considering the demographic changes in the U.S. with more people on Medicare in future years, the problems of defunding other areas such as education, R&D, and infrastructure, to fund these increases is likely to continue. Estimates show that the 50 million Americans enrolled in Medicare in 2012 will grow to 80 million by 2030, according to the Medicare program actuaries. Demographic changes as the baby boom generation ages mean more Americans relying on Medicare and Medicaid. With continually increasing health care costs from costly technologies, increasing of diabetes, asthma and other diseases, pricing in the medical industry, and some fraud costs, this is a toxic mix that will lead to to a situation where one of three dollars in spending get swallowed up here.
Linked Articles
Beneath Budget Battle, a Health-Spending Juggernaut
Wall Street Journal 12/17/2012
What to Do on the Day After ObamaCareWall Street Journal 04/03/2012
The safety failures that could have been prevented with stronger oversight and control for the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster
03/21/2011
The independent parliamentary panel in Japan concuded in its July 2012 Report that the nuclear accident at the Fukushima plant was "a profoundly man-made event." Here in its investigations after the accident the Wall Street Journal finds some of the safety flaws that could have been corrected but were not due to the compete lack of effectiveness of the safety agency and its failure to do its job. As a result licenses for forty year old nuclear reactor designs and installation designs were simply renewed without requiring changes or shutting down these reactors. It is these older designs that were also improperly installed that failed.
Linked Articles
Japan Plant Had Troubled History
Wall Street Journal 03/21/2011
Design Flaw Fueled Nuclear DisasterWall Street Journal 07/01/2011
Contrasts in the approaches of S. Korea in 1997 and the U.S. in 2008 to banking crises, and the hobbled U.S. economic recovery
01/06/2011
S. Korea in 1997 at the urging of Treasury Secretary Rubin took decisive step to unwind failed financial institutions. This in stark contrast to Treasury Secretary Geither, regulators and U.S. Fed officials actions in 2008 to merge troubled mortgage institutions such as Countrywide and Washington Mutual with Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. In the process creating mega banks that are hard to manage and hard to run, and "too big to fail," according to former and current Fed governors Hoenig and Fisher. Prof. Cochrane of the University of Chicago says the U.S. Federal Reserve's new job as financial regulator after the 2008 financial crisis, is an impossible one.
Linked Articles
Red Flags said to Go Unheeded at Chase
New York Times 05/14/2012
South Korea Makes a Quick Economic RecoveryNew York Times 01/06/2011
The slow and faltering progress on USAID and other rural development projects in Afghanistan
10/28/2009
This will rank as one of the great failures in this decade old war. Most of the progress is patchy and on-again and off-again as described here.
Linked Articles
Afghanistan Doesn't Need More Troops
Wall Street Journal 10/28/2009
U.S. military dismayed by delays in 3 key development projects in Afghanistan - The Washington PostWashington Post 04/29/2011
Is this wasteful government spending or are there infrastructure projects out there that would give us efficient, productive spending?
02/15/2009
With spending in the Stimulus plan derided as wasteful spending a closer look is needed of what is happening in infrastucture projects out there. Here are some big projects, and the list does not include numerous others. Robert Frank, a Cornell economist, clarifies how government spending in a sharp downturn, as consumers rebuild their finances, is just what is needed.
Linked Articles
Big Ideas, Grand Plans, Modest Budgets
New York Times 02/15/2009
Go Ahead and Save. Let the Government Spend.New York Times 02/15/2009
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