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Try hard but not too hard-cutting yourself some slack improves health and concentration, the Andy Grove principle for slack in your work routine reinforces this
09/15/2023
People forget that this applies to sports athletes and high achieving people. Andy Grove, founder of Intel and of Silicon Valley, believed in keeping some slack in his work routine and schedule. He left Hungary in 1956 after the Hungarian revolution and Russian invasion as a refugee, and graduated first in his class in the City College of New York in chemical engineering 3 years later. In 3 more years he obtained a PhD from UC Berkeley. In his book Output Management he says productive arrangement is one that keeps slack in the way that highway planners know that having too many cars compared to capacity means everything comes to a halt. In his daily work he always believed in having some slack. Today people pile on work upon work forgetting these basic principles. The other principle is leveraging of activities which is where the output comes from. To leverage effectively concentration of mind is needed and a chance to reflect and think, which requires slack and slack that adds additional time for healthy living that aids mindfulness. This adds to Motivation and Training which Grove says affect Output. To do this requires some slack to think and reflect and healthy lifestyles that power this process. This is also why the competing styles today show contrasts between those of Boeing's top managers and Stellantis managers similar to Grove and Musk's style for Tesla also shown in WSJ in the last few months being just the opposite.
Linked Articles
Burnt-out from work? Try following Hugh Jackman’s 85% rule
The Guardian 09/15/2023
Try Hard, but Not That Hard. 85% Is the Magic Number for Productivity.WSJ 09/11/2023
Hard realities- what a Greek exit from the eurozone in 2015 could do for Greece and for the European Union
04/29/2015
The Economist says Greece could end up becoming a failed state at the doorstep of the European Union. With the major parties losing support extreme parties on the right and left would increase support. The economy of Greece would suffer serious damage. As prices have declined by 16% with no surge in exports, a devaluation of the drachma would not be of much help. Argentina went through a period of severe hardship following the default on the currency. Greece, says the Economist, may be engaging in a strategy to extract concessions from the EU by waiting till the last minute. Yet this strategy has its drawbacks because of the damage to Greece's economy in the process, with the slight growth under the Samaras administration turning into a recession with the 6 months of the Syriza government in 2015.
Linked Articles
What Greece Faces if It Defaults
New York Times 04/29/2015
My big fat Greek divorceEconomist 06/20/2015
A major problem for western oil companies- the rapid increase in cost of oil and gas exploration and pipelines
01/29/2014
Projects are exceeding estimates and costs tripling or quadrupling in some cases. The search for solutions includes building processing plants for LNG on ships to eliminate the cost of building pipelines.
Linked Articles
Shell Plans Boat to Tap Gas Fields
Wall Street Journal 01/29/2014
Big Oil Companies Struggle to Justify Soaring Project CostsWall Street Journal 01/29/2014
The slow process of reform for credit ratings agencies involved in the 2008 global financial crisis six years later in 2014
02/05/2013
Linked Articles
S. & P. E-Mails on Mortgage Crisis Show Alarm and Gallows Humor
New York Times 02/05/2013
The Stone Unturned: Credit RatingsNew York Times 03/22/2014
Turkey, the U.S. and cluster bombs in Syria
06/28/2012
The U.S. stands by and takes a passive approach to artillery attacks on civilian populations and cluster bombs. Was some measure of respect lost in the process. The potential for a role with minimal cost of a no fly zone that could have prevented the air raids on civilians.
Linked Articles
Turkey Steps Up to the Assad Challenge
Wall Street Journal 06/28/2012
Syria Uses Cluster Bombs to Attack as Many Civilians as PossibleNew York Times 12/20/2012
The army and the judiciary supporting democratic processes in Pakistan (2)
04/27/2012
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 04/22/2013
Pakistan Premier Gets 30-Second TermWall Street Journal 04/27/2012
The army and the judiciary supporting democratic processes in Pakistan (1)
01/22/2012
Linked Articles
Pakistan Vote to Test Army's Willingness to Cede Power
Wall Street Journal 05/09/2013
Pakistan High Court Widens Role and Stirs FearsNew York Times 01/22/2012
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
The closed door budget negotiations between Republicans Boehner and Cantor and the Obama White House
07/12/2011
The closed door negotiating sessions puts the budget process outside the public scrutiny that is required by law. The lack of accountability and transparency. The use of the budget and competing claims to turn this into the first phase of the 2012 U.S. presidential election.
Linked Articles
Budget Shell Games Are Contrary to Law
Wall Street Journal 07/14/2011
Cantor emerges as key player in debt negotiations - The Washington PostWashington Post 07/12/2011
The politicizing of the 2011 U.S. budget process- election points and Obama's political team
07/07/2011
Krugman points to the possibility that the President's political team may be trying to score political points with independent voters witht he budget.
Linked Articles
Budget Shell Games Are Contrary to Law
Wall Street Journal 07/14/2011
Negotiating the Debt Ceiling on a Knife's EdgeNew York Times 07/07/2011
Inequality, the middle class and economic growth
01/15/2011
Studies show a growing middle class and lower middle class as one of the conditions underpinning steady economic growth. Adam Smith also points this out in his book The Wealth of Nations, written in the 18th century as England began its transformaton with the Industrial Revolution. Growing wages created a middle class and demand for goods and services that enable England to prosper. A similiar process took place in the U.S. with Henry Ford's effort to provide higher wages in his automobile plants in the 1920's that led to a growing middle class able to afford automobiles.
Linked Articles
Inequality: The rich and the rest
Economist 01/15/2011
The 1 Percent Clubâs Misguided ProtectorsNew York Times 12/10/2011
U.S. president Obama, lobbyists and the 2010 Obama health care law
07/24/2009
The political process and the influence of lobbyists on Congress and the White House constrains the development of laws that control healthcare costs. Higher health care costs means less money for infrastructure development, education, research and development funding, and other priorities which build a future for Americans.
Linked Articles
E-Mails Highlight Extent of Obama's Deal With Industry on Health Care
New York Times 06/08/2012
Obama's Health Expert Gets PoliticalWall Street Journal 07/24/2009
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
1041 elections in 2022 at American companies support unionized workplaces- protecting worker's rights during the pandemic
01/21/2023
The United Nations International Labor Organization calls for protecting workers rights and promoting decent work during a pandemic that devastated many workers. A new respect for unionized workplaces after decades of decline and respect for the dignity of work. Still the process of recovery has only started as only 10% of American workers are represented by unions, only 14 million workers.
Linked Articles
Trade Unions matter in a human-centred recovery from COVID-19
ILO 01/21/2023
Union Membership Rate Hits Record Low Despite Votes at Apple, Amazon, StarbucksWSJ 01/21/2023
Tech Startup Box Inc. in cloud computing- travails of co-founders Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith with the IPO process and changing market sentiment
04/19/2015
Changing market sentiment about Box Inc. consistent losses as it goes after rapid growth, with one anayst calling it "a house of horrors," a long IPO process and investor demands, have an unnerving and distracting effect on the founders. Langley and Hardy describe the experience of startup founders as competition and market perceptions change.
Linked Articles
Rich, but Not Silicon Valley Rich for Founders of Box
Wall Street Journal 04/24/2015
Box, Provider of Cloud-Computing Services, Faces Make-or-Break MomentNew York Times 04/19/2015
Extremists and separatists join the democratic process in Pakistan
05/05/2013
Linked Articles
Separatists Try New Path in Pakistan
Wall Street Journal 05/10/2013
Extremists Pursue Mainstream in Pakistan ElectionNew York Times 05/05/2013
Boeing and lessons learned from the $50 billion Dreamliner project- (3) a new emphasis on less complexity, efficient manufacturing process, and reliability
08/24/2012
Linked Articles
Boeing 787 Profit Plan Strained by Order Cut
Wall Street Journal 08/24/2012
787 Probe Indicates Fire Was Caused By ShortWall Street Journal 02/08/2013
Boeing and lessons learned from the $50 billion Dreamliner project- (1) a shift to incremental improvement for the path ahead
06/08/2012
No more moonshot projects, say CEO McInerney, and Ray Conner, head of the airplanes division. The cost of the Dreamliner exceeds $50 billion by 2015, according to Barclays Capital, including R&D and related costs. The focus is now on incremental change, on striving for simplicity, reducing complexity, and increasing reliability, after the experience of over 3 years of repeated delays, cost overruns, and reliability failures, high complexity, and overloaded manufacturing processes on the Dreamliner project.
Linked Articles
At Boeing, Innovation Means Small Steps, Not Giant Leaps
Wall Street Journal 04/03/2015
Boeing Hits a MilestoneWall Street Journal 06/08/2012
The views of Condoleeza Rice and Vladimir Putin on Russia's evolution through democratic processes
02/09/2012
Rice points out that diversification of the economy away from oil utilizing Russian technological capabilities will help Russia move away from the corruption of a resource based economy and build a healthy democratic setup. Putin says he recognizes the need for democratic processes to keep pace with the development of civil society and the growing middle class, but emphasizes that democracy cannot be built overnight, and places a higher priority on what he calls the "sovereignty of the people," the right to work, the right to education and free medical care.
Linked Articles
How Russia’s urban middle class can bring an end to Putinism - The Washington Post
Washington Post 03/09/2012
Vladimir Putin: My vision for a better Russia - The Washington PostWashington Post 02/09/2012
Imran Khan and the changing democratic process in Pakistan
10/30/2011
Linked Articles
Has Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif changed his stripes? - The Washington Post
Washington Post 05/10/2013
Ex-Cricket Star Leads Big Antigovernment Protest in PakistanNew York Times 10/30/2011
The politicizing of the 2011 budget process- Obama, Cantor and McConnell (2)
07/13/2011
Linked Articles
Budget Shell Games Are Contrary to Law
Wall Street Journal 07/14/2011
Debt-Limit HarakiriWall Street Journal 07/13/2011
The failure of the Obama administration in 2011 to maintain a budget process that is open and transparent, with serious public scrutiny
07/09/2011
Linked Articles
Budget Shell Games Are Contrary to Law
Wall Street Journal 07/14/2011
The Elmendorf Rule - The Washington PostWashington Post 07/09/2011
Sobhi Saleh, member of parliament from Alexandria, Egypt, and Egypt's path to democratic processes.
02/04/2011
Sobhi Saleh represented Alexandria in parliament from 2005 to 2010, for the Muslim Brotherhood. Nicholas Kulish provides an heart rending account of how Saleh makes his way out of a prison set on fire after his arrest during the Egyptian protests. He was selected by the Egyptian military as a member of the eight member panel asked to rewrite key articles of the constitution.
Linked Articles
Egypt's Military Names Constitutional Panel
Wall Street Journal 02/15/2011
Why a Member of the Muslim Brotherhood Was Late to the RevolutionNew York Times 02/04/2011
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
Even when the recovery occurs and inventories get replaced gorwth will be slow, as deleveraging process takes many years.
05/28/2009
Mr. Mecksworth, chief economist at MAPI says even when arecovery happens it will mean slow growth as companies will be saving money and paying off debt for many years to come.
Linked Articles
Once a Key to Recovery, Detroit Adds to Pain
New York Times 06/01/2009
Sharper Drop Is Forecast for Factory ProductionWall Street Journal 05/28/2009
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