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How low interest rates from the banks created 2009 financial crisis were squeezing Americans and most of all seniors
06/05/2024
In 2010 Charles Schwab pointed out that low interest rates were squeezing Americans, most of all seniors on fixed incomes and pensions. In 2024 first quarter the higher interest rates in one quarter alone created an additional $770 billion in interest and dividends for Americans, many of them seniors, according to US Federal Reserve. This is the damage done by the recklessness of the banks and financial sector and seniors have paid heavily for this and for the wars in the Middle East which reduced the growth potential of the US economy that were embraced by Reagan and Bush, Trump and Obama. The war money was not used to build new infrastructure to replace the old as it should have been leading to China having new infrastructure and America's being aging and worn out.
Linked Articles
Low Interest Rates Are Squeezing Seniors
Wall Street Journal 03/30/2010
Americans Have More Investment Income Than Ever BeforeWSJ 06/05/2024
Reagan, Greenspan and America's lost years 1980-2009
11/17/2023
It was in this period that many of the problems that we face today were created through policies of low interest rates, deregulation and financial market speculation leading to the financial crisis of 2008. At the beginning of the Reagan administration in 1980 China was still a country of bicycles and largely rural, by 2009 it had transformed itself into the largest manufacturing nation in the world and continued to 2023. In the US financial deregulation and lack of health care for all allowed financial interests to become the dominant force in the economy in a speculative way , and defunded manufacturing, infrastructure and public services. The work of FDR, Truman Eisenhower and Kennedy unraveled, Clinton, Obama and Trump continued that decline.
Linked Articles
Puerto Rico Was Supposed to Be John Paulson’s Paradise. Then Came the Lawsuits.
WSJ 11/16/2023
Trader Made Billions on SubprimeWSJ Jan 15 2008 01/15/2008
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
Common sense and wisdom for passage to India Pakistan trade after the floods in 2022 with one third of Pakistan under water
08/30/2022
In 2012 Michael Boskin, who helped George W. Bush, with the NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement, wrote this article in the WSJ about the normal trade using trade models that take into account the advantage of cross border trade and size of economies would be 20 times the $2.7 billion in trade between India and Pakistan in 2012. This would be $50 billion. This would have increased to $100 billion by 2020 under normal trade. Instead in the year of the 2022 floods when Pakistan is one third under water, and cross border trade never made more sense, the OEC data show trade at less than $300 million or one three hundredth portion of what trade could be if normalized.
Linked Articles
Pakistan: Food prices soar amid floods | DW | 30.08.2022
DW.COM 08/30/2022
Michael Boskin: A Passage to India-Pakistan PeaceWSJ 04/15/2012
On the occasion of Mr. Biden's launch of Indo-Pacific Economic Framework bringing together workers and families of America, Europe and India
06/01/2022
In 1931 Gandhi visited the Lancashire textile mill in Darwen owned by Quaker and Socialist Davies family. This BBC account of that visit shows the enthusiasm of workers in Lancashire for "Gandeye" and how Gandhi felt the workers treated him as one of their own. Only 14 years later the same workers and families voted in Labour and Clement Atlee who immediately started the negotiations with Gandhi for Hind Swaraj and the independence of India. It shows how Gandhi would look at the economic alliances and new supply chain president Biden announced and Mr. Scholz of Germany called for at the Hanover Trade Fair in 2022 - that the sound foundation for a new supply chain is the interests of American and European workers and families, as well as interests of workers and families in partner countries such as India in the Free World.
Linked Articles
When Gandhi met Darwen's mill workers
BBC News 06/01/2022
Gandhi Jayanti 2018 special: When Mahatma Gandhi was welcomed by textile mill workers of LancashireThe Indian Express 06/01/2022
A second Macron vs. Le Pen presidential debate in France in 2022
04/21/2022
Cost of living and Le Pen's ties to Russia emerge as key issues in the debate. Macron appears to be the more convincing in his grasp of facts and claity of thinking, with a Elabe snap poll showing 59% think Macron more convincing to 39% Le Pen. France's welfare state in a way that the US and Britain are less so, means that other solutions are needed for cost of living and the decaying small towns and rural areas. A next generation industrial revolution is needed to bring jobs home and closer to home to revive both France and Europe after decades of shifting jobs and industry to China. Needed only is the will and aspiration to do so.
Linked Articles
Macron and Le Pen clash on Russia in feisty debate ahead of presidential run-off
France 24 04/21/2022
France’s Macron and Le Pen Clash During Presidential DebateWSJ 04/20/2022
India's effort in mobile manufacturing with PLI incentives, and in 5G
12/16/2020
Unprecedented effort in India in 5G by 2021-2022 and in mobile manufacturing under PLI incentives by 2025.
Linked Articles
‘India will prove cynics wrong...’: Mukesh Ambani on economy, Jio 5G, vaccine
Hindustan Times 12/08/2020
‘Pushing India to surpass China in mobile manufacturing’: Ravi Shankar PrasadHindustan Times 12/16/2020
Speaker Paul Ryan's House seat in Janesville, Wisconsin- improving economy in a U.S. midwestern factory town and the debate on trade, help for working class families
08/10/2016
The unemployment rate in Janesville, Wisconsin drops to 4.4% in May 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It was over 9% following the closing of the GM plant and the recession from the 2008 financial crisis. A working class town Janesville was hit hard by the closing of the GM plant in 2008. Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post describes the impact of losing about 5000 jobs at the GM plant, and the problems typical of most manufacturing dependent towns. Throughout the period since being first elected to Congress in 1998 Ryan has continued to be able to get elected on the basis of faith, family and public service, even though some of his policies may not have helped the poor and elderly or laid off workers. Ryan voted for rescuing the auto industry and worked hard to keep the GM plant, and listens to his constituents, and as the economy recovered by 2016 won easily in this old industrial midwestern town. His influence in national politics gives Janesville an opportunity to be heard, as it tackles problems common to many midwestern towns in the U.S.
Linked Articles
Could Paul Ryan’s ideas help his struggling home town? - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/19/2012
Paul Ryan beats outsider 'mini-Donald Trump' challenger in Wisconsin primaryThe Guardian 08/10/2016
2016 U.S. presidential candidate Jeb Bush's Tax Plan that spells out details, and takes a shot at 4% growth for restoring lost social and economic mobility in the U.S.
09/09/2015
The efforts to wrestle with the deficit in 2011-2012 led to a vigorous debate on changing the tax code, yet political leaders failed to take up new ideas or spell out the details. Jeb Bush, with advisors Martin Feldstein and Kevin Warsh, takes the unconventional approach of putting in the details, and taking up ideas such as the idea of limiting itemized deductions to 2% of adjusted gross income proposed by Feldstein in that debate. On the $2.1 trillion in income held overseas by U.S. companies Bush proposes 8.75% tax paid over 10 years. On business investment he proposes capital investment be allowed to be deducted in full immediately. It is based on the idea that business investment can drive a vigorous recovery, that workers bear 50% of the burden of higer taxes through sluggish wage growth. It levels the playing field for debt and equity capital, removing "carried interest" provision, as a lesson from the excessive leverage taken by financial institutions in the past.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 09/10/2015
Jeb Bush Tax Plan Makes Forays Into PopulismNew York Times 09/09/2015
Ban on election advertising on commercial television and radio in Britain and strict limits of $29.5 million for each party in general elections- contrast with the U.S.
05/02/2015
Britain disproves the popular belief that an ever upward trajectory for election spending is inevitable. The 2010 general election in Britain cost half that of the 1880 general election in 2002 prices, say researchers. In the U.S. spending has increased to the point where candidates may be spending more time fund raising than talking about the issues. The 2016 presidential election in the U.S. is estimated to lead to $10 billion in spending. India, Brazil, and other developing countries face a similar situation.
Linked Articles
Britain’s Campaign Finance Laws Leave Parties With Idle Money
New York Times 05/04/2015
F.E.C. Can’t Curb 2016 Election Abuse, Commission Chief SaysNew York Times 05/02/2015
Lufthansa low cost carrier Eurowings and Air France-KLM low cost carrier Transavia in 2015- an effort to setup separate airlines to remain competitive
09/28/2014
Linked Articles
Lufthansa Chief Carsten Spohr Defends Airline’s No-Frills Push
New York Times 12/08/2014
Air France Pilots End Two-Week StrikeNew York Times 09/28/2014
Changes in American breakfast eating habits affect cereal and orange juice sales in 2012-2015
07/22/2014
Linked Articles
As Cereal Slips, a New Battle Over Breakfast Dollars
Wall Street Journal 07/22/2014
U.S. Orange-Juice Sales Fall to Record LowWall Street Journal 07/22/2014
BaFin, German federal financial regulatory authority, and the problems at Deutsche Bank- regulators slow to act on information
03/28/2014
Eyk Henning of the WSJ points out the slow response of regulator BaFin to information about problems at Deutsche Bank that suggest a broken culture in a report on March 28, 2014. This comes 6 years after the WSJ first reported the LIBOR rate manipulation in 2008 leading to British and U.S. regulatory investigations. In April 2015 Deutsche Bank made a legal settlement for LIBOR rate manipulation of $2.5 billion with U.S. and British regulators. As the time when regulatory authority passes to the European Central Bank, and after a period of 7 years since the 2008 WSJ report, BaFin finally sends its report on the broken culture at the bank. A month later the two co-CEO's at the bank resign.
Linked Articles
Germany Blasts Deutsche Bank Executives Over Culture
Wall Street Journal 07/17/2015
German Financial Watchdog Bites BackWall Street Journal 03/28/2014
"Pay their fair share of taxes" Biden asks of corporations showing 2017 predecessor tax cuts did not increase investment and added $100 billion yearly to the US Deficit
03/08/2024
By paying their fair share of taxes Biden says in State of Union speech to US Congress 2024 one can increase investment in education, affordable childcare and better living for seniors in their homes, and still cut the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars. What is fair share? Certainly not zero percent that 55 of the largest corporations paid on $40 billion in profits in 2020, and corporate minimum tax was introduced at levels of 15% for which most ordinary Americans are not eligible for. And certainly not 8.2% that Biden said was being paid by 1000 billionaires in the US. Not a single penny more is being asked of hard working Americans earning less than $400,000 a year. Biden said he wanted to see the corporate minimum tax at 21% not 15%, and the top corporate tax rate set at 28% not the 21% that it was reduced to in 2017 from 35%. In short his predecessor turned to help companies and billionaires profit from the popular distress of the shipping of jobs overseas and the 2009 financial crisis caused by Bank executives without investing the nation's capital resources in manufacturing at home in scale to match and exceed China's. And at the same time neglecting to do anything about the concerns of the people for ease of living- affordable access to childcare, preschool education, education, health care to match Europe/China/India in quality and cost, and aging transportation infrastructure of airports, subways, roads and bridges. The savings when this is done properly go to cut the deficit by over 4 trillion dollars and keep America as the leader of all G-20 economies.
Linked Articles
Biden Draws Sharp Contrast With Trump in State of the Union
WSJ 03/07/2024
Biden Pushes More Corporate-Tax Hikes to Draw Contrast With TrumpWSJ 03/07/2024
Li Keqiang and the era of Openness in China 1977-2023
11/02/2023
LI Keqiang was able to pass entrance exams to Peking University in 1977 after entrance exams were reinstated following Mao's death. He led the modernization of China during the 2000-2022 period two decades of fast growth turning China into a middle income industrialized country after centuries of decline. During this period China urbanized at a rapid rate and Li's advanced studies focused on urbanization. It was also a period when China realized the damage done to the environment and quality of air, water, with haphazard growth, and shifted to climate change action through focus on solar energy and limiting use of coal.
Linked Articles
China Mourns Former Premier Whose Death Hovers Over Xi Jinping
WSJ 11/02/2023
Next Premier Came of Age in Era of OpennessWall Street Journal 11/16/2012
Biden at Independence Hall Philadelphia in 2022 and Lincoln in 1861 on the way to the White House at the start of the Civil War- "Battle for the Soul of the Nation"
09/03/2022
At key points in the life of these United States of America- Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, TR and FDR, and now Biden, speak at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on the idea, that principle, in the Declaration for which they are willing to give their lives to defend. For the people of the world, the people of India, the rest of Asia, Africa, Latin America, Australia this has brought new meaning and hope since these words were written- "We believe that all men are created equal and they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." "It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight should be lifted from the shoulders of men, and they would all have an equal chance." (Lincoln)
Linked Articles
Biden delivers speech on "battle for the soul of the nation" in Philadelphia | full speech
YouTube 09/02/2022
Remarks by President Biden on the Continued Battle for the Soul of the Nation | The White HouseThe White House 12/24/2022
Years of hyper growth followed by slight or shrinking growth in China
07/31/2022
For years China pushed hyper growth without correctly understanding the sources of that hyper growth and its consequences in the long run. Communities in the US and the EU simply could not cope with the hyper shift of factories from local regions to China that created the hyper growth in China. Local governments in China and self interested investment banks in the US and Eu pushed for this growth and the central government failed to act with restraining action. The result is alienated public in the US and EU, intense trade and competitive frictions and permanent damage to friendly US China, US EU relations. The domestic side of this hyper growth was the overdependence on the property sector which was asked to carry a bigger burden for development leading to the crisis today with local governments strained for financing by $900 billion as reported in WSJ today July 31. 2022. This did not need to happen. China entered this experiment with capitalism without restraining action with very little knowledge of the market economy and how it operates correctly only with restraining and corrective action in the interests of the whole people of the country. Too much has gone wrong for peoples on either side, the unintended effects and consequences in the simple unbridled pursuit of self-interest alone.
Linked Articles
China’s Economy Tested by Strained City Finances
WSJ 07/31/2022
China’s Manufacturing Sector Unexpectedly Contracts Amid Weak Demand, Covid LockdownsWSJ 07/31/2022
Inflation and eroding purchasing power in Europe in 2022
04/21/2022
Linked Articles
Germany set for bumper pension hike amid inflation surge | DW | 13.04.2022
DW.COM 04/13/2022
Rocketing Prices Test Europe’s Political Resolve in Confrontation With RussiaWSJ 04/12/2022
India's early heat wave in 2022 a sign of climate change
04/03/2022
Linked Articles
India sees warmest March in 122 years, lowest rainfall since 1908
The Hindu 04/02/2022
India: Frequent heat waves a reminder of climate change impacts | DW | 31.03.2022DW.COM 03/31/2022
India's growth predicted at an "unprecedented acceleration" in 2021-2022 after the pandemic
12/08/2020
India's unprecedented growth in mobile manufacturing planned for 2025 under PLI incentives and in 5G technologies by 2021-2022.
Linked Articles
HTLS 2020: India’s new era will be defined by the idea of decentralization
Hindustan Times 12/08/2020
‘India will prove cynics wrong...’: Mukesh Ambani on economy, Jio 5G, vaccineHindustan Times 12/08/2020
The pause in the U.S. economy with the May 2016 U.S. jobs report showing 38,000 jobs added
06/06/2016
Krugman discusses the U.S. May 2016 jobs report from the Labor Department. He says it will be harder to come up with a response to the political uncertainty in an election year, especially now that rates are near zero.
Linked Articles
Sharp Fall in U.S. Hiring Saps Chance of Fed Rate Increase in June
The New York Times 06/03/2016
A Pause That DistressesThe New York Times 06/06/2016
Hillary Clinton's plan to change the way the capital gains tax works to encourage long term investors
07/27/2015
Under Hillary Clinton's plan the lower rates for capital gains tax would be introduced with a sliding scale at the highest tax bracket of 39.6%, with the rate gradually declining in year 4, and the rate not reaching the current rate of 23.6% (20% plus a 3.6% surcharge) till year 6 following the investment. Clinton calls it a way to restrain "quarterly capitalism," disincentivize "cut and run shareholders," and incentivize investors "to build companies." One unintended effect of this could also be the shift away from investments that do not support improving productivity levels, to investments that have a longer horizon and have a material effect on productivity growth. Especially considering the low productivity growth improvements in the last decade, as productivity growth will be needed to break out of a period of stagnant wages.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 07/29/2015
Hillary Clinton Aim Is to Thwart Quick Buck on Wall StreetNew York Times 07/27/2015
The miscalculations and missteps of Russian president Putin in 2014 leading to a major crisis for the Russian economy in 2015
12/18/2014
A major miscalculation was totally misjudging Merkel and post-war German public opinion about policies that remind people about the period between the two World Wars- this is anathema to Germans who see the European Union as a way to build a new and different Europe. The other miscalculation was on how a foreign adventurous policy in Syria would affect Sunni world opinion, in particular Saudi Arabia. Just as Brezhnev took Russia into Afghanistan where Russia had no vital interest leading to eventual Soviet collapse, Putin risked alienating a key member in OPEC pricing moves and hurting Russia's economic interest. By not listening to Kudrin, the head of Sberbank, and other economic advisers from the first and second terms of the Putin-Medvedev administrations, Putin opened the door to two years of serious missteps, risking the very real accomplishments of the first and second term of creating a stable growing Russian economy with close economic ties to Europe. The only positive outcome of the crisis and low oil prices would be making the shift away from oil dependence, which was talked about but never seriously attempted in the Putin administrations. For this to happen major new investments would have to be made and technology links to the outside strengthened, both hammered by the missteps in 2013-2014. The irony of all this is that Putin gained the support of rural Russians in the countryside in the 2012 presidential elections by promising no return to the economic crisis conditions following earlier ruble collapses. Now by ignoring Kudrin and other wiser counsel from the first and second administrations he does just that.
Linked Articles
Putin’s Year of Defiance and Miscalculation
Wall Street Journal 12/18/2014
Russian President Vladimir Putin Seeks to Reassure on EconomyWall Street Journal 12/18/2014
Air France-KLM's Transavia low cost airline plan and the competition with Ryanair
09/11/2014
Linked Articles
Air France-KLM Restructuring Puts New Focus on Its Low-Cost Airline
New York Times 09/11/2014
Air France Scales Back Transavia Plan, Giving In to Striking Pilots’ DemandsNew York Times 09/25/2014
Euribor close to zero and relief for suffering homeowners with mortgages in Spain, Portugal and other eurozone countries
05/28/2014
Most mortgages in Spain and Portugal are based on the Euribor rate. The ECB's monetary policy under Draghi has led to the decline of the Euribor rate to near zero in 2015, giving homeowners in extremely high unemployment countries such as Spain and Portugal much needed relief. Homeowners in Italy, with stagnant incomes and high unemployment, and other eurozone countries also get relief.
Linked Articles
Tumbling Interest Rates in Europe Leaves Some Banks Owing Money on Loans to Borrowers
Wall Street Journal 04/14/2015
Spain Still Suffering Fallout From Housing BustWall Street Journal 05/28/2014
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