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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
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
How the Russian invasion of a neighboring country has not worked in line with European history
04/07/2023
Scholz of Germany says Putin started this war for absurd reasons. NATO he says was never a threat to Russia. Russia invaded a neighboring country with the idea of conquering it. Scholz says Putin was taking a felt tip pen across the European landscape and drawing this is yours, this mine. And he says Germany would never accept that. Brendan Simms in his History of Europe- The struggle for Supremacy 1452 to the Present, is on German chancellor Scholz's reading list since 2021. It shows that for 500 years no dominant European power was able to do act with impunity without the rest of Europe joining together to prevent it. This war is not an exception. The European Union countries stuck together to make it possible for Ukraine to carry on even with generators to keep the lights on and supermarket shelves well stocked. In this sense the outcome of this war is already known. It has followed what Brendan Simms has pointed out already.
Linked Articles
Germany's Scholz says Putin started war for 'completely absurd' reasons | DW | 21.08.2022
DW.COM 08/23/2022
Thwarting Vladimir Putin: The Ukrainian Economy Just Keeps On Going - DER SPIEGELSPIEGEL ONLINE 04/07/2023
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
Escaping the Algorithm - Harmful effects on girls and the young of TikTok and social media
12/29/2021
If and how one can escape these algorithm based harmful social media platforms is the question posed by the WSJ series on TikTok, Facebook, others in 2021.
Linked Articles
The TikTok Spiral, Part 1: Descent - Tech News Briefing - WSJ Podcasts
WSJ 12/27/2021
The TikTok Spiral, Part 3: Escape the Algorithm - Tech News Briefing - WSJ PodcastsWSJ 12/29/2021
US president Biden's 2021 executive order against anti-competitive behaviour
07/11/2021
Linked Articles
Biden Takes Aim at Corporate Consolidation, Big-Business Tactics
WSJ 07/09/2021
Antitrust’s New Mission: Preserving Democracy, Not EfficiencyWSJ 07/07/2021
Biden's Address to Congress 2021
05/05/2021
Biden announces his $1.8 trillion Families Plan in his speech to Congress in April 2021. It is meant to help struggling families, women, workers and students.
Linked Articles
Biden’s Speech to Congress: Full Transcript
NYTimes.com 04/30/2021
Video: President Biden’s Joint Session AddressNYTimes.com 04/30/2021
US 100 day review of strategic vulnerabilities in 2021
03/10/2021
Linked Articles
China’s Rise Drives a U.S. Experiment in Industrial Policy
WSJ 03/10/2021
America’s Battery-Powered Car Hopes Ride on Lithium. One Producer Paves the Way.WSJ 03/09/2021
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
Lessons in Fighting the Coronavirus - Flattening the Growth Curve
04/12/2020
Linked Articles
These simulations show how to flatten the coronavirus growth curve
Washington Post 03/20/2020
Are Countries Flattening the Curve for the Coronavirus?NYTimes.com 04/03/2020
Corporate America's choice between corporate buybacks and increasing wages/making capital investments for growth to help the middle class
03/01/2018
Linked Articles
Boom in Share Buybacks Renews Question of Who Wins From Tax Cuts
WSJ 03/01/2018
Corporate Tax Cut as Growth Elixir? Foreign Experience Suggests CautionWSJ 05/01/2017
The U.S. plan to reverse the withdrawal from Afghanistan to prevent a repeat of the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq after 2011 leading to terrorism and a chaotic situation
08/22/2017
Linked Articles
Angry Trump Grilled His Generals About Troop Increase, Then Gave In
The New York Times 08/22/2017
Trump announces new strategy for Afghanistan that calls for a troop increaseWashington Post 08/22/2017
How U.S. economic growth and interest rates can play out in ways contrary to what is expected for 2017-2019
12/14/2016
Linked Articles
Will the Trump Era Bring Higher Interest Rates? Don’t Count On It
The New York Times 12/14/2016
A Trump Economic Boom? The Fed May Stand in the WayThe New York Times 12/13/2016
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
The collapse of American education and the slowest growth in America's history 2000-2020 as Biden tries to reverse this in 2024
05/19/2023
Krugman looks at the extraordinary effort put in by Robert Gordon of Northwestern University to look at the growth of America since 1850 over periods 1850-1870, 1870-1910, 1910-1950, 1950-2000 and 2000-2020 showing that the last 20 years have the lowest growth in American history. Gordon looks at the near collapse of American education, scores on NAEP of two thirds of 8th graders failing reading comprehension reflect this sad state of affairs that president Biden is trying to reverse in 2024. Other research shows a drop in potential GDP of 2 percentage points when education is failing as it has been for 2 decades. Other researchers have shown what is openly evident today that technology such as social media do more harm, that other internet use technology has not done much for education only established monopolies as with Google and Apple.
Linked Articles
Paul Krugman Reviews ‘The Rise and Fall of American Growth’ by Robert J. Gordon
New York Times 01/25/2016
'Secular Stagnation' May Be for RealWall Street Journal 08/27/2014
Limits to China's economic recovery from local government debt and smaller pool of savings
03/07/2023
A smaller pool of savings and build up of debt during the pandemic limit the extent of China's economic recovery. The trillions of dollars of local government debt and the slowdown in the construction sector act as barriers to growth in China.
Linked Articles
Covid-Era Savings Are Crucial to China’s Economic Recovery
WSJ 02/26/2023
China’s Cities Struggle Under Trillions of Dollars of DebtWSJ 03/06/2023
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
China burns more coal with power shortages in 2021 risking climate change targets
10/29/2021
Linked Articles
China Takes the Brakes Off Coal Production to Tackle Power Shortage
WSJ 10/20/2021
China’s Ambitious Climate Goals Collide With Reality, Hampering Global EffortsWSJ 10/27/2021
The origins of the coronavirus and the 2018 NIH lifting of a US ban on virus research that increases transmissibility
06/04/2021
Dr. Fauci, NIH, HHS, lifted the ban on research and manipulation of virus in lab settings in 2018 The role played by the Cambridge Group of scientists who opposed lifting the ban on gain of function research for surveillance purposes. The US public and the public in the world in India, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America unaware of what was going on. The devastating effects of the coronavirus in 202 and 2021 and the lack of a vaccine in 2020, lack of a vaccine in sufficient quantities in 2021. The paltry benefits of surveillance compared to the great risks of something going wrong, as pointed out by the Cambridge Group. Why was it ignored in 2018. Who makes decisions for public health in the world. Can the US make decisions for India, the people in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Does even the US public know about it, much less the public in the world at large. What power is given by the US Constitution to US government agencies on matters of public health. How are a few individuals at HHS and NIH accountable to the public in the US and the world at large.
Linked Articles
Opinion | Anthony Fauci and the Wuhan Lab
WSJ 06/03/2021
Ban on gain-of-function studies endsThe Lancet Infectious Diseases 06/04/2021
"Feierabend"- disconnecting from work the German way, the need of the times during a year of remote work 2021
04/23/2021
"Feierabend" simply means disconnecting in German so that one has time to renew and revive oneself. At 4.00 pm or 5.00 pm one simply disconnects from work and gets on the bike for a ride or does something else. Can British and American cultures learn from their German or European counterparts? Ireland has passed a law calling for this disconnect requiring it because of the huge negative impact on mental health of remote work that has no structures. Microsoft has recognized this issue in 2020. More needs to be done by companies than to simply shift this burden,shift this task on someone else, or to workers who have no idea what working from home requires. Associations and other groups also need to get involved.
Linked Articles
Right to disconnect is vital for future health of home workers
04/23/2021
How 'Feierabend' helps Germans disconnect from the workdayBBC News 07/12/2022
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
What Bill Gates and France had in common in the fight for health preparedness
05/11/2020
France had learned lessons from SARS epidemic and prepared for the H1N1 epidemic at the time that Bill Gates of Microsoft was pushing for greater awareness of public health priorities. Today Gates says this was not enough, that he did not do enough and feels terrible about it. The irresponsible banking practices that caused the financial crises first in the global financial crisis of 2009 and then in the eurozone financial crisis that followed by 2011 led to the ditching of the pandemic preparedness effort in France and Britain. In all of the western world including the U.S. austerity practices were the response without addressing the root causes of financial crises. Investments in public services and infrastructure were neglected leading to a level of unpreparedness that is shocking. Countries in lesser developed countries with more consciousness of the importance of public services and care of the vast majority of people were better protected in the crisis as a result than the more developed countries.
Linked Articles
WSJ 05/11/2020
Pandemic disarmament: Why France was ready for Covid-19 a decade too soonFrance 24 05/17/2020
Do tax cut benefits go mainly to the 10% of Americans who own 84% of the stocks- evidence of corporate buybacks vs increasing wages/new capital investment for growth to help the middle class
03/01/2018
Linked Articles
Boom in Share Buybacks Renews Question of Who Wins From Tax Cuts
WSJ 03/01/2018
Tax Cuts Benefit the Ultra Rich, but Not the Merely RichThe New York Times 12/19/2017
Is the growth boom that supports the case for 2017 tax cuts skewed to higher income Americans based on evidence?- views of Greg Ip (WSJ) and Krugman (NYT)
12/20/2017
Linked Articles
Corporate Tax Cut as Growth Elixir? Foreign Experience Suggests Caution
WSJ 05/01/2017
Opinion | Passing Through to CorruptionThe New York Times 12/18/2017
Gen. Mattis and the policy for Afghanistan in 2017 - learning from the experience of the 2011 Iraq withdrawal, and giving meaning to earlier sacrifices
08/22/2017
Linked Articles
Trump announces new strategy for Afghanistan that calls for a troop increase
Washington Post 08/22/2017
The Meaning of Their ServiceWall Street Journal 04/18/2015
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