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Russia Groups
IMF warning for corporate debt in emerging markets increasing from $4 trillion in 2004 to $18 trillion in 2014
09/29/2015
The IMF singles out China and Turkey for large increases in corporate debt since 2007. Concentrated holdings by American mutual funds of emerging market debt securities is seen by the IMF in 2015 as creating potential systemic instability.
Grouped Articles
I.M.F. Cautions on Concentrated Positions in U.S. Mutual Funds
New York Times 09/29/2015
Emerging-Market Debt: How Big a Threat Is It?
Wall Street Journal 02/16/2016
Simple facts about China in 2015
09/23/2015
China's per person GNP is about one fourth the U.S. on a purchasing parity basis which covers the cheaper price of goods and services in developing countries. But this does not reflect the wealth distribution which is highly skewed geographically to regions on the coast and around cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, and in the population with wealth concentrated with the people in the top 20% of the population. As a result most people in China make only a small fraction of what Americans make. Wealth and incomes are also skewed in the U.S. since 2000 but not as much as in China. This is why China as a whole may not have arrived at middle income status. The other characteristics of China are the huge focus on infrastructure building through state run companies and banks, use of a large portion of the world's commodity resources, which is now winding down as China shifts to a more consumer driven economy. The boom years of growth are now behind China, and China faces further hurdles to growth in the next decade with the deb to GDP ratio estimated at about 270%. The Communist Party of China sees itself as the only way for China to continue the path to modernization and growth.
Grouped Articles
7 simple questions and answers to understand China and the U.S. - The Washington Post
Washington Post 09/23/2015
VW CEO Martin Winterkorn and the emissions testing investigation by the EPA in 2015-2016
09/22/2015
By 2007 Winterkorn was head of research and development at VW. He is known to be meticulous about the cars VW shipped, subjecting them to rigorous inspection. The software placed in VW vehicles that reduces the emissions for testing even as the vehicles continue to release much higher level of pollutants into the air, was installed between 2009 and 2015, according to the reports.
Grouped Articles
Washington Post 09/22/2015
Volkswagen Scandal Pressures CEO
Wall Street Journal 09/23/2015
Volkswagen Says 11 Million Cars Worldwide Are Affected in Diesel Deception
New York Times 09/22/2015
Volkswagen’s Chief in the Vortex of the Storm
New York Times 09/22/2015
Volkswagen CEO Resigns as Car Maker Races to Stem Emissions Scandal
Wall Street Journal 09/24/2015
Volkswagen C.E.O. Martin Winterkorn Resigns Amid Emissions Scandal
New York Times 09/23/2015
The story of how the migrants at Budapest's Keleti station spontaneously started the march to the Austrian border September 1-4, 2015
09/11/2015
WSJ's reporters Thomas, Bradley and Geiger tell this exceptional story of a change posted on the internet site of Germany's agency tackling asylum applications that it was no longer enforcing Dublin protocols (requiring applications to be handled at the country of first entry), and how it emboldened refugees at Keleti station Budapest to begin a march of thousands on highways to the Austrian border. The events of these days in early September 2015 led to German chancellor Merkel's later statements about the "fundamental right to asylum for the politically persecuted knowing no upper limit." It had not started that way, events and the courage of the refugees led to Germany responding in a way that could not have been imagined with "Wilkommen refugees" signs at entry points.
Grouped Articles
Obscure German Tweet Helped Spur Migrant March From Hungary
Wall Street Journal 09/11/2015
Austria Takes Role of Distribution Center for Germany-Bound Migrants
New York Times 09/21/2015
Angela Merkel Is Motivated By Decency, Not Politics
Wall Street Journal 12/21/2015
Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann Quits as Migrant Crisis Roils European Politics
Wall Street Journal 05/13/2016
Merkel Accepts Responsibility for Party’s Losses in Berlin Election
The New York Times 09/19/2016
The Night Germany Lost Control | ZEIT ONLINE
ZEIT ONLINE 08/30/2016
Phased retirement, easing one's way into retirement with tapered reduction of work- an option for many people close to retirement in 2015
08/28/2015
Grouped Articles
Facing Retirement, but Easing Your Way Out the Door
New York Times 08/28/2015
This is your brain on retirement — not nearly as sharp, studies are finding - The Washington Post
Washington Post 10/30/2015
Brazil's repeated boom-bust cycles since 1973, and lost decades
08/28/2015
Brazil, Russia, Australia, Canada, are caught up in the commodities bust with dependence on commodities exports. Brazil faces a lost decade because in adddition to the sharp drop in commodities prices, it also has to tackle large debt and capital outflows, a credit card binge of households cutting into consumer spending, and problems with manufacturing from the period of overvalued currency. A serious long term problem as bottlenecks to growth come from a weak educational system and infrastructure that were not tackled in the boom years. The social safety net and the currency are supported by the foreign currency reserves fund of $397 billion, a lesson learned from the 1997 financial crisis.
Grouped Articles
How Brazil’s China-Driven Commodities Boom Went Bust
Wall Street Journal 08/28/2015
Gloom on Brazil Finances Deepens
Wall Street Journal 12/17/2015
Australia Finds Something Else to Export to China
Wall Street Journal 03/03/2016
Dilma Rousseff’s Former Supporters in Brazil Express Disillusionment
New York Times 04/16/2016
Fight to Impeach Brazil’s Leader Tears at Fabric of Daily Life
New York Times 04/15/2016
Globalization: Capitalism Should Be Nicer | ZEIT ONLINE
ZEIT ONLINE 07/29/2016
Russia's economy 2015-2016
08/25/2015
Grouped Articles
Overheard: Ruble in the Rubble
Wall Street Journal 08/25/2015
Russia’s turn to China: A gap between rhetoric and reality - The Washington Post
Washington Post 09/06/2015
Putin’s self-destructing economy - The Washington Post
Washington Post 01/18/2016
Prepare for serious turbulence in Russia - The Washington Post
Washington Post 01/18/2016
Russian Economy Stumbles as Stocks and Oil Prices Fall
New York Times 01/21/2016
Why the Russian Economy Is Tumbling
New York Times 04/12/2016
Kenneth Rogoff on the financial crisis in China with debt exceeding 270% of GDP, shadow banking, real estate bubble and unsustainable local government finances
08/24/2015
Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard, is an expert on financial and debt crises, with the most extensive quantitative study of debt crises of 66 countries with Carmen Reinhart. The research is published in the book, "This Time Is Different." He discusses the debt crisis in China with the NYT's Andrew Ross Sorkin, saying China is not immune to the problems from an alarming buildup of debt. He says the reason China was seen as impervious to debt problems is because of the high savings rate of 30%, the millions of migrants moving to cities for manufacturing work, and government control of markets. Actually he sees China as a really good example of "This Time Is Different," the notion that somehow it can't happen here. The result is along delay before an event and the sudden speed of the implosion once it hits. The effects Rogoff sees are the risks to commodity producing countries such as Russia, Brazil, and other countries dependent on exports. He says China's large foreign exchange reserves offers a way for it to manage the debt crisis.
Grouped Articles
A Warning on China Seems Prescient
New York Times 08/24/2015
China facing full-blown banking crisis, world's top financial watchdog warns
The Telegraph 09/19/2016
Will Trump herald a US economic boom?
The Guardian 12/07/2016
China’s Economy Grows 6.9%, but Warning Signs Persist
The New York Times 04/17/2017
Moody’s Cuts Its China Rating for the First Time Since 1989
WSJ 05/24/2017
In Downgraded China, Echoes of Japan’s Boom and Bust
WSJ 05/24/2017
Egon Bahr and the reunification of Germany
08/22/2015
Grouped Articles
Egon Bahr, West German statesman who helped improve ties with East, dies at 93 - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/22/2015
Gender imbalance in India, China and Russia- proportion of men and women in the population
08/19/2015
The number of men in the population for every 100 women is about 107 in China and India. In Russia the figure is close to 90.
Grouped Articles
See where women outnumber men around the world (and why) - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/19/2015
Asia Struggles for a Solution to Its ‘Missing Women’ Problem
Wall Street Journal 11/27/2015
Ukraine's break from its Soviet era past
08/17/2015
Grouped Articles
Ukraine topples Communist statues but raises a bigger debate - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/17/2015
Female Ukrainian war hero facing 25 years in Russian jail - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/17/2015
Impact on oil and commodities prices of China's devaluation in August 2015
08/12/2015
Grouped Articles
Overheard: China’s Yuan Move Undercuts Oil
Wall Street Journal 08/12/2015
Devaluation Hints at China’s Rising Distress Over Economy
New York Times 08/12/2015
U.S. Oil Prices Hit Fresh Six-Year Low, Dipping Below $40 a Barrel
Wall Street Journal 08/23/2015
Economist 08/24/2015
China Has Big Eyes, Little Stomach for Oil
Wall Street Journal 08/27/2015
The NYT's survey of opinion in 2015 on the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
08/05/2015
The survey has a range of opinions and there is no consensus on whether the bomb should or should not have been dropped. U.S. and Japanese casualties estimated as high as 400,000 for an all out invasion of Japan was one reason given when Harry Truman made the decision to drop the bomb on Japan.
Grouped Articles
On 70th Anniversary of Nagasaki Bombing, Atomic Debate Yields Little Consensus
New York Times 08/08/2015
Remembering Hiroshima, and How It Changed the World
New York Times 08/07/2015
At Hiroshima’s 70th Anniversary, Japan Again Mourns Dawn of Atomic Age
New York Times 08/06/2015
Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivors Pass Their Stories to a New Generation
New York Times 08/05/2015
World Must Prevent the Future Use of Nuclear Weapons
Wall Street Journal 08/15/2015
Obama to Be First Sitting President to Visit Hiroshima
New York Times 05/10/2016
How the VW software to circumvent emissions tests worked according to the EPA
09/22/2015
The EPA says the way the software functioned was that it could detect when the car was connected to emissions meters, once detected that it was being inspected the car would turn on its pollution control equipment. Once back on the road the car would turn off the pollution control equipment to restore pep and power to the diesel cars, and emit some 35 times the level set by the EPA. This covers Jetta, Passat, Audi 3, Beetle and other models and was installed on 11 million vehicles according to VW. As diesel cars are mostly sold in Europe most of these cars are in Europe. In Europe surprisingly reports say the emissions limits are more relaxed and met by VW diesel cars. Winterkorn, CEO of VW since 2007, the software was installed in 2009 diesel cars. As CEO Winterkorn continued to head the R&D department of VW, and reports show he was meticulous about the cars engineering.
Grouped Articles
Volkswagen’s Diesel Fraud Makes Critic of Secret Code a Prophet
New York Times 09/22/15
Volkswagen’s Chief in the Vortex of the Storm
New York Times 09/22/15
Berlin's Tempelhof Airport- from the Berlin Airlift with 200,000 flights to deliver food and supplies in 1948-49, to its use for housing refugees in 2015
09/11/2015
Grouped Articles
Berlin Airport Used in Cold War Airlift Gets a New Humanitarian Mission
New York Times 09/11/15
Survey: Germany divided over Merkel's migrant policy changes | Germany | DW.COM | 21.08.2016
DW.COM 08/21/16
Opinion: Berlin, capital of mediocrity | Opinion | DW.COM | 19.09.2016
DW.COM 09/19/16
‘I Dream in Fruit’: What Hunger Looks Like in Syria
10/28/16
"Wilkommen Refugees"- The German people's response to refugees from Syria and North Africa
09/06/2015
Never has Germany seen such a huge outpouring of support for people fleeing war and persecution from all parts of the country.
Grouped Articles
For refugees, it’s destination Germany - The Washington Post
Washington Post 09/06/15
For refugees, it’s destination Germany - The Washington Post
Washington Post 09/06/15
Germany Works on Migrant Labor Conundrum
Wall Street Journal 09/16/15
German City by the Danube Is Tested by a Different Kind of Flood
New York Times 11/07/15
Some of the Arab States Have Admitted Many From Syria
Wall Street Journal 12/09/15
Survey: Germany divided over Merkel's migrant policy changes | Germany | DW.COM | 21.08.2016
DW.COM 08/21/16
The Arctic Yamal Energy Project in Russia
08/28/2015
Grouped Articles
Sanctions Bite Massive Gas Project in Russian Arctic
Wall Street Journal 08/28/15
China's consumption of metals and other commodities in 2015 and expected demand with slower growth
08/26/2015
As producers of commodities that aggressively expanded during the boom years adjust production to reflect slower growth in China, supply should adjust to new levels of demand. Experts say the size of the Chinese economy means it will still require a steady supply of metals and other commodities. In the long run, as the Indian economy takes off some of the new demand from India could fill in for slower growth from China.
Grouped Articles
China Remains a Key Commodities Player, Despite Waning Appetites
Wall Street Journal 08/26/15
Russia's GDP growth 2015-2016
08/25/2015
Grouped Articles
Overheard: Ruble in the Rubble
Wall Street Journal 08/25/15
Putin’s self-destructing economy - The Washington Post
Washington Post 01/18/16
The effect of low oil prices on oil exports dependent countries in 2015- Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Ecuador
08/24/2015
Grouped Articles
From Venezuela to Iraq to Russia, Oil Price Drops Raise Fears of Unrest
New York Times 08/24/15
Few in Venezuela Want Bolívars, but No One Can Spare a Dime
New York Times 10/18/15
Venezuelan Opposition Wins Congressional Midterm Elections
Wall Street Journal 12/07/15
Saudi Arabia, Squeezed by Low Oil Prices, Cuts Spending to Shrink Deficit
New York Times 12/28/15
Oil Plunge Sparks Bankruptcy Concerns
Wall Street Journal 01/12/16
Oil Prices at $30 Bend Nations, But Which Ones Could Break?
Wall Street Journal 01/13/16
The Washington Post on nuclear energy and its role in the energy mix to prevent higher carbon emissions
08/20/2015
Grouped Articles
Japan’s move to restart a nuclear reactor is a good decision - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/20/15
The reduced leverage of Gazprom in 2015 on supplies of natural gas to Europe through pricing and supply restrictions
08/18/2015
Increased natural gas supplies and a sharp decline in energy prices, combined with alternative sources, have reduced the leverage of Russia's Gazprom for supplies to Europe.
Grouped Articles
Russia used to have a powerful weapon in its energy sector. Not anymore. - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/18/15
Study showing CEO's scoring high on attractiveness, competence and trustworthiness doing better with IPO's
08/14/2015
A 2015 study by professors at Stanford, Michigan and UNC, shows IPO's doing better a year later when the CEO's have created a favorable impression on these three criteria.
Grouped Articles
Can You Judge an IPO by Its CEO?
Wall Street Journal 08/14/15
Opinion in Japan on the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
08/05/2015
Grouped Articles
At Hiroshima’s 70th Anniversary, Japan Again Mourns Dawn of Atomic Age
New York Times 08/06/15
Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivors Pass Their Stories to a New Generation
New York Times 08/05/15
World Must Prevent the Future Use of Nuclear Weapons
Wall Street Journal 08/15/15
Obama to Be First Sitting President to Visit Hiroshima
New York Times 05/10/16
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