Thursday, April 21, 2016

BLOG COMMENTS - APRIL 21, 2016 - PRESIDENTIAL RACE, PANAMA PAPERS, BRAZIL...



Dear Friends:

I would like to share with you a “summary” of recent news and the comments posted by myself in the WSJ Journal Community about headlines of the Wall Street Journal from April 4 to April 20.

U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

During the last few weeks after the Wisconsin battle for the presidential nominations, all the efforts of the Republican and Democratic candidates were concentrated in the New York voting.

Like previous expectations, Trump and Clinton won the respective elections of GOP and Democrats. However, these victories don’t change the ugly scenario of the 2016 presidential elections.

By the way, “a poll released by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal on Sunday showed that 68 percent of American voters couldn’t imagine themselves casting a vote in the general election for Trump, while 61 percent said the same about Ted Cruz and 58 percent about Clinton.” (“No Way to Elect a President”, Frank Bruni, New York Times, April 19, 2016)

PANAMA PAPERS

Meanwhile, in the international sphere, the scandal named “Panama Papers” generated series of comments and huge criticism against politicians and celebrities who evade taxes through offshore companies.

According to Wikipedia, the affair titled as “Panama Papers” includes a leaked set of 11.5 million confidential documents that provide detailed information about more than 214,000 offshore companies listed by the Panamanian corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca.

Another document published by ICIJ: https://panamapapers.icij.org/the_power_players/ gives a list of important international figures involved in this scandal:
- President of Argentina
- Former prime minister of Georgia
- Iceland's prime minister
- Ex-prime minister of Iraq
- Former prime minister of Jordan
- Former prime minister of Qatar
- Former Emir of Qatar
- King of Saudi Arabia
- Former president of Sudan
- UAE President, Abu Dhabi emir
- President of Ukraine
- Azerbaijan's first family
- Brother in law of China President
- Daughter of former Chinese Premier
- Childhood friends of Russian President Putin
- Close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin
- Cousins of Syrian President Bashar Assad
- Father of British Prime Minister David Cameron
- Son of former Egyptian president
- Personal secretary to the King of Morocco
- Children of Pakistan's prime minister
- Son of Malaysia's prime minister
- Aide to former Argentine presidents Kirchner
- "Favorite contractor" of Mexico's president
- Former king of Spain's sister
- Nephew of South African president
- Confidant to Palestinian Authority president
- Former Governor of Ecuador's Central Bank
- Advised former Greek prime minister
- AND MORE.

Ironically, the new Argentine President Mauricio Macri and the father of the British Prime Minister David Cameron are part of the list of tax evaders.

In the case of Argentina, also members of the previous government of Cristina Kirchner and the family of the soccer player Messi integrate the long series of international figures from Arab, European, Asian and Latin American countries with corrupt practices about taxes.

BRAZILIAN CORRUPTION

In South America, Brazil is also in the headlines of international news due to the calls for the impeachment to Dilma Rousseff. The current and former Brazilian Presidents are accused of high levels of corruption and dirty businesses of government.

The current series of BLOG COMMENTS include also comments and opinions related to economy and technology issues.

As you can see for the RECOMMENDATIONS, the majority of these comments generated a good reaction of other members of the Journal Community.

Important: Some of the comments were rewritten according to the summary of news.


Domingo Trassens
Analyst
World Rethink
April 21, 2016


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BLOG COMMENTS: 2016/04/04 - 2016/04/21




MY COMMENT: After the New York victory, Donald Trump is trying to destroy the GOP resistance against him with new tactics.
04/21/2016 01:22:56 PM 1 Recommendation


In the last quarterly financial report, the numbers of Microsoft looks better than when the PC’s boom started to decline.

MY COMMENT: Microsoft has technology and experience to earn money despite the decline of the PC business and in cloud computing is running well.
04/21/2016 01:26:35 AM 1 Recommendation


The SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) is mulling the current requirement of quarterly earnings reports to public companies.

MY COMMENT: The companies that work in annual projects don't have results in 3 months to report quarterly earnings. A good example is IBM.
04/21/2016 01:14:08 AM 1 Recommendation


Up to 500 migrants are feared dead after their boat sank off the Libyan coast. The United Nations refugee agency said death toll would be one of the highest since the start of Europe’s migrant crisis.

MY COMMENT: It is time the United Nations takes in serious the case of the refugees and migrants blocking the mafias that organize these terrible trips to the “paradise”.
04/20/2016 02:53:45 PM 2 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: This is nothing new. Tech firms pay very good wages from the beginning of the technological era.
04/20/2016 01:24:00 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: After recent disagreements, the burning question is: Will Obama rebuild the partnerships with Gulf leaders?
04/20/2016 01:21:38 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: New York is an important victory for Trump, but it is not the end of presidential race.
04/20/2016 01:13:21 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: This news put in evidence that Lexmark cannot survive as independent printer company. 

During the last few years, the quarterly reports of Lexmark reflected a strong fight to find new "roads" for businesses.

In the technology industry, glories are not eternal.
04/19/2016 11:11:58 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: In other words, the new $10 bill will show the face of a famous woman. Women are gaining room everywhere.
04/19/2016 07:35:02 PM



MY COMMENT: The crucial question are: Has the NATO Secretary the effective power to discuss about military issues with the Russian leaders? Or does he need to stay in line with President Obama and the U.S. President has also to stay in line with the top US generals?
04/19/2016 03:37:15 PM



MY COMMENT: It looks like Belgium is the European epicenter of the terror war.
04/19/2016 03:29:40 PM



MY COMMENT: This story says: "Bernie Sanders leads a chaotic procession..." 

Maybe Sanders wants to emulate the Pope “processions” across the New York streets.
04/19/2016 03:18:08 PM



MY COMMENT: “The No-Trump GOP” reflects a movement against Donald Trump that is growing across the country also with the contribution of independent voters.
04/19/2016 03:29:13 AM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: In the beginning of the Democrat campaign, Hillary Clintons was who tried to erode the Sanders' image. Now, he is in a hard offensive.
04/19/2016 02:59:21 AM 1 Recommendation


In the last months, Theranos became famous for its non-clear techniques in the testing of human blood. “Federal prosecutors are investigating whether the blood-testing company misled investors about the state of its technology and operations.”

MY FIRST COMMENT: Two years is a short ban for whom were playing with the patients health.
04/13/2016 10:15:32 PM 11 Recommendations

MY SECOND COMMENT: Theranos management has to be punished severely. Nobody has the right to play with the health of others.
04/19/2016 02:36:31 AM 3 Recommendations


The Dow Jones indexes climbs again above 18000, the first time since July 2015.

MY COMMENT: This is a healthy reaction of the Wall Street stocks after the pessimism that some analysts expressed in the beginning of the year.
04/19/2016 02:30:48 AM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: Amazon is making businesses everywhere. In the case of the New York City's schools, it can make contributions of e-books with prices in the level of their costs.
04/19/2016 02:20:57 AM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: Always the oil politics and the bad relationships with Iran were key issues of the Saudi politics.
04/19/2016 02:05:23 AM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: The Trump’s threats show that he is not able to run the country in harmony with other sectors of the politics.

In a democracy, a top leader like the president has to deal with all the sectors and build bridges with the different political powers without generate frictions that block the implementation of national politics.
04/19/2016 01:58:12 AM 5 Recommendations



MY COMMENT:The correlation breakdown between stocks and oil prices injects a dose of flexibility into the economic world.
04/19/2016 01:47:55 AM



MY COMMENT: Technology can make a revolution in the way the farmers work. 

There are a series of technological tools and software systems with important applications in the farms work.
04/18/2016 10:01:07 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: The ideas that Hillary has expressed in her presidential campaign about the creation of new agency for refugees doesn’t looks good. More bureaucratic agencies to help non-Americans!
04/17/2016 04:49:05 PM 1 Recommendation


Before the New York voting, Bernie Sanders made a short trip to Vatican, but the Pope didn’t spend a lot of time talking with the Democrat candidate.

MY COMMENT: It looks like the Vatican trip didn’t work like previous expectations of Bernie Sanders.
04/17/2016 04:48:19 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: EU cannot expect good steps from Iran.
04/17/2016 02:23:39 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: The Brazilians like to complain in the streets, but after that they don't take the right decisions in the institutional aisles.
04/17/2016 02:22:26 PM 4 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: The Chinese have a lot of problems in their own country to put their noses into the American domestic political environment.
04/17/2016 02:20:49 PM 6 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: Clinton and Trump are hostile and controversial figures. They clash against everybody who doesn't applaud them.
04/17/2016 02:07:03 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: The speculations about the Apple Car don’t show something better than a Mercedes, BMW, GM, Ford or Toyota. We have to wait for the real Apple Car.

04/17/2016 09:47:43 AM 2 Recommendations (This comment generated 742 “impressions” of Twitter visitors who frequently read my Wall Street Comments through Twitter.)


MY COMMENT: The Pope visit to Lesbos is solidarity with migrants in a symbolic way, but the migrant problem will not solve only with solidarity.
04/16/2016 04:37:00 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: Canada is walking through a controversial labyrinth: the suicide. Who really can say if the decision of killing yourself is right or wrong? The suicide is a very personal decision.

About the "assisted suicide" we have to walk cautiously due to the implications that this "service" carries behind the scene.
04/19/2016 05:26:52 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: Good initiative of Pope Francis! However, we have to hope nobody of the three Syrian families have secret links with the Islamic State.
04/16/2016 04:26:31 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: Neither Hillary Clinton nor Sanders will improve the police system. The politicians don't have clue what security means in the field.
04/16/2016 03:43:16 PM 1 Recommendation


MY COMMENT: Earthquakes always hit Japan destroying houses and killing people. This is like a nature sickness.
04/16/2016 03:38:19 PM



MY COMMENT: It is evident that Hillary feels strong pressure from Bernie Sanders who has a clear political model of the left, while the Clinton line is not pure Democratic line, it is a “Clintonian” line.
04/15/2016 02:43:29 AM



MY COMMENT: During the years in charge of the Brazilian government, President Dilma Rousseff always has found the way to frustrated claims and plots against her administration.
04/14/2016 10:45:21 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: The man-to-man homosexuality is only one of the ways of transmission of diseases.

The babies with Zika come from the body of a woman.
04/14/2016 10:36:35 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: It is unforgivable that till now the Nigerian security forces didn't liberate the school girls that Boko Haram kidnapped in 2014.
04/14/2016 10:27:17 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: The banner of the New York meetings with the statement: “The silent majority stands with Trump” is only propaganda.

The silent majority of the population doesn’t like politicians who attack to everybody. They don't like division. They want unity and harmony.
04/14/2016 10:14:45 PM 7 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: If the Brazil Supreme Court suspends the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff, the current political revolt will end in nothing.
04/14/2016 10:00:23 PM 1 Recommendation


Hillary met the U.S. women soccer players and expressed concerns about their salary payment.

MY COMMENT: Is really Mrs. Clinton interested in soccer players and sport of women or this is only propaganda of his campaign?
04/13/2016 10:29:56 PM



MY COMMENT: This is important news that probably few readers read. This experience will help us to learn more about nature, biology, food and other scientific subjects.
04/13/2016 10:24:08 PM 4 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: The Hillary’s promise about refugees surely will generate a new bureaucratic organization to solve the problem of others.

Mrs. Clinton didn't learn the hard European lesson of the refugees.

04/13/2016 10:08:04 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: The growth of the American economy doesn't go to the pockets of the poor people.
04/13/2016 04:37:57 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: We have to remark that Bernie Sanders is a natural-born New Yorker, while Hillary is only an adopted New York

However, today, Mrs. Clinton looks more New Yorker than Sanders because she has the support of the current New York Major and prominent figures of the city.
And the Hilarity works through powerful influences.
04/12/2016 09:39:26 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: Paul Ryan doesn't want to be involved in the chaotic presidential campaign because he has other important responsibilities now. He enjoys his role of House Speaker.
04/12/2016 09:06:53 PM 3 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: Is Yahoo a good business for Verizon?
04/12/2016 02:11:47 AM



MY COMMENT: Everybody wants to make businesses with Iran.
04/12/2016 02:09:06 AM



MY COMMENT: Donald Trump wants to "dress" his presidential formula with good names of the GOP establishment.
04/11/2016 11:18:05 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: Every day we read the oil "news" in the pump of the gasoline station.
04/11/2016 11:09:51 PM



MY COMMENT: New York is current home of Trump and Clinton. They are playing as local players against their competitors.
04/11/2016 10:47:43 PM 3 Recommendations


The revelations that father of the British Prime Minister is in the list of “Panama Papers” put David Cameron in serious trouble.

MY COMMENT: Will Cameron find the way to escape of the tunnel?
04/10/2016 10:23:53 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is fabricating a new plot to remain in power.
04/10/2016 09:32:06 PM 2 Recommendations


The publication of the list of international politicians included in the “Panama Papers” ended with the “honeymoon” of new Argentine President.

MY COMMENT: Argentine President Mauricio Macri can clean “his name” through certified declarations, but he will never delete the stain.
04/10/2016 09:25:39 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: It is not new that Cristina Kirchner always used dirty practices in her own benefit. 

During her terms as president, Cristina Kirchner made a fortune, the same that her dead husband. Surely, she and her husband used dirty ways to enrich themselves.

She and her dead husband will remember forever in the first pages of the History books about corrupt leaders of the world.
04/10/2016 09:11:09 PM 4 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: Donald Trump will use all the resources that he has to destroy Ted Cruz including non-ethical accusations.
04/10/2016 08:54:28 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: Contradictions of the politics: Wyoming is a state with strong conservative roots. However, Sanders, who represents the opposite extreme of the conservative politics, wins in Wyoming.
04/10/2016 12:12:09 AM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: The reality is that none of the top negotiations of the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry ended as a perfect job. Probably the current visit to Kabul is a new “patch” to mend an imperfect agreement.
04/09/2016 10:03:45 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: To be divorced doesn’t imply to be a bad person. The current social and economic problems push a lot of marriages to the abyss for different reasons.
04/08/2016 02:00:32 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: This case shows us how the Islamic State is pushing to the sacrifice of people without the capacity to think with their own mind.
04/08/2016 05:48:18 AM 0 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: At least in Iceland, the “Panama Papers” forced government reorganization. Surely, Argentine President Macri will not resign.
04/08/2016 12:21:59 AM



MY COMMENT: The tax evasion has a long history. The “masters” of this corrupt practice are powerful people who criticize the poor people who try to avoid the income taxes.
04/08/2016 12:07:21 AM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: Probably, the 300 Syrian workers will become 300 new slaves of the Islamic State.
04/07/2016 11:53:25 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: Always the corrupt lawyers have argument to show they are good people.
04/07/2016 11:43:30 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: This democracy activist who became a suicide bomber didn’t have clue what democracy is.
04/07/2016 11:39:03 PM 11 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: It looks like Germany is trying to avoid new massive migrations from other conflicted regions.
04/07/2016 11:21:38 PM



MY COMMENT: Corruption disguised behind important international personalities of politics rules the world. The question is: Who really is decent today?
04/07/2016 07:17:00 PM 3 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: Sonia Sotomayor is right. “The job of a Justice has gotten much more complicated” due to the complicity of the subjects the members of the Supreme Court have in their hands.
04/07/2016 05:53:42 PM 1 Recommendation


MY COMMENT: Obvious defense, the Brazilian Treasury Minister Nelson Barbosa is member of the Rousseff’s team.
04/07/2016 05:42:31 PM 1 Recommendation



MY COMMENT: Huawei has experience to develop advance technology. It learned a lot near to 3Com, a American hero that today is dead.

But the Chinese has not an easy road, if it wants to conquer America. Till now, it is in the "bad" list of the U.S. government.
04/06/2016 08:20:20 PM 1Recommendation


MY COMMENT: Wisconsin demonstrated that Donald Trump is not unbeatable.
04/06/2016 08:10:21 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: European Union has to filter “bad grass” and select good people.
04/06/2016 01:18:32 PM 2 Recommendations



MY COMMENT: We have to see if this initiative stops the massive migration.

It is rude, but Europe cannot open its doors to everybody.
04/04/2016 12:18:35 PM 2 Recommendations

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SOURCES:

1) External Sources: Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Twitter and PBS NewsHour.

2) Own Sources: My own research for previous publishing projects like TTT of Comlab Corp, Spanish English Club online and others.

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