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Why Amazon's Challenges and a Human Need for Connection Are Driving Shoppers to DTC Brands | Coronavirus Series
Rich Gardner
Editor's Note: This article is part of a series that explores the impact the coronavirus crisis is having on the world of ecommerce. Explore daily insights surrounding the coronavirus crisis or check out these additional resources to help you navigate your marketing strategy during this time.
With hundreds of millions of people home due to widespread stay-at-home orders around the world, sales are on the rise for many online businesses. For the fifth straight day in a row (as of April 6, 2020), the proportion of ecommerce brands saying their sales are continuing to go up has increased, according to new research from Klaviyo.
During a period of downward pressure on the macroeconomy, many respondents—especially those selling "New Essentials" products like toys and hobbies, health and fitness, beauty and cosmetics, hardware, and housewares—are reporting a spike in sales. Some brands even say they're currently experiencing record-breakingly strong performance.
Why this is happening likely varies from category to category, and even business to business, but there are two external forces that are combining to help drive these surprising results: Amazon's struggles and an increasing human need to feel connected.
Why Amazon's struggles are creating more opportunity for independent brands
In a recent message to the staff at Amazon, Jeff Bezos said, "This isn't business as usual, and it's a time of great stress and uncertainty."
That stress is clear on several fronts.
Amazon is facing significant challenges when it comes to simply keeping its fulfillment centers operating. Concerns over protecting the health and safety of workers have led to work stoppages in (at least) New York, Chicago, and Detroit, according to the New York Post. And employee attendance at these fulfillment centers is down by as much as 30 percent, according to Quartz.
What's more, there's the issue of which products are actually moving swiftly (if at all) through these fulfillment centers.
Fast delivery—a core component of the value the company promises—has been eroded by a mix of overwhelming demand and disrupted supply chains. Members of Amazon Prime, who pay $119 per year for a membership and typically receive their goods in 24-48 hours, may now have to wait weeks for any product classified by Amazon as non-essential, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The freeze on certain fulfillment-by-Amazon items was originally scheduled to end on April 5th, but more recently, Amazon has said the end date is uncertain.
The impact on sellers who rely on Amazon fulfillment is significant.
A new report from Jungle Scout indicates that 66 percent of Amazon sellers rely solely on fulfillment-by-Amazon. While merchants that sell essential items may benefit amid the current circumstance, what happens to all of the other merchants and their products?
While one can't fault Amazon for prioritizing their fulfillment center work to focus on shipping out medical supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE), and other health and safety necessities at a time like this, the operational challenges Amazon is now grappling with still leave individual consumers in the lurch—those who are thinking about refreshing their living room (and now, perhaps, their home office) or those who want to augment their comfortable work-from-home clothing collection.
So, where are those shoppers now going to make those purchases, instead? Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands.
How a desire to feel connected is increasingly shifting consumers' purchase habits towards DTC brands
The increasing share of online sales versus brick-and-mortar retail sales started long before the novel coronavirus struck, but there's reason to believe that the current crisis will accelerate this trend.
"I have difficulty thinking of a scenario when after this people will spend more time in stores, which were already pretty empty before… I don't see a world where people come out of this and say, 'Oh, let's go to Macy's,'" said Javier Seara, managing partner and director at Boston Consulting Group, according to Quartz (via Non Perele).
The broad macroeconomic trend of consumers moving their purchase habits online is only part of the explanation, though.
The current crisis is also accentuating emotional drivers, like a sense of connection, that are already core to the DTC brand experience.
For some brands, this creates an opportunity—even amid a crisis.
"Now is the opportunity for DTC brands to leverage best practices and take advantage of cost-efficient media opportunities. DTC fashion brands can explore building an emotional connection with their customers, where Amazon is somewhat limited in that aspect due to the size of the company compared to some competitors," said Mark Zamuner, CEO at growth consultancy Two Nil, according to Glossy.
Emotional connections can come from meeting the most basic needs during a time of heightened anxiety and desperation.
At UK-based ecommerce business, The Nappy Lady, which sells reusable cloth diapers and related items, sales have tripled since the coronavirus crisis started. They've been sparked by desperate parents who are worried about scarcity.
For Wendy Richards, a mother of three who owns and operates the business, the emotional connection with customers is mutual.
"I hate having a mother at the end of the phone and can't help them," said Wendy, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Creating a deep connection between their customers and their brand has played a critical role in helping Ryan Light and the team at Pistol Lake, a California-based ecommerce performance apparel company, navigate the challenges of the last few weeks.
Their community of customers has always been core to Pistol Lake, but the strength of the connection has been even more clear in recent weeks as the company communicated openly in an email about the dire financial risks it was facing (like the CEO of Nisolo also did).
Ryan said that in response to his email, "Customers reached out to ask how are [you]? How is the team?"
They also purchased—a lot. Pistol Lake generated the equivalent of a month-and-a-half of sales in a single weekend.
Pistol Lake's customers have always been fiercely loyal but, now, they're also fiercely caring.
"Our customers don't want us to go away," said Ryan.
As a driver of purchase decisions, emotional connections can also be linked to a higher purpose.
One respondent to Klaviyo's daily survey of consumers said she's "only shopping at places that are still paying their workers."
In order to navigate the current crisis, some companies are, essentially, reinventing their business and their purpose.
Sweetgreen, for example, has pivoted from serving harried business professionals to catering to the needs of hospital and medical personnel on the front lines.
If you're struggling to navigate your business through these unprecedented and unsettling times, you're not alone. Here are a couple of pieces of advice that may be helpful to you.
First, don't be afraid to ask for help.
Ryan and the team at Pistol Lake had spent years investing in building their community of customers and deepening those relationships. They had never asked for help or ever really needed to. But when that changed, they had established a strong sense of connection with their customers that enabled them to ask for help.
If you're looking for insights on how to build your brand community, check out this guide.
Finally, lead with purpose.
Clear purpose and living your values should always be top priorities for any business. Today, though, when hundreds of millions of people around the world are being told to socially distance from each other, their need for connection to other people, and even to brands, is accentuated. Companies that can authentically tell the stories of their purpose, even if it's new like Sweetgreen's, may make disproportionate gains in this challenging time.
Looking for more information to help you adjust your marketing strategies as you navigate the coronavirus crisis? These resources may be helpful.
Abandoned Cart Subject Lines You Can Use to Turn Missed Opportunities Into Future Sales (23 Strategies + Examples)
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Rich Gardner is VP, Global Strategic Partnerships for Klaviyo. For 15 years, Rich has built and led high-performing global sales and business development teams at hypergrowth tech and tech-enabled services businesses. At Klaviyo, Rich is responsible for identifying and cultivating best-in-class partners in the ecommerce ecosystem to help brands grow faster. Prior to these executive roles, Rich practiced law in Washington, DC, and worked as a political operative. Rich holds a J.D. from the UVA Law School and his A.B. at Harvard College. He lives in Boston with his husband, Darrell, and basset hound, Harvey. And his lucky number, apparently, is three: he has attended three Patriots Super Bowls (2-1 record), three Star Trek Conventions (only 1 in uniform), and three U2 concerts.


Edgardo G. Salomon earned his B.A. in Visual Communications with concentration in Sequential Art from SCAD-Atlanta.
Hard working and reliable, he looks forward to the completion of any project he has at hand and the satisfaction the customer gains from a job well done.


"At 8 o'clock this morning I felt as if my prayers had been answered. Long ago I had a chat with God, asking him to make a bespoke food delivery service, available in London. He heard me loud and clear. A delivery man bearing a cool box filled with my organic customised daily rations arrived, bang on time.


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Posts tagged 'Financial market'
The Stock Market Is Overvalued, Caution Is Warranted
Back in 2001, Buffett said in an interview with Fortune Magazine that "the single best measure" of stock market valuation is by taking the total market cap (TMC) and dividing it by the total gross domestic product (GDP). Today, TMC is equal to 114.5% of total GDP.
At the market top in 2007, just prior to a -54% crash in stocks, TMC was equal to 104.9%. According to Buffett's "favorite" market timing indicator, stocks are more overvalued today than in 2007.
[Must Read: Shelley Moen: Pullback Ahead]
What's more, since the market low in 2009 (when the ratio was at 56.8%–the first time in 15 years that stocks were truly "undervalued"), the ratio has climbed for six consecutive quarters and is now nearly two standard deviations above the mean.
However, just because a market is overvalued does not mean that a crash or even a significant correction is immediately imminent. Given the unprecedented negative 2.9% adjustment to US first quarter GDP figures, I expect this earnings season is going to be quite volatile. As usual, there will be good days and bad days but overall, barring any unexpected shock, I expect the current trend to be maintained.
That being said, Dow Theory is giving us some mixed signals.
The Transports are far stronger than the Industrials. There is no divergence as such but the flat-lining of the Dow 30 index is giving me cause for concern and I will be paying particular attention over the next 3 weeks for early signs of technical breakdown.
[See Also: A Second Quarter GDP Bounce-Back May Not Be Bullish]
The bell-weather consumer staples ETF: XLP is also giving mixed signals. While the overall ETF is technically strong, T J Max, Proctor & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Costco and Visa are showing early signs of price deterioration.
Thus, all in all, I think the July earnings season will tell us a lot regarding whether the bull is going to last. I am beginning to have my doubts. Caution is warranted.
Dow Transports: Daily
Dow Industrials: Daily
ETF: XLP: Daily
TJ Max Corp: Daily.
Proctor & Gamble Corp: Daily.
Wal-Mart Corp: Daily.
Costco Corp: Daily.
Visa Corp: Daily.
Charts Courtesy of SharpCharts.Com.
© Christopher M. Quigley 1st. July 2014.
Christopher Quigley
wealthbuilder @ eircom.net
Stock market cycles
The Coming Derivatives Panic That Will Destroy Global Financial Markets
By: John_Rolls
John Rolls Submits, Michael Snyder writes: When financial markets in the United States crash, so does the U.S. economy. Just remember what happened back in 2008. The financial markets crashed, the credit markets froze up, and suddenly the economy went into cardiac arrest. Well, there are very few things that could cause the financial markets to crash harder or farther than a derivatives panic. Sadly, most Americans don't even understand what derivatives are.
Unlike stocks and bonds, a derivative is not an investment in anything real. Rather, a derivative is a legal bet on the future value or performance of something else. Just like you can go to Las Vegas and bet on who will win the football games this weekend, bankers on Wall Street make trillions of dollars of bets about how interest rates will perform in the future and about what credit instruments are likely to default. Wall Street has been transformed into a gigantic casino where people are betting on just about anything that you can imagine.
This works fine as long as there are not any wild swings in the economy and risk is managed with strict discipline, but as we have seen, there have been times when derivatives have caused massive problems in recent years. For example, do you know why the largest insurance company in the world, AIG, crashed back in 2008 and required a government bailout? It was because of derivatives. Bad derivatives trades also caused the failure of MF Global, and the 6 billion dollar loss that JPMorgan Chase recently suffered because of derivatives made headlines all over the globe. But all of those incidents were just warm up acts for the coming derivatives panic that will destroy global financial markets. The largest casino in the history of the world is going to go "bust" and the economic fallout from the financial crash that will happen as a result will be absolutely horrific.
There is a reason why Warren Buffett once referred to derivatives as "financial weapons of mass destruction". Nobody really knows the total value of all the derivatives that are floating around out there, but estimates place the notional value of the global derivatives market anywhere from 600 trillion dollars all the way up to 1.5 quadrillion dollars.
fullarticle at source: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article37882.html
The Coming Derivatives Panic That Will Destroy Global Financial Markets (anationbeguiled.wordpress.com)
American International Group
MF Global
EU governments should not be put in a position to compete for funds with commercial enterprises
By Florian Pantazi
Slowly but surely, the set of remedies employed in the hope of solving the euro crisis is now spreading recession from the periphery to the core of the eurozone. Austerity measures, accompanied by an increase in taxes, will bring France's economic growth to a halt next year. Germany's growth rate, based on its solid export machine, is also showing signs of slowdown. As the European Union is the world's largest economy, its troubles are spreading economic stagnation to its main trading partners – China, the US, Japan and Brazil – as well.
The launch of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), currently hailed as a kind of European monetary fund, has recently re-ignited hopes of appeasing financial markets. Alas, the only lasting solution to the euro's woes is that of allowing EU national governments to sell their treasury bonds directly to the ECB, thus totally bypassing financial markets.
In truth, no state should be subjected to the same financial pressures and performance criteria that private corporations normally are. To give but one example, prior to 1973 the French government was able to borrow directly from its national bank at zero interest. Through the introduction of private or institutional investors into the equation, as market intermediaries between national banks and their governments, the stage is set for astute financial speculators to increase returns for their clients on the backs of states in need. Rating agencies, acting on behalf of investors, are able to exert pressure on governments to reduce expenditure on essential public services, as it has happened it the EU over the past few years.
full article at source: http://www.europesworld.org/NewEnglish/Home_old/CommunityPosts/tabid/809/PostID/3293/Apossibleexitfromtheeurocrisis.aspx
Your Liberty and Your Money
By Dan Denning
We begin with a cynical thought experiment. It's really a conclusion about what's going on in the financial markets. And the conclusion is this: the value of financial assets and currencies is being deliberately crashed in order to transfer wealth from the public to a small group of global elites.
Sounds crazy, right? Maybe even cranky? We'll get to that shortly. But first…
The typical result of credit booms and busts is to transfer ownership of real assets and productive businesses from the public to the insiders. In our thought experiment, the Federal Reserve exists to make this happen in a way that doesn't alert the public to what's really going on. The insiders — or anyone who knows how these things work — sell to the public in the mania phase. The panic and crash phase of a bust is when the public realizes the game is up……………………………….
full article at source: http://dailyreckoning.com/
The Cheeseburger Police (sgtreport.com)
Your Liberty and Your Money (businessinsider.com)
CITI'S BUITER: The Eurozone Will Be In 'Cardiac Arrest' For At Least 2-3 More Years (businessinsider.com)
Who Will Really Benefit From QE3? (etfdailynews.com)
Why the eurozone will be in 'cardiac arrest' for at least 2-3 more years (business.financialpost.com)
10 Quotes From Financial Experts About The Effect That QE3 Will Have On Gold And Silver (sgtreport.com)
An Open Access thought experiment [Confessions of a Science Librarian] (scienceblogs.com)
TN Nashville Resistance | National END THE FED Rally | Videos, Photos and Journal (iamrising.wordpress.com)
Thousands Protest at Every Federal Reserve this Weekend (musicians4freedom.com)
Do You Care More About Shine or Volume? (bellasugar.com)
Dan Denning
Reading the tealeaves
By David Mc Williams
In terms of reading the economic tea leaves, last week's cup of data has left behind a perplexing residue, with some good bits, some bad bits and lots of confusing bits, which could go either way. However, it is a crucial week because the evidence suggests that something very odd is happening in Ireland. The Irish bond market is decoupling from the Irish economy. That sounds weird, but let's dig a bit to explain.
The news from the financial markets – Ireland being able to borrow again – is unambiguously good. There are a few gripes, like the interest rates, but it would be churlish not to see this as a positive – and indicative of a likely bank deal which will see a dramatic easing in the overall debt position of the state.
Obviously, there is a long road still to go, but the markets clearly believe that the bank debt mutualisation deal hinted at in Brussels last month will be delivered.
So far so good, but at the same time, the data from the real economy was awful, and the news from the banking system, as well as local credit conditions, is equally desperate.
In another development which will form the background music to the next few months, ECB president Mario Draghi has signalled that he is going to take the Germans on and has fired the opening salvos in what will prove to be a titanic battle for the hearts, minds and balance sheet of the ECB. He will buy government bonds directly.
full article at source: http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2012/07/30/reading-the-tealeaves?utm_source=Website+Subscribers&utm_campaign=bf7581ddae-30072012&utm_medium=email
So it has been quite a week.
Let's deal with the decoupling idea
Euro Watch: E.C.B. President Talks Up the Euro, and Lifts Stocks (nytimes.com)
ECB 'ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro' (ekathimerini.com)
ECB Update: ECB Has 'No Taboos' As Crisis Reaches New Height (forexlive.com)
ECB chief hails Irish efforts on economy (newstalk.ie)
Bonds weaker on Draghi's comments (news.theage.com.au)
The Secret Tool Draghi Uses to Run Europe (forbes.com)
S&P States the Obvious
By Ron Paul
Politicians did not get much time to pat themselves on the back for supposedly rescuing the economy with the debt limit deal last week. The ink was barely dry when Standard & Poor's downgraded the US debt ratings anyway, roiling world financial markets. Anyone who has taken an honest look at the government's fiscal situation, taken into account how Washington works and the direction it is going would have a very difficult time arguing with S&P's decision, although a strong case can be made that this was too incremental a downgrade and that it took far too long for S&P to admit the obvious.
Nonetheless, the administration nitpicked over a $2 trillion "mistake." S&P rejoined with the fact that $2 trillion here or there hardly makes a difference in the time frame under discussion. That, if nothing else, should tell you the magnitude of the problem. $2 trillion has become a drop in the bucket.
full article here at source:http://www.thedailybell.com/2803/Ron-Paul-SP-States-the-Obvious
Orders of magnitude (numbers)
United States public debt
Banks that think they're casinos put us all at risk
Anyone who worked in financial markets will know that — at its most base — the "market" is in fact only a coked up, whoring 28-year-old from Basildon on hyper-wages, with a Porsche and a Chelsea season ticket.
This is hardly the type of far-sighted leader that we should be depending on, nor the opinion we should be worried about. Has he become the arbiter of economic policy in the early 21st Century? Is this where we have got to? The young lad in London who is "shorting" the European bond market mightn't easily find Florence on a map and his geopolitical interests might not go further than the price of a footballer's transfer fees in the closed season and who won 'The X Factor'…
full article at source:http://www.davidmcwilliams.ie/2011/08/10/banks-that-think-theyre-casinos-put-us-all-at-risk

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Foreign policy towards foreign direct investments: experience of turkey
Abstract. As investment diplomacy has taken its place in world politics recently, it has not been sufficiency covered in a strategic approach by the majority of international actors; indeed, neither are there any associated theoretical approaches in field of foreign policy and investment correlation. Whilst FdI is well researched from the perspective of economics and development, its effectiveness in the development of a given country is still under discussion. Experience of Turkey FdI attraction through foreign policy strategy, it's effectiveness and results in different periods will be presented in the article. Certain lessons of Ankara can be applied to the countries which focused on the "economization" of foreign policy and FdI cooperation.
Besides many global and domestic economic challenges, Turkey has increased FdI inflows in 2018 by 12% [1]. Since global FdI decrease which achieved 13% in 2018 and made certain states to answer global challenges and compete for foreign investors. Though in 2018 Turkey experienced devaluation and economic development decline, it managed to maintain an increase in FdI flows. Besides this sustainable increase of FdI flows, Turkey was fourth among developing countries worldwide in greenfield FdI projects by 2017-2018, and was fourth after China, the Philippines, and India in the list of economies with the most special economic zones in 2019 [1, p.41]. Ankara guaranteed preferences and security for foreign investors, have investment strategies and formed special institutions to attract FdI, but both have a certain associated political risk; overall, Turkey implemented its foreign policy strategy more effectively.
This experience of Turkey can be very timely assumed in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan since the 1990s developed strong partnerships with foreign investors and succeeded a lot in FdI inflows attraction. Meanwhile, due to UNCTAd, Kazakhstan showed a decline in FdI by 43% in 2017 and in 2018 by 18.3% [1, 2]. Since 2018 Kazakhstan started the process of economization of foreign policy to attract foreign investors and provide economic sustainability [3]. New Foreign Policy Strategy of Kazakhstan for 2020-2030 shows that NurSultan will enhance economic diplomacy and work hard in attraction of FdI to the country [4]. That is why experience of Turkey could be important to learn with its positive and negative lessons, as the country went through the different periods in investment diplomacy since the nineteenth century till nowadays.
The Ottoman Empire experience in FDI cooperation: the first lessons to learn
It is especially interesting to start by studying the experience of the Ottoman Empire in its history of foreign direct investments as beginning in the nineteenth century to the current experience to see how Turkey manages its inflows.
It is impossible to compare the entrance of FdI into Turkey in the nineteenth century and into Kazakhstan by the end of the twentieth century. Thus, there are similar issues and challenges which both had in FdI matter.
So, despite having had sustainable diplomatic and trade relations for centuries with the European states, the Ottoman Empire has faced economic challenges and decline since the eighteenth century. Indeed, the Ottoman Empire saw economic declined because of the free trade agreements imposed by the European Powers since the European powers, mainly England, assigned a policy of specialization which promoted raw material production at the expense of manufacturing. Bruce Master characterized this as follows: "As money made from trade was not reinvested in protoindustry, as it was in England, Holland, or Western Germany, was the availability of a host of other, more attractive options for returning profits to investors" [5, p. 147].
The Europeans were the first which entered market of the Middle East and with industrial revolution increased their economic activity in the nineteenth century. diplomacy were closely connected with trade for centuries in that region, only increased competition between European states for the influence in the region changed the picture. Weakened by domestic issues the Ottoman Empire was still the core player and it was still important to manage relations with the ottomans.
According to Mears "Looking around for fields for financial expansion, the Western bankers soon began to appreciate the availability of Turkey. Here was a country of vast potential resources, with a strategic geographical location and with government too ignorant, irresponsible and corrupt to protect its interests. It was an ideal field for political intrigue and it did not long remain uncultivated" [5, p.159].
Other authors, like Issawi wrote that, after 1838, the Ottoman trade regime was among the most liberal in the world [5]. Since the Europeans were expecting and working actively for the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, they wanted to have direct investments (physical assets) in the country, in order to increase their claims from the spoil. FdI started with a strong demand of infrastructure and agricultural development. For the Empire, it was easier to follow a cooperation based on long-lasting diplomatic relations and long trade history, with existing financial loan practices. The Ottoman administration did not explored the opportunities provided by centuries of that cooperation to diversify economy and increase its power but in certain terms used this opportunity belatedly. They used the diplomatic and economic competition of the Europeans powers for the survival of the Empire. The Ottoman Empire, benefited from FdI in infrastructures because such investments served both to the home and host the country interests. despite of foreign policy, the Ottoman administration used national interest in the strategy of foreign policy and extracted from some economic development.
Four centuries of strong diplomatic connections between the Ottomans and European states brought a certain experience, but to the nineteenth century, the Ottomans significantly lost their weight in political arena. Moreover, they became increasingly dependent on the military and economic supremacy of the Europeans, their industrialization and innovation [6]. So, being in contact with Europeans for centuries in trade relations, the Ottomans had the same problem which some states have nowadays; namely, the lack of industrialization and diversification of their economy.
As Gilpin, scholar of international political economy, noted "in the tradition of nineteenthcentury liberals who extolled trade as a force for peace, some writers believe that the sharing of production by states and corporations of different nationalities creates bonds of mutual interest that counter and moderate the historic tendency for the uneven development of national economies to give rise to economic conflict. If corporations of declining economies are able to continue as industrial producers through foreign direct investment, it is argued, they will be less apt to resist the rise of new industrial powers" [7, p. 261].
The problem of taxation of foreign investments made the Ottomans urgently to adopt regulations preferable for investors. According to Quartet [5], the internal security problems in the first half of the nineteenth century also had a negative impact on capital investment. The Ottomans were collecting export taxes of 12 per cent, while duties were only 3 per cent for imports. As noted by Puryear, "the British made the Ottomans accept free trade before they accepted it in their own country" [5, p. 26].
Geyikdagi wrote "the British, who effectively controlled the Ottoman trade from 1838 to the 1860s, has introduced free trade to the Ottoman Empire long before they did so in Britain" [5, p.26].
First of all, after being a superpower in the region for many centuries, the decline of economic and political strength forced the Ottoman Empire to open the country to FdI inflows and allow Western countries to invest in their country. Whether the Europeans had a bigger interest to enter a new market and sell their goods or to enforce the economic interdependence of a key country in their region is not easy to evaluate. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the leading European states were competing for power and influence, especially in the Middle East, and preparing for war.
Besides profits, FdI aims to bring new technologies to the host country. The Ottomans were not just open to financial inflows but were further interested in the kind of real industrialization that would work in favour of the country and restore its previous strength. The transportation and financial sectors received the first foreign capital inflows which further resulted in a major impact, though with a certain vulnerability, as well [8].
"Almost all of the earlier FdI in the Ottoman Empire were for commercial purposes as the Europeans assigned a specialized production and trade activity for this country. The Ottomans had to produce raw materials for the European industries and buy manufactured products of these industries as expedited by the 1838 Trade Agreement. The impoverished Ottoman people, who could not afford the high- quality but more expensive traditional textiles manufactured by the local craftsmen, bought instead the cheaper imported cloth. during the process, cotton, silk and other textile exports to Europe and the East declined while other local industries dwindled, and the country underwent de-industrialization as a consequence" [5, p.156].
The key countries investing in the Ottoman Empire were Britain, France, Belgium, and later Germany, which entered the European concert and started its activities. Eventually, Germany increased her diplomatic influence and privileges regarding its FdI share, and subsequently became one of the largest investors in the country. The competition between Europeans to invest and gain political and economic influence in the territory became stiff. Besides FdI, the Ottoman Empire had a substantial foreign debt, which can be broken down as follows: France 49.5 %; Britain 6.9%; Germany 20.1%; Belgium 11%; and Holland 3% [5, p. 49]. Moreover, the Ottoman Public department of Administration was established with the purpose of guaranteeing the loan payments.
The Ottoman Empire had a long trade history with the Europeans, but in the nineteenth century was unprepared for the industrial revolution as it had no infrastructure or technology in the European sense. Most of its FdIs were focussed on the transportation and finance sectors in order to facilitate trade activities with the Europeans.
This period of history is very significant as the Ottoman Empire had played a major role in that region for centuries. However, its political and economic influence decreased dramatically in the nineteenth century, when the country became very dependent on the Europeans to meet its industrial needs. It turned into a place of competition between the great powers which were focussed on effective investment so that they could gain increased political influence and economic privileges. The last quarter of the nineteenth century was a time when a coming war was widely expected, and even then FdIs to Ottoman Empire went on increasing diplomatic relations with the Ottomans.
The European gave an economic and political competition increased by the end of the nineteenth century, as Germany was eager to invest for getting a very strong ally in the European arena. It's even possible to say that foreign policy became even more important in FdIs in relations with the Germans, the Europeans were competing with each other for domination through investments here with a long-lasting influence here and it was in favor of Ottomans. The Europeans invested in transportation and finance, but did not so much in industry is the Ottoman Empire got a transportation and transport construction experience which remained in the country. But excepting cheap European goods and giving up local production was a major weakness in their policy. diplomacy definitely was in place here and had an influence in increasing relations like with France and Germany, and at certain times, changes in relations with Britain led to the declining of FdI. But a very important feature is that foreign investors did not count risks as much as they do nowadays and relied on the country where they invested, and expecting diplomatic support in their interest. They were not anticipating a loss of political influence, getting no profit from investments.
Obviously, the Ottoman Empire didn't have some special foreign policy approach towards FdI and it was fragmentary and due to the circumstances of the nineteenth century, the policy and interest of the European powers. However, the first FdIs had not brought effective impact towards economy of the Ottoman Empire it brought experience when FdI interests were closely interconnected with diplomacy, the Europeans were competing for the resources and geopolitical position of the Ottoman Empire and FdI, foreign policy were the tools. Since then state could have used lessons in following strategies. National security risks were not included in economic partnership with the Europeans and it brought Republican Turkey after the dissolvent of the Ottoman Empire to the tough consequences. Soon the Ottoman Empire will be dissolved and Turkey stability will be significantly damaged. Surely, domestic political and economic issues, considered among the main of that however, economic dependence on the great powers should not be neglected as well.
The history of FdI in the Ottoman Empire requires very important consideration. The Ottoman Empire being geopolitically in a core place of interest and competition between Britain, France and Germany, was politically important but had considerable economic weaknesses. Lately a lot of emerging states will have the same experience in relations with big powers in FdI matter.
New economic agenda: FDI and the foreign policy strategy of Ankara since the 1980s
The twentieth century brought another experience of FdI which was successful enough but was somehow still based on historical background.
The outcomes of the First World War and foreign debt led to the Republic of Turkey strengthening economic diplomacy and developing relations with the USA, Italy, Germany, the UK, and the USSR. The earlier period of the Republic of Turkey focussed, and indeed insisted, on strong foreign economic relations which were mostly based on foreign trade. The policy of the Republic of Turkey achieved certain economic results and went the way many developing countries went in the interwar and cold war period. Among its main partners were Germany, the USA, the UK, Italy, and the Soviet Union [9, p.11]. Because of the damaging experiences with FdI during the Ottoman period, the new Turkish Republic viewed all kinds of foreign investments with suspicion. Foreign policy strategy in the cold war period was more based on political and security interests than on economic development. It was more important for the country to find a secure position in the bipolar world and the country was consistently balanced in cooperation with the Western bloc [10].
Economic and political tension, oil and exchange crisis, de-tension in bipolar world between the US and the USSR led to Turkey reformulating its political agenda and foreign policy strategy. The diminished security threats, internal political and economic problems led to a coup in 1980 [11, p.393], changes in the global world and the opening up of new global borders, which coincided with an increase in global FdI flows and brought new opportunities. Foreign policy strategy towards economic diplomacy was based on two factors: internal economic needs and opening the east, and new partners and markets for "pro-Western isolationist existence". Economic power started to become more important in global politics, which actually favoured developing states. Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and, later, the dissolving USSR, became new vectors in Turkey's foreign policy unless it was clear that economic sphere relations with the USA and the European Union could bring real impact. Turkey tended to secure stability in the regions through establishing economic links and decencies. It was vital to ensure international partners and investors open access to the new market [12, p.208].
Newly forming foreign policy strategy would create a basis for foreign policy with economic focus. Accordingly, the 1980s was described by Mustafa Aydin as follows: "The foreign policy became increasingly concerned with obtaining necessary foreign loans, opening up necessary markets for Turkish goods, and striking necessary deals with foreign governments and sometimes even with companies in order to bring more investments into the country. Thus, as the foreign policy of the country needed to be in tune with its economic programs, economic necessities also became an important variable of Turkish foreign policy making" [13, p.12].
EU investments in Turkey
EU states all the history in Turkey were a core investor and this was not changed with the time. In the eve of liberalization strategy of Turkey in 1982 FdI stock divided between Switzerland (28%), Germany (18.9 %) and the USA (14%) [14].
In 1982, FdI was distributed among the following sectors: chemicals (11.19%), foodbeverages (11.79%), banking (9.19%), and textiles (8.59%) [14, p.159].
Then, with the new liberalization policiesand more active support for foreign investors, these relations became increasingly diversified. during the period 1975-2002, FdI stock reached $15.1 billion, the new investment policy and reforms of the 1990s allowed the FdI for the following period from 2003-2016 to reach $179.7 billion, where during 20052008 the annual inflow was around $20 billion [15]. However, a large part of the FdI inflows came from the acquisition of already existing firms, rather than new investments, thus making a very limited contribution to the economy [16, p. 392].
In 1987, Turkey applied for the EU membership which was the central point in foreign policy orientation until the end of the 1990s. However, whilst the political aspects of this integration were not positive, economic growth and sustainability between Turkey and the EU states was impressive.
As was explained, "by the end of the 1990s Turkey, perhaps has all of the characteristics sought by foreign investors and they endow Turkey with a competitive edge over other developing countries in its bid to attract foreign direct investments. despite this, the volume of FdI Turkey attracted so far is relatively low" [17, p.392].
Before 2000, the main investing countries were France, Germany, the USA, the Netherlands, and for a long time the EU states provided 80% of all FdI in Turkey, while since 2005 Asian States (mainly Gulf states) started to invest, and since 2016 more than 30% of FdI inflows have been from Asian countries [18].
USD, billions
Table 1. FDI stock by countries' 1980-2007 [19]
Table 2. FDI stock by country's share, 2002-2017, % [20]
despite a world downshift in 2017, with declining FdI inflows and a strong devaluation of currency in Turkey, 2018 showed an increase in FdI of 13% as compared to 2017 [21]. Certainly, Turkey appears to be working hard to maintain its FdI and to develop and diversify the economy in different fields in times of crisis. Still, in 2018, the service sector (55%) dominated, with manufacture (31%), and energy (10%) playing lesser roles in FdI inflows [22]. FdI inflows by country in 2018 was divided between the Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Italy, Austria, the US, the UK, Germany, Luxembourg, France, and Taiwan [22].
Again, Turkey is presently managing to attract FdI to diversified sectors of the economy which are not resource based even at a very challenging time. Turkey has maintained FdI inflows to the country despite economic and political uncertainties. A wide range of investing countries with shares that are not larger than 11% has allowed Turkey greater political independence.
Table 3. FDI flows by country in 2013-2018, millions of dollars [1].
Table 4. FDI stock by country, 2000, 2010 and 2018, millions of dollars [2].
Even the effectiveness of the FdI in economic development is not a question of this paper, there is a discourse on effectiveness of FdI on the economic development of states with developing or transitional economies which in some cases has in some cases effectively zero or even a negative impact on FdI flows [23, p.
108]. However, whilst the topic of the economic effectiveness of FdI is beyond the scope of this article, before we compare data it is important to note that, since 2004, Turkish FdI inflows did not result in any benefits in terms of new production or the creation of jobs or growth; rather, they were in the form of M&A and transfer of ownership [16, p. 395]. Some econometric analyses even demonstrated "that there was no 3 of 1 relationship between FdI and economic growth over the period 1998-2010 in Turkey" [24, p. 66]. So far, further state has to increase effectiveness of FdI inflows.
Gulf investments in Turkey: when FDI does not mean sustainability in diplomacy
Moreover, Turkey has managed to attract FdI not only from developed Western countries but also a quite considerable from the Gulf States. despite Western inflows of FdI being dominant, Turkey is nevertheless lucky to have a diversified list of home countries.
While it was mentioned that in 1980 Turkish foreign policy strategy considered the Middle Eastern states to be its core strategic direction, this was not in terms of any economic partnership. Since 2002, with APK's new foreign policy approach, Turkey firstly re-identified a national interest in cooperation with the Gulf States which Ankara had not considered since the Ottoman experience [24, p.1]. For the most part, it was economic interest that drove Turkey to approach the Gulf States, since when political and economic dialogue has led to more considerable investment cooperation.
For Gulf States since 2001 relations with the West went down and made them to look for other partners and new regional opportunities [25]. This led, in 2005, to Turkey and the Gulf Cooperation Council signing a Memorandum of Understanding to support economic cooperation, encourage exchange of technical expertise and information, improve economic relations, and initiate negotiations to establish free trade zones [26].
Further, strategy based on economic cooperation resulted in an increase in trade and, as an example, between 2003-2015 Turkey (at $4.9 billion, or 11.8%) was the second highest in Saudi Arabia's outward FdI after China (19.4%) [27, p.133]. However, Gulf investments were focussed only on the sphere of Islamic banking and real estate and was more a capital inflow that did not reflect of economic growth in Turkey. Overall, in 2017, Turkey had only a 3.8% share of the Gulf States' outward FdI, which total $262 billion [28]. So, FdI cooperation between these countries brings diversity among investors, closer political ties, which meanwhile became less sustainable. Even increasing FdI and economic cooperation has not prevented the development of political tension.
In different periods, Turkey's political position in relation to Iran and further in time of Gulf political crisis, has left the country having to make the choice between Iran or Saudi Arabia [29], and Qatar or Saudi Arabia. Both were important investors, and while it was uneasy to choose any particular side at such times, Ankara made the diplomatic choice to support doha in its isolation and gained an even greater desire from Qatar to increase its investments in Turkey [30], which was responsible for around 65% of all Gulf State FdI in Turkey [31, p. viii] between 2009-2016. In 2015-2016, a downshift in political relations with Russia lead to Turkey substituting Russian energy imports with those from the Gulf States. This did not result in any considerable change but could possibly show how Turkey uses policy to further its economic interests.
Political contradiction between Riyadh and Ankara, and further political crises between Saudi Arabia and Turkey in 2018 did not allow for the development of cooperation in all fields and were unfavorable for Ankara as far as FdI inflows were concerned; Saudi Arabia decided to use FdI to promote its foreign policy and made incredible increases in outward FdI, but of which Turkey did not gain a substantial share. Saudi Arabia almost tripled its outward FdIs in 2018 by $21 billions of which, due to political tension, Turkey received very little.
Turkey and the Gulf States are not so politically close, and both tried to maintain a certain Western orientation while looking into diversification programmes for their economies. They diversified their foreign policy strategies and established a good platform. Turkey, taking advantage of its geographical location, could offer a hub for cooperation with the EU. However, it is clear that FdI from Gulf States just enriches FdI inflows and strengthens relation between states but does not reflect economic growth and does not represent an alternative to Western FdIs [32].
Besides, Gulf States investment shifted seriously to China and India which allowed both sides to focus only on business interest [31, p. 199]. So, it seems that being focused on economic profit only allows for bigger profit than identifying some perceived political or cultural closeness.
The present government of Turkey is trying to promote FdI and to this end provides substantial incentives to foreign investment in Turkey. When the current government came to power, it promised exceptionally favorable conditions and lower taxes for foreign companies. In 2004, an Investment Advisory Council was established that including the top-level executives from twenty foreign companies operating in Turkey [16, p. 393].
The outcome of the foreign policy strategy in the 1980s in economic sphere lead to economic growth and internationalization of the Turkish economy. The limited political perspectives associated with the EU integration did not give the results that might otherwise have brought sustainable economic relations with EU members and make the EU the biggest investor in Turkey. By turning foreign policy vector towards the Middle East and focusing on the economic perspective, Turkey succeeded in attracting FdI flows from the Gulf States which brought inflows without any associated risks.
To include an outward FdI strategy by which to spread its foreign policy interests, as well as its economic interests, Turkey's experience could be considered.
The Turkish experience in FdI cooperation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries highlighted the fact that the state should follow in line with joint foreign policy and economic strategies to avoid vulnerability and in order not to damage national security.
The fragmentary foreign policy strategies of Ankara in terms of FdI inflows at different points in history can be assumed by Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan and Turkey have a lot in common; whilst they also have their differences, the similarities in their political and business cultures, the geopolitics, and maneuvering between great powers in the world arena, already justifies the applicability of Turkey's approach to Kazakhstan. The main challenges in sphere of FdI which Turkey experienced in the nineteenth century and Kazakhstan by the end of the twentieth are almost identical: potential economic and political dependency, vulnerability, and transparency issues.
In certain cases, economic dependence on the foreign investments put Turkey in a vulnerable political position and for Kazakhstan, as well as other states, it could be important for diplomacy to enhance interdependence in cooperation with foreign investors. However, since the 1980s Ankara has succeeded in liberalization and maintaining the balance of FdI flows, promoted a favorable foreign policy and investment climate and greater diversity in its investor portfolio. Clearly with the example of the Gulf States, Ankara learned how to manage in a certain diplomatic tension in favor of its interest and increase FdIs and started to use outward FdI to further its economic and political interests in less developed regions – this is what Nur-Sultan should learn to follow in the foreign policy. While it's still a path to develop in investment diplomacy, Turkey already went forward steadily even in crisis moments. Turkey has equal shares in FdI inflows among diverse state-investors, which invest in different spheres, finance, service, manufacture and is not dependent on natural resources exploration. Among the leading investors in Turkey are the UK, the Netherlands, Gulf States, Germany, the US. FdI brought dependence, negative experience, further helped to bring some innovations and technologies, develop green-field projects even in challenging times; however, steady FdI inflows failed to strengthen the economy of the country sufficiently. So, systematic foreign policy provided sufficient FdI inflows to Turkey, and within enhancing existing foreign investors, Ankara managed to attract different partners. For Kazakhstan, which managed to attract FdIs in a short time in the beginning of 1990s and provide economic stability in the first decades, now is the time to strengthen position diversifying portfolio of states investors. Since now, FdI inflows have to provide effectiveness and economic development. The first investors from the Western countries were focused in oil and other natural resources reserves in Kazakhstan like it happens in the rest of the world. Surely, FdI partnerships even supported in establish international relations and enhanced Kazakhstan position in international arena. Increasing cooperation with existing core investors, Nur-Sultan could attract FdIs from new partner-states and especially from the states which can bring green-filed investments to Kazakhstan. FdI inflows in Turkey from the beginning were on various sectors of economy, that could be considered by Kazakhstan as shares of FdIs in non-natural resources exploration should be increased in future. Moreover, like Turkey, Kazakhstan could develop an FdI outward policy in its foreign policy interests, investing in Central Asia and other states. The key task for Kazakhstan will be to provide the balance in cooperation when FdI inflows, partnership have to work in favor of national and foreign policy interest.
Kazakhstan foreign policy have enough resources and power to succeed all the goals in investment diplomacy and cope with challenges in that turbulent times.
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Name of author: Renata Faizova, PhD


We are excited and honored to make a presentation on homeopathy to the medical doctors and other staff of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF), Los Altos, CA on December 10, 2015. Founded in 1930, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation for Health Care, Research and Education is a not-for-profit health care organization with medical offices in more than 15 cities in the Bay Area of California. The best doctors in CA work at PAMF where they strive to provide health care, education, & research. The organization's openness towards alternative therapies like homeopathy is congruent with their mission to enhance the well-being of people in the communities they serve.
We will be talking about cases that were managed by us solely with homeopathy- with no other concurrent treatment at that time. A spectrum of disease conditions ranging from inflammations to allergies, immunological disorders to infertility, etc., with evidence in the form of photographs, X rays, ultrasounds, color doppler scans and CT scans will be shared with the elite audience.


Former Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) chief Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) stressed that the agency's performance is professional at a farewell party thrown by staff members yesterday.
Hau submitted his resignation last Wednesday after Premier Yu Shyi-kun rejected his proposal to disallow referenda on projects if an environmental impact assessment had already been approved.
Hau spent the whole morning yesterday shaking hands with staff members on all 13 floors of the EPA headquarters to express his appreciation for their work.
Since Sept. 13, after an advisory referendum by residents of Pinglin Township, Taipei County indicated the desire of township, residents to have on- and off-ramps to and from Beiyi Freeway, Hau has reiterated the phrases: "public opinion should not be more important than professional opinions" and "the result of an advisory referendum should not overthrow that of an environmental impact assessment."
Yesterday, Hau seized one last chance to complement the EPA on its professionalism, but stuck to his guns.
"The EPA's outstanding performance recently is not because of me. It's of your professionalism," Hau said to the staff members and went on to imply that his policy position on referenda was not wrong.
Hau said that since handling an oil spill caused by the Greek tanker the MV Amorgos near Kenting National Park in January 2001, the EPA has tackled many environmental problems, including the clean-up of illegal dumps contaminated by toxic chemicals, air-pollution control in southern Taiwan, the treatment of polluted rivers and the elimination of the use of disposable utensils and free plastic shopping bags in most stores and eateries nationwide.
Hau said that all staff members are his brothers and sisters because they fought closely with him to face hardship such as dealing with public opposition and facing grillings in the legislature.
"We've demonstrated our resolution to enforce environmental laws with courage," Hau said sobbing.
EPA staff members hung banner reading "a gentlemen fears nothing" at the conference room to stress Hau's professionalism and persistence.
Deputy Administrator Chang Juu-en (張祖恩) told emotional anecdotes of Hau's tenure. Hau cried.
In response to questioning, Yu yesterday said he has not designated a replacement for Hau refusing to confirm media speculation.


text:
AFG Merchandising Committee
Deputy Chair: Dr Lisa Snyder
Country of Residence: USA
Professional Qualifications: Board certified Emergency Medicine, Occupational Medicine and Aerospace Medicine physician with a Masters of Public Health as well as Board Eligible in Medical Toxicology. Flight Surgeon in the USAF for 17.5 years and flown in 19 different aircraft.
Other current and past activities/offices held in AsMA or the AFG: Member of AsMA since 2001 and selected as an Associate Fellow in about 2008. She has held the position of Membership Chair for the AFG for two years about 10 years ago and has presented at the AsMA conferences in the past. She has also held the positions of President and Vice President of the Alliance of Air National Guard Flight Surgeons and a member of the nominating committee for the Society of United States Air Force Flight Surgeons.
COLONEL LISA K. SNYDER is the State Air Surgeon for Indiana Air National Guard, where she is a senior advisor to The Adjutant General on matters pertaining to the 2000 Indiana Airmen's fit for duty and readiness status. Colonel Snyder also serves as the Director of the Medical Directorate responsible for the Secretary of the Air Force's Medical Review Board.
On the weekends, she is a staff physician in the Emergency Department of a 134 bed large company owned hospital. Previously she has held the position of associate and assistant clinical staff positions at training programs of an accredited, large university and additionally an accredited private medical school.
When not working, she serves as the Director of a foster based cat/kitten rescue in Pennsylvania which she started with one foster in 2015. Since the creation and execution of all requirements to become a non-profit, 501(c)(3) rescue, over 2050 cats and kittens have been accepted into the rescue, provided health care and adopted out to rigidly screen forever homes due to her efforts and especially the 76 dedicated volunteers and fosters. She has an incredible, supporting husband and they enjoy "quiet time" on the lake together!


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Publisher of the National Enquirer admits to hush-money payments made on Trump's behalf
The announcement on Dec. 12 made it clear that David Pecker, chairman and CEO of American Media, has turned on President Trump. Above, Pecker is seen in 2014. (Reuters)
By Sarah Ellison and
Sarah Ellison
Reporter covering media and its intersection with politics and technology
Paul Farhi
Media reporter
The National Enquirer's parent company acknowledged paying hush money to a woman who alleged an affair with Donald Trump to "suppress the woman's story" and "prevent it from influencing the election."
The admission came as federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that they would not prosecute the company, American Media Inc. (AMI), for its role in a scheme to tilt the presidential race in favor of Trump. In the agreement, AMI said it would cooperate with prosecutors and admitted it paid $150,000 to Karen McDougal before the 2016 election to silence her allegations of an affair with Trump.
The deal signaled the unraveling of the deep relationship Trump and AMI chief executive David Pecker had forged over decades. The deal also made clear that Pecker, whose tabloid strongly supported Trump's candidacy, has turned on the president.
AMI agreed to cooperate with the Southern District of New York in September, and the deal became public Wednesday as Michael Cohen, Trump's longtime fixer, was sentenced for campaign finance violations for his role in arranging payments to McDougal and Stormy Daniels, the pornographic film star who also alleges an affair with Trump. The moves put additional pressure on the president as he faces multiple investigations and finds himself losing the protection of some of his long-standing allies.
According to the agreement, Pecker met with Cohen "and at least one other member of the campaign" in August 2015. "At the meeting, Pecker offered to help deal with negative stories about that presidential candidate's relationships with women by, among other things, assisting the campaign in identifying such stories so they could be purchased and their publication avoided. . . . Pecker agreed to keep Cohen apprised of any such negative stories."
[Michael Cohen sentenced to three years in prison for crimes committed while working for Trump]
Prosecutors also allege that Pecker and AMI played a key role in the effort to silence Daniels. One month before the election in 2016, after an agent for Daniels informed National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard that Daniels intended to tell her story publicly, Pecker and Howard contacted Cohen. Soon after, Cohen negotiated a $130,000 deal to buy Daniels's silence.
Theodore Boutrous, a First Amendment attorney at Gibson Dunn who briefly represented McDougal, said the relationship between Trump's associate and the tabloid publisher "was a shockingly creative plan meant to change the way American citizens voted. That is an important and serious violation of the law."
Boutrous, who began looking into the National Enquirer's role in protecting Trump in October 2016, said he always believed the tabloid "had teamed up with Donald Trump and his campaign to stop Ms. McDougal from speaking out, solely to protect Mr. Trump and help him get elected president. That seemed outrageous and illegal."
For months, AMI denied that it had acted in concert with Trump's campaign, initially saying "there was nothing sinister" about their actions, another of McDougal's lawyers, Peter K. Stris, tweeted on Wednesday. "Today, the public has learned that AMI was lying."
The Wall Street Journal reported the details of the National Enquirer's payment to McDougal days before the 2016 election. At the time, AMI told the paper that it "has not paid people to kill damaging stories about Mr. Trump."
AMI's non-prosecution agreement includes both Pecker and Howard, also the company's chief content officer, who said in a June interview that Trump "has never been consulted on editorial decisions — or by himself or through intermediaries requested an article be written on a given subject or angled in a certain way."
A representative for AMI declined to comment.
The agreement suggests that Pecker, who has a long-standing relationship with Trump, is of ongoing use to prosecutors.
In 1997, when Pecker was running the U.S. arm of magazine publisher Hachette Filipacchi, he launched Trump Style, which was distributed in Trump properties. Pecker rented out facilities at Mar-a-Lago for AMI board meetings, and Trump introduced Pecker at Pace University when Pecker received an honorary doctorate.
Long before Trump announced his candidacy, Pecker was involved in his political ambitions. In 2011, AMI helped manage a website, www.shouldtrumprun.com, which Cohen decided to launch with several partners.
"Pecker has a deep industrial knowledge of how Trump and Cohen operated," said one former Enquirer staffer.
Michael Cohen leaves federal court in August 2018. (Mary Altaffer/AP)
Two months after Trump announced his candidacy, Pecker, Trump and Cohen hatched a plan to help the campaign, according to prosecutors.
Charging documents filed against Cohen this summer say Pecker told Cohen that he would identify damaging stories about Trump and, when necessary, pay the sources involved to guarantee that they wouldn't speak about them in public.
The tactic — an old one among members of the tabloid press — was known as "catch and kill." Pecker reportedly kept documents related to damaging stories about Trump and other figures in a safe in his office.
AMI's first known target on behalf of Trump was McDougal, a former Playboy centerfold model who claimed she had a long affair with Trump. The company paid her $150,000 for the "rights" to her story, which it then declined to publish.
The charging documents also allege that a few days after Daniels's deal was arranged, on Oct. 25, 2016, Pecker and Howard warned Cohen, who hadn't paid her yet, that she was close to selling her story to another publication. They urged him to finalize the deal.
Whether exposure of Daniels's and McDougal's stories would have changed the outcome of the 2016 election will probably be debated for years. But Cohen and Howard clearly considered the matter of great urgency. The payment to Daniels, in particular, came at a sensitive time — just days after Trump was hurt by the leak of a videotape in which he boasted about grabbing women's genitals and amid news reports about women who claimed that Trump had sexually assaulted them years earlier.
The disclosure of consensual affairs — particularly one involving a porn star that allegedly took place only a few months after Melania Trump had given birth to Trump's child — could have been a decisive blow, particularly in states that Trump won by just a few thousand votes.
Trump initially denied knowledge of the payments to Daniels and McDougal but said on Monday that the Daniels payoff was a "simple private transaction" that wasn't an illegal campaign contribution, as federal prosecutors contend. He has also suggested that Cohen agreed to plead guilty to limit his prison sentence for unrelated financial crimes.
The Enquirer itself was deeply committed to promoting Trump's candidacy. Editors and executives at AMI sent digital copies of the tabloid's articles and cover images of Trump or his political opponents to Cohen in advance of publication, The Post has reported, citing the accounts of three people with knowledge of the matter.
Cohen's guilty plea challenges Howard's assertion earlier this year that Trump had no influence over the Enquirer's coverage. "We do not run or kill stories on the behest of politicians, even if they are the president of the United States," Howard said in April.
Sarah Ellison Sarah Ellison is a staff writer based in New York for The Washington Post. Previously, she wrote for Vanity Fair, the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, where she started as a news assistant in Paris. Follow
Paul Farhi Paul Farhi is The Washington Post's media reporter. He started at The Post in 1988 and has been a financial reporter, a political reporter and a Style reporter. Follow


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What Churchill knew about tariffs could fill a bucket
by Rev. Ben Johnson • December 16, 2019
Winston Churchill, like Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain, has been the putative source of many a pseudonymous or misattributed quotation. However, one of his best-known aphorisms about taxes is authentic – but misunderstood.
Churchill did, in fact, say, "To think you can make a man richer by putting on a tax is like a man thinking that he can stand in a bucket and lift himself up by the handle." The quotation has had a long and storied history in U.S. politics, where it is not always accurately quoted. The truism applies to income or wealth taxes. But Churchill's topic was not actually taxation – at least, not as we think about it.
His statement comes from a speech Churchill gave to the Free Trade League on February 19, 1904 – the same year he defected to the Liberal Party. Churchill said:
It is the theory of the Protectionist that imports are an evil. He thinks that if you shut out the foreign-imported manufactured goods you will make these goods yourselves, in addition to the goods which you make now, including those goods which we make to exchange for the foreign goods that come in. If a man can believe that he can believe anything. [Laughter.] We Free-traders say it is not true. To think you can make a man richer by putting on a tax is like a man thinking that he can stand in a bucket and lift himself up by the handle.
Free trade wagers, correctly, that there more jobs to be had creating goods to sell on the global market than from focusing exclusively on domestic consumption. Trade wars often destroy the residue of jobs created by exports.
Churchill understood that tariffs are taxes paid by consumers. By driving up prices, tariffs force people to purchase less at a higher cost. Meanwhile, the increased sales volume is enjoyed, not usually by the tariff-imposing nation, but by the next-lowest-priced producer allowed to compete in its market.
Like much of what Churchill said, this quotation deserves to be remembered – in its proper wording and context.
You can read his full speech here.
(Photo credit: Prime Minister Winston Churchill, taken between 1939 and 1945. Public domain.)
Rev. Ben Johnson
Rev. Ben Johnson (@therightswriter) is an Eastern Orthodox priest and served as Executive Editor of the Acton Institute (2016-2021), editing Religion & Liberty, the Powerblog, and its transatlantic website. He has extensively researched the Alt-Right. Previously, he worked for LifeSiteNews and FrontPageMag.com, where he wrote three books including Party of Defeat (with David Horowitz, 2008). His work has appeared at DailyWire.com, National Review, The American Spectator, The Guardian, Daily Caller, National Catholic Register, Spectator USA, FEE Online, RealClear Policy, The Blaze, The Stream, American Greatness, Aleteia, Providence Magazine, Charisma, Jewish World Review, Human Events, Intellectual Takeout, CatholicVote.org, Issues & Insights, The Conservative, Rare.us, and The American Orthodox Institute. His personal websites are therightswriter.com and RevBenJohnson.com. His views are his own.
Posted in Free Trade, TransatlanticTagged free trade, tariffs, transatlantic, Winston Churchill
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FAQ: The U.S.-China 'Phase One' trade agreement


text:
CONTROL OF IMPORTS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1963.
Power to exempt goods from particular countries from quota orders.
Power to exempt goods from particular countries from quota orders already made.
Control of Imports Act, 1934
1934, No. 12
AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE CONTROL OF IMPORTS ACTS, 1934 AND 1937. [26th June, 1963.]
1. —(1) In this Act—
"the Principal Act" means the Control of Imports Act, 1934 ;
"quota order" means an order made under section 3 of the Principal Act.
(2) References in section 2 of the Principal Act to that Act shall be construed as including references to this Act.
2. —The Government may in and by a quota order exempt from the prohibition effected by the order goods which are shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners either (as shall be specified in the Order)—
(a) to have been manufactured or produced in a specified country or countries,
(b) to have been consigned to the importer from a specified country or countries, or
(c) to have been manufactured or produced in a specified country or countries and consigned to the importer from that country or those countries.
3. —The Government may, by order under section 11 of the Principal Act, exempt from the prohibition effected by a specified quota order or quota orders made before the passing of this Act goods which are shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners either (as shall be specified in the Order)—
4. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Control of Imports (Amendment) Act, 1963.
(2) The Control of Imports Acts, 1934 and 1937, and this Act may be cited together as the Control of Imports Acts, 1934 to 1963.


This amazing little instrument is probably one of the easiest to play that we offer. All you have to do is twist the capsule and your making music! The very fun and unique Audubon birdcall is handmade and individually tuned. Great for your instrument collection, for parties, or as a memorable gift!


Kamwangi, Kenya — This coffee comes from the Kamwangi Factory in the eastern Kirinyaga district of Kenya. Tastes: Black wine gum, raspberry, tangy.
Registered in 1997, Kamwangi currently has 720 male and 266 female members, harvesting around 250 trees per farmer. Varieties grown include SL-28 and Ruiru 11, and growing altitude can reach as high as 1900m above sea level. Kamwangi works with its members to provide monetary advances and farm input loans.


Gandy - Dancer Trail towards Webster.
This is a 9.95 mi Other in Siren, WI, United States. The Other has a total ascent of 230.02 ft and has a maximum elevation of 1,012.17 ft. This route was created by bdhansel on 08/10/2011. View other Others that bdhansel has done or find similar maps in Cumberland.


text:
"I Provided my Personal Land to the School Building for the Future of my Children"
https://tinyurl.com/yy9umbjs
Abdul Satar Kahdistani is one of the tribal elders of Kahdistan village in Enjil district of Herat province. He has donated about a jerib (2,000 m2) of his personal land to a school building constructed by the Citizens' Charter National Priority Program of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD/CCNPP). He said that lack of knowledge is the key reason of adversity in the country that is why he has given the ownership of his personal land to the MRRD/CCNPP for the construction of the school building for his community children.
While having tears in his eyes from happiness, Mr. Kahdistani expressed his satisfaction with the successful completion of the school building project in his community.
He said: "One of my dreams in the life was to have a school building one day in our village where our children could study in a safe environment. Thanks to Allah – my dream has finally come true due to consistent efforts made by of our Community Development Council (CDC) and the Citizens' Charter Program. Now, we have a beautiful school building with all facilities which guarantee the future of our children."
"More than one thousand male and female students are currently studying in the eight-classroom-school building in two shifts in Kahdistan village. I feel very comfortable and proud when I see my village children children go to school built on my personal land. It is a great honor for both me and my next generation that I have donated my personal land to the school building", added Kohdistani.
The Kahdistan primary school currently attended by around one thousand boys and girls has recently been handed over to the community. According to local residents, the students had a lot of difficulties in terms of their access to a proper school building in the past. Fortunately, they have been able to overcome these problems upon completion of the school building financed by the EQRA (Education Quality Reform in Afghanistan) Project under the MRRD/CCNPP in their community.


There is no "fitting life into your business/career" as I see it. Life is what we live every day, whether we are at work, on a glamorous vacation or home, sick. It's harder than it used to be because the rigid line between life "at" work and "outside" of work has dissolved for most knowledge workers.
Amy Rosenow is an entrepreneur, financial industry veteran, hedge fund and angel investor, passionate working mom, and philanthropist. She is CEO and Founder of Jugl LLC, a software company focused on making it easier to be a working parent.
Prior to founding Jugl, Amy served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of Sheffield Asset Management (a Chicago-based investment manager), for over a decade. She began her career on Wall Street, working for Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Bear Stearns.
Amy graduated from Cornell University. She lives in Chicago with her husband, two daughters and their chocolate Labrador retriever.
Jugl is the passion project of a working mom. As Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer of a hedge fund for over a decade — along with having a husband, two kids, and a dog − there were always so many balls in the air! I had an epiphany: it was almost as hard to be COO of our household as it was to be COO of a billion-dollar investment management company!
My husband is a brain surgeon (literally), so in our crazy house, my COO job was the "flexible" one. I constantly tried out new tech and processes to make our lives run more smoothly, but the existing technology just wasn't good enough. I knew there had to be a better way to manage the information and logistics of busy modern families, so I decided to create one! And so began my entrepreneurial adventure! I joined 1871 (Chicago's technology and entrepreneurship hub) and was soon off and running in this exciting (and sometimes scary) Jugl journey.
One funny story is how we ended up with the name "Jugl." I am a transplanted New Yorker, and I love people who tell it like it is and don't sugarcoat things. The original name for Jugl was KATBIA ˗ an acronym for "Keep All The Balls In the Air." I started to have doubts about the name when no one could remember it (Kabia? The Cat thing?) Then, one of our early advisors who gloriously and bluntly said to me "Amy, you need a new name for the company. Yours reminds me of 'labia,' and I'm pretty sure that's not what you're going for." Indeed, it was not! A few weeks of intensive brainstorming later, and Jugl was born (hat tip to my husband who came up with the winning idea). I am forever grateful to both of them.
The biggest challenge that I have faced was surviving the personal and professional maelstrom that was 2008. During that year I had a newborn baby and became the first person at my firm ever to take maternity leave (and I was Chief Operating Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and a partner of the firm). I flew back-and-forth from Chicago to New York almost every week to help support my mom as she was dying of cancer, planned and executed her funeral from 1000 miles away, and planned and executed a bittersweet baby-naming celebration one month later. Oh, and helped my firm navigate that pesky total financial meltdown — including the potential insolvency of most Wall Street counter-parties! I overcame (survived?) it by putting one foot in front of the other and (for once) NOT thinking about the big picture, but instead focusing at each point in time on the 3–5 next executable actions that would make progress on each front.
To me, leadership is the ability to create a vision for a better version of the future and then get other people excited about joining you on the journey. When you lead well, you bring out the best in people and make space for them to use their insight, skills, and vision to improve on what you started thinking out on your own. My former business partners loved to say that "there's no monopoly on good ideas." Great leaders keep the vision in sight but hold it flexibly so that we can make it even better as a team. I endeavor to inspire others to lead by sharing the "why" behind what we are trying to accomplish and then creating a good balance of autonomy and support so that our people have space to lead and grow (not simply execute). I appreciate those who lead by example, which means big things like public speaking and making hard decisions, but also lower profile acts like singing the praises of your team whenever possible, rolling up your sleeves to pitch in when your team is trying to meet a tight deadline, and doing the little things that make office life civilized (like refilling the paper in the printer when you use it up).
I was very close with my father, but he died while I was in college. For a long time, I was angry and sad to be deprived of such an important mentor and confidant, but now that he's been gone for 25 years(!) I feel deep gratitude. His death taught me that life is precious and not to waste any of it if you can help it. More importantly, it turns out that the four main values he instilled in me as a teenager were most of what I needed to know to be successful: work hard, be a "mensch," do what you said you were going to do when you said you were going to do it, and give back.
There is no "fitting life into your business/career" as I see it. Life is what we live every day, whether we are at work, on a glamorous vacation or home, sick. It's harder than it used to be because the rigid line between life "at" work and "outside" of work has dissolved for most knowledge workers. The level of flexibility we have during the business day will vary based on our job and our level of seniority. But one of my core beliefs is that how we spend our time is a direct reflection of our priorities. Whether we are conscious or unconscious about those choices we make — that is up to each of us. Every moment of every day there is the one (or small handful of) things that we ARE doing and literally millions of things that we are NOT doing. It's the ultimate FOMO if we let it be defined that way. I think happiness in the modern world is greatly enhanced by being fully (and hopefully joyously) immersed in the task at hand the majority of your time. I can't say that I succeed with embracing JOMO (the Joy of Missing Out) all the time, but I aspire to!
Wow, that's hard to answer. Like many women, my success and my family grew at the same time. It's hard, but one of my mantras is that people make time to do what is important to them. I try to make time for what's important to me (and I notice and appreciate when others do the same). But to say that it is not more difficult would be untrue. It's much harder to be a working parent than it was to work before I had any responsibilities with my children. If we don't acknowledge that, we are doing all employees a disservice.
Wake up early. Whatever you need to do to keep you sane and happy, try to do some of it at a set time each day. For me, that is waking up at 5 am most weekdays to exercise and reflect before the day is off to the races. There's no other time that I have found to be pretty much entirely within my control. Thank goodness I am a morning person!
Don't worry too much about balance on any given day. Some days, weeks or months will tilt in different directions, but I view this as part of living a full, productive life. When I reflect on a week or month, and I feel the balance is off, then I adjust, but day-to-day "balance" for me is not a realistic goal.
Plan ahead. My top time management tip for working parents is to plan out the family schedule in two-week increments (we do this every Sunday). I recommend mapping out the plan for all kids' activities (what events, what they need to bring, who is driving), confirming evening plans and travel (including with your partner, if applicable) to determine whether you need extra babysitting hours, working on meal planning (we pick 2–3 recipes), etc. The key to this tip is doing it two weeks at a time. The week that is about to start is usually pretty firm: there may be a few additions or changes, but the events closer in time tend to be front of mind. Planning NOW for the week AFTER that is where the system shines. By focusing on what is coming at you the FOLLOWING week, you can avoid the massive pain of preventable last minute "fire drills." It is WAY easier to find a babysitter or ask a friend for help or switch around a carpool or event, etc. if you have a full week's notice. It only takes a tiny bit more time to get the two-week habit set up, but the time and stress it saves you by not having to drop everything when you realize at the last minute there is a conflict that you could have reasonably foreseen is immense.
Keep your sense of humor. It won't go perfectly every day, but that's OK, and it's an important message for our kids and our employees to internalize that, too.
Don't give up! How we spend our time is a direct reflection of our priorities. I think taking time to have a happy and full life outside of work (regardless of whether you have kids) is important, and I'm not ashamed of that at all. I have my best ideas about work when I'm relaxed and happy and often doing something else, like exercising. Don't let work push you past your personal happiness balance over many weeks or months! And don't quit. We need parents (especially moms!) to provide their leadership and perspective in the workforce.
I feel the greatest sense of accomplishment and pride when I see the impact that having a strong working mom has on my daughters. My youngest was 8 years old when I started Jugl, and she printed a picture of herself giving me a "thumbs up" gesture and framed it with the words "Dear Mom, I just want you to know I think you are so brave to take on as big of a task of "starting your own [business]." You can see the image here. I cried when she gave it to me. I mean if ever that was a sentiment to capture what values I hope to be instilling in my daughters as a woman, mom, and entrepreneur — this was it all in one adorable Fujifilm Instax printout!
Jugl is about making it easier to be a working parent (especially a working mom). That is the main influence behind the platform Jugl is building AND a major influence on the culture of the firm that we are trying to build. Honoring the "Jugl" between work & the rest of life is in our DNA. That is the movement I would foster! To honor the juggle!!! Not tolerate it or accommodate it but HONOR it, celebrate it and make it known to people that their ability to have a robust and fulfilling life outside of the office matters to their employer. In this movement, employers would respect people's ability to find their own balance among & between all aspects of their lives (work, family, friends, health, spirituality, leisure, community service, etc.). They would firmly believe that respecting & honoring this in their team leads to greater loyalty and engagement. They would know that it keeps great employees in their workforce who might otherwise opt out. They would have total conviction that being a great parent (or caregiver or friend or volunteer) and being a great professional are not mutually exclusive.


text:
Tritomegas sexmaculatus is a shield bug from the genus Tritomegas, which has length of 6–8 mm.

Range
Shield bugs of the Tritomegas sexmaculatus species have been observed from the west coast of Europe to Iran.

References

Cydnidae

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia