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Peggy Noonan, former Special Assistant to Reagan, describes her deeply felt and painful thoughts about the choices in the general election of 2016, as the political discourse deteriorates in the country. She sees the economic distress of the white working class neglected by the elite, she sees the ugly rhetoric during 2016 in the Republican primaries, and sees the rifts and divisions in the country, turning to the old Paul Simon tune for comfort- "The Boy in the Bubble" with its lyrics .... "The way we look to a distant constellation / That's dying in a corner of the sky/ Don't cry, baby, Don't cry."

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VW shows a loss of $1.77 billion for 2015 after taking a charge of $18 billion for recall of 11 million cars, and buyback of 500,000 cars in the U.S.

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This Washington Post editorial following the New York primary points out the misstatements, exaggerations, and extreme statements that have characterized the Trump campaign, about women, minorites, the media, and other candidates.

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A charm offensive is under way following the New York primary led by Mr. Manafort to show the Republican National Committee (RNC) Trump is just "playing a part" and has another demeanor. Wiley points out that Trump would appeal to traditionally Democratic states in the midwest that have working class Reagan Democrats. This follows a parallel effort by Trump presenting an election narrative to draw voters by saying that the system is rigged, first banking, then trade, now the way delegates are chosen, to increase voter support at a time when voters have genuine concerns. Yet the fact that Trump won 90% of the delegates with 60% of the vote in New York, provides proof that it is not, says Vince Preibus, RNC chairman. Others point to the splintered vote in the early primaries as disproportionately benefitting Trump, as well as the media coverage for sensational statements, and jingoistic talk about China, Mexico and Muslims.

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Donald Trump remains far behind Hillary Clinton in preparation for a general election in fall 2016, and behind where Mitt Romney was at this stage of the campaign in 2012. Part of the problem is his unconventional campaign based on personality and minimal grassroots structure, which is only now being organized with field offices, large staff, and campaign experts, getting a late start, and the campaign supporters not accepting the change. Trump has about $36 million from his personal finances, and $11 million raised from donations. Hillary Clinton has spent $26 million on 1100 organization staffers and firms providing digital, strategy, and voter data services, compared to $7 million spent by Trump for 200 staffers through March 2016, and Romney's $17 million spent at this point in the campaign. Romney advisor Stevens is skeptical about the Trump capabilities for the campaign that is expected. A NYT report says a Hillary super PAC is already preparing its advertising strategy and booking television time for $125 million in April 2016....

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House rules of order from the U.S. House of Representatives would have as presiding officer at the Republican National Convention, Speaker Paul Ryan. Efforts to change this were pushed back at a RNC meeting in Florida. Trump's representatives Manafort and Ben Carson attempted to repair damaged relations between the Republican National Committee, its chairman Vince Preibus, and Trump, at that meeting. The Manafort argument was that Trump's flaws were of personality not character, which would be easier to fix than that facing Hillary Clinton, yet many RNC members were skeptical of this. A April 2016 WSJ/NBC poll shows Hillary Clinton leading Trump 50% to 39%, by 11 points- the surprising finding is that the poll also shows 56% of both candidates support comes from voters anxious to avoid the alternative candidate.

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New rules in 2016 for U.S. bonus pay require banks and other financial institutions to defer at least half of executive bonus pay for 4 years, one year longer than industry practice. The rule also sets a period of 7 years for the largest firms to be able to "claw back" bonuses if the executive's actions have led to the financial institution having to restate financial results or hurt the institution. The Obama administration is making up for lack of earlier stronger action in this area during the last year it is in office. Excessive risks were taken during the financial crisis of 2008 because of executive compensation structures that incentivized this. The definition of "risk taker" is also widened to include high earners at banks who are not in senior management- to include the 5% of employees at banks that are highest paid and get a third of compensation from incentives.