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Consumer electronics from the large flat panel tv which consumes more electricity than arefrigerator to other consumer electronics products, take up 15% of household electricity demand. But there are no standards for them that will reduce consumption. These standards were set up for refrigerators and have reduced consumptioon by 45% between 1990 when the standards were set till today. Washers have reduced consumption by 70%. The demand from these gadets will triple over the next 2 decades says the Intenational Energy Agency, making greenhouse gas emissions reduction more difficult. To satisfy growing demand 560 coal fired plants will be needed.

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Yale's Robert Shiller, founder of the of the Shiller-Case survey, says that he does not see a turning point in the housing market at this time, based on the 5000 mailed questionnaires he sends out each year. He says this is not visible and hard to conclude from the responses. He also describes the bubble thinking and behaviours he sees from the responses, especially how people extrapolate into the long term the short term gains being made. Nowhere in these responses does he see the term bubble being used by respondents, as if it never existed.

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Test drive of a Nissan Leaf in a Michigan winter. The cold weather significantly cuts into the car battery's capacity. The heater alone can take up 25% of the energy. This Leaf had 91 miles of driving range on its readout. Nissan says the car has a 100 mile range. The EPA required Nissan to state the range as 73 miles. In wintry weather in cold weather states the range can be much less. For this reason Nissan is first introducing the Leaf in warm weather states such as California and states in the southern US.

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The Even Hotels brand of IHG which operates Holiday Inns will focus on frequent travellers in the U.S. who want to keep their exercize routines. It will have fitness centers 3-4 times larger than existing ones, located right near the lobby, benches that can serve as exercize benches, a mat for exercize, bathrooms that let in natural light, cafe with healthy items on the menu. This segment is also being served by Courtyard Marriott, and Hilton Garden Inn. IHG will convert existing hotels and rooms with 100 hotels planned by 2015, the first opening in 2013.

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Intel expects to rebound in its chip sales with its new products- the Ivy Bridge line for ultra thin notebooks called Ultrabooks (about 100 designs of Ultrabooks expected in 2012-2013), and the new Xeon chip for servers to handle the surge in internet data. The new Windows 8 for tablet type devices may also boost sales of new convertible devices expected on the market that have features of both tablets and notebooks. Intel gross margin declined slightly from 64% to 62% in the first quarter 2012. CEO Otellini says demand is strong in emerging markets, and for tablet devices using Intel chips.

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The effects on the U.S. stock market, Treasurys and corporate bond yields of the U.S. Federal Reserve's move to continue Operation Twist in June 2012. The Fed plans to sell $267 billon in short term debt through the end of the year. The effects are expected to be more muted compared to the quantitative easing efforts of QE I, QE II, and the Operation Twist through June 2012 in which the Fed sold $400 billion in short term debt. The effects of the eurozone crisis and slower growth worldwide are other macroeconomic forces at work which may play a larger role this time.

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Spain released reports by audit firms that showed 62 billion euros would be needed to recapitalize the affected parts of its banking system. This is below the 100 billion euros in rescue funds offered by the EFSF, the eurozone rescue fund, in loans to the Spanish government. The Spanish government is pushing for direct aid to the banks to cut the knot between the banking risk and sovereign risk that is pushing up the yields on Spanish bonds to 7% in June 2012. Spain's 3 largest banks will not be accepting aid funds- Banco Santander, BBVA, and La Caixa.

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The future of high speed rail in the U.S. is uncertain. Only $10 billion was approved for high speed rail upto now, and this money was spread over projects throughout the country. $8 billion was in the original stimuls program and $2.5 billion was aprroved for 2010. Additional money will be needed to complete projects that are planned. The new 2011 budget deal agreed to between Republicans and the President shows no money in 2011 allocated for high speed rail. One section of the bill calls for taking $400 million out of the $2.5 billion approved in 2010.

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United with subsidiaries United Airlines and Continental Airlines had $6.8 billion in liquidity as of June 30, 2014. American Airlines after the merger with US Airways has $9.4 billion unrestricted cash by July 2014. Mr. Parker, the CEO of American, plans to prepay $2.8 billion in debt and aircraft lease payments, place $600 million more than required into pension contributions, and start a dividend and share buyback. Airline consolidation into 4 major carriers, cutting unpofitable hubs and routes, filling planes to capacity, and charging for better seating, snacks and other amenities, are leading to record profits for the U.S. airline industry.

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The 1995 IPO of Samuel Adams and how it was made open to all investors, especially targeting its customers by attaching information tags on the IPO on each 6 pack of beer. For this IPO 100,000 customers sent in checks of $15, only 30,000 were accepted because the original estimate for the IPO was set at 30,000 shares. Founder Jim Koch says it benefitted the company because it created a loyal shareholding base and rewarded loyal customers- shares have since risen to $100 a share. Koch says it gave him the right feeling to do it this way.

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China's internet commerce company Alibaba's plans to take the publicly traded company private in a $2.3 billion deal. Alibaba is focussing on improvements in security, supplier quality and improving the quality of its internet sites. This comes after its credibility was affected by the revelation that 100 employees were in collusion with 2,300 sellers to make up false listings. The focus is now shifting away from profitability and increasing the number of users. Alibaba's chairman, Jack Ma, says taking the company private will help the company get the new focus without the pressures faced by a publicly listed company.

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Pollution in the Indian capital as 963 new vehicles are added to the city's streets everyday. After the shift to CNG (Compressed natural Gas) a cleaner fuel by the city's buses and public transportation the air quality improved somewhat, now there is renewed fear that New Delhi will be as polluted as before and be in a toxic haze with hazardous air quality. With the introduction of a $2500 car by Tata Motors next year cars will be more affordable and with more cars on the streets pollution is likely to get worse unless something is done about it.

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India plans to incease its nuclear capacity to produce electricity by 5 fold in the next 10 years and build 30 nuclear reactors at the cost of $100 billion. The French company Areva is likely to get some contracts and two Russian companies are building a nuclear reactor and should also get some contracts. The state owned French and Russian companies are protected from civil liability while GE Energy and Westinghouse would have to take care of the liability issues as India has not joined the treaty which created a global fund to to compensate victims of nuclear disasters.

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Moderating prices for oil and commodities and food combined with lower oil prices that help introduce fiscal restraint in the government's spending, would actually help Iran in controlling inflation running at 24% by IMF estimates. And Iran's foreign currency reserves of $82 billion would help cushion Iran as it incurs modest fiscal deficits and help it weather the global financial crisis. And Iran's oil and gas exports are rising for 2008 and 2009 by estimates of IMF and Iranian government with foreign currency reserves estimated at near $100 billion for 2009, though a lot depends on oil price levels for these estimates.

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Senator Daniel Inouye, Japanese American from Hawaii, is the second longest serving U.S. senator in its history. He came to Washington in 1959 as the first Japanese American elected to Congress. He was elected senator from Hawaii in 1962, and he has served over 50 years as U.S. senator. As a premedical student at the University of Hawaii, Inouye decided in 1943 to join a Japanese American regiment, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He was wounded in Italy and received the Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart for bravery. He met Bob Dole in a military hospital in Michigan and both senators followed a path of law school and service in the Senate. Inouye attended George Washington Law School graduating in 1952. In 1955 Democrats swept out the Republicans in Hawaii who controlled state politics and were tied to the sugar interests. Inouye was elected to the state legislature that year and went onto the U.S. Congress.

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As Citigroup shares dropped to $3.77 a share last week abruptly losing 50% of their value in a week, the Federal Reserve, Treasury and the FDIC were in negotiations over the weekend with Citigroup. Mr Paulson had several discussions with Robert Rubin, influential executive and director of Citicorp. And Citicorp CEO Vikram Pandit spoke with regulators and lawmakers. The deal that was worked out is as follows. Under the deal about $306 billion of largely residential and commercial real estate loans and certain other assets, which will remain on the balance sheet, will be backed up by Citigroup and the government. Any losses will be shared in the following manner. The first $29 billion in losses on that portfolio will be Citigroup's responsibility. Any losses over the $29 billion will be shared 10% by Citigroup and 90% by the government. Of the government's losses Treasury will use $5 billion from the bailout fund, FDIC bear the next $10 billion in losses, and the Federal Reserve will guarantee any additional losses above this $15 billion. What will the government get in exchange? Citigroup will issue $7 billion of preferred stock to government regulators. In addition the government is buying $20 billion in preferred stock in Citigroup with all preferred shares paying a 8% dividend. The other aspects of the deal are that all dividend payments by Citigroup will be halted for 3 years, certain executive compensation restrictions, and Citigroup will put in place the FDIC's loan modification plan which is similiar to the plan it recently announced....

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Suggestions to tax earnings over $1 million at 50% in a letter to the editor by an executive with that kind of executive compensation.

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Whitacre is basically blunt about his mission from the Obama adminstration when he attends meetings at the Tech Center in Warren or at the Westin Detroit Airport hotel and the San Antonio club: get GM growing again, he wants to see market share north of 20%. The Obama administration, Bloom and others are clear about the government wanting to get its $50 billion for the USA and $9 billion for Canada back as early as possible. He has told GM's Henderson he will be replaced it things don't change fast enough, and he wants product out faster, 2 year development times for new cars instead of three years today. The same message has been passed on to middle and upper middle managers in diagonal meetings. And what are readers commenting on this- and readers views matter a lot because GM has a wrong perception out there that hurts sales- a third of twelve readers said they cannot understand why young people are not moved up to run the company especially from design and engineering, one mentions Whitacre's age 70 years. A third just don't think much will change, and one says he will buy aFord. And a third says Whitacre is the guy who can shake things up and he should. ...

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Germany's Koch Institute says the number of patients admitted to hospitals is 2.68 in last week (October third week ) compared to December 2020 when it was 15.5. The national rate of cases per 100,000 reached 95. 100 per 100,000 was the benchmark for lockdowns but this no longer is the case as hospitalizations are down with the high percentage of fully vaccinated. 

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An agreement for a aircraft purchase order of 300 jets is signed during Chinese president Xi Jinping's visit to Paris. China Aviation Supplies Holding Company and Airbus sign an agreement for purchase of 290 A320 planes and 10 A350 XWB jets. The deal is worth $30 billion. President Jinping also visited Italy where Italy signed on to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative.

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Chinese views on the India war of 1962 are shown at the Beijing Military Museum in a display effort "One Hundred Questions on the China-India Border Self-Defense Counterattack."  China's PLA on its 95th anniversary looks at the 33 day war and calls it a "counterattack." It also says China withdrew because its goals were accomplished of getting back the territory it lost since August 1959 to India, that on the Indian side "the decision making was in the hands of civilian officials who did not understand the military at all," and called it "chaotic." It also brings up the international situation that Russia supported both China and India in the conflict and India had the US on its side. It says PLA withdrew because of the difficulty of supplying the military in the Arunachal region at a great distance from China particularly after the famine that resulted from the Great Leap Forward. Today there is a clear chain of command and joint work by the Indian Air force and the Army, infrastructure to support mountain operations being built at rapid speed, and building of modern defense manufacturing capabilities for the airforce and army as shown at the Defense Expo in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, this week.  One of the first aspects of the border that one sees in the region is how close it is to large population cities and towns in India and how remote it is from large population towns and cities in China. In this sense China after the experience with Russian conflict before 1900, later a large Japanese invasion in 1931and 1937 appears to have responded to its period of semi-colonialism with an aggressive policy of extending its frontiers to regions that were throughout history acting as large buffers between India and China- such being the case of Tibet which was occupied in the 1950's leading to the war with India and a border dispute that had never existed before in history. Other aspects today are that in 1962 the PLA had fought the war against the Japanese and the war agains the Americans in Korea all within a 20 year period. In 2022 China has focused for 50 years on modernizing its economy. The supply chain in the Ukraine war showed shortcomings in the Russian army, and the difficulties of supplying forces at great distances. There is also the question of morale when it is about  miles of icy terrain at heights over 10,000 feet, thousands of miles away from major population cities and towns in China- for reasons of Russian and Japanese semicolonialism behaviour not to be found in regions that had never seen large armies in history such as Tibet or Arunachal or the Himalayan border regions. The distances tell much of the story- the distance from Shanghai, Shenzen or Beijing, to Tibet is over 4000 kilometers and the border region with India additional thousands of kilometers over some of the most rugged terrain on earth with only remote mountain communities existing in the most difficult environments.       ...

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A useful look at all demographic groups age, race and gender in 2024 compared to 2020 and 2016 offered by DW.com. There is higher participation today in the process of choosing candidates than ever before even as mediums including the internet have become increasingly fragmented. Candidates in 2024 have to reach many smaller groups of demographics by race, gender, education, ages groups over television and radio than ever before. 

244 million people over the age of 18 will participate in choosing between Harris and Trump in 2024 and for the US Congress.

71% of white voters voted compared to 59% for non white voters. Only 54% of Latinos voted in 2020. Youngest voters 18 years to 29 years participation in 2016 was very low just 39%, it increased to 50% in 2020. 

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Analysts say expect some defaults of banks and financial institutions especially in U.S. oil producing states with oil prices below $50 a barrel in 2015.

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German elections results in graphics 2025, shown in Deutsche Welle DW.  As in US in Germany 2024 more women and university educated in SPD, Greens more basic education and men in AfD, CDU. People over 60 voted for SPD and CDU, 20-23% voted for AfD in 25-50 year age groups.

The deindustrialization of the US and Germany and France has led to this situation, as jobs were outshored to China under Merkel and Schroeder. Fewer opportunities for people with a basic education and the indifference of governments to these disadvantaged groups under Merkel and Schroeder. The other change is that in Germany in the Eastern parts of the country around Dresden, Jena, Leipzig in Eastern Germany the AfD is now dominant, except for Berlin where the Left and SPD are dominant.