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At the opening of the new aircraft manufcturing complex in Vadodara, Gujarat, PM Modi says- "The defense and aerospace sectors will be two important pillars of making India self reliant (atman nirbhar). We have. agoal of $25 billion in defense manufacturing by 2025, defense exports will be $5 billion." He said India will need 2000 aircraft in 15 years. "India will move forward with the mantra Make in India. Make for the Globe."

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A major factor in the next step in the French presidential election, the runoff second round, is how voters who supported former socialist candidate Jean Luc-Melenchon will vote in second round. He has now asked his voters not to give a single vote to Marie Le Pen. The socialist and Republicain candidates, and Green candidate now also support Mr. Macron in the second round of voting on April 24. 

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PM Modi of India interacts with Mayur Patil, a young engineer in India who developed air filter technology to reduce emissions on existing motorcycles and buses by as much as 20-30%. Patents were granted and NITI Aayog granted a 90 lakh rupee grant for mass production. India faces a real need for job creation through the development of new companies and new products to hire hundreds of thousands of engineers and other graduates graduating each year.

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The global minimum corporate tax will enable US, France, Germany, India and other countries to invest more in healthcare, education, infrastructure, in the years to come. Countries that helped tax avoidance shown in this graph in Live Mint are Netherlands, Cayman Islands, Britain, Ireland, Hong Kong, China. The biggest contributor to tax losses for advanced countries US, Europe and India is the Netherlands with $27 billion in tax that is diverted away, as shown in Live Mint.

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Cost to reduce global warming to 1.5 degree centigrade goal set for climate change is estimated to cost $131 trillion. $116 trillion would be for electrification, new technologies, rebuilding electricity networks, efficiency. $24 trillion needs to be redirected quickly from fossil fuel investment to investment in reducing climate change by investing in other energy sources. 

The danger lies in 2.7 degree centigrade warming of the planet by the end of the century.

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As the U.S. economy continues to recover Europe is seeing the impact of the second wave of the pandemic on the economy. Economists say the U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 28% in the third quarter of 2020 after a drop of 31% in the second quarter. WIth a surge of cases to over 1 million in Spain and curfews in France and Italy, the economy in the European Union is slowing again.

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The ICC inducts Vinoo Mankad, one of India's most famous batsmen into its Hall of Fame. Mankad scored 72 and 184 at Lord's and bowled 97 overs in 1952. Vinoo Mankad was mentor for another cricketer Sunil Gavaskar.

Gavaskar says one of the lessons he got from Vinoo Mankad was that technique alone was not enough, "you have to be hanging in there and have that self-belief."

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Ebrahim Raisi receives 62% of the vote in Iran's elections for president in 2021. He is an Iranian judge opposed to Iran's outreach to the west at a time when the Iran nuclear deal is in the process of being revived. Turnout was low at 49% reflecting the lack of real choice in the vote. In the weeks before the election most nonconservative candidates were disqualified. 

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Jimmy Pitaro at ESPNsports network is navigating adifficult landscape looking for new sports streaming custmers. Joining other media companies to compete with streaming against Google and Apple TV. As more Americans cut the cord cable TV is collapsing. From 2011 onwards to today cable lost 29 million subscribers. ESPN, part of Disney, is a division that once supported Disney growth, its growth in 2023 was 2% for revenue with decline of 2% for profit.

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Prevailing bets in financial markets by investors are that inflation over the next 12 months will be 3.3%. This is also reflected in the way oil, copper and commodities markets prices are declining. Some of the decline comes from sharply slower growth in China of less than 4%. This means inflation is headed in the right direction, and circumstantial driven by the war in Ukraine and supply chain issues, and not embedded or structural, say experts. 

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A You.gov poll shows Europeans by 64% consider reclining seats fully "unacceptable" compared to 46% in the US. The seats squeezed into a tight space make it more difficult for passengers making airline decisions on seat arrangement an issue. Delta tried limiting reclining to 2 inches to improve passenger comfort on 20% of its planes in 2019, but has not moved ahead to do this with the rest of the planes.

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Investment in the US in clean energy technologies reached $213 billion in the last 12 months through July 2023 after the climate law was passed by president Biden. The prior year it was $151 billion and the year before that $81 billion. Investment is growing fastest in electric car batteries, EV's, and in solar panels, slower in wind energy. This shows the Biden plan is working and will accelerate in the coming year.

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Additional funding of $100 billion is proposed for the World Bank to meet the needs of Africa, and other countries in Latin America and Asia. These needs are for climate change investments, renewable energy, and for health and education that has suffered as debt repayments have increased with higher interest rates, putting 52 countries near default on debt. The US with 16% of the shares in World Bank would contribute $3.2 billion for this to happen.

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At a meeting in Ostend, a Belgian port, the leaders of 7 European nations meet to combine work on their coastlines to develop wind energy on scale. It includes Belgium, France, Germany, Denmark, Norway.The goal to quadruple wind energy generation capacity by 2030, and tenfold by 2050. Strong winds and shallow water in the North Sea are highly suited to plant wind turbines. Denmark gets 25% of its energy from this source, Britain 15%.

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What the president is doing about the surge in imported goods from China that are subsidized and affect US jobs and industry. For steel president Biden plans to place an additional tariff that takes the existing 7.5% to 25%. Even though imports of Chinese steel have dropped to about 600,000 tons the imports from Mexico are high at 4.2 million tons and there is the risk that Chinese subsidized steel is coming through Mexico.

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Public pension funds are beginning to adopt renter protections to limit evictions and to limit rate increases. President Biden has sought to limit price increases for rental housing to 5%. Evictions are increasing in many cities. About 25% of renters of apartments pay over 50% of their income for housing putting a huge burden on lower income families. This is a big issue in Nevada, and in other states Arizona, and in the midwestern states.

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As Spain's nuclear, combined, and hydroelectric energy dropped to 23% in 2025 from 31% in 2024 the grid became unstable.  As solar energy took a larger and larger share it increased instability of supply in the system leading to the collapse of the grid in April 2025. Spain hoped to close all nuclear plants. The risks increased and Spain came to a halt- everything from traffic, trains, industry all shut down across the country.

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From a skate board maker in Zaragoza to other small businesses laying off employees because banks hit by bad loan losses in the housing bubble are calling in their loans, the situation is rippling across Spain in 2012-2013. It will only worsen an already bad unemployment situation with 25% unemployment. Banks are being consolidated and are expected to take bad loan losses under new rules, and increase their capital reserves to account for bad loans. Many of the cajas savings banks are closed or merged with other banks in other regions resulting in loss of contact with local business. Of 45 regional savings banks only 13 remain. The effects of this are being seen across Spain as small and medium sized businesses are seeing banks call in their loans leading to large layoffs. Here a small business owner in Zaragoza with 1.3 million in skateboard sales to 20 countries, sees its bank call in a 250,000 euro loan, and has to layoff all his employees. A childrens shoe company Colores in Zaragoza shuts down for lack of credit. This is happening quickly as banks in the case of Colores are calling the full amount of the loan immediately and the effects may impact Spain for years. About 60% of the economy and 80% of the jobs are from small and medium sized businesses in Spain, and half a million small businesses have closed in the last few years....

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Some figures on Ford Motor-$15 billion in secured loans, $8 billion five year credit line from banks, and a $7 billion loan held by instituional investors and hedge funds. Add another $3 billion in unsecured financing, notes convertible to common stock. Thats another $18 billion on top of the $23.6 billion in cash on hand, for $41.6 billion in funds available to finance the recovery. Against this is the $7 billion loss this year. Lets say Ford need 3 years for a fresh product line and the bleed costs another $ 7 billion for 3 years or $21 billion at the worst including extra interest expenses for the loans, then there is still $20 billion available for 3 years to come up with a brand new product line across the board. This is positive development for Ford. see also: Sarah Webster, A Chat with Ford's New CEO, Upbeat but Realistic, Mulally says automaker can succeed, but it must face the facts, Saturday, Nov 11, 2006. See also Susan Tompor on the same Business pages' Ford boss is a convincing car guy. In the same Sat, Nov 11 issue of Detroit News see Daniel Howes - Thursdays with Alan, New Ford Boss demands accountability, results- every week. Sunday Nov 26, 2006 - Sarah Webster, Ford's Go-To Guy. Kuzak's Mission: Developing vehicles customers will want. see also on the same Business pages- Executive says global system lets Ford get vehicles to market faster. Sarah Webster could clarify contents of her interview shown on the pages of the Free Press- what is the target time from concept drawing board to cars rolling off the production line to dealer showrooms, is it the 12-14 months by end of 2008? See also in Nov 28, 2006, Detroit News, Bryce Hoffman, Ford Bets the House, a bit pessimistic in tone and angle of vision and selection of quote expert....

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Questions about the whereabouts of Masataka Shimizu, president of Tokyo Electric Power Company, which owns the Fukushima nuclear plant. Shimizu was last seen in public appearances at a news conference on March 13, 2011. The chairman of the upper house of Japan's Diet, the parliament, calls this "inexcusable." The governor of Fukushima prefecture, Yuhei Sato, tells Japanese television that the people there cannot accept apologies, "because their anger and anxiety are extreme." Protestors walk past Tepco headquarters, chanting "No more Hiroshimas."Toko Kanoh, a former Tepco vice president, and for 12 years member of the Diet upper house, says Shimizu should talk to the public as soon as possible. This kind of disappearance is not uncommon in Japanese corporate circles. During the Toyota recall crisis, the chief of Toyota was also unavailable. Shimizu like other senior executives in the corporate elite is a lifer, having joined Tepco at 23, after graduating from Keio University. Because of the size and influence of Tepco, it produces one third of Japan's energy, he is also vice chairman of the Nippon Keidanren, the Japan Business Federation. Shimizu's role at Tepco was marked by an effort to restore profitability after the 2007 earthquake that damaged a nuclear plant. Shimizu decribed Tepco's core mission in the last annual report as "cost-cutting. He describes the need to construct "disaster resistant nuclear power stations," but at the same time in somewhat of a contradiction, says that the company had cut the cost of inspections not "by postponing them but by reducing their frequency." Just as Toyota went through a wrenching crisis after cost cutting and insulated corporate executive behaviour, which combined with technology and user behaviour put its safety reputation in risk, Tepco finds itself in severe shock. Tepco has lost two thirds of its value on the Tokyo stock exchange, and is looking for $25 billion in emergency loans. ...

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New risks are emerging in the shadow banking system as regulators work to make the banks safer. Banks as deposit backed financial firms are different from mutual funds, private equity and other firms that are doing more of the financing for business and home loans in the U.S. financial system. As banks deleverage responding to tighter regulation by increasing capital buffers and reducing assets, it makes the financial system safer, yet creates new risks in the shadow banking system not subject to regulation and not supported by bank deposits the way banks are. A IMF report put out in April 2015 underlines these new risks in the U.S. and European financial system. Mutual funds and exchange-traded funds now rival banks in providing financing to companies with high debt. Total bond holdings worldwide in 2014 were $9.6 trillion, increasing 25% over 2008, and the mutual funds leveraged loans increased 60% to $151 billion in the U.S., 223% in the eurozone to $126 billion, according to the IMF. The IMF points out that these mutual funds and exchange traded funds favor emerging market and corporate junk bonds, and operate in a way where they mimic each others in their investments, creating contagion. With hard to sell securities and the rapid decline in these types of funds in a panic, the effect could be to create contagion across the funds. In the mortgage lending field a similiar process of deleveraging is happening. U.S. banks share of federally guaranteed mortgages from big banks down from 61% in late 2012 to 33% in 2015, other smaller finance companies taking up 51% increasing from 24%, according to an American Enterprise Institute report. Paul Tucker, former deputy governor of the Bank of England, points out the dangers. He says policy makers and regulators are playing catchup with firms in the financial services industry who are constantly looking for gaps in the rules, a game that policymakers and regulators are likely to lose at some point....

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A back of the envelope kind of analysis by Robert Cyran shows that GM may not reach positive net present value even with all its efforts. The rescue package from the governmet required GM to come up with aplan to achieve positive net present value. Treasury wants GM to wipe out two thirds of its unsecured debt by swapping it for equity. Even if this succeeded it would leave GM with $12 billion of unsecured debt and $6 billion in secured debt. With the government money of $13.4 billion the debt goes up to $31.4 billion. GM has to pay $10 billion in cash into the independent fund for UAW members benefits. And net unfinanced health care liabilities for non UAW workers is $8 billion. Prof. Roth at the University of Chicago estimates GM's pension plan may be underfinanced by $23 billion after the market downturn. Cyran uses a conservative number of $10 billion Adding it to the rest gives $60 billion in liabilities. With analyst estimates of $135 billion in sales in 2008 and about 3% margin this implies $4 billion in operating earnings. This seen as a steady ten year income stream would make GM's car business worth $28 billion. These ballpark estimates by Cyran show that GM will have a tough time proving to the government that it can achieve positive net present value and that it should not be drastically reorganized under bankruptcy, which would be redefining the business from the ground up, and discarding old models and behaviours completely by bringing in new managers with no preconceived notions about the business. Actually Cyran's $4 billion in operating earnings based on a 3% margin and $135 billion in sales may be optimistic considering that its based on 2008 performance. 2009 and 2010 performance will likely turn out to be worse than 2008 as both unemployment and consumption spending deteriorate. ...

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About 41% of Unilever's $53 billion in sales come from developing countries, up from 22% in 1990. In 2006 developing world sales increased by 8%, sales in Europe only 1%, and sales in the USA only 2.4%. This shows the growing significance of developing countries sales to Unilever. With head offices in Rotterdam and London, Unilever was formed from a 1930 merger of a Dutch food company and a British soap company. Unilever has been selling its bar soaps and cooking oils in the Dutch and British Empires, in countries like India, Indonesia, and South Africa since the 1880's. CEO Patrick Cescau is focussed on promoting products in fast growing regions of the world. The management structure is being changed to recruit new and nurture promising managers in countries like India and South Africa. These managers are being trained in western countries to learn new marketing methods, and are being asked to come up with their own new ideas for products from scratch for developing countries with low price points. Its not about adapting existing western products, but dreaming up new ones for low income shoppers. Its introducing a product called Cubitos- miniature bouillion cubes - tailored to low income shoppers in 25 developing markets and their tastes, for as little as 2 cents. The stakes are huge. Its competitors like P&G are doing this in Mexico. Nestle is expanding in Brazil with a new plant dedicated to shoppers making less than $10 a day, and setting up a distribution network to sell to small stores in shantytowns in Latin America. Unilever estimates are that 1.2 billion consumers will buy packaged goods for the first time in 2010, mostly all in the developing world. Detergent sales are soaring in places like India, as shoppers use powders to clean their clothes, moving up from bar soaps. Estimates are that each week 40,000 people in Asia use a washing machine for the first time. ...

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The Large Institution Supervision Coordination Committee (LISCC) was setup by Fed chairman Bernanke and Fed governor Tarullo, in 2010. The Fed's 200 PhD's, bank examiners and other experts at headquarters are now tapped for the the task of looking at adverse scenarios, checking on assumptions made by the banks in their analysis, requesting data from large banks on their loan and securities portfolios, and asking banks to consider adverse scenarios. Such adverse scenarios include a decline in the U.S. economic growth of 1.5% in 2011, and decline in housing. The Fed checks the banks estimate of its financial position aginst the Fed's own standard and prods the banks to consider new risks. Before the 2008 crisis the Fed's 12 Reserve Banks did the day to day supervision and reported back to Board of Governors, a system that led to a diffusion of responsibility and did not work. Former Fed vice chairman, Alan Blinder, says the bank boards did not exercize responsibility, and "blew it, big time," during the financial crisis. This approach has the effect of acting as a early warning for the banks for things that could go wrong. J.P. Morgan Chase CFO Braunstein made a Feb 15 presentation to show that Chase's stress scenario was more stringent than the Fed's. The current review says Tarullo includes asking banks to do a check before issuing dividends to shareholders, and consider what would happen if the economy is in trouble in the next 9 quarters. According to Fed guidelines issued in November if the bank's plan does not show enough capital to handle economic, regulatory and lending risks, the Fed can challenge the bank's decision....

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With about 81% of people over 12 years getting 2 doses of vaccination, Netherlands has one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe. The recent surge in UK, Germany and Austria has also hit Netherlands with 16,000 new cases per day. A partial lockdown starts on November 13 for 3 weeks in Netherlands.