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This editorial in the Hindu- after encouraging news from Moody's and the World Bank on India's economic future- says that the Modi government should not be distracted by the upcoming elections as it focusses on the task ahead. After a gap of 14 years Moody's raises India's credit rating one notch. Moody's cites steps taken by the Modi government as creating a better environment for future growth- the implementation of GST goods and service tax, efforts to clear some of the bad loans in the banking system so that capital can be freed up for infrastructure investment, and reducing bureaucratic hurdles for clearance of projects. Moody's cites the high public debt burden as a constraint for growth. General government debt is at 68% of GDP in 2016, higher than the 44% median for economies in this range. On the plus side the better targeting of welfare measures to help the poor including steps in the banking field, bringing more businesses into the formal sector to improve tax revenues, and the large pool of private savings, are cited by Moody's. Critical is timely implementation in the future. As the discussion in the media on bullet trains and other new infrastructure shows, there is not enough momentum for stretch goals as China has done over the last 2 decades.   ...

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As the first day of talks happens in Brussels between Barnier of the EU and Davis of Britain, EU officials say Britain must meet spending pledges it made of 60 billion euros. Britain says there are different legal views on what is owed. Experts see little chance the two sides can reach an agreement by the deadline of March 2019. With the fragile coalition government in Britain talks appear to be very precarious with no clear view what Brexit means.

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Unilever's acquisition of Russian skin-care company Kalina for $850 million in October 2011.

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The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration has been investigating Toyota since 2004, after State Farm Insurance Company alerted the NHTSA about the jump in complaints.

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Foreign institutional investment in India declined to a mere $172 million in April 2012, from $5 billion in February. Foreign direct investment in India is falling. It was down to $27.5 billion in 2011, with only $4.2 billion in Jan-Feb. 2012.

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Ray Dolby of Dolby Labs was a pioneer in electronics field of noise reduction for tape recordings. Listening to the early reel to reel tape recordings with the loud hissing sound at intervals Dolby took up the task of coming up with noise reduction technology. He had studied engineering at Stanford and worked at Ampex Corporation in the San Francisco area. The early Dolby recordings technology came out in the seventies and was improved till the Dolby technology could be fitted on a small chip. The research work by Dolby led to 50 patents. He was sole owner and member of the Board of Directors of Dolby Labs till it went public in 2005, earning royalties for his inventions.

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Closing the plant at Genk in Belgium cost Ford an estimated $750 million and years of difficulty with workers and the community. The plant employs 4300 workers and the cost comes to about $190,000 per worker. Many auto plants in Europe are operating at about 60% of capacity in 2013, and about 7-8 million units of car and light truck capacity remains idle, by some estimates. Ford was compelled to take this action because of billions of dollars of losses for Ford Europe as sales declined because of the eurozone financial crisis and austerity measures.

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Voters back about $10 billion in bonds to start a high speed rail network system for California and $18 billion for expanding mass transit service in Seattle. About 23 initiatives were approved that would inject $75 billion into transportation systems according to the Center for Transportation Excellence. About 70% of transportation funding measures on the ballot were approved showing voter support.

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Perino, the White House spokewoman says the automaker's plight won't be a blight on President Bush's legacy, such is the mood at the White House and among Republicans. But reading the comments of readers on this piece and next to it. people of all political views oppose helping the automakers so its a popular stand, and practically all think the management and boards has to go and the union contracts have to go so the depth of feeling about this issue is real. Most everyone sees the fault as Detroit auto companies own fault.

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After all the fuss TARP will not buy up troubled assets like mortgage securities held by banks and will focus on injecting capital into banks and other needs.