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Stevis and Steinhauser talk to ordinary Greeks as they face pharmacies running out of imported medicines and the prospect of returning to the drachma.

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A bill in the U.S. Senate in October 2011, which has bipartisan support, would push for China to correct an unfair trade advantage from keeping the value of the yuan low. The bill requires retaliatory tariffs for countries that have "misaligned" currency. This makes it possible for the U.S. Treasury Department to take action even if it finds no currency manipulation by China. This is a new approach as the U.S. Congress struggles to restore a level playing field in international trade.

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The U.S. Senate voted 63 to 35 passing legislation that forces the U.S. government to seek tariffs and other action against countries with "misaligned" currencies."

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Andrew Roth describes a situation in Russia where president Putin is more popular than the ruling party. The United Russia Party was shown having support of 45% in pre election polls. The election campaign used Putin posters and the slogan "the party of the president," to increase voter support.  Some voters see Putin working really hard to improve the economic situation. Samuel Greene, director of the Russia Institute at King's College, London, says that even after efforts to increase support United Russia Party has failed to generate voter enthusiasm. Voter turnout was low especially in Moscow and St Petersburg. The election result is seen by experts as a way to give Putin support to tackle the economic problems facing the country, and ensure stability. About 343 members of the parliament out of total 450 are from the United Russia Party. The budget shortfall of 3% is being met by the government  by using state funds, and one of the sovereign funds is likely to be exhausted in 2017. One of the options is to cut back on social entitlements, increase the pension age. Prime minister Medvedev has already said state pensions cannot be indexed because "we don't have the money right now." ...

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The OPEC meeting in Doha in April 2016 fails to lead to an agreement to freeze oil production at Jan. 2016 levels, with Iran staying away from the meeting.

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The fears within Mexico's auto industry that the TPP will allow imports of cheap Chinese auto parts hurting its auto industry, and reversing years of gains made under NAFTA. Canada also has fears about the TPP for its auto industry. Japan uses China and Thailand as part of its supply chain. China is not part of the TPP. Add to this the UAW and Detroit's suspicion of TPP concessions to Japan. This has stalled U.S. negotiations with Japan on the TPP trade agreement in 2015.

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Germany's deputy finance minister, Jorg Asmussen, was nominated by the German government to the executive board of the ECB. This follows the resignation of Jurgen Stark. Asmussen was originally appointed by the previous finance minister, Peer Steinbruck, and is from the SPD party. He was retained by Finance Minister Schaeuble because he had experience with the global financial crisis of 2008. Both Asmussen and the new Bundesbank president, Jens Weidmann, are students of Axel Weber, who was a professor before becoming central banker.

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A former Wall Street trader says banning bonuses for investment bankers would take out much of the risk in the financial system. The current system is different from the one he joined as an intern in the 1980's, he says. At that time banking was a bland business, where the head of a financial firm made about the same as a junior trader makes nowadays. Large bonuses of today were rare at the time. What large incentives to take risk in the form of bonuses do is to encourage extreme risk taking, especially when the downside or pain as a consequence of these decisions is passed on to other individuals or institutions, or the government.

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Christopher Wood points to deflationary trends in Europe and the USA. Bank for International Settlements (BIS) data shows European bank exposure to government debt in Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain at $2.8 trillion at the end of 2009, and a rise in the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR), as further signs of negative trends. The property bubble in China and strong action to tighten and use antispeculation measures have already led to transaction volumes in residential real estate falling rapidly. If Beijing reconsiders further appreciation of the yuan, a trade debate with the U.S. may intensify. All this points to increasing risk of a double dip recession.

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Hagel did exactly what the White House expected him to do, say experts, including not coming up with any large ideas on the defense forces, tackling the budget cuts, working with the rank and file in the military, and implementing the administration's policy of reducing involvement in foreign military conflicts. Hagel's role was limited by micromanagement by NSC officials and Hagel was seen as deferential to the military chiefs and generals who had different views of the conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan- some generals seeing the administration's response as hamstrung by keeping resource committment to the minimum in Syria and others saying not enough resources were there to extend involvement to places such as Aleppo in Syria. Hagel resigned after pressure from White House officials who realized the inadequate nature of the very things that the White House expected of Hagel- following what the public sees as failures in the Middle East.

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Krugman comments on the Swiss National Bank's decision to give up the peg of 1.20 to the euro made in 2011, and reduce interest rates to a negative 0.75% on Jan. 14, 2015. He points to the dangers of complacency about the deflationary trend in Europe, Japan and the U.S., and deflationary pressures in China in the first quarter of 2015.