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David Brooks looks at the traits and skills of national leaders Washington, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, F.D.R., Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Reagan, and compares that with the skills needed in a business environment. He does not find much relevance for the traits and skills learned in business by Corzine, Rumsfeld, Regan, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina in leading a state or a country. He finds traits in political leaders in government to be emotional security, political judgement, a sense of humility as being part of a larger purpose in God's world, and the ability to overcome major setbacks. He sees today's claims of candidates to being outsiders or having business experience as a spurious and false story line.

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Nokia pins its hopes on China as it sees room for a third ecosystem after Apple and Android in the growing Chinese market.

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Its interesting that these large supply contracts were signed between Vale and Arcelor-Mittal on volume and not price, price will be negotiated annually. This is a good move because it secures supplies of a commodity in short supply but with a global slowdown Arcelor can negotiate based on the conditions in the market at that time which may be more favorable to steel producers amid declining demand and tougher negotiations from steel buyers like the auto companies.

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Steps that might ease the crisis in food supplies and rising prices. Prevent hoarding of supplies, boosting research in yields, and investing more in irrigation and rural transportation. And producing biofuels with solar and wind energy Also powering African farms with solar and wind energy. These steps could eventually lower food prices and increase the supplies in the market. Countries like China and japan also could put more supplies on the market. And traditional food exporters could do more.

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The home equity borowing in which advertising changed people's view of home equity from hocking your house to socially acceptable use of such financing like the "LIve Richly" ad campaign of Citibank which alone cost $1 billion from 2001 to 2006. Since the early 1980's the value ofhome equity went up from $1 trillion from $1 billion and about a quarter of Americans with mortgages have home equity loans. Banks earn 25% higher returns on these loans.

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Brazil, a country of income inequality, is becoming transformed by trade and growth and urbanization into a middle class country- defined as those with a job in the formal economy, access to credit and owership of a car or bike, with a monthly income over $600. According to the Fundacao Getulio Vargas, this part of the population has increased from 44% to 52%. And the PT or Workers Party is still popular, with President Da Silva high popularity.

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The Hulme Company mail order catalog business in Minnesota may not be representative of small business, considering the errors and the scale of the debt taken on. But even if a small fraction of this debt taking tendency is representative of small business, it means that small business will not generate jobs as it did in the past. Small business will actually layoff people. And small business will not be able to provide the bounce the economy will need in years to come. The following is an an anaysis of this venture. The owners of this small business Bidwell and Ms. Guarino bought a luxury goods maker that was losing money for $600,000. Their business was to sell $500 garment bags and $1200 duffel bags. The experience of Bidwell was with Target, Tonka Toys and a cigarette distributor. Ms Guarino had a $130,000 job with a magazine publisher, running regional magazines like Minnesota Parent, which she quit. She had some experience as a handbag designer in California before that. They had never seen hard times, no, they had only seen good times. And were willing to spend heavily on the business like the $600,000 for a business, Hulme Company, that lost $150,000 on sales of $450,000 making duck hunting gear, the business they bought in 2003. All this for a tiny factory employing 3 seamstresses, and with no brand name for luxury goods like leather duffels. Their lender's experience- Kassim who founded Maple Bank in Champlin, Minnesota, considered it pretty typical of small business in those days to do everything on debt and loaned $550,000 over 5 years. So the lender was in for the ride. Another bank Stephens bank loaned on SBA approved loans which were later cut off. Guarino had no experience in this business, and simply relied on Bidwell's experience. The borrowing went on and on from friends, taking in debt with total lack of understanding of what debt means, from their daughter, the entire $50,000 savings of Bidwell's wife, and finally with banks refusing to lend after having friends put up their CD's and collateral on loans. Debt to equity ratio gets to 5 to 1. Second mortgages on the house getting Bidwell and extra $130,000. Even in the best year 2006 sales at $1.4 million, and earnings before taxes and other items at $325,000, not enough to pay the interest and other payments on loans that later totaled $2 million by year end 2007. $500,000 from friends and family including $20,000 from his daughter or two thirds of their savings. 600,000 catalogs went out in 2007. With the Hulme Company behind on payments in 2008, the catalogs mailed in 2008 dropped to 175,000. It is a very capital intensive business from the standpoint of catalog cost. $1 million in inventory at year end 2007, or two thirds of sales of $1.5 million in 2007, was a sign of how expansion preceded even getting the financing in place, and going out into the dark thinking sales wil materialize. So even in the best year 2006 the business was not viable, and would have collapsed even without the financial and credit conditions of 2008, ruining the owners in the process. By 2008 it led to the usual things in this kind of business failure, Bidwell's divorce, loss of his home as he falls behind on mortgage payments, Guarino's loss of job and friends whom she borrowed from, and both deeply in debt. Evaluation of the failure is as follows. Seamstresses and the small factory space could be obtained for a fraction of the cost in an emerging market country, even in an eastern European country, and no cost needed to be incurred for the purchase of Hulme Company or for sending out catalogs. Only travel expenses to meet high end retailers who might carry this merchandise, and go to the country where the plant was setup. Sales would come first, and expansion to meet sales very carefully done so that the plant could be downscaled if sales dropped. Even then scores of small luxury goods makers in China or other emerging market countries could put the owners out of business. The lesson if you can't watch costs, if you don't understand what debt means, then you don't pass the most basic of tests. You cannot run business on savings, home equity or credit card loans, or business loans with personal guarantees. Costs tend to just run up to the money one has artificially created. It will ruin you. If you don't have experience with the business and the product area, or can't put together a group of people with the experience to guide you on the pitfalls and what to watch for, you don't pass the next basic test. Only then does one get to the other tests about whether there is a market, the price and value of the offering and so on. This is before the current economic crisis. Now all these tests become more important than ever, or it will kill you and quickly. One has to be paranoid and very careful after 2008. Stephens Bank loaned money on SBA loans ...

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After a lot of corporate advertising image of HP like Dell has become old and stodgy. How to revive the brand. Try taking a lesson from Apple. Try appealing at apersonal level, and try appealing to younger people to shake off the old image and put in a more invigorating one. About 180,000 visitors were attracted to an HP website named FingerSkilz.tv which shows closeup videos of a man's hand on a desk performing soccer tricks with a padded paper ball just bfore the 2006 World Cup. This was part of a new HP global campaign to give HP the cool image of an Apple. Content Links 1. We wanted to step away from selling computersas a commodity to telling a story in an autographical way- quote from Steve Simpson. Creative Director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which is creating new ads for HP. 2. Uses personalities like Jay-Z a rap artist and Shaun White a snowboarder, and is creating European and Asian personalities for advertising in other continents. 3. the print work features prominently images of hands see as a powerful symbol of communication around the world. 4. Sponsoring a new tv show Meet or Delete on MTV in which young people compare suitors basedon the content of their hard disks. ...

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Nelson Schwartz provides an exceptional indepth account on the changing leadership role of James Gorman at Morgan Stanley. Gorman is from Melbourne, Australia. He studied law before joining Columbia Business School. Consulting with McKinsey was followed with a job at Merrill Lynch. He joined Morgan Stanley in 2006 before the collapse of Merrill. Compared to his predecessor John Mack in the CEO role, James Gorman is a quiet type who prefers to stay out of the limelight.

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As the coronavirus surges in India with over 300,000 cases a day on April 26, a clear picture on the vaccination drive in the country is critical. The following is the picture of the vaccination progress from Union Health Ministry in India as shown in The Hindustan Times. India has vaccinated 140 million people with at least one dose says this report in The Hindustan Times.  On Saturday 24th April 2.4 million doses were given for that day at 8 pm. This was done over 99 days. This means about 12% of the population of 1.2 billion has been vaccinated.  This compares with the vaccination in Germany for about 21% of people vaccinated with over 18 million getting the first dose in Germany by around April 25. Both Germany and India have suffered from vaccine shortages, some skepticism about vaccinations. Gradually sentiment is shifting in both countries so that once skeptical Germany now has about 75% of people willing to take vaccine on April 25, 2021. In India about 6 million healthcare workers have 2 doses of vaccine, and about 9 million have 1 dose. About 6 million frontline workers have 2 doses and 12 million frontline workers have 1 dose of vaccine.  There is a shortage of vaccine supplies and a bold decision was made by the Indian government on April 25th 2021, after the surge of cases to a world wide maximum of over 300,000 cases a day. The decision was to give immediate regulatory approval for the three major vaccines in the US to be brought and used in India. And delivery will be speeded up - no customs duties and fast processing of supplies access to speedy logistical supply routes. This is a huge step forward for the vaccination drive as this means Pfizer, Moderna and J&J vaccines can now be used in India. The government is also urging the companies to make in India or export to India with prices that provide flexibility in pricing for the private market. The locally produced Covishield Astra Zeneca based vaccine produced by Serum Institute will be allowed to be sold to the private market at 600 rupees or close to about $10. Pfizer and Moderna, J&J can price in a way that would be somewhere around this price range. The access to more vaccines and the ability of the companies to make a reasonable profit in the Indian private market means that vaccine supplies should open up in May and June.  This could give a huge boost to vaccination numbers so that India's vaccination percentage of population vaccinated should keep up with that in countries like Germany and France that were slower to get started in Europe but are now catching up quickly. This is a massive achievement because the population numbers are huge compared to Europe. ...

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After the German election the next election in France in 2022 will provide new direction for Europe. As in Germany with Olaf Scolz of the Social Democrats, in France an alternative is emerging with Xavier Bertrand of the Les Republicains. Like Scholz Bertrand was Labor Minister working to tackle difficult problems of increasing employment in the French economy going back a decade. In recent elections the party French president Emmanuel Macron created as a member of Francois Hollande's government has floundered. Macron hastily put together the En Marche in Amiens on April 16, 2017, when he was minister of Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs in the government of president Hollande. During the eight year period in which the centre right Christian Democrats CDU and center left Social Democrats SPD had ruled in a coalition government in Germany some version of centrist politics and government had also prevailed in France. After the Sarkozy years 2007-2012 under the centre right Les Republicains party  France turning to the centre left Socialists under Francois Hollande. As a young minister 39 years Macron lacked experience, and the initial enthusiasm that helped him win the 2017 presidential election is now missing. As in Germany voters are looking for change not just in slogans but in substance in a new Trans Atlantic partnership of US, Germany and France to tackle the may problems that were neglected in the last two decades of changing administrations in US and France and the Merkel administration in Germany- problems of social cohesion, of income inequality, division of country into rural and urban, eastern and western in Germany, southern and northern in the US, neglect of infrastructure, and failure to invest in the future.  France is now turning to the Les Republicains party in recent elections, and away from Le Pen's far right party and Macron's party.  Both Macron and Le Pen did very poorly in recent regional elections. This report in FR24 points out that the candidate for the Les Republicains party will be chosen at a convention, and not at a primary as happened in 2017 leading to the elimination of former Republicains president Nicholas Sarkozy. The president of the Haute France regional council Xavier Bertrand is the leading candidate from the regional election results. Bertrand was Sarkozy's minister of Labor and Solidarity from 2007 to 2009, and Minister of Labor, Employment and Health in 2009. Today Olaf Scholz, winner of the German elections in September 2021 was also Minister of Labor- in the Social Democrats/ Greens government under Gerhard Schroeder 1998 to 2005. Voters now realize that it is important to value experience, stability, combined with humility and a determination to get things done, compared to charismatic leaders with little to show in results, and tangible improvements in the quality of life, in national renewal.      ...

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Philip Alston, UN expert on extreme poverty and professor at New York University School of Law, says most of the progress on poverty that the UN agencies  and elites talk about is based on one country China. In the rest of the world, in Latin America, in Africa, and in other countries in Asia the situation is not any better than it was in 1990. About half of the world's population 3.4 billion people live on less than $5.50 a day, and this is not much changed since 1990. The improvements in China could also mean that the situation has worsened in other parts of the world. The pandemic has taken the lid off the situation in Latin America with Mexico, Brazil, Colombia and other places there showing extreme weakness.  Alston studied this as UN's representative for looking at extreme poverty 2014-2020. He is clear in describing what happened. The World Bank he says set $1.90 a day for poverty line, artificially low and what will not pay for housing or food even. He calls it "scandalously unambitious as a benchmark" what would pay for "a mere miserable subsistence." By using this he says a devastating effect is being allowed to happen as more of the investment is drawn into a pro-growth narrative which pushes allocation of capital in the direction where it profits short term speculative capital and profits rather than the long term investments in health, education and public services that are vital for any country. The improvements in China have also come at the expense of communities in Europe and the U.S. as industries were being shifted with their jobs overseas since 1990, first imperceptibly and then in waves after 2000, which leaves millions exposed to poverty and social decay for the first time in history in the advanced countries. It is an unhealthy and destabilizing situation. Alston's other points are that the so called progress narrative has been used to drown out the appalling effects of policies that misallocate capital away from the vast numbers of people. And in doing this he says it has entirely upended or turned upside down the social contract with the people. From Carl Sandburg's "The People Yes" in the 1950's after the tragedies of war we have come to "The People No." Nothing could be more reprehensible than capital being allocated for dog walking apps and other speculative investments by investment funds pooling hundreds of billions of dollars when basic sanitation services, health care investments are neglected in countries like Brazil, and smaller towns and communities are being systematically uprooted for jobs and social services over three decades in advanced countries in parts of Europe and the U.S.   ...

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Tata will start making the Nano small car in the 4th quarter of 2008 at a plant it is constructing in the eastern state of West Bengal. Tata faces the same difficulties other car makers are facing around the world as fuel prices adversely affect car sales, and the unprecedented and enormous increases in the prices of raw material costs like steel, tires, and so on with the impact of tighter money supply with higher interest rates creates a different environment for Indian automakers. Tata's margins will be under pressure from these changes in the operating environment. Tata will look for ways to reduce costs and introduce several new models in 2008 in the commercial and passenger car markets. Tata completed acquisition of Land Rover and Jaguar for $2.3 billion in June. To fund the acquisition Tat Motors is raising 72 billion rupees ($1.7 billion) through three separate rights issues, and an additional $500 million to $600 million through an international offering of securities. This acquisition says Ratan Tata CEO of Tata Motors , will add global scale, profits and visibility to Tata Motors, enabling Tata Motors to take its place in the global auto industry as a credible international automobile company....

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Critics of the balanced budget amendment say it prevents the use of counter cyclical policies in an economic downturn.

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Apple CEO Cook's blue collar roots in Alabama. He says he has worked at an aluminium factory in Virginia and a paper factory in Alabama, and grew up spending a lot of time in factories. Cook was hired by Steve Jobs to fix Apple's manufacturing operations after Jobs rejoined the company in 1997. At that time Apple's manufacturing plants had serious quality problems and high levels of rework in plants, and Apple had high levels of inventory. Cook was largely responsible for the new manufacturing setup at Apple. Jobs did not get it into the details of manufacturing- being more interested in the design aspects of the product- and people close to Apple say Jobs rarely visited Apple plants. This gives Cook greater credibility as Apple tries to change the way its products are made in China. Under Cook Apple has joined the Fair Labor Association and initiated FLA inspections of Foxconn plants making Apple products.