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On Monday August 8, 2010, the Dow Jones Industrial Averages went down by 634 points and closed below 11,000 points. This is not far from the 10,165 level of the DJIA on August 27, 2010. It was on August 27, 2010 that Fed chairman Ben Bernanke made the speech at the Kansas City Fed's Jackson Hole conference about the strategy for a QE II. Its about the time for this years Jackson Hole conference and the gains in the stock market are melting away. The DJIA closed at 12810 by April 29, 2011, then went below 11,000 by August 8, 2011. With higher inflation the Fed's options are limited.

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Parallels between the Taft, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson election campaigns of 1910 and 1912, and the campaigns of 2010 and 2012, drawn by a T.R. biographer. He points to a tumultuous period ahead as lobbyists, outside interests, and the political parties and their supporters battle it out to set the direction of the country.

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How Phillips is changing itself to focus on new areas such as elderly health care. The acquisition of Lifeline which is a call service for elderly patients that helps them for independent living. products are being redesigned for consumer health care. One such product is a HeartStart Home Defibrillator which costs $1200 without prescription at drug stores. Ivo Lurvink heads the consumer healthcare division formed in 2004 with the goal of tapping opportunities outside of hospitals. As Phillips new CEO sees it hospitals care is expensive and more and more people are becoming savvy and smart about taking care of themselves with products available and more products need to be designed with them in mind. In targeting needs of elderly Phillips has identified independent living as an important market and has developed a "senior solutions sweet spot" as the kind of customers in this group it would like to target. to get an idea what Phillips is trying to dream up in redesigned or new products, Ivo Lurvink is looking at the broken bones that 350,000 Americans who fall and break bones have to struggle with. Could Philipps come up with a product that detects motion and balance? Philips CEO Gerard Kleisterlee sees the trend as being health care is being increasingly pushed out of hospitals which are expensive and into homes and clinics, and patients are behaving more like consumers and asking smart questions of what will be best for them. Philips has closed most of its electronics factories, its components division, and sold its seminconductor business to private equity firms for $7.4 billion. Its a big shift for a technology company but lower priced Asian imports have convinced Philips that it must make a shift, especially after losses in 2001 of over 2 billion euros and in 2002 of 3 billion euros. The professional medical products division was a bright spot in a recovery with earnings growth of 40%. It sells large equipment to hospitals. Gerard Kleisterlee who took over as CEO of Phillips in 2001 is making a change that is also being made at GE and Siemens as health care becomes increasingly important. Kleisterlee is himself an engineer an after the post tech bubble asked himself "what is the hand of cards that I have and how do I playthem?" Changing its orientation and moving into new products with better margins and less competition in high growth markets such as elderly care is the result of this reassessment. ...

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Former U.S. Federal Reserve chairpersons Volcker, Greenspan, Bernanke and Yellen, are together at the International House, on the campus of Columbia University, in April 2016, in a forum hosted by journalist Fareed Zakaria. The discussion covers topics related to the financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath, with quantitative easing, Fed communication as policy tool, and the gradual increase in interest rates.

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The Christian Democrats have their best results in 20 years in the 2013 general elections. The Free Democrats had about 4.5% of the vote, below the 5% threshhold required for representation in parliament. The Alternative for Germany party was close to but missed the 5% threshhold for parliament. The Christian Democrats received 42% of the vote. The Social Democrats won 26% of the vote. The CDU/CSU won 311 seats, the SPD 192 seats, the Left party 64 seats, and the Greens 63 seats in preliminary results. Because the CDU missed an absolute majority by a thin margin in parliament it will have to form a coalition government with one of the other parties, the Greens or the SDP.

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Rubin questions the idea that lowering the deficit by reducing tax expenditures, deductions and loopholes at the same time as lowering rates would work. It would not raise enough revenues if many of the deductions that help the middle class were not considered doable and crossed off the list. He disagrees with Republicans about increasing taxes to Clinton era levels as creating disincentives for work and business by citing the economic record of growth in jobs and GDP during the Clinton period. On the proposal to use limiting deductions and loopholes for the the rich as away to provide a more equitable distribution of the tax burden he says this would still require increasing taxes on the middle class to achieve deficit reduction.

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Ford Motor's reliance on the redesigned F-150 and other large pickup trucks for its higher profits in 2015. The price tag on these vehicles keeps rising, with some pickups sold at about $50,000 and having interior leather seating, amenities resembling luxury cars in 2015. Higher fuel efficiency engines, body redesigned with lighter materials including aluminium, other innovations, combined with the lower price of gas, lower interest rates for financing, have led to a resurgence in these larger vehicles.

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U.S. States faced a shortfall of $86 billion during the 2011 budget season, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. This was after a rise in tax collections during the last year from an improving economy, and about $30 billion of tax increases passed in 2009 and 2010. States faced the end of $66 billion in federal stimulus aid, and their share of Medicaid costs are expected to go up by $16 billion in this fiscal year, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. The political mood has shifted with worries about the deficit and fears that tax increases could make the states less attractive for employers. As a result there is a focus on spending cuts with very few tax increases. Forty six states began a new fiscal year this week after legislatures focussed on spending cuts, mostly avoided tax increases, and some states placed restrictions on the pay and benefits of public employees.

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French president Sarkozy, and German chancellor Merkel, announce the decision to seek treaty changes to make fiscal discipline a critical part of the new EU treaties. They issued an ultimatum to other EU countries to decide within a week whether they wanted to be part of a eurozone under this arrangement. In any case France and Germany will move ahead for a tighter union. Merkel stated- "We need structural changes. It is not possible to do this in the framework of the current treaties." Germany secured France's acceptance for having national budgets submitted for review by a supranational European body and automatic sanctions. France secured Germany's acceptance of a way to override this if automatic sanctions are blocked by a strong majority of members voting to this effect. On the issue of bondholders, of private creditors sharing in losses, France and Germany agreed to limit this to Greece. Merkel stated: "Greece is and will remain an exception," to which Sarkozy added, "the message to investors from across the world is that in Europe we pay back our debts."...

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The Editorial Board of the Washington Post on the challenges facing Mario Monti, the new prime minister, and the Italian people in 2012-2015.

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Auto sales for 2010 are expected to come in at 11.5 million, a significant drop from the 17.5 million in 2000. A better job market expected to push the unemployment rate down a bit to 9.7% from 9.8% in November will help, but not by enough. Credit Suisse analyst Christopher Ceraso says each percentage point that the rate is above normal ( about 5%) keeps sales back by about a million auto sales on an annual basis. To get sales back to a 16 million range this would require an unemployment rate of 6%. Economists expect a better US economy in 2011 but the prospects remain uncertain for 2012, bringing unemployment down to about 8-9% if hiring picks up. The other concerns are high consumer debt and a rise in gasoline prices. If gas prices rise and buyers shift back to smaller vehicles, as they did in 2008, this would squeeze margins and profits. This is especially a concern as automobile companies have increased profits with a larger truck and large size vehicle component of sales, in a reverse shift after the shift to smaller cars in 2008-2009. Ford Motor is one example of this. It helps Ford use the extra profits to reduce its debt load but automakers have to be prepared for a sales shift to smaller cars in the face of higher gas prices....

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The exit of Greece from the eurozone would cost Germany $127 billion or 3% of GDP, according to economists at a German bank. Francois Baroin, departing finance minister of France, estimated the cost for France to be $50 billion, or 3% of GDP. The costs in terms of disorderly exit in how it impacts Spain and Italy in financial markets is less certain.

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Saudi price cut in November 2014 to reverse market share decline in the U.S. The Saudi share of total U.S. oil consumption declined to 4.6% in August 2014 from 7% in August 2013, according to EIA. This brought NYMEX price to below $80 in early Nov. 2014.

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A new bipartisan plan on comprehensive immigration reform with support from Senators Graham, McCain, Schumer, sets forth principles for legislation. This includes Democratic requirements for a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants and Republican requirements for stronger enforcement. A separate bill sponsored by Senator Orrin Hatch would expand the H1-B program for skilled immigrants and increase the number of green cards. Senator McCain said on a television news show: "We can't go on forever with 11 million people living in this country in the shadows in an illegal status."

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As the U.S. population ages and grows at a slower pace the demand for automobiles is likely to peak in 2013-2014, and moderate in subsequent years. Automakers need to be vigilant about adding manufacturing capacity to avoid the problems faced in the last decade when sales and profits declined.

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Battle at Wamat in 2008 where militants outnumbered an American outpost of 48 soldiers and overran the place in eastern Afghanistan. THe mistakes made and how its part of the new strategy for General McChrystal.

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Tyler Cowan writes about the problems of crony capitalism and lack of opportunities in American capitalism as it is practiced today.

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Italy's debt sustainability analysis shows how critical it is to improve prospects for growth and competitiveness and avoiding any lowering of growth from current forecasts. Equally critical is lowering of borrowing rates. And vital to setting the right tone for this is the future of the Monti government and nature and committment of the new government after spring 2013 elections.