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Problems Transocean faces as its acquisitions have left it with a fleet that is older than its competitors and costlier to maintain and upgrade. Transocean's shares are off 44% from their high in March 2011 and have lagged behind the performance of competitors.

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The US risks going into a deeper hole by not taking account of the Deficit Commission's recommendations, says the New York Times editorial. In the words of the commission's report: " The problem is real and the solution is painful. No easy way out. Everything must be on the table." Everything needs to be on the table- Medicare, Social Security, defense spending.

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Liquidators these days are doing a thriving business. With a glut of retail goods piling up at stores and stores liquidating, some of this merchandise is ending up in emerging market countries from Pakistan to remote parts of Russia. Hudson's Salvage, a 45 store discount retailer is selling women's bouses, pants, and dresses intended to sell at full price retailers at $140, at prices as low as $6.99. Some of this stuff is ending at stores selling to Hispanic shoppers in smaller US cities, central New Jersey, and more of the high end brand name merchandise is being discounted heavily.

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UK student survey shows 49% of students have  financial issues affecting their diet, missing meals or not having enough food or poor quality of food. It also shows 55% have financial issues that affect their mental health. Loans were falling short of covering living costs by 582 pounds a month in 2023, it was 439 pounds in 2022. Maintenance loans for students increased by only 2.8% in 2023-24 in Britain,for a maximum of 9978 pounds a year outside London. Shown here is an engineering student who gets up at 4am to do a supermarket shift, a law student who works 20-25 hours a week as a receptionist and missing one third of her lectures.

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The head of Italy's statistics agency Istat, Enrico Giovannini, says Italy's manufacturing sector has performed quite well, and the problem is with the services sector, in lagging sectors such as transport, communications, tourism, retail and social services. The manufacturing sector is only one sixth of the economy. He says productivity is poor and there is lack of investment in human capital and information technology for the services sector. IT's contribution to growth in Italy's labor productivity is the lowest in Europe, according to the European Investment Bank. Italy's total efficiency gains declined one half percentage point from 1995-2005. Retail and tourism sectors lack the needed productivity gains. This means actions taken by prime minister Monti to change labor laws and related changes will not be enough to generate confidence in the economy and economic growth. Giovannini says investment in human capital and productivity is badly needed, and shifting education and training to where there are new job opportunities....

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The deep cuts in Chrysler's engineering staf, with 40% of the engineering staff gone under Daimler and Cerberus, is hsowing up at job fairs. Jim Badhorn was a Chrysler engineer for 21 years before he took the buyout. He designed the rear doors of the Chrysler 300 sedan. Badhorn put much of the $75,000 into acollege fund for his 2 daughters. He hits the gym everyday. He is arenter so his home in Birminghan isn't like the other owners who have lost 40% of their home value. And he can't even find the end of the job line when he goes to a job fair for a military contractor.

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Mitch McConnell, Republican U.S. Senate minority leader from Kentucky, recommends the nomination of Thomas Hoenig, as vice chairman of the FDIC. Hoenig, the former head of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, has consistently pointed out the danger of financial firms that are "too big to fail."

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The 25-30 fishing vessels and tugboats that have supplied Misurata by sea, act as an essential lifeline to the city besieged by Ghadafi. The boats operating under cover of darkness carry both humanitarian supplies and war needs for defence of the city. Libyan volunteers staff these boats, volunteers who believe that the people have finally found their voice against the Arab strongmen who have run countries in their region for decades. The defence of Misurata has another passion for these people, men like Saif Nasser who runs the tugboat Al Iradah 6- and this is to prove to the world that the Libyan people's struggle is not a sectarian struggle which should end with a partition of the country's east from the west. Misrata is a coastal city only 130 miles from Tripoli's coast. If the city is being defended against all odds, it tells the world that this is a popular struggle to build a new democratic Libya with civil rights and civil society, and a voice in their government, similiar to the struggles in Syria, Egypt and Tunisia....

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This article in The Telegraph shows the debate in the House of Commons on Syria and comments by various MP's. It also reveals the impasse on Syria with Boris Johnson of the Conservative Party using it to score points against Jeremy Corbyn of Labor Party by calling for demonstrations by peace groups at Russian embassies, and Corbyn's response to this saying all parties embassies including the U.S. should be included. By October 2016 with about 100,000 children and 275,000 civilians trapped inside the Aleppo region in northern Syria, and Russian bombings of Aleppo, the situation is dire. With U.S. president Obama's inaction on Syria, the refugee crisis in Europe from Syrian refugees exceeding 2 million in the Middle East, the situation in Syria is at the point where lacking an effective option to setup a no fly zone at this late stage the political parties in Britain and in the U.S. trade charges against each other. German chancellor Merkel and foreign minister Steinmier visit Ethiopia and Nigeria to stem the flow of refugees from economic crisis at the source with aid and support, as Germany works on its own efforts. France's Hollande tells Putin a visit to France would have only Syria as topic for discussions and calls for Syria to be brought up as war crimes. Even the Telegraph's title is misleading as the article covers the debate in the House on Commons on Syria, but the title appeals to Telegraph readers critical of Corbyn when the debate is about Syria and what action to take about the bombings.   ...

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Former president Lula da Silva of Brazil is sentenced to 10 years in prison on corruption charges. The charges are that Mr da Silva and his wife were illegally given about $1.1 million in improvements from a construction company for a beachfront apartment. The construction company was able to get lucrative contracts from the state oil company Petrobras. Many of Brazil's politicians are under investigation. The former speaker of the Brazil parliament, Eduardo Cunha, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for money laundering and corruption. The current president Mr. Temer is also under investigation. A culture where such activity was accepted had developed, and this effort started with a small investigation called "Operation Car Wash" in a smaller Brazilian city named Curitiba. Young lawyers determined to set a higher standard and fight Brazil corruption pursued the case that led upto the higher echelons of Brazilian government, the construction industry, and the state oil company Petrobras. ...

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Christina Pretto, a Citigroup spokeswoman says the company was carefuly managing its employee levels, nothing has changed. Statements like this, a kind of corporatese speak that has been around for years is taking on a new life these days, as companies go through heart wrenching change, yet put on many different faces. Citigroup executives are saying that in addition to the 9100 layoffs expected to be announced next week, another 25% reduction in employees will likely take place by end of 2009, which would take the total employee levels to 264,000 from 354,000. Everyone from investment bankers to the backoffice functions and legal and human resources divisions will be hit. Citi's stock has lost 68% of its value this year, and is now down to single digits. On November 13 Citi fell to $9.45. The company is losing money, and will likely need more government money next year. And Vikram Pandit who has been in the CEO position for a year after selling his hedge fund to Citigroup for $165 million, appears to have lost focus, and with the loss of the Wachovia merger and the opportunity to lure deposits and built up its branch network, it is simply going forward without a strategy....