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In hearings before Congress in the USA, the leaders of Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil said that they would not drill the well the way BP did (Tillerson-ExxonMobil), that the standards that should have been implemented were not in place (Watson-Chevron), and that its not a well that they would have drilled in that mechanical setup (Odum-Shell). On one issue all the companies came under criticism. All 5 oil major oil companies presented virtually the same plans to government regulators and the Congressional committee on their response plans for a major spill. As the oil spill has dragged on unresolved there is increasing frustration with BP's response and the other oil company leaders are moving away from presenting a common front in this crisis, which they had done upto now.

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Carl Henric-Svanberg, chairman of BP, is from Sweden. He was formerly the CEO of Ericcson, a Swedish telecom company. He has been criticized for not being more visible during the BP Oil Spill.

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A Wall Street Journal poll of economists shows that China's growth is slowing to around 8%. Because the economy grew rapidly in the first half of 2010, the full year growth is expected to be 11.1%. China's central bank and the government see the slowdown as a positive indication in an effort to reduce the risks to the Chinese economy from a real estate price bubble. Rising debt of local governments after the stimulus encouraged lending by state owned banks to get projects started quickly, and led to unsustainable growth levels and real estate speculation.

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The plan for a 4.5% mortgage rate the Treasury Department is considering is a good thing for stabilizing house prices and keeping up the demand for housing according to Hubbard and Mayer. Hubbard and Mayer are Dean and vice Dean of the Columbia Business School and Mayer is Professor of Finance and Economics. Their research estimates suggest that real house prices increase by about 75% of the decline in after-tax mortgage payments, so a decline in mortgage payments of 16% would result in approximately a 12% floor on the decline in house prices. In their view with the futures market suggesting a decline in house prices by 12-18% in the next 18 months a 4.5% interest rate might well lead to flat or even slightly higher house prices in 2009. How do they view other proposals to reduce foreclosures by reducing payments onmortgages with the government picking up some portion of the payments or reforming the bankruptcy code to keep people in their homes? In their view stopping foreclosures may not prevent house price declines as much as proponents claim. They now see the market as properly priced. In apaper to be published in the Berkeley Electronic journal of Economic Analysis and Policy they argue that in most markets house values are today lower than what is consistent with the average level of affordability in the last 20 years. The meltdown in mortgage markets and the poor employment outlook can cause prices to deteriorate and overshoot in the other direction. This is where government policy can help stabilize house prices....

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Venezuela has heavy oil in the Orinoco basin, and 7 blocks there are up for bidding which could generate 1 million barrels aday of synthetic oil. The terms are that Petroleos de Venezuela would get 60% share ad operational control but not put up any money. In addition the government will take a 33% royalty and a windfall tax. State owned oil companies in China, India and Russia, Perobras, BP, Chevron, Shell and Total have expressed interest. Political risk is taken into account but some countries are on friendly terms with Venezuela. Main concern is the recession and fall in price of oil.

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Acer President Gianfranco Lani says the company will ship between 10 million and 12 million netbooks in 2009, and 32 million to 35 million laptops including netbooks, which suggests that netbooks which sell for as low as $200 are almost half of its laptop/netbook sales. This shift and the pricing and sales pressures in the global economy resulted in a31% dropin profit, and operating margins dropping to 2.2% in the first quarter 2009, compared to 4th quarter 2008.

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The Australian dollar surges as metals prices surge, with bearish sentiment for the dollar and new liquidity pumped into the economy by the world's central banks. A recovery in China is also part of this picture.

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Consumer buying habits at Walmart in the last 6 months since the sharp downturn in the economy hit in October 2008. Executives in merchandising at Walmart, Target and other stores discuss trends with the WSJ. There is adisciplined shopper with less browsing on the aisles. FOod is up on the list. Private label groceries at lower cost are selling well. At Walmart sales are up for refrigerated pizza,lower grades of meat. Ground beef and chicken sell way better than steak and beef. And carbohydrates are doing better than protein foods, so that pasta is doing well. Staying at home and entertaining at home is the trend says Fleming of Walmart, from the take and bake pizza at $5 to the movie and popcorn. Which is why the luggage section and trvel is slow, and flat screen tv's are selling well. Vitamins, herbs and plants for vegetable gardens are up as customers try to plant their own vegetable gardens. Car maintenance and repair is big, sales of motor oil, filters and tires. are some of Walmarts big sellers. Whatever makes the car last longer is considered attractive by customers. And home repair items are selling well at Home Depot....

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Netbooks sales were half amillion in first quarter 2008, jumped to 4.4 million in 3rd quarter 2008, and are expected to double to 8.8 million in sales per quarter in 2009. Acer was the first to take advantage of this trend. It has moved to 3rd place in PC's after HP and Dell, and Apple is now in 4th place. A lot of new trends are changing the IT marketplace. These netbooks sell for $100 and may be the next big thing for developing countries, where a low cost computer would appeal to the millions of people in urban and rural areas.

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The Trader Monthly embodied a certain Wall Street trader culture that was unlike anything that the national values we as anation have valued and handed down for generations. It was not only about extravagant outrageously large earnings and flamboyant spending but a sense that these people were a special breed of winners. A $300,000 turntable was not the only thing that characterized this culture. In 2006 Trader Monthly took into its hall of Fame a Chicago mercantile Trader and described him admiringly as " aconqueror, physically imposing, and at times, verbally abusive. Clad in his signature white jacket, he would crush anyone who dared to cross him or tried to pick his pocket." And the justification for all this was that traders delivered. Except that many of these gamblers and overaggressive complex people who had somehow lost the Christian ethic of their forefathers, had helped messed up the delicate gears that work the capitalist economy in positive ways, and caused a massive misallocation of capital that would bring grief for years to come through high unemployment, closing small businesses, and dislocations of the nation's economy. ...

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Rasmussen, a former prime minister of Denmark (1993-2001) describes the pain from the 2008 global financial crisis that is felt in developing and poor countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. This essay was written by Rasmussen as president of the Party of European Socialists, at the time of the opening of the Global Progressive Forum in the European Parliament building by Bill Clinton. How quickly some of this is forgotten by 2009 when the global economy was recovering after large stimulus plans were implemented.

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Sales of autos once at 14 to 24% increase year after year was down to essentially flat in the latter part of the year with full year growth at about 6.7% over 2007. And 2009 could be flat or see declines in sales. Consumers are feeling the effects f drop in the stock market and drop in housing prices as well as a slowing economy.

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Valerie Jarrett is one of the key advisors to Presidential candidate Barrack Obama. She holds important positions in the Chicago business and non-profit organizations. Trained at University of Michigan law school, she has headed Chicago's 250 person planning and development department, then became CEO of Habitat, a Chicago real estate developer, and held positions like chairman of board of Chicago Stock Exchange, and board member of 2016 Summer Olympics committee. She headed the finacne committee for Obama's 2004 campaign for the US Senate.

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Whats behind the surge in delayed flights in the past year. With the New York, Newark, Philadelphia area hardest hit, especially La Guardia airport. Passengers and the airlines have become so used to the advantages of smaller planes and with Congress mandating a phase out of slot requirements which were eliminated at Kennedy airport, there has been a tremendous increase in smaller planes providing direct service to smaller towns and cities, such as La Guardia to Madison, Wisconsin. The addition of a 37 seater plane for a new American service from La Guardia to Flint, Michigan shows that this has gotten out of hand, because la Guardia is one of the worst affected airports, with chronic delays even before this. For the year 2007 ending May smaller planes flights increased 85% over the previous year into Kennedy and they are more likely to be filled. 75% of the flights between Toronto and La Guardia are on planes with less than 100 seats, with 20 such flights alone competing for runway space. When all these flights from all parts of the country enter the east coast cities its like entering a 2 lane tunnel to get to places like New York, with the additioal problem that delays in New York cascading into delays alll over the country, as these delays affect other flights....

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Would hedge funds that short Lehman's stock want to create an environment of perceptions of uncertainty around Lehman. ts quite possible. Lehman's CEO Fuld flew back from India over the weekend and went on the offensive to dispel perceptions of weakness. According to this report Bear Stearns had $33 billion in total liquidity compared to $169 billion for lehmans which compares with $169 billion for Goldman Sachs. Of this Lehman has $35 billion in cash and liquid assets and $160 billion in unencumbered assets like loans and securities backed by commercial mortgages that it use as collateral to borrow more. Lehman has the highest percentage of liquidity at 25% of total assets compared to other major brokers according to Buckingham Research Associates the source for these numbers. Its here that the Fed's recent decision to lend to the largest investment firms comes into play. As Mr Fuld stated the Fed's decision to create a lending facility for these primary dealers like Lehmanand permit a broad range of investment grade securities o serve as collateral improves the liquidity picture and in his view takes the liquidity issue for the entire industry off the table. Those looking at the downside point to the Level 3 assets of no observable value of $42 billion and the $37 billion in residential mortgages in Lehman Brothers. ...

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This Journal editorial points to the low labor participation rate of 63.2% in the U.S. as indication of the high unemployment in September 2013. About 90.6 million men and women over the age of 16 are not working, compared to total employment of 144.3 million, based on Labor Department statistics. Factors contributing to this are the six million baby boomers turning 65 since 2008, more young people staying in school in a poor job market, easier access to government support benefits such as unemployment insurance, disability.