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Former SEC Commissioner Arthur Levitt offers his views on what needs to be done in this mortgage crisis. He calls for more transparency, with FASB ensuring that nothing is kept off company balance sheets like the conduits and SIV's, and for more accountability, with the credit ratings agencies incentives not being subverted by the profit motive, and for accountability from originators and mortgage brokers with tough licensing standards. He calls for more regulation in the interest of quality of American capital markets with merging of CFTC and SEC, and more authority for the SEC. He calls for the Fed, the SEC, the Comptroller of Currency and other regulators to require needed risk management practices and public disclosures, and give them more teeth to ensure quality in capital markets.

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Did Senator Dodd receive favors from Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide in refinancing 2 mortgage properties in exchange for support in Congress to push Fannie and Freddie into buying up shoddy mortgages generated by Countrywide, that later helped cause Fannie and Freddie's collapse and shook confidence in credit markets? Loan officer Feinberg says so, as he tells the WSJ that he is doing this because he thinks Dodd's display of concern in the collapse of Fannie and Freddie is hypocritical. Dodd was one big recipient of campaign donations from Mozilo's Countrywide. Without Fannie and Freddie's willingness to buy up all these mortgages as soon as they were produced the mortgage machine that Countrywide became would not have ocurred to the extent and out of control manner that it did, leaving a huge mess behind.

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Welch believes India will rebound from the Mumbai attacks and it has a bright future ahead of it in spite of the huge problems with infrastructure and the troubles with Pakistan. To rebound India will have to come to grips with India's internal problems from greatly improved security to responsible government and business will have to take the initiative to provide new momentum for growth. He credits India's people with insights, creativity and positive energy and credits its entrepreneurs with indomitable spirit. And he says over the last 20 years India has shown that it can educate managers and front-line workers alike. He sees India's greatest obstacles to progress as not just terrrorism but India itself. Something internal that can be tackled from the inside as India's neigborhood will take some time to change.

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Signal is encrypted end to end, yet security requires more than that, security requiring care taken by the user himself in how he uses it.

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The racial polarization in the U.S. before the presidential elections of 2012 between Romney and Obama. During the 2008 elections Obama did as well as Clinton by getting 43% of the white vote, it now appears headed into the 30's. This situation is reminiscent of the one facing Mondale in the 1980 election with Reagan, when Mondale received only 35% of the white vote. Fully 91% of the support for Romney comes from white voters as he passes 50% among overall voters in a late Oct. 2012 ABC/Washington Post poll. One irony in this situation is that Obama contested the 2008 election as a person who could bridge the racial divide.

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Tennis player from Serbia is disqualified for hitting the line umpire with a tennis ball. Djokovic was behind 6-5 to Carren Busta of Spain and lost his serve when this happened. Once before in that match he hit a ball at the stands in frustration. The Organizers of the U.S. Open decided there were clear reasons for him to be disqualified and lose all points he had earned at the U.S. Open. Djokovic had earlier come under criticism for his playing in events where there was no social distancing. Tennis has lost much of the graceful behaviour from the time when players like Althea Gibson, Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver played the game in an earlier era. Too much of the money is focused on prize money, television advertising, star status and number of grand slams won, bringing the game down to a level where the fans enjoying a good game is left behind and focus is all on individual players. The same is true for soccer where so much focus was placed on Barcelona and Messi and the 700 million transfer fee. The message from reality comes from the 7-2 win by Bayern Munich over Barcelona with a traditional approach to the game based on using new players costing far less money, a good dose of common sense and hard work. Coaches at Manchester City and Liverpool, and Real Madrid all attributed their success in the game to hard work and discipline of players, with every player playing for the team and for fans, and not for star status. ...

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Marcel Furstenau in DW.com says the Federal Police (BKA) have done well to foil several terrorist plots, and the failure to arrest Anis Amri is a result of the rule of law that prevents detention without evidence. The investigation of Amri went on for 6 months and the length of the investigation shows that police were alert to the risks, says Furstenau. He points out that it would be irresponsible to say security services are not doing their job, and the focus should be on mistakes or errors on which improvements can be made for tightening security.

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Macron is a close advisor to president Hollande since 2008. With the resignation of Montebourg as Economy Minister, Hollande offered the position to Emmanuel Macron to help improve conditions for business and increase investment in France. Macron pushed measures for changes through parliament by resorting to constitutional provisions because of opposition from the president;s own Socialist party members. Prime minister Valls was able to win the no-confidence vote that followed. In the 4th quarter of 2014 GDP growth in France was only 0.1%, lagging behind Germany at 0.7%. The economic stagnation has pushed Macron and the president to take more risks in overcoming resistance within the Socialist Party to relax labor restrictions and increase business investment. Macron says he agrees with investors that the 2 year tax of 75% on salaries of more than 1 million euros

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Li Keqiang, China's new premier, entered Peking University in 1978 by excelling in merit exams. Li and a fellow student, Yang Baikui, translated the English book "The Due Process of Law" by British jurist Lord Denning. Professor Gong Xiangrui, brought the book to China and educated his students in the ideas of constitutional law and western liberalism. Yang says Li learned English on his own and meticulously carried a stack of notecards with English on one side and Chinese translation on the other. Li would study the cards while waiting for a bus or in the line at the school cafeteria. Li has political discusions with students from that time, some of whom joined the pro-democracy demonstrations of 1989. He is the son of a mid level county official from Anhui province and moved in the party ranks through diligent effort. Li's doctoral thesis is in economcs and he is expected to focus on economic changes, with Xi Jinping, the new president, taking the lead in making changes to the political system. Fellow students from Li's days at Peking University say the difference between them and Li is the pace of democratization, with Li looking at it as a longer process. Recent articles by Li Keqiang on economic change show his emphasis on urbanization as a way to improve agricultural conditions with a smaller number of farmers improving producitvity in agriculture, and the importance of creating a better social safety net for people in China....

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Lopez Obrador takes office as the new president of Mexico and promises a fourth transformation of Mexico after independence from Spain, 19th century reforms separating church and state, 1910 Mexican revolution. Obrador has a majority in both houses of Congress, a first since 1997. Mr. Obrador has promised 100 new public universities, and increased public spending on health and education mainly through austerity in other spending such as a new Mexico City airport that was cancelled.

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Prime Minister Medvedev of Russia proposes banning advertising of cigarettes and blames cigarette companies for targeting children and women. He says Russia had unfortunately not calculated the risks of investment by foreign cigarette companies. A ban on smoking in public spaces will go into effect in 2015. Each year he says cigarettes take a toll of 400,000 lives- "it works out that each year an entire large city disappears from the earth due to tobacco.:

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US Defense Secretary Gates sees the Wiki discloures on diplomacy as not being as threatening as imagined by government officials and as described. These desriptions are "fairly significantly overwrought" is how Gates puts it. He says these types of disclosures ocurred back in John Adam's presidency and have continued, and the US can work with other countries even if these discloures can be embarrassing. Overall he says the impact is fairly modest.

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William Broeksmit built Merrill Lynch's business of trading financial derivatives with Anshu Jain in the early 1990's, and was later hired by Deutsche Bank with Jain for the investment bank of Deutsche Bank. He is found to have committed suicide by hanging, with multiple suicide notes including one to Jain. Coroners say the notes show Broeksmit felt he was being investigated in connection with probes into Deutsche Bank and was being abandoned by colleagues.

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U.S. president Obama's speech at the Mandela memorial included the words: "It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well, to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you. To teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion and generosity and truth. He changed laws but he also changed hearts."

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World Bank President Zoellick's view on 2010 for the global economy. As the IMF forecasts tend to be more of an extension of wht one sees today and less anticipatory of rapidly changing environments and dangers, the World Bank's Zoellick's personal assesssment carries weight. HE sees no longer a collapsing economy but complacency. He sees amultipolar economy and wants to see developing countries with 50% of the voting rights at the World Bank.

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Carrefour CEO Oloffson talks to the WSJ. He discusses whether the hypermarket model is still valid today. Carrefour is still good on kids and baby clothing but in teenage clothing stores like H&M and Zara's are clearly stronger. Carrefour lost its focus in Europe after it responded to new laws in France that discourages price competition. Carrefour shifted to quality he says and lost some of its previous edge in pricing and its focus.

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For the first time in three decades US economic growth will be much faster than China's. Second quarter 2021 growth in the US was 12.2% compared to 7.9% in China, and will continue to be much higher for five consecutive quarters. This report in the WSJ says it is the result of the US response to the Covid pandemic. The US vaccination drive, massive fiscal stimulus and near zero interest rates have helped, including the confidence generated by the $1 trillion infrastructure investments planned for this decade. Over the longer term Capital Economic estimates China's GDP around 2030 will drop to 2% growth with demographic decline, just as the demographic factors favor Indian growth to levels that China has seen in the last two decades. This was the plan and vision set out by the Indian prime minister for 2047, on the 100th anniversary of independence. For the future government help has helped US households accumulate $2.6 trillion in excess household savings, which Moody's estimates is 7 times that in China.  In the longer term gaps will have narrowed between Asia and Europe, the US, which is a good thing. More will need to be done in Africa and Latin America. Much of the talk about who leads ignores the local needs in cities and towns across all parts of the world for a better quality of life, better education, better nutrition, better healthcare, meeting aspirations of young people, and supporting hope for a better future. ...

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Controversy surrounding the $55.8 billion pay package for Elon Musk that was disapproved by a judge, and the behaviour of the Board of Directors at Tesla, is the subject of this exclusive report in the WSJ. A series of WSJ articles in recent months have shown that Musk is not the role model for American business or for the younger generation.  A parallel with can be seen in the contrast between Sergio Marchionne of Fiat Chrysler and Carlos Tavares, current CEO of Stellantis, which includes Chrysler and Peugeot, Fiat. WSJ coverage of Tavares as head of Stellantis, and running the company from his home in Lisbon, shows a respect for the dignity of workers, their health and worklife balance with very productive work turning out as many as 75  new electric car models by 2030 that was absent under the CEO Marchionne. Marchionne's constant travel and long hours, reported continuous smoking with unhealthy work and health habits took its toll. It set the wrong role model at the time for workers of Stellantis Chrysler and for business and the younger generation even as it received favorable reporting in the Harvard Business Review and other places. The same can be seen with Elon Musk with such reporting giving a glamorous image and much hype, yet as the Wall Street Journal in its reporting shows setting the wrong role model for business and the younger generation and the renewed future of America. ...

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This essay by Hein De Haas in the WSJ says there is a need for honest discussion about immigration in the US, about how best to accomodate the need for workers in certain trades and occupations in an organized way. In fact there is no need for the issue to be politicized this much. It needs to be depoliticized now that the needs for these workers are going to be larger not smaller as the US population ages and there is need for workers in healthcare and support for aging, and in other places such as construction, building infrastructure as US rebuilds aging bridges, roads and airports. In the seventies it was ned for agricultural workers and temporary workers moving back and forth across the border. Only in recent times has the border crossings assumed the scale and dimension it now has with 2.5 million border crossings at the peak. By comparison to the needs for workers only 500,000 are given work permits. And the laws have not been changed since the Reagan administration amnesty and legislation. Haas says workforce enforcement is negligible today in recognition of the fact of worker needs even under Republican administrations showing the need for honest discussion and resolution of this problem. The other problems of rebuilding manufacturing, US competitiveness, education and vocational training, are very different and require different solutions so that letting the immigration issue spill over the way it has is bad for America in deciding the future direction of the country and the economy, and renewing hope for the future. ...

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As China's food retail stores landscape has changed with more and better options offered to consumers, they have shifted upscale, especially with the rapid growth of incomes in China in the last decade. With a decline in growth for Yum Brands in China the company has decided to spin off its operations in China into a separate company, in the hope of giving the local company more room to respond to competitive changes in the food retail store business. As Chinese consumers urban disposable income showed rapid growth from 7700 yuan in 2002 to 23,700 in 2015, the market for food retail chains has changed. With this growth came other competitors such as Pizza Express, a UK chain at the higher end with local Chinese partners, and at the lower end Taiwanese competitors Ting Hsin International Group with its Discos fried chicken chain competing with KFC Yum Brands stores. Local Chinese competitors also moved upscale with Xiabuxiabu Catering serving hot pot, for consumers to cook meat and vegetable in broth doing it themselves. Other factors hurt Yum Brands growth and brand respect with the media reporting use of growth hormones and antibiotics by Kentucy fried chicken suppliers in 2012. And a local media report in 2014 saying that a KFC supplier supplied expired meat hurt sales with adecline of 14% in the fiscal 3rd quarter 2015. The opinion for Pizza Hut, a Yum brand has changed from as recently as 2012, with one survey showing a drop from 39% to 25% for consumers who see it as a desirable brand. A Beijing teacher for example now sees Pizza Hut as a cheap option compared to spending 128 yuan or $20 on a better quality pancetta and sun dried tomato pizza. More discriminating Chinese consumers means this trend will continue, and the media constantly looking for flaws in quality standards. As many companies are finding out the Chinese market is not going to be easy for the complacent....

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A study by Chris Whalen, managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics, of 7000 regional and community banks from data presented for the second quarter to the FDIC, shows that the bank's financial picture is deteriorating. Institutional Analytics put afailing grade on 1,882 banks as of June 30, 2009, up 16.5% from the end of March 2009. He says even the best run banks are feeling the bad effects of declining employment and asluggish economy. Whalen says this calls into question whether the stress tests for the "big banks" by the Obama adminsitration are adequate to control the crisis. Whalen says the asummption in those stress tests was that thes big banks had tohave enough capital and earnings to withstand a 9% loss rate, but what he is seeing in the industry is that we are already at a 9% loss rate , and the cycle has not peaked yet. He says any reduction in loss rates as assumed by the government may be shortlived as he sees things worsening in the fourth quarter of 2009. What about the good news that the big banks have raised capital in 2009. He says banks face operational problems, in addition to loan losses and low recovery rates on unloading assets they face rising expenses to carry these properties that generate little revenue. This cuts into earnings and what they can allocate to reserves. In this period banks are setting aside only half of what they would normally put in reserves to offset expected losses....

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Les Moonves, head of Viacom's CBS television network, was an actor in a television show from the seventies called "The Six Million Dollar Man." He moved later to Warner Brothers and headed the studio which developed hits such as "ER" and "Friends" during his period at the studio. Moonves retains the instincts from this earlier period as he helped develop programming that pushed CBS into first place among television networks, beating Disney's ABC, Comcast Corp.'s NBC, and News Corp.'s Fox. He joined CBS in 1995, when CBS was in last place of the three U.S. television networks. At CBS he pushed for developing shows at the network studio level. In 2000 he came up with "Survivor"- the first reality programming, and the police investigatory show "CSI." CBS was hit hard during 2007-2009 as the ad market fell sharply and net income fell 82%, the stock losing 82% of its value. Moonves has diversified away from dependence on ads with revenues from syndication sales of televisions shows such as "CSI," and licensing to Netflix of old shows such as "I Love Lucy." Major problems facing CBS and the other television networks is the decline in the number of people watching television, with competition from streaming online video, digital recorders, and on-demand viewing. Even though CBS has the most viewers in prime time in the U.S., 11.5 million viewers, this is seeing sharp declines. In the 2012 fall seaon there was a 10% decline in viewers compared to the prior year, and a 20% decline in viewers 18-49 years old. ...

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Willingness to change opinions as the wind shifts, or as conditions change and new information or insights are gained, is a necessary quality in good leadership. You may not get it right the first time, and that is OK if you are honest with yourself and do the right thing, which is to take stock of the new information and understanding and act upon it, even if that is different from what you said or did before. These skills may be needed by the President in difficult places like Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as at home in tackling the economy where some actions work and make sense and some others don not work or make sense under the conditions. Or its some new understanding of the conditions that is gained. FDR tried a number of things in his first 100 days in office and he got conflicting advice from some advisors, over time he obtained a better grasp of conditions and an understanding of what actions would be most effective in ending the crisis in the country. He had to be a good learner, be a good observer first hand of conditions, stay in touch with the people, honestly ask himself what would be the best thing to do in each situation. Sometimes he had to chart a new course and he had to know which advisers best represented the interests of the people and the country, and where to look for help. This is described by Adam Cohen of the NYT in his new book "Nothing to Fear". ...

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Is Summers too confident that things will return to the way things were, so that eventually jobs losses will dissipate, and the business cycle will return, so that preventing the economy from becoming bubble dependent for growth is the serious concern. How long will these job losses like the one in March of 663,000 last, WSJ reporter Wessel asks Summers. His response is essentially no one can forecast this. But he thinks these losses will dissipate, because production is running well below capacity, and eventually inventories will fall to the point at which they will need to be replenished. But what is cause for concern is the example he gives. He says next, that in the auto industry sales have normally run at 14 million, now they are down to 9 million. As they return back up to that level or a similiar level he says, and similiarly for other industries with underutilized capacity, the economic cycle will kick in. This depends on what is happening in the market . It is worth asking are there deeper and lasting changes ocurring in the American automobile market that Summers may be missing? See the links for Japan car market, and German car market for information on the changes that ocurred in these highly developed markets. Is a fundamental change ocurring in the American car market which this crisis brings to the forefront, that leads to a long term change to a smaller market closer to what sales are now? Is Summers too sanguine and complacent or is he simply hoping for the best. ...