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This objective look at the situation of Black Americans comes from a American -Jamaican. Educated in the West Indies and in Britain, Patterson is able to bring another perspective to look what has happened and what is the way forward. Here he is interviewed by the Harvard Gazette. Patterson is a professor of sociology at Harvard. A separate Saturday Essay by Orlando Patterson appears in the Wall Street Journal on June 6, 2020. Patterson points out that the big problem is de-ghettoization is not happening. Progress is not about integration first, it is about successful de-ghettoization taking place first, says Patterson.  And here he faults white liberals for not putting their money where their mouth is. For this to happen black families have to be able to move into suburbs. Strict zoning laws and limits to building moderately priced housing in some of the most liberal parts of the country keep out families wanting to move to the suburbs.  It is the social contact even side by side in suburbs with a leap in quality of housing and neighborhoods, schools, that can change people's own perceptions of themselves and their interactions with the communities around them. A lot of whites Patterson says have liberal views but when it comes down to making the concessions needed to make black lives better they are not willing to do that.   Patterson offers his own experience in Britain walking down a street in Cambridge. He lived on Trowbridge Street. He enjoyed walking through the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. And while walking he observed the easy interaction of black kids and white kids, and realized how different this was from the 1960's and 1970's. Having this sort of interaction comes from a more integrated setting, so that people grow up not having that awkwardness or lacking social contact.      ...

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Chrysler has no new models in its product lineup except for the small Fiat 500 car and some product redesigns like the new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. For about 2 years Chrysler has had liitle that is new to show buyers coming into its dealership showrooms. As competitors Ford and GM recovered sales after the 2008 crisis, Chrysler's sales have been dismal. A lot is dependent on how the new Jeep Grand Cherokee is seen by car buyers. Chrysler and Mercedes had essentially redesigned the Grand Cherokee by the time of the bankruptcy filing in April 2009 and Fiat's takeover. So even though it is presented as the new Chrysler, analysts say its not something Fiat's involvement created. What Fiat added is attention to some of the technical details, and working on the marketing aspects so that its off-road and on-road capabilities are presented in the best possible way to attract buyer interest, keeping price as close to sticker as possible. The question now is whether in Chrysler's difficult situation, the American car buyer will respond to the new Cherokee with interest. Sales peaked for the Cherokee at 300,000 in 1999 and dropped to 50,000 in 2009....

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The International Energy Agency lowers its global oil demand forecasts on Dec. 11, 2014, leading to further drop in the price of oil with oil futures in electronic trading for WTI at $58.89 on New York Mercantile Exchange, and Brent crude at $62.83 on ICE in London, for January 2015. The price of WTI U.S. oil dropped to $59.95 on Dec. 11, 2014.

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Oil prices in the U.S. drop to $55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and $65 a barrel for Brent crude price. Earlier expectation of the impact of reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil shrinking global oil supplies have been reversed with increased production from Saudi Arabia, Russia and the U.S.

Another new development that caused this reversal in sentiment is that the Trump administration granted waivers to some buyers of Iranian crude oil. The U.S. trade dispute with China has also added to this with lower growth forecasts. Unlike in previous years OPEC or Saudi Arabia cannot by itself shrink global supplies with production cuts. The U.S. and Russian output also plays a significant part.

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Accounting experts say the rebound in bank earnings in 2010-2011 is a good time to offset unrealized losses from troubled loans against higher earnings. These troubled assets make it hard to understand the true financial condition of banks, which becomes a major problem in financial crises. According to a WSJ analysis US banks had $13.8 billion in "unrealized losses" that have lasted at least a year in their portfolios as of Sept. 30, 2010. If these losses were taken now it would reduce bank's pretax income for the first 9 months of 2010 by 21%, according to the Journal analysis. Another problem focusses on Level 3 securities, which are illiquid investments that cannot easily be valued using market prices. The Journal analysis shows that as of Sept 30, 2011, the top ten banks had $360.7 billion in Level 3 securities. This is 42.6% of bank's shareholder's equity. At the top ten banks Level 3 securities fell by 24% in the last 2 years, which indicates an improvement. However some banks have made changes, whereas other large banks have not reduced the level of Level 3 securities. Take Bank of New York Mellon, for example, which took a $4.8 billion charge against earnings in 2009, largely related to mortgage backed securities. CEO Kelly said, it wanted to "put our investment securities issues behind us." Contrast that with Citigroup. Citgroup did not mention its high level of Level 3 securities when it anounced fourth quarter earnings. As of Sept 30, the bank held $79.1 billion of Level 3 securities- equal to 48% of its book value. This includes credit derivatives, asset backed securities and sub-prime mortgage securities....

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Facebook has invested heavily in proving that digital ads on Facebook are effective. Some of the research was done with Datalogix and other firms. About 60 ad campaigns were carefully tracked to show how consumers seeing ads on Facebook spend their dollars on products in brick and mortar stores. One ad with cuddly bears for Coca-Cola was more effective than ads on television, says CEO Sandberg. In addition to targeting users based on what users share in their Facebook profiles advertisers can now see the effects on sales. Facebook's vice president of measurements and insights, Brad Smallwood, says advertisers were given the first big report on how consumers acted after seeing ads in the real world. The results are most evident in digital advertising for mobile phones. Facebook has 6% of the $118 billion digital advertising global ad market compared to Google's 31%. The share in mobile is 18% in 2013, up from 5% in 2012. Facebook shares were up 14% or $7.55 to $61.08 on Jan. 30, 2014. Facebook's share price increased by 20% in July 2013 after a similiar announcement of improvement in mobile ad revenues. Facebook's IPO price was $38 in 2013....

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Apple is in a quandary about what straegy to pursue in the large China market. Apple's pricing depends on its image of bringing in exciting new products. With growth slowing in iPhone sales and lack of new products like the iPhone Apple can go after the market of lower end smartphones to maintain growth. In that segment Apple faces strong competition from manufacturers who make products in-house and have the scale to compete effectively such as Samsung. Other manufacturers such as Lenovo are also surging in this part of the market. Sales figures for the smartphone market give some idea of the problem Apple faces. Smartphone sales for the industry slowed to growth estimated at 41% for 2013, compared to 136% in 2012. In 2014 IDC forecasts growth slowing even further to 17% and by 2015 the smartphone segment looks even less promising with only 12% growth. And much of this growth is likely to go to regional smartphone companies such as Lenovo Group of China, and other brands which are better at competing in the lower priced smartphone segment of below $100, say analysts. Apple sales were 7.9% of the smartphone market in China, Samsung had 15.4%, and Lenovo 13.1%, in the 4th quarter of 2012, according to IDC....

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Bernie Sanders is reelected Senator from Vermont, as one of the oldest and most senior members of the US Congress in history. He will be 89 at the end of his fourth term in the US Senate. At 83 years he is the most resilient and active Senator in the US. Bernie Sanders support was key for president Biden's election in 2020. “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic party which has abandoned working-class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” Sanders said. “First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right. “Today, while the very rich are doing phenomenally well, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and we have more income and wealth inequality than ever before. Unbelievably, real, inflation-accounted-for weekly wages for the average American worker are actually lower now than they were 50 years ago. “Today, despite an explosion in technology and worker productivity, many young people will have a worse standard of living than their parents. And many of them worry that Artificial Intelligence and robotics will make a bad situation even worse. “Today, despite spending far more per capita than other countries, we remain the only wealthy nation not to guarantee healthcare to all as a human right and we pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. We, alone among major countries, cannot even guarantee paid family and medical leave.” ...

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Forecasts show global oil output exceeding demand by 630,000 barrels a day for the fourth quarter of 2012. This is partly the result of extra oil supplies coming in from Saudi Arabia to counter the situation with Iran at the same time as oil demand is slowing with the economic slowdown in the U.S., Europe and China. Prices of crude declined to $85.73 a barrel on the Nymex, and $107.85 for Brent crude on the ICE Futures Exchange on Oct. 24, 2012. Goldman Sachs cut the 2013 price forecast for Brent crude to $110 a barrel from $130. Earlier the QE III monetary easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve had rallied oil prices because of a weakening of the dollar.

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Demand for biofuels, global warming on food supply in places like Australia, increased demand for food as living standards rise, population growth in Asia, affects food supplies and increase food prices.

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Prince Mohammed bin Salman, son of the Saudi king Salman, oversees economic policy. He says stock sales of 5% of Saudi Aramco will be used to create a sovereign wealth fund of about $2 trillion that would help create the jobs with income from overseas investments and projects at home. About three times the jobs created in 2003-2013 will be needed with the demographic changes, according to McKinsey consultants. This will act as a diversification away from oil income dependence.

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As interest rates for housing moved up from 3.1% to 5.25% on. 30 year mortgage the sales in the housing market in the US have slowed down. This WSJ report says the housing sales are expected to decline in future. The average existing home sold for an average price of $391,200 in April 2022 compared to $340,700 a year earlier.

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All sides had to make concessions to reach a new agreement on a restructuring of Greece's debt, and new terms for loans to Ireland and Portugal. The agreement was reached after negotiations between France, Germany, the ECB, and eurozone countries with a declaration issued on July 21, 2011. The powers and financing of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) were expanded to be the main mechanism for channeling EU funding to reduce the burden of Greece's debt. Germany will provide new funding and be open to additional commitments, something German chancellor Angela Merkel had resisted since the beginning of the crisis in 2010. Earlier funding had come with high interest rates and only when the situation had reached a crisis, with Germany insisting on the punitive rates and conditions as a way to discourage countries from taking advantage of cheap borrowing. In exchange for commitment of German funds Ms Merkel had insisted that banks and private creditors share in the losses. Private bondholders resisted but finally agreed to take a loss of 20% of principal on a small portion of the bonds. Their larger concession was to take lower interest rates and extend the maturities to 15 years and 30 years on new bonds which are guaranteed by the EU. The specific terms of the agreement are as follows: The EFSF and the IMF will lend Greece 109 billion euros over 3 years at 3.5%. Private creditors including German and French banks will "voluntarily" turn in their old bonds for new ones that mature over 15-30 year periods. These new bonds include 15 and 30 year Greek bonds with varying coupons. Some of the bonds would have a 20% discount on principal. EU leaders say the private sector contribution amounts to 37 billion euros through 2014 and 106 billion euros through 2019. Another part of the program is for the EFSF to buy back some of the Greek bonds on the secondary markets, which would mean Greece would now owe a smaller amount to the EFSF on these bonds. The EFSF will now have additional financial support from Germany and other EU countries and be authorized to provide aid to countries before a crisis situation arises. It would also have power to buy Greek bonds at prices on secondary markets to reduce the Greek debt burden. Ireland and Portugal are also assisted in the agreement. The interest rate for EU aid to Ireland and Portugal is taken down to 3.5%. Ireland is paying about 6% on the EU portion of its 67.5 billon euros bailout and efforts to reduce the rate were resisted earlier. The main theme behind these concessions and provisions is to give Greece, (and Ireland and Portugal) a chance to grow. High interest rates came under strong criticism because it only increased the size of the debt burden of these countries with a shrinking economy and high unemployment. The failure to come together behind a broad and sensible agreement with all parties making serious concessions, the EU, the ECB and the political leadership in these countries especially Greece, was undermining confidence in the euro and the eurozone itself. By mid-July Italy and Spain were feeling the effects of contagion in the financial markets, U.S. debt ceiling negotiations were unsettling global financial markets, the pressure was intense to come up with the workable agreement achieved on July 21, 2011. ...

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Ailworth and Faucon describe the ways in which shale oil producers such as Continental Resources in Texas and S. Dakota are responding to the drop in oil prices. One strategy adopted is to put off 60% of the expense of production by not completing the final stages of production of hydraulic fracturing, but keeping the wells ready so that production can quickly be ramped up if prices go to the $60-65 range. EOG Resources, Andarko, Apache, Chesapeake Energy, are also following this strategy. There are about 3000 such wells, not pumping but drilled and ready for hydraulic fracturing, according to RBC Capital Markets estimates. This strategy would mean large shale oil supplies well into the future to keep oil prices low. Production from lower cost wells continues with U.S. oil production climbing to a new high of 9.4 million barrels a day for week ending March 6, 2015, according to federal data. This shows that this is a new situation and the resilience of shale oil supplies may have been underestimated. Another strategy adopted by other large companies such as Exxon is to continue to develop technology by learning to get the oil out of the rock in the most cost efficient way. The capital investment in U.S. shale oil has dropped by $50 billion in 2015 compared to 2014. The number of oil rigs drilling declined to 866 in the U.S. by March 2015, according to Baker Hughes....

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A health care practitioner says the real problem is the high cost of medical care in the U.S. when compared to other countries. She points out that the Obama bill in 2008 did not take effective steps to bring down the cost of health care before enacting legislation to cover the uninsured, leading to higher premiums for the middle class. The link between healthcare and profits is seen as the main problem. 

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With 9.5 million barrels a day cut for U.S. G20 and OPEC+ negotiated by president Trump many Texas oil wells will be shut in. Even with these cuts price is sensitive after dropping to $22 by April 12, 2020. The cuts averted a complete collapse in oil prices when markets opened on April 13. By April 12 oil demand worldwide had fallen by 30 million barrels a day. That is how grave the situation was. By doing so the U.S. protected its oil industry. There was complete lack of leadership from Russia, Saudis, Mexico and other countries until president Trump intervened with strong action. Trump threatened tariffs on imported oil to protect the U.S. oil industry if other nations did not come to terms, including calls from U.S. senators telling prince Abdulaziz the Saudi oil minister the U.S. Saudi relationship could not be salvaged if the Saudis did not come to an agreement. Once again president Trump's tariff moves worked, this time to save the world oil industry and oil producing economies such as Russia from severe hardship. ...

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Exxon has cut costs of shale oil production by learning new cost efficient ways of getting the oil out of the rock. Exxon states it has cut costs by 20 to 25% for production in the Bakken from shale, making it possible to invest in shale oil production at much lower prices as the learning continues. This will be a factor for oil prices in future years.

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The print media in western countries is suffering decline in circulation and loss of revenues as more people read the news on the internet. In contrast India with 350 million people who have no access to newspapers, and in a country where newspapers are very reasonably priced and widely read in India's many languages. the print media industry is doing very well. The print media industry is expected to grow from 149 billion rupees ($3.6 billion) in 2007 to 281 billion rupees in 2012, a growth of 89% in 5 years, according to a report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. With expanding literacy and newspaper reading a popular pastime throughout India, and the many newspapers available in languages like Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali, in the north, to Telegu, Malayalam, Tamil, Karnataki in the south, the expanded availability also builds a public that is more informed about issues and the range of choices available to it, making for a vibrant free press and a vibrant democratic process. The low cost of newspapers means more of the revenues come from advertisers and some newspapers like the English language Times of India accept payment in the form of shares in a firm....

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Turkey is reviving its relations with Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Prince Bin Salman will visit Turkey as part of a remake of Turkey Saudi relations. Turkey's economic crisis has revived the relationship as Turkey badly needs aid for its economy. The pressure on emerging markets is increasing with US central bank raising rates reducing inflows of western money into Turkey even further. Prince Salman has already received visits from French and British leaders. He visited Jordan and Egypt this week and will now be in Ankara. In the summer he will visit Greece and Cyprus. Saudis are modernizing their economy changing culture in relationships of men and women, in women's rights and education, and broadening relationships with the world under Salman. There is an astonishing openness to science and technology in a drive to be modern. The old Saudi monarchy and conservative rule with ancient traditions is giving way to what the Saudis in the group under Salman see as the modernization of Europe and America in the 20th century using science and technology as what they would like to see in their own country. There is also a drive to think independently from the dogmatic positions of the past that have turned the Kingdom into an American dependency with no obligation or incentive to modernize its culture and be open to the world outside.  The US fought a war to ostensibly modernize a backward mountainous remote state as Afghanistan, while being perfectly comfortable with the old Saudi monarchies of the past that made little change in the ancient culture and tradition and in women's rights and education. Such were the contradictions in American policy and the failure to think anew. As president Lincoln said "as our case is new we must think anew, and act anew." President Biden will now visit Saudi Arabia to build a new relationship with an independent nation, which along with the UAE is bringing change to the Middle East through infrastructure development and modernization. Salman's modernization comes as the kingdom also faced a need to make a transition out of dependence on fossil fuels. Salman sees trips to Greece and Turkey as opening up to all sides. Saudis have good relations with Israel and Egypt another part of this openness. The US senses this, India has sensed this. India's Modi government  made sending the Oxford vaccines manufactured in India to Saudis a priority during 2021. The Indian example is also changing the way the UAE and Saudis see infrastructure development and modernization in the region. This is also changing the way the region is looking at itself. For decades Egypt lacking the resources to build infrastructure on its own has languished economically. A helping hand from the Saudis is changing Egypt. The entire rail system is being modernized with the latest technology from Siemens. The Saudis have stabilized the Egyptian economy with a $5 billion deposit in the Central Bank of Egypt. On June 21 Egypt and Saudis signed $7.7 billion in investment deals for infrastructure, logistics, port administration, food, industry, medicine, energy and technology. In the investments in Egypt some of the oil money going to Saudis with $100 per barrel oil price is going to an economy in Egypt that can easily absorb and make good use of the investment to modernize.   The influence of Saudi leverage in fossil fuels which drove the US relationship with Saudis since FDR is being replaced with an independent Saudi kingdom making decisions to modernize across the board in all aspects compared to one that favored a few American companies such as Exxon Mobil and ARAMCO or arms makers such as Boeing and Lockheed that helped recycle American money going to pay for Saudi fossil fuels back to America.    ...