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The Elop memo in 2011 and the sale of Nokia's mobile phone business to Microsoft in 2013- the startling change of fortunes for Nokia
02/09/2011
Nokia was a pioneer in the development of mobile phones in an earlier era when fixed lines were the norm. It dominated the mobile phone business in the period before 2009 for 2 decades before the coming of smartphones. The change in Nokia's market came quickly and suddenly with the advent of the iPhone and Nokia was unprepared for this development. This is a classic case of obsolesence and disruptions caused by innovation and new technologies. Other companies from the previous era before cloud computing and the internet, H-P, Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft, face the continuing challenge to adapt or lose to new competitors.
Linked Articles
Microsoft in $7 Billion Deal for Nokia Cellphone Business
Wall Street Journal 09/03/2013
Full Text: Nokia CEO Stephen Elop’s ‘Burning Platform’ MemoWall Street Journal 02/09/2011
Egypt's economic crisis and falling behind the modern world- how it happened
02/03/2011
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 02/03/2011
In Egypt’s bread, signs of economic weakness - The Washington PostWashington Post 02/11/2012
Angela Merkel's experience with the reunification of East and West Germany and her views of the eurozone crisis
01/30/2011
The perceptions of the eurozone crisis of ordinary Germans and of former East German Angela Merkel are colored by the period of reunification of the two Germany's. This was paid for with a"solidarity surcharge" tax paid by Germans amounting to $1.7 trillion and led in its early stages to 4 million unemployed in the eastern part and 20% unemployment. It took over a decade for East Germany to build new modernized industries in the larger cities of the east, but still leaves the rural parts of former East Germany in a neglected state as young peoplemoved out. During this period industry in the west also regained lost global competitiveness, especially in industries such as automobiles and advanced machinery, using wage restraint agreements with unions and increases in productivity. Germans see the need for eurozone countries in the southern part of Europe needing to make similiar sacrifices and see the tax evasion in Italy and Greece as unacceptable. The real estate bubble, the lack of transparency for banks bad loans, and out of control regional spending in Spain is also seen in a similiar light. Greece is seen as the most egregious offendor because of the bad financial accounting that grossly understated the extent of the bad loans. Less publicized in Germany is the role played in the bad loans through poor lending practices of German and French banks and that as experts have pointed out Germany was to some extent bailing out German banks when it was bailing out Greece- till German banks reduced their exposure to Greece in 2011.
Linked Articles
In former East Germany, anxious residents resent paying for Europe’s problems - The Washington Post
Washington Post 06/21/2012
Merkel's Defense of Euro Forged in East GermanyNew York Times 01/30/2011
The Volcker Rule banning proprietary trading by banks and recommendations by the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council
01/20/2011
Linked Articles
Charlie Rose Talks to Paul Volcker
BusinessWeek 10/27/2011
Volcker Rule May Work, Even if Rules Are VagueNew York Times 01/20/2011
Contrasts in the approaches of S. Korea in 1997 and the U.S. in 2008 to banking crises, and the hobbled U.S. economic recovery
01/06/2011
S. Korea in 1997 at the urging of Treasury Secretary Rubin took decisive step to unwind failed financial institutions. This in stark contrast to Treasury Secretary Geither, regulators and U.S. Fed officials actions in 2008 to merge troubled mortgage institutions such as Countrywide and Washington Mutual with Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase. In the process creating mega banks that are hard to manage and hard to run, and "too big to fail," according to former and current Fed governors Hoenig and Fisher. Prof. Cochrane of the University of Chicago says the U.S. Federal Reserve's new job as financial regulator after the 2008 financial crisis, is an impossible one.
Linked Articles
Red Flags said to Go Unheeded at Chase
New York Times 05/14/2012
South Korea Makes a Quick Economic RecoveryNew York Times 01/06/2011
Problems facing Brazil's economy in 2012-2013 and the approach of finance minster Mantega and president Roussef
12/30/2010
Linked Articles
Brazil Flexes Strong Arm to Reverse Slowdown
Wall Street Journal 05/31/2012
Brazil's President Exits With a Protracted Victory LapWall Street Journal 12/30/2010
Taylor and Cochrane say the French and German banks exaggerated the effects of contagion in the Greece debt crisis from the beginning
12/02/2010
Prof. Cochrane at the University of Chicago and Prof. Taylor at Stanford University, say French and German banks exaggerated the effects of contagion from the beginning as a way to delay writedowns on Greek bonds held by the banks. The appearance of lurching from one summit negotiation to the next throughout 2011 dented confidence in the eurozone with slowing or negative growth in eurozone economies, and is likely to hurt banks operating in the new economic enviroment.
Linked Articles
'Contagion' and Other Euro Myths
Wall Street Journal 12/02/2010
A Better Grecian BailoutWall Street Journal 02/22/2012
The prospects of a stalled economy in China as the productivity of capital deteriorates
11/23/2010
Inflation, repressed consumers, and the failure of current economic policy to produce the kind of sustainable growth China needs. One of the concerns raised before the Asian economic crisis of 1997 was the poor and declining productivity of capital in some Asian countries.
Linked Articles
New York Times 01/20/2011
Sclerosis in China's Economic VeinsWall Street Journal 11/23/2010
Housing in a deep slump in 2011.
10/16/2010
Housing markets surveyed show rising inventories. The faulty documentation crisis likely to make things worse for banks with efforts to force banks to buyback loans.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 10/16/2010
Housing Gloom DeepensWall Street Journal 10/26/2010
Local governments and state-owned companies are fueling a real estate bubble in China in 2009-2010.
07/29/2010
Northwestern University Prof. Shih estimates that state banks in China hold $1.68 trillion in debt of local investment companies which invest for local governments. In many cases the banks have little collateral. The central government in China aggressively supported this lending to quickly get money to projects in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, but this may have backfired with money going into speculation and building a bubble.
Linked Articles
Chinaâs Real Estate Boom and Conflicting Policy
New York Times 08/01/2010
Where China Hides Its DebtBusinessWeek 07/29/2010
Expert opinion on the Financial Reform Bill of 2010.
07/16/2010
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 07/16/2010
Experts Grade the Financial LegislationWall Street Journal 07/16/2010
The 1997-1998 financial crisis in S. Korea remembered in S. Korea as the "IMF Crisis"- a period of economic hardship for the working class
07/12/2010
Linked Articles
Seoul Forum Helps Heal IMF Wounds
Wall Street Journal 07/12/2010
South Korea Makes a Quick Economic RecoveryNew York Times 01/06/2011
Paul Volcker and Economists in the Squam Lake Group share concerns about the U.S. Financial Stability Oversight Council
06/15/2010
Volcker voiced his concern that a lot depends on how tough and vigilant a new council is with banks in the US on a day to day basis. The 10 member Financial Oversight Council was set up in the US financial reform bill of 2010. Some of the economists in the Squam Lake Group, 15 highly reputed economists in the U.S., also share this concern.
Linked Articles
Paul Volcker Pushes for Reform, and Regrets His Past Silence
New York Times 07/09/2010
15 Economists Issue Crisis-Prevention ManualNew York Times 06/15/2010
Sobhi Saleh of Egypt- from parliament to protests and the panel rewriting the constitution
02/04/2011
Nicholas Kulish's account in the NYT Feb 4, 2011, must rank as an exceptional piece of international coverage and journalism. It provides a heart rending account of the member of parliament from Alexandria. Arrested in the protests for democracy, Saleh makes his way out from a prison set on fire. Saleh is a member of an eight member panel rewriting the constitution in Feb. 2012.
Linked Articles
Egypt's Military Names Constitutional Panel
Wall Street Journal 02/15/2011
Why a Member of the Muslim Brotherhood Was Late to the RevolutionNew York Times 02/04/2011
Egypt's economic crisis and falling behind the modern world- the future and the road back to growth and opportunity
02/03/2011
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 02/03/2011
Muslim Brotherhood Looks West in Bid to Revive Egyptian EconomyWall Street Journal 02/17/2012
Dim outlook for Rebalancing the World Economy
01/20/2011
The widening U.S. trade deficit with China in 2011 and no evidence of a shift to domestic consumption in the Chinese economy make it increasingly unlikely that there will be a rebalancing in the world economy.
Linked Articles
No Appreciation for the Rising Yuan
Wall Street Journal 06/21/2011
Don't Bank on China 'Rebalancing'Wall Street Journal 01/20/2011
How Samsung jumped ahead of Sony in the smartphone market- the dismal failure of the Sony-Ericsson joint venture
01/07/2011
The glaring weaknesses of the Sony-Ericsson mobile joint venture was the slow decisionmaking and the inability to take advantage of Sony's strengths in manufacturing and its companywide technological capabilities. As late as 2011 Samsung was struggling behind other competitors. A key advantage was the quick decisionmaking and marshalling of resources within the company for the smartphone effort in Samsung. The joint venture proved to be a disaster for Sony.
Linked Articles
Samsung Moves in Smartphone Race
Wall Street Journal 01/07/2011
Sony Stakes Recovery on New SmartphoneWall Street Journal 03/01/2013
China's efforts to build its Strategic Oil Reserves in 2011-2012 and pressure on oil prices in 2012 (2)
12/30/2010
Linked Articles
China Seen Bolstering Oil Reserves
Wall Street Journal 04/11/2012
China May Throw Wrench Into Oil MarketWall Street Journal 12/30/2010
Failures in China's financial system as seen by two bankers
12/11/2010
Failures in China's banking system as seen by two bankers Walter and Howie. The risks to the Chinese economy of real debt to GDP ratios that are upwards of 80% of GDP when local government and other debt that would end up as sovereign debt is taken into account. The inability of the system in China to control lending to state enterprises and local government.
Linked Articles
China's financial system: Look again
Economist 12/11/2010
Beijing's Financial Day of Reckoning Is NearWall Street Journal 06/21/2011
A Brady Plan type solution to the debt crisis in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and other EU countries
11/30/2010
The extension of maturities for the debt of these countries is a key part of the solution. The Brady Plan that helped sove the Latin American debt crisis of the eighties and nineties is an example of the way out of the crisis. Resistance from bankers to taking losses of upto 30% and extending the maturities for debt. The need for Germany and other countries to set aside money that would be needed to recapitalize banks that need funds to handle these losses. Nicholas Brady when asked about this says it is important for this to be "a unified decision." This would create the confidence in the financial markets that will be needed.
Linked Articles
Europe's Central Banker Seeks Deeper Fiscal Union
Wall Street Journal 06/03/2011
Nervous Europe Trying to Halt Economic CrisisNew York Times 11/30/2010
The striking change for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the companies return $185 billion in aid provided by the U.S. government by 2013
11/04/2010
By 2013 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac return almost all of the $186 billion in aid injected by the U.S. government during the housing and mortgage crisis.
Linked Articles
Fannie, Freddie Payments Nearly Match Aid
Wall Street Journal 11/08/2013
Fannie, Freddie Overhaul Could Cost $685 BillionWall Street Journal 11/04/2010
The warnings on trade in 2010-2011 and sharply shifting public sentiment in the U.S. across all age, income and education groups
10/02/2010
A WSJ poll in 2010 showed that between 1999 and 2010 public sentiment had completely changed seeing trade as hurting American workers. A study by counties in the U.S. by Autor, Hanson, and Dorn showed the damage done by trade policy for American manufacturing workers. By March 2016 in the U.S. presidential election Michigan primary large gains were made by Republican and Democratic candidates opposing trade agreements including TPP negotiated by president Obama.
Linked Articles
Tallying the Toll of U.S.-China Trade
Wall Street Journal 09/27/2011
Americans Sour on TradeWall Street Journal 10/02/2010
The threat posed by China's local government debt to China's banking and financial system
07/29/2010
Because of the opaqueness of the financial system the estimates of the local government debt varies from 27% to 42% of GDP. Prof Shih of Northwestern University, an expert on this subject, now estimates this to be $2.6 trillion or 42% of GDP. Other estimates from the National Audit Office put this at 27% and from China's central bank put this at 30%. Prof Shih's earlier estimate was 34%. Because of the large number of local government entities and the lack of transparency the figures may actually turn out to be higher as China's regulators and other analysts improve their estimates. The 42% estimate is $2.6 trillion in local government debt. China's large foreign exchange reserves of $3 trillion and low interest rates will give China some space for addressing the problem with another round of injection of capital into the banking system.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 06/28/2011
Where China Hides Its DebtBusinessWeek 07/29/2010
Grading the U.S. Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation
07/16/2010
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 07/16/2010
Experts Grade the Financial LegislationWall Street Journal 07/16/2010
David Stockman says Republicans have given up their role in doing financially responsible budgeting for decades.
07/11/2010
The budget deficits, Reagan's Budget director says, developed to this point after decades of irresponsivble budget behaviour that has lasted gone on for four decades. He says the Greece style deficit of 120% of GDP for the USA by 2015 calls for austerity.
Linked Articles
Four Deformations of the Apocalypse
New York Times 07/31/2010
Crisis Awaits Worldâs Banks as Trillions Come DueNew York Times 07/11/2010
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