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As the ECB reduces its monthly purchases under its QE program to 60 billion euros from 80 billion euros starting in April 2017, the initial market reaction was that quantitative easing was going out. This says Barley is not the case, and markets are overreacting. The ECB is now ready to buy bonds yielding less than the deposit rate. The ECB promised to extend purchases to Dec. 2017 or further. Look deeper says Barley and ECB forecasts headline inflation at 1.7% in 2019, less than 2% target. So continued QE made sense but at a lower pace. In the end it is the flow that matters not the stock of purchases, says Barley.

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Chase Banks' Jamie Dimon says he worries about China as a competitor and an adversary, but his real worry is that we in the United States can "get our act together."

“If we are not the pre-eminent military and the pre-eminent economy in 40 years, we will not be the reserve currency. People tell me we are enormously resilient. I agree with that. I think this time is different. This time we have to get our act together and do it very quickly.” 

“What I really worry about is us,” he said. “Can we get our own act together—our own values, our own capabilities, our own management?”

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Modi's success in tackling problems of electricity development in Gujarat state and the model for India, as a new Modi administration is elected for India in 2014. Other areas that are the focus for development include high speed rail and transportation, other infrastructure development, creating new jobs in manufacturing. Modi made three trips to China in the last decade as a four term chief minister of Gujarat state (similiar to a governor of a U.S. state), and has adopted a China type focus on infrastructure development and manufacturing for the western state of Gujarat, which was part of the old Bombay state in British times. Mumbai, the new name for the old British settlement of Bombay on the west coast, is about 300 miles south of the major Gujarat city of Ahmedabad, at one time a major textile manufacturing center. Mumbai and commercial minded people from Gujarat occupy a role similiar to Shanghai in India's economic development. Under British times trading minded Gujaratis settled on the east and southern coast of Africa, in the Persian Gulf, with retail businesses. Of India's two largest companies the Reliance Group made its early start in textiles in Gujarat in the seventies, set up by a young emigrant who returned from the Persian Gulf. The Tata Group which owns Land Rover was set up by a Parsi immigrant community in Gujarat. Its founder Jamshedji Tata set up India's steel industry under the British at the turn of the century. The Parsis settled in Navsari, Gujarat, immigrating from Iran and other parts of the Persian Gulf centuries ago. When the media talks of Modi's origins as a tea seller's son, one has to take this in the context of the origins of people such as Reliance founder Ambani who was the son of a schoolteacher from a rural village in Gujarat. With about a 1000 mile coastline facing the Persian Gulf, Gujarat has been known to engage in the textile trade long before the arrival of the Portuguese and the British in the 1600's, and before the Muslim period from the 1300's. Many Gujaratis settled in Mumbai and are a key part of the commercial, financial center in the city. Just as Britain with its commercial centre of London evolved over centuries with commerce affecting attitudes towards democracy, free media and capitalism compared to more feudal France, Gujarat and Mumbai has evolved in a similiar manner compared to other states in the north of India. With all the media infomation and misinformation on Modi's mishandling of communal riots little has been said of the unique position of Gujarat and Gujaratis in the industrial development and modernization of India. Compared to other parts of India historically there is a greater degree of tolerance in Gujarat for other communities, similiar to Britain's compared to France and Spain, because of this commercial outward looking orientation for new ideas. ...

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Citigroup is bleeding even as the government has ringfenced $300 billion in bad assets and its not likely to go under. The next step may be to get these bad assets into a bad bank as Bernanke has suggested. Citigroup is now divesting many of the assets like Smith Barney that were hastily put together by Sandy Weil as some kind of financial supermarket. None of the companies with their separate cultures melded together, and managing this was a huge undertaking which never really got off the ground. Now its all coming apart and Citigroup will go back to its core assets.

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British regulators say they have"absolute confidence" in the Pfizer vaccine after analysis of over 1000 pages of data on the vaccine. The vaccine was approved by the Medicine and Health care products Regulatory Agency. The first vaccines to be shipped to Britain are being packed in Belgium. Britain has secured 40 million doses enough for 20 million people. Vaccination will begin as soon as doses reach Britain. The NHS will prioritize, first care home staff and residents, then healthcare workers, followed by people over 80 years age. Clinically vulnerable people will get a jab alongside people ages 70-74. People with severe obesity and underlying conditions will get jab after people over 60 years, followed by people over 50 years. About 34% of the 66 million population of Britain is over 50 years age, which is about 22 million. This means the Pfizer vaccine ( with doses already secured by Britain enough for 20 million people) covers over 90% of these people or 19 million people and the 1.1 million workers in NHS. Rapid progress in vaccinating these people would make Britain the first country in the world to have done this, a remarkable achievement. By the end of the year the Oxford vaccine should also be available making it possible to proceed with vaccinating the rest of the population of 46 million people. ...

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How the cost of living problems add to the pandemic and housing shortages in reducing the baby population in the US in 2024.

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Over half of the companies in the US plan to hire in 2025. Considerable uncertainty prevailed in 2024 about hiring, this is clearing up in 2025 with a new administration keen on boosting growth.

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Frances tax system places 40% tax on single earner family with 2 children compared to 20% in the US. France debates how to pass the budget and how to meet budget shortfalls in revenue, where to tax. France's top tax bracket is already at 55%, the second highest in Europe, which does not make the job of setting taxes easier. Additional 1.9 billion euros was to be raised by raising the tax rate for families that had tax liability of 20% if they made over 250,000 euros. This has raised 400 million euros only in 2025. This editorial in the Washington Post is critical of the French tax structure and says it is not just the rich who end up with higher taxes. It says that the average French single worker gets to keep only 53% of income after taxes, whereas American average single worker who gets to keep 70%. The extra 20% could be what the American worker pays for health care if as in some cases health care has become so costly in the US as to cost more than a mortgage, as reported in the WSJ in January 2026. Can government buy healthcare more efficiently and distribute it than families on their own. In the case of pharmacy products would removing the power to negotiate  prices with pharmaceutical companies conducted in government run by special interest groups as happened under US president Bush make it so expensive to buy pharmaceutical products that the advantage of smaller taxes is destroyed by a perverse healthcare system run by special interest groups with help of lobbyists. This is just to show that yes the US tax system with lower taxes can fail when other things go wrong in managing crtical costs such as healthcare and housing.   ...

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Spain travel sites include Ciudad de las Artes y Sciencia Valencia, Museo Nacional de Catalunya, Islas Cies Galicia (Vigo), Bilbao and Rioja (Basque), Art Triangle of El Prado Madrid, Mallorca (Juan Mascaro).

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Bill Gates of Microsoft calls the Biden climate change bill the single most important legislation in US history. He says only America can offer the vision for climate change action, and make it happen. Gates says he has talked to corporate leaders in America and most of them say they are ready to act once the climate change bill is passed. Many of the industries that need to be created are in the early stages and the climate change bill will create the right atmosphere for sustained innovation.

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A professor of Environmental Design asks that GM be asked to build innovative transportation systems in addition to fuel efficient cars by the government in return for rescue money. He cites the warnings given by Stewart Udall, an interior secretary under John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson about overdependence on mideast oil. See the article on Exxon's Tillerson's vision of a world based on hydrocarbons for decades still. Someone may rub his eyes and ask whats going on?

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Fiat-Chrysler's Sergio Marchionne tells an automotive conference that the new fuel efficiency targets proposed by the Obama administration will be "an incredible stimulus for the American auto industry." He is confident that the new 2025 standards can be achieved. He said the industry had a bad habit of crying wolf and emphasized the need to get there so that the U.S. auto industry could be at the forefront of the changes taking place. He also cautioned the industry to not get comfortable with China's role as an emerging market that helped increase global sales. That growth is slowing and it presents another potential risk for the automakers- the potential for China to export 10% of what it makes to overseas markets including the U.S. and Europe. All of which increases the urgency of building the industrial base and competitiveness of the automotive industry in the U.S.

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Thd UAW under Shawn Fain says the large US automakers Stellantis, GM and Ford are stalling with delay tactics in bargaining for wage increases. Ford only offered a 9% wage increase. UAW wants a 46% wage increase, elimination of lower wage tiers for new workers, benefits for cost of living, reducing the hiring of temporary workers, and a shorter work week. The UAW has taken the automakers delay tactics to the National Labor Relations Board in its complaint.

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The Brexit timetable for votes in the British parliament are now as follows- March 12, Tuesday - parliament will vote on Mrs. May's deal negotiated with the EU Likely result is rejection say experts March 13, Wednesday- parliament will vote on no-deal Brexit, meaning leave the European Union without a negotiated deal on future relations Likely result is rejection say experts. Across party lines everyone except a small minority of right wing MP's fear this option. March 14, Thursday - parliament votes on asking for an extension of the deadline of March 29 Likely result yes vote say experts. Why all the votes one may ask. It is designed to please various factions in the Conservative party and its allies who favor different and contrary positions, something that Mrs. May has undertaken to do even though there appears to be no likely resolution except to turn back to voters in a general election or a second referendum. It has only accomplished one thing if one looks at the commentary in the BBC and The Times, The Guardian- make Mrs. May more unpopular than before. ...

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As David Calhoun steps down from Boeing following the stepping down of the previous CEO Muilenberg, both for quality issues at Boeing this report in Yahoo Finance by Allan Sloan shows the effects of the accounting training and lack of awareness and conviction to put Quality uppermost. Calhoun joined GE at the time when Jack Welch was running the company. The book by David Gelles looked at Welch's period at GE with concern because of the use of accounting methods and finance businesses to make results look better- "How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland, and Crushed the Soul of Corporate America." Over the decades in which one sees American manufacturing neglected one also sees the rise of executives in finance who ran companies in America that showed little interest in the hard work of manufacturing and surrendered leadership to first Japan and then China. Boeing CEO Calhoun is shown as another of the CEO's from GE who trained  under Welch who joined Boeing and other companies.The adjoining video in WSJ points this out after the Alaska Airlines incident and other incidents of flawed plane design and manufacturing- the basic problem being a lack of Quality and Worker and Quality practices Friendly Culture at Boeing. WSJ says three layers of quality checks are essentially worthless without a emphasis on worker training, on quality culture, cost cutting to get planes out the door, and lack of investment in Quality Control and Inspection. ...

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1.2-2 million barrels a day go from Iran's Kharg island through Straits of Hormuz for ship to ship transfers in South China Sea, then labeled Emirati oil and unloaded at refineries on Shandong coast. These refineries are called teapot refineries. In this way US sanctions are avoided. Shipments of oil were about 700,000 barrels a day before 2023. After 2023 this more than doubled. China gets this at a 10-15%  discount costing Iran about a third of revenues it would otherwise be able to sell this oil if it decided to work with the US in a new arrangement. This report in FR24 shows China as limiting it's relations with Iran to oil, careful to not let it affect more important trading relations with US European Union, and Germany. This is similar to the situation for Venezuela -which under a new arrangement the US has with Venezuela- now gets market prices for its oil increasing it's revenues substantially by about one third to benefit the Venezuelan people suffering from high inflation and economy wrecked by sanctions. ...

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Awesome, awesome advice from Diana Nyad- who did the 110 mile swim from Cuba to Florida when she was 60 years- on getting older and staying younger all the time. A better cognitive function and physical fitness is within reach after 40 years, after 65 years says Diana Nyad than when we were younger. All that is needed is a positive attitude, about not being self-absorbed and selfish like when we were in our twenties. Magggie Penman of the Washington Post interviews Diana Nyad, who says she is fitter, stronger at 76 than before. Part of this, says Nyad, comes from being nicer, more forgiving of people. One thing as you get older your connection with people around you means everything. You want to "embrace the chaos", says Nyad. It means getting to know the person next to you wherever you are, what is their life story. For Nyad even if you are an atheist like she is, be an atheist in awe at the sheer wonder of nature and the world. That gives you energy and gratitude that fills up your life. ...

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Budget pressures have taken an inordinate toll on the army, bringing troop levels and modernization below the levels needed for the U.S. Army to act in concert with its partners in the Armed Forces to maintain readiness and act as a deterrent. This is the conclusion of retiring Army Chief Gen. Raymond T. Odierno. It is now falling to 450,000 in Army forces. By reducing deterrance the cuts cost ultimately in American leves as new conflicts arise. He cites the example of losses in 1943 in North Africa and at the beginning of the Korean War. It is not enough to wish the world as we would wish it to be, says Odierno, we have to accept it the way it is, says Odierno.

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Desmond Tutu who died yesterday, was one of the three leaders with Nelson Mandela, and De Klerk who shaped a new South Africa with an attitude of rebuilding through reconciliation that stands out in the recent history of Africa and the world. South Africa's potential and the lives of the South African people are better under a framework that brings all communities together for unity and cooperation. After years of fighting Apartheid policies Tutu headed the Reconciliation Commission when De Klerk and Mandela crafted a way out for South Africa from segregation and international isolation. After failures of the ANC under Jacob Zuma, Desmond Tutu called for changes. He also was the first to point out the failings of African countries that descended into misrule and oppression. Tutu was as important to South Africa as Mandela and Klerk in the way he made democracy work by calling it out when it failed to live up to the ideals. Born in 1931 he witnessed the transition of African countries into free nations, with some failing to achieve the aspirations that drove the freedom struggle. The son of a teacher he followed in his father's footsteps after graduating from the University of South Africa at a time when black schools suffered from crippling lack of resources.  He went to King's College, University of London on a scholarship, and earned a bachelor's and master's degree there. Living in England helped free him from the self-contempt that results from racism, he says in his 2006 biography. Like Gandhi the years spent in England gave him a sense of what could be learned from this experience in shaping the future. He returned in 1975 and fought Apartheid using Gandhi's methods of non-violent non-cooperation. In 2025 South Africa will have completed 50 years since that time and can look back at how far it has come even with the shortcomings. And the steps that can now be taken for modernization as India and other nations move forward to show democracy can effectively deliver on good governance and economic progress to fulfill the aspirations of the people for a better life. ...

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Union leaders at plants more receptive to the VEBA, Voluntary Employees Benefit trust.Trust funding at discounted rate an issue. The VEBA could work both ways if its short on funds GM could step in, if it has more funds due a national health care plan being passed then GM could have access to liquidity from the VEBA. Meanwhile Clinton speech in Des Moines, Iowa on new Health Plan addresses the burden on GM to fund retirees health and other costs in the range of 1600 dollars vs Toyota's 200 some dollars. Senator Clinton offers for Governnment to take up the burden of catastrophic coverage for the large companies like GM in her Plan. She also cites the Mayo Clinic study as example of a consensus on the need for action on health care.

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The hands off approach of passive investors creates a situation where checks on corporate governance may be lacking. In this situation even a state owned fund can play a useful role as an active investor that oversees its activities and goals for investing. The example of the Norwegian oil fund and its goal to maximize future long term returns for investors acts as a positive example, in the relative absence of other oversight. The Norwegian oil fund seeks to back the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

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Jeremy Corbyn is reelected leader of the Labor Party with the support of young people. He is seen here from the European viewpoint as a disaster for Britain. The parliamentary group of the Labor Party opposes Corbyn, and is critical of him for not supporting the Brexit no vote the way he should have. Corbyn did not come out strongly in favor of staying in the EU, giving it a 7.5 out of 10 score when asked how he would rate the EU. Only a fifth of British voters support the idea of Corbyn as prime minister. He is good at bringing people's concerns for attention at prime minister's questions, rides a bicycle to work, and is honest about his convictions. Yet this is not enough to be effective as a leader of the opposition who lacks the support of his party's members in parliament. Corbyn has also dropped people with different opinions from the leadership in the Labor party in a nasty fight with people who disagree with him, which is bad for the Labor Party. This has weakened Labor to the point where it cannot function as an effective Opposition Party, especially now that Britain enters Brexit negotiations and needs an opposition to act as a check on the government's policies. The Economist magazine in London shares these concerns in an editorial. ...