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Fuel Subsidies in China and India that keep the price of fuel for transportation moderate tends to reduce the conservation otherwise possible. And biofuels are not encouraged for fear of raising farm prices for the poor. And conservation and efficiency of fuel use in factories and other places also is not as vigorous as it could be. With growth exceeding 10% China will continue to put pressure on demand for some years to come.

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The China Banking Regulatory Commission points to dangers of the Non Performing Loans ratio rebounding and serious risks in the financial sector from bad loans. CBRC chairman, Liu Mingkang, points to the risks associated with local-government financing platforms, and the real estate sector and industries with excess capacity, in the 128 page report for 2009 shown on its website. And he points out that fundamental cracks and flaws internationally, that were exposed by the global financial criis of 2008, have still to be resolved. He cites the regulatory issues, "too-big-to-fail" issue for large financial institutions, cross-sector and cross-country risk contagion toxic assets, and the budget deficits facing European countries, as major issues posing systemic risk.

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Differences between Mr. Suzuki, CEO of Seven and i Holdings, the parent company of 7-Eleven and investor Daniel Loeb of Third Point LLC, on the right strategy for the company. Loeb favors focussing on the 58,000 7-Eleven convenience stores in N. America, China and Japan. Suzuki had expanded by making acquisitions and kept a money losing Ito Yokado retail chain in Japan. Following a boardroom fight Loeb wins and Suzuki who ran the company since 1992 resigns. Ito Yokado ran the Japanese 7-Eleven chain till it acquired the U.S. 7-Eleven in 1991. A new corporate governance code setup by the administration of prime minister Shinzo Abe, calls for more outside directors to be appointed to Boards, and greater attention to interests of shareholders. This is seen as a test of the new corporate governance rules. Akira Kiyota, CEO of the company running the Tokyo Stock exchange sees it as a positive step.

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A charm offensive is under way following the New York primary led by Mr. Manafort to show the Republican National Committee (RNC) Trump is just "playing a part" and has another demeanor. Wiley points out that Trump would appeal to traditionally Democratic states in the midwest that have working class Reagan Democrats. This follows a parallel effort by Trump presenting an election narrative to draw voters by saying that the system is rigged, first banking, then trade, now the way delegates are chosen, to increase voter support at a time when voters have genuine concerns. Yet the fact that Trump won 90% of the delegates with 60% of the vote in New York, provides proof that it is not, says Vince Preibus, RNC chairman. Others point to the splintered vote in the early primaries as disproportionately benefitting Trump, as well as the media coverage for sensational statements, and jingoistic talk about China, Mexico and Muslims.

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This WSJ editorial says Donald Trump's first foreign policy speech is full of contradictions. Mr. Trump says foreign policy should be "unpredictable" yet this also means says the WSJ, that the country should trust his instincts, and everybody else a loser- "I'm the only one-believe me, I know them all- I'm the only one who knows how to fix it." It says the speech gets an "Incomplete" at Trump University. It criticizes Obama, but in failing to stand up for peace through strength that marked the post war peace since 1945, WSJ says that more than people realize Mr. Trump is a continuation of Mr. Obama's policies of withdrawing from global engagement that has ensured that peace. Trade wars with China, Mexico and Japan could lead to a world recession. Though much needs to be done to ensure trade is fair to U.S. workers and business, Trump has no clearly stated path to do this, instead relying on brinksmanship that could end up in trade wars.

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Chancellor points out that economists from Irving Fisher in 1929 to Ben Bernanke in the mid-1990's have often played the role of academic shills during each successive period of "This Time its Different, " claiming that there was some new event, technology, or innovation, that justified higher valuations of assets and higher institutional debt levels. He quotes Walter Bagehot who says about merchants and bankers of his day-" they fancy the prosperity they see will last always, that it is only the beginning of a greater prosperity." The significance of the book is that it suggests an hypothesis that is quite different from the general idea in 2011 that there won't be a protracted period of slow or marginal growth after a bubble of this nature. Because the bubble is also in other countries, in countries of the euro-zone, China, Turkey, Brazil, and other countries, the situation takes a much longer time to heal.

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The Journal's interview with Weight Watchers International CEO, David Kirchhoff. Weight Watcher's strategies focus on increasing its online business and getting males to join Weight Watchers. According to Kirchhoff it has 1.4 million people, 90% of whom are women, attending meetings each week all over the world. Online business is surging, with an average of 1.8 million additional subscribers for the first 3 quarters of 2011. In the first 3 quarters of 2011 the online business showed gains of 70%. Estimates are for the online business to generate $400 million in revenues and $200 million in operating income in 2011. Today 65% of the business is in the U.S. and a large part of the rest is in Europe. Kirchhoff sees new opportunities in China, where poor lifestyles- the use of the internet instead of being outdoors, and the increased access to all kinds of food- is creating a surge in obesity.

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Many small, high growth companies in China have listed on US stock exchanges through back-door mergers with shell companies. The questionable practice are in the "reverse takeover" market for Chinese listings. It involves networks of accountants, lawyers and bankers helping to bring these Chinese companies into US stock markets. Some of these companies have minimal revenues, questionable accounting and no clear corporate governance. By mid 2010 about 340 Chinese companies were listed on US stock exchanges and were using small largely unknown US auditing firms, who were contracting the work back out to local Chinese firms, according to the SEC's chief accountant. The SEC is conducting an investigation into this practice. The House Financial Services Committee is looking into this, especially because it is feared that with the interest in Chinese listings there is the opportunity for self-dealing and potential fraud. Says Rep. Chris Lee: "I don't want this to be a junior Madoff scandal."...

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Michael Gerson was there in June 2005, with then Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and nine Egyptian opposition figures, including presidential candidate Ayman Nour, in a shabby Cairo conference room. Rice was in that room to call on President Mubarak to allow free elections. Nour was skeptical about the result. The Mubarak legacy was to undermine all legitimate opposition to thirty years of rule. Gerson makes a remarkable statement when he says that the universal desire for self-government is rooted in the natural human resentment of humiliation. A 26 year old fruit vendor in Tunisia is humiliated and set himself on fire in protest, setting off protests against servility, oppression and silence. He calls the lack of faith in American ideals a pervasive failure of foreign policy elites. Someday he says, Americans are likely to say the same for China, with the complete absence of a policy for anticipating a democratic transition.

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A multi-billion dollar auction of new bandwidth for phone operators in India was rigged to favor certain companies, according to a report by the auditor -general of India. The report says the auction was conducted by the Communcations ministry in a way "that lacked transparency and fairness." The report focusses on a few of the operators including Reliance Communications. The result is a loss of 1.76 trillion rupees or $39 billion, according to auditors. The cellphone industry in India is seeing rapid growth- 18 million new users were added in October 2010, with the total reaching 671 million. By comparison China has 830 million users. Of 122 licenses granted in the 2008 auction, 85 went to companies that "suppressed facts, disclosed incomplete information and submitted fictitious documents," according to the auditor's report. and in at least one instance, the Ministry's department of Telecommunications "miserably failed to do the due diligence in the examination of the applications," the report said....

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This WSJ editorial cites remarks by Viktor Orban who says he seeks to build a state on national foundations and the "illiberal ideas" behind states such as Turkey, China, Russia. It cites the way Orban has eroded the constitutional checks and balances in Hungary's democracy. Much of this happened, says WSJ, because of economic mismanagement by centre right and centre left policies in the post Communist transition. Because Orban looks to president Putin for authoritarian version of politics, Western Europe should not see this as simply a version of provincial Europe at the periphery, says the Journal. Western Europe can build a strong world of liberal democracies and do this by economic revival in the eurozone and EU countries. President Obama is in the last part of his second term having failed to effectively promote the world of liberal democracies. It is now upto successors to revive the world of liberal democracies and free societies throughout the world.

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Readers of the NYT reflect on the Syria-Iraq conflict and the experience in Vietnam. Stuart Gottlieb, who teaches American foreign policy and international security at Columbia University, describes Logevall and Goldstein's Vietnam analogy for Syria as a situation on how one can go wrong by relying on historical reference when new thinking is required based on existing challenges. Others point to the situation in Vietnam as Kennedy's war with 16,000 advisors already on the ground. Kennedy's words "let every country know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we will support any friend, oppose any foe...," were part of the Cold War in the early sixties that Kennedy inherited from Eisenhower and Truman starting with a Communist Iron Curtain falling over Eastern Europe and threatening Western Europe. The situation today is quite different in a Middle East with little to do with Russia and China, at the same time sectarian with Sunni and Shia, and aspirations of Arab people for freedom from dictatorships....

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China's central bank the PBOC lowered the reserve requirement ratio for commercial banks, the amount of deposits set aside for financial safety, by half a percentage point to 19.5% on Feb. 5, 2015. The move is intended to get banks to lend more to stimulate growth. Growth is slowing in China, with GDP up 7.4% in 2014, and expected to go below 7% in 2015. With China's debt up to an estimated 282% of GDP, the PBOC has resisted efforts for monetary easing that would make the debt problems worse. The lowering of the reserve requirement ratio by half a percentage point gives commercial banks an additional 500 billion yuan or $81 billion to lend out to customers. Another 160 billion yuan comes from measures targeted at small business and agriculture. With the soft business conditions worldwide China's manufacturers may be reluctant to borrow more at this time, making it uncertain how much actual lending will take place following the move.

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Unilever is facing higher prices for the vegetable oil, such as palm oil it uses for making soap and margarine. It is passing on the costs to consumers. Nestle and Danone SA are passing on the higher prices to consumers. Nestle increased the average wholesale price for all its products by 5.3%. Higher feed costs make it more expensive for Danone to keep cows, raising milk prices and with it prices of yogurt, cheese and other milk products. As a result food inflation is running at 5% in the USA and prices are higher in Europe and in other parts of the world. Because of the increasing demand for better nutrition levels and better food in diets in China and India and other parts of the world, and low grain production levels, and the increasing amount of land diverted to other uses, including ethanol production in the USA, there are food shortages and higher prices for corn and other grains.

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A critical point mentioned is that for a heavy polluter like China, the slowdown means less production of heavy industry like cement and steel that produces few jobs and has large emissions. The slowdown is an opportunity to make a transition to a greener economy that creates more jobs. The spokesperson for the European Commission says it depends on the vision and foresight of European, American and Chinese leadership whether they use the transition as a short term bitter apple to create new sectors that help in conservation, the environment, and for jobs, all at the same time. Government incentives and mandates, education, and leadership may be critical to doing this. Business and the private sector and markets can be shortsighted in this respect, and lack the will and staying power to see it through, leading to suboptimal results at best or destructive results as critical time is lost in indecision or inaction.

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An effort by educated Chinese in business, government, and other professions to have informal discussions in small groups through getting together for dinner. This helps educated Chinese find ways to communicate their concerns about corruption, abuse of power by public officials, contamination of food, air and water pollution.

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China's prime minister, Wen Jiabao says he supports policies supporting stimulus and growth along with prudent monetary policy and efforts to dampen real estate prices to increase affordability. Efforts to strike the right balance and keep growth of at least 7.5%.

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The key role being played by Xi Jinping and advisor Liu He in developing economic policy and top down changes for China in 2013-2015.