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Lt. Gen Trainor and Michael Gordon describe the situation during the last months of U.S. presence in Iraq. President Obama is ambivalent about the size of the military presence he would like to leave, settling for 3000 troops and a few F-16's from a inital figure of 10,000. Obama sees the presidential election approaching and sets an objective of keeping it minimal. The military cooperation treaty with Iraq has to be approved by a Iraqi parliament with different factions in parliament not likely to approve it. Prime Minister Malliki decides not to move ahead. In the end no military cooperation treaty is signed after 8 years of war and a date is set for a complete withdrawal. Iraqi airspace is used by Iran to ship supplies to Syria's Assad regime, and the U.S. has less leverage in the region as the Arab world goes through a transition to popular government and elections. The Obama administration shifts most of its attention to Afghanistan where the U.S. has no vital stake in the long run compared to the Middle East region, with its large population, growing economies, move towards democracy and meeting the aspirations of hundreds of millions of young people. One Middle Eastern leader says the U.S. had no long term policy under the Obama administration for Iraq, and this applies also to the rest of the Middle East region, and mostly reacted to events as they happened. The Obama administration's committment to the war in Afghanistan, just as it focussed on winding down the war in Iraq, responded to the American public's waning support for the war in Iraq. It did not reduce the total cost of the conflicts because of the initial escalation of the war in Afghanistan and later slow progress towards a negoiated settlement to that conflict. A negotiated settlement is the best the U.S. could achieve, and the best desired objective considering the limited interests in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan most of the dynamics would be determined in the long run by the situation in Pakistan, and India-Pakistan relations, which the U.S. could influence constructively only through dialogue, promoting cooperation between the two countries, and economic relations....

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New rules in 2016 for U.S. bonus pay require banks and other financial institutions to defer at least half of executive bonus pay for 4 years, one year longer than industry practice. The rule also sets a period of 7 years for the largest firms to be able to "claw back" bonuses if the executive's actions have led to the financial institution having to restate financial results or hurt the institution. The Obama administration is making up for lack of earlier stronger action in this area during the last year it is in office. Excessive risks were taken during the financial crisis of 2008 because of executive compensation structures that incentivized this. The definition of "risk taker" is also widened to include high earners at banks who are not in senior management- to include the 5% of employees at banks that are highest paid and get a third of compensation from incentives.

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The record shows that like other industrial states such as Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, Massachusetts lost many manufacturing jobs during the period 2003-2007, when Romney was Governor of Massachusetts. At the end of 2002 there were 338,000 manufacturing jobs in Massachusetts, by 2007 this had declined by 12% to 298,000, according to Andrew Sum, an economist at Northeastern University. Romney cites a drop in the unemployment rate from 5.6% to 4.7%. Prof. Sum who heads the University's Centre for Labor Market Studies, says this was people left the workforce during this period in large numbers. He says only Louisiana of all U.S. states had a bigger decline in the labor force when it was hit by Hurricane Katrina. The dot com bubble burst during the period before Romney took office. Massachusetts had already lost 158,000 jobs in 2001-2002 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Romney was unable to do much to reverse the job losses that continued during his term in office.

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Turkey's parliament authorizes the government to take steps needed for national security as Islamic State forces approach its borders, attacking the Kurdish town of Kobani. Turkey is reluctant to participate in the coalition against Islamic State until the Obama administration makes clear what its policy is in relation to the bigger problem it sees causing the conflict- the Assad regime's violent suppression in Syria. Turkey wants the U.S. to impose a no-fly zone so that the Assad air force is grounded. Turkey also has to consider the protection of Kurdish towns from the Islamic State because of public opinion in the Kurdish population of Turkey.

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This NYT editorial is critical of the election campaign run by the Likud and Netanyau for deepening tensions in Israeli society.

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The dimming hopes for the remaining Obama legislative agenda in 2014-2015 after the June 2014 upset win of Prof. David Brat over Cantor in Virgina.

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Because technology spending has been more disciplined and focused on productivity and efficiency gains, the investment has been lower but more effective than in the 3 years leading to the last recession in 2001. At that time it was increasing 12.9% a year leading into the recesson and faced sharp cutbacks leading to a drop of 11% over the next 2 years 2001-2003. By contrast this time the tech spending went up by about 2.8% a year in the last 3 years, according to Gartner, and has delivered solid results at places like American Airlines. Technology spending is likely to hold up and continue moderate increase this year and next as the US enters a recession. At American a fuel efficiency drive starting 2005 including software to come up with best routes, flight paths and baggage loading has saved 96 million gallons a year. Note that spending on computer hardware and software is about half of all capital spending by business.

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The boost to India's stock markets from a expected election win by Narendra Modi and the BJP party in May 2014 elections.

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Porter cites a report by Kai Daniel Schmid and Ulrike Stein of the Macroeconomic Policy Institute in Dusseldorf. The report shows the top 10% of Germans having 26% of the country's income before taxes and transfers in 1991. This increased to 31% by 2010. For the same period of about 20 years the bottom half of the population took in 17% in 2010 dropping by 5% from 22%. The growing income inequality in Germany is comparable to what has happened in the U.S. over this period.

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A study by Sentier Research from Census data shows people in the U.S. age 55-64 years make 10% less in June 2012 compared to June 2009. Every demographic has suffered income losses in this period. Median household income declined by 4.8% in these three years. Using December 2007 as astarting point shows a decline of 7.2%- $50,964 vs. $54,916. Blacks, those with some education like a high school diploma but no degree, the older Americans, and younger Americans were hit hard. Long term unemployment was the cause of the decline among older Americans. Even college graduates suffered a decline of 5.9% from $88,570 to $83,378.

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Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International talks about Windows based smart phones and Nokia's smartphone based on Windows 8.

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With the introduction of the iPhone 4S, Apple announced the iPhone 3GS will be offered free, and the iPhone 4 for $99. This puts Apple iPhones priced to compete with smartphones in the middle and lower price ranges in the market. The free iPhone is a model first introduced in 2009. As the expansion of the smartphone market is now ocurring at the low and mid price ranges, companies making smartphones using Google's Android software and Blackberry's RIM are targeting this market. In the U.S., as of the end of July 2011, 82 million Americans owned smartphones, increasing 10% from the prior quarter, according to comScore. 42% of U.S. smartphone users use Android phones, only 27% use Apple phones, as of the end of July 2011, because of the price difference. In India Apple iPhones have barely made a dent because of large price differences. Rapid growth expected in emerging markets will also make this low end of the smartphone market attractive for Apple.

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The Black teen jobless rate in 2011, the third year of the Obama administration- a shocking 46.5%!

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CEO's of more than 80 large U.S. companies have come together behind a plan that would reduce the U.S. federal deficit with tax revenue increases and reduced spending. The CEO statement was organized by the Fix the Debt campaign, a bipartisan effort inspired by Republican Alan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles of the 2010 Simpson-Bowles Deficit Commission. The CEO statement calls for an overhaul of the U.S. tax code to eliminate or reduce deductions, credits and loopholes (reduction of tax expenditures also referred to as "broadening the base"). The CEO statement says any fiscal plan to succeed has to control increases in health care spending, make Social Security solvent, and include "comprehensive and pro-growth tax reform, which broadens the base, lowers rates, raises revenues and reduces the deficit." This is the first time a large group of business leaders have supported raising taxes as part of an overall solution. This puts together elements of the Bowles-Simpson plan, reduces deductions and loopholes, lowers rates as part of overall tax reform and cutting spending. The CEO statement says the Simpson Bowles recommendations for $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases was an "effective framework" for tackling a problem that affects the economic well being and security of the U.S....

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Michael McConnell, was Assistant General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget from 1981-1983. He is now a professor of constitutional law at Stanford University. Here he tries to throw light on how the budgetary process that is required by law, and which makes the formal budget proposed by the president available for public scrutiny, was circumvented through a sequence of events starting in February 2011. The Budget Act of 1974 sets specific deadlines and a process for generating revenue, setting spending priorities, and setting the debt limit. The President first submits his administration's budget by the first Monday in February. The Congressional Budget Office has until Feb. 15 to score the budget using identical metrics for all proposals for a consistent scoring. The budget President Obama put forward in February did not take into account the growing deficit and was rejected by the Senate 97-0. The President proposed a new plan in April 2011, but the proposed budget was so vague that CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf said he could not score it. The subsequent efforts in June and July 2011 were carried out in closed door negotiations between senior Republican leaders and the Obama White House. This subverts the original intention of the law. The Budget Act says that both the House and Senate hold hearings on the proposal, with testimony from the administration, "national organizations" and the "general public." Transparency, openness and accountabilility are key aspects of a proper process that is democratic and prevents the parties from engaging in blame and competing claims. The closed door negotiating sessions and the lack of a concrete written budget proposal from the President has turned the current budget process into an effort by each side to see how it can best position itself for the 2012 presidential election. ...

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The failure of foreclosure programs under the Obama administration continues into 2012.

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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....