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Blackberry employees reached a peak of over 17,000 in 2011 as the company continued to hire through 2009-2011. It was about 8000 in 2008 the first year of the financial crisis and recession and doubled in 3 years. The employee count is at 12,700 in 2013. The company was hit hard by the introduction of smartphones by Samsung and Apple. Blackberry now plans huge cuts of about 40% by the end of 2013. This shows how quickly the winds can change in the tech business field where disruptions for existing technology are the norm. A niche in the corporate business field was not sufficient to keep Blackberry from shrinking rapidly as businesses shifted to the new smartphone technology from rivals. Failure to anticipate new technologies can lead to irreversible losses. Blackberry shows the way down can be just as fast as the way up and a lost year or a wrong decision can be the difference between success and irreversible failure.

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Total public and private spending on health care in the U.S. will increase by 6.1% in 2014 compared to 2014 in a revised Commerce Department forecast. The total spending will reach $4.1 trillion in 2014 from $3.9 trillion in 2013. Some of the lower rise in spending than the earlier 7.4% forecast will come from 28 states opting out of Medicaid expansion under the health care overhaul because of a June 2012 Supreme Court ruling. Employers are trying to reduce costs and the public is reducing spending because of the recession. Less generous health plans mean users are paying more out of their own pocket, paying more attention to prices and even postponing care. Growth in health care costs is a about 3.9% a year since 2009 following the recession. The costs increase in 2015 by 5.8%, in 2018 by 5.9% and 2022 by 6.5%, according to U.S. government forecasts, because of enrollment in Medicare for baby boomers. This is still higher than the inflation rate of below 2%.

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Russia's government lowers its forecast for GDP growth in 2013 to 1.8%. Like other emerging markets Russia is facing a slowdown in economc growth. Government forecasts are for 3% growth for 2014 and 2015. About 50% of revenues in the budget come from oil exports and Russia is still dependent on higher oil prices. The budget is likely to have a 1% of GDP deficit in 2015. President Putin is not inclined to run a large deficit to increase growth. Budget revenues are expected to come lower for 2014 and 2015 by 3.3% and 6.9% compared to forecasts. Finance ministry policy is for hiking taxes on mineral extraction 16% by 2015, and increasing excise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. State run firms will be asked to pay out 35% of profits as dividends compared to the current 25%, providing $39 billion from this action, according to the Finance ministry.

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The SEC requirement that companies disclose the ratio between median worker pay and the pay of senior executives. The SEC says it is putting out the rule as part of implementing Dodd-Frank legislation to control excessive executive pay. Companies will be allowed to survey a fraction of their workforce as appropriate for companies with global operations. Executive pay will include pension benefits and stock options under the new rule. A WSJ chart using information from the University of Southern California and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows the ratio between what CEO's on average make and rank and file workers make remained at about 30 times in the post war period till about 1970, a period of rapid growth in the U.S. economy. By 1980 this climbed to about 60 times and exceeded 100 times by 1990. The period of stratospheric growth for CEO pay and extreme widening of the gap then occurs between 1990 and 2000. By 2000 the dot com boom- telecom boom and the internet- creates a surge in executive pay reaching over 500 times. This drops to about 280 times in 2008 and picks up again to reach about 320 times in 2011. Many of the poor business practices, the excessive leveraging and risktaking in the financial industry, take place against this background of excessive pay for senior executives. Some of that risk was passed on to others through such methods as securitization in the period leading to the 2008 financial crisis, so that executives were compensated with higher pay for taking excessive risk that they personally or their companies did not assume. Dodd-Frank legislation following the 2008 financial crisis sought to correct this imbalance by having pay information disclosed. The excessive pay has also coincided with an increase in the frequency of boom-bust cycles in the economy. The busts prompted the needs for intervention by the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve, to drop interest rates more than would otherwise have happened during this decade, culminating in the huge bond purchases and monetary easing by the Bernanke Fed. The SEC under Mary Jo White is mindful of these distortions in the economy as a result of misallocation of resources based on excessive executive pay, and the need to take action before the next crisis. ...

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A thaw in U.S. relations with Iran in Sept. 2013 as Iran releases some political prisoners. President Rouhani tells NBS News that Iran does not plan to seek nuclear weapons, and that he had the full authority to reach a deal with western nations on the nuclear issue.

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The Bernanke Fed's decision on Sept. 16, 2013 to continue the pace of bond purchases is seen with relief in emerging markets and taken positively by equity markets worldwide. The Fed's decision is based on evidence of sluggishness in the economy and in the pace of job growth, as well as the likelihood of more political uncertainty about the budget because of sharp differences between Democrats and Republicans.

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Antonio Horta-Osorio of Banco Santander, is a Portuguese native who took up the task of turnaround of Lloyds Bank after the British government took a 39% stake in the bank during the financial crisis. He is credited with a major turnaround, making it possible for the government to sell 6% of its stake earlier than anticipated. He reduced the dependence on short term funding sources and sold off assets overseas. He has also strengthened its retail banking operations in Britain. He took on the task with a micromanaging approach and had to be admitted to a rehab clinic after 5 sleepless nights. Following this period of two months of recovery the Board rehired him in Jan 2012 and he delegated tasks to other managers. Osorio was a senior manager at Banco Santander when he took up the Lloyds job. The stock price of Lloyds has soared in 2013.