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Michael Gerson was a policy advisor to Geroge W. Bush when Bush announced the PEPFAR program to fight AIDS in Africa. Here he reflects on its lessons. He recalls visiting sub-Sharan Africa and finding only about half a million people being treated out of about 30 million afflicted with the disease. About 14 million orphans had already resulted from AIDS, life expectancy had declined by 20 years, and in whole villages only grand parents and grand children were to be seen, says Gerson. The support came from Rep. Hyde, Rep Barbara Lee, Senators Frist and Kerry- in 4 months after the announcement in a State of the Union address the law was signed. Bush said: "a work of mercy beyond all current international efforts to help the people of Africa. This comprehensive plan will prevent 7 milion new AIDS infections, treat at least 2 million people with life extending drugs and provide humane care for millions of people suffering from AIDS and for children orphaned by AIDS." By late 2005 PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria had treated 800,000 people, and by 2012 this had increased to 5 million....

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Friedman says he hopes Hillary Clinton will take a mediating role to bring all the Iraqi political factions and ethnic communities to work together in a democratic framework, and not go their separate ways into sectarian conflict once more. With the US out of Iraq by June 30, 2009, this is critical. Friedman says Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan are not separate wars, but part of the same war, and the same struggle to win credibility for democracy and reconciliation, education, women's rights and modenization for the Muslim world as a way forward. Its the only alternative to looking backward. He says he has never bought into the idea of Iraq as the bad war, Pakistan as the necessary war and Afghanistan as the good war. In fact he says experts point out that very little will spread out of Afghanistan when the US leaves. But Baghdad has been acentre of culture, education and influence in the Middle East for centuries, so getting it right there after so much American effort and sacrifice has been invested there, is crucial for the Muslim world to move forward in the right direction....

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Brooks point to the percentage of GDP going to consumption as having gone up from 62% between 1962 and 1980. In 2008 it was 70% of GDP and debt went up from 55 percent of national income to 133%. Financial self restraint and values of earlier generations eroded. He says the slide in economic morality affects red and blue equally, so the cultural politics organized the way it is is obsolete. There has to be a movement to restore economic values cutting across the current lines. Building a producer not a consumer economy, return to financial restraint large and small. And importantly he says, such a movement will have to take on what you might call the lobbyist ethos. The conviction that every group is entitled to every possible appropriation, regardless of the public cost. Such a crusade will he says rearrange the current alliances and embrace policies such as energy taxes. See the Friedman article on a gasoline tax, where he tells those who want to fight the wars against religious extremism such as in Iraq, to not be wimps and take on the opposition to the gasoline tax....

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Stephanie Nolan's reports from Africa provide the few glimpses one can get today of the situation in Africa where variants are growing as a result of lack of vaccines (vaccine inequality) and the faltering vaccination drive, shortage of medicine and food supplies. Her report from South Africa showed how healthworkers and scientists in South Africa are working hard on the frontlines. This one from Zambia looks at the vaccination centers and vaccination workers as vaccination drives falter. The African continent with 1.4 billion people received 404 million doses. Today only 7% of the population is vaccinated in Zambia and the rest of Africa. People in Zambia do not have car transport so they have to walk 3-6 kilometres to get to a vaccination center, when they turn up at a center and it is out of vaccines they stop coming. Other problems are the social media accounts that show the vaccination drives as harmful to people, or CNN and other news that talk about blood clots that when carefully understood affect a tiny fraction of people. There are other issues also. Ida Musonda, a nurse in a clinic near Lusaka says after not many people turned up that she should go to markets and churches, but says there is no fuel for the vehicle to get clinic workers there. Bernadette Kawango is shown with her children. She works at an auto parts store and lives in a low income neighborhood in the edge of Lusaka. She ignores all the social media accounts that scare people from vaccines, yet she says she worries more about cholera, TB and malaria, and also HIV, AIDS. And she does not know anybody diagnosed with coronavirus.  The result is that there is vaccine shortage resulting in a kind of vaccine indifference (why walk miles to a center if it may not have vaccines), compounded by other problems such as the other diseases that also pose a threat in Africa, and the low incomes in a shrinking economy. And with about 8% vaccinated in Africa, the problem of variants can only be tackled by consistent and not erratic supply of vaccines. ...

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Serious issues raised about Ford management, strategy, new product, and a potential credit default. Is management upto the task? Ford employees say CEO Bill Ford also less visible around the automaker. They say that he is no longer at the employee cafeteria where he used to go frequently. What does one make of this and the soft marketing stuff coming out of Ford, when deep and big changes are needed. Goldman Sach's auto analyst Robert Barry say Ford's transformation is especially difficult because Ford has underinvested in cars for years and it is trying to make up lost ground. Couple of things are hitting Ford in particular- 1. Are sales in a free fall? Ford Explorer- down 30% from last year, even the Mustang down 8.5% 2. Cars sell at a steep discount -consider Focus $3060 less than average compact according to JD Power, Freestar minivan $3000 less than the Honda Odyssey, Ford Fusion $3100 less than average vehicle in that segment. The Fusion $20,150, Accord 22,200, Impala 22,100 3. While GM is weaning itself off of fleet rentals to build image, Ford is too weak to do this, fleet sales in April 30-40% of total !!! 4. Ford Credit earnings drop with the rest of the business. 5. On the probabilities of Ford credit default or bankruptcy- a chart made by J.P. Morgan in April 2006 shows the credit markets see a default more likely at Ford than at GM in two, three or five years than at GM. The probability of default in three years is 34% at GM compared to 43% at Ford. ...

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How car companies have fared in the BRIC markets.

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Some figures on Ford Motor-$15 billion in secured loans, $8 billion five year credit line from banks, and a $7 billion loan held by instituional investors and hedge funds. Add another $3 billion in unsecured financing, notes convertible to common stock. Thats another $18 billion on top of the $23.6 billion in cash on hand, for $41.6 billion in funds available to finance the recovery. Against this is the $7 billion loss this year. Lets say Ford need 3 years for a fresh product line and the bleed costs another $ 7 billion for 3 years or $21 billion at the worst including extra interest expenses for the loans, then there is still $20 billion available for 3 years to come up with a brand new product line across the board. This is positive development for Ford. see also: Sarah Webster, A Chat with Ford's New CEO, Upbeat but Realistic, Mulally says automaker can succeed, but it must face the facts, Saturday, Nov 11, 2006. See also Susan Tompor on the same Business pages' Ford boss is a convincing car guy. In the same Sat, Nov 11 issue of Detroit News see Daniel Howes - Thursdays with Alan, New Ford Boss demands accountability, results- every week. Sunday Nov 26, 2006 - Sarah Webster, Ford's Go-To Guy. Kuzak's Mission: Developing vehicles customers will want. see also on the same Business pages- Executive says global system lets Ford get vehicles to market faster. Sarah Webster could clarify contents of her interview shown on the pages of the Free Press- what is the target time from concept drawing board to cars rolling off the production line to dealer showrooms, is it the 12-14 months by end of 2008? See also in Nov 28, 2006, Detroit News, Bryce Hoffman, Ford Bets the House, a bit pessimistic in tone and angle of vision and selection of quote expert....

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A report of the Transportation Department shows that over the past 8 months Americans have reduced their driving by more than 40 billion miles. Higer gasoline prices led to Americans driving less. In April 2008 Americans drove 1.8% less miles than the year earlier April, and in May this increased to 3.7% fewer miles than a year earlier. And this trend is not going to change or go back as as happened previously. So its a permanent feature of the new landscape according to experts. Everythng the kinds of cars people drive (smaller and fuel efficient), where people live (closer to work, and in closer proximity), the way they drive (less and use bicycles and small Smart vehicles also), and the way they use alternative transport ( frequent use of mass transit and better quality of mass transit with new investment), all tis is about to change permanently. The way the USA funds road and bridge repair and maintenance and new road and bridge construction is through gasoline taxes at the federal level (18.4 cents a gallon) and state taxes. With reduced driving there is less money available to fund these road projects. But this happens at a bad time because existing road and bridge infrastructure is crumbling. About 25% of the country's bridges are in bad shape or obsolete or structurally deficient and one in seven miles of roads are in bad shape according to the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, and most people can see this when they drive around intheir cities. And big increases in the cost of asphalt and other construction materials are only compounding the problem. The Commission says it will cost $225 billion a year to tackle national transportation infrastructure needs. Worse still only 40% of this is getting funded. So a huge gap in funding looms and Congress is being pushed to come up with funding solutions as states struggle to deal with the problem....

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The graph showing the monthly volume of issued bonds shows that the bonds issued came to a complete halt in October 2008, leading to a collapse in this market, making consumer finance almost impossible to get. The action by the Fed to lend $600 billion to investors to buy these bonds is an effort to unclog these markets for consumer finance. It also comes as the market for cars collapsed in October, with auto loan financing difficulties a major factor in this collapse, especially for GM. The market for mortgage securities issued by Fannie and Freddie also seemed to be drying up as investors and foreign central banks shunned Fannie and Freddie, resulting in the spread over Treasury bonds for these securities issued by Fannie rising from 0.7 percentage points in September to 1.7 percentage points in October 2008. The Fed announced that it would buy $600 billion of these securities starting December 1, 2008, and hire asset managers to manage this portfolio for the Fed. Mortgage rates dropped half a point to to 5.5% on the announcement injecting some life in to housing markets. This does not help the 11.8 million homeowners under water, and those facing foreclosure, and it does not help those buyers who do not qualify for mortgages. It does help those who were responsible in their finances through the recent years and helps others refinance. So it helps those who were better off but started cracking under this economy. So it does not change the underlying fundamentals say some experts, but it does help keep some life in the housing markets say other experts. The Case-Shiller index of housing prices which declined 15.1 % in the second quarter, declined 16.6% in the third quarter, year over year. This helps keep up the prices from severe drops, but even the lower mortgage rates from this Fed action may not last as the rates dropped after the rescue of Fannie and the again started creeping upwards again. . . ...

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Toyota's first quarter profit of $2.2 billion is a result of profits from its USA auto finance division, cost cuts and rising sales. But Toyota still faces some rough patches in the road ahead. First the rising yen at 85 yen to a dollar in the beginning of August 2010 will be one hurdle as it tries to regain export markets - Toyota has used 90 yen to a dollar in its full year forecast. Another problem is the Japanese market which is expected to slow down after incentives expire. Because Toyota has more capacity in Japan this will mean more underutilized capacity. Japanese car buying incentives expire in September. These incentives led to sales being 23% higher in the first quarter, but Toyota forecasts full year sales to fall by 9%. Another problem is regaining market share in the USA and the aging demographics of traditional Toyota buyers.

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The struggles and triumphs over adversity and difficulties of Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. Daughter of immigrant parents- a father who is a Greek immigrant and a mother who is a child of immigrants- Olympia is raised by an aunt who works at a textile mill in Maine in the 1950's, after losing both parents by the age of 10. She goes to the University of Maine where she studies political science. She marries a member of the House of Representatives from Maine, but her husband is killed in a car accident by the time she is 26. She decides to run for the Maine House of Representatives, and follows this by being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978. In 1994 she is elected to the U.S. Senate. Here she describes this experience of meeting personal tragedy with courage and faith.

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Did Putin overreact as he did in Georgia. On the issue of Russian speaking people in neighboring eastern European countries Putin has strong emotional reaction, as evident in the 2008 Georgian conflict. In Ukraine the issue assumes significance because of the effect of western sanctions, adverse foreign investor sentiment and the tendency of rich Russians, similiar to Argentines, to shift assets abroad. Capital flight was $75 billion in the first 6 months of 2014. Add to this adverse effect on foreign investor sentiment on an already slowing Russian economy, and growth will be seriously affected. Car sales are expected to decline by 12% in 2014, according to a trade group. The rhetoric has been toned down on Russian television. And Russian analysts now say relations with the West must be maintained. Polls by state run polling company WCIOM show 66% of the Russian public oppose Russian forces entering Ukrainian territory.

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Greece shows the first sign of returning to positive economic growth after years of decline leading to a drop in GDP of about 25% since 2008. The Greek economy contracted by 2.6% in the 4th quarter of 2013 compared to the 3rd quarter, according to Hellenic Statistical Authority. For 2013 the economy contraced by 3.7% instead of an estimated 4%. Growth is expected to be flat in 2014 or growth of 0.6%. For the first time manufacturing and retail sales are showing signs of growing and new car registrations increased in Jan. 2014. Finance ministry data show Greece's budget with a surplus of 691 million euros in 2013, compared with a deficit of 3.46 billion euros in 2012, before debt payments. The figure is higher at 812 million euros when money from the EU coming in for public works is added. Unemployment remains high at 28%.

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Chrysler reported second quarter 2012 income of $436 million, compared with a loss of $370 million in the prior year quarter. The prior year quarter included charges for repaying U.S. government loans. First quarter 2012 income was $473 million. Fiat reported a loss of 246 million euros for the second quarter 2012. The combined operations Fiat-Chrysler reported aloss of 103 million euros. This shows how the effort by Sergio Marchionne to takeover Chrysler and turn it around have proved to be a very successful move for Fiat. With a relatively small investment Fiat is now a majority owner of Chrysler having invested mainly its management knowhow and leadership.

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A report from the U.S. Federal Reserve on the impact of the financial crisis of 2008-2009 on the wealth of American households. Between 2007 and 2010 says the report the median net worth of American families went down by 39%, from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010. This had the result of putting Americans back to the level of net worth in 1992. Much of the loss in net worth was from asset value reductions. The median value of stock market based retirement accounts decreased by 7% to $44,000. The biggest drop was in housing values- falling by 42% to $55,000 in the three years. Americans are working down their debt- a quarter of families are debt free, credit card balances declined 16% to $2600 from $3100 from the period 2007 to 2010 of the report. Yet the median level of family debt remains the same as more families support their kids education by taking out college loans. Median income fell about 8% to $45,800 in 2010, with income losses especially large in the manufacturing industries as the U.S. manufacturing sector worked to improve competitiveness. Other factors supplement this picture. The burden of college loans increased to over $1 trillion for middle and working class families. With the burden of college debt young people were more likely to delay buying first homes, indefinitely dealying recovery in the housing market. Seniors on retirement see interest income from savings negligible with low interest rates and higher risk in a volatile stock market. ...

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Response to criticism of car companie about poor fuel eficiency.

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A NATO summit has tension and uncertainty with president Trump pushing forward his idea that Europe should take on a larger share of the burden for its own defense. Some of this goal was achieved with the jawboning style of Mr. Trump- NATO plans to increase military spending and increase EUropean governments share of defense spending. A European Defense Fund with 13 billion euros of funding is being set up to develop military capabilities. This is also what Mr. Trump hopes to accomplish by using this approach where other approaches were resisted by Germany in previous American administrations from Bush to Obama. It is also why Mr. Trump says he thinks NATO is now stronger than before, even though his approach throughout is unorthodox from Korea to NATO. Europeans see a divergence between the U.S. and EU on issues- such as Iran, Middle East and Israel, and Mr. Trump's efforts to maintain good ties with Russia meeting Mr. Putin after the Summit. This leads to a sense that the U.S. cannot be depended on in the face of threats to the EU. Mr. Trump's policy suggests the U.S. has no permanent friends or permanent enemies, will follow its own interests independently of its transatlantic partners, says one expert. At the root of the problem lies Trump's conviction that the European nations benefit economically by spending less on defense and thrusting more of the burden on the U.S. -even after 2 costly wars have diminished American desire to take on responsibility especially as other economies have prospered better than the U.S. ...