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Panasonic forecast a loss of $10 billion or 780 billon yen for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. This is the second largest loss for a Japanese manufacturing company. Hitachi lost 787 billion yen in the fiscal year ending March 2009 after the financial crisis of 2008. In the prior fiscal year Panasonic showed net profit of 74 billion yen. Panasonic posted restructuring costs of 191 billion yen for the television business and 49 billion yen for the chip business for the first three quarters of the current fiscal year. For the fourth quarter it will take a 250 billion yen writedown of goodwill for the Sanyo acquisition. Panasonic acquired Sanyo based on the potential for growth in its lithium ion battery and solar panel business. But the Sanyo unit is facing stiff competition from manufacturers in South Korea and China, with Samsung Electronics as a major competitor. The strength of the Japanese yen is affecting all Japanese manufacturers. The price competition is severe in the television business and this is also affecting Sony. Since the acquisition Sanyo's earning prospects have significantly worsened says Panasonic CFO, Makoto Uenoyama. Panasonic CEO Ohtsubo defends the acquisition saying that without the rechargeable battery business and its potential in hybrid/electric cars Panasonic's growth potential would not be the same as it is now. Panasonic plans to stop production at two plants making plasma and LCD panels this fiscal year. The job cuts planned will bring the number of employees down from 367,000 in the prior fiscal year to below 350,000....

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Andrew Lownie's book provides glimpses into the lives of the Mountbattens, Edwina and Dickie. Mountbatten was the head of the British government in India in 1946 as negotiations were started with Nehru, Gandhi and Jinnah for independent India. The Cabinet Mission (including Cripps) plan of 1946 was  to setup a federation in India with provinces in A, B, and C categories. A being the Central Provinces, United Provinces, Bombay, Madras and other parts of what is now India, B being the Punjab, Sind and what is now Pakistan, and C being the region of Bengal, what is now Bangladesh and West Bengal.This was rejected by Nehru, Sardar Patel, and the Indian National Congress, leading to  Jinnah's call for action, a civil war, and the partition of India 9 months before the plan date of June 1948, in chaotic circumstances, in a hurried manner. The legacy of that two year period is with us today in the upheavals in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, drawing the U.S. and western nations also into endless wars. The period 1939-1941 is covered when Edwina's rather aimless life upto that point changed completely with service to war wounded and for the Red Cross. She also visited the U.S. in 1941 when Mountbatten was given command of an aircraft carrier at Norfolk, Virginia, visiting 28 states. Edwina made up for he aimless years by relentlessly pushing herself to be an equal to her husband in the war effort. This has given the couple their fascinating character. It was also a period of great change as the Labour party under Clement Atlee winning a post war election made the decision to end the British Empire in India. The war had depleted British wealth and Britain lacked the resources to continue the Empire in India. The job of managing the transition went to Mountbatten, a naval officer in the Royal Navy, coming in the tumultuous years of 1946-48 with the quick partition of India under Mountbatten in 1947. Mountbatten stayed after independence in August 1947 as the first Governor General of India.  Edwina and Dickie Mountbatten struck a friendship with Jawaharlal Nehru, and this review in The Hindu shows Jawaharlal, Edwina, Dickie and their daughter Pamela having tea at the residence in Shimla, 1946. Nehru's rejection of the Cabinet Mission plan leading to the appointment of Mountbatten as Viceroy was partly based on his idea that priorities for India post independence was modernizing the economy and reducing poverty. Seven decades later the priorities are still the same, following the experience of Japan, South Korea and China at modernizing the economies in east Asia requiring a greatly accelerated effort.    ...

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Nicholas Lardy of the Peterson Institute of Intenational Economics, and author of "Sustaining China's Economic Growth After the Global FInancial Crisis," points to the shortcomings in the World Bank/DRC Report "China: 2030." He says the issues raised by the report have been raised before during the last ten years about scaling back the role of state owned companies in development and growth and the way the government allocates resources. The report does not throw light on the why and what prevents this from happening. The report comes at a time when the risks that were brought up earlier, as Peterson says, are now accentuated and much larger. The share of domestic consumption as part of GDP has fallen, a larger share of real estate development in GDP, a bubble in real estate with the involvement of local governments and state owned companies in the speculative behaviours, and an increase in inequality. The report emphasizes that "the role of the government and its relationship to markets and the private sector needs to change fundamentally." To generate the kind of innovation for sustained development the private sector needs to play a larger role....

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June 21 is designated International Yoga Day by the United Nations. India celebrates International Yoga Day with 35,000 children and adults doing Yoga in central Delhi. Narendra Modi leads the effort to promote yoga for fitness and health. Yoga research centers are being established to improve health and treat diseases such as diabetes alongside modern medicine. Yoga day practice sessions of yoga were organized throughout India, with the participation of millions of people. Yoga Day activities in Paris, France, included a outdoor yoga session below the Eiffel Tower. In his address to the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2014, Narendra Modi said about yoga: "yoga is not about exercize, but to discover the oneness with oneself, the world and nature." It is part of a 5000 year old tradition from ancient India that promotes meditation, spiritual development and health. This ancient tradition is gradually being revived and is useful in India, China, the Middle East, the U.S. and other countries that see the spread of obesity, diabetes and other health problems. It helps improve spiritual concentration of mind, and increases the body's vital energies....

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Expensive new fuel saving technology investments at BMW to meet new pollution control standards in Europe (130 grams per kilometer) and boost fuel efficiency in the US. This year only 40% of its cars will meet 140 grams per kilometer. With a production total of 1.4 million cars BMW faces sizable investments with smaller car volume than the likes of Toyota and Honda. R&D costs have climbed 22% in first half 2007 to 1.5 billion euros. BMW has agreements to jointly develop some of the new technology with Daimler and GM on hybrid gasoline-electric drive cars. Its developing a new 3 liter diesel engine for the US market that cleaner and fuel efficient. BMW plans also to boost advertising budgets to promote itself as a fuel efficient carmaker conscious of the environment, See related article. It plans to expand in India China and Russia to get a share of the expanding markets there. BMW's second quarter profit fell 23% on a 7% gain in revenues underlying the additional investments BMW faces. CEO Reithofer wants to increase profits to above last years 3.75 billion euros. ...

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The difficulty in expanding Frontera by diluting 11,000 co-op farmers ownership to 80% from what it is now to raise $1.5 billion from investors. The idea was to build mini Frontera's in other countries like Chile, China and elsewhere where Frontera has small farms. This is because New Zealand doe not have more land to expand with most available pasture already having cows or sheep. Frontera trucks collect more than 10 million gallons of milk daily some of it being sold to companies like Nestle SA. Farmers get dividend checks montly. Revenue was over $10 billion in 2007 amid sharply rising milk prices. Graphs of WSJ show much lower inventories of dairy products like cheese, milk and milk powder, and of grains like barley, corn and rice compared to several years ago and ten years ago. And productiveness of land varies by country with some countries land much less productive for cultivating rice or corn. Even with investor interest its hard to find a vehicle to invest in like the Frontera dairy situation where Frontera coop farmers are not in favor of expansion overseas and already have invested heavily in New Zealand itself....

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Immigration and drug flows became an explosive issue in the US by 2016, yet between 2016-2024 Venezuelan people outflows added up to 7.1 million migrants including about 1 million to the US, as Venezuela collapsed and Russia intervened to keep the regime.   None of this could have happened with major powers US Russian cooperation. The Monroe Doctrine of president Monroe, 1824, warned European powers to not restore colonial influence in the Americas. By 2024 Syria sent 14 million of its population to Europe, and Venezuela sent 7.7 million migrants to Colombia, Brazil, and the US, as their economies and democratic institutions collapsed. Missing was working cooperation with another military power Russia. Clinton, Bush, Obama, Western financial interests, failed to grasp the importance of US Russia cooperation and mutual respect. Obama denigrated Russia as insignificant because of its GDP.   Russia intervened in failing states but gained little, straining the good relations mutual respect from earlier periods of its history and interactions with the US.  DJT tariff on all importers of Venezuelan oil affect China to which Venezuela sent 55% of its oil exports over half a million barrels a day. It also affects India and other importers. These importers say experts, will shift to Russian crude preferring it to heavy oil from Venezuela. This is a sore point for Americans affected by violent crime from Venezuelan gang members reflected in recent election results. This also affects the sense of safety in American neighborhoods and in towns across America. The Linken Riley Act was passed in the US Congress as action on this issue. People in China, India, and in Europe, and some even in Silicon Valley in the US fail to grasp the way this has affected communities across the US when after decades of deindustrialization and shipping jobs overseas by American business, these communities are affected by a sense of lack of safety in their neighborhoods. There is also a failure to grasp the harm done by migration of 7.7 million people from Venezuela, almost a fourth of the country's population, because of mismanagement of the economy and crippling inflation, and the failure of democratic institutions to function effectively. A failure to grasp the extent of the economic and human disaster in Venezuela. DJT says- "Venezuela has been very hostile to the US and the Freedoms which we espouse...Venezuela has "purposefully and deceitfully sent to the United States, undercover, tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals".    ...

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The accompanying article from Pro Publica about Lighthizer's term at USTR shows the lack of results as China shifted production to Mexico and Vietnam - it shows it was going to be a long struggle, carried over into another 4 DJT years this time in 2025. That article showed tariffs are really not so much a weapon against other countries  as they are a way to signal to America's corporations to invest in supply chains in the US.  In Congressional hearings towards the end of his term at USTR in 2020 Lighthizer said -

“They have a system, and their system is challenging our system.”  Lighthizer told Senators that the U.S. struggle with China is “going to go on for years.”

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China's trade surplus rose to $457 billion at an annual rate in the 4th quarter, 50% bigger than in the same period for 2007. Exports dropped by 13% in the 4th quarter but imports dropped faster by 21%, which explains the growing trade surplus. With the stimulus spending kicking in in 2010 imports should pick up just as exports decelerate fast, reversing the direction of the trade surplus.

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America has its own conversation points. Ischinger says we would love to vote in the US election as it affects us greatly. Americans would love to vote in the German and French elections as it affects us. As America fights to give workers and families their rights and invests trillions of dollars in infrastructure when will Germany and France do this? When will Germany and France fight to give all workers and families opportunity to get ahead and make a decent living? Are Germany and France aware that the Biden-Harris, Biden-Walz fight is for domestic policy to determine foreign policy and this is the domestic policy of America. Wolfgang Ischinger ,who heads the Munich Security Conference Foundation, writes in NYT about the importance of keeping the conversation with European allies going. He says US and European Union do not have a common policy towards China and this needs to be discussed and clarified. US and EU need to come closer for NATO to carry out it's mission now that the EU countries are shouldering a fair share of the defense burden in percentage of GDP devoted to defense. Ischinger says the Europeans are not investing defense dollars efficiently and developing European arms suppliers. His third point is that there should be consistent application of rule of law, democracy and western values in policy to build the alliance. He remains blissfully unaware that the same divisions that are fostered in America exist in Europe and some of them started in Europe- for Europe to be strong it must invest in its People, in workers and families and in infrastructure, domestic policy will become foreign policy.    ...

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The pent up energy from 4 years in the Opposition and the preparation made in the months before the election for the first days in office are reasons cited for the speed in which executive orders were issued on the first day. Another reason is that the president's popularity is high following the election in November and it is likely to slip in the months ahead leading to possible loss of one or both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the midterms of 2026. The president signed executive orders to declare a national emergency at the US Border, to designate gangs and drug traffickers as terrorist organizations, end birthright citizenship, as actions to deliver for the 87% of people in the Pew Research poll and similar numbers in NYT poll who want the US Border and immigration under control. Other actions were about the fentanyl flows from China, Mexico and Canada, not enough is being done by these countries causing 105,000 deaths in 2023 and 107,000 deaths in 2022 alone. When the Vietnam War led to 60,000 deaths there was a huge outcry, nowadays heads of responding agencies have no serious answers, the nation is not in a uproar as it should be. This is what the tariffs are about and this is why the American people do not see tariffs in the way they were used in beggar thy neighbor policy during the Hoover administration of the 1930's. Cities such as Baltimore are hardest hit. Almost every county in America is hit from Knox County Tennessee, Multnomah Oregon, San Francisco California, Camden NJ, Bronx NY, Bernalillo New Mexico, Jefferson Alabama, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Jefferson Kentucky, Denver Colorado, Milwaukee Wisconsin, Jefferson Alabama, Bernalillo New Mexico, Camden NJ, Bronx NY.   ...

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The Indian PC market is expected to grow rapidly from now on with growth of 30% a year. About 9 million PC's will be sold in India in 2007. Lenovo, Dell and HP and local maker HCL are all gearing up with extensive sales plans and product lines. The Indian market will see increased sales from larger companies and strong growth also from consumers and small business. In March HP opened a new factory near Delhi, and Lenovo will open a new plant in Baddi in northern India in july to make 2 million PC's, Dell opened a new factory in Chennai in August. HCL is partnering with Intel to make a lowcost PC called the Classmate. HCL once dominated the market but has lost market share to H-P as it made the mistake of being late in the notebook market, only introducing notebooks in 2005. H-P increased its market share by selling in smaller cities in India. H-P has 21% of the market compared to 13.5% for HCL in 2007, according to IDC estimates. Over the past 3 years prices have fallen from $500 to $350, if prices fall significantly again, and there is strong competition between Dell, HP, Intel, HCL, Sony, Acer and other makers, then one should see the Indian market really take off across the spectrum, from larger companies, to small business and the consumer....

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The Economist points out the shortcomings in Indonesia's effort to attract foreign investment and increase growth under the Widodo administration.

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China expands the trading range of the yuan to 1%. The yuan is set by the People's Bank of China, China's central bank, at 6.2879 yuan per U.S. dollar on March 14, 2012 or 15 to 16 U.S. cents to the yuan. The yuan rate is set daily by the PBOC, called the parity rate, and was previously allowed to trade in a 0.5% trading range.