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Sales have declined and share price dropped by 40% since J.C. Penney's new CEO, Ron Johnson, tried to bring strategies that worked with Apple to the U.S. department store.

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Hilsenrath points out that Japan's central bank, the Bank of Japan's holdings of securities and loans has increased by 35% in 2008-2013 compared to an increase of 2, 3 and 5 times respectively in the assets of the ECB, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England. Experts in Japan say what was considered commonsense by Bank of Japan chief Shirakawa and others, that aggressive monetary policy doesnt work, is considered nonsense in other parts of the world. They say aggressive monetary policy was never tried and Shirakawa diluted its impact by saying he did not think it would make much of a difference. Communicating the right message to financial markets was part of the approach taken by Draghi at the ECB, Bernanke at the U.S. Fed and King at the Bank of England. Anil Kashyap of the University of Chicago agrees. He says the Bank of Japan missed its inflation target for 15 years. BOJ also bought shorter term bonds in its bond buying efforts, with maturities of three years compared to the average maturity of nine years for bonds being purchased by the U.S. Fed. This reduces the effect. The Abe administration is careful to present the approach as similiar to that in other countries, and intended to spur growth in Japan, which in turn should spur global growth. U.S. Fed chairman Bernanke has supported this effort. Prime minister Abe was on a visit to the U.S. communicating Japan's approach and winning support, something never done before....

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Haruhiko Kuroda, 68 years old, a senior finance ministry expert who ran the ministry's currency policy as vice finance minister for 4 years in the early 2000's, is prime minister Abe's nominee for central bank chief. He lectured at Hitoshibashi University for two years before becoming the head of the Asian Development Bank. His book "Success and Failure in Fiscal and Monetary Policy," is critical of the Bank of Japan for mistakes in being first too accomodative in monetary policy to set up the 1987 crash, and then tightening too quickly leading to the deflation and recessions of the last two decades. By choosing an expert with a long experience in the field of monetary policy and a vigorous advocate of getting things right to shake off the deflationary trends, Abe is sending a strong signal to financial markets. Kuroda says he is looking at a shorter time frame to achieve a 2% target for inflation- about two years. In essence Kuroda is taking a page from the policy book of a small group of MIT trained economists, Bernanke at the U.S. Federal Reserve, Draghi at the European Central Bank, and Mervyn King at the Bank of England to boost domestic economies in the context of increasing global growth. The yen weakened to 94.77 to the dollar on Feb 25, 2013, after the announcement. Abe's nominee for one of two deputy governor appointments is Kikuo Iwata, a 70 year old economist who was also critical of Bank of Japan monetary policy since the 1990's. The Abe administration has also carefully communicated this message. Speaking at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C. Abe said Japan's goal was to increase exports, but at the same time it will increase imports which should benefit the U.S., China, India and other countries. He described a recovery in Middle America from the Dakotas to the Carolinas and sees something like this happening also in Japan. Even the appeals to nationalist sentiment are also coupled with the message to China and S. Korea of not climbing up the escalation ladder and seeking good relations to promote mutually beneficial development. Abe's focus is on building the U.S.- Japan relationship....

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Huawei has increased R&D spending to $4.7 billion in 2012, close to market leader Ericsson's R&D spending in 2012 of $4.8 billion.

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The European Commission forecast for 2013 shows a decline in GDP of 0.3% for the eurozone economies. The forecast shows a return to growth with GDP increasing by 1.4% in 2014 for the eurozone. The larger European Union is expected to grow by 0.1%. Unemployment is expected to increase from 11.4% to 12.2%.

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The war in Syria enters a new phase in Feb. 2013 with the effort to send heavy weaponry to moderates and the Free Syrian Army and shift the focus of the war to the south and Damascus. The source of the weapons are moderate Muslim nations, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Quatar, and western nations.

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Ezra Klein writes that he disagrees with Bob Woodward's assessment that the Obama administration moved the goalposts by trying to secure an increase in taxes to pay for the deficit. Klein says voters voted in favor of an increase in taxes as part of the effort to reduce the deficit when they elected Obama to a second term.

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The increasing competitiveness of Mexico compared to China and India as an investment destination in 2013. Foreign companies are investing heavily in Mexico because of investment advantages in labor cost, supply of engineering and management talent, and proximity to the U.S.

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The prospects for a coalition government of the PD of Luigi Bersani and the parties supporting outgoing prime minister Mario Monti. This is the best outcome for the eurozone and for lowering Italy's borrowing costs on debt.

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Moody's Investors Service lowered the UK's credit rating from triple A to Aa1 and changed the outlook to stable. The managing director of Moody's sovereign ratings, Bart Oosterveld, says Britain' debt will continue to grow in 2013-2015 and only stabilize after 2016, in Moody's central scenario. Analysts say this is unlikely to increase Britain's borrowing costs. Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Osborne, says the debt problems built up over many years, and declining growth in the eurozone hurts Britain's exports. Moody's says Britain's debt will peak at about 96% of GDP in 2016 after continued sluggish growth in coming years. This move follows a downgrade of France by Moody's from triple A rating in November 2012, and downgrade of the U.S. from triple A rating by S&P in August 2011.

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The sequester is the name used for the irrational automatic U.S. government spending cuts of $85 billion that begin March 1, 2013. A lot has been said about whether the sequester originated with the Republicans or President Obama and his advisors. Here veteran reporter Bob Woodward, associate editor of the Washington Post, says the idea of the sequester originated with Jack Lew, White House chief of staff and budget director during the negotiations, and Rob Nabors, chief of congressional relations at the White House. It was first proposed by Lew to Senate Majority Leader Reid at 2.30 pm on July 27, 2011, after being approved by President Obama, according to two senior White House aides who were directly involved. Why is this important? Because President Obama said in the third presidential debate, Oct. 22, 2012, that the sequester was not something he proposed, but something proposed by Congress. Jack Lew stated during the campaign in Florida, that this was rooted in Republican Congressional insistence. Woodward says Republicans also had situations of improper behaviour. The significance of this is that it eroded the little trust that remained between the Republicans and Democrats as they negotiated budget issues....

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Lack of any effort by Democrats and Republicans to come up with a negotiated agreement to end the $85 billion in sequester automatic spending cuts in the U.S. for 2013. For the Republicans the risk is that president Obama gains ground in preparation for the 2014 midterm elections. For president Obama the risk is that his will become a distraction for his second term legislative agenda including immigration reform, and other legislation.