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DJT takes action sending in the Marines to Los Angeles to guard federal buildings, stop rioting June 10, 2025. At a White House briefing on fires including the fires in Los Angeles, US president DJT says the situation could have gone on for days as it did in Minneapolis when he acted after 7-8 days and the governor failed to call in the National Guard. DJT says he has seen this before and this is why he acted quickly before rioting destroyed the parts of Los Angeles that had survived the fires. 

Kristi Noem, the Homeland Secretary, a former governor, says action will be taken to enforce the nation's laws and that the comments by Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum that encouraged the protesters in contempt for US law enforcement were inappropriate and needed to be condemned.

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A new generation of younger leaders takes over at the European Central Bank under Mario Draghi. Belgian economist Peter Praet succeeds Peter Stark of Germany in the Economics Department. Portugal's Vitor Constancio is vice president. Jorg Asmussen, 45, from Germany is on the ECB executive board, so is Benoit Coeure, 42, from France, and Klaas Knot, 44, from the Netherlands. Asmussen will head the ECB's International Division. Jens Weidmann,43, is the new head of the Bundesbank. The result experts say could be a reorientation of the ECB's outlook away from the rigid anti-inflation stance of Draghi's predecessor, Claude Trichet, and a willingness to try new approaches to help Europe tackle this recession.

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Sales of automobiles in China in July 2012 declined 12.6% from the prior month according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. There are two parts of China's automobile sector, the foreign brands of GM, Toyota, VW, Ford and others, and the Chinese brands. There are 48 Chinese domestic carmakers for 30% of China's automobile market, with sales of 87,500 per brand on average, according to J.D. Powers. Many of these carmakers will not survive even with subsidies from local governments. China's car buyers prefer foreign brands because of the better quality and reliability. Foreign carmakers face an oversupply of cars as GM, Honda, Ford, VW have continued to add capacity. Total automobile manufacturing capacity is about 28.5 million cars and commercial vehicles. This is 9 million more than the expected sales in 2012, according to J.D. Powers. The most recent company adding large capacity is Ford Motor Company, which was relatively late in the Chinese market, and decided to boost capacity from 450,000 in 2011 to 1.2 million in 2015, to make it the largest manufacturing location outside of its home base of Michigan. This creates the prospect of foreign carmakers having to offer larger incentives and discounts to manage inventory and operating with higher levels of unused capacity, reducing profits in future years. Most of the plans to increase capacity were made when China's GDP growth was over 10%, it is now slowing to 7.5%....

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Americans are being pummeled by election ads for 12 months before November 5, 2024, at their doors, on television, on podcasts and on social media. Super PAC's are providing seemingly unending funding for candidates and races. The ground game is being determined by careful planning and the funding to back it up for door to door, print ads, and television ads. There is no end in sight to cost and funding of races.

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This essay in the Economist warns that most of the public does not understand the dangers of the idea of no Brexit as a preferred option to a Brexit deal that gives too much to the EU. It says this is dangerous in terms of the harsh effects at the border with Ireland and on the economies of Ireland and Britain. It points out that the private view of the EU is very negative towards Brexit compared to the diplomatic comments, so that little should be taken for granted. The European Union and Britain would in the event of no deal on Brexit not follow agreed  terms such on as the 40 billion pounds exit bill, guarantee of EU citizens rights, averting of a hard border in Ireland. The unfriendly nature of such a no deal would lead to aggravating its effects, argues the Economist.  The Economist estimate is that about 4% of GDP would be lost over 5 years for Britain and Ireland. Supply chains would be disrupted. Depending on WTO rules alone is not sufficient as the EU has bilateral deals with many countries. The car industry is particularly vulnerable as it employs 800,000 people and exports 80% of output- it would lose EU certification and face 10% tariffs. EU has made clear that trade for chemicals, pharmaceuticals or cars depends on meeting its standards. These are only a few of the problems in trade as the list goes on and on. ...

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The Irish prime minister Varadkar says it is time to move on. When he assumed office he was the first from an ethnic minority background to lead Ireland, the son of an Irish mother and an Indian immigrant father. He took Ireland through the crises of coronavirus pandemic, Brexit, and improved unemployment and budget shortfalls. Recently he accepted defeat on a referendum intended to remove language in the Irish Constitution on a clause about "a woman's life within the home." Disagreements over the language of the referendum led to its not getting approved on International Women's Day by about 70% of the vote with 44% of people voting. It suggest there was no enthusiasm and its relevance at this time was not understood. It is not clear why there was a need for this referendum in the first place to remove one text of the constitution that respects the role of family and mother's contributions in the home. During the pandemic for instance women played a major role, and sometimes took on a greater share of the burden. Efforts to have women's participation as shown in Japan and India does not require constitutional wording to be changed. Japan has done remarkably well and India is about to do this. And removing the wording about women's role at home, instead of encouraging or adding wording about women actively participating in the workforce and actions to make that possible, accomplishes little. Coupling this with a wording that includes gay families in the definition of family while removing the role of women in the family language seemed to be making changes that had little to do with each other. ...

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The quarterly survey of corporate sentiment, the Tankan, from the Bank of Japan , shows a 21 point fall to minus 24 points. Its expected to fall to minus 35 in the next survey by some analysts. It indicates the signs are for a deep and prolonged downturn.

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The figures are staggering. $380 billion of $400 billion in Nigerian oil revenues estimated lost to corruption and waste from 1960 to 1999. This is the estimate given by Nigeria's top anticorruption official and quoted in the NYT. Meanwhile life expectancy in Nigeria is about 47 years and little of the oil revenues goes to infrastructure, health, education and investment to improve the lives of Nigeria's people. The oil companies after years of bad publicity, Shell and Exxon, appear to be shrugging their shoulders that there is little they can do beyond their own small investments, $100 million by Shell and $22 million by Exxon each year on roads and other related infrastructure. The western oil companies typically get 7% of the profits from oil sales, with the government keeping 93%, according to the NYT. Mouwad describes life inside a 50 acre area in Port Harcourt which houses Italians working for oil company Eni. A militant movement MEND is fighting in the Delta region to have more resources devoted to this neglected region of Nigeria. The result is that life is becoming difficult for foreign oil workers in the area. About 13% of oil revenues go to the states but corruption and waste eat up the money at the state level too. The River States budget is an example, of about $1.3 billion budget only $22 million goes to health services, helicopter services and catering for the governor's office alone cost $38 million and $10 million. MEND the delta region organization wants more money for the delta states and is organizing disruption of oil production as a method to make itself heard. This has increased the need for security consultants to protect oil company property and personnel. Already a quarter of Nigerian oil production has been shut down....

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Jonathan Cheng of the WSJ reports from Seoul that the sense of alarm at the escalating rhetoric between the U.S. president and North Korea seen elsewhere is missing in the South Korean capital. A city of 10 million only 45 minutes from the border with North Korea is within artillery range from the North. There is a sense that North Korea would not attack the South because of long ties of culture and ethnicity. The new government of Mr. Moon was elected with its plan to improve relations with North Korea that had deteriorated under the previous government of Mrs. Park. An effort is made by Rex Tillerson, the U.S. Secretary of State to tamp down tensions from the rhetoric. South Korean officials say recent experience shows the Trump administration is capable of making sound policy even with Mr. Trump's tendency to tweet strong comments. The South Korean government urged the media to present the situation without aggravating tensions. In fact the popular online news portal Naver in South Korea did not show the escalation in its top ten trending topics. An earlier report in the NYT shows the use of underground bomb shelters in drills is ignored by many South Koreans. ...

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Lawyers Buchheit and and Gulati help Greece design a legal agreement that writes in a new collective action clause. The collective action clause ensures a 95% participation for the bond restructuring deal Greece is doing in March 2012 to cut its debt to sustainable levels. A similiar deal could be designed for Portugal says Mitu Gulati, a law professor at Duke University. Because Greece's bonds are written under Greek law, writing in a new collective action clause is a legal mechanism for achieving a meaningful debt reduction and bond restructuring deal- this is something Gulati and Buchheit figured out because of their expertise in this field. A joint paper by Buchheit and Gulati in 2010, first explored the way in which private bondholders of Greek bonds who reject a bond debt restructuring could be forced to accept the same losses as other investors who accepted the deal. They are now advisors to the government of Greece. In early 2011 there was serious discussion that the Brady Bonds debt restructuring for Latin American debt of Argentina, Mexico and Brazil of the 1980's, under which private investors traded in their old bonds for new bonds with longer duration at reduced interest rates and lower value- reflecting voluntary losses accepted by bondholders- was the approach needed for Greece, Portugal, Ireland and other eurozone countries. Then U.S. Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady took the lead- in Landon Thomas Jr., NYT, 11/30/2010. Bondholders held out throughout this period, with Charles Dallara, one of the architects of the Brady bonds restructuring, hired by European banks to negotiate on their behalf. It was only when German Chancellor Merkel delivered an ultimatum by telling Dallara "this is the last offer," during a late night meeting on Oct. 27, 2011, at EU headquarters in Brussels, was an agreement reached on serious debt reduction- in Walker, Forelle, Meichtry, WSJ, 12/30/2011. The long delay meant a worsening crisis in Greece and the rest of the eurozone. ...

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Hyperinflation of 1 million percent annualized rate for Venezuela. This is the revised estimate from the IMF for 2019, after first estimating it at 13000 percent. Is this even possible for an oil rich country? It shows what can happen with severe economic mismanagement. It is happening as the economy is damaged by failed socialist policies, corruption and a collapsing oil industry. The successor to Hugo Chavez after he died in 2013 has failed to tackle the situation with the government having a hard time paying for the paper to print bolivares, the currency. Electronic money is paid into accounts, A petro currency was created backed by oil supplies, but nothing has worked. As an example dishwasher soap cost 3.8 million bolivares a week ago, today it is 4.9 million. Some families are down to small bits of soap, and cut out proteins from the diet, says this report. For one of the richest countries in Latin America this hyperinflation is an extreme form of impoverishment, say experts. The worst case experts say is that of Hungary after World War II when prices doubled every 15 hours. Zimbabwe and Serbia also recorded severe hyperinflation in recent memory. ...

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The migrants moving north from Central American countries is a result of gangs taking control of neighborhoods with extortion rackets and little control from the authorites. In one country San Salvador gangs control most of the nation's municipalities. Unlike the drug gangs these gangs a residual of the guerilla wars in these countries and other gangs, operate in their own neighborhoods. As  this report points out the gangs employ about three times as many people as the largest 2 employers in San Salvador Hanes Brands and Fruit of the Loom. The cost of this is about $4 billion or 16% of GDP according to the country's central bank with a major loss being human, losing the best people and lost investment.

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Britain's parliament voted Jan. 15, 2019 to reject the Brexit deal crafted by Theresa May with the European Union by a huge margin of 230 votes. The vote was 432 to 202, with 118 Conservative MP's voting against along with the entire Labour Party members. 

If a no-confidence vote by the opposition Labour Party is defeated as expected with 118 Conservative MP's backing the government in that vote, the uncertainty and rancour and bitterness will continue. May will look for ways to tweak the deal to get it through parliament. If this fails Britain could march out of the EU with no deal on March 29, 2019, or the date is extended. She opposes extending the date or having a second referendum.

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Ken Murray, a retired family medicine professor at the University of Southern California, describes how doctors address the option of prolonging life when the prospects of survival improve say from 5% to 15%. The choice is based on the human need to find closure in an atmosphere that gives comfort, a sense of peace and a sense of place with home and family, with hospitals not deisnged to and not able to perform that role. Murray gives the example of his cousin Torch, who he says was born at home by the light of a flashlight, who decides to not choose aggressive treatment, which would have prolonged his life for no more than 4 months. Instead he spent the next 8 months with family and did everything he could do with the 8 months that made for quality of life, rather than just choosing quantity in and out of hospitals. He died peacefully in his sleep. The heroics in and out of hospitals would actually have deprived the patient of the opportunity to reach a sense of closure that comes from the comfort of home, family, and arriving at a sense of peace....

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A new EU bailout on March 25, 2013, provides the Cyprus government with $10 billion, and closes the second largest bank, Cyprus Popular Bank PCL. The depositors at that bank with deposits larger than 100,000 euros will face large losses. Cyprus had a banking sector about 4 times the size of its economy because of low taxes and lax banking laws to attract deposits from Russia. The largest bank, Bank of Cyprus, will be downsized and large depositors there will also take losses. An earlier plan for a tax of 6.87% on all deposits at Cyprus banks was rejected by its parliament. The EU ministers and negotators rejected an alternate plan to nationalize Cyprus pension funds for a bailout. Analysts estimate the impact on Cyprus will be a shrinking of the economy by about 10% in 2013, and 8% in 2014, after this financial crisis and the EU bailout. The size of the banking sector in relation to the economy is similiar to the situation in Iceland which faced a financial crisis earlier. This shows the consequences of small countries depending on inflated financial sectors several times the size of the economy....

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Is the jobless rate in Liverpool, in the one time industrial heartland of Britain about 6% or counting the hidden jobless close to 13%. Is the unemployment rate much higher than the 3% in official statistics for Britain because official statistics do not include the hidden jobless. Learn more about this astonishing quirk in the statistics that distorts reality about social conditions. None less than the OECD, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and the Center for cities thinkt tank is of the view that 3 million people are missing from the official jobless figures. The OECD report says that when these 3 million people are counted the UK's unemployment or jobless rate is about 13.2% or abut 4.3 million people. This report shows that the austerity policies of the last ten years in Britain have bit by bit hurt people's chances of finding work.  The OECD/Centre for Cities study shows something else that is striking- it says Liverpool has the highest rate of hidden jobless in its study, with about 20% of working age adults out of work compared to an official rate of 5.8%. The mayor of the Liverpool region, Steve Rotheram, sitting in his office overlooking the Albert Dock on the banks of the Mersey river, where Britain's mighty shipbuilding industry once dominated and now in decay, says sanctioning people does not work,  a decade of cuts have done damage, and that his authority runs Households into Work, in an attempt to treat people as human beings first to get a better response. The government job centres tend to focus on people 25-35, says food bank and job support charity at the Anglican Cathedral on a ridge overlooking the Mersey. That means a lot of people in their forties and fifties are left out. ...

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This editorial in the Wall Street Journal says faster approvals at the Food and Drug Administration have helped bring more generic drugs to market lowering prices for the public. In 20 months the Trump administration approved 1617 generic drugs, 81 a month on average or a 17% increase over the preceding 20 months. Council of Economic Advisers in October said this was a saving of $26 billion for the public.

President Trump is looking at price controls as a way to bring down drug prices. With increasing outcry about high drug prices in the U.S. the Trump administration and Democrats in Congress are looking for new approaches to bring down prices.

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United Airlines incurred a loss of $779 million in the third quarter of 2008 largely because of a$519 million charge to reflect the declining value of its hedging contracts for jet fuel. SOuthwest said it lost $120 million, its first loss in 17 years, because of its own charge of $189 million for hedging contracts declining value. Without htis Southwest would have earned $69 million.

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Yanukovych, the president of Ukraine, is from the industrial eastern part of Ukraine centring on Donetsk. He is intensely disliked by the protesters in Ukraine and unpopular with the western part of the country which favors joining the European Union. Polls show 45% of the people support joining the EU, and only 14% joining Russia in a economic union. Yanukovych failed to bring the country together. The EU had called for the release of a former prime minister Ms. Tymoshenko in prison for the last 2 years, and Yanukovych's failure to do this worsened relations with Germany. The U.S. sees Yatsenuyk 39, a economist who served in the Tymoshenko administration as economy minister, as a person with the credibility in Ukraine and the experience to be part of a transition government. Figures who are popular with protesters but have no connections with previous governments include Vitali Klitschko, 42, a boxing champion, who has his own party Udar, meaning punch. Tymoshenko, was popular during the Orange Revolution in 2004, but her two terms as prime minister came under criticism for mismanagement. Parliament selected the prime minister under the 2004 constitution, and the protests focussed on consolidation of power under the president, including the appointment of the prime minister. As a first step parliament took on powers to appoint the prime minister on Feb. 21, 2014, freed Tymoshenko from prison, and set a date for elections in May 2014. Yanukovych fled Kiev and left for the eastern part of the country as parliament began the transition to a new government. ...

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As 22 million Americans go on unemployment benefits some Americans protest in states such as Michigan and North Carolina, Virginia. Even though Michigan was hard hit the western part of the state is quite different from the south east and Detroit which were hit hard. As the situation is different in each state and also by county president Trump has made it clear that it is the governors of the states who will decide and also the reopening could be varied by county. President Trump is also looking at other countries which are reopening in phases such as Germany where April 20, May 4, are dates for phases of reopening starting April 20 with small shops less than 800 square meters in space. European Union is similar to the U.S. in size. Germany went in front, but France like New York is coming in the back of this. France hit hard, has extended the lockdown till May 11.

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So far the Italian government has already recovered $15 billion for 2011 in its fight against tax evasion. The fight includes an advertising campaign depicting tax evasion as anti-social activity and vigorous enforcement by tax officials and the financial police. Italy has already banned cash transactions to reduce possibilities for evading taxes. This problem is severe in Italy because the underground economy is about 17.5% of GDP. An estimated $150 billion is lost to the Italian treasury from tax evasion. As a result Italy has a chronic budget deficit problem and is not able to make necessary investments in improving competitiveness to keep up with other countries. This may be one of the lasting achievements of the new administration of Mario Monti, along with its efforts to change the way the public thinks about other issues including labor laws that place large burdens on small companies in hiring practices. Italians sense the need to change the way they think about taxes because this is one way to reduce the burden of austerity measures- higher tax revenues could enable lowering taxes. It would also enable investing in improving competitiveness that would the economy grow and provide the jobs to reduce the high unemployment rate among young workers. One of the lasting positive aspects of the eurozone crisis is the change in the way the people and society think about many issues....

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Honda plans to build a new plant in the midwest, with an investment of $400 million. The new plant is likely to make Civic compact cars and the new Fit subcompact. The Fit will be a new hybrid deisgned to compete against Toyota's Prius. Honda opened its minivan plant in Lincoln, Alabama in 2001, and prior to that a new assembly plant opened in 1989. Honda sales grew 5% in the last year. The new plant would bring 13% growth by 2008.