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Greek leader Alexis Tsipras of the Syriza party, the Coalition of the Radical Left, talks to Angelos and Granitsas of the Journal. He says it is in the interests of the European Union to continue funding to Greece, but if the EU stops the funding Greece will stop paying its debt. It will then use the funds going to the debt burden for paying retirees and workers. And it will also tear up the loan agreements signed earlier, and scrap plans for layoff of 150,000 workers in the government services by 2015. He would also reverse measures to lower private sector wages. He also looks favorably on nationalizing banks to better channel lending to where its needed. In his view it will be difficult for Greece either way. Even with funding Greece's GDP is expected to fall 5-7% in 2012, following several years of declining GDP.

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Protests in 5 of Turkey's largest cities with mayors from the CHP party, Istanbul, Ankara, Bursa, Izmir following the arrest of Imamoglu, Mayor of Istanbul, just before he was being nominated by his party to run against Erdogan for president of Turkey in 2028. Ekrem Imamoglu was elected mayor of Istanbul in 2019, with 54% of the vote in a recount when Erdogan had been in power for 16 years starting in 2003. Erdogan also started his political career as Mayor of Istanbul. Erdogan became popular following mismanagement of the economy by the administration of the time. He increased growth with foreign investment in his first ten years. His popularity began to wane with tendencies for authoritarian rule. Without a strong candidate from the opposition Erdogan was elected again in 2020 with 52% of the vote. In 2024 Ekrem Imamoglu was relected a second time as Mayor of Istanbul.  In 2025 Turkey is a changed country- with countries around it Ukraine, Russia, Middle East, and the US, very different from the 2000 turn of the century period. CHP party in power in the cities is now in a position to run the country after two decades in the Opposition. As a result there is a shift in mood in the country seeking new leadership and the AKK party of Erdogan now faces a serious challenge from the Opposition CHP and Imamoglu. ...

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How Hyundai is making a significant resurgence in the US market only 9 years after its significant decline in the US market in 1997. Quality was hurting Hyundai's image then, now the quality is as good as Toyota and could surpass Toyota. However many Americans may not believe that this is possible, which may be the reason Hyundai has not received the acceptence it now deserves. Meticulous attention is paid to quality at its new plant outside Seoul.

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Efforts by the Obama administration to persuade the credit ratings agencies not to downgrade the credit ratings on U.S. Treasury securities. As deficit reduction talks stalled in July 2011 credit ratings agencies considered a downgrade. John Chambers of S&P says political leaders must agree to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years to be sure there will be no downgrade. Cuts less than that could lead to a downgrade, according to S&P.

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A study by Prof. Joseph Gyourko, of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, shows that the FHA risks having $50 billion in losses over the next couple of years. Analysts say the largest banks could face billions of dollars in losses if the FHA were to push defaulted mortgages back into the hands of the banks that originated these mortgages. If home prices continue their decline, a restructuring at FHA and a taxpayer bailout will be inevitable.

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The employment-to-population ratio for people aged 20-24 fell to 60.1% from 67.1% in the last 3 years. Prof. Katz says young people who have not entered the labor force and a large number of people who have applied for disability benefits are problem areas. The unemployment rate of 9.4% does not reflect the people who have given up looking for a job, or those who retired, and those who applied for long-term disability benefits.

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Demonstrations by public workers in Madison, Wisconsin. Public workers are protesting cuts in benefits by Republican governor, Scott Walker. Governor Walker is proposing legislation that will require public workers to pay more for health insurance and pensions, resulting in a reduction in take home pay of about 7%. He is also proposing changes that limit bargaining to basic wages, excluding benefits from bargaining. Wisconsin faces a deficit gap of $3.6 billion for the next 2 years.

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Greece's deficit and debt woes stem from a deficit that is 13% of GDP and debt that is 124.9% of GDP and these numbers are expected to go up in coming years. With the euro currency Greece cannot ease its adjustment by devaluing its currency in relation to the German and other currencies, as a result a disproportionate burden of the adjustment falls on austerity measures, which is why there are demonstrations and riots in Athens.

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David Stockman, director of the Office of Management and Budget under Reagan, is interviewed by Tom Keene. Stockman says the US has $52 trillion of debt on a $14.5 trillion economy, a ratio of 3.6 times GDP. Historically, before 1980, it has been around 1.6. This debtification of the US, he says, is the major problem facing the US today. Stockman sees little or no economic growth in the next 5 to 10 years, as debt reduction progresses.

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This Journal editorial says both Hollande and Sarkozy fail to address the issue of competitiveness in the French economy. Much of the election campaign in April 2012 has focussed on taxes on higher incomes and too little on measures that would improve competitiveness. Some of the action taken in recent years such as raising the retirement age to 62 from 60 are being opposed by Hollande, which gives the electon a fairy tale quality says the Journal.

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Matsushita Electric is streamlining operations after the acquisition of Sanyo Electric and Panasonic Electric Works in 2011. Restructuring is also taking place to compete with South Korean and Chinese manufacturers, and to focus on emerging markets. The restructuring will mean 17,000 job cuts over the next 2 years. The yen has appreciated 25% against the dollar since 2008, and the Korean won has depreciated by 35% during this period, making it tougher for Japanese manufacturers to compete.

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France's finance minister Christine Lagarde met with Brazil's finance minister, Guido Mantega, in Brasilia. She gave assurances that as head of the IMF she would go ahead with efforts to give emerging market countries such as China, India and Brazil a greater say in the running of the IMF. She said she would speed up the reviews- that now take place only every five years -on recalculating the weight member countries have in the management of the IMF.

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Young people in Taiwan voted against the Koumintang party government's policy of building stronger trade ties to China. This has weakened the administration of president Ma Ying-jeou, and turned it into a lame duck administration till presidential elections in 2016. Voters focussed on income inequlaity and wage stagnation. The issue of ties with China also were part of the campaign. DPP party won 13 of 22 seats for city and county heads in the election.

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The market for copper experienced a global oversupply in the last 4 years with a sharp decline in prices. The Sierra Gorda mine in Chile and the Constancia mine in Peru will add more supply of copper. Prices of iron ore dropped 50% in 2014, and copper 14%. The CEO of Glencore PLC, Ivan Glasenberg, says the problem is a huge misallocation of capital, as companies in the mining business continued to invest heavily with supplies outstripping demand.

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After years of rapid growth and rapid rate of credit creation China's economy is stalling. Each $1 of new credit generates only 17 cents in GDP growth, according to Bloomberg. This compares with 83 cents of GDP growth for each credit dollar in 2007. Local governments cannot find projects that are worthy of investment. Financial repression with low interest rates for savers is further depressing consumer spending when it is needed to rebalance the economy away from exports.

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The Bharatiya Janta Party wins state elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, two large states in the north and central part of the country. The Aadmi Common Man party does well in New Delhi elections. The Congress party sees a large loss of seats in all three major election states. The ruling national Congress party sees its support erode as a result of corruption and mismanagement of the economy, and younger voters dissatisfied with the party.

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Singapore's state owned investment company Temasek Holdings lost $39.9 billion dollars in the 8 months from March 2008 to November 2008, or half its portfolio gains of the previous 5 years 2003-2008, according to Singapore's finance minister. Temasek lost $4.6 billion in its investment in Merrill Lynch alone. This may be understated as equities have recovered some of the losses between November 2008 and March 2009, a deterioration in the market could mean higher losses for Temasek.

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George Bush's legacy in a strong US-India relationship built during the years Bush and Manmohan Singh were the leaders of the two countries. A relationship that owed much to Bush's conviction about the value of partnership with real democracies, with much of the traditions and features common to Britain and the United States and the English speaking peoples. Manmohan Singh's genuine respect for Bush and his policy of building India-US relations, including the nuclear agreement with India.

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Glaxo's Dr Garnier talks with Jeane Whalen of the WSJ about his work, a lot about his committment to running a company not just for rich countries, that access is a very important word for him and his efforts to make drugs affordable or even free or close to free depending on the country's standard of living, his 24-7 day handling the Avandia issues, and the innovative drug pipeline he has put together over the years.

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Typical of climate change events - this week's floods in Spain- a year worth of rain in a few hours and all of a sudden.

An area of low pressure that breaks away from the jet stream that should blow it away formed in the Gulf of Cadiz. In weather parlance it is called a cutoff low. When this moisture laden air hits the mountains it forms clouds that dump torrential rain on coastal areas.

The warmer the Mediterranean is more of it evaporates, this years it was warmest in record. The warming Arctic adds to this by weakening the jet stream that can blow this off, say scientists.

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The new US Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, 44 years was the chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer the USTR in the DJT first term. He is a former Air Force lawyer who became a trade lawyer and protege of Lighthizer.

In testimony before Congress Greer has said that he "does not subscribe to the myth that more trade with China reduces the likelihood of conflict."

"From a defense perspective, it is critically important to restore the U.S. manufacturing base to ensure that the U.S. can credibly deter escalation by China and, if necessary, defend its national security interests at home and abroad."

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150,000 homes in Los Angeles region that mostly empty are owned by foreign buyers 2025 who live in China and use it as an investment or asset to use when needed. This is a sore point for people who cannot find housing after losing their home in wildfires. Many of these homes are in the San Gabriel Valley- Pasadena, Arcadia, Temple City and San Marino.  Investors in such homes come from China, Mexico and South Korea, and real estate agents say about 1 in 10 homes are going to foreign buyers in these suburbs. Restrictions on moving money overseas by China's government has reduced the flow of international buyers in recent years.

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Controversy on abortion views for Ms. Brosius-Gersdorf, nominee to Constitutional Court Germany 2025. Brosius studied at the University of Hamburg in public law before doing her Masters degree in Law at University of Edinburgh in UK. After 4 years 2000-2004 pracicing law in Bonn and Berlin, she returned as research assistant to Harmut Bauer atTechnical University Dresden and University of Potsdam. In 2025 she was put forward by SPD in the Merz coalition govenment as nominee to succeed Doris Konig on the Constitutional Court of Germany. She says some in CDU distorted her views on abortion. Chancellor Merz offered his support for Brosius-Gersdorf on the highest Court.

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As drops in price of steel could lead to imports into the US with paying lower tariff Trump increases tariffs on steel to 50% on May 30, 2025. Nippon Steel says it will increase its investments in US steel mills at US Steel including older mills, $7.7 billion in modernization of plants, and $2.2 billion at Mon Valley plant. Ownership of US Steel based in Pittsburgh with 14,000 workers will stay in American hands. DJT intervened to make these investments possible. Investments will keep furnaces open 10 years and give every worker a $5000 bonus. It is this type of action that has helped DJT win in Pennsylvania and win worker support.