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Boeing makes the decision to make the next version of the Dreamliner, the 787-10, exclusively at its plant in the North Charleston area of S. Carolina. This is a non-union facility. Larry Loftis, Boeing's vice president and general manager of the 787 program, says the decision was made because it is not practical to ship by air the midbody section of the new plane which is 114 feet long, 10 feet longer than the 787-9. It would not fit into the modified 747 aircraft used to ship jet parts from one manufacturing facility to another. Currently this midbodysection is assembled in S. Carolina from pieces shipped by air from Italian and Japanese plants. Then flown to Everett, Washington or a S. Carolina assembly line for the final steps in the manufacturing process. Reliability and quality issues for the Dreamliner, and cost, are also better addressed by reducing shipment from one manufacturing facility to another. The decision to build this non-union plant in 2009 created strains with the labor unions. The 787-10 is 224 feet long, carries 320 passengers, one third more than the 787-8 and 15% more than the 787-9. It has a list price of 289 million. Boeing has 132 orders from airlines and lessors for this new version....

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South Korea's crowded hospital environment and Asian culture of being in continual close proximity for caretakers lets the MERS virus spread. The government's failure to alert hospitals of known cases means doctors are totally unaware of the MERS outbreak until many patients with MERS were transferred to larger hospitals in Seoul. The result inhaled droplets of MERS virus and rapid spread. The government feared there would be panic in the neighborhoods and acted too late. The known cases of MERS virus reached 95 cases, and 2500 people are being monitored. All this happened in a few days- The first infected patient was at an hopital in Asan, south of Seoul on May 12-14, 2015. He was sent to a larger hospital St Mary's in Pyeongtaek, near Seoul, with no one knowing he had been to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. From there he was transferred to Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, and he was diagnosed for MERS virus on May 20. By this time 37 people at MERS were infected, and one of them admitted to Samsung hospital in Seoul infected a large number of people there. President Park Geun-hye's Gallup Korea approval rating dropped six percentage points to 34%, and the government moved to make an "all-out response."...

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CIC makes a shift in investment strategy away from energy assets to investment in Europe and the U.S., as western economies recover and the Fed tapers its bond purchases leading to credit outflows from emerging markets.

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The Microsoft Board of Directors has nine members with extensive management experience, no member younger than 56 years, one member from IBM with 28 years working for the company, an auto executive, and two former bank executives. There is no member who understands well or has a grasp of the technologies sweeping the internet and the information technology field. Bill Gates who owns less than 5% of the stock still has significant influence and stature to decide who will replace Steve Ballmer as CEO. Value Act venture capital firm owns only about 0.8% of Microsoft shares. Though it is expected to get a board seat, its influence in the CEO choice is limited.

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Only 23% of teachers in the U.S. come from the top third of college graduates, the figure drops to 14% for inner city schools. Only the best students get into teaching programs in Finland.

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GM's decision to close the NUMMI plant, a joint venture with Toyota that makes the Pontiac Vibe which is being discontinued, the Corolla, and the Tacoma truck. Its a way to reduce excess capacity for Toyota but also is a sensitive point as Toyoa has pledged to keep plants open. Toyota may decide to make the Prius at NUMMI. About 4600 workerts are employed in the San Francisco Bay area at the NUMMI plant.

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President Obama's call for boosting the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00 in his 2013 State of the Union address designed to lift millions out of poverty.

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Dexter Filkins points out how the Pakistan army and ISI officers are running affairs in Pakistan. And the army and ISI officers are playing a double game both supporting the Taliban and using American dollars to finance it, and at the same time obtaining American financial aid to fight the Taliban. Never quite finishing off the Taliban in its shows of force, keeping it alive to obtain American financial aid. Filkins confirms this by talking to a malik or tribal elder from the old feudal structure, and to independent Taliban commanders who operate outside the control of Baitullah Mehsud. He calls it Playing the Game.

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Apple offers a new way to buy iPhones directly from Apple with financing in September 2015. This will change the way iPhones are sold, giving more control over the sale of iPhones to Apple. It will enable Apple to stabilize core sales for iPhones by encouraging upgrades every year. The monthly payments are $32.41 for 2 years for the cheapest iPhone. Apple is taking aim at the average upgrade time which is increasing- it went up to 26.3 months in 2015 from 18.2 months in 2010, according to a telecom consultant. With the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales surged for Apple in the first 3 quarters of 2015 by 50% from the prior year period. It will be harder for Apple to generate this kind of sales increase as the new iPhones introduced in September 2015- the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus have better cameras and "3-D Touch," only incrementally different. A 16 gigabyte iPhone 6s would cost $778, about the same as the $649 price and Apple Care coverage of $129. The way iPhones were sold through wireless carriers kept the price hidden with higher wireless service charges- 2 years of a Verizon wireless 3 gigabye data plan ended up costing users twice the amount of the $649 price of the iPhone. Now the competition among wireless carriers will shift to pricing cuts and changing their pricing strategies. The result of the changes is likely to be increasing shifts from one carrier to another as Apple allows direct buyers to choose the carrier they want....

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A mid-July 2011 CBS poll on where Tea party supporters stand on raising the debt ceiling and on a balanced deficit reduction approach combining tax increases and spending cuts. This poll shows 66% of Tea Party supporters saying Republicans in Congress should compromise on their positions to reach an agreement to raise the debt ceiling. Only 31% said they should stick to their positions even if this meant not reaching an agreement. On a balanced approach 53% said it should be the path taken including tax increases and spending cuts for a solution to deficits, and 45% said only spending cuts was the right way. This shows a more flexible Tea Party than is presented in the media reports and strident statements of politicians.

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Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry tells an audience in Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous- or treasonous, in my opinion." He was referring to Federal Reserve chairman Bernanke when he said: "I know there's a lot of talk and what have you about if this guy prints more money between now and the election... I don't know what y'all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas." Perry's spokesman said Perry feels strongly about printing money, and "got passionate" in his comments.

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El-Erian points to the risks posed by the long term unemployed in the U.S. He cites the 43.9% of the unemployed or 5.5 millon people out of work for 27 weeks or more. In fact the U-6 measure for unemployment that includes the people who have quit looking for work and parttime workers is abetter indication of where things are. This was an estimated 11% in November 2011, according to Ed Luce in the Financial Times, cited by Klein in the Washington Post.

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One US military official says that there is very little respect and regard for each other between General McChrystal and Vice President Biden, going so far as to say that both men hate each other's guts. Personal strains, and the difficulties in Afghanistan compound the differences.

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Jan Hatzius, economist at Goldman Sachs, says the May 2012 jobs report of only 69,000 jobs added, and 49,000 fewer jobs added in March and April after revisions by the Labor Department, should be seen in the light of higher hiring in the winter months because of warm weather. His estimate is that the warm weather added 100,000 extra jobs in the 3 months through February 2012, taking jobs from the March to May 2012 period which averaged 96,000 jobs per month. The underlying job growth if these weather related effects are taken out would be 120,000 to 130,000 jobs added each month in the March through May 2012 period. Macroeconomic Advisors draws the same conclusions, and adds that reductions in energy prices should offset any negative effects of slower job growth by boosting real disposable personal income and supporting real consumer spending.

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This piece in the Economist provides useful insights in the efforts to repair relations between Japan and China by October 2014, following a series of incidents and disputes. Some experts say China's slowing economy is one reason for mending relations. Japanese direct investment in China has declined sharply by over 40% in 2014 compared to 2013. In 2013 there was a decline following other incidents, and Japanese business has experienced difficulties in operating in China. As a result there is a shift to other parts of Asia including Vietnam and India, that is underway. Volatile relations with China has given the Japanese business and diplomatic community pause about the future of Japanese business investments in China. This is also the background as Chinese Communist leaders face a critical decision on how to handle the protests in Hong Kong over universal suffrage- errors will only add to the image of a China volatile in its relations with the outside world. It is not just North America and Europe, China has to interact with, it has to interact with Japan, Australia, S. Korea, South East Asian nations (Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines), and India, all these countries not sure what China's intentions are after territorial waters or land disputes. Along with Indonesia and Bangladesh, this is a region with about twice the population of China and representing most of Asia, a fact usually omitted as western business rushed into the Chinese market. Chinese Communist leaders are faced with huge challenges and success in the next phase of development, and it is by no means certain under a ossified system of government which cannot change with the times, as technology and foreign investment will now be much more critical drivers of development than in the first phase. ...