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Juleanna Glover points to the need for financing of the Kurdistan regional government in Iraq as the central government in Baghdad has failed to make payments to the KRG for its share of national oil income. The KRG would receive 17% of Iraq's national oil income under negotiated agreements, but only $2 billion of $12 billion owed to KRG has been transferred in 2015. The Kurds also have to support 1.8 million refugees from Syria and Iraq with the ongoing civil war. The World Bank predicts a shortfall in funding for KRG of $1.5 billion in 2015, and it needs a $2.4 billion bridge loan. Peshmarga forces it is reported have not been paid for 3 months even as the Kurds have borne a disproportionate share of the burden in the war.

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A big factor in U.S. car sales, which reached 7.5 million in 2015, exceeding the 7.3 million in 2000, is that a large portion of cars on the road were about 11 years old following the recession in 2008-2009. As Dexter Ford pointed out in a article in 2012 many car owners on the road had replaced the earlier 100,000 mile mark before buying a new car, with 200,000. This pent up demand, and the better technological features including gasoline conserving technology, gave new impetus to demand in 2013-2015. Lower gasoline prices at the pump of about $2.00 a gallon in Jan. 2016 across parts of the country made it economical to own SUV's and pickup trucks. The U.S. car companies Ford, GM and Chrysler-Fiat had sales of 2 million full size pickup in 2015, with the Ford F-150 leading. Car companies have come through a severe crisis and are taking steps to avoid a repeat of the mistakes of the past on fuel efficiency- Ford has introduced a lighter aluminium based version of the F-150 for example. Gasoline prices also provide buyers with extra money to meet car payments which now have been stretched to longer periods and lower rates by auto companies to reduce the cost burden per month. AAA says the average price in 2013 for a gallon of gas was $3.49, in 2014 at $3.34, in 2015 at $2.40. AAA says that 71% of gasoline stations sell gas at less than $2.00 in January 2016, and gas prices are likely to remain low for an extended period with lower demand from China, higher fuel efficiency going forward with stricter standards, new technology for shale oil production, and the replacement of cartel pricing by competing production from Saudis, Iran and Russia. On average Americans saved $115 billion on gasoline, or $550 per licensed driver, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report of January 6, 2016. In addition to the $550 saved the higher fuel efficiency with new technology adds a corresponding amount to savings per driver. Add to this the lower payment at low rates over longer periods and the car payment per month has been reduced significantly in a improving job market, to support car sales....

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Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates points out in this intervew with Holman Jenkins of the WSJ, that Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who worsened Shiite-Sunni relations, was the principal cause of the unraveling that happened in Iraq during the first term of U.S. president Obama. He says President Obama failed to do what was done by president Bush to persist and obtain Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq, to maintain a U.S. foce presence in Iraq. Presence of U.S. forces would have prevented the spread of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. U.S. force presence would have provided a more even handed treatment of Sunnis in the region, creating the conditions for peace by having Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites continue talks about the future of Iraq. Gates grew up in Kansas in the 1950's, attended the College of William and Mary for undergraduate studies, studied Russian and Soviet history in grad school at Indiana University and Georgetown University, before joining the CIA. Gates was selected by Brzezinski to work in the White House, worked under Brent Snowcroft, and as head of the CIA (1991-1993) during the elder Bush administration. He was Secretary of Defense from 2006-2011, under presidents George Bush and Barack Obama, succeeding Donald Rumsfeld. He was succeeded by Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, and Ashton Carter. ...

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The German parliament votes 439 to 119 on July 16, 2015, approving a 86 billion euro aid and loan package to Greece under an aid for reforms plan. 60 members of chancellor Merkel's CDU group voted against compared to 29 voting against the bailout extension of Feb. 2015. This included approval of 7.16 billion euros in short term funding for July 20, to meet a 4.2 billion euro payment to the ECB. This was conducted as a special session of parliament. Chancellor Merkel said: "we would be acting with crude intelligence and irresponsibility if we didn't at least try this path." Finance Minister Schauble told parliament- "We believe that there is a chance that we can bring these negotiations to a successful conclusion," yet he cautioned that after the negotiations of coming weeks "we will have to discuss whether the negotiations have shown a way that works."

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Netflix offers paid parental leave for upto 1 year in a fluid arrangement that lets parents decide how they want to do it, when they want to return to work, and when to take time off. This offers the flexibility to do this without having to worry about work or finances, a stated goal of the company.

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Research firm Dragonomics says real estate prices fell 4.9% in April from the prior year for nine cities in China. In 2010 prices in these nine cities went up by 21.5%, the increase in 2009 was 10%. Standard Chartered estimates China's second tier cities, such as Dalian and Tianjin, could have 20 months of housing inventory by the end of 2011. Standard Chartered says price declines of 10-20% can be expected. Government data understates the extent of the bubble and the drop in prices say analysts. Beijing real estate consultant, Soufun, confirms the slowdown in price increases, saying its data show average property prices went up by 5.1% in May over the prior year, compared to the jump in prices in 2009 and 2010. Prices of copper and steel are coming down after rapid increases. The price increases in the Chinese real estate market have put housing out of the reach of ordinary couples. In 2006 an average price of a new apartment in Beijing cost $100,000, by 2011 this had gone up to $250,000. It woud take 57 years of saving for an average person to buy the apartment at todays cost. The government's response has been to boost down payments on mortgages for second homes to 60% from 40%, prohibiting state owned enterprises outside the real estate sector from investing in real estate, and raising the reserve requirements of banks....

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U.S. States faced a shortfall of $86 billion during the 2011 budget season, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. This was after a rise in tax collections during the last year from an improving economy, and about $30 billion of tax increases passed in 2009 and 2010. States faced the end of $66 billion in federal stimulus aid, and their share of Medicaid costs are expected to go up by $16 billion in this fiscal year, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. The political mood has shifted with worries about the deficit and fears that tax increases could make the states less attractive for employers. As a result there is a focus on spending cuts with very few tax increases. Forty six states began a new fiscal year this week after legislatures focussed on spending cuts, mostly avoided tax increases, and some states placed restrictions on the pay and benefits of public employees.

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European Commissioner Michael Barnier calls for banning credit ratings on countries receiving financial aid. This comes after Moody's strongly downgraded Portugal's rating to Ba2 in July 2011.The downgrade was more severe than expected and comes right after the Greek parlaiment passed austerity measures in Greece. Moody's Ba2 rating suggests a 5 year default probability of 8.1% for Portugal, according to Deutsche Bank.

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NATO airstrikes played abig role in defeating Gaddafi's army. NATO has so far flown 7,459 strike missions, covering thousands of targets. The result has been the destruction of the Gaddafi regime's infrastructure and fighting capabilities of his forces. With every passing week the coordination betwen the rebel units and NATO for pinpoint strikes has improved. And in the final assault towards Tripoli NATO strikes destroyed any attempts by Gaddafi forces to launch an attack to retake Zawiyah. On the ground special British and French units have helped train rebel forces and improve their coordination and capabilities.

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Guido Westerwelle, foreign minister of Germany, and former head of the Free Democratic party, made another misstep by describing Germany's support for economic sanctions as a key factor in the fall of the Gaddafi regime. He did not credit NATO's military intervention as the main reason. Westerwelle opposed German support for NATO's military intervention and Germay abstained in a UN security council meeting vote to authorize military force in protecting Libyans from Gaddafi's regime. The results of this policy are seen as diminishing Germany's international image, and seen as isolating it from its allies in Europe and NATO. The new head of the FDP, Phillip Rosler came out strongly to credit NATO for the military intervention, saying: "our deep respect and thanks goes to our allies, who decisively thwarted Gaddafi's murderous units." German chancellor Merkel sidestepped the issue by crediting NATO for its leadership. FDP's rank and file supporters believe that voters will hold the party to account for this and other missteps by Westerwelle. Former German foreign minister, and former Green's party leader Joschka Fischer told Der Spiegel magazine: this was "perhaps the biggest foreign policy debacle in Germany's post-war history." ...

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The participation of Islamist men who did a lot of the hard fighting against Gaddafi with secular leaders in the new government of Libya. Islamist leaders complain the west does not understand them and their aspirations for freedom above all else. One Islamist leader says westerners think we want to lock up our women in boxes. See the amazing account of Belhaj in an interview with Nordland of the New York Times, Sept. 1, 2011. Belhaj is an Islamist who led the rebel fighters into Tripoli and was appointed head of the administration in Tripoli. He tells Nordland he is grateful to NATO for its help and holds no rancor for the past.

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The failure of the northern electricity grid in India and the huge power outage in 8 states affecting 369 million people on July 30, 2012. This includes the capital city of New Delhi. The outage was a result of the northern grid taking more than its quota of power from the national electricity grid in India. Analysts say India has a shortage of about 10% of electricity needs. Over half of India's electricity generation capacity of 205 gigawatts is based on coal. Coal India which is the largest producer has failed to meet growing demand and the coal shortages are making it difficult to expand power capacity. The national plan is to increase capacity by 44% in 5 years.

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The U.S. has 22 states that offer some form of work sharing programs to reduce layoffs by having workers work for shorter hours and receive partial unemployment insurance. This is a variation of the "kurzarbeit" programs that have helped Germany reduce layoffs during 2009 and during the period of high unemployment in Germany following the reunification of the country. Worksharing has major benefits in high tech and manufacturing industries where it is difficult to replace employees when the downturn is over and demand picks up. For the economy as a whole it reduces the stress of higher unemployment from cyclical swings in the economy.

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In three months since August 2011, the Indian rupee has fallen from 45 rupees to the dollar to 52 rupees. Analysts at HSBC see a decline in the value of the rupee to 58 rupees to the dollar. Foreign investment in India declined from $6.5 billon in June 2011, to 616 million in September 2011. The Indian economy is expected to see a sharp slowdown with growth estimated at 7.2% in the current fiscal year down from 8.5% in the prior year. Inflation is at over 10% for the last 12 months. The sharp drop in the value of the rupee is expected to worsen inflation. India's imports exceed exports by $80 billion. Any increase in exports in a slowing global economy will be offset by higher cost of imports. India pays for oil and other commodity imports in dollars, and subsidizes fuel and fertilizers, which would lead to a worsening of the large fiscal deficit. It is in this environment that the Congress led government decided to open up the retail sector by allowing 100% ownership in single brand retailing, and 51% in multibrand retailing. Foreign retailers will be allowed to setup stores in cities with more than one million people, of which there are 53 cities in India. Other restrictions are 50% of the required over $100 million investment has to be in back end infrastructure, and 30% of goods sold must be bought from small companies, according to Commerce minister, Anand Sharma. Each of India's 28 states would compete to individually permit retailers to open stores in their state. The investment in the retail sector will come over a number of years....

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The Editorial Board of the Washington Post on the challenges facing Mario Monti, the new prime minister, and the Italian people in 2012-2015.

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The maximum that can be paid out to executives in upfront cash for bonuses is 20% under the rules set by the European Union starting in 2011. And the amount of time that at least 40% of an EU banker's bonus must be deferred is 3-5 years. The US has not set up similiar rules restricting up front cash bonuses to prevent executives from taking excessive risks. During the 2008 financial many banking executives collected huge bonuses by taking excessive risks, even though the banks suffered huge losses after the departure of the executives. Now the SEC, the Federal Reserve and other government agencies in the US are reviewing the rules. Projected pace of Wall Street profits in 2010 are 28.7 billion for 2010, and the fear is for a repeat of the situation in 2008 as the US has no rules similiar to the EU. Britain's Financial Services Authority passed similar restrictions recently. The Dodd-Frank legislation for financial reforms requires the pay related regulations to be set by April 2011. That legislation specifically prohibits any bonus plan that "encourages inappropriate risks" at financial firms with more than $1 billion in assets. The view of the European Union's financial services commissioner, Michael Barnier, is that not enough has ben done in this area in the US, and doing nothing is to ignore the right lessons from the financial crisis....

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The Biblioteca Alexandrina, as a symbol of the new Egypt. This library dates back to classical antiquity. Youths formed a human cordon to protect the new library during the weeks of protests in Alexandria. The library's director, Ismail Serageldin, says the people love the library and protect it. He says the library is revising its work program to operate from now on as the focal point for the promotion of reform and civil liberties. In 2002, the library opened with a soaring structure designed by the Norwegian architectural firm Snohetta. It was funded by Unesco, the Egyptian government and other Arab countries, Mr Serageldin says the library is spreading the values of democracy, pluralism, freedom of expression, tolerance, diversity, which he is hoping is taking root in the younger generation. The library had 1.5 million visitors and 700 events in 2010. It has 4 museums, a planetarium, a children's science center, a library for the blind and 8 research institutes. It holds 1.6 million books, including a gift of 500,000 books from the Bibliotheque Nationale de France. The library has access to 50,000 electronic journals, and houses an archive of every page on the internet. We taught a lot of the kids who are demonstrating and protesting how to use the internet and how to use social media, and he is glad it has been put to good use, says the chief librarian, Sohair Wastawy. Wastawy is now dean of libraries at Illinois State University. Debate at the library has been open and and annual confernece is held by its Arab Reform Forum to promote human rights and civil society. A website is run to facilitate communication between Arab NGO's. Vartan Gregorian, a trustee of the library, who formerly headed the New York Public Library, says Serageldin has been a marvelous defendor of freedom and scientific thought....