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The story of how Ratan Tata pushed his idea of a car dor 1 lakh rupees or $2500 and convinced skeptical European suppliers like Bosch and indian suppliers like GKN and Rane Group to make the crtical parts for a car of this type. The experience of 32 year old Wagh in leading he development team shows how far Tata Motors has come thorugh meeting the challenge of the Nano that Ratan Tata set as an almost impossible set of tasks for the company's youngest and ablest engineers, who were eager to give it their best shot and make it work against all odds. The innovation wasn' in technology t was a mindset change, says Ravi Kant, the executive who led the effort, and he referring to the idea that this would be a real car at this price not some contraption on 4 wheels.

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Seib points to the intangible assets Ryan brings to to the Romney presidential campaign, which fill in for areas in which Romney is weak. The working man touch to connect with working class voters, avid sportsman to connect with younger voters, a practising Catholic to reach out to Catholic voters given Romney's Mormon background, the energizing effect for conservative voters having someone who has fought hard for the conservative cause. Also important will be Ryan's friendly manner, down to earth talk, and ability to talk to voters of all opinions, to reach out to independent voters.

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New data from Pew Research Center in Dec. 2013 shows 89% of Hispanics support a legal path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. But when asked to choose between relief from deportation and path to citizenship, a majority 55% of respondents chose relief from deportation, compared to 35% preferring a path to citizenship. This shows the extent to which the Obama administration's efforts in deportation have affected the Hispanic community in the U.S.

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Dean Santiago Iniguez de Onzono of the IE Business School in Madrid, says the humanities and knowledge of history helps students be reflective, and have a better understanding of other countries and cultures. IE Business School sees itself as a bridge between Europe and Latin America. He points to the need for small groups and smaller classes for maximum personal interaction in business education.

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This NYT editorial describes U.S. president Obama's West Point speech as lacking substance and overhyped. Issues of how to tackle relations with a more assertive China and Russia were left unaddressed, and the increase in tensions in Asia and in Europe were left out. Much of the speech used platitudes without spelling out what the U.S. would do, such as saying that there was no question that the U.S. would lead, it was about how it would lead. Questions raised about Obama's handling of foreign affairs will not be addressed by this speech, says NYT. The WSJ editorial on May 29, 2014, expressed a similiar opinion, suggesting that many are asking the same questions about whether there is a policy or whether it is being framed by Mr. Obama's personal preferences to stay out of most foreign issues and focus on domestic affairs, even though this means neglect of issues in which the lack of U.S. leadership will have serious implications for the future. Was the address an attempt to gloss over these obvious deficiencies with Mr. Obama's rhetorical skills?...

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The new interim board chairman of GM i Kent Kresa, 71 years old, who was CEO of Northrop Grumman Corporation between 199o and 2003, and previously served on the board of Chrysler. He is described as being very down to earth, pragmatic, who is expected to do well dealing with the government, by a senior partner at Korn Ferry International recruiters. Mr Kresa said in a statement that a new slate of directors will be submitted at the next annual meeting that will include a majority of new directors. That meeting is scheduled for August but might be pushed up. Kresa and Philip Laskawy, Ertnest & Young's retired CEO, had tried for 2 years to persuade fellow directors to replace Wagoner. They felt that Wagoner had fialed to change GM's corporate culture but were opposed by George Fisher, retired CEO of Eastman Kodak, and Eckard Pfeiffer retired CEO of Compaq. Of the 11 outside board members, seven are in place since 2003. Interestingly they are all retired CEO's except for Kathryn Marinello, CEO of Ceridian Corp. This has prompted one remark at ameeting of the administration task force that the board was "a collection of failed CEO's". Many experts advising the taskforce and the bondholders put some pressure on the task force to replace the board because of its complete failure....

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This editorial in the Hindu- after encouraging news from Moody's and the World Bank on India's economic future- says that the Modi government should not be distracted by the upcoming elections as it focusses on the task ahead. After a gap of 14 years Moody's raises India's credit rating one notch. Moody's cites steps taken by the Modi government as creating a better environment for future growth- the implementation of GST goods and service tax, efforts to clear some of the bad loans in the banking system so that capital can be freed up for infrastructure investment, and reducing bureaucratic hurdles for clearance of projects. Moody's cites the high public debt burden as a constraint for growth. General government debt is at 68% of GDP in 2016, higher than the 44% median for economies in this range. On the plus side the better targeting of welfare measures to help the poor including steps in the banking field, bringing more businesses into the formal sector to improve tax revenues, and the large pool of private savings, are cited by Moody's. Critical is timely implementation in the future. As the discussion in the media on bullet trains and other new infrastructure shows, there is not enough momentum for stretch goals as China has done over the last 2 decades.   ...

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The US housing market in 2022 with sharp increase in cash out refinancing and home equity financing. Total home equity increased 20% in the first quarter to $27.8 trillion, a record high, according to the Federal Reserve, the US central bank. About 60% of equity was withdrawn through cash out refinancing in 2021, according to mortgage data. Cash out refinancing simply adds the amount borrowed to the existing mortgage balance. The amount borrowed through such financing by homeowners adds to inflationary pressures with more cash borrowed on the house for home improvement projects, gardening projects, appliance spending and automobile purchases. The increase in the interest rates by the US Federal Reserve including the 0.75% increase in the rate announced on June 15 slows the amount of borrowing through cash out refinancing. The supply chain disruptions disrupted flow of goods at a time of high demand in 2021 following the lockdowns, and then the war in Ukraine added another layer of inflation from high gas prices. The combined effect with housing price pressures created the perfect storm in inflation the US is facing with the rest of the world. ...

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The React-1 study from the Imperial College of London acts as an early warning system for the UK on coronavirus. The latest study has raised alarm about spread of the virus that is not related to testing and is across all age groups leading to the new rule of six by prime minister Johnson. This bans gatherings of more than six as Christmas approaches. During the  period in July to August the virus was taking 17 days to double now this is at 7 days.  The React-1 study for Aug 22 to Sept 2 shows 13 per ten thousand being infected and compares to 4 per ten thousand July 24 to Aug 11. It is a robust study with swabs sent in for tests from 300,000 volunteers in Britiain. Prof. Eliott the director of the study at Imperial College, London, says that "there is an epidemic in the community and there is no room for complacency." The R rate is measured at 1.7 in this study which is taken seriously by the government as an early warning of what could happen. ...

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The legacy of extremely low interest rates near zero left by Italian banker Mario Draghi has he leaves the European Central Bank to be succeeded by French head of the IMF Christine Lagarde. There is considerable division in the ECB as Draghi launches yet one more program of bond buying called QE for quantitative easing- in effect reducing the interest rate of the ECB to minus 0.5%. All this is being done to address problems of economic growth in the eurozone which originate from other causes such as poor banking practices, overborrowing by member states and lack of transparency in countries such as Greece, the lack of investment in infrastructure, increase in part time workers in economic uncertainty generated from poor banking, essentially a lost decade. The ECB's monetary policy committee staff oppose the move and so do 7 of 25 members in the governing council.  Instead of tackling root causes this had the adverse effect of hurting savers in Europe and the U.S. leading to higher inequality and wearing out of social safety nets.   ...

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Student loan default reaches 22% in 2017 up from 17% in 2013. Defaulted loans are $84 billion or 13% of $631 billion required to be paid by borrowers.

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Ines Pohl of the DW.com points out the failures in the media to fact check the assertions of U.S. presidential candidates. She points out that there is no institution in the media that acts as a check on what is said on social media. That  sphere of discourse remains in isolation from the rest with a self perpetuating effect- statements gaining credence because they are repeated again and again. This is the situation in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Other unusual factors remain the polarization of groups- why are white men on one side and white suburban women on the other, why are less educated voters on one side and college educated voters on the other side. This reflects deeper divisions. As Pohl points out in her concluding sentence this reflects also the view of people struggling for a living, and people much better off. In the U.S. this leaves people with fears of economic insecurity which are then extended to fears on the basis of race and immigration. In this case immigration becomes a proxy for other problems in society which have not been addressed. Pohl calls for elites to come out of their ivory towers and start talking in terms that relate to people's lives and real concerns, real fears.  There are puzzling signs. At a time when immigration has declined to the lowest levels in a decade  from Mexico, and with a tough deportation policy for 8 years under president Obama, how is it that it is the big issue in this U.S. election? At a time when  the number of people of other ethnic origins are a tiny fraction in eastern Germany why is this the big issue there in German elections and politics? Is this a proxy for fears of economic insecurity or lack of upward mobility, or uncertainty about the future?     ...

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China's urbanization has proceeded to the point where the urban population now exceeds 50%. Urbanization as helped in the process of industrialization as young people went from rural areas to cities to work on the production lines. But further urbanization is running into problems as cities get congested and providing benefits such as affordable housing and schooling to migrant workers means raising taxes. The hokou system which classifies residents as urban or rural persists and efforts to reform it have run into difficulties in places like Chengdu and Chongqing. These efforts were abandoned earlier in Guangzhou and Zhengzhou because of the cost. The hukou system acts as a discriminatory system as migrants from the countryside are not allowed welfare benefits in the cities. They have only temporary status in the cities. And people from farming communities who migrate to the cities also have an interest in keeping land and homes they can go back to in the countryside. As they get into their 40's and 50's and no longer want to work on the production lines they can go back to the countryside. The government also sees the advantage of this as this acts as a safety valve for stability- during the 2008 global financial crisis about 20 million migrants went back to the countryside. The actual number of urban hukou holders in China is about 35% according to researchers at Peking University. Efforts to integrate rural hukou can be costly- the effort in Chongqing is estimated by local officials to cost $30 billion or 200 billon yuan to convert 3 million people. It has given 1.7 million people urban hukou in the past year with the conditions that these migrant workers must have worked in urban areas for at least 3 years. Migrants get to hold onto land entitlements in the countryside. But the urban hukou status would be limited to Chonqqing only. Nationwide the prospects for migrants obtaining the kind of urban hukou staus that gives them benefits of affordable housing and schooling are not good. The World Bank's Kuij's says local governments do not have the incentives or the resources to carry out the programs that are being tried in Chongqing. As the process of urbanization becomes more difficult, the rate of growth in China will be affected....

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Sheila Bair, former head of the FDIC, says householders, business leaders, politicians and government leaders are all prone to looking at the short term, and refuse to make the short term sacrifices necessary to put the economy on a trajectory of long term growth. There is also a sense of short sightedness and resistance to any regulatory steps that would actually create a better framework for the financial industry for longer term growth. The financial industry opposes increases in capital requirements for reserves that would lead to a healthier balance sheet for the industry, and opposes any efforts to create amore stable financial system for the country that might sacrifice short term profits. She points to IBG-YBG sense that prevailed in the industry, I be gone- you be gone, leading to the mortgage crisis. The industry tolerated faulty ratings, faulty packaging of securities, and showed complete lack of attention to the long term consequences of such behaviour and excessive leveraging, as long as the short term profits could be made. To a large degree the situation remains the same today, says Bair. Bair and Feldstein were among the first to suggest the Obama administration tackle the huge number of bad mortgages, that were leading to a wave of foreclosures. Only if this problem was tackled head on could this be put behind and the economy be put on a path to steady growth. As it stands today the Obama administration has not tackled the problem, the financial industry still has bad mortgage debt on its books, foreclosures continue, housing prices face further declines, and this will hold back an economic recovery. She refers to the "rationalization" of the last crisis by leaders in the financial industry through the assertion that nobody saw the crisis coming, when she says some of us did see it coming, and a "rationalization" by the same leaders in saying they did nothing wrong. Bair says that the continuation of business practices that led to the financial crisis of 2008 create risks for a new crisis. And some people in government continue to support these same practices while claiming popular support. The President's focus every two years is on getting re-elected and raising funds for re-election, business is focussed on the short term, and this creates a pervasive sense of the short-term throughout out the system and society. ...