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Huawei plans to increase R&D spending by 20% in fiscal 2012, compared to 34% the prior year.

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Ford's earnings were $2.55 billion for the first quarter of 2011, a 22% increase over the prior year.

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Social Security recipients to get a $250 check this year after a5.8% increase adjustment for inflation for 2008.

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First quarter 2012 vehicles sales declined by 3.4%, according to China's Association of Automobile manufacturers. Passenger car sales declined by 1.3%.

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This article in the NYT provides a look at the features of the Republican House Health Care Plan- Both the Affordable Health Care Act and the House Plan provide incentives for buying insurance- the ACA bases these incentives on income levels whereas the House Plan does not provide additional help for low incomes or elderly. Incomes at $20,000 would see a loss greater than  $2000 under the House Plan and as many of the elderly poor living in high cost areas may not have the resources to make up for this loss of subisidies they may forgo buying insurance or have insurance coverage that protects only in a limited way. President Trump has given assurances that all will be covered. For people with incomes of $50,000 or $75000 the loss of $2000 subisidies would also have some impact. At larger incomes or the well to do the subsidies are not handed out under either plan. Under the ACA the emphasis was on income levels and high cost insurance areas the subsidies were greater, under the House Plan the subisidies would be higher for the elderly compared to the young but very low income levels are not given additional help.     ...

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S. Africa's slow progress in getting opportunites for black farmers and President Zuma's efforts to jump start this with a mentorship program. The program benefits S. Africa and white farmers as fewer young people want to stay on the land and farm. About 80% of farmland is white controlled, yet the number of white commercial farmers is declining rapidly, from 60,000 in 1994 to 37,000 in 2012, according to Theo de Jager, deputy president of Agri SA, a commercial farmer association. Jager says a new generaion of farmers from the black community has to fill the gap left by fewer white farmers. One of the problems is the high cost of the program and seed money for new black farmers. Since 2009 the government spent $122 million a year to support only about 1 in 10 farmers on redistributed land. The government has spent $730 million to buy white owned farmland since 1994. New farmers receive about $500,000 for equipment, seed and livestock. A mentor gets $600 per month.

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Heidi Moore calls the Merrill-Bank of America deal a Deal from Hell because it includes destruction of market value, financial instability, impaired strategic position, organizational weakness, damaged reputation, and violation of ethical norms and laws. But the speed with which this deal put together in 48 hours has cratered shows how everything went wrong. On January 22 Thain resigned abruptly from Merrill-Bank of America amid a culture clash between the 2 organizations. After the deal closed on January 1, 2009, there has been an additional $20 billion in Treasury support, $118 billion of government backstops, a $15 billion loss at Merrill for 2008, a devastated share price for Bank of America falling 78% since the bank agreed to acquire Merrill on September 15. Bank of America stock closed at $33.74 on the Friday before the deal closed, on January 21, 2009 its share price was $6.68. Merrill was acquired at $29 share price, value which has disappeared. And Thain's and Kenneth Lewis 's reputations are tattered, with even more writedowns expected on the Merrill bad assets. ...

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The median net worth of Hispanic and Black families has been severely affected by the recession. Because minorities hold a much larger part of their assets in household equity the foreclosure crisis and the recession have had a devastaing impact on both minority groups. The median net worth of Hispanic families dropped by two thirds and black families by half after the 2008 recession from the 2005 figures, and was around $6000 for 2009 for both groups, according to data from the Pew Research Center. The Pew report shows median net worth of a white family is 20 times that of a black family, and 18 times that of a Hispanic family, with the gap between these minorities and whites twice as large in 2009 compared to the period before the recession in 2005. This was even true for Asian American families, whose median net worth dropped by half from 2005 to 2009, to $78,000. The figure for whites dropped much less from $135,000 to $113,000 during the same period. Another significant finding is that within each group the share of the wealthiest 10% of the people increased between 2005 and 2009, for all households this went up from 49% to 56%, for Hispanics from 56% to 72%, for Blacks from 59% to 67%....

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Google's shares fall 9% on Oct 18, 2012, after an early release of earnings report for the third quarter 2012 showed lower net income. The lower net income is a result of losses from Motorola and decline in Google ad prices. Google shares were up 35% so far this year and revenue continues to increase, up 45% over the prior year quarter to $14.1 billion. Google has a 75% market share in search advertising. It is also supplementing this with gains in display and mobile advertising. It has a 15% market share in display ads and 55% share of mobile ad revenue. The number of clicks on Google ads increased by 33% over the prior year, but the price per click declined 15% compared to the prior year. Motorola Mobility lost $527 million in the third quarter of 2012 and this clearly affected results.

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Lenovo shows a profit of $129 million for this fiscal year compared to a net loss of $226 million in the prior year. Revenues in the 1st quarter of 2010 went up to $4.32 billon from $2.77 billon with proft at $13 million. Margins are still under pressure because of growth in the lower priced PC market segment. Gross margins fell to 10.4% this year. To diversify Lenovo has introduced the Le Phone with China Unicom (Hong Kong) and sees sales of its mobile phones exceeding Apple's iPhone sales. It has also developed a prototype of a tablet PC in January 2010. PC shipments in China of $2 billon account for 45% of 3rd quarter revenues- up 67% in China's fast growing PC market. And Lenovo's plan is to expand sales in India, Russia and Turkey, from the current 5% in the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2010, to double digits.

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Anna Fifield says in this Washington Post report that the North Korea of 1998 with famine, and the North Korea of 2008 seeking stabilization when poverty and malnutrition were shared across the country, is not the same as the North Korea of 2018. For one thing more than half the people in North Korea work in what is essentially a market economy and most of the other half are involved in some way with private enterprise. Contacts with the outside world are also to be seen and the country is not as isolated any more. Kim Jong Un is also a leader who likes to have contacts with the outside world compared to previous leaders. 

This leaves room for change says Ana Fifield, change that could help the vast majority of North Koreans.

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The joint statement after the G-8 summit stated that "our imperative is to promote growth and jobs." It stated the budget deficits need to be addressed but said "spending cuts must "take into account countries' evolving economic conditions and underpin confidence and economy recovery." Germany's Merkel in her remarks said growth and deficit reduction supported each other, that "we have to work on both paths, and the participants have made clear, and I think this is great progress." Opposition Social Democrats in Germany say Ms. Merkel is adept at changing as the situation changes, and it appears Merkel is making the transition away from strict austerity policies she had championed earlier. Especially now with fresh elections in France, Netherlands and Greece, and the election of Francois Hollande on a pro-growth platform, the German position of strict austerity is being increasingly questioned on all sides. French president Hollande met U.S. president Obama at a pre-arranged meeting prior to the summit. Obama and Hollande see the need to reduce high unemployment in the U.S. and Europe by encouraging growth, creating a common interest....

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The U.S. and Japan sign a new security agreement in 2015 which removes a geographical constraint on Japan participating in joint action with the U.S. in protecting vital global interests. The agreement is called the Joint Defense Guidelines. The agreement will enable Japan's Defense Forces with the permission of its parliament to participate in such action. Earlier agreements limited action to the defense of Japanese territories. A new alliance coordination mechanism will be established with officials from diplomatic, defense and military departments of the two countries. Consultations between the U.S. and Japan will take place through this mechanism in peacetime and in emergency situations. The new guidelines also include joint development of weapons systems and sharing of military technology, and cooperation on cybersecurity, missile defense, reconaissance activity. Japan's reinterpretation of its Constitution will now be discussed in parliament in the context of this agreement, to clarify what other activities Japan can take on....

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Dugan and Spector of the WSJ take readers through efforts to push self driving technology to its limits at electric car maker Tesla. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is pushing the technology and plans to get a self driving car go from Los Angeles to New York by the end of 2017. Problems faced by Tesla include a car crash involving a driver who took his hands off the wheel of a Tesla automobile, leading to a crash with an eighteen wheeler truck. This led to an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Board and a decision by Tesla to make driver's hands on the steering wheel required for autopilot to operate. Earlier in 2015 Tesla engineers confirmed that the Tesla cars were not ready for autonomous driving because of near crashes when the reliance was placed entirely on the technology. Ten engineers and two managers resigned from Tesla according to this report by WSJ, with problems relating to deadlines and marketing decisions. Sterling Anderson, the head of the Autopilot program at Tesla resigned to start his own company with the head of the autonomous driving unit at Google, saying he was going to do it the right way, citing concerns that Musk was going ahead with the technology without making it failure proof. The tricky thing about auto pilot driving is the behavioural factors involved, where drivers may take their hands off the steering wheel and not be prepared to act as a backup should the technology fail or something go wrong. Another aspect of this is the tendency of drivers not to pay attention to the road and rely completely on the auto pilot to do everything, more than its capabilities today. Toyota and other auto companies are including some elements of collision free driving, and reliable aspects of the new technology into cars. For Tesla the driverless technology is part of its marketing appeal, and CEO Musk has moved faster in this respect than his own engineering team, according to this WSJ report. ...

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As Katya Adler of BBC explains here Catalonia's crisis is less about independence than about populism. Catalonia is already one of the most autonomous regions in Spain. Catalans want to be able to choose their future with dignity, yet on independence opinion is divided in Catalonia. Prime Minister Rajoy has not handled the crisis well says Adler, when he had many things in his favor including EU support and support under the Constitution. Police action and the negative coverage have hurt Spain. Adler also points out that Rajoy and Puigdemont may be doing this for political purposes to increase their support. Rajoy's government failed to win support for the 2018 budget as it is a minority government with thin support in parliament. Puigdemont may also have overreacted and called the referendum  without considering this carefully. and having a realistic plan. Both politicians are criticized for corruption in their parties. Catalonia wants to see more investment and revenues sent back to its region from taxes sent to the federal government making financial issues prominent more than grievances about use of Catalan language. ...

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This inside account of the events leading to the cancellation of the meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea shows how quickly the idea of a meeting between the two leaders unraveled following Trump's statements about the Libyan example being followed by North Korea. Soon after the suggestion for a Trump meeting was made by Kim Jong Un to South Korean officials Mr Trump picked up and endorsed the idea. North Korea made a public announcement critical of Mr. Trump  and National Security Adviser John Bolton took this up with Mr. Trump at 10 pm on May 23, 2018.  This report says Mr. Trump fearing that Kim Jong Un was looking for a way to back out of the talks acted first- possibly sensing that Mr. Trump could be made to look weak and small if the situation continued to develop and the U.S. is seen as a desperate suitor. The meeting had been set for June 12 in Singapore.  In the end the South Koreans and the Japanese were the last to learn about the cancellation and were taken by surprise by Trump's decision. ...

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AT&T, Colgate-Palmolive, Medtronic and Nucor are added to the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index. Companies on this index have raised their dividend payouts for over 25 years. AT&T is the largest dividend payer in the world, paying about $10.2 billion with a yield of 5.9%.

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John Harwood provides an insight into the polarized positions of each side in the negotiations and the changes in the national scene that have led to a polarized political climate and a polarized Congress. The political positions on the Republican and Democratic sides in Congress and the Senate are different from any other time in many decades of government. Between Tea party members of the House and Pelosi Democrats in the House there is a serious divide. The senior leaders of each party command less support. Consider the loud "no" given by newly elected House Republicans led by Rep. Cantor to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell's backup plan. The written pledge for no tax increases has given the Cantor House Republicans little room for compromise. And as Harwood points out each side, the tea party House Republican group, the Democrats in Congress, and the President, all know there is every chance that they could be voted out of office in 2012.The media is also splintered with vocal positions on either side. As Senator Chambliss of the Gang of Six Senators said on a talk show a week before the August 2 deadline for raising the U.S. debt ceiling: "Frankly, we don't know what's going to happen for sure." ...

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Lulu Garcia-Navarro interviews Homeland Security head Alejandro Mayorkas and asks him direct questions about the border with Mexico, published Feb 2, 2024 in NYT. Why the surge in migrants asks Navarro. Mayorkas is himself a Cuban born immigrant. Republicans in the House are impeaching Mayorkas. Navarro asks can you clearly say what has gotten us to this place and what went wrong? Clearly something had happened in Latin America. Central America drove migrants north after conflicts in Salvador, in Nicaragua and drought affecting Guatemala's agriculture for over 2 decades under different administrations. Mayorkas says in response to the question that the world is experiencing the largest level of human displacement that it has seen since World War II. He says the entire hemisphere is experiencing the enormous displacement in Venezuela as its economy collapsed. During the nineteenth century after president Monroe put forward the Monroe Doctrine that created a uniquely American sphere that asked European powers to stay away from the Americas north and south, any attempt by European powers was seen as an hostile act. It was American opposition to European colonialism. By the time of the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations this policy was not followed with the intervention of the Soviet Union in Cuba leading to a a wave of refugees from Cuba in the sixties. In the last decade the situation in Venezuela has worsened to the point that 8 million people have left Venezuela for neighboring nations, 2 million to Colombia alone, destabilizing the southern hemisphere. Venezuelans many from the educated middle class form the bulk of the surge in migrants across the US border with Mexico in 2022 and 2023. The problems were actually exacerbated under the Republican administration as the Venezuelan inflation spiralled after 2016 skyrocketing into hyper inflation by 2018 leading to the flow of immigrants outward that reached 8 million. This kind of hyperinflation the worst in the history of Latin America need not have happened with better managing of the crisis at that time. Mayorkas says the problem is that America's system of asylum is broken and both parties need to fix it. This is proposed by Tillis-Graham and Lankford all Republicans in the US Senate with president Biden's support. When he joined the Department of Homeland Security in 2009 Mayorkas says, US Border Patrol chief told him the real problem was that from the moment a migrant claims asylum at the border under US law and the adjudication of that claim it takes several years. This is the root of the problem the law can be fixed with the will of enlightened persons in both parties by simply passing a new law. Immigrants from Latin America are just as likely to vote Republican as Democratic and this may be particularly true for Venezuela's middle class that left the country as the economy collapsed with policies that led to inflation not seen in this hemisphere.  The other alternative is for the US and both parties to agree to what would be today's version of the Monroe doctrine- then opposing European colonialism, now opposing the breakup from within of Democratic countries in Latin America leading to waves of migration north of the border and causing upheavals all over the western hemisphere. Much less a policy of such resolution both parties have failed to fix basic policies of asylum and parole that today are being addressed by legislation being put together by Senator Lankford of Oklahoma, Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, Senator Tillis of North Carolina, three core states that are Republican since the Civil War, with the help of the White House and Senator Schumer. Yet in the House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson calls it dead on arrival simply refusing to break the status quo. ...

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VW hopes to expand in India with a plan to increase market share from 2% to 10%. VW has a plant in Pune, and Skoda has a plant in Aurangabad. In contrast to China where buyers look for high tech features such as mobile connectivity, buyers in India are looking for affordable cars of good quality. VW is interested in the Indian market because further growth of car sales is expected doubling from 3 million cars in 2016 to 6 million in 2030, according to CAR automotive research center. As part of the long term expansion VW has formed an alliance with Tata Motors, a leading Indian automaker.