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The Japanese government has come up with a plan that would make it possible for TEPCO to pay claims for damages that are estimated at $124 billion or ten trillion yen. The Japanese government will create a special body for handling the claims. This body will have the authority to issue government backed bonds which will be paid from future earnings of TEPCO. Other electric power companies are also expected to contribute to the cost, and electric power bills are expected to rise to help cover the cost. Support from the opposition LDP will be needed to ensure passage of this bill in parliament.

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Economist Lawrence Lindsey says the Fed has boxed itself and has little choice but to keep interest rates low. Borrowing at the more normal interest rates of 5.7%- which is what it was over the last three decades- and not at the current 2.5%, would mean an increase in borrowing costs for the U.S. government of $800 billion in 2021, says Lindsay. Lindsay bases this on the U.S. debt growing from $14 trillion in 2011 to $25 trillion by 2021, and interest rates going back to normal levels by 2021. Just to put this in perspective Lindsay says it would require all the cuts Republicans and Rep. Ryan are asking for just to pay for the added interest, not even about reducing the size of the U.S. debt. This would be a disaster for the U.S. Treasury, so we're stuck with really low rates. The term used by economists is "financial repression." Savers and retirees will have to put up with low returns. Lowering unemployment is only one aspect of U.S. Fed policy, the other aspect is in the constraints Bernake faces....

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Inflation in India is at 9.1% in May 2011, compared to the prior year. GDP growth for the first quarter of 2011 slowed to 7.8%, from an annual rate of 8.3% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Other figures show the same trend. Local investment growth for the second half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011 was at 4.1%, a decline from 14.7% at the beginning of the year. Foreign investment in the first quarter 2011 declined 32% from the prior year, down to $3.4 billon. Car sales have also declined to the lowest rate in two years.

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The National Federation of Independent Business report for May 2011 shows small business owners evenly split between hiring and shrinking payrolls with a slight edge of one percent for small businesses that plan shrinking payrolls. By contrast The Business Roundtable CEO Economic Outlook survey for May 2011 shows a much larger number of companies planning to increase payrolls than companies shrinking payrolls.