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The chief political reporter for the German daily The Bild, says Ursula Von der Leyen EU Commission president's performance on ensuring vaccine supplies is a disgrace for the EU and Germany. For once Brexiteers are proved right he says with having negotiated a better deal with vaccine suppliers, not being stingy like the EU officials, paying good money and securing supplies as early as April.  He says the EU's bureaucracy, its sluggish response, miserly attitude is now being confirmed in this health crisis and Germany is not looking good at all. Tiede says Leyen failed at the German Defense ministry and like other ministers in this situation was shifted into the EU Commission bureaucracy,only to fail again. He suggests Merkel and the heads of France, and Italy, Spain take over negotiating directly from now on with pharmaceutical companies. The EU officials are under severe criticism in Europe, shown here for different EU countries. Leyen is shown to have blundered further by creating a spat with Astra Zeneca- either she did not read the contract or was ignorant of what it meant, say critics. The EU's deal with Astra Zeneca was not with binding provisions, making EU officials at fault. Der Tiegesspiegel called EU's failure to admit its mistakes "jaw dropping" and bordered on "shamelessness." Der Spiegel calls it the worst catastrophe of Leyen's career. This now means Germany will have only 70% of its population vaccinated by September 2021, say experts. ...

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Oil supplies are not expected to go up with Mexicio and Russia's aging fields crimping production, non opec production barely budging with 1% increase this year according to IEA. Indonesia production down by half from its peak. Countries in the middle east like Iran are consuming more and have less available for export. And the Saudis plan to build huge chemical aluminium and other plants as well as cities in the desert, and increase electricity production. This will take up some of the oil production and make less available for export. Militant strikes have shut down over 25% of production of Nigeria's 2.5 million barrels a day of production repeatedly in the last few years. And Saudi Arabia has according to CERA only 2 million barrels a day of spare capacity or 2.3% that it can add, all of the safety cushion in one country according to Daniel Yergin. Yergin sees prices up to $150 barrel based on the supply constraints. The demand side is showing declining consumption in the USA but not by enough to compensate for growing consumption in China by 5% this year, and the increase in consumption in India, Russia, Brazil and other developing countries including Middle East. The reason for continuing consumption increases in the rest of the world is that price impact has been less severe in Europe because of the strong euro and oil priced in US dollars, and in China because Petrochina is required to put price caps so gasoline price increases are not that harsh. And India also cushions the price impact to some extent to protect consumers. And autos are just taking off in large numbers in China, Russia, India, Brazil and other countries. The drop in consumption in the USA has to be large enough to have an impact. And the shift to fuel efficient targets in the new fuel efficiency regulations in the USA are too modest and over a number of years to have any impact in the short term or in the next 1-3 years. In February US oil demand dropped to 19.7 million barrels a day, down 1 million barrels a day from the US average for 2007, but this insufficient conservation to impact price. Even though new cars are shifting to higher fuel efficient small cars the impact on the total fleet is gradual as cars on the road purchased in the last 5-10 years are still on the road. Even as the consumption falls in the US the offset is occurring in the other countries like China, Russia and India. Some of this is due to the euro and some to speculation but the supply constraints are real and demand momentum is still there in China, Middle east, Russia and India to keep offsetting savings elsewhere and keeping supplies tight. The euro increased in value by 2% while oil prices increased by 10% since the 1st week of April so there is more than the weakening dollar and some speculation to this surge, which may be why the normally cautious Yergin says the price rise to $150 is realistic and says, its not just that the genie is out of the bottle, a hundred genies are out of the bottle. That is to say for the immediate future of demand momentum and supply sluggishness which could run 6-24 months, to the Olympics and maybe a year or so from then. This ties in with the thinking behind the Goldman's estimate and CERA's estimate. ...

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On the production side output has fallen to an estimated 1.6 million barrels a day(U.S. government and independent analyst estimate) from nearly 3 million barrels a day in 1998. But even this is an estimate, PDVSA says its daily output is about 2.2 million barrels a day, and plans to boost it 4 million barrels a day by 2012. PDVSA points out that the oil exports to the US have remained steady at 1.5 million barrels a day. The content links to oil policy are 1. PDVSA direct involvement in economic development and social goals. 10% of annual investment budget to go to socail programs or about $1 billion a year. For private oil companies in joint ventures with government 3.3% of the local investment budget is required to go to social programs. Oil service companies include community projects such as low income housing in their bids. And spend 5% of the value of the contract in hiring worker owned service companies. Adding road construction and subsidized food programs the spending approaches $8billion for 2005 according to PDVSA. quote: "its not easy... but there will be no more projects with their backs turned to our reality." Rafael Ramirez President of PDVSA told industry executives in June. 2. According to the WSJ PDVSA's diminished production has cut world output by more than 1 %. PDVSA's 2004 financial results show exploration investment was only a meager $60 million in 2004 down from a small $174 million in 2001. Current wells are so old that that the ir output declines by about 23% a year, drilling new wells only keeps production levels stable. This decline can be seen also in the backdrop of the major strike in late 2002 and early 2003. At the time Chavez fired 19000 employees of PDVSA who opposed his policies. The employment levels are only now back to pre-strike levels. ...

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Ros Douthat sees the crisis only putting things more in the hands of the same elites that got us into the mess in the first place. The mess with an out of control financial sector which began under Treasury Secretary Rubin, is now being handled by his proteges Summers and Geithner. The lack of any new solutions and the continuation of the "too big to fail" era, says Douthat.

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Axel Friedrich, a top German Environmental Agency regulator who advocates using modifications of existing vehicles as a more effective solution to the auto emissions problem. He recently reconfigured the VW Golf to show that by making changes- such as lighter seating and weight saving hood other steps to reduce the car's weight, low resistance tires, and engines that turn off when stopped and start when accelerator is pressed, more efficient gear ratios, removing the mirrors and substituting tiny cameras, and improving the aerodynamics- emissions can be cut 25% even with horsepower intact. Working with the Institute of Automotive Engineering at RWTH University in Aachen, Germany, Axel redesigned the Golf in this way to achieve a CO2 emissions reduction from 172 grams per kilometer to 131 grams and is working to bring it to 120 grams. 120 grams per kilometer is the EU's tentative target for emissions for cars sold in the region by 2012. Automakers have for years complained that this would be difficult to do in this manner because customers were concerned about safety and comfort. Its not clear that this would affect safety. However with global warming a big issue in Europe, most automakers are making changes now to prepare for a shift to 120 grams per kilometer in emissions. VW has announced a diesel version of the gasoline version that incorporates some of the redesign changes that Axel Friedrich made on his Golf, such as low resistance tires, and more efficient gear ratios, lower chassis for improved aerodynamics etc. This diesel version costs a base price of euros 20,615, and is only euros 315 mor than a standard diesel Golf. BMW has a new diesel version of its 1-Series with low resistance tiresand a gearshift indicator, which emits 16% less CO2 and costs nearly same as its predecessor. At Frankfurt Auto Show Mercedes Mercedes is expected to announce more cars with stop start systems. All this will help automakers in Germany achieve the EU 2008 target of 140 grams of CO2 emissions by 2008 on the way to the 2012 EU target of 120 grams. ...

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The Detroit News Daniel Howes draws UAW leader Gettelfinger's attention to how serious Obama is about this auto loan not being a bridge to nowhere, and how Obama expects union, management and others to kick old habits and start building areally viable competitive future. Howes thinks Gettelfinger and the UAW may be doing what they did before in kicking the proverbial can down the road, as they said they would ask Obama and Democratic leaders to help the unions take out clauses for unions to do their part in the road to recovery that are stated in the term sheet for the loans. Howes reflects Detroit opinion in favor of the loans and helping GM, UAW and management get the bridge loan, but here he makes a marked shift in view. Howes accepts that the situation now is where with a bailout weary public and Democrats in the new Congress (more keen on getting energy efficiency and a competitive car industry than helping out the UAW and current management), and Obama, are not likely to support the old habits and ways of the car industry, its unions,its old managements and boards, and its old way of doing things. Howes is even skeptical of Wagoner's claim that he is going to reinvent the company. There are only 3 months between now and March 31st and the term sheet for the auto loans says the time between now and then should also be used to prepare for an orderly bankruptcy with government support and financing in place. No less than in a place like Detroit this columnist is calling for serious attention to be paid to what this term sheet implies and the public mood is saying by all concerned. In a sombre message to union bosses and management and politicians, Howes says its Big Three communities that would be paying their own prices as CEO's, union bosses, politicians and bankers, played chicken with other people's livelihoods and lost anyway. So the bridge loans given that there are only 3 months to come up with plans and action for viable futures for GM and Chrysler, are in fact a serious step for the last act before an orderly bankruptcy takes place, unless every stakeholder gets his act together. ...

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Chinese company investments in Korean companies are not doing well because of widespread feeling among Korean workers in these companies that the Chinese company is only interested in transferring the Korean company technology to China. Also hopes of selling products in the Chinese market have not been realized. Instead the experience is that the Korean company ends up up laying off most of the employees after being hollowed out. In 2003 BOE a Chinese company paid $380 million for Hydis, a Korean maker of displays for cellphones and laptop computers. After the transfer of technology to build a new display panel factory in Beijing, Hydis was left o hollow out and went into bankrupptcy protection in 2006. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation bought a controlling stake in Ssangyong Motor of South Korea in 2004. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, one of China's top state owned companies saw this as a push abroad, as China accumulated large dollar reserves from foreign trade, and a chance to acquire foreign technolgy for SUV and luxury car manufacture. Shanghai Automotive has partnerships with GM and VW to use foreign technology to make cars in China. The Korean economy after the financial crisis of 1997 was opening up to foreign investment. In this climate the Korean side was expecting China to open its market to Korean cars from Ssangyong, but this did not happen. Instead Korean workers say the company transferred technology to its Chinese parent, and after 5 years the partnership is falling apart in protests by the workers, layoffs and bitter battles amid declining sales. The Korean workers even have a word for such foreign companies that have come to Korea, during Korea's opening to foreign investors after the 1997 banking crisis, when Korean firms went for fire-sale prices. That word is "meoktwi", a slang term that means "a thief who eats and runs away." This has hurt China's reputation in South Korea, and its reputation as an enlightened investor in other countries. It also is what may be happening with Taiwanese investment in China in this downturn. Companies like Hon Hai, with its Chinese subsidiary Foxconn, are reported by the Economist to be shrinking their Chinese operations in a large industrial city sized campus employing 250,000 workers in the Shenzen area, to 100,000 workers. That factory city made laptops, PC's cellphones for Western companies using foreign technology....

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Experts say this is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and it has gradually accelerated since October 2007 from a gradually unfolding housing crisis into a full blown credit markets crisis with the lack of transparency in mortgage securitization and the loss of confidence in the credit markets as mortgage securities values collapsed. The worst is still ahead as home prices have only fallen to a small extent so far and experts expect another 20% drop in prices this year and 2009. In the face of this crisis Immelt can be faulted for not using caution in his promises to the analyst community but to be so unforgiving for GE shares to fall 13% in one day and calls for breaking up the company or frustration at GE's inability to overcome what were clearly extremely unusual financial and real estate market conditions that may be a first in 40 years, is clearly overdone. Jack Welch who said he would be shocked beyond belief and shoot Immelt if he doesn't make what he promises now is also expressing some of that frustration, but beyond this is the inability to grasp the true extent of the situation in the markets that Welch never experienced first hand as he demanded and got his managers to deliver on results quarter after quarter or be fired for credibility problems ,because Welch's batting averages reflected a stretch of years where there were no crises of the magnitude of what Immelt is facing today. Upon further reflection Welch still stands by Immelt saying that this business about breaking up GE and Immelt's in trouble is crazy. And Immelt is building GE around the growth engines of the next big success stories in the growth engines of the future in Asia and the Middle East and emerging market countries of infrastructure, energy, aviation, health and environment, which would also be supported by the smaller but still significant growth of industrialized countries. And these things take time to put together a collection of winning businesses to be well positioned for future growth. Can GE accelerate sales or are there any shortcuts? Immelt doe not think so. Can he change things in a "severe and protracted" economic downturn as the Fed put it last month? Its beyond even large companies like GE....

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It took a long time for the banks to understand what is in their best interests is in the best interests of the country's economy and homeowners, something Sheila Bair has been saying since the beginning of this year and implementing at IndyMac. Its just too costly for banks to use the foreclosure process to recover their money and it makes much better financial sense on the bottomline of banks and for the economy to make home payments affordable. Because the worse home prices get the worse the economy and banks do and nothing drives home prices down like foreclosures. The Bank of America settlement for Countrywide with state attorney generals to modify loans for 400,000 homeowners because of predatory lending practices also set the direction. Chase Bank is now using the Bair template to get the monthly payments down to an affordable level which is about 40% of the current payment by reducing interest rates and using a smaller loan balance and keep homeowners in their homes. Chase's plan will help 400,000 homeowners and will also help homeowners who are having difficulty making payments. It will put a 90 day hold on foreclosures till the program is put in place. Yet there is one problem. Only $350 billion of the 1.5 trillion in home mortgage it services are owned by Chase, the rest are owned by investors in the form of mortgage securities. It can do little for homeowners covered by these securites that are owned by hedge funds and other funds as a few of these funds oblivious of the overall interest including their own have threated to sue if loans are modified, and it would take some time to figure out who owns each security and what the terms are for modifying loans for that security. Its this part of mortgage securitiization that has slowed down a rational process of unwinding this problem throughout housing by making homeowners monthly payments affordable. And Fed's Bernanke did not come to grips with this point in his talk about mortgage securitization to UC Berkeley on October 31,2008, that mortgage securitization done in a way that make loan modification difficult is dangerous as it is today, and makes a crisis bigger than it otherwise would be, and turn a USA crisis into a global crisis through ricotcheting effects and a series of bad decisons....

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What are the systemic effects of one of the automakers going out of business? It affects the whole supplier base. This is the case in the event of a liquidation of assets, closing Delphi and so on. This was mentioned by Wagoner as the alternative and not prepackaged bankruptcy with DIP set aside loan for warranty financing which some experts are advocating in combination with a government loan with strings attached including a change in management. Some of the strings are covered in a New York Times editorial reflecting public opinion on the democratic side on this issue, and that includes removal of current management of Detroit auto companies, and fuel efficiency targets raised higher than legislation passed recently under heavy lobbying pressure from these automakers. Contraction of automakers and job contraction should be differentiated from liquidation of assets. The contraction of automaker jobs not just at the Detroit companies but also at Japanese plants in the US is going to happen even with a government loan to Detroit as Honda is also reducing its workforce and this will happen at Toyota also. The carefully planned bankruptcy with carefully and fully addressed warranty and other issues could be made to work along with sufficient government loan money in the $50-$70 billion range in return for equity and other conditions, and its not clear why the management of the Detroit auto companies see it as impossible and not just difficult, when they are already facing considerable difficulties in this market and with public opinion. Rampell talks about how jobs lost are not recoverable, and this is fairly obvious considering that the Japanese and the Germans are unlikely to relocate in the same areas that Detroit has located its plants , and prefer to go and build green plants to specification, and hire very carefully so that workers with the Toyota or Honda frame of mind are hired to work there. This can change depending on individual circumstances but is what they generally prefer to do. Also its important to bear in mind that forecasts that are being used of 13-14 million vehicle market in 2009 are just guesses, it could turn out that the sales drop to something like 10 -12 million vehicles, in which case there will be contraction of jobs on a large scale even at the Japanese and Korean and German plants which there is even now but on a smaller scale. ...

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Financial problems at Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena and the Italian government's role has introduced an element of uncertainty in the upcoming election in Italy. This has helped former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi recover in the polls. In Spain the newspaper El Pais published information from the ruling Partido Popular financial records showing hidden payments of 25,200 euros a year between 1997-2008. The opposition leaders asked for Rajoy's resignation and Rajoy did not address the matter directly till a joint appearence with Merkel in Berlin, where he said: " I have exactly the same strength, the same courage, and I am just as determined to continue as prime minister to overcome one of the most difficult situations in Spain of the last 30 years." Rajoy has a solid majority in parliament, with his party firmly behind him. This is unlikely to affect the political situation in Spain.

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David Barboza of NYT describes the hidden subsidies China gives to Foxconn for its plant in Zhengzhou, in a poor region of China. The factory there makes about half a million iPhones a day. These subsidies include incentive packages, infrastructure building, local government help of about $1.5 billion. As a result Apple has high margins. For a 32 gigabyte iPhone 7 that costs $400 to make, the retail price is about $649 in the U.S.  The hidden subsidies is why Apple can maintain dominance as profits are reinvested. And the result is that with only 12% of the smartphone market Apple can take in 90% of the profit, according to Strategy Analytics. Barboza looks back at Apple before co-founder Steve Jobs left in 1985 as focussing on manufacturing at plants in Colorado and California. By 2001 with iPod sales soaring the move to China under Cook, who previously worked for Compaq, was underway. With the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the move to China for manufacturing accelerated. The reason: only China offered the kind of subsidies, the speed of approval and building of infrastructure facilities, the local government support, the hundreds of thousands of workers, and the best tooling engineers, to produce in huge volumes with speed, and maintaining quality levels. Earlier plants including one in Colorado Springs that this Lyrarc editor was invited to visit just prior to Jobs rejoining Apple had many quality problems, so much so that Apple had a large part of the manufactured personal computers set aside for rework. The quality levels were dismal, defects were unbelievably high. This is the Apple manufacturing process and plant that Jobs must have seen when he returned, and which he hired Cook to fix. Not only were costs higher in the U.S., (subsidies in China came later) when Jobs looked at the manufacturing quality and the inability to get the quality he needed from American workers and engineers at that time in the 1990's, only then did he turn to China- and the more he saw what was possible to accomplish there he sensed an unusual opportunity to finally put the ghosts of memories from competition with Microsoft at rest, and to surpass everything that had been done in Silicon Valley. The result one of the most ingenious and large manufacturing networks in the world, huge profits for an American company, except for one thing- it would not do much for American workers. ...

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There appears to be a conscious deliberate decision by the Chinese government and policymakers to shift the economy from low-end technologically unsophisticated and polluting industry, that pays low wages with little worker protections, towards technologically sophisticated, environment respecting, and higher wage industry. This does not mean textiles are out, but textile companies that are larger better managed, able to introduce newer technologies and produce higher quality product- that command higher prices in the world market and therefore also able to sustain decent wages and worker protection- are in. Phasing out the smaller shops and the poorly run or deliberately polluting and labor exploiting companies run from Hong Kong or elsewhere. The general shift is to be a leader in products which are value added either by technology or human capital, such as better trained more knowledgeable workers. This is similiar to the shift Japan made after the sixties, as it moved from a rural to a urbanized society and textile companies like Kanebo became technologically sophisticated, while small shops withered out, and Japan gradually shifted into automobiles, electronics and chip making. The noticeable difference is that Japan with a prewar industrial base and a smaller market protected its home market for Japanese companies, whereas China lacking this prewar industrial base let foreign investment and companies overseas bring in equipment and use low cost Chinese labor to supply western markets. And it turned a blind eye to labor protections, at least till it had built up its own industrial base and knowhow with policy requiring Chinese partners in industry and technology transfer. Economic winds are also doing the job. Inflation, Chinese goods prices increased by 4.6% in May according to the U.S. Commerce Department. This is a result of the Chinese government requiring worker protections and decent wages and stricter pollution enforcement resulting in increased energy costs. For years the U.S. and other countries depended on China for low cost goods and the demand for low cost goods depressed margins which resulted in legitmate costs such as pollution control technology, worker protection and decent wages, being ignored. China is now left with heavy environmental cleanup costs, and a bad image internationally as a heavy polluter. The huge external trade surpluses China has built up exceeding a trillion dollars have pushed up the value of the yuan making Chinese goods costlier in world markets, and apparel and shoe makers in developed countries seeing Vietnam as a better lowcost alternative. The story of this phase of Chinese industrial development can be seen in a town like Honghe, a 90 minute drive from Shanghai, which has half of its 100,000 residents working in 100 factories and 8000 shops that knit, dye, package and ship some 200 million sweaters a year, bringing in according to local government estimates $650 million a year. Now many of these shops are idle and mirant workers are returning home. To see the subtler signs of the Chinese policymakers hand note that even visa policies have been tightened to make it harder for foreign buyers to visit Chineses factories and trade shows. Also the Chinese government has raised the minimum age for workers in these factories from 16 to age 18 and so on. And the impact is being felt in places like Honghe near Shanghai, Shengzhou another city near Shanghai which makes one third of the world's neckties, and in Dongguan in Guangdong where its toy, shoes shops close. The change also shows how quickly things can change in the world economy. Only 3 years earlier in 2005, Jiaxing Yishangmei Fashion Company, a family owned company was booming and had just landed Walmart Stores as a customer. Now Walmart no longer sources from this company. Analysts say that the Chinese sweater industry was probably overbuilt, with about 6 cities in China claiming to produce more than 100 million sweaters annually. A wave of consolidation could boost efficiency, and bring pressures to innovate rater than compete only on price. And many Chinese economists, and policymakers think China has relied too much on cost-cutting and simple production models to increase exports. A researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences thinks such a high dependence on foreign trade is not good for China. For the US and Japan this researcher says that trade is equivalent to 20% of gross national product and by contrast for China trade is equivalent to an extreme of 75% of GNP. ...

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This article by Horowitz in the NYT shows some of the criticism leveled against the Clintons and how they were out of touch with the white working class voters who have drifted to Mr. Trump.  It may be overdone in that not all white working class voters have drifted to Trump, and a Gallup survey has shown Trump supporters to be some white working class but also many from other groups in society, and many older less educated voters.  Trade Unions have played a large role in this election, and workers in manufacturing have voted Democratic in midwestern states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. Horowitz also ignores some points in this campaign such as when Bill Clinton was adept at openly stating that he agreed with people who said Obamacare had increased premiums, and that some of the Obamacare program needed to be fixed. This took some of the criticism of Republicans on Obamacare and turned this around. He also showed a better understanding at times of the plight of working class people just from his habit of listening and thinking about how this affects ordinary people, a skill he has even to this day. A 2014 NBC/WSJ poll showed Bill Clinton with a 56 percent favorability rating, which is higher than president Obama, and exceeded only by Michelle Obama at 64 percent. ...

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This article in The Indian Express shows that even though Subhas Chandra Bose differed with Mohandas Gandhi during the late 1930's, Bose had a deep respect and affection for Gandhi in mobilizing the Indian people for Swaraj. Bose's relationship with Nehru and Patel were of people at the same level and appeared to compete for attention compared to the relationship with Gandhi which was one of mentor and follower. In the end Bose's restlessness at British refusal to negotiate Swaraj and Gandhi's patience led to Bose actively resisting British rule in 1940.  Mohandas Gandhi had deep faith in the Bhagavad Gita and believed the lines in the Bhagavad Gita where it says- "Whenever, O descendent of Bharata, there is decline of Dharma, and rise of Adharma, then I embody Myself. For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of Dharma, I come into being in every age." Gandhi wrote in his Discourses on the Bhagavad Gita on November 11, 1930- "God dwells in our hearts as the holy spirit within us, and when yearning for knowledge, like Arjuna, we take our spiritual difficulties to Him, and seek his guidance, seek refuge in Him, He is ever ready to instruct us." The other way in which Gandhi differed was in his deep insights and views of the British as a people that Bose lacked. Some of this came from his days in London and some of this from his days in South Africa working with and negotiating with the British. Mohandas Gandhi says in Hind Swaraj in 1910- "The English merchants were able to get a footing in India because we encouraged them. When our princes fought among themselves they sought the help of Company Bahadur. That corporation (British East India Company) was vested alike in commerce and war. It was unhampered by questions of morality. Its object was to increase its commerce and make money. It accepted our assistance, and increased the number of its warehouses. To protect the latter it employed an army which was utilized by us also. Is it not then useless for us to blame the British for what they did at that time? The Hindus and the Mahomedans were at daggers drawn. This too, gave the Company its opportunity, and thus we created the circumstances that gave the British control over India. Hence it is truer to say that we gave India to the British than India was lost. The causes that gave them India help them retain it. Some Englishmen say they took India and they hold India by the sword, both these statements are wrong. The sword is entirely useless for holding India. We alone keep them." Gandhi''s view of India was of a nation of shopkeepers, even citing Kruger of South Africa when he was asked if there was gold on the moon. Kruger said likely not, for if there was the British would have annexed it. By 1945 when Gen. Wavell, the Viceroy wrote back to London that he would require more army divisions to control India than Britain could afford, or the British people had the will to support or had commercial interests worth protecting after the war, the British moved up the year of their withdrawal. And began the negotiations with Gandhi for independent India.  Gandhi also says that in his reading of Vivekananda's writings the love that I had for my country became a thousand-fold. Gandhi looked to Vivekananda for inspiration in some of his ideas on Swaraj. Bose says Vivekananda's writings sent him into raptures yet saw Vivekananda "simple as a child" not realizing the spiritual strength Vivekananda had drawn from which overcomes all. As the Lord says in the Bhagavad Gita- "I am the Self, O Gudakesa, existent in the heart of all beings, I am the beginning, the middle, and also the end of all beings. Of the Adityas, I am Vishnu, of luminaries, the radiant Sun; of the winds I am Marici; of the asterisms, the moon."   ...

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See the important link to Keith Johnson, 7/9/2007, WSJ, on the economics of wind energy, suppliers, and the industry in the US and Europe, and the shortage of turbines because of some 800 parts that go into the turbines and blades making it a complicated supplier issue to get more turbines. We can make only more turbines as fast as we can access the last of some 8000 components says a Vestas executive. Windmill generated electricity was only 0.4% of the electricity generated in the US compared to 0.1% for solar and 0.4% for geothermal but of the new energy added in the US in 2007 it was 30% of the new energy generating capacity added. So it has a disproportionate share of the increase in generating capacity starting from an insignificant base. Its a new industry but with many companies the largest being Vestas of Denmark, GE Energy, Nordex of Germany and Accoiona of Spain. Germany, the US, Spain India, and China are countries at the forefron of the wind energy business. Because the business is relatively new manufacturers were not providing the installation and maintenance required in emerging market countries in 1995 when Suzlon which had powered its yarn business in Surat, Gujarat with 2 wind energy turbines from Vestas entered the business seeing an opportunity. Mr Tanti of Rajkot, Gujarat, Suzlon's founder saw the opportunity and used European firms to design his turbines and blades and provided energy to Bajaj Auto and large Indian companies that have an erratic supply of electricity because of chronic electricity shortages. Starting with a tax break which allowed Suzlon to deduct windmill costs against its sales tax bill enacted in 1999 and retracted in 2002 Suzlon took advantage of lower manufacturing costs in India. Its main plant is in Pondicherry, India. By 2002 sales had increased to $131 million in India from $32 million in 2000. The company entered the US market in 2003 and in 2004 with the boomin stock market in India Citigroup took a 9% stake in Suzlon for $22 million. By 2005 Suzlon because of lower manufacturing costs had margns of20% compared to 8% for European companies and Suzlon raised $340 million in an IPO. With loans from Barclays and Deutsche Bank Suzlon bought European parts makers Hansen Transmission in 2006 and set up a factory in Tianjin, India. Early on in the 1990's it had set up an R&D center using engineers in Germany of a supplier company in wind energy Sudwind that had exited the business, this R&D center now designed its largest turbine for US and European markets of 2.1 megawatts and blades 50 yards in length. Today Tanti and Suzlon are faced with problems accessing the world class technology of the western companies as its technology has not kept up with the technological advances especially in addressing the needs of western markets. It has about 8% of the US market and about $1.8 billion in global sales. Its pricing to Edison Energy in 2006 for 1.2 megawatt turbines was 20% below European and American manufacturers. Its latest designs have flaws because Edison Energy of Irvine , California, has seen cracks in the blades at 3 windmill sites in the midwest USA and Suzlon has withdrawn 1251 blades, the majority of the ones sold in the US. Deere and Company another customer has experienced the same problem. And even though it has moved to acquire technology by taking over 33.6% of REpower which has advanced technology and makes 5 megawatt turbines. its mired in its efforts to get the blueprints of advanced designs from REpower because German law considers minority shareholders like Suzlon as competitors, other shareholders Areva of France and Martifer of Portugal have to be bought out and minority shareholders also bought out before Suzlon can access the designs. Speed, funding, tax breaks, and timing to attract capital, and most of all insight and courage to see a growing opportunity from its own experience of using two 2.1 megawatt turbines from Denmark's Vestas, and looking deeper into problems with maintenance and support in Asia and lack of technology for homegrown development that hamstrung development of energy alternatives in dire and chronic electricity short Indian companies, this has helped bring windpower to India and a new company in a new industry from scratch. ...

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1. PETROBRAS KNOWHOW IN DEEP-WATER DRILLING HONED IN DEEPWATERS 100 MILES FROM RIO. In the 1970's Petrobras discovered oil in the coastal area near Maca. Later geological tests showed large deposits more than 100 miles offshore and more than a mile deep underwater. Senior Petrobras engineers worked with manufacturers to develop pressure resistant instruments and the hardware needed to drill deeper. This technology was developed over the years and Petrobras has now honed its skills in deepwater drilling. Since then Petrobras has become the leader in deepwater drilling.. The fact that Brazilian oil was offshore made Brazil focus on offshore oil exploration and use the Atlantic ocean near Brazil for one big R&D project. Petrobras uses floating platforms, of which many are converted oil tankers. These platforms are more agile in deep and remote waters and better weater waves and storms. Petrobras gets 90% of its oil from the waters over 100 miles north east of Rio de Janeiro from a cluster of 38 such platforms. The floating platforms are like large ships that can be connected to hoses to pumping points on the seabed. 2. PETROBRAS INVESTMENTS IN OVERSEAS OFFSHORE DEEPWATER OIL PRODUCTION. Petrobras has the size and profits to have global reach and make the large investments and bring deepwater expertise to other regions. It is 55.7% state owned. Production was 1.9 million barrels a day in 2006. Sales of $45 billion and profits of $10 billion for 2005. The 2005 profit was a 50% increase from 2004. Countries where Petrobras is working include Angola, Tanzania, Turkey and India. Petrobras has stated that it will increase overall investments by 66% in the next 4 years investing $87 billion, mostly on exploration and production from 2007 to 2011. Of that $12.1 billion will be invested overseas for new platforms off the Gulf of Mexico and new fields off the coast of Nigeria and Angola. Petrobras plans to invest $2 billion in the Gulf of Mexico for deepwater drilling. ...

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The NYT editorial says the negative feedback loop of foreclosures begetting falling house prices, which beget more foreclosures, and further weaken banks, is well under way. One way to have broken this, was to enable good types of loan modifications, which reduce the principal for homeowners and reduce payments significantly. Sheila Bair at FDIC says 32% of prior payments is about the right amount. The bad types of loan modifications that lead to no reduction in principal, and put homeowners back in redefault because of large payments that homeowners "under water" or a lost job cannot afford, have so far been the dominant kind of loan modification. At present 14 million homeowners are "under water," in that their homes are worth less than what is owed on the mortgage. One of the crucial measures which would have enabled this, has not been pushed by the Obama administration through Congress. This was to pass an amendment that allowed bankruptcy judges to modify troubled mortgages. Banks which have taken billions of dollars in loans from the federal government were allowed to lobby aggressively to kill this amendment, and the Obama administration did little to push this amendment in Congress. 12 Senate Democrats joined 39 Senate Republicans to block a vote on the amendment. Says the NYT editorial "when the time came to stand up to the banking lobbies and cajole yes votes from reluctant senators-the White House did'nt. When the measure failed there wasn't even a statement of regret." This could turn out to be a major mistake, because as the NYT points out voluntary loan modifications have shown poor results. The administration's plan to provide incentives for loan modification is untried and tested, and may not produce significant results. With 14 million homeowners under water, and spiralling foreclosures, the situation may get out of control and seriously damage the economy. After the moratorium in home foreclosures ended there is expected to be a big surge in foreclosures, with estimates of 290,000 to 341,000 foreclosures in March, 2009. If this is allowed to continue it will undo all the good work in other areas, the stimulus spending, rebuilding the auto industry and other steps. It will also be more difficult to reverse as valuable time passes and the cost of the crisis escalates. A consensus among many experts was that stronger action in connection with the banks was required, and Martin Feldstein has warned about the danger posed by foreclosures since early 2008, see links....

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India's large deposits of coal and iron ore are in the north east part of the country. In the least developed and poorer part of the country, in and near the states of Chhatisgarh, Bihar and Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. About 85 million tribal people live in the dense forests of this region. State governments have given rights for extracting coal and iron ore to Indian steel companies and some foreign companies. But no arrangement has been worked out so that the tribals can improve their standards of living and have access to education, health care and better living conditions by the companies, and relying on the governments and bureaucracy has proved precarious as they have done little for the tribal people. This has created an opening for a Maoist type violent movement which originated in West Bengal in Naxalbari several decades back. Because of the rapid progress in other parts of the country in the south and north and western parts of India not enough attention has bee given to develop a solution that integrates the tribal people into the progress that the rest of the country is experiencing starting with basic things like literacy, living conditions, sense of ownership and dignity, health care and so on. What this does is slow down the overall process of development as violent incidents take place against mining sites of major Indian and foreign companies. Chhatisgarh state an area with poor control by the government over Naxalite militants is where 23% of India's coal and iron ore deposits lie. India's Planning Commission prepared a special report on the collective failure of social and economic policies in the tribal areas and poorer parts of the country. At this point the government's response has been to respond with security arrangements but better policies and execution of efforts to improve conditions in tribal areas are needed in a timely way....

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Spain provides 14 public holidays that are mostly Catholic holidays, and an additional 22 vacation days, which is similiar to the the EU average. Unlike the practice in the U.S. and Britain to have these holidays fall mostly on Fridays and Mondays, in Spain many of these holidays fall in the middle of the week. This disrupts productivity as Spaniards use bridge days or puentes to create long weekends during which many offices and factories are empty, disrupting productivity. Most companies cannot plan for meetings and work because counterparts may be using the bridge days during these holidays, and working with international clients is difficult and hard to explain. Spain's new prime minister is determined to increase Spain's competitiveness, and bring Spain to the level of competitiveness of countries that do well in this measure, including other European and Asian economies. He describes this in his book "En confianza. Mi vida y mi proyecto de cambio para Espana." ("In confidence. My life and project of change for Spain") In his inauguration address he said Spain should correct "the work calendar to make the rights of workers compatible with the competitiveness of our companies." Vacations are a sensitive issue in Spain because tourism generates 10% of GDP and employs 10% of the workers. Alberto Nadal, who addresses labor issues at the main business association in Spain, says a change of mentality is needed in Spain, and doing away with bridges shows Spain is grasping the idea that things should be done differently for the eurozone community of nations. This also shows some of the differences in the Iberian peninsula countries of Spain and Portugal, where the countries are embracing the change and there is less unrest even with high unemployment, as compared to Greece. In Greece the changes are being resisted by politically connected groups, where political parties enjoy little support and there is much unrest, making the project difficult. Mariana Rajoy, Sarkozy and Merkel are from centre right parties in Spain, France and Germany, and have had a close association for years before Rajoy was elected- during EU meetings of centre right parties, as is evident in Rajoy's book. They also share a similiar business and political orientation. ...

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The lessons from the British auto industry which ran through $16.5 billion in rescue money in the 70's and 80's before collapsing as German and Japanese automakers took over its markets. One of the problems was the failure of labor relations, the other was shoddy quality just when the Germans and Japanese were improving theirs aggressively. The labor relations are a problem at the Detroit automakers and quality has also been an issue with Detroit playing catchup again and again for three decades. Management's lack of vision and leadership in fuel efficiency may have struck a fatal blow, and the concentration on overseas markets at GM without foresight and vision for the American market may now be called a failed strategy. British auto experts say that Leyland controlled 36% of the British market even in the 70's before gradually going out of business and its start was even before General Motors.

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Responding to criticism of the Clinton Foundation which has affected Hillary Clinton's ability to win voter support in her contest with Bernie Sanders, the Clinton family has decided to take action in August 2016. The Clinton Global Initiative will be discontinued in 2017. Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will stop raising funds for the Clinton foundation. The Clinton Foundation will not accept funds from foreign donors. What started as a do-good effort to raise funds for worthy causes such as world health, poverty and hunger turned out -because of its very success in raising large amounts of money from corporate donors- into a distraction for the election campaign of Hillary Clinton in 2016. It opened up Hillary Clinton to charges of having conflicts of interest from outsiders Sanders and Trump. Hillary Clinton discontinued her association as a board member of the foundation in 2015 when she began her campaign. Bill Clinton continued to give paid speeches and raised $2.6 million. All that fund raising appears to have been a big mistake and not even fair to the candidate, as it gave rise to misperceptions about the candidate going far beyond what the Clintons ever understood about was happening. As former Labor Secretary Robert Reich put it, it gives rise to accusations of impropriety that may affect an election, without the voters getting a chance to evaluate the candidates on the basis of what each candidates program or agenda is. In this the Clinton family may have realized that in retrospect the entire foundation activity appears to be a small matter, when put next to the choices facing the U.S. and the world in 2016 for the next decade and beyond. The Clinton Foundation in future would be managed by people independent of the Clinton family and circle. The next step would be setting it up as a public foundation, a new board and professional staff. Was it all worth the problems it has created for voters being able to get a clear idea of what each candidate offered, an not acting as a huge and dangerous distraction which Hillary Clinton and the country and the world could do without, considering the significance of making good choices in a general election- very much so. The foundation and the fund raising made it possible for outsiders Sanders and Trump to turn this election into one of slogans and accusations, to which the Clintons were unprepared to respond, acting as a distraction  which was bad for the country and the world. ...