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State owned shipbuilder Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin), defaulted on a $600 million loan in December 2010. Inflation is running close to 12% in December from a year earlier, and the Vietnamese currency, the dong, has lost a fifth of its value since mid- 2008. Vinashin borrowed heavily with the idea of becoming a leading shipbuilder, and nearly collapsed in mid 2010 with $4.4 billion in debts. Top executives were arrested for mismanagement of the company. Vietnam faces a problem faced by other emerging market economies in the past- it has only small foreign exchange reserves, which may be why it decided to let Vinashin default. The $14 billion the IMF reported for Vietnam as of September end 2010, is not enough to cover the short term debt of about $6-$7 billion and a wide trade deficit of $12 billion according to a credit markets strategist at UBS AG in Singapore. Experts say Vietnam has not learned from the lessons of other emerging market countries in Asia that faced a financial crisis in the 1990's. The central bank estimates credit will go up by 28% in 2010 over 2009. The government is focussed on growth, and experts are pessimistic about any changes at the coming party congress or in policies of the government. The Communist party promotes officials on the basis of their ability to hit growth targets and meet five year plans- with little regard for inflationary effects and corruption. One government official says the only thing the Communist party understands is growth and this is why little change can be expected. ...

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The solitary side of Obama's nature, which leads to an insular presidency, without the frequent contact with other political leaders and the public. Kornblut calls it the schmooze deficit. One Democratic leader says Obama is daisdainful of things that make people feel connected to him. In numerous interviews lawmakers from both parties complained of arms-length treatment. Earlier reports also show a leader who does not go outside his close inner circle to understand what is happening in the country. Obama is not known for making social encounters outside the ones scheduled or to make spontaneous calls. Some of this solitary nature comes across in this autobiography, "Dreams From My Father." In that memoir Obama writes that if the talk began to wander, or cross the border into familiarity, he would soon find reason to excuse himself. And that he had grown too comfortable in his solitude, the safest place he knew.

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Sale by Credit Suisse of a $2.8 billion porfolio of bad commercial property loans to Apollo Management for $1.2 billion. Banks were reluctant to take big losses on boom time real estate loans after the financial crisis of 2008. As a result few sales with big losses ocurred. Banking profits and better financial conditions in late 2010 makes taking losses on bad loans easier to absorb. Demand for distressed assets from private equity funds has pushed up prices buyers are willing to pay. Executives at private equity firms say banks are definitely lossening up. Kingsley Greenland, CEO of loan-sale advisory firm Debt Exchange, says banks are getting more aggressive, not only marking the assets appropriately but moving forward with selling the assets. Debt Exchange sold commercial real estate loans on behalf of 38 financial institutions since October 2010, compared to 19 in the last quarter of 2009.

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Fearing retaliation by Chinese regulators, US executives are silent on trade issues. As a result the issue of wind energy subsidies to Chinese manufacturers was brought up not by GE, a manufacturer of wind turbines, but by the United Steelworkers Union in the US. The US filed a WTO complaint in this matter based on the US Steelworkers petition. GE has stayed silent in this matter in deference to Chinese regulators. Only Solar World, a German company, has stepped forward to strongly endorse the investigation. Solar World has manufacturing sites in Oregon and China, but no plants in China.