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While automakers are trying to stall legislation on higher fuel economy in Congress they are already planning large investments in engine systems that will raise fuel economy. Nardelli states Chrysler's three goals as boosting quality, improving fuel economy, and overseas presence. A $3 billion investment in engine systems is planned by Chrysler with the goal of improving fuel economy. Note that similiar investments are planned by the German companies and some of the new products are to be shown at the upcoming Frankfurt auto show. There the pressures for reducing auto emissions are building up with a strong environmental consciousness in Europe. Phil Murtaugh who headed GM's China operations before becoming Executive VP at Shanghai Automotive Industry recently will join Chrysler's team as head of Asian operations. He will stay in China and report to Michael Manley Executive VP of International Sales. Chrysler plans to export Chery cars made by Chery Automobile Company in China under its Dodge brand. Note that LaSorda and Press will both share the titles of President and vice chairman and split duties which will be a new arrangement being trued out by Cerberus....

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The health care system is designed to encourage procedure based specialist practices and discourages the patient understanding education and monitoring that occurs with a well designed preventive family physician practice. As a result a patient only spends 30 minutes ayear on average with family physician compared to one hour in other developed nations. In the USA there has been a steady decline in the level and quality and extent of family care and the close one on one rapport with well trained family physicians who enjoyed their work and understood their patients and kept up with their health conditions and provided good and regular advice on these conditions. There is no money in this care as a result first you provide an environment where a whole range of medical conditions can flourish and expand, and then you hit them with a whole series of tests to rule out specific medical conditions. It is a perfect way to expand the testing and let testing flourish, so it would appear that if someone had wanted to start with a goal of letting testing proliferate unhindered then this would be the perfect way to design it. ...

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Medvedev who won 71% of the vote in the March 2008 election for President answers questions from journalists and the public in the course of the election campaign. It reveals his own thinking about Rusia, its past, present and hopes and plans for the future. These are useful answers to get insights into his thinking. He sees the 8 years of the Putin Presidency as only a small beginning. Russia he says needs decades of stable development. He seems to say the goals of stable development after all the upheavals of the 20th century are so pressing that he and Putin are committed to simply continuing the policies of promoting economic development that gives dignity and respect to the people of Russia. He shows a deep dissatisfactionwith the corruption and the lack of respect for the law that is so prevalent in Russia and sees this as part of the overall goal to create a civilized state. And he harbors no illusions about the weaknesses prevalent in Russia from is beginnings centuries ago, a sense of legal nihilism and lack of respect for the law as he calls it....

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Underwater homes where houses are worth less than the value of the mortgages are estimated at roughly 9 millon. Barney Frank's proposal is for the federal government to step in directly with government guarantee for $300 billion in new cheaper loans. Under this plan homeowners would be issued new mortgages for 90% of the new value of the home, the governmet would get a 5% stake, and the holder of the loan whether a bank or investment pool that holds the mortgage securities gets paid 85% of the new value of the home. Underwater homes would be appraised at market values for the new loans and its important that after this the prices not keep falling much below the ne appraised value. Note also the criteris for eligibility. Under Frank's plan those who took out loans from Jan, 2005 to June 2007 1 million people according to his estimate would be helped. Would lenders face losses? Yes they would have to recognize these losses rightaway but the foreclosures may mean bigger losses for the lenders especially as the downward spiral would probably give them much less than the 85% as appriasal values sink....

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Deborah Lucas, Finance Professor at the Kellogg School of Management and her views on the bailout plan and alternatives. She does not believe that the markets are near panic and thinks that Congress should move slowly before it passes any legislation. She is glad that the Treasury proposal has failed. She does not think piecemeal guaranteeing of assets is that valuable. In her view they need to do the harder thing, that is to really have a direct discovery process, where they figure out who they are going to shut down, and what its going to cost. Government examiners she says should quickly examine the books of every major financial insitution involved in the crisis, including insurers, pension funds, and banks, determine which are the weakest and which can survive. Ms Lucas points to the Federal Reserve and FDIC actions in the deal for Citigroup to take over Wachovia on Sunday as examples of how the crisis is already being addressed. Her thinking is that the core problem is a crisis of confidence , which can only be resolved with increasing transparency, not a government bailout....

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A former mayor of Mexico City wins the election for president in 2018 with 53% of the vote. Obrador's margin was over 30% over Ricardo Analya of PAN party who had 22.5%, and ruling PRI's Antionio Meade with 16%, with 72% of votes counted according to Mexico's election agency. Issues in this election were corruption, with many corruption scandals for ruling PRI under president Nieto, and failure to maintain rule of law. The last time that a president won this size margin of victory was in 1982. Morena as Obrador's party is called, won 306 of 500 seats in the lower house of parliament and 70 of 128 seats in the Senate, winning majorities in both houses of parliament. It also won 4 of 8 state governor races and the Mayor's office in Mexico City. FOr the first time since 1997 one party will control both houses and Mexico City. Obrador formed his own party after leaving the PRD party, calling it The Movement for National Regeneration. Most Mexicans were highly disturbed by the violence and corruption that prevailed in local administration under president Nieto's PRI government. The PRI's dominance in Mexican politics is now broken. Obrador says he will work to put more emphasis on helping the poor in Mexico in framing his policies, distancing himself from the politics of the PRI which had distanced itself more and more from grassroots and ordinary workers in Mexico. This means adapting the free market economic model to suit Mexico's own conditions, the differences between northern and southern Mexico, and pushing for more worker friendly policies. It also creates more room for agreement with the U.S. as both Mr. Trump and Mr. Obrador agree on raising labor standards and wages for factory workers in Mexico ...

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The resignation of U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis comes as a result of Mattis being unable to change plans by president Trump for a withdrawal from both Afghanistan and Syria. WSJ discloses that at a meeting on December 18 at the Pentagon, with John Bolton, White House National Security Advisor, Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, and John Dunford, chairman Jt. Chiefs of Staff, Mattis could not temper the president's plans. On Thursday December 20th Mr. Mattis decided to resign. He then met Mr. Pompeo and onto the White House to meet president Trump. He and Mr. Trump discussed their contrasting world views in a 45 minute meeting, and Mr. Mattis handed over his resignation letter to Mr. Trump. Military officials were particularrly blindsided by the withdrawal from Syria. U.S. policy has vacillated back and forth in the intervention in Syria with president Obama also hesitant to commit troops in Syria. In the meeting Mattis understood that even a minimal presence in Syria was unacceptable to president Trump who ordered the removal of the 2000 troops there. The withdrawal from Afghanistan was also a result of limited patience with the war there in the 18th year and no sign that the Taliban influence had diminished since the war began- after Trump added 3000 troops to the 14,000 stationed in Afghanistan. The U.S. has 5500 troops in Iraq and there is talk about drawing this number down. The concern for the defense department is that how U.S. allies will see the withdrawal, and their perception of how reliable the U.S. is as a partner. For president Trump the cost is measured in terms of the long period the U.S. was engaged in the region without any tangible results, and U.S. not allies bearing most of the cost.      ...

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The new EPA rules for auto emission standards were setup under the Obama administration in 2012. The rules are a major part of the effort to meet the challenge of pollution and clean air. The Trump administration and EPA chief Scott Pruitt plan to reverse the higher standards. The new standards which had the support of automakers when enacted require that average fuel economy be doubled to about 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. This would cut oil use by 12 billion barrels over the lifetime of the cars and reduce carbon dioxide pollution by about 6 billion tons.  The EPA under president Trump does not say how much the standards will be rolled back. This also leads to one more tension between California and the Trump administration. California plans to vigorously oppose the rollback. Under the Clean Air Act of 1970 California has historically made its own rules and was followed by 12 other states making up one third of the car market in the U.S. If the Trump administration is able to to this it would create two markets for automobiles in the U.S. which is not in the interest of automakers who are having second thoughts about the change. Amazingly a suburban Virginia Chevy dealership has vigorously opposed being used as the location for the EPA under the Trump administration making an announcement on this issue. Chevy dealerships are saying the Trump administration does not have the facts, that the auto industry has done very well in the last 4-5 years. Chevrolet and GM do not want to be associated with the politics on this issue. California has historically acted as a pioneer in automobile standards with the rest of the nation following. The Trump administration move would be an effort to break this precedent.  ...

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Russian president Putin tells Russians at an annual news conference on Dec. 17, 2014, that the West wanted to deprive Russia of its natural resources. He says steps taken by the central bank and his administration were proper, including avoiding capital controls, except that the decision to raise interest rates to 17% in mid-Dec. should have been taken earlier. He deflects criticism that the sanctions and the decline in the ruble were "payment for Crimea" (Russia's takeover of the Crimea) by saying it was "payment for our independence, our sovereignty." Putin expressed unease with the expansion of NATO to Russia's borders. He told Russians to expect that the crisis will last for 2 years and during this time the Russian economy will adapt, in particular shifting its heavy dependence on oil exports. During the 10 years of the Putin administration since 2004, Russia has not made a vigorous effort to diversify away from oil dependence. Progress was made primarily in better integrating the economy with the European Union, entry into WTO, building a sovereign reserves fund, until the crisis in Ukraine. The Putin years may be seen in the future as the transition years towards a more diversified economy, and may lead to a shift away from the kind of management of economic and foreign policy by a single leader that may have led to the disruption in relations with Germany, a critical economic partner for Russia. Chancellor Merkel said Germany would continue to support sanctions as long as Russia opposed the right of self- determination of people in Europe and European values. Germany continues even now to maintain dialogue with Russia through Social Democrat Foreign Minister Steinmeier, which is why Putin continues to refer to it as "our partners" and cites the differences with our partners, very different from the Cold War period when no such close relations with Germany existed. ...

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Biden's student loan cancellation plan is targeted at low income people who are struggling to make a living and for whom it means putting less food on the table. The plan eliminates the debt of millions of borrowers because about one third of borrowers owe about $10,000. The plan cancels $10,000 in debt for people making below $125,000 and extends this to $20,000 for the poorest borrowers who received Pell Mell grant loans. A Columbia University study shows that the loan default rate for borrowers without a college degree is 40% and that for borrowers with a college degree is 8%. Biden said when unfolding the plan that these people have the worst of both worlds no college degree and student loans to pay off. College degrees give borrowers a much higher income. Biden's plan is to also cap payments on loans to 5% of discretionary income as opposed to 10% or 15% that it is today. The effects are also not understood by most economists. For a society to do well over the next 10 years to 20 years, 2030 or 2035, it has to increase opportunities for all its citizens. Young people with these burdensome loans grew up in a period when unrestrained so called "free markets" distorted markets and manipulated public opinion to favor a small segment of the people, leading to a false concept that 12 years of universal instruction were enough. Biden pointed this out and the importance of higher education beyond these 12 years to compete in the world in manufacturing and technology. The income and wealth generated by this investment in the people is what made America what it was in the early post war years. The income and wealth created will more than pay for not just removing a big part of this burden but also extending universal instructiuon beyond 12 years in future legislation. Rerouting some of the waste in capital allocation of so-called "free markets" alone could more than pay for most of these investments, with extra for additional investments in science and technology that would make the US what it was, the most advanced and highly educated society in the world. ...

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Factories near Ho Chi Minh city and a Vietnamese port are example of how China reroutes steel through other countries and exports it to the U.S. This part of Vietnam is a fast growing exporter of Chinese steel that is galvanized for export to the U.S. China uses transshipping as it has overcapacity in its steel industry.

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This report in the BBC shows the effect of the highly competitive nature of business in Sweden on young women who face burnout from long hours and lone achiever culture. The individualistic culture in Sweden where young people at an early age become independent also increases burnout compared to living in a culture that is friendlier and more community centred.

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The view on the oped pages of WSJ ask why Bush supports the bailout being negotiated between Congress and the White House on December 10 and being put to a House vote on that day followed by a Senate vote. Almost all Republicans oppose the plan with a supposed government appointed czar to run things and other aspects of the bailout.

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The median household headed by a person 60-62 years of age with a 401(k) account has less than one fourth of what is needed to maintain a standard of living at retirement, according to data from the Federal Reserve and analyzed by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College for the Wall Street Journal. Including Social Security and any pensions or other savings, the savings are way short of what is needed for retirement. Households used in this data had a median income of $87,700 in 2009. The 85% needed for a decent standard of living upon retirement is $74,545. Social Security would provide an estimated 40% of pre-retiremment income, or $35,080 for that median family, leaving $39,465 that has to come from other sources. The median 401(k) account has $149,400 which would only provide a fixed income each year of $9,073- only one fourth of the $39,465 needed. To generate that $39,465, households have to have $636,673, and only 8% of American households approaching retirement have that amount. Half of the families have other pension income of $26,500 a year, which added to $9,073 in 401(k) income gets the total income up to $35,573. Other studies using different data by the Employee Benefit Research Institute show results that are largely similiar. The Employee Benefit Research Institute, is supported by 401(k) providers. Its estimate of the median person is based on individuals in the 60's who have worked at the same company for more than 30 years. This data shows an estimated median person having about $158,754, not much different from the Fed data. Why is the amount in most Americans 401(k) savings so low? There was a mistaken sense that a 6% annual contribution, with a 3% company match would be enough. Vanguard Group says the current median amount that people contribute is 9%, counting the employer contribution. Now Vanguard is advising people to contribute more, 12 to 15%, including the employer contribution. Other problems for the low savings is that saving started late, or contributions were suspended after a job loss, or medical emergencies, other debt. The stock market collapses of 2000-2002 and 2007-2009, added to the problems, by wiping out a portion of the savings. The low rate of interest on savings for most of the last decade hurt even conservative investors and lowers the kind of retirement account income used by seniors. The way people are coping with this is to work longer, in some cases into the 70's, cutting down on spending for food, travel, and taking greater risks for higher returns, risks that could make the situation worse....

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Pearlstein touches on the main issues raised by Obama's regulatory reform proposals. A thorough and independent analysis by a panel of seasoned regulators and independent experts would have done better, Pearlstein says. It would take more time, but the regulatory reforms need to be thorough, considering the damage that has been done to the financial system, and considering the opportunity to do something serious about this. It would have also shielded the administration from criticism if tough action was needed in some areas. Hearing all sides of the matters at hand, and weighing the pros and the cons on each issue is helpful, but there are gaps in this approach when some of the key actors like Geithner and Summers have worked too closely in the past with the financial firms that are being regulated, and may have a tendency and bias in that direction. The President's lack of expertise in these areas, and a desire to keep the regulatory hand as light as possible, and intense obying by financial firms, can tilt things away from serious regulatory reform. The danger is that the opportunity to fix things with major structural changes where necessary, and some tough actions where needed may be lost. Some of the obvious gaps are mentioned by Pearlstein. There is no measure to tackle the situation with the ratings agencies. There will be more transparency than before but complex derivative trading can take place prettty much like before. Credit default swaps will continue as before. If you set up acouncil of regulators, then why not bite the bullet and consolidate them into a single agency, asks Pearlstein? Banks will continue to have their proprietary trading desks, from where they ran up huge losses, these act like in-house hedge funds. Ultimately a lot depends on who is running these agencies, or the Fed, and what is the prevailing opinion about markets in the country. The prevailing opinion that the less regulation the better for free markets, and the lack of independent regulators, and poor appointments, had a lot to do with the capture of the regulatory agencies by the the firms they were supposed to regulate. And on this point the President is on safer ground, as he can ensure that he appoints tough regulators and create a new culture that puts regulation right where it should be, as a necessary ingredient for free markets, just like rules of the road. And in one area the President has created a new structure, a new agency with powers- this is where consumer protections are at stake- so that the abuses that took place with mortgages do not take place....

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Insights about the background and family of Barrack and Michelle Obama, who they are, where they are from, and their lives and concerns leading to this preisidential bid in 2008 by the Senator from Illinois.

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Russian ambassador to Kabul Mr Kabulov talks about his experience in the Russian Afghan war when was the top KGB person in Kabul. He describes what he learned from the war, which he is telling Americans there and Nato forces leaders there. He makes a couple of important points. First, he says the Soviet record is largely unknown or unpresented, when it comes to helping modernize Afghan society in the cities like Kabul. This modernizing mission led to billions of rubles being spent on education, advancing the role of women, and building roads, dams and an industrial infrastructure. Of the mistakes Americans are making, he lists them one by one. "Because we deployed very easily into the major cities, we did'nt give much thought to what was happening in the countryside." He says there is an "irritative allergy" in the countryside, which is hard to control in a vast mountainous region, has historical basis which the British experienced, and is easy to stir up by sending large number of troops from European or Western powers. When these troops have to take retailatory steps such as destroying villages where insurgents are found along with the civilians there. That is why he thinks increasing American troop levels to double troop strength from current Nato levels of 65,000, can only stir up this"irritative allergy." The Soviets had 140,000 troops and this did not help. What he thinks would have beeen better was to let the Afghan army do the job, and for the Russians to say goodbye. America may be about to do just that, but in the meantime there may be an effort to create a respected Afghan government and army which inspires confidence and support in the meantime. What is clearly different here is that America is not fighting a proxy war with a superpower, and it is fighting awar for the soul of Pakistan now, so that at some point the wholehearted support of the people of Pakistan may be marshalled, especially if the Taliban alienate moderate Islamic Pakistanis and America can wean away Afghan Islamic moderates and get rural support from tribes and other sources....

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Frederick Harris of Columbia University says there is a price to be paid for a black president and it may just be too much for the average black person. There is a difference betwen symbols and substance, betwen a role model and accountability in a representative democracy, which is sadly lacking when the black elites, clergy and politicians fail to debate the issues about the problems facing the black community. Problems related to the increasing poverty among black Americans, and the 14% unemployment for black people. There is he says a strange reticience among the black elite to hold the president accountable on these issues just as they would have done for any Democratic president, even one who was as popular with blacks as Mr. Clinton. He says the experience with Obama is not even remotely comparable to the transformative nature of the work of Rev. Martin Luther King in the black community. It may stem from Obama's multiracial background, growing up in many countries, his elite education and being part of a liberal elite more than of the black community. The price is too high in economic and social terms for the poor or average black person and it has created a divide between the average black person and the black elite, with different concerns and different priorities. Harris points out that poor and poverty are words not mentioned often by Obama. Related to this is the foreclosure crisis in which ordinary black people were hardest hit with no effective help from the president to homeowners badly needing relief. Sheila Bair of the FDIC and Martin Feldstein advocated aggressive help for homeowners under water which did not come from the president. Showing not just the limits of a black presidency, but false hopes, inexperience and lack of leadership in issues that mattered to all Americans in the housing and foreclosure crisis. A populist from Kansas, as Sheila Bair describes herself, had the right instincts and courage of convictions which the president lacked and the entire country needed....

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Pakistan has always suffered from tax collection that is some of the poorest in the world. This leaves little money for badly needed infrastructure and roads. At a time when countries such as Indonesia and India are rapidly building roads and infrastructure, Pakistan depends on projects and financing almost entirely from China.  This means dependence on foreign debt financing such as that of the $2 billion Orange Line, Pakistan's first Metro line in Lahore. This is one of the first projects one of $16 billion in projects started from a planned $62 billion under China's Belt and Road Initiative. The problem is that taking on so much debt leaves Pakistan dependent on Chinese financing, with increased debt payments leading to a debt crisis. External debt will double to over $100 billion from a little over $50 billion in 2013, according to the IMF, reaching 30% of GDP. External financing needs have doubled from 4% of GDP or about $10 billion in 2013-2015 period doubling to over $20 billion and 8% of GDP. A steep increase in debt in a space of only 3 years. Pakistan faces problems similar to that faced by other countries including Ceylon, Burma. Pakistan has fallen behind on debt payments for electricity projects, because of problems getting Pakistanis to pay electric bills. Other problems are that the projects use Chinese workers and Chinese contractors so that they do not generate jobs the way projects would normally generate domestic jobs and growth including pushing domestic firms up the experience and knowledge curve in construction and technology. The opaqueness of the deals lead to a lack of required transparency. The projects also lack the almost zero interest financing from Japan of projects such as the first bullet train in India on Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor because of the lack of negotiating leverage and other problems.  By early fall 2018 Pakistan is expected to seek IMF financing, which would lead to conditions set by the IMF on how much it can borrow and spend under the Belt and Road Initiative, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor or CPEC. This means effectively that the Wst will bail out a country after investments under the Belt and Road Initiative. ...

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Landler and Haberman provide a chronological summary of the events leading up to the speech by president Trump on August 21,2017 for continuing the war in Afghanistan with troop increases. Initially Trump followed his instincts and questioned his generals Mattis and McMaster, who have experience with the war in Afghanistan. McMaster prepared the plan. Tillerson, Secretary of State, called for a civilian component for the State Department in the military's plan. The options included using U.S. troops, covert CIA operation, and using mercenaries. The key factor- learning from the experience of the Iraq withdrawal of 2011 andnot  letting things get out of control as happened in Iraq and Syria after 2011 with rise of Islamic State and intervention by Iran and Russia, destabilization of the European Union through accelerated refugee flows. In the end the costs were too significant to let a vacuum develop and the U.S. president gave an honest reflection in his televised speech which was exceptional in its candour and willingness to lay the facts out. Trump's own instincts which he has historically followed would be set aside in this case because of the evidence the generals had given, supported by vice president Pence and key members of the Republican party. The president known for impulsive behaviour could be described as having gone through a period of reflection with the key military officers on what it was all about. In the end the decision to use U.S. troops to control the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan was taken to prevent a vacuum from developing. ...

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Most experts are critical of president Trump's use of language "fire and fury" to North Korea for its missile tests and threats to the U.S.  The closest one gets is the language used by Harry Truman during the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear bombs.  Mr. Feaver, a national security expert and Senator Cardin say Mr. Trump is using the same language that the north Korean leaders is using and this simply raises the tensions. Feaver was adviser to President George W. Bush on the National Security staff. He says Bush's statement "bring 'em on" to Baath loyalists and militants targeting U.S. troops was a mistake, as well as some other Bush statements in the war against Saddam Hussein who Bush said he wanted "dead or alive."  Victor Cha, a former National Security Council official under president Clinton, says Bill Clinton used language that acted as deterrance to the the North Korean government when he said at the demilitarized zone in Korea, any attack would be "the end of their country." Cha sees Trump's language as a form of deterrence to avoid any miscalculation. Feaver says the language is dangerous, and the only way he can see it being thought out is that 30 years of diplomatic effort have left us with little improvement with North Korea, and the idea that lets try using the same language as the other side. Yet even here he sees it as escalating the rhetoric when nuclear missiles are involved. ...

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BKA German Federal Investigative Police data showing about 2 million crime suspects in 2024- of which 172,000 temporary migrants asylum seekers which 8.8%. There are about 3.06 temporary migrants in Germany out of a population of 83.6 million people, which is about 3.7% of the population, according to BKA figures cited by DW.com. The population of migrants living in Germany including Syria, Ukraine and other countries is about 3.5 million which is about 4.2% of the population. In terms of crime it is more about the anxiety and sense of disquiet this has created in the population, the money invested in benefits when much of German infrastructure has dire needs for investment with the rail and transport systems breaking down, and the wide disparities in living standards eroded in the last two decades in society. All this has to be considered in grasping why it has been so unsettling in some areas of Germany, Europe and the US. There are other factors such as women's safety, a sense of disquiet that was created in English towns where asylum seekers were put up in hotels as in Bedford. Many crimes get wide publicity and this further intensifies the sense of anxiety in the neighborhoods where young migrants from Africa and the Middle East, Asia are staying. The differences in culture and behaviours increases the sense of discomfort in neighborhoods. It is unlikely that this will go away because of incidents of attack by migrants in the towns and cities of Europe and the US every month, increasing homeless situations and deterioration in local neighborhoods.   ...