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Nguyen Dan Que, is a doctor in Vietnam who has been imprisoned three times. Que was doing diabetes research in London during the 1970's. Three months after Mandela's release Que called for a nonviolent movement for basic rights and free elections in Vietnam. He was arrested a month later and sentenced to 20 years of hard labor.

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The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Program protects vaccine makers from much of the litigation risk faced by pharmaceutical manufacturers. It limits compensation for death to $250,000. This special vaccines court is called Office of Special Masters at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. This may be one reason for Pfizer's willingness to pay $68 billion for Wyeth which is amaker of childhood vaccines. Vaccines will generate $21.5 billion in sales by 2012, according to Sanofi-Aventis. Vaccines are biologic products that can't be copied. Wyeth's Prevnar is designed to protect children against 7 strains of pneumococcal disease. It has sales of $2.7 billion projected to grow to $5.5 billion in 2015 according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Vaccines have driven huge reductions in childhood diseases, and the Act is designed to potect makers of vaccines, who suffered from excessive litigation in the 1980's.

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As remittances fall and in some places disappear from workers in developed countries to their families in developing countries, Kristof says about 46 million people there will fall into poverty. Something Zoellick of the World Bank has been warning for some time. Everything from food, school lunches, tution for children to go to school, housing, will be affected.

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How oil impacts countries with high demand, India and China, and how it helps Russia. China imports 50% of its oil, with Angola as the largest supplier. India imports 70% of its oil though it has a third of the demand that China has. India and China subsidize oil. China raised retail prices for fuel by 10% on Nov. 1, 2007.

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How the oil price increases are affecting China.

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Fitch ratings firm changed Turkey's credit rating for long term foreign currency debt to investment grade by upgrading it from double B plus to triple B minus. Turkey still has junk status from Moody's and Standard & Poor's ratings firms. At the same time Fitch says the situation in Turkey is volatile, saying a financial shock and recession are likely "at some point." Moody's described Turkey in October 2012 as having "substantial external vulnerabilities," and large short term financing needs. S&P's credit rating for Turkey is two notches below investment grade and Finansbank AS in Istanbul chief economist, Inan Demir, says it does not look like the other ratings firms support Fitch's asessment.

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As the Obama administration plans a large stimulus spending plan that may approach $1 trillion over several years, considering also the second phase of the $800 billion first phase stimulus, there is a concern that there may be wasteful spending and social costs of borrowing and spending by the government of such proportions. In economics jargon this hinges on whether there is amultiplier effect of spending, higher if its efficiently and well spent with less impact on private consumption and investment, and lower if the opposite were true. The assumption behind amultiplier of 1.0 for an additional bridge or road is that resources like manpower and capital that would be otherwise idle are deployed to produce something useful. An increase in one unit of government purchases increases by one unit the real gross domestic product. The government has effectively created the additional bridge or road without a cut in anybody's consumption or a businesses investment. The other contrasting approaches are to say there is a multiplier of zero, meaning there is a social cost in two ways. One the reduction of consumption and the crowding out of businesses investing in new products and technologies for example, and second in the inefficent use of resources if a government bureaucracy is put to work allocating money and the additional dangers of favoritism and corruption. To say that there is a multipier of 1.5 would mean that the government figures out a way to get private investment through conversion of plants for automotive parts say to make wind turbine blades by giving incentives, tax benefits and grants, spends on a dilapidated road and public transportation infrastructure that may provide benefits in increased growth capacity over future years. The limits of a government bureaucracy and inefficiency of government would in this case be addressed by transparency rules adopted and measures that track progress that are freely available to all citizens say on a website on the internet, and by bringing in fresh management talent from the private sector. There appears to be no generalization that can be applied for one multiplier for all projects. It may be that the multiplier will vary with the project. Some projects like the conversion of a factory making unneeded auto parts to a badly needed wind energy part, to change the dynamics of energy market pricing, to meet energy needs and cut emissions, may end up having a multiplier much above 1.0. A redundant or less needed bridge has a lower multiplier than a bridge rebuilt before it leads to breakdown. And also the complication that too large a movement in one direction say of stimulus spending, might result in a shift of the curve towards a smaller multiplier and diminishing returns, as the resources to track such a large expenditure and the talent to adminster are overextended. The social cost of private investment not making that investment in new technology, new product or improved product has to be figured into all this, both at the conceptual level as all costs and benefits may not be picked up in the analysis, and at the macro level keeping in mind that the animal spirits, as they were once described, may just not be there to absorb the huge outlays which a government can make. These do not come without an opportunity cost and borrowing costs. All this leads one to to conclude that spending has to be carefully evaluated and projects assessed on a case by case basis for costs and benefits. The spending has to be balanced to provide just as many incentives for private investment to invest in new products and technologies. One way the Obama team is attempting to address this is to include a $300 billion tax cut for businesses and individuals. The business tax cuts are aimed at helping small business with losses, and for future investments and making hires and forgoing layoffs. The other part relates to careful evaluation of spending projects and transparency so the people can see if they are effective. See the link to this....

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GM plans to bring the Chevy Volt, a plug in type of car that will run more on the battery than the Toyota Prius- which uses gasoline support as soon as it picks up speed- to market in 3 years. But it doesn't yet know how it will do it. What created the opportunity is that Toyota is having a hard time of its own trying to figure out a battery that can provide more electric power, more punch, that would raise the Prius mpg from 46 to about 80 mpg. Its lithium ion technology batteries to achieve this haven't passed the safety tests so Toyota is pushing this back to 2011. This created a opportunity for GM to come up with its own for a plug in Chevy Volt. Its looking a small companies in the US that might supply these batteries. GM has come up with 2 consortiums of suppliers, one from MIT called A123 that is based on the work of MIT Prof.Yet-Ming Chinag who works with iron phosphate technology that is less prone to fires and safety issues. The other is led by S. Korean chemical maker LG Chem. Toshiba is working on research for a lithium ion battery for cars that will be safe on the Japanese side. It is not clear how this will turn out because batteries for laptops have had fires and safety issues, but the R&D is on in earnest for a new safe electric battery for cars. And automakers know its not just about an electric car. On it rests the image and innovation leader perception that is so important in marketing that no amount of advertising can fix, as the US automakers have learned to their extreme grief. ...

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The Center for Strategic Studies in Moscow was prescient in predicting problems of declining support for Mr. Putin before the December 2011 parliamentary elections. Work with 32 focus groups by the Center in May 2012 shows a continuing erosion of support for Putin as efforts to open the political system have faded. The discontent focusses on the delivery of basic services such as healthcare, education, law enforcement, infrastructure.

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The Indian economy is expected to grow by 8.5% this year compared to 6.5% in 2009. But a major problem looms in the high inflation facing India. The poor monsoon in 2009 led to higher prices for foodgrains, lentils, and sugar. And the government's cut in the fuel subsidies will lead to more efficient use of energy, but will lead to one additional percentage point in wholesale price inflation according to the Reserve Bank of India, India's central bank. The whoesale price index in India went up by 10.5% in June from the prior year, and this after a 10.1% increase in May. Bloomberg's tracking of consumer prices in the Asia-Pacific region shows India at the top of 17 countries in inflation, and consumer prices paid by industrial and farm workers in India are shown to be increasing at 14% annually. The government is coming under criticism for not releasing more grains from its stocks to soften the impact of last year's monsoon. The Manmohan Singh government finds inflation at above 10% unacceptable and is looking for further action from the central bank. Reserve Bank of India governor Subbarao has raised rates 3 times since March 2010 to 5.5%, and a further increase is expected at its next meeting on July 27. A better harvest in September, from a better monsoon season, could help lower food prices. If this does not happen, more tightening by the central bank could hurt economic growth, putting the government in a quandary....

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The economic crisis in the Russian city of Yaroslavl, 150 miles northeast of Moscow on the Volga river. Auto sales are down 30% and the city's diesel engine making plant is down to working only 3 days aweek. Many of the other factories and plants here are laying off people and are also on 3 days a week. Cafes and bars in the city are empty and people are filling job search centers.

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Chavez wins 61% of the vote to Rosales' 38% and wins reelection for a six year term. Social goals will continue to dominate in Venezula's oil based economy. Importance of cooperatives for poorer classes. Development of a Bolivarist class of businessmen who support social goals with freedom to operate and benefit from oil resources fueled economy. Are their similiarities in a sense to pursuing welfare and equity goals to the elected government in Iran? Both are oil based economies and large producers with exploration and production issues, how do these similiarities and policy differences with the US affect oil access and prices?

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A stronger U.S. economy, gradual upswing in Europe and Japan, makes the stock market downturn in Jan. 2016 of a completely different nature than the one in 2008. Problems are seen in some emerging markets, including China. Oil price decline helps India and oil importing countries.