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The FDIC acknowledges that it has not been able to get banks interested in a pilot program called the Legacy Loans Program. That program was designed to give the banks an opportunity to sell off $1 billion of troubled mortgages. Since November with the efforts of the Troubled Asset Program under Secretary Paulson to have the banks sell off these assets in an auction or some other way, the whole issue of getting the toxic or troubled assets off the books of the banks has been effectively shelved. The Obama administration's version of this was the Geithner Public Private Partnership program, but this like Paulson's TARP never really got off the ground. Instead several things have happened that have enabled banks to show higher profits and improve stock prices. The period from March 2009 to June 2009, a period of several months has seen bank stock prices recover and banks are now able to raise capital on their own from investors. The government's "stress tests" gave the banks credibility with investors and they were designed not to be so stringent as to affect confidence. The mark to market rule has also been relaxed so that banks are no longer required to show these toxic assets at prices that reflect large losses. Bank executives also are wary of the new executive compensation rules of the government. All of these things have combined to create asituation where some confidence has been restored, but at the same time experts are pointing out that the underlying problems of an estimated $1 trillion in troubled assets remains. Banks are even less likely to want to part with these assets at lower prices now that some semblence of confidence is returning, as they would then have to show large losses. What this implies is that if the economy suffered a setback, these problems would return and be just as intractable as ever....

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Brooks describes the U.S. presidential campaigns of Republican Romney and Democrat Obama as very consequential but incredibly dull, an effort to get uninformed voters with a barrage of negative advertising. There is very little enthusiasm for either candidate in their parties and the only feeling motivating each party is that the other candidate and his policies would be a disaster. There is hardly any effort at intellectual innovation, bringing new ideas or thoughtful debate into the election campaign. With four months left before the presidential elections the situation appears likely to drag on in this way right into the final days, with each side running a well oiled media campaign around themes that cast the other side in a negative light.

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This leader in The Economist reviews an essay in the magazine's October 8-14th, 2016 edition by U.S. president Obama. In it Obama points to the unfinished tasks of his presidency and what comes next as tasks to be done for the U.S. economy. The Economist points out the problems in the 2016 election campaign where there is a lack of discussion of economic issues as a serious problem. Obama lists as priorities efforts to improve conditions of people left out in the recovery, reducing inequality, offering more job opportunities, and increasing productivity.

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Michael Boskin, the elder president Bush's chairman of the Council of Economc Advisors was instrumental in setting up the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Here he points to the dire need to open up trade between India and Pakistan. Trade today between the two countries is $2.7 billion. Under trade models Boskin says the trade could be 20 times larger, about $50 billion. This would increase benefits and wages in both countries and is badly needed and long overdue.

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Doing business in Bihar, India's poorest state.

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David Behre is a German paralympic sprinter who won gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 for relay 4 X 100 meters, silver in 100 meters, two bronzes including one in London 2012. Here DW.com looks at his first vocation that of helping other athletes using prosthetics. He brings hope and helps others who are amputees to live a normal life.  It is now 14 years since David Behre was hit by a train at a level crossing in town of Moers in west Germany, while riding his bicycle. The barrier was open. Both legs were amputated. David Behre saw aTV report about South African para runner Oscar Pistorius and he decided the wheel chair was not the end. Four months later he was able to walk again with prosthetics. Five years later he won his first medal at the Paralympic Games in London. Then Rio. Then Tokyo. These days he is busy visiting amputees in clinics and bringing new hope. He says that when he shows them his prosthetics, many amputees cry- "they are tears of joy as they can hope again." He has a little daughter and family, he works in a company that makes prosthetics. David makes this part of his life helping amputees and bringing hope into their lives the core of his life along with the rest.   ...

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The BBC looks at the divisions left behind by the Brexit campaigns and the healing needed for Britain to look to the future. Prime minister Boris Johnson has called for healing divisions. What is meant by "healing," and what is needed to do the healing. To understand this one needs to know why people feel strongly. One of the dangers in describing people, places and regions as "Leave" or "Remain" is that no place is entirely one or the other. Even in the most pro-Brexit places as Lincolnshire a quarter of people opted for Remain. In London called a "Remain" city more Londoners voted to leave the UK than voted for the Remain supporting Mayor. New polling done for the BBC gives one a better understanding of core beliefs. The phrase "influences from other countries and cultures makes Britain a better place to live" was preferred by Remain voters. The phrase "Britain will be stronger in the future if it sticks to its traditions and ways of life" was preferred by Leave voters. Leave people were more likely to celebrate Britain's history, heritage, Christian tradition and national identity. What the BBC points out is that the two ideas are not exclusive. This is also suggested in the percentage of Leave and Remain supporting their core beliefs, which hovers around 50 to 55%. Part of the problem is the way politics is organized to be for or against, part of it from echo chambers and living in relative isolation from people with other ideas, sort of in different bubbles. This means getting everyone out of their comfort zone to embrace what they have "More in Common." Organizations and institutions need to work to bridge divides not only in Britain, but also in the U.S. and Europe, with more people to people interface and more of the conversation shifting to beliefs held "More in Common." Wanting to value one's own culture and traditions and wanting to be part of the global conversation are not mutually exclusive ideas. This is the key point, and a balance has to be found between continuity and change, between respecting traditions and grappling with change, and most importantly listening to unheard or neglected voices.  ...