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A new central bank governor Hafize Erkan, increases interest rates from 8.5% to 16% in June 2023 to tackle inflation of about 40%.

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In India for the whole country about 500,000 samples are being tested each day at the end of July 2020. This is leading to a jump in cases. It also ensures people who test positive are being asked to isolate to stop the spread of the virus.

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Shown here and in the adjoining WSJ interview by Ben Cohen of Morris Chang, 1985 founder of Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC), is the story of how as textile and other lower technology industries were shipped to China in the 1990's the advanced technology manufacturing industries that were to replace them for the American workers and their families were also taken away through the back door by companies such as TSMC- leading to the dislocation of the American worker and poorer manufacturing communities across the US. Hille and Sevastopulo in the Financial Times take an inside look at the situation of TSMC as an advanced chip manufacturer that has taken 92% of the world market for advanced chips by using Taiwan's manufacturing advantages in chip yield that was in 1985 about twice that in the US when Morris Chang founded the company. Morris Chang was an immigrant who came to the US after 1949 with the founding of the People's Republic of China. After gaining decades experience at Texas Instruments by age 52 in 1982 he felt he had reached the glass ceiling at the company. See the adjoining WSJ Ben Cohen interview with Chang on this part of his life. He was recruited  by Ki Li, a technology planner for Taiwan to  build Taiwan's first semiconductor company. Chang founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in 1985 and based on his work in the US and seeing the cost advantage in engineering talent coming out of Taiwan and Chinese universities, and the willingness to work long hours in the zealous drive for modernization, he made the bet on Make in China (Taiwan + People's Republic of China.) It succeeded, and succeeded, and succeeded, just as it took advanced manufacturing away from the US, and deprived the US by replacing the cotton mills and textile factories, the less advanced industries that were being shipped to China by being replaced with modern more advanced manufacturing in new technology products, as it was how it was supposed to work. Economists and politicians and business failed to see this for two decades. It left America without both the old industrial manufacturing base and at the same time took away from the American worker the new manufacturing in advanced technology base that was supposed to give him new opportunities to replace the old. It has left America poorer in ways no economist, politician or business person could see when through the benevolent hand of friendship the US advanced a helping hand to China through WTO negotiation, WTO membership and foreign investment in China following the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of the 1970's that dislocated China's industry. ...

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India's economy has overcome the challenges posed by demonetization and the implementation of the GST tax that slowed growth to 5.7% for much of 2017. The growth rate increased to 7.2% in the last quarter of 2017. The GST tax change that created a single market is likely to increase growth. Growth of 8-10% matching China's growth rate in the last two decades is possible. Faster economic growth is needed to meet the need for more jobs, as 1 million new job entrants enter the job market each month. Indian Railways received 20 million applications for 100,000 new jobs showing the need for new jobs cannot be met at current growth rates. A major problem is the condition of the banking sector with bad loans affecting ability of banks to lend. A planned bailout of the banking sector and a new bankruptcy code are efforts to address this problem. Governance in the banking sector is also a problem that needs to be addressed. The price of oil is now up to $65 a barrel, increasing the cost to India which now faces a larger oil import cost.   ...

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Poor administration and failure in public services, turning over public services to private operators as the system nears collapse is the situation presented here of Johannesburg in 2025. It is hosting the G-20 Summit this year in South Africa. It is also the major commercial capital of South Africa. There is much that could be learned from good administration from other countries in Asia.

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Litigation expenses and settlements for JP Morgan Chase at $17.7 billion for 2008-2012 now exceed the $16.1 billion for Bank of America, according to FBR Capital Markets. JP Morgan Chase plans to spend an additional $4 billion and commit 5000 new personnel to help it clean up the bank's risk and regulatory compliance problems. Of the $4 billon $2.5 billion go into litigation reserves, and $1.5 billion for a 30% increase in risk control staffing and other related expenses. As part of the changes CEO Dimon has put the most senior executives in charge of separate parts of regulatory problems. These executives cannot be overruled by business heads. In another change still to be made at other banks the top compliance officer reports to the chief operating officer of the bank not the general counsel. This change was made at the request of regulators who now meet about 50 times per month with compliance executives. The total control staff for compliance and risk are now at 15,000 in 2013, up from 8000 in 2012. At a 2 day business retreat at Martha's Vineyard compliance and control officers were invited for briefings and came away with equal authority as business chiefs. JP Morgan has also provided 750,000 hours of training on control and regulatory issues to its staff using McKinsey, Ernst Young and other firms. CEO Dimon sees the effort as making the bank stronger than ever and this has become a top priority for him, reflecting a change in his views from the period when the London Whale crisis first emerged. It also shows a leadership trait of Dimon as a learner who puts his full weight behind an effort after gaining new insights into hidden problems....

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UK student survey shows 49% of students have  financial issues affecting their diet, missing meals or not having enough food or poor quality of food. It also shows 55% have financial issues that affect their mental health. Loans were falling short of covering living costs by 582 pounds a month in 2023, it was 439 pounds in 2022. Maintenance loans for students increased by only 2.8% in 2023-24 in Britain,for a maximum of 9978 pounds a year outside London. Shown here is an engineering student who gets up at 4am to do a supermarket shift, a law student who works 20-25 hours a week as a receptionist and missing one third of her lectures.

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Other reports also suggest that both in Europe and in the US companies including food companies took advantage of supply chain situations to increase prices.

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NYT editorial says Bush Administration thinks it has time on its side in the housing foreclosure crisis but they are wrong. The White House has not come up with a clear strategy or what needs to be done as the way forward from here. And this it says wil prove costly. Because there is no clear direction coming out of the White House the Congress also has not been able to articulate a clear strategy with near unanimous support. Alt-A loans called Alt A for alternative to grade A prime loans are scheduled to reset to higher payments starting 2009 with losses mounting in 2010 and 2011. Alt A losses are projected to reach $150 billion but his is based on price declines following a stable pattern, but if housing prices take a steep decline then losses could go much higher causing a great deal of instability to the financial system, which will be harder to fix at that time. NYT is urging the Bush administration to wake up to the impending crisis.

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The Spanish women's soccer team's Hermoso unauthorized football kiss by a football official leads to this trial in Spain Feb. 2025. It was a point of much disapproval worldwide and in Spain, with Spanish footballers very critical of the official's attitudes to women soccer players.