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GM was late in the shift to smaller cars than Ford even as the shift was taking place. Both companies though remained mired in a decades long stagnation in fuel efficency even as companies like Honda moved forward, and as the gap with the Europeans and the Japanese in the technology and skills of making small cars widened.
Linked Articles
G.M. Closing 4 Plants in Shift From Trucks Toward Cars
New York Times 06/04/2008
Bill Ford on Tipping Points and Thinking SmallBusinessWeek 07/31/2008
Even as late as May 22, 2008 Ford pared its outlook to 14-15 million cars as reported by Jeff Bennett in the WSJ. That puts the situation in October 2008, with a 30-40% drop in sales year over year only 5 months away.
Linked Articles
Car Makers' Boom Years Now Look Like a Bubble
Wall Street Journal 05/20/2008
Ford Motor Pares OutlookWall Street Journal 05/22/2008
The perception that "this time is different" is a typical behavioural reaction in history to to financial crises studied by Rogoff and Reinhart. Economic weakness is part of the mechanism for correcting global imbalances which happens over a number of years.
Linked Articles
Economy May Face Prolonged Pain, History Suggests
Wall Street Journal 05/05/2008
Boom, Bust. Repeat.Wall Street Journal 10/09/2009
Grennspan took huge risks in his ambitious experiment with the American economy of a philosophy that simply said allow markets to operate unrestrained and trust in humans benevolent intentions and enlightened self interest. Goodman and Ip document the details. Did he believe that there was something miraculous that would prevent things from imploding, something inherently sacred about an idea of markets, when plain common sense like Buffets said that the arithmetic did not add up and in the end thats all that counts common sense.
Linked Articles
Taking Hard New Look at a Greenspan Legacy
New York Times 10/09/2008
His Legacy Tarnished, Greenspan Goes on DefensiveWall Street Journal 04/08/2008
British debt is even worse than the American debt with household debt to income ratio at 1.62 in Britain compared to 1.42 in the USA. Continental cousins in Germany have a ratio of 1.09.
Linked Articles
Debt-Gorged British Start to Worry That the Party Is Ending
New York Times 03/22/2008
Frugality Forged in Today's Recession Has Potential to Outlast ItWall Street Journal 04/06/2009
The Dacia and Logan brands manufactured in Romania are expected to cross the 1 million sales mark in 2012. The Logan and Dacia have established a presence in Europe as models known for reliability. Sales of these lower cost cars are popular with buyers in France who see this as a choice replacing buying a used car.
Linked Articles
Frugal Dacia Stars in Renault's Overhaul
Wall Street Journal 02/11/2008
Renault Takes Low-Cost LeadWall Street Journal 04/16/2012
Apparel is a big part of the the inflation impact of Chinese goods imported to the USA. China has a large share in apparel and the prices of apparel which have been going down for many years are going up for the first time and will keep increasing.
Linked Articles
China’s Inflation Hits American Price Tags
New York Times 02/01/2008
On Clothing Racks, Inflation Is the Hot TrendNew York Times 02/23/2008
Treasury Secretary Paulson and the deft diplomacy and bridgebuilding that led to bipartisan agreement on a stimulus package and set the stage for cooperative work from Republicans and Democrats to restore public confidence in the political leadership of the country to act concertedly.
Linked Articles
Paulson’s Deal-Making Revives Treasury’s Relevance
New York Times 01/28/2008
Stimulus Deal Spurred by Fears Of Voter BacklashWall Street Journal 01/26/2008
The aggressive internationalization plan of IBM. How its being executed and the financial results that show this in 4th quarter 2008 with 10% gain in revenues and 24% in profits.
Linked Articles
Foreign Sales Help I.B.M. to a Strong Quarter
New York Times 01/15/2008
IBM Sales, Profit Give Tech a Healthier LookWall Street Journal 01/15/2008
Among the changes in the mass market downscaling of Starbucks was the introduction of hot breakfast sandwiches. Schultz did not like the smell of the sanwiches taking away the aroma of coffees that was a key part of the Starbucks experience.
Linked Articles
Schultz Takes Over to Try to Perk Up Starbucks
Wall Street Journal 01/08/2008
Starbucks Shares Rise as CEO ReturnsWall Street Journal 01/09/2008
BYD and Tata Motors are pioneers in economical small cars and electric cars. Both have a good shot at accomplishing their goals and taking leadership position in their field because of the low cost high quality technical manpower they have, the vision of the head of the company, and the early start.
Linked Articles
Technology Levels Playing Field in Race to Market Electric Car
Wall Street Journal 01/12/2009
Four Wheels for the Masses: The $2,500 CarNew York Times 01/08/2008
A more tolerant world has existed in Islamic Central Asia, South Asia and Iran, over long perids that were also punctuated by periods of conflict. Europe has experienced this also as the ebb and flow of religious strife and of tolerance prevailed in different periods.
Linked Articles
New York Times 01/06/2008
Eat Your Heart Out, HomerNew York Times 01/06/2008
After the assasination of Benazir Bhutto sentiment in the Sindh province to go its own way, fears that Sindh is not getting a fair share and benefit in Pakistan compared to the larger Punjab province.
Linked Articles
New York Times 01/06/2008
Bhutto Killing Roils Province, Spurring Call to Quit PakistanWall Street Journal 01/08/2008
Long term forecasting is a difficult business. IEA's 2015 forecast missed the situation in 2015 completely. Yergin was right but did not see how fast this would happen with oil prices down to $50 per barrel in 2015 and prices at the pump below $2.
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 12/12/2011
Energy Watchdog Warns Of Oil-Production CrunchWall Street Journal 05/22/2008
Linked Articles
Doubts Raised on Big Backers of Mortgages
New York Times 05/06/2008
Loan Giant Overstated the Size of Its Capital BaseNew York Times 09/07/2008
Martin Feldstein first made his proposal in early 2008, then repeated it in October 2008, as the crisis took a turn for the worse. Sheila Barr made her proposal public on April 30, 2008. Both address foreclosures. Later Sheila Barr implemented this when FDIC took over IndyMac bank for Indy's mortgage borrowers.
Linked Articles
Bair Proposal Seeks Government Loans To Aid Homeowners
Wall Street Journal 04/30/2008
The Problem Is Still Falling House PricesWall Street Journal 10/04/2008
How the foreign investment model for countries that attracted Foreign Investment with lower wages is changing and the differentials with the US are closing, Irish hourly pay higher than US hourly pay.
Linked Articles
Ireland: The End of the Miracle
BusinessWeek 03/27/2008
China's Factory BluesBusinessWeek 03/27/2008
Policymakers and economic change cause China's industry to shift from the low wage low margin model to more innovation, worker protection , environmental protection model.
Linked Articles
China's Export Machine Threatened by Rising Costs
Wall Street Journal 06/30/2008
Many Factories in China's South Sound Last WhistleWall Street Journal 02/22/2008
The success of the Logan and Dacia in France and other European markets has helped Renault. Profit margins on the two low cost vehcles is about 6%, higher than Renault's 2-3% margins on other cars. This turns the accepted logic in the auto industry on its head about higher margins with larger more expensive cars.
Linked Articles
Frugal Dacia Stars in Renault's Overhaul
Wall Street Journal 02/11/2008
Renault Takes Low-Cost LeadWall Street Journal 04/16/2012
China's demand for energy is not going to go down that much so expect continued pressure on oil prices and on inflation from China in addition to the increase of about 10% in prices of Chinese goods on retail shelves in the USA in 2008 as wages and raw material costs rise.
Linked Articles
China’s Inflation Hits American Price Tags
New York Times 02/01/2008
China's Impact On Oil Prices: Not So MuchWall Street Journal 01/31/2008
The EU has newbiofuels law that requires that a biofuel production and use reduce emissions by 35% to meet its standards, rapeseed oil at 37% passes and corn for ethanol as in the US at 22% fails.
Linked Articles
EU Is Planning Measures To Protect Biofuels Industry
Wall Street Journal 01/23/2008
U.S. Given Poor Marks on the EnvironmentNew York Times 01/23/2008
The overheating of lithium ion batteries is why it has taken so long to come up with mass market electric cars or hybrids using lithium ion batteries. Daimler's Zetsche says his company is the first to put a car on the market with litium ion battery in its S400 in late 2008 and it has developed a sophisticated cooling system in the car for this.
Linked Articles
At Daimler, Sales Follow the World’s Oil Riches
New York Times 05/10/2008
Race to Make Electric Cars Stalled by Battery ProblemsWall Street Journal 01/11/2008
The new small car from Tata will meet current and future European emissions standards Mr. Tata said in an interview. There were doubts in the NYTimes of Jan 8, 2008 about the emissions, and it was thought that this car would just meet the lower Indian emissions standards. If this is true then this is part of the foresight of the vision of Ratan Tata. In fact Tata said that it was easier to meet the emissions standards than to meet the crash and safety standards because of the lightness of the car.
Linked Articles
Tata's High-Stakes Bet on Low-Cost Car
Wall Street Journal 01/10/2008
Four Wheels for the Masses: The $2,500 CarNew York Times 01/08/2008
Starbucks with 10,000 store locations in the USA and 1600 planned new stores for 2008 finally realizes that this breakneck expansion was destroying the original starbucks experience and vision as its reduced to becoming more like a fast food place.
Linked Articles
Schultz Takes Over to Try to Perk Up Starbucks
Wall Street Journal 01/08/2008
McDonald's Takes On A Weakened StarbucksWall Street Journal 01/07/2008
Militancy shifts to a younger generation of leaders in the border provinces of Pakistan, Baluchistan, Northwest Frontier province and Waziristan. Taliban was a creation of the Pakistan army to create strategic depth for Pakistan by getting a Islami militant run organization take over Afghanistan after the Russians left. It has turned into a complete mess as that militancy has spread to Pakistan's border provinces.
Linked Articles
New York Times 01/06/2008
Next-Gen TalibanNew York Times 01/06/2008
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