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The OPEC meeting in Doha in April 2016 fails to lead to an agreement to freeze oil production at Jan. 2016 levels, with Iran staying away from the meeting.

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Eco-power washes for engines developed by Pratt and Whitney, a manufacturer of jet engines, is aservice that costs $3000 to $5000 per wash. It helps take the dirt and sludge off the engines that accumulates after ears of flying. The caked on grime from the inside of the engine can reduce fuel consumption by 1.2%, which adds up over time. Pratt estimates that if the entire industry used this service $1 billion in fuel costs could be saved and emissions of carbon dioxide reduced by 3.2 billion pounds. There is additional savings in maintenance as the engines run cooler when cleaned, and airlines can avoid costly overhauls for as long as 18 additional months. Wasdhing takes 90 minutes, is clean and pays for itself in weeks. Southwest started its program in April and by late May 2008 had done 248 washes. It estimates savings from these washes at $1.6 million.

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Sprint's agreement with Softbank to sell a 70% stake to Softbank for $20.1 billion. Sprint has lagged behind Verizon and At&T in offering Long Term Evolution, or LTE, data service. It is struggling with $21 billion in debt and needs the additional investment to support investment on the next generation technologies. Softbank was working on reducing debt estimated at $13 billion and building its LTE network in Japan. The deal for Sprint Nextel therefore comes as a surprise with the additional debt Softbank is taking on, even though Masayoshi Son, the CEO of Softbank, is known for taking on large deals. Softbank shares declined 17% after the first information came out and have dropped an additional 5%. Sprint shares were up 14%.

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The pact of competitiveness is designed to bring a closer integration of the eurozone. It includes proposals for increasing the retirement age to 67, ending indexation of wages to inflation, and involvement of other eurozone countries in controlling out of control deficits in some countries. Germany sees this as necessary to convince the German public that financial responsibility is being exercized by countries in budget crises that get help from Germany. This may buy time but it does not come to terms with the reality of Greece being insolvent already, which may be true also for Ireland and Portugal. Some experts see the need for debt restructuring, and the need to start early, especially if Germany is unwilling to make large transfers to these countries.

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Walkway Over the Hudson is the longest pedestrian bridge in the world. It is 1.28 miles long, 212 feet above New York's Hudson River, 80 miles north of Manhattan. It opened in October 2009 after years of reclamation efforts and with new LED lighting that makes it usable at night. About a million visitors have taken a walk over the bridge. A local handyman, Bill Sepe, pushed the pedestrian walkway idea by forming Walkway Over the Hudson in 1992. The organization took ownership of the old bridge, built when Pougkeepsie was an industrial town, and in 2007 raised money. Work began thereafter, taking 16 months and $38.8 million to build the Walkway, and is now run by the state as a State Historic Park.

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After over two decades of focus on GDP growth targets, China under prime minister Li Keqiang is giving more emphasis to job growth and problems of air pollution, education, and quality of life indicators. Premier Keqiang tells a news conference in Beijing in March 2014 that China needs to create 10 million new jobs each year. More bond defaults can be expected as the financial system is being changed with new rules. Li says China will no longer be "preoccupied" with GDP growth targets. Li made the new priorities clear-"The GDP growth we want is one that brings real benefits to our people, helps raise the quality and efficiency of economic development and contributes to energy conservation and environmental protection."

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Shigeru Ishiba was reappointed LDP party secretary-general in Japan. Ishiba served three terms as defence minister, is popular with the rank and file and the public. He has a good grasp of security issues. He will be the No. 2 person in the cabinet after prime minister Shinzo Abe. Ishiba was the first LDP official to give a specific trading range for the yen by publicly calling for a range of 85 to 90 yen to the dollar. The yen closed at about 85 yen to the dollar on Dec. 25, 2012. Two women join Ishiba and Abe in the leadership positions. Seiko Noda is now chairwoman of the party general council. And six term parliamentarian Sanae Takaichi is policy chief for the LDP.

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A Norwegian economist quotes Ibsen-"the strongest man is one who stands alone in this world." it describes Norway's approach of setting its own course. Prudent banking policies, frugal management of oil money, and astute investments by the wealth fund, have given Norway economic resilience rare in Europe. Banking represents only 2% of the economy, and oil money goes straight to the wealth fund and only 4% is allocated to the budget, spending controls are in place as government spending was reduced to 40% of GDP by 2007 from 48% in 2003 a period when UK increased spending from 42% to 47%. Oil revenues and a small population of 4.9 million also help. Managing this well is the Norwegian story.

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Expanding trade between Eastern Europe and Russia . Exports from Eastern Europe went from $2.3 billion to $10 billion from 2000 to 2006. And Russian exports mostly oil and gas went up from $14.5 billion to $24.1 billion in the same period. The trade is expected to grow significantly in coming years. Russia grew by 7.5 % in 2007 and Eastern Europe by about 6%, according to the Viennna Institute for International Economic Studies. Consumer spending on both sides has grown and with it the trade is growing. And with manufacturing investment in Eastern Europe from Germany and other countries there is demand in Russia for these products with higher quality such as the Skoda made in the Czech Republic by Volkswagen.

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Obama's five year $200 million "My Brothers Keeper" effort to help black and minority youth.

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Fo VW the market in Germany is still growing with a 4% increase in sales for the first 5 months of 2008, and a 20% increase in Eastern Europe.

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The Indian government is putting a 76% stake in Air India up for sale. Air India has not made a profit since 2007 and a bidder would be taking on $5 billion in debt. What makes it attractive is a market in India growing at 20% for airline passengers. Potential bidders include Indigo, which is interested only in the international business of Air India to add to the 9 destinations overseas it flies to. Vistara, a joint effort of Singapore Airlines and the Tata Group is also a likely bidder. Air India has international slots at London Heathrow and at New York JFK airports that are attractive for bidders.

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Krugman in the NYT reminds readers Charity Watch gave the Clinton Foundation an "A" rating, better than that given to the American Red Cross. He points out the disservice done by all the innuendo about conflicts of interest. The Associated Press report on the Clinton Foundation he finds part of this creating "shadows"  about meetings with corporate people or others with conflict of interest when all it could find was a meeting with Mohammed Yunus, a winner of Nobel Peace Prize and a longtime personal friend. This points to the need to take a good hard look at each candidate, to look carefully at the details and think about what it means for the country for the next 4 years or the next decade. Krugman fails to mention the economy and job gains and losses, yet this is a huge factor in an election year where upward mobility and the prospects for the middle and working class are major issues. For example Moody's has calculated the loss of about 3 million jobs under Trump and a gain of 10 million jobs under Clinton for the next 4 years.  ...

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Climate protection goals require rail to get its standards up and modernize quickly in Germany. Deutsche Bahn, the German Rail Network accepts that it needs radical changes. It is important to attract more people to urban transit and rail to promote climate change initiatives and to reduce gas consumption in Germany.  The head of the Deutsche Bahn Richard Lutz says the German Rail has been neglected for years and pushed to its "absolute limit."  Many rail points and signal boxes are obsolete and highly prone to failure.  About 51,000 passenger and goods trains travel through Germany every day going up to 59,000 in 2030.  Lutz says it cannot stay this way- "Increasing demand, combined with aging infrastructure and construction work, is leading to traffic jams and delays with a massive impact on all customers." More than this there is the the question how do you attract more people to not drive but take the train to save gas consumption and reduce the impact on the environment when things are so bad in the rail network? The dilemma says Lutz is "how to grow and modernize at the same time?" Under Lutz and Transport ministry plans high performance corridors are to receive a first class quality standard. More customer friendly construction should be used. And planned construction done in such a way that some sections are construction free sites for several years. Heavily used sections make up 10% of the network or 3500 kilometres and operate at 125% of capacity. By 2030 these sections will be 9000 kilometres or triple that now. Climate protection goals require getting rail up to speed.  ...

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A centrist 73 years, and mentor of Macron, the head of the Movement Democrate allied to Macron's Renaissance party is appointed to succceed Banrnier as PM of France. Macron hit a new low of public approval rating of 23% by Ipsos. Scholz of Germany is at 18% following reaching 65% in Jan 2022. Bayrou says-“I am fully aware of the Himalaya of difficulties that lie before us,” Bayrou says he would strive for a “necessary reconciliation” with Melenchon of France Unbowed party and Marie Le Pen of National Rally on the left and right of the centrist Macron. These are mere labels- both Melenchon and Marie Le Pen want to see higher public spending and no cuts in the Budget for 2025, Macron is not eager for cuts, Barnier wanted to cut the budget to cut the growing deficit but this is not a time to cut spending as investment is needed to grow the economy and meet needs for public services and cost of living assistance. Macron was taken by surprise by Barnier's approach leading to a no confidence vote and Barnier resigning.  ...

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On a farm in Texas where farmers have finished planting the winter wheatcrop, it cost $6 a bushel for fuel, seed and fertilizer to plant and not counting the price of renting land, when the price today is $5 a bushel for wheat. Most farmers like this farm in Texas kept a large portion of their wheat even as prices hit $10 a bushel hoping for higher prices, with prices having dropped to $5 a bushel in a short time things don't look so good. In places like Oklahoma which exports two thirds of its wheat farmers planted bigger wheat crops as prices jumped, and the wheat crop harvested in the spring is valued at $1 billion at the higher prices except that not all farmers sold their wheat.

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French president Macron is skipping attending the Swiss Davos conference in 2019, as he attends to pressing problems at home. A year ago after attending Davos Macron appeared as a champion of globalization and took some risky actions in the euphoria over his win- stripping job protections at a sensitive time of rising inequality, and abolishing a decades old wealth tax. The election showed a regional and urban-rural divide in France even though Macron gained a large majority in the Assembly. The yellow vested protestors showed no particular allegiance to parties, only showing a sense of dissatisfaction with neglect of working class struggling to make a living. All that is changed now after yellow vested protestors rioted week after week over neglect of working class issues.Macron has resisted pressure to reinstate the wealth tax. He has suspended plans to increase fuel taxes and introduced 10 billion euro worth measures to boost purchasing power of working class French people, a major demand of the yellow vests. A series of town hall meetings are planned for Macron to listen to the voices he has not paid enough attention to before in his aloof style of governing. ...

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Jeremy Grantham says he sees a 75% chance of another bubble and bust for the third time since 2000, with the stock market up 80% and speculative stocks up 140%. And he says artificially low interest rates will be responsible for this one, as it was for the other two. See Shiller, Roubini and Roach for their comments on the economic situation mid 2010.

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Portugal sold 1 billion euros of 12 month Treasury bills at an average of 4.331%, up from 4.057% at the previous offering on March 2, 2011. Moody's downgraded the country's rating by two nothches to A3. Analysts say that these higher funding costs will lead to a bailout for Portugal. The yield spread between 10 year Portuguese and German bonds is now at 4.35%.

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Exxon has cut costs of shale oil production by learning new cost efficient ways of getting the oil out of the rock. Exxon states it has cut costs by 20 to 25% for production in the Bakken from shale, making it possible to invest in shale oil production at much lower prices as the learning continues. This will be a factor for oil prices in future years.