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A detailed account by Thomas Schweich, a senior official and deputy in the law enforcement bureau to Anne Patterson, Assistant secretary of State for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs. He talks about how the Pentagon and the UK military have thwarted efforts for aerial eradication of poppy fields which has worked in other countries like Columbia. In fact Anne Patterson was an Ambassador to Columbia and knows about this first hand. He also talks about how through their efforts northern Afghanistan was cleared of poppy fields but how the cultivation has shifted to the south to Helmand and Kandahar provinces. The government officials in these provinces are actively involved in the poppy farms that are being setup there and support Karzai and help him organize the Pashtun vote for coming elections. So Karzai is protecting these officials and because of this opposes aerial eradication and does not support using Afghan Army for land eradication. The military in the U.S. and the UK does not want to take more casualties by turning against them the officials and farmers who support the government, but this is a short sighted policy because this helps make the Taliban insurgency stronger with access to cash and weapons because they also are actively setting up farms in their areas of southern Afghanistan. Aerial eradication takes care of poppy farms in all areas and has been effective in other countries. In the long run the military takes many more casulaties because of the bigger insurgency and Taliban they have to deal with. The military's policy is called "Sequencing," and its basically we'll deal with drugs later which is based on a complete misperception and understanding of the situation facing them. Schweich is in the thick of these battles and has fought them wit courage it appears from this account. He has the support of Secretary of State Rice but has not been able to get the Administration to get Karzai to change the way he is operating. It risks making the situation and insurgency in Afghanistan a lot worse if not corrected. Its a call for action and for educating the public and clearing all the misunderstanding and myths and fog about whats happening in Afghanistan....

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Zardari is asking for $100 billion when Pakistan has in its central bank enough foreign currency reserves for 2 months of imports of oil and food. He also wants to defeat the Taliban and militants and find those responsible for the death of Benazir Bhutto. This interview with Bret Stephens who gives an account of it and his own comments, ends with some remarks by Zardari about wanting to defeat the militant elements that killed Mrs Bhutto in a manner where "not letting them get away with it" referring to those responsible, is something he wishes to do before his own life ends. It suggests that this war is likely to take a new turn as the military in Pakistan takes on the militants and Taliban and as General Petraeus looks for a way to reverse Taliban gains in southern Afghanistan and other parts of the country.

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U.S. Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator Tim Scott describe the event on poverty organized by the Jack Kemp Foundation in Jan. 2016, in which both Congressmen are moderators. Ryan and Scott point out the importance of upward educational and economic mobility for working class and middle class people. The 2 Republican leaders say education, work, opportunity and accountability for federal spending in anti-poverty programs are critical parts of their program for addressing the problem. They suggest trying different solutions by giving states more opportunity to try different solutions.

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GM shares have fallen to $32 by April 2011, having dropped by 13.5%. Ford Motor shares have dropped by 9%. All automobile manufacturers have been affected by rising oil prices. And the government's plans to sell all of its GM shares this summer at a loss create additional uncertainty about the value of GM stock. A sense that the IPO roadshow for GM last summer may have oversold GM and created expectations that may not be fulfilled.

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This Buttonwood column in the Economist after the British 2015 general election says the election results show serious dissatisfaction with the political class. Labor was never forgiven for the 2007-2009 financial and economic crisis, and the "lost decade" in terms of decline in real wages and no improvements in the standard of living since then. The SNP because it is not tainted by these actions did better as a fresh face and authentic voice in Scotland. The Liberal Democrats suffered from their participation in the coalition government and the austerity years. The Conservatives benefitted from the problems and the crisis of confidence faced by the other major parties. The column asks the question about whether austerity can ever be a vote winning strategy. And it points out that the Conservative party won 37% of the vote compared to 36% in 2010. Labor went from 29% in one of the worst results ever in 2010 to 31%. UK Independence Party gained 13% vote share with increase in English nationalism. Behind all this it says is the general disillusion with the political class in Europe. And the Conservatives should take care lest the dissensions in the party with the EU referendum lead to a divided party. ...

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Britain's Treasury chief Osborne faces a difficult period as the economy shows flat growth for 2012 and 2013. The targets he set for eliminating the structural deficit or budget gap by April 2017 may need to be shifted to 2018. The target for net debt to decline as a percentage of GDP by 2015 may also be unachievable if growth is flat in the coming year. An accounting change in how profit from the Bank of England's bond buying program are shown is designed to reduce Treasury's borrowing and bring Britain closer to this target. Osborne says Britain's actions for austerity measures, spending cuts and increasing taxes have helped keep interest rates low to pay off debt.

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Brinksmanship on both sides as Greece's Syriza government continues negotiations with the EU in June 2015. Syriza's Tsipras attends the St. Petersburg Economic Forum as the IMF's Lagarde calls for restoring dialogue "with some adults in the room." The German media describes Greece's finance minister Yannis Varoufakis as "amateurish." Germany says a Greek exit from the eurozone is an option. Creditors are pushing for changes to the pension system before releasing $7 billion, including $1.6 billion owed to the IMF on June 30, 2015.

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Douthat offers insights into U.S. president Obama's thinking when he said at a National Prayer Breakfast, that Christians also had committed bad acts in the name of religion and reminded listener of the Jim Crow days when blacks were oppressed by church going Christians. The Crusades were a long battle against an advancing Islam over several centuries and many regions, says Douthat, and do not quite compare with the actions committed by an individual organization such as Islamic State in 2014-2015. The Jim Crow reference comes from personal experience during the fading days of racial discrimination. Yet says Douthat this reference to Christian culpability does little to bring the criticism back to self that the writer Niebuhr, Obama's role model, suggests, because it does not take the criticism back to self or political party to serve as useful introspection. It is almost like saying Christians are just as bad,(so why act?) without distinguishing from Christians and Muslims who respect tolerance and peaceful coexistence from those who do not. It also encourages one to remain a bystander in foreign and defense policy, leaving a younger generation with any future consequences. Ike does better by bringing self-criticism home to his own party and ideological wing by talking about the military-industrial complex and the problems it will create....

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Ford has still not redesigned the Focus for the American market- just spruced it up to buy time for a complete rehaul ogf its small car lineup. Note that its Focus sales have fallen by 6% in November over the prior year, and that it has slipped behind Toyota and Daimler Chrysler in overall sales.

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Mohamed El-Erian is cohead at Pimco with Bill Gross. He was with the IMF for 15 years before joining Pimco which he left in 2005 to go to Harvard. He left Haarvard in december and rejoined Pimco. Pimco or the Pacific Investment Mangement Company oversees $810 billion in assets. Every spring employees of Pimco get together to paint a big picture view of what secular trends will drive markets. El-Erian says he missed this at Harvard. Very few of the investment managers marketing products to Harvard Investment Mnagement were anchored by secular or long term views. He appreciates the disciplined hardwired thinking that Bill Gross goes through on such issues as the end of the Cold War, the spread of capitalism in emerging markes, the USA productivity surge, and the rise of China's influence on the global economy. El-Erian thinks these secular long term views are anchors that help you from getting caught up in bad trades. In his view the last decade saw the balance sheet of emerging markets get recapitalized, the after Enron and Worldcom the US corporate and industrial sector recapitalized its balance sheet. Now its the US financial system that is recapitalizing its balance sheet, once this period is over it will be seen as very positive. He sees the USA about three quarters of the way through a major dislocation that has repriced the financial system. He sees risk for the small and midsized USA banks that are heaavily tied to commercial real estate and the consumer. The pressure is great for consumers. And unemployment is absolutely the key for the next 6 months, El-Erian emphasizes, because if too many people lose their jobs income and consumption will be thrown off balance. He says Pimco is focussing on senior parts of the capital structure with very high quality bonds....