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According to the General Accountability Office inquiry, 28 drug products had price increases over 100% in 2000, in 2008 71 drug products had such large increases. Medicines like Adderall for attention deficit disorder, Inderal for chest pain, Sumycin for infections were in the list of 416 brand name drug products where makers or distributors raised prices at least once by 100% or more for period 2000-2008. As large pharmaceutical companies sold their marginally profitable drug products or small selling products to smaller companies, these smaller companies would immediately increase prices to recover the money they paid to the large pharmaceutical companies. 26 of the brand name products saw prices raised 10 fold. A third of the drugs with large price increases treat depression and disorders of the central nervous system.

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As the market in larger cities matures, the market in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities is where most of the growth is expected in China's market. An expanding middle class is one source of buyers. One forecast is for 51% of Chinese families having disposable income of 106,000 yuan to 229,000 yuan or between $17,000 and $37,000 by 2020, according to McKinsey. There were only 6% in that income range in 2010, showing how skewed the income distribution was, and why the growth of luxury cars has benefitted BMW, Benz and GM. A new generation of younger buyers is another source of growth- Nissan's chief planning officer, Andy Palmer estimates the youth market at 240 million. This group is being called the Transformers generation. A big surge in buying for SUV's has helped companies such as Ford Motor Company. Benz and Ford plan to add new dealerships, with Benz planning dealerships in 40 new cities and opening 100 new stores in 2014. Audi is planning a new certified used car program to keep used car resale values high....

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The Human Needs Index pioneered by 2015 Nobel Prize Winner Angus Deaton looks at consumption of services such as healthcare, housing and of food, to determine how people in each region are doing and poverty levels. Using this index Minnesota and North Carolina at about 1.15 are doing much better than Nevada and Michigan.

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Wages in emerging markets such as Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are rising following an increase in wages in China. Malaysia's government announced a minimum wage for the first time. China increased its minimum wage by 8.6% to 1260 yuan ($199) in January 2012. Shenzen region minimum wage was raised 14% to 1500 yuan, and Tianjin region's by 13% to 1310 yuan, according to Xinhua news agency. Rise in minimum wage has ranged from 40% in Thailand to 20% in Indonesia. The new minimum wage proposed by Malaysia's government is about 900 ringgit ($264-$297). In Thailand the new minimum wage is set at 300 baht ($9.78) a day, an increase of about 40%.

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Mokoto Rich of the NYT discusses sentiment in Japan as the North Korean nuclear program advances. A majority of Japanese surveyed do not favor preemptive strikes. Japan's Constitution only allows acting in self-defense. Experts say Japan has to consider what it would do for missiles flying over Japanese territory in the direction of the U.S. A Japanese government ruling in 1956 allows acting in self-defense in a broader way. Yet the public in Japan is not sure what is the best way to respond. Also to be considered is how this will be seen in South Korea and China- would Japan taking a greater defensive role and building its own anti-ballistic missile system defenses lead to greater tensions in the region.

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Projections by the U.S. Energy information Administration and the International Energy Agency for oil supplies and demand 2010-2035. Continued high growth in demand in India and China, and declining demand in Japan, U.S. and the EU.

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The IMF's Anoop Singh, director of the Asia-Pacific department, says the inflation in Asia and other countries is a result of wider structural economic shifts, not just a one-off result of the weather related food production declines. For this reason the response should be broader reforms to control inflation. Monetary policies alone cannot therefore do the job, more strengthening of currencies will be needed. Singh says some of the underlying demand in Asia is a result of a widening middle class, which implies the price pressures may not be temporary. The high growth rate in Asia has some good and bad aspects. The bad aspect is the quality of some of the growth and the sustainability of that kind of growth, says Singh.

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Inflation in India is at 9.1% in May 2011, compared to the prior year. GDP growth for the first quarter of 2011 slowed to 7.8%, from an annual rate of 8.3% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Other figures show the same trend. Local investment growth for the second half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011 was at 4.1%, a decline from 14.7% at the beginning of the year. Foreign investment in the first quarter 2011 declined 32% from the prior year, down to $3.4 billon. Car sales have also declined to the lowest rate in two years.

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Kei cars are the super small size cars in Japan. In 2013 40% of new cars sold in Japan were Kei cars, an astonishing fact! The kei car is smaller than a Toyota Prius or a Ford Fiesta. It goes to show the level of energy conservaion in Japan that makes the U.S. look like a gas guzzler even after recent fuel efficiency improvements. It also shows how ordinary Japanese are adapting to stagnation in wage growth and increasing part time employment of the last 2 decades.

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U.S. auto sales increase to levels seen before the recession in 2006- with 16.5 million units sold in 2014. Sales increased by 5.9% over 2013, according to Autodata. Fiat Chrysler NV sales reached 2 million units in 2014, for an astounding recovery under Marchionne, close to the 2.4 milllion units sold by Toyota and the 2.5 million units sold by Ford Motor.

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New Democracy has 22% and Pasok 18% in polls before the Greece elections. A New Democracy-Pasok coalition is one possible outcome of the election. New Democracy leader Samaras sees a coalition government as tying his hands for policy actions, and feels he can win another election if it took place later this year. By then the thhinking goes Greeks will have vented their anger and will be looking for a stable government. Both parties have seen supporters shift to fringe parties with 22% unemployment and rising taxes.

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Reliance Industries plan for new 4G telecom network in India using the latest technologies.

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Apple, Microsoft, Merck, Nike and other U.S. companies raised about $27 billion in the early part of 2013 with bonds yielding about one percentage point above U.S. government bonds. With the increase in yields in Treasury bonds following positive news from the housing sector, an improving U.S. economy and improving share prices in the stock market, corporate bond prices are declining. Apple's 10 year bond declined by 1.15% to 95.85 cents on the dollar. Analysis from William Blair shows Apple's 10 year bonds trading at 97 cents to the dollar if rates on 10 year Treasury bonds were 2%. At rates rising to 3% the Apple bond price would decline to 88.88 cents to the dollar, and a loss of 8.37%.

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The lack of trust in negotiations on the terms of spending cuts between Greece and EU ministers in February 2011. In difficult exchanges between German finance minister Schauble and Greece's finance minister Venizelos, Schauble criticized the Greek government for not beginning negotiations for reduction in the minimum wage. EU ministers at a meeting with Venizelos on Feb 10, 2012, showed a distrust of Greece's figures on austerity cuts and asked for an additional $428 million in cuts to make up for the refusal of Greece to cut supplemental pensions. In Greece five ministers in the Greek cabinet resigned in protest over the conditions set by the troika of the EC, ECB and the IMF, just as unions launched a 48 hour strike in Athens. Greece is in the fifth year of a recession with unemployment at over 20%, making sharp cuts more painful. A shrinking economy makes achieving budget defict targets even more difficult and worsening the debt situation.