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Germany's retail association HDE says about 50,000 shops will be lost in non food sector. There are about 300,000 shops in Germany. These shops have lost 30 billion euros already in lost sales, and with traffic low are losing about 1 billion euros a day, even after being allowed to open. Many shops will be missing when one walks around cities in Germany. 

A big problem is the cost of rent which is not being deferred in the crisis. When rent is deferred corporate landlords charge 5% to 9% interest.

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Millenials are promoting healthy eating habits in the U.S. as awareness among young people grows about faulty eating habits that have become commonplace in the U.S.  Words such as naturally grown, organic, sustainable, locally sourced are important in the way millennials demand their food, and grocery stores are listening. Millennials are also trying vegan and vegetarian options. Packaging has to be resealable, easy to open and portable. And when it comes to baby food millennials have definite preferences. 

The result is that variety and quality is improving on grocery market shelves.

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With 9.5 million barrels a day cut for U.S. G20 and OPEC+ negotiated by president Trump many Texas oil wells will be shut in. Even with these cuts price is sensitive after dropping to $22 by April 12, 2020. The cuts averted a complete collapse in oil prices when markets opened on April 13. By April 12 oil demand worldwide had fallen by 30 million barrels a day. That is how grave the situation was. By doing so the U.S. protected its oil industry. There was complete lack of leadership from Russia, Saudis, Mexico and other countries until president Trump intervened with strong action. Trump threatened tariffs on imported oil to protect the U.S. oil industry if other nations did not come to terms, including calls from U.S. senators telling prince Abdulaziz the Saudi oil minister the U.S. Saudi relationship could not be salvaged if the Saudis did not come to an agreement. Once again president Trump's tariff moves worked, this time to save the world oil industry and oil producing economies such as Russia from severe hardship. ...

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Fiat under Sergio Marchionne has come a long way since he joined in June 2004, and has since executed a most remarkable recovery. At the time he joined in 2004, Fiat was only using 70% of its 2.5 million capacity. Now by 2010 Fiat expects to make 3.5 million vehicles. At the time debt was 4.4 billion euros and cash flow was draining at a rapid rate. The $2 billion from GM as part of their agreement, came in handy to make several new car models. But Marchionne had to start with a whole new team, and tear up the old ways of doing business and the old hierarchy and management. He put a group of younger managers in charge, and brought in a style that was open honest and straight talking, with plenty of direct communication. By 2007 on the back of the Punto and the Fiat 500 and the Bravo and other new models, Fiat had made a record profit of 3.2 billion euros while eliminationg its industrial debt. Its a new way of doing business in Italy. Marchionne had moved quickly and decisively in making changes at Fiat. He flattened out the structure, and gave a small number of younger people the freedom to take the initiative. He also put the former design chief of Pininfarina in charge, and brought all the designers together in Turin's Mirafiori complex in Oficina 83. He put design at the core of the manufacturing process, and cut time to build new models for the Bravo and Fiat 500 from design freeze to production to 18 months from 26, by relying entirely on computer simulations and not building any prototypes. He also gave designers freedom, and took risks when it came to styling to come up with really original and exceptional designing. He also continued developing Fiat's advantage in fuel efficiency of its engines, so that its engines have lower average emissions than any competitor. On the other hand Fiat has been slow to take advantage of the growth in emerging markets in India, China and Russia. Russia for instance will soon become the largest market in Europe, larger than Germany. Fiat shows that the right manager can and does make a difference between disaster and making a big success. Alitalia is now in the situation that Fiat was then, it isstruggling to find its future. With Chrysler's collapse in the US, and the efforts to revive Chrysler, these are lessons applicable in the US also. ...

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New discoveries by Hamm's Continental Resources, could change the way the U.S. thinks about oil and natural gas. After years of OPEC dependence, the U.S. could become energy sufficient by 2020. His company pioneered the search for oil and natural gas in the Bakken fields in the Great Plains. The U.S. Geological Survey says Bakken has 4-5 billion barrels of oil. Hamm says the entire field, fully developed, holds 24 billion barrels.

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Microsoft CEO completed 36 major acquisitions since taking over from Steve Ballmer in 2014. In this report Jay Greene of WSJ points out a significant change under Nadella. Under Gates and Ballmer the heads of companies acquired were not brought into company executives discussions. Nadella invited these heads to join the rest of the company's top managers to meetings to hear different views. Nadella says Microsoft would not have missed big trends had it listened more. Under Ballmer acquisitions such as Nokia were not properly handled. Even under Gates in the earlier period products in Search later developed by Google did not get the attention they deserved and heads of companies acquired did not get  to actively participate. The Not Invented Here Syndrome applied to Microsoft managers. The aggressive attitudes did not produce the best results. Like Apple's Cook who has a collaborative style, Nadella has set out to open up the company to different ideas and people. Nadella has shifted the company away from earlier products to cloud computing and mobile computing to produce better results. Under Nadella open source software programming receives the openness and respect it deserves, after the Ballmer years. The change in attitude is real and Nadella as a Microsoft veteran for 24 years has been able to steer the company in a new direction. ...

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Close all asylum hotels in orderly way, says former Justice Secretary under Blair, Charlie Falconer Home Office minister Angela Eagle says: “We inherited a chaotic asylum accommodation system costing billions. This government will close all hotels by the end of this parliament and we appealed this judgment so hotels like the Bell can be exited in a controlled and orderly way that avoids the chaos of recent years that saw 400 hotels open at a cost of £9m a day.”

Labour has to act decisively to meet the shift in the views of people in the UK and because it is plain common sense- UK citizens have no place being in asylum hotels in China or India paid for by the government, it is not even thought of as an idea that makes any sense, and the reverse is also true. Asia has pulled itself up by its bootstraps, Japan Korea, China and India after centuries of colonialism for billions of people only by building up at home.

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Japan's military budget will become the third largest after the US and China and take on offensive capabilities, under the new plan of prime minister Kishida. More than half of Japanese now support Japan taking on this role in defense against China and to ensure an open Indo-Pacific. The military buildup calls for $320 billion in spending over 5 years to deter China, and includes missile deployment. The national security paper released in Dec 2023 says- "The strategic challenge posed by China is the biggest Japan has ever faced." To do this Japan's foreign and defense ministers met with their counterparts in the US this week, ahead of a meeting in the US between Kishida and US president Biden. 

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Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina retires. A much loved player he was always gracious. He won the 2009 US Open final with a win over Federer and was runner up to Djokovic in the 2018 US Open final. After wrist injuries and surgeries he had to retire from tennis and is missed in the tennis circuit. In a period of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic dominating world tennis Del Potro had to make a lot of effort to compete and he did this with grace and style of play, adored by the fans.

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The Musk View - the Open AI lawsuit case against Sam Altman was about looting a charity by the founders. Basically Musk is saying he gave OpenAI $38 million and became one of its founders because of its non-profit business, not because it was afor profit business which would have raised many questions about the risks of for profits doing the wrong things with AI just for profit. Then Sam Altman breaks the promise of staying non-profit for his personal for profit gain, turns it into a for profit without answering any of the questions raised about the dangers of AI without regulatory safeguards into something worse than social media apps that spread fake news endangering democracies, and endangering education of a young generation, mental health risks for girls and children. Competition with China- in China much of it is controlled by the state and the state imposed limits on social media, to protect China's children and young people's educational needs. Tim Higgins says Musk lost but proved his point anyway on X and in the media so much so that speakers at commencements in American universities are being regularly booed  when they bring up AI.  Public perceptions have still not been shaped by the real issue - the massive misallocation of funds, the dubious propositions, the lack of normal financial scrutiny for return on investment that is supposed to happen in well run financial markets, ( is it or is it not a market system in the US as oligopolies are not free market systems), the failure to prove that the investments are viable by a long shot. Banks and capital markets are distorted in lending trillions of dollars to AI companies that cannot justify the investments on financial grounds of return in investment. Returns to the Nation and the American people, as well as financial returns are far better in rebuilding the  broken down infrastructure that America needs rebuilt, in investing in the industries that create jobs and strengthen competing with China and EU. How can the huge misallocation to AI of trillions of dollars, putting a burden on utilities to supply electricity for AI, and the distortion in capital markets to direct that money to infrastructure building and industrial renewal, be corrected? WSJ reports that there is a huge skeptical public on this issue. It is shown in Pew Research and Pew has not asked the question about alternative investments that are being starved of capital in what America desperately needs for reindustrialization and job creation, income creation, competition with China and the EU.   ...

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Billie Jean King whose effort and persistence created the game of Women's Tennis, is alive and well with some words of encouragement, advice. Billie Jean King Commencement address at California State University Los Angeles, where she graduates in history in 2026, sixty two years after letting go college to play tennis. She grew up in Long Beach, with her brother, her parents a fireman who played basketball and a mother who was a teacher. For those who remember she comes from the period of Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith and in Australia Rod Laver, in the seventies. Stadiums are named after her at the US Open Tennis championships, and it was Billie Jean who helped create women's tennis. Some of her advice- "We can never understand inclusion unless we have been excluded." (the first African American player Althea Gibsen is celebrated in a postage stamp yet African Americans barely made it into the sport during her time. Billie Jean asked why it was all white dress, white people, white clubs.) "I like completing things. Finish what I started." (Sixty two years after postponing college in 1962 Bille Jean completes her history degree at Cal State LA in 1986). Billie Jean in another interview says history is so important and the only way to effect change that is good is to know what happened before and why. This is true for another pioneer for women a law student at Stanford named Sandra Day O'Connor of Arizona ranch territory that in those days stretched endlessly on all sides. Gandhi would agree. Hind Swaraj could not be written in 1909 by Gandhiji on a steamship to South Africa from London without asking about history and what had happened to create the Empire in India for the British East India Company traders, with warehouses and private armies, one that extended to Shanghai and Hong Kong in China. Gandhi says in 1909 "English merchants were able to get a footing in India because we encouraged them. When our princes fought among themselves they sought the assistance of Company Bahadur. That corporation was versed alike in commerce and war. We created the circumstances that gave the company control over India." Billie Jean gives some perspective on life and its lessons-"Wherever we are in life we can connect and we can impact change." "At 82 I have learnt about perspective and a few life's lessons- Champions practice their strengths. Concentrate on what you are strong and practice it." "Anything you do winning or losing, good or bad, its feedback not failure. Don't take things personally." "Don't let others define you. You define yourself." "Pressure is a privilege and champions adjust or adapt." "Just remember legacy is what others think about you, what is important is the value of the contributions you make." "Three principles for inner and outer success. Relationships are everything. Relationships with yourself, your family, your loved ones, your faith, and your friends. No. 2- Keep learning and keep learning how to learn. Be a problem solver and a innovator. Our decisions, our actions, our voices will shape what comes next. Have fun. Be fearless and make history." ...

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Paul Mozur of NYT visits the Big Tech conference in Wuzhen, China, attended by large American companies such as Apple, Google. What he finds is very disconcerting, much of the technology can be used to track citizens of any country. Facial recognition technology, artificial intelligence, and other technologies are openly displayed and vendors including Unicom, show how this can be applied to track citizens. He sees the open discussion of how this data can be employed in this way as a sign of how much things have changed- showing how big tech surveillance is now an accepted way of doing things in China.

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Meticulous preparations in France for the Olympics. This report shows Macron at the Olympics Aquatics Centre built at cost of 188 million euros. The budget in 2012 Olympics in London overspent by 200%, France will do it for about 20% overspend, says the Sports Minister. Macron says "Everything is a cause for vigilance and attention, nothing is a cause for worry or paralysis, that is my and our state of mind." When the Olympics open on July 26 this year it will be on the river Seine, with hundreds of flotilla boats. It is a unique effort as even the housing complex was built so that after the Olympics are over the housing could be reused to serve residents of a poorer neglected suburb of Paris. The river Seine is being cleaned up for swimming

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UBS buys Credit Suisse for $3 billion in a takeover arranged by the Swiss National Bank, central bank of Switzerland. The Swiss government also stepped in to provide 9 billion Swiss francs in support which would come into effect if UBS losses exceed 5 billion francs on this takeover. UBS CEO Colm Kelleher makes it clear that a very different Credit Suisse operation will emerge from this that will be "aligned to our conservative risk culture." Risk reduction for Credit Suisse will take place and its investment banking operations reduced, so that the combined operations in investment banking for both banks when integrated will be less than 20% of all its assets. The Swiss government waived shareholder approval because of the emergency nature of the takeover to calm financial markets when stock exchanges open on Monday.

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The difficulties posed by the absence of Xi Jinping at New Delhi G20 Summit are discussed here in the WSJ. Today September 9 the G20 leaders from 20 nations meet, absent will be Mexico's Obrador, China's Xi, and Russia's Putin. China's premier will attend the meeting. China's Xi met with India's Modi at the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg, last month. China's premier is a close associate of Xi's and his chief of staff for decades, so that any suggestion that Xi is reducing contact with other world leaders in 2023 is incorrect. Xi will meet Biden at the APEC meeting US is hosting San Francisco Nov. 12-18 that will focus on Asia Pacific nations.

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Strack of DW.com reports on the 2016 CDU convention where Merkel received 89.5% of the vote. Merkel receives applause for the burqa ban, and her denunciation of populist hate sentiment, of Islamism and parallel societies, parallel cultures. The best passages of Merkel's speech says Strack, were about reunification, about how she started in politics from the natural sciences, her start at SPD, then shifting  quickly to the "Democratic Beginning" leading to the CDU. "Head into the open," "that is where freedom is," and says Strack she had the hall listening to a chancellor speaking with emotion when in the past she has been cool and reserved. Parallels to the 1994 campaign of Kohl for a fourth term when enthusiasm came only from "generation" Kohl are being made.

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Tennis player from Serbia is disqualified for hitting the line umpire with a tennis ball. Djokovic was behind 6-5 to Carren Busta of Spain and lost his serve when this happened. Once before in that match he hit a ball at the stands in frustration. The Organizers of the U.S. Open decided there were clear reasons for him to be disqualified and lose all points he had earned at the U.S. Open. Djokovic had earlier come under criticism for his playing in events where there was no social distancing. Tennis has lost much of the graceful behaviour from the time when players like Althea Gibson, Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver played the game in an earlier era. Too much of the money is focused on prize money, television advertising, star status and number of grand slams won, bringing the game down to a level where the fans enjoying a good game is left behind and focus is all on individual players. The same is true for soccer where so much focus was placed on Barcelona and Messi and the 700 million transfer fee. The message from reality comes from the 7-2 win by Bayern Munich over Barcelona with a traditional approach to the game based on using new players costing far less money, a good dose of common sense and hard work. Coaches at Manchester City and Liverpool, and Real Madrid all attributed their success in the game to hard work and discipline of players, with every player playing for the team and for fans, and not for star status. ...

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The Federal Reserve Open Market Committe voted 7 to 3 to carry out "Operation Twist." This does not involve printing new money as was done for the $600 billion QE II Fed program. This time the Fed will shift its holdings to hold fewer short-term Treasury bills and notes and increase holdings of Treasury securities with longer maturities. The overall impact would be to increase the average maturity of its Treasury securities portfolo to 8 years from the current 6 years. The idea is to put pressure to reduce long tem rates. The Fed says the impact on short term rates is expected to be small because of its conditional pledge made in August 2011 to hold short term rates near zero until mid-2013. The impact of the Fed's move is likely to be modest considering the fact that the average rate on 30 year fixed rate mortgages is already low. It is at 4.09%, according to the latest Freddie Mac survey.

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Madison Keys of the US makes it to the Australian Open finals with a show of resilience after years of competing in world tennis. Keys burst through mental barriers to beat Iga Swiatek this time after struggling since a loss in 2017 US Open at age 22 years. She is now 30 years and playing at her best overcoming mental barriers. Her record goes back to being a child prodigy at age 14, then struggling and now back in the game. She brings back memories of Althea Gibson in 1956, now on a US postage stamp. Not given the spectacular coverage  given to other athletes she brings a modest yet endearing manner, overcoming struggles in the way Althea Gibson had done in the 1950's.

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The U.S. and China presented conflicting views on trade and security in Asia-Pacific region at the APEC summit in 2018. Vice President Pence said "we don't drown our partners in a sea of debt," in a criticism of the China Belt and Road Initiative. The U.S. has 1500 new projects and $61 billion in new investments in the region. Mr. Xi Jinping stated " confrontation in a Cold War, hot war, trade war will produce no winner." 

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The NYT  looks at how the world is coping- with pictures of a classroom in Denmark , blocks of apartments in Barcelona. One of the first countries to open schools with children 2 yards apart, washing hands every hour and not allowed to play with close touching, teachers staying apart in staff areas. Spain is one of the countries hit hardest and with strict lockdown not allowing children to step outside till now, as is allowed in Britain and France. Children in Barcelona are shown in block apartments with parents calling for letting children outside fdor short periods. Madrid is now letting children go outside home for one hour at a time.

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What is the best way to reopen schools. This is being discussed in many European countries including Denmark and Germany. Cut class sizes by half. Have teachers take self adminstered tests. Hallways are one way. Stagger the breaks. Open up doors and windows for circulation- have students wear layers if needed. Students and teachers wear masks. Nothing is left purely to chance. Even with this the reproduction ratio is up to 1.13 in Germany - it must be kept close to 1.

Yet one nation of 85 million and others in Europe and Asia can show the way through a well planned and executed effort with lessons for all.

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With the arrival of Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, and John Bolton as National Security Adviser, president Trump finds support for his own instincts on foreign policy. On North Korea, Iran, and China, president Trump takes charge of foreign policy favoring strong bargaining pressure to achieve foreign policy  goals in trade, containing nuclear weapons and reducing conflicts. He sees the peace talks with North Korea as moving in the right direction with his efforts, and makes the decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal of 2015 on May 8, 2018, as he leaves the door open for new negotiations with Iran for a better deal that achieves U.S. goals.