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U.S. auto sales in May 2012 increased by 26% over the prior year. Toyota sales were up 87% to 203,000 bringing its market share up by 5 percentage points to 15.2%. Honda's sales were up 48% to 134,000, according to Autodata. Overall seasonally adjusted sales were up from the 11.7 million vehicles in 2011 to 13.8 million vehicles in May 2012. Ford's sales were up to 216,000, with a 30% increase in sales of F-series pickup trucks. A cause for concern for Ford would be the 35% of sales in May to rental companies and fleet buyers.

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The responsibility for adminstering LIBOR, the London Interbank Offered Rate, is transferred in July 2013, from the British Bankers Association to the NYSE.

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Bernie Sanders points out in this NYT op-ed the idea that Donald Trump could benefit from the same discontent among working class voters that helped the Leave campaign is a wake up call for the Democratic Party. He calls for global trade and a global economy that works for working class, middle class Americans.  Sanders is pushing for a Democratic Party that embraces the concerns of working class Americans, that understands the impact of factory closings and loss of jobs, of economic uncertainty, of declining incomes and shrinking opportunities.

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Marchionne's major achievement is the genuine integration of Fiat's operations with Chrysler's operations using the strengths of both parts of the operation. Daimler showed little interest in doing this and the result was a failure of the merger between Daimler and Chrysler. Another aspect is the use of Fiat's Alfa Romeo and Maserati models to build new Chrysler vehicles. The new Dodge Dart which gives 40 miles per gallon and which gives Chrysler entry into the small car market, is based on the chassis and technology of Fiat's Alfa Romeo brand. Another vehicle of this type is the Maserati Kubang, an affluent buyer SUV based on the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

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Pessimism about the pace of democratization in China with the continued dominance of the Communist party in the business and economc structures of the country. The interrelationships of the party with state owned companies and the role of its 80 million members in running all aspects of life in China. Experts in China say the 18th party Conress showed no signs of change in the party's control and no sign of experimentation to allow for change comng from within the system so that China could establish a constitutional democracy with the rule of law. Experts in China say the new leaders Jinping and Keqiang may not be able to make changes even if they wanted to, because of the party's control and the earlier presidents and prime ministers from the last two decades who still retain a strong influence on the direction of the country.

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Writing your own narrative when it comes to failures at work is suggested by experts. In the second of a series of Podcasts on How we Work the WSJ looks at failures at work and how they are processed in people's minds. Failures can be seen as experiences that teach, lessons that can be learned from failures so that one can do better next time. In this podcast WSJ gives an interview with Minh Lee, author of Pachinko. The first line of the book is "History has failed us. It doesn't matter." Asked to explain she says the way history is written it simply has winners and losers, but for ordinary people this does not matter as they go on with their lives and try to make the best of things. She also talks about recognition and how important it is. Minh says leaning into ones competence is an easy way to become impervious to failures. It is only when one goes out of one's competence does one experience what is called failure but is really an effort, one effort in a series of efforts, an effort that teaches one lessons that one can apply in the next effort which puts one in a position to gain better results. It is a process of continuous improvement in which one is readily trying new things. Now compare this with one leaning into one's competence and not experiencing what is called failure, yet at the same time not having tried anything new and exciting or feeling the thrill of adventure. Just to take Minh Lee's line one step further. Civilizations fail. How? When a people or society is losing its sense of adventure and severely censors and restricts trying new things you have the absence of a Renaissance. The Renaissance in Europe put it way ahead of Asia, with observation and experimenting above theory and textbooks, and set it up for the Industrial Revolution which started in England. By this time civilizations that never adventured on the seas, never adventured out of their little line of known competence, the civilizations on the Ganges in India and the Yangste in China failed and collapsed. So there are larger lessons to be learned and this also tells us that a lot more is at stake than one's own individual so called failures and so called successes at Work, and in the adventure of life. One ignores so called failure in first efforts because this is what the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution has taught us to keep trying new things till they work, and to patiently work through these efforts which may take some time, as all good work is arduous and filled with endeavours. In the oceanic adventures of Spain and Britain that discovered  America and Australia there were were difficult voyages that set the path open to those that followed. Captain Cook discovered Australia in his ship "Endeavour" in this way, opening the way to the settlement of a continent. He led the scientific mission for the British Navy on a voyage that lasted 3 years 1770 to 1773 when he returned to Dover from Botany Bay on the Australian mainland.   ...

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Serious issues raised about Ford management, strategy, new product, and a potential credit default. Is management upto the task? Ford employees say CEO Bill Ford also less visible around the automaker. They say that he is no longer at the employee cafeteria where he used to go frequently. What does one make of this and the soft marketing stuff coming out of Ford, when deep and big changes are needed. Goldman Sach's auto analyst Robert Barry say Ford's transformation is especially difficult because Ford has underinvested in cars for years and it is trying to make up lost ground. Couple of things are hitting Ford in particular- 1. Are sales in a free fall? Ford Explorer- down 30% from last year, even the Mustang down 8.5% 2. Cars sell at a steep discount -consider Focus $3060 less than average compact according to JD Power, Freestar minivan $3000 less than the Honda Odyssey, Ford Fusion $3100 less than average vehicle in that segment. The Fusion $20,150, Accord 22,200, Impala 22,100 3. While GM is weaning itself off of fleet rentals to build image, Ford is too weak to do this, fleet sales in April 30-40% of total !!! 4. Ford Credit earnings drop with the rest of the business. 5. On the probabilities of Ford credit default or bankruptcy- a chart made by J.P. Morgan in April 2006 shows the credit markets see a default more likely at Ford than at GM in two, three or five years than at GM. The probability of default in three years is 34% at GM compared to 43% at Ford. ...

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Steven Mufson reports in the Washington Post that oil exports from Iran will only gradually increase by 400,000 barrels a day in the next 6 months, because Iran does not want to depress prices further than $30 a barrel. Foreign investment in Iran is also likely to improve gradually because of the remaining sanctions and the slowly improving economy.

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The CBO annual report on the budget and economic outlook shows a deficit of $1.1 trillion for the current fiscal year, a decline of $200 billion from the prior year. Health care spending is a key factor driving the deficit. Cost of spending on healthcare programs is expected to double in the next 10 years, increasing by 8% a year and reaching $1.8 trillion in 2022.

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Antonis Samaras visits Bavaria and meets with Christian Social Union leader Horst Seehofer, who offers his support to Greece's recovery efforts and plans a return visit to Greece. After the meeting, Seehofer said "today, we've turned over a new leaf," and Samaras said "I've received a lot of appreciation for our efforts."

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Major policy changes for Wen Biao's second term as Prime Minister with the reorganization of government ministries to streamline them to focus on new policy priorities of reducing pollution, becoming energy efficient, improving the environment, and providing better housing and health care services to migrants and the poorer sections of society. How will this work in execution and in practice remains a question. there will be a new cabinet level Ministry for the Environment. Previous agency for environmental protection had only 300 employees compared to 18,000 for the EPA in the USA so it was woefully inadequate to the task and there was lax enforcement. The budget for environmental protection increased by 31% to $14.47 billion, the size of the new ministry is not disclosed. After the recent snowstorms disrupted energy supplies and infrastructure a new Ministry has been formed to for Transport.

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Five US Treasury Secretaries talk about their plan to fix tax evasion- no questions answered why they did not fix it when they were in office going back in the years of presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton. These were lost decades for American infrastructure and neglected American manufacturing supply chains. It will take years to repair that damage.

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Japan's plans to expand the role of Japanese chip materials makers such as Fuji Film and Toppan. Japan is the dominant in 6 chip materials essential for production of computer chips. The government is supporting the chips industry. Japan's state backed fund will complete its $6 billion acquisition of JSR in June 2024.

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10.5 million vehicles is the new number at GM for USA auto sales in 2009. GM has consistently predicted a scenario for auto sales that is much higher than it has turned out to be, leading to a lack of proactive speedy decisionmaking where needed to close plants, get financing and other steps needed to pull the company out of trouble. This new lower number may also turn out to be higher than actual because figures for inventories, unemployment, foreclosures, consumer spending, exports, all are worsening.