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Chrysler Financial ends its lease program and under new negotiations with lending banks is expected to pay a pemium of 2 percentage points above LIBOR, three times the "spread" it paid last year.

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Hubbard, Blinder, Romer and other economists are at a loss to explain the high rate of unemploymment and the lack of a recovery in jobs. Differences on how to address the problem from tax breaks to small business (Hubbard) to New Deal type employment for the jobless (Blinder).

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Financial Planner Carl Richards, warns investors about relying too much on market predictions. He cites the law of small samples as one way things go wrong. Another is investment managers with good track records in one decade doing badly in the next decade- David Miller in the 70's and Bill Miller of the Legg Mason Value Fund are others. To show how ridiculous market predictions based on computer models can get he gives the example of a researcher who found that over a 13 year period butter production in Bangladesh 'explained' 75% of the fluctuations in the annual returns of the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index. Adding in U.S. cheese production and the total population of sheep in Bangladesh and the U.S., this researcher was able to forecast past U.S. stock returns with 99% accuracy.

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Different constitutional law opinions on the option of the President citing the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to raise the debt ceiling. Former President Clinton says he would unilaterally invoke it "without hesitation, and force the courts to stop me." President Obama said recently, "I have talked to my lawyers, they are not persuaded that this is a winning argument." Section 4 of this Amendment was designed to assure creditors the Union debts after the Civil War would be honored and to say Confederate debts would not be honored. This part of the 14th Amendment says "the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned." Prof. Jack Balkin of Yale, says it provides a broader principle that the public debt cannot be held hostage for political purposes. His view is that this is something that could be an option when all other options are exhausted. Prof. Lawrence Tribe of Harvard, say the law courts have no plausible point of entry in such a situation. There is a sense that "popular constitutionalism" would play an important part if something like this happened- the meaning of the constitution is what popular sentiment says it is in the particular context and events. ...

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The impact of increasing use of labor saving machinery on jobs.

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Abbott Laboratories agreement to pay $1.6 billion in civil and criminal fines for promoting unapproved off label uses of the neurologic drug Depakote, to sedate older patients in nursing homes. The acting associate attorney general, Tony West, said: "Not only did Abbott engage in off-label promotion, it targeted elderly dementia patients and down played the risks apparent from its own clinical studies." Abbott aggressively promoted its use in nursing homes. It also aggressively promoted the use of the drug for schizophrenia between 2001 and 2006. In 1999 Abbott had to discontinue a clinical trial testing Depakote's effectiveness against dementia after results showed increased incidence of anorexia, drowsiness and dehydration.

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This editorial in the NYT says the Roberts U.S. Supreme Court is setting its own course compared to the earlier courts. It is not supporting precedent in the manner of the 1930's court or giving credence to social consensus as the 1960's court did.

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The British government's sale of 7.5% of the shares in Lloyd's Bank to institutional investors in March 2014 for $7 billion. This reduces its stake in Lloyds bank to 25%.

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Does housing and rising oil prices combine to affect growth and by how much. Note the comments about oil prices. That cost of producing a barrel is only $25 a barrel, thats the average cost according to John Herold Inc. a research company for finding oil, developing the field,pumping it, and delivering it to storage. Oil Analytics president Fingerman thinks prices at $85 are not supported by fundamentals and prices should be $30 to $40 lower. Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer also thinks industry fundamentals do not support prices above $60. What will this do in the long run? Will China's growth slow after the Olympics? Are alternative fuels and more fuel efficient cars, and a shift to smaller cars, and even electric cars, going to have an impact down the road in gasoline consumption. Geopolitical instability from Nigeria, Iran and most recently Kurish Iraq and Turkey has been part of the runup in oil prices, also insufficient inventory buildup for the winter season, and the generally low rates of replenishment of oil that is being consumed with new exploration. How many of these factors may reverse in the coming years? ...

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A study by Charles Elson of the Center for Corporate Governance of the University of Delaware which refutes the idea that excessive compensation is needed to retain good talent in industry.

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A fight in the U.S. Congress with an unusual alliance between the Obama administration, the Judiciary Committee, and Speaker Boehner up against Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell ends with the passage of the USA Freedom Act, which requires court approval for government to look at collected bulk data in phone calls. Republican Rand Paul fought hard against both factions to end the bulk surveillance altogether. The Act was passed in the House earlier. It cleared the Senate June 2nd 2015 with 67 in favor and 32 opposed.

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Half the buyers who buy the Prius want to make a statement one survey shows. About 400,000 sold and on track to sell 175,00 in 2007. Whats the secret? One possibly is that to make a statement you need to have the name synonymus with hybrid something Honda Gm and Ford failed to do as they had hybrid versions of aregular car or suv. Honda is trying now to build one from scratch. Interestingly its Accord hybrid version did not deliver much more mileage than its gasoline version (why?) and is being discontinued. GM's Volt will be built only as a hybrid.