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Pearlstein says American Airlines (AMR) management had hoped to reduce employees count by 13,000, reduce benefits for employees and retirees and reform work rules by going through bankruptcy in the manner of other airlines such as Delta and Northwest. As it turns out AMR's unions and US Airways have made their own deal and come up with labor agreements that are likely to result in a merger deal with AMR with 1.2 billion in savings from synergies, instead of relying on labor savings for $800 million as AMR management had planned. This is because US Airways CEO, Doug Parker, sees increased savings and revenue from a new combined airline and a better hands on management team. Part of the reason is also the the way the combined airline provides additional feeder traffic from smaller cities to hubs in the east coast and midwest markets and in the Miami routes to South America. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation also tacitly sees the benefit of a stronger airline so that its funds are not depleted further by having to support AMR's underfunded pension plan. The creditors have also realized what all this means by increasing the value of AMR bonds to 50 cents on the dollar from 30 cents on the dollar....

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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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Competition from HTC for the Samsung Galaxy and Apple iPhone. HTC puts out its new Android smartphones the HTC One S and One X in June 2012.

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Doug Parker, CEO of US Airways, will lead the new management team after the merger with American Airlines (AMR). He completed an earlier merger with America West.

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With new virtualization software that Cisco is developing for its server product entry, there may be ashift in the whole market now dominated by HP and IBM.

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A new study shows that physical activity is essential to maintain weight loss for obese people. About 80 minutes a day of moderate activity like walking and 35 minutes of vigorous activity led to keeping away the pounds lost. 

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Indonesian president Joko Widodo announces that he has won re-election with an estimated 54% of the vote. Voter turnout estimated at 80% was high. A massive logistical exercize for a country which stretches as long as the United States across thousands of islands in the Indian Ocean, with 193 million people eligible to vote. There are 800,000 polling stations and 17 million people taking part in setting up polling booths and other services. The opening of a new subway in Jakarta, and the infrastructure projects including roads and rapid transit, airports, that Indonesia is building under Widodo helped him win public support. Under Widodo Indonesia has advanced democratic processes and improving lives with public services. 

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The LDP Party led by prime minister Abe wins 290 seats in the lower house of parliament in the Dec. 2014 elections. Its ally the Komeito Party gets 34 seats giving the government a two thirds majority in parliament. The LDP previously had 295 seats from the 2012 elections. Of the total 475 seats in parliament, 73 seats went to the opposition DPJ Party and 21 seats to the Communist Party. This gives Abe a 4 year mandate reducing the uncertainty from having a regular change in prime ministers in recent history, making Abe the 17th prime minister in 25 years. The stable government and clear economic policy will help the economy. Abe says he will focus on prodding companies to raise wages, as many people say they have not personally seen any benefit from Abenomics. As a result turnout hit a new low of 52% compared to 59% in 2012 parliamentary elections, with prospective voters showing their dissatisfaction by staying away. Severe winter weather and public confusion about why the snap election was being held may have added to low voter turnout. Other parts of the Abe agenda include restarting some of the 48 nuclear reactors offline since the Fukushima disaster. Abenomics faces hard work ahead as it grapples with two quarters of declining growth in 2014, consumers feeling the effects of the increase in the consumption tax from 5% to 8%, and small businesses feeling the effects of higher cost for imports with the weaker yen. ...

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Les Moonves, head of Viacom's CBS television network, was an actor in a television show from the seventies called "The Six Million Dollar Man." He moved later to Warner Brothers and headed the studio which developed hits such as "ER" and "Friends" during his period at the studio. Moonves retains the instincts from this earlier period as he helped develop programming that pushed CBS into first place among television networks, beating Disney's ABC, Comcast Corp.'s NBC, and News Corp.'s Fox. He joined CBS in 1995, when CBS was in last place of the three U.S. television networks. At CBS he pushed for developing shows at the network studio level. In 2000 he came up with "Survivor"- the first reality programming, and the police investigatory show "CSI." CBS was hit hard during 2007-2009 as the ad market fell sharply and net income fell 82%, the stock losing 82% of its value. Moonves has diversified away from dependence on ads with revenues from syndication sales of televisions shows such as "CSI," and licensing to Netflix of old shows such as "I Love Lucy." Major problems facing CBS and the other television networks is the decline in the number of people watching television, with competition from streaming online video, digital recorders, and on-demand viewing. Even though CBS has the most viewers in prime time in the U.S., 11.5 million viewers, this is seeing sharp declines. In the 2012 fall seaon there was a 10% decline in viewers compared to the prior year, and a 20% decline in viewers 18-49 years old. ...

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To keep prices from taking a nosedive if there is a slowdown, as for example in the Chinese economy, a concentration of resources within 3 or 4 mining companies enable them to slow down development of new deposits to adjust supply with demand. In this case even if China slows, India, Russia and Brazil may still pick up, as they may be less sensitve to the U.S. consumer than China. China is a manufacturing export based economy compared to India and Russia, which are more dependent on internal demand. Iron ore prices have increased by three times since 2003, and China's imports of iron ore have gone up from 29% to half of the world's imports. Prices of all commodities copper, alumina, uranium have shot up. BHP and Rio both based in Melbourne, Australia have absorbed all the medium size companies in the Melbourne mining scene. Australia has traditionally been a leader in this field because of its huge mining resources. Other reasons for consolidation are the more complex technologies needed to develop the remaining deposit finds, which are fewer and fewer and of lesser quality. Another factor is that the resource nationalism in India, Bolivia, Indonesia, Mongolia and other places requires more sophisticated investors. Combining Rio and BHP also means BHP can use the better infrastructure of Rio and invest more productively in future infrastructure rail lines and port development to speed exports to other countries. See the Barta article in the WSJ Link on this on Dec 18, 2007. ...

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With slow growth in sales of PC's which use Intel microprocessors, Intel CEO Krzanich plans to make job cuts and management changes. Intel first quarter profit was up only 3% on overall revenue unchanged from the prior quarter. Executives leaving are Ms Renee James staying till end of 2015 for transition planning, Hermann Eul and Mike Bell. Intel Capital chief Arvind Sodhani is retiring in Jan. 2015. Intel's efforts in smartphones have poor results, and sales of chips for tablets had to be subsidized leading to operating losses. Intel will reduce spending in 2015 by $300 million. Renee James was made president sharing the top position with Mr. Krzanich in May 2013 in a dual appointment. In practice it was Krzanich who took the leadership role at Intel Corp. In other changes security products, including McAfee, were integrated into Intel Operation's under general manager Chris Young. Josh Walden, general manager of new technology group now leads all product and research teams including wearable computing devices. Aicha Evans moves to the management committee....

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Huaneng Power China's largest power utility company announced that electric power generation went up by 40% in the 1st quarter of 2010. Datang International Power said its electric power output was up by 33%. Continual power plant construction has led to China building 80% of the new generating capacity in recent years. Over the next 10 years China plans to spend $150 billion or so to increase capacity nine fold- it already has 21 nuclear plants being built. Much of the nuclear plant building knowhow is being acquired along the way. The Lingao plant in Guangdong which was started in 2005 and will be completed this year, uses 50% local content. In the next unit to be finished in 2011 it will reach 70%, and by 2012 China expects to reach 100%, and gain the ability to export its knowhow.

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This New York Times editorial asks whose side the Republicans are on when they try to water down needed financial reforms. Are they simply speaking for the banks who stand to lose billions of dollars in profits through unregulated derivates trading but increase systemwide financial risk. The NYT supports senator Blance Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat who is chairwoman of the agriculture committee, and who took a strong position in favor of controlling derivatives. Her proposal requires nearly all derivatives be traded on exchanges with exemptions only for unique contracts which would be supervised by regulators, and for a strictly defined group of companies with specific purposes.

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The Post's Lally Weymouth interviews Enrique Pena Nieto, leading presidential candidate in Mexico. Nieto discusses the war on drug cartels. He says his government is commited to continuing the fight, but says Calderon's strategy has not worked, and the need now is for reducing the rising level of crime. Nieto's priorities are to open up the economy to competition by reducing the power of the monopolies and oligarchs, reduce poverty by providing social security to all Mexicans, increasing private investment in Pemex, and increasing the taxpayer base to finance new investment and programs.

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Economic aid from Qatar enables the Morsi government in Egypt to defer agreement for an IMF loan of $4.8 billion which requires Egypt to cut social programs, further aggravating a difficult economic situation for the people of Egypt. It also comes as Egypt's economy has suffered a decline from two years of protest and its foreign exchange reserves have hit new lows. Qatar gave Egypt $3 billion in low interest loans at 3.5%. Earlier Qatar deposited $4 billion at the Egyptian central bank, and gave $1 billion in grant aid.

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A test supply of 170 megawatts from the Kudankulam nuclear project in Tamilnadu state is added to India's southern grid. Full supply of 1000 megawatts is to be added by the Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd. by end of 2013. India's Supreme COurt dismissed petitions questioning the project's safety in May 2013. India signed a preliminary contract for nuclear project in Gujarat with Westinghouse. The state owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India is in negotiations for a project planned in Maharashtra state. Over the next 20 years India plans to increase nuclear production capacity from 4700 megawatts to 63,000, a 12 fold increase. The first Kudankulam reactor going into operation in 2013 comes into operation after a delay of 7 years because of antinuclear and land protests as well as court cases. The slowing of growth in India, depreciation of the currency, and the acutely felt energy shortages as industrialization moves forward, are leading to a new perception of the importance of nuclear energy to supplement energy generated from coal and other sources. China is also moving forward aggressively with development of nuclear energy and working with Areva and other companies for safe nuclear energy development. The new planned reactor by Areva in the south of England is also likely to offset the perception of nuclear energy after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. For these reasons nuclear energy development in India is likely to accelerate without the long delays seen earlier....

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Seattle has for the third year in a row more cranes in operation than New York. A single family residence rents for about $2600 a month, according to Zillow website, 25% more than in 2013. Seattle added 8750 units of housing, double that of San Francisco in 2017. The higher building rate, 22,000 units approved so far, helps to control the rise in prices for housing. 

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Pascal Soriot is made the new CEO of AstraZeneca PLC. He was chief operating officer of Roche's pharmaceutical division and CEO of Genentech before the merger with Roche.

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The election of an outsider, Joko Widodo, as the new governor of Jakarta. His plans to develop badly needed infrastructure and roads in the capital city of Indonesia.

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Israelis and Palestinians enjoy access to the Dead Sea. An internet competition to vote the Dead Sea as one of the new seven natural wonders of the world.

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Huge crowds greet Modi at Madison Square Garden in New York City as he outlines his plans for India's rapid economic development and cleaning up the Ganges river.

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A New York Times investigation report on Wal-Mart's efforts to expand in Mexico by opening stores in desired locations, overcoming public resistance with payments to public officials.

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This interview by Michael Schmidt of the NYT with president Trump shows a more conciliatory mood following the passage of the Republican tax law. Trump says he feels Mueller will treat him fairly but that the investigation will drag along for some time. Trump says this is bad for the country.  On the tax law he says he would have tackled the local and state tax deduction either not touched it or worked out a compromise if Democrats agreed to talk to him about taxes. Democrats he says thought they had McCain's vote when he left for Arizona, yet that did not happen. He says expensing for investing in equipment should unleash growth through new investment in the U.S. On infrastructure he sees a hundred Democrats joining the Republicans in Congress to do a deal. He says Democrats need him for DACA on the Dreamers issue, and he will work with them.  Other topics covered were the election itself which Trump says he fairly won by focussing on the Electoral College and going frequently to small states like Maine, up and down the East Coast knowing he would lose New York. He says there was no collusion with the Russians for his campaign and says it was Democrats who did the collusion. Manafort worked longer for others including Reagan, says Trump, and was with him for only about 4 months. This interview shows a upbeat Trump following the passage of the tax legislation. ...

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India's Ministry of Finance predicts GDP growth of between 7 and 7.5% for 2018-2019, after faltering GDP growth in 2017-2018 following action on demonetization and introduction of a national Goods and Service Tax. The IMF predicts growth of 7.4% for India in 2018 compared to 6.8% in China in 2018, with growth of 7.8% predicted for India in 2019.  Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian says there are "robust and broad based signs of revival," though risks remain in rising oil prices and inflation. The level is below what it could be, yet robust considering the policy actions taken by the government for the long term such as the nationwide GST implementation, which was taken up by previous administrations of both parties in government but never implemented till 2017. In addition the government faces the tasks of recapitalization of banks, the issues of job creation as manufacturing in India in the global context is only beginning to take shape, and agrarian distress.  The new Budget takes up the issues facing rural areas of the country by compensating farmers to the extent of 150% of agricultural cost and introducing the largest health care security scheme in the world for poor families. This comes a year before new national elections. The Modi administrations's focus appears to be for taking steps that will generate growth over the long term and learning from errors, yet being bold enough to take the necessary action based on experience.   ...

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The former head of U.S. Homeland Security ministry, Mr. Chertoff, and the former head of NATO, Mr. Anders Rasmussen, say the U.S. and European allies are not prepared to meet Russian meddling in elections two years after the U.S. elections and elections in the last year in Germany, France, Spain and Italy. Both co-chair Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity. They expect 20 elections between now and 2020, and see 20 opportunities for Russian meddling in these elections- suggesting the response to the recent meddling is very inadequate. They cite the shift from fake news to hyper partisan narrative used in the Italian election. This approach uses some content that is true to weave a narrative that leads to an exaggerated version of events. It was used on immigration to appeal to immigrant weary Italians to lead to a situation where the anti-immigrant party Northern League attracted a large portion of the vote. This approach is not new as it was used by pro-Brexiters with ads showing an unending wave of immigrants crossing European borders. Suggesting Britain itself was facing this wave of immigration, using pictures of immigrants from Africa crossing the borders of Hungary and Austria. Placed on buses and billboards this influenced the election, including hyper narrative stories about what how the UK was sending 350 million pounds a week to the European Union which could go to the NHS instead. Britain's Liberal Party leader Nick Clegg and Joe Biden former Vice President are members of the new Commission. ...