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A subsidized lending program which takes off 4 percentage points off interest rates on loans that enterprises take from lenders will be extended to end of 2011. Since its introduction as part of stimulus measures, domestic banks have loaned $22.9 billion. Growth is targeted at 6.8% for the fourth quarter. to give an average of 5% for 2009.

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Carmen Reinhart formerly at the Federal Reserve, says after a severe banking crisis it takes about 4 years to see a return to normal growth. With the current crisis having other facets like the overextended consumer intertwined with banking crisis, it is likely that it would take this long. He cautions business not to be overoptimistic.

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As remittances fall and in some places disappear from workers in developed countries to their families in developing countries, Kristof says about 46 million people there will fall into poverty. Something Zoellick of the World Bank has been warning for some time. Everything from food, school lunches, tution for children to go to school, housing, will be affected.

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A former Fed Governor sees the advantages of a dollar depreciation for US exports when the USA economy is facing severe adjustments in other areas, and reducing the trade deficit as a bright spot in the generally poor economic situation. The dooar may be sacred but no particular exchange rate is, is the tone of his views.

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With Morgan Stanley's stock down 68% this year, and rumors swirling that Mitsubishi UFJ Bank may be backing out of a $9 billion investment in Morgan Stanley, Morgan's Mack struggles to dispel the rumor and keep calm in the storm on October 8. At about this time the global credit crisis hits Europe and emerging markets.

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Mitsubishi's investment in Morgan Stanley of $9 billion for a stake of 24.9% in the firm may be the only thing standing between it and a rescue by the government through direct injection of capital or merger with another bank in the environmet of fear on Wall Street. Its shares sank 26% on October 9, 2008.

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Joshua Rosner of investment bank Graham Fisher thinks the Citi rescue plan still does not go far enough, as the toxic assets still remain on Citi's books, and as long as home prices are declining the losses are increasing. The ultimate level of losses will be higher as they are pushed forward in a world of declining home prices.

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The bidding for 3PAR, a high-end storage company, is expected to reach $2.2 billion. There are questions as to whether the two rival bidders Hewlett-Packard and Dell are wasting cash. Hewlett-Packard may be doing this to protect its busines in the storage field. The bidding is reaching a frantic pace, even though 3PAR is not profitable.

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The Council of Mortgage Lenders forecast seems to quite optimistic considering the problems the US housing market is facing in November 2007, "prices will rise only slightly", with foreclosures rising to 45,000 from the current 30,000 in 2007, and house sales dropping by 15% in 2008. The buy-to-let market would be affected and the home buyer's budgets strained with British mortgage debt at 150% of household disposable income would affect new sales. The Economist forecast is more to the point predicting GDP growth in the UK will slowdown to 1.9% from 3.1% estimated this year, with allowance for serious downward risk from a big housing jolt to the economy in 2008. US economic growth was recently estimated by the US government reporting agency at 4.9% revised for the third quarter and the expectation was for flat or no growth in the last quarter. This suggests a dramatic drop. And this may not be fully digested by the markets as there is more bad news to come in the housing market in the USA in 2008....

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The Republican House health care bill AHCA  keeps some some of the more popular parts of the Affordable Care Act such as not taking pre-existing conditions to deny insurance, keeping children covered on parents insurance till age 26, and increase contributions to Health Savings accounts. It is different in that the expansion of Medicaid at 138% of poverty rate threshold is rolled back. Age is used for tax credits instead of income, hitting those approaching Medicare age harder. The maximum charged to older people is now set at  5 times compared to 3 times what young have to pay. In general the Republican bill is seen as targeting the elderly to keep premiums down. The elderly on low incomes are hit hardest. Fox News O'Reilly Show showed the host questioning House Republicans, citing the CBO estimates that elderly on low incomes may have to pay as much as $14,000 a year for insurance making it basically unaffordable, and 52 million Americans would be affected adversely. Large companies are no longer required to offer mandatory health insurance under the new bill. Conservatives from Freedom Caucus wanted to see the essential areas of benefits covered by the law limited to fewer than the ten areas in the Affordable Care Act. The ACHA Republican bill leaves to states to determine what are required essential benefits. At one point maternity benefits were to be dropped but this was changed to let states decide. As a result the bill is 33 votes short of the number needed for passing the house in March 2017.   Neither the Democrats Affordable Care Act or the Republican House bill of Speaker Ryan do much to tackle the real problem- the absolute amount and increases for health care dollars for treating each disease in the U.S. compared to European and other countries. As a result health care has become more of a partisan struggle between the two parties than a real effort by all to overcome the problems that have to be tackled. Republicans want to see premiums drop and keep the burden on the deficit down- but with the level of U.S. health care costs disproportionately high compared to Europe and the rest of the world the arithmetic is tough and ends up leaving out vulnerable groups such as the elderly on low incomes, thus making the whole proposition prone to fail. For the same reason the Democrats failed to keep premiums down with a wider safety net leading to calls for repeal of their version.   ...

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Who is this boy born in 1971 growing up in Dutch Apartheid South Africa who studied at Pretoria Boys School in 1988? The head teacher at Pretoria Boys was Armstrong who reflected the English values that came from the British settlement of South Africa in the 19th century till the Boer War period- the English fighting what they see as the less cultured Dutch settlers in Natal state around 1900.  The answer -Elon Musk, who went back to Canada, his mother's country. His father Errol Musk still lives in Cape Town, South Africa. Till 2016 Elon and his brother were alienated from their father over Apartheid and the relations between blacks and whites of that period.  The illegal immigration since 2016, fentanyl crisis causing hundreds of thousands of deaths in the US from illegal flows of drugs from Mexico and Canada with sourcing from China, the collapse of Venezuela and gang crime in central American states has changed the thinking of the Musk family since 2020, says this story in The Guardian. ...

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A group of neurological expeorts in the UK help us with advice. Includes things like avoid hearing and vision loss that lead to not driving or isolating. Social interaction and learning are key so take up a hobby, find new interests , learn a new language, travel, and link this up with other people, new people you can meet. Get plenty of exercise, core building. Nature walks, hiking in the mountains, swimming, outdoor activity. Good sleep begins in the morning so that by the time it is 9.00- 9.30 pm one is ready to go to bed. It helps not to stay up late. Eating healthy, olive oil and Mediterranean diet instead of butter, and eating fruits and vegetables, nuts.  Mindfulness helps. There are four forms of mindfulness. On the leftside Menu for Lyrarc there is under Lyrarc Insights the section Mental Well-Being which gives a translation from the original Pali text of the Buddha describing the Four Forms of Mindfulness in the Sattipana Sutta. This spiritual training, a reading of the Bhagavad Gita or the Bible, nourishes brain health and gives clarity of mind. ...

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Indian PM Modi at G-7 Talks in Kananaskis Alberta, Canada June 15-17, 2025. Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand will meet Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar at the talks with Canadian prime minister Carney. Who is Anita Anand? It is said about her grandfather V.A. Sundaram that he passionately fought the British Empire but had a strong interest in English culture and literature. He sent his children to British Universities while helping build with his mentor Mandan Mohan Malaviya, the Banaras Hindu University, and working with Gandhiji for Indian Independence during the Round Table Conference of 1931 in London. Sundaram's son immigrated to Nova Scotia, and his granddaughter is now the Foreign Minister of Canada after having held posts of head of the Treasury Board, Internal Trade, Defense, Procurement during Covid, and is Member of Parliament from Oakville, Ontario. There are 2 million Canadians of Indian descent in Canada, and some like Geeta Anand have connections to the India's and Gandhiji's struggle for Independence against the British Empire. India today with Britain leads the British Commonwealth of Nations.  ...

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Attorneys in al 50 states are investigating foreclosures. This will increase the uncertainty for banks in addition to other short term losses.

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Ben Hubbard of NYT looks at the difficult situation in the Turkish economy in 2023 with high inflation and the costs of rebuilding after the earthquake. 

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Old Lane hedge fund firm with old Morgan Stanley executives, was bought for 800 million by Citigroup partly for the executive talent of old Morgan Stanley executives. Mr Pandit reaped $165 million from the deal and Mr Guru Ramakrishnan, the CEO, tens of millions of dollars. How successful a firm was Old Lane and where is it now? Old Lane was started in 2006. It has returned all the money to original investors last summer, broke even on its original investments, and it has not lost money in the brutal market conditions. The hedge fund unit is now pretty much closed and the executives like Ramakrishnan are leaving. With Citi's worsening condition the hefty price tag for Old Lane has angered investors.

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A sad situation at the library system in San Jose with exorbitant late fees turning young people from low income families, immigrant children- the very group that needs to be integrated better into society with improved English language skills and a path to higher literacy and reading scores that can lead to college- turning these children away from libraries to avoid the late fee penalties. Parents with low incomes can ill afford the high late fees in the San Jose library system, and some residents keep a distance after being pursued by collection agencies, according to this report by Carol Pogash in the NYT. The situation is different in San Francisco which charges less in late fees, and with the openness of libraries in New York which counts more reading time in libraries as a way to pay off any late fees. The numbers are significant as this report shows 187,000 accounts at the San Jose library system, or 39 percent of all cardholders owe the library late fees. Compared to 50 cents a day for unreturned books at San Jose, San Francisco charges 10 cents a day for adults and no late charges for users under 17 years. Here the principal of Washington Elementary School in San Jose, Maria Arias Evans, and librarian Ms. Bourne, draw attention to a problem when 95 percent of the children attending the school qualify for free and reduced lunch programs. When America is seriously reflecting on the issue of lack upward mobility through education in 2016, better integration of immigrants into society, turning away young students from libraries is the last thing we need as a society and a nation. The digital and other divide in San Jose has never been so evident even from the outside. In March the German new weekly ran a story on San Jose and Silicon Valley satirically titled "Beyond Awesome."...

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Compared to the situation in 2008-2009 during the global financial crisis with the excess supply of labor, China in 2012 faces an excess in demand for labor. In 2009 about 20% of migrant workers were unemployed when the crisis hit, and wages dropped 10% for migrant workers, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Stanford University. The situation three years later is one of tight labor markets and higer wages. A large stimulus in not only not needed today in the way it was in 2008-2009 as a way to maintain social stability, it would reduce the benefits of the anti-inflationary steps taken in 2011-2012, by putting more pressure on wages and prices. Manufacturing sector wages increased by 20.1% in 2011, according to China's statistics bureau. This may be why the Chinese government is taking measured steps to avoid creating more bad loans through indiscriminate lending, and being more selective in accelerating development projects in the pipeline. According to Hong Kong's new Chief Executive Officer China plans to have about 7% growth. This shift in approach would help China refocus on growth strategies recommended in the recent Development Reform Commission and World Bank Report on China....