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Wind Energy and transmission lines that were built for another era that are a bottleneck.
07/19/2008
Transmission lines built for another era are a road block in the rapid development of wind energy as wind turbines are located in the sparsely populated areas like Kansas and the transmission capacity does not exist to the areas of high demand along the eastern and western seaboard.
Linked Articles
Wind Energy Bumps Into Power Grid’s Limits
New York Times 08/27/2008
Texas Approves a $4.93 Billion Wind-Power ProjectNew York Times 07/19/2008
GM to tap debt markets for only $3 billion depending on $10 billion of cost cutting .
07/16/2008
GM will cut spending in many areas like ad spending and marketing so as to have less dependence on loans secured against its international operation.
Linked Articles
GM Plans Debt Offering To Accompany Cost Cutting
Wall Street Journal 07/16/2008
GM Plans $10 Billion In Cuts to Bolster CashWall Street Journal 07/16/2008
US energy policy in cars showed the Detroit automakers falling way behind the Europeans and the Japanese in this chart.
07/06/2008
Detroit automakers sticking with the status quo let a wide gap build up in fuel efficiency and smaller cars with the Europeans and the Japanese. Upto the point that it became difficult for them to make a profitable small car because they had less expertise in that area.
Linked Articles
American Energy Policy, Asleep at the Spigot
New York Times 07/06/2008
GM plans $500M for 45-mpg small carDetroit News 08/22/2008
China makes a major shift to higher value added and technology products.
06/30/2008
The cheap products made at high costs to labor, the environment are out and the remaining textile products and similar product companies will have to be more sophisticated and make more value added products. Chinese government policy will discourage the older polluting factories in the south and encourage high tech leadership products for world markets.
Linked Articles
China’s Ambition Soars to High-Tech Industry
New York Times 08/01/2008
China's Export Machine Threatened by Rising CostsWall Street Journal 06/30/2008
Sales of the Honda Civic, Toyota Prius,Ford Focus and the Honda Fit , all smaller cars are doing well
06/20/2008
Even so Toyota will not go ahead with making the Prius at the new plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi, is a sign of the severity of the economic downturn that is shaping up for 2009 and 2010.
Linked Articles
The Smaller the Better, Automakers Are Finding
New York Times 06/20/2008
Toyota delays new Prius plantDetroit News 12/16/2008
CarMax used SUV and truck prices for early months of 2008 show stunning declines prompting GM rethinking its entire product lineup.
06/19/2008
CarMax, a used car retailer says price declines for SUV's and pickup trucks were severe in early months of 2008 with a 25% decline. The declines were sharpest in May and early June suggesting that things could get very bad for carmakers which don't make an abrupt and dramatic shift away from these types of vehicles.
Linked Articles
GM Puts Off Truck, SUV Redesigns In New Focus
Wall Street Journal 06/19/2008
Grim CarMax News Hits Auto MakersWall Street Journal 06/19/2008
Huge shift in car mix in favor of smaller cars as USA buyers finally make the shift and fast.
06/19/2008
Small cars sales move up quickly from 12.5% to 20% of vehicles sold. Market is running at 12.5 million vehicles in May 2008. The small car share will rise much higher as supplies increase, currently small cars sell quickly and are in short supply especially for Hona Fit and Civic cars and the Ford Focus.
Linked Articles
The Smaller the Better, Automakers Are Finding
New York Times 06/20/2008
GM Puts Off Truck, SUV Redesigns In New FocusWall Street Journal 06/19/2008
Geithner's style and the contrast with Summers as they contend for Treasury Secretary
05/30/2008
Geithner's has a prepared structure of questions which he uses to get informed, and other aspects of his style and how he has approached crises in the past.
Linked Articles
Summers and Geithner, Two Contenders for Treasury Job, Have Close Career Ties
Wall Street Journal 11/08/2008
Fed's Fireman On Wall Street Feels Some HeatWall Street Journal 05/30/2008
Karen Elliott House, expert on Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, on the U.S., the EU, and Saudi Arabia- demographics, aspirations and the princes 2007-2014
05/14/2008
Pulitzer prize winning journalist for reporting from the Middle East and expert on Saudi Arabia, Karen Elliott House, describes the changes in Saudi Arabia with the huge young demographic, and what it means for Saudi society, U.S.-Saudi relations, meeting the aspirations of young people.
Linked Articles
As the Middle East Burns, the Saudis Ease Up at Home
Wall Street Journal 06/25/2014
Our Friends in RiyadhWall Street Journal 05/14/2008
Sheila Barr, head of the FDIC, first suggested her proposal for foreclosures on April 30, 2008, about the time Feldstein made his.
04/30/2008
Martin Feldstein first made his proposal in early 2008, then repeated it in October 2008, as the crisis took a turn for the worse. Sheila Barr made her proposal public on April 30, 2008. Both address foreclosures. Later Sheila Barr implemented this when FDIC took over IndyMac bank for Indy's mortgage borrowers.
Linked Articles
Bair Proposal Seeks Government Loans To Aid Homeowners
Wall Street Journal 04/30/2008
The Problem Is Still Falling House PricesWall Street Journal 10/04/2008
BMW, Benz and luxury retailers Saks, Nordstrom face declining luxury consumption.
04/30/2008
Sales at luxury retailers full priced stores are flat or declining while their factory outlets are seeing increased sales. BMW and Mercedes are taking writedowns for the drop in the value of their secondhand leased cars in the USA. This reflects declining economic conditions in April 2008.
Linked Articles
Profit Hurt, BMW Diverts Cars From U.S.
Wall Street Journal 04/30/2008
Luxury Retailers Pin Hopes on OutletsWall Street Journal 04/30/2008
The steep decline in Cherry's car sales in China and the precarious condition of the Chinese consumer- 2008
04/24/2008
The precarious condition of the Chinese consumer and first time buyer of cars, with no safety net in the economy for health care or unemployment. The severe downturn for Cherry and why GM cannot look to China for any kind of relief.
Linked Articles
With First Car, a New Life in China
New York Times 04/24/2008
China's Car Makers Seek Different Help: Lower Sales TaxesWall Street Journal 11/20/2008
Labor costs in China, Ireland, and newly emerging countries.
03/27/2008
How the foreign investment model for countries that attracted Foreign Investment with lower wages is changing and the differentials with the US are closing, Irish hourly pay higher than US hourly pay.
Linked Articles
Ireland: The End of the Miracle
BusinessWeek 03/27/2008
China's Factory BluesBusinessWeek 03/27/2008
$10 billion in cuts in spending that GM plans
07/16/2008
One of the areas is ad spending and sales expenses. GM spends over $2 billion in adspending.
Linked Articles
GM Plans $10 Billion In Cuts to Bolster Cash
Wall Street Journal 07/16/2008
GM's Ad-Spending Cuts Likely to RippleWall Street Journal 07/16/2008
How good were the U.S. Federal Reserve's stress tests of 2012?
07/16/2008
Reilly questions the leveraging aspect of the Fed's 2002 stress test results as they leave U.S. banks leveraging at between 20-30 times capital, the situation that prevailed before the crisis. Experts including Anil Kashyap at the University of Chicago pointed out how the process of deleveraging works in reverse before the collapse of Lehman in 2008- for every $1 of bank losses the deleveraging cycle reduces bank lending by $20- $30.
Linked Articles
Stressing the Bank 'Stress Tests'
Wall Street Journal 03/14/2012
How Bad Will It Get on Wall Street?BusinessWeek 07/16/2008
General Motors Management
07/02/2008
Questions raised about General Motors Management and also indirectly about the insular Board of Directors as GM's market share and stock reach a low not reached for several decades and both are comfortable with the status quo.
Linked Articles
GM Weighs More Layoffs, Sale of Brands
Wall Street Journal 07/07/2008
Can Teflon Last for GM's Wagoner?Wall Street Journal 07/02/2008
Rising wages in China a definite trend as sentiment of workers and the government changes towards low wages and low wage jobs
06/30/2008
The government's efforts to shift China away from low wage sectors to more advanced technologies with higher wages. And the growting sentiment in China among workers with the rise of the internet and mobile phones to organize efforts for higher wages in industries that range from older textile plants to automobile factories of Japanese makers, and factories that make parts for western tech hardware companies such as Apple, Dell and H-P. This includes Honda plants and Foxconn factories. This sentiment is shifting to other emerging markets such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Linked Articles
China's Export Machine Threatened by Rising Costs
Wall Street Journal 06/30/2008
The Rise of a Chinese Worker's MovementBusinessWeek 06/10/2010
China's oil demand to grow at 2-3% over the next 15 years by one estimate.
06/20/2008
A much slower growth in oil demand as fuel efficient engines make a strong impact. Government policy raising oil prices, giving tax breaks for smaller engines to promote smaller cars on Chinese roads, and promotion of new hybrid and electric car technologies with significant subsidies, all push in this direction.
Linked Articles
China's Thirst for Oil Could Come Up Short
Wall Street Journal 06/01/2010
China Sharply Raises Energy PricesNew York Times 06/20/2008
American driving habits and preferences are finally beginning to change in 2008 as oil prices reach $4.00 to $4.70 per gallon.
06/19/2008
Americans miles driven reached 3 trillion miles by 2007 and now are headed downward for the first time in 10 years. its affecting car prteferences in favor of smaller cars and changing driver habits.
Linked Articles
The Smaller the Better, Automakers Are Finding
New York Times 06/20/2008
Driving Less, Americans Finally React to Sting of Gas Prices, a Study SaysNew York Times 06/19/2008
Differing timelines for Bill Ford and Mullaly at Ford and Wagoner at GM in their shift to smaller cars.
06/04/2008
GM was late in the shift to smaller cars than Ford even as the shift was taking place. Both companies though remained mired in a decades long stagnation in fuel efficency even as companies like Honda moved forward, and as the gap with the Europeans and the Japanese in the technology and skills of making small cars widened.
Linked Articles
G.M. Closing 4 Plants in Shift From Trucks Toward Cars
New York Times 06/04/2008
Bill Ford on Tipping Points and Thinking SmallBusinessWeek 07/31/2008
Board meetings at GM and the how the culture and style of management stalled decisions on fuel efficiency and small car development.
05/15/2008
The evolution of the old management styles and attitudes as Ford brought in outside management and Bill Ford took a new tack, and at GM where old management plodded on inexorably in the old way. Which is quite different from what Alfred Sloan had advocated in his memoirs when he insisted on discussion and debate on critical decisions in board meetings for them to be worthwhile.
Linked Articles
BusinessWeek 05/15/2008
Bill Ford on Tipping Points and Thinking SmallBusinessWeek 07/31/2008
Imbalances in the global economy that will take time to correct- the situation in the U.S., Europe and emerging markets in 2012-2013
05/05/2008
The perception that "this time is different" is a typical behavioural reaction in history to to financial crises studied by Rogoff and Reinhart. Economic weakness is part of the mechanism for correcting global imbalances which happens over a number of years.
Linked Articles
Economy May Face Prolonged Pain, History Suggests
Wall Street Journal 05/05/2008
Boom, Bust. Repeat.Wall Street Journal 10/09/2009
The agreement won by Jerry Brown for 11 states against Countrywide/Bank of America to address foreclosures.
04/30/2008
The agreement won by 11 states from bank of America to devote $8 billion for mortgage relief and help homeowners facing foreclosures was a landmark agreement as little had happened in the way of relief for homeowners except for efforts by Sheila Barr at IndyMac in the way of comprehensive relief proposals for homeowners.
Linked Articles
Bair Proposal Seeks Government Loans To Aid Homeowners
Wall Street Journal 04/30/2008
Countrywide to Set Aside $8.4 Billion in Loan AidNew York Times 10/06/2008
FDIC Bair's proposal to aid homeowners anticipating the banking and mortagage crisis.
04/30/2008
FDIC Sheila Bair seen in retrospect after her anticipation of the mortgage and credit crisis and helping prepare FDIC for it. And for the comprehensive approach she took and which later convinced people at Treasury who had earlier adopted a case by case approach not realizing how deep and far reaching this crisis would be.
Linked Articles
Agency’s Head Expects Banking’s Crisis to Worsen
New York Times 08/27/2008
Bair Proposal Seeks Government Loans To Aid HomeownersWall Street Journal 04/30/2008
Lower incomes in manufacturing and and a general lowering of expectations in U.S. midwestern states like Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin (1)
04/20/2008
Improving unemployment figures in Ohio in 2012 with 7.2% unemployment has come with lower incomes in manufacturing and a lowering of expectations about the future.
Linked Articles
Ohio economy improving, but residents can’t feel it - The Washington Post
Washington Post 08/08/2012
The Wage That Meant Middle ClassNew York Times 04/20/2008
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