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Nestle's strategy to meet increases in commodity costs going into its products is to steadily but gradually increase prices. Nestle has detected the rise in commodity costs early from its close contact with 600,000 farmers around the world. This goes back to 2007, when it steadily increased the prices of milk powder and did not lower prices as commodity costs temporarily decreased. Nestle relied on the expectation of rising prices as demand in developing countries surged. Even when prices of milk powder declined from $5500 a ton in 2007, Nestle did not lower prices. The commodity price increases will add $3 billion to Nestle's costs. The other part of the strategy is to lower packaging and other costs- savings in this area reached $1.5 billion in 2010- so that price increases on food products can be kept at 8-10% a year. Without these savings Nestle says the increases would have to be be higher, approaching 12%. Nestle is also developing new products that command higher prices. An example is the single serve capsules for its Nespresso coffee machines....

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GM stock was trading on the New York Stock Exchange at $29.97 on April 18, 2011. It has dropped from the $33 a share IPO in November 2010. To breakeven the U.S. government would have to sell its stake in GM at $53 a share. The government is planning to sell its stake in GM this summer according to informed sources. At the current price this would mean the government would take a loss of $11 billion. The IPO in November reduced the government's stake from 61% to 26.5%. Higher gas prices have reduced sales of trucks and SUV's and the sales incentives in January and February 2011 are expected to reduce earnings.

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German attitudes of caution towards the coronavirus. This caution extends to facial coverings and social distancing guidelines. About 89% say they wash hands more often. 88% say they keep a clear distance from others. And 72% say they meet friends and relatives only to a limited extent. Survey is by Infratest dimap conducted for ARD the public broadcaster. That caution has helped Germany, and is being followed in Italy and France. It is in sharp contrast to parts of the U.S. and in places such as Texas where masks became mandatory in public  spaces only on July 3, 2020. 

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See these really remarkable black and white pictures of what happens in a period of decay for industrialized economies as old industries die out- as happened in the UK,  in the US with communities left without hope. Only now with Biden and Starmer a new sense of purpose for the US and UK to correct what went woefully wrong- no plans for transition to new industries and outshoring of the nation's industrial base. This exhibition of 20/20 of photos taken by Kilip and Smith in black and white is at the Parr Gallery in Bristol, UK- you can see it here by clicking on original article right now. It is the failure to plan for the transition that has led the Conservatives from Thatcher onwards to the situation today, and a similar situation in the US from Reagan onwards. The haphazard transition has let China take the lead in new industries with government support. Only now is America under Biden making a real transition and backing up new industries for factory jobs with government support and planning for the next 10 years. Britain with the Conservatives in charge is without a clue and financially strapped- the mood in Birtiain is now for Labour under Starmer to right things the way Biden is doing in the US.  ...

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Annette Bening  age 65 and Jodie Foster age 60 show up as real athletes in the film "Nyad," which shows Diana Nyad's 110 mile swim from Cuba to Florida in 2013 at age 64. Jodie Foster and Annette Bening say about their role- they were frustrated by so few roles for mature women in Hollywood, so that she wanted to shatter age images in people's heads. Bening trained every day for 1 year under US Olympian Rada Owen. It meant spending 4 to 8 hours in the water.

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Inventories of foreclosed homes are going down, because of the moratorium on closures by the banks, in areas like California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida and Michigan. But buyers are concentrating on foreclosed homes so ordinary properties with higher prices are not seeing buyer demand. But this is temporary as the moratorium has expired and banks are foreclosing on homes just like before, which will create a large flow of foreclosed homes on the market. This will continue to depress housing prices. And with firsttime buyers getting skittish because of the fear of a job loss, this demand is not on a strong footing. And other than California and Michigan, these states that include Arizona and Nevada, don not account for significant economic activity of the country. South Florida has such ahuge backlog of unsold home and condominiums that the sales of foreclosed homes won't make much of a dent in the backlog. The rest of the country has a glut of homes on the market. For these reasons it would be dangerous to interpret the rising sale of foreclosed homes in ahandful of states in the west as helping clear up inventory of unsold homes, and risky for the government to let this tidal flow of foreclosures to continue. Significantly reducing forecloures with government action may be essential for economic recovery, as otherwise the housing market may take years to recover. This is something Martin Feldstein, adviser to McCain and now adviser to Obama, has advocated all along from the early days of this crisis in 2008....

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King Charles shows concern for people struggling with the cost of living crisis and people at food banks, people tackling covid and elderly care, in this Christmas message of 2022.

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Gives information on Hezbollah, its political, military and construction arm. The influence of the Revolutionary Guards of Iran and financialand military supply and training help from Iran. Beyond this its place i through democratic elections in the Lebanese state. As Ali Nasr points out Shiites form 40% of the lebanon population. And Shiite revival throughout the middle east is the background for what is happening now in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, all nations with a majority Shiite populations.

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Ted Cruz has put together a strong organization for the Iowa caucuses. This report by Martin and Flegenheimer of the NYT describes the approach taken by the Cruz campaign- with a organizational head for each of Iowa's 99 counties, captains in 1537 of 1681 precincts, and 10,000 volunteers. Cruz campaign has carefully selected voters who vote consistently and who are likely to respond to one of a list of appeals based on research in behavioural psychology, points which precinct captains and volunteers use to make notes for talking to voters. Turnout is expected to be 121,000 to 140,000, and the Cruz campaign says it is prepared if the count is much higher with new caucus participants. Voter turnout is an important aspect of their campaign, saying their organizational effort with about 15,000 calls made each day from Iowa Cruz offices, is striving to improve performance by 2.5 to 5 percentage points and deal with a "swell" in voters by identifying additional voters. The Trump campaign is based more on campaigning generally to voter sentiment, drawing large numbers to rallies appealing to the white working class, voters who are less committed and less likely to vote- counting on a swell in new voters some who sign up as Republicans at the voting location....

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Things may not turn out the way polls show is the subject of this editorial in the WSJ. Prospects of some Republican candidates for the Senate in Arizona and Missouri are not what they appeared before. The division among Republicans about the legitimate votes in the 2022 presidential election as an issue in the midterms is leading to a fragmented election effort. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2021 shows Democrats responding to the issue of inflation and climate change, leading to new questions about Republicans in the rest of 2022.

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The failures in Argentina's management of the economy recurring decade after decade for the last 50 years and with an historical trend, relate to the breakdown in the political process in the country, the failure of society to come to grips with the problems as one community with common interests when fighting inflation as we see in most nations including in the US, Europe and modernizing nations of Asia. As well as countries such as Brazil that have overcome their issues with inflation since the 1970's. The lack of industrialization in Argentina and Chile leaves the countries vulnerable to commodity exports. A bad harvest year can ruin the economy as no rainy day fund exists as was done in Russia after economic crises. Borrowing from the IMF leads to a cycle of repeat crises followed by IMF borrowings, austerity budgets such as Milei's when budgets can be corruption free, disciplined and efficient to begin with for a startand kept that way by the whole of society acting together under responsible political leaders. Asian nations learned from Europe and drafted their economic path, Latin America which is largely populated by emigrants from Europe has failed to do this. The differences are stark. Much of Asia experienced war and strife since the 1930's and the suffering created a dire need for good leadership and programs for modernization and infrastructure by all of society pulling together. In Latin America the failures of political parties across the spectrum has led to drugs entering the economic framework, leading to failed states in other ways, and large parts of Latin America are now affected by this problem. The results are that this affects the people of Europe and the US with illegal flows, a problem unprecedented in the history of the US since 1787.  ...

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The former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Mr. S.Y Quraishi, looks at the 2019 Nigerian elections. Nigeria has about 47% of the population of West Africa. Muslims and Christians are almost equal in numbers and there are 300 ethnic groups. About 82.3 million voters were registered to vote. Quraishi sees the 41% registered voters to be disproportionate to the total population. In India about 62% of the total population is registered to vote. The Independent National Election Commission (INEC) chairman, Mr. Mahmood Yakubu, says security, fake news, hate  speech, and expenditure control are the top issues. Postponement, delays and chaos at polling stations contributed to a historic low turnout, 35.6% compared to 44% in 2015. Police presence was discreet and needed for the elections. A coalition of 70 civic organizations monitored the elections and contributed to its credibility. In Lagos there were 1.1 million valid votes. India has strong interest in Nigeria's democracy. Over 135 Indian companies have operations in Nigeria, including  State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, Tata, Bajaj, Birla, Kirloskar, Mahindra. The election commissions of the two countries have met yet there is need for more engagement. About 50,000 Indians live in Nigeria. By continuing the process established by the two earlier elections including a peaceful transition from Mr. Goodfellow to Mr. Buhari, Nigeria is strengthening the democratic process. In continuing the fight against corruption, building infrastructure, the difficult process of modernization and development is taking place even with difficult economic conditions. ...

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Greg Ip, Chief Economics correspondent of the WSJ, says there is a disconnect between falling stock markets in Jan 2016 and the economy. This is true not only for the U.S. economy but for China as well, says Ip. He points to the 6.9% growth rate in China for 2015 as close to the target set by China's government. Reports of economic output and exports show China's economy stabilizing. This contrasts with weakness in the way the government and the central bank have managed financial markets since the summer of 2015, sending confusing signals and hurting investor confidence. One difference as the stock markets decline worldwide- the Fed in the U.S has little room to cut rates and plans to gradually increase rates, the Chinese govenment and planners do not plan stimulus as they look for ways to reduce debt in the economy. This means less support for financial markets and less support for high valuations in the tech and startup sectors, which could provide stability in the long run.

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Democrats win a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and lose 2 Congressional elections in Florida with smaller margins in April 2025. It revives spirits of Democrats following a loss in the November 2024 elections.

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An official report after a 7 year survey finds 19.4% of arable land in China is polluted. The pollution comes for the most part from inorganic materials such as heavy metals cadmium, nickel which are byproducts of mining. Pollution is severe in the Pearl River Delta in the south, in Yangtze River Delta in the east, and in older industrial zones in the north east. Earlier efforts to get this data were stymied by some officials calling it a state secret about the time of the discovery of cadmium contaminated rice in Hunan province. China's 334 million acres of arable land, according to the most recent land survey at the end of 2012, is only 37 million acres above the minimum considered necessary to feed the large population, making this a major issue for China.