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Israeli refiner Alon and the market supply and demand for asphalt.
07/23/2008
As more and more refiners turn the heavier oils into gasoline and diesel the supplies of bitumen for asphalt are expected to shrink leaving asphalt in short supply if demand to fix aging roads picks up.
Linked Articles
Oil Cost Boosts Asphalt, for Now
Wall Street Journal 07/23/2008
Israeli Refiner Expands in U.S.Wall Street Journal 07/23/2008
Roche's bid for complete ownership of Genentech.
07/22/2008
Can the long standing independent operation of Genentech's discovery team under Levinson be maintained under the effort to integrate Genetech more into Roche. Will it result in synergies removing "a Chinese wall" as a head of Roche R&D puts it or will it lead to the loss of key members of the team over time especially as they were not brought into the discussion process about this move leaving them in confusion.
Linked Articles
Roche's Big Hurdle with Genentech
BusinessWeek 07/24/2008
Roche Bid Blindsided GenentechWall Street Journal 07/22/2008
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
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
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
Europeans protest of fuel taxes.
05/28/2008
Europeans protes fuel taxes but public opinion especially in Germany favorsreducing fuel consumption. It requires agreement by 27 EU member states to reduce fuel taxes so this is unlikely to happen.
Linked Articles
Europeans Protest Fuel Taxes But Accept High Prices
Wall Street Journal 05/28/2008
Irate Europeans Protest the Soaring Price of GasolineNew York Times 05/30/2008
The race to emission free or low emissions vehicles
05/10/2008
Daimler and Renault-Nissan are comitted to setting emission free or low emissions as critical goals and setting up the execution and plan to achieve this.
Linked Articles
Nissan Plans Electric Car in U.S. by ’10
New York Times 05/13/2008
At Daimler, Sales Follow the World’s Oil RichesNew York Times 05/10/2008
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 U.S. with 5% of the world's population and 25% of the prison population in the world- the failure of the prison system in rehabilitation of light offenders
04/23/2008
Linked Articles
Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations’
New York Times 04/23/2008
End Mass Incarceration NowNew York Times 05/24/2014
Ford's Fiesta for the American market.
03/13/2008
Ford Fiesta to be launched in the USA in 2011. It will get 40mpg on the highway.
Linked Articles
Customizers ready for launch of Ford Fiesta
Detroit News 12/31/2009
One World, One Car, One NameBusinessWeek 03/13/2008
As environmental concerns grow and the price of crude oil drops to $49 a barrel projects for tar sands in Alberta are being cut.
02/05/2008
Production from Alberta tar sands is running into problems from the environmental concerns to the falling price of crude oil.
Linked Articles
The Costly Compromises of Oil From Sand
New York Times 01/07/2009
Oil Sands Are Shifting in AlbertaWall Street Journal 02/05/2008
Sharp and precipitious decline in auto sales in Japan and Germany in the global financial crisis of 2008
01/08/2008
Auto sales in Japan go back to the sales level of 1972, and auto sales in Germany decline to the level in 1990. Shows the maturing western markets and how this is affecting automakers strategy, and the shift to focus more on developing countries where the market is growing rapidly but which present challenges like the need to develop lower priced cars.
Linked Articles
German Car Demand Hits New Low as Fuel Costs Rise
Wall Street Journal 01/08/2008
Auto Sales in Japan Drop to a 35-Year LowWall Street Journal 01/08/2008
The presidential candidates Obama and McCain, agents of change or agents of lobbyists?
07/23/2008
Fannie and Freddie takeover and the reporting of high level ties with lobbyists of both candidates shows the agents of change argument like the free markets argument "as only a thin veneer" as one expert puts it. In this case though the lobbyists who are in other roles as close advisors to the two candidates and the candidates themselves may not realize that politics as usual here had huge implications. Without the hard work of Secretary Paulson and Bernanke the collapse of Fannie and Freddie could have endangered the American economy, not an overstatement, and could also have serious ripple effects all over the world economy.
Linked Articles
For ’08 Rivals, a Skein of Ties to Loan Giants
New York Times 09/10/2008
The Fannie Mae GangWall Street Journal 07/23/2008
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
Geneal Motors Board and its top management hobble along without a vision or timely decisions at critical turning points.
06/28/2008
The lack of vigorous discussion at the Board and top management levels of Gneral Motors is the most striking thing about the company. Classic example how the larger and more successful an institution, there is no assurance that even the vital skills of vigorous discussion and openness to fresh thinking promoted by its founders like Alfred Sloan in this case in one of his meetings, that these skills will be available in the future.
Linked Articles
GM's Massive Quarterly Loss Adds to Turnaround Pressure
Wall Street Journal 08/02/2008
McCain Offers Aid, No 'Bailout' on AutosWall Street Journal 06/28/2008
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
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
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
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
Debt gorged Britain and the U.S.
03/22/2008
British debt is even worse than the American debt with household debt to income ratio at 1.62 in Britain compared to 1.42 in the USA. Continental cousins in Germany have a ratio of 1.09.
Linked Articles
Debt-Gorged British Start to Worry That the Party Is Ending
New York Times 03/22/2008
Frugality Forged in Today's Recession Has Potential to Outlast ItWall Street Journal 04/06/2009
Popular Eastern European automobile brands that stand for quality in Europe at low price points- Renault's Dacia in Romania
02/11/2008
The Dacia and Logan brands manufactured in Romania are expected to cross the 1 million sales mark in 2012. The Logan and Dacia have established a presence in Europe as models known for reliability. Sales of these lower cost cars are popular with buyers in France who see this as a choice replacing buying a used car.
Linked Articles
Frugal Dacia Stars in Renault's Overhaul
Wall Street Journal 02/11/2008
Renault Takes Low-Cost LeadWall Street Journal 04/16/2012
Daimler's solution to overheating in lithium ion car batteries and GM and Toyota's own efforts to solve this
01/11/2008
The overheating of lithium ion batteries is why it has taken so long to come up with mass market electric cars or hybrids using lithium ion batteries. Daimler's Zetsche says his company is the first to put a car on the market with litium ion battery in its S400 in late 2008 and it has developed a sophisticated cooling system in the car for this.
Linked Articles
At Daimler, Sales Follow the World’s Oil Riches
New York Times 05/10/2008
Race to Make Electric Cars Stalled by Battery ProblemsWall Street Journal 01/11/2008
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