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Mr Carney's calm demeanor and performance as head of the Bank of Canada, Canada's central bank, during the period before and after the financial crisis of 2008, and his 13 years of private sector experience at Goldman Sachs including handling of sovereign debt and emerging market debt, were part of the invaluable experience considered in the selection process for the next Governor of the Bank of England. Britain's chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Osborne, encouraged Mr. Carney to apply for the position. Carney is head of the Financial Stability Board, which has responsibilities to reduce systemic risk. This experience is also considered valuable because of the expanded responsibilities of the Bank of England, Britain's central bank, which now include overseeing and regulating British financial institutions. The Financial Services Authority was scrapped and its responsibilities placed in the central bank with the Governor overseeing a committe inside the bank that is in charge of regulatory affairs....

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The political warfare between the two parties Republicans and Democrats complicates help to the automakers being released from the TARP $700 billion by Bush in the months before January transfer to the President elect. Bush is purported to want the Democrats to support the Columbia trade agreement which Obama vigorously opposes on the grounds of violence against union workers in Columbia. Complicating the situation further Obama and environmentalists including Al Gore wnat to see the auto industry help in the light of promoting energy conservation and environmental goals, whereas the industry and the unions and their Michigan supporters like Rep. Dingell and others want to see the aid given without any strings attached. This leaves the danger that both sides may be caught in a situation they could not control, the Bush people with a outgoing President who is struggling to preserve something of his legacy amid dismal ratings, and the Obama people without the experience to handle a situation such as this which is getting increasingly complicated. See the editorial pages of the WSJ on November 10 which said government help should only be given if the current management and board are replaced with new management and board, suggesting government receivership for GM. The management and board of GM which have hung onto their jobs through thick and thin are not likely to volunteer for a change. And the public perception is that the automakers management is responsible for this mess having dragged their feet all the way and used lobbyists to delay having to make the fuel efficient automobiles customers want. And another intractable factor that remains in the background is the collapsing sales of automakers which if it continues would require even bigger amount of government aid to keep operations running and pay workers way beyond the $50 billion that is being discussed, almost unrestricted help. In the meantime the Center for Automotive Research athink tank based in Michigan says about 3 million jobs depend directly of indirectly on the automotive industry and suppliers and services and goods providers to autoworkers. At the rate things are going a further deterioration in the conditions of the industry and further sales losses look likely, and GM's share price has already been placed at zero value by auto analysts at Deutsche Bank. It may well turn out that no one is in control and as the situation lurches from crisis to crisis, both the outgoing and incoming administration might find events happening in rapid fire mode one after another may take GM' s share price down close to zero before any solutions are found to an impasse and action taken. This happened with Lehman Brothers where in the end the failure of Fuld to take decisive and correct action early led to a collapse which the Fed and Treasury let happen. The danger to the economy is that when the story of these events is written years hence it may be recorded that very liitle action was taken to prevent foreclosures and action taken was not taken early or decisively. And individuals like Fuld at Lehman in October and Waggoner at GM in November failed to provide the leadership in the months and years leading into the crisis, leading to its steep and worsening nature on the credit front and on the auto front. ...

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This report in The Times remembers Alex Ferguson, manager of soccer team Manchester United for the wonderful way he motivated his players, by appealing to players hearts. One player who went through that period under Alex remembers Sir Alex talk about the work ethic of shipyard workers and miners, the culture of Manchester United, the importance of making your family proud, and not "letting yourself down."

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The Bernanke Fed's decision on Sept. 16, 2013 to continue the pace of bond purchases is seen with relief in emerging markets and taken positively by equity markets worldwide. The Fed's decision is based on evidence of sluggishness in the economy and in the pace of job growth, as well as the likelihood of more political uncertainty about the budget because of sharp differences between Democrats and Republicans.

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Akerson's efforts to change the culture at GM. The struggle against the bureaucracy and practices of the old GM that still persist.

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In asignificant shift Apple is moving aggressively to hire chip engineers from other firms like AMD, and from high tech firms that are closing like memory chip company Spansion Inc., in addition to the acquisitions acquisition of P.A. Semi and other smaller companies. Thie goal is to develop new technology that would power new features for the iPhone and iPod, which competitors do not have access to. So while other tech firms are trimming, Apple is using its stronger financial position to go out and build up astrong in-house capability to develop its own chips and software to create new features exclusive to Apple. P.A. engineers are to help create ARM-based chips to improve performance and battery life of future iPhones. LinkedIn, anetworking site, shows100 people with Apple titlesand past expertise in chips with Intel, Samsung, Qualcomm and other companies. Additional job postings aggregated by site Indeed.com show recent postings for handwriting recognition technology, chip expertise for managing displays. Chief Technology Officers at AMD's graphics products group Koduri and Drebin have joined Apple. In the past Apple relied on Samsung for ARMHoldings licensed chip designs, ARM based microporocesor with custom features developed by Apple. Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, says he wants Apple to acquire expertise and technology to run increasingly sophisticated software for iPhones and iPods, "You just can't go out and buy the chips off the shelf to do that," says Jobs....