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American Airlines share price ended at $1.98, down 33%, on Oct. 3, 2011. AMR averted bankruptcy protection in 2003. This is the lowest level for the share price since 2003. AMR suffers from higher labor costs than other large airlines that went through bankruptcy and realigned costs. AMR says its labor costs are $800 millon higher than its competitors. AMR says it has $4.2 billion in unrestricted cash as of Sept 30, 2011, a decline from the $5.1 billion on June 30, 2011. Debt obligations due for AMR are $2.5 billion for 2011, $1.8 for 2012 and $1 billion in 2013. AMR raised $726 million in aircraft- backed bonds to refinance part of $1.3 billion in debt obligations due in second half of 2011. AMR has ordered 460 new fuel efficient aircraft in a lease financing deal offered by Boeing that does not stress AMR's balance sheet. Fears that AMR is burning cash with its expected operating loss caused Moddy's to change its outlook for AMR to negative from stable. AMR had $17.1 billion in total debt on June 30, 2011....

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For years the US shunned artisanal mining by small operators using children with no safety equipmentn for cobalt supplies. With China restricting the supply, the US AID agency has a $20 million program to integrate these small operators into the global supply chain. The US is coming to terms with the "inconvenient truth" that is there when it involves mining in the Congo for cobalt, a precious metal that is needed for renewable energy and lithium ion batteries in electric cars. Don't forget that 70% of the world's cobalt comes from the Congo and a third of this is dug up in small mines dug up in an in formal sector where children also work and there is no safety equipment. 

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Karl Rove, advisor to President George W. Bush, and organizer behind American Crossroads political action committee, says the election will be decided by the higher support for Romney among independents and the high turnout of Republican voters. The prediction for the voter turnout among Republicans is 36% Republican vs. 35% Democratic, according to Gallup. This compares with the 39% Republican and 37% Democratic in 2004, and 39% Democratic 29% Republican in 2008. The early and absente ballot voting advantage has significantly gone down almost by half for Democrats as more Republicans cast early votes in swing states like Ohio. Closing statements and crowds also appear to confirm this trend. Rove sees this as 51% to 48% favoring the Republicans. The addition of swing states - Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania also appears to suggest that a broader movement is underway that is happening right now in the final week before the election on Nov. 6, 2012. Rove focusses on the numbers. A behavioural assessment shows the importance in this campaign of the centrist position adopted by Romney in the closing months of the campaign; the selection of Ryan which gave Romney support from the Republican conservative base so that he could talk freely about his record in the liberal state of Massachusetts to independent voters and women, and most important the clear message to voters focussed on a five point plan to get the economy recovery were critical in shaping these numbers....

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The use of Chapter 11. or the US bankruptcy code, was astrong point of the American system of free enterprise, because it gave enterprises with problems but otherwise having healthy businesses a chance to reorganize and emerge stronger from the crisis. DUring the time in bankruptcy it could work out its debt load with creditors under court protection. Now this is no longer working in the current economic crisis. Because under current law derivative transactions are given preferred creditor status in a bankruptcy many creditors are designing their loans as derivative transactions. And creditors are creating the empy creditor situation by taking credit default swaps to ensure that they get paid if acompany fails to make apayment. In the process the creditor does not have the same interest in the company staying in business as it did before. This happened with Goldman Sachs buying credit default swaps on its loans to AIG. Complicating the situation further creditors are using the law to seize inventories and in other ways get aclaim on the assets if acompany like Circuit Stores for instance runs into difficulty. As aresult CIrcuit City was gforced into liquidation. So on one hand businesses that have achance if reorganized under Chapter 11 are being forced into liquidation and on the other hand companies that are not going to be the source of innovation or productive gains for the economy like Citigroup are simply tying up huge amounts of government money as there is a fear that a proposed bankruptcy could lead to arepeat of the Lehman collapse, where bankruptcy proceedings are too slow and cumbersome for this situation and things fall apart in days. ...

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Leonhardt says that there is little reason to think that the flatter rates are better always. With the need to finance Medicare and health care for all, the government can use the extra dollars from taxing the very wealthy, the very rich in different tax brackets. The top bracket in 2008 started at 357,000, and you paid 35% whether you made 400,000, or $4 million, or $40 million. So basically the upper middle class was lumped in with the extremely wealthy. And considering the cost of college tutions for 2 or 3 kids, the upper middle class is only middle class. It makes sense not to lump the two together. Considering that there has been a lot of wealth accumulated at the the very high end, it would also reduce inequality, generate tax revenues for health care, and not have much effect in the incentives for generating economic growth. It is something he says the Obama adminisstration may and should consider.

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The author Li Congjun, is head of the Xinhua News agency, official press agency of the People's Republic of China. He calls for rebalancing the global economy with China depending more on domestic consumption, efforts to restrain the excesses of property and asset price bubbles, and renewed focus on technology and investment.

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Olivier Blanchard, chief economist of the IMF says that as government borrowing around the world surges, interest rates will go up. Governments borrow by selling bonds to investors, and to attract investors the government competes with stock and corporate bond markets for investor's money, leading to rising yields for investors. As the confidence has returned to corporate bond markets this is already happening. From the end of 2008. the yield on the benchmark 10 year Treasury note has increased by one and ahalf percentage points, rising to 3.54% from 2%, the sharpest upward movement in 15 years. In Germany the yield on German 10 year bonds has also risen, rising to 3.57% from 2.93%. Similiarly British bond yields have risen to 3.78% from 3.41%. Congressional Budget Office estimates are that net government debt for the USA will rise to 65% of GDP at the end of fiscal 2010, from 41% at the end of fiscal 2008. In 2009 and 2010 the US government will sell $5 trillion in new debt, according to Citigroup. A decade from now the government's outstanding debt could equal 82% of GDP, or about $17 trillion. Every one point rise in interest rates costs the Treasury $50 billion annually over a few years, and Kenneth Rogoff estimates that this could reach $170 billion annually if the average yield on 10 year Treasury note goes up to 4.7%, as the Congressional Budget Office estimates. This will dampen the effects of stimulus spending. It is a big issue says Rogoff. A year ago under old policy and assumptions before the financial crisis the Congressional Budget Office projected outstanding debt at $5.3 trillion in 10 years. Now the estimate is $17 trillion, which is triple the old number and an increase of $11 trillion. A recovering economy would make these numbers less relevant. But with struggling industries like autos and banks needing more help from the government, and with consumers having to reduce a mountain of debt, a weak economy for a long time and small growth for a decade would make this a story that won't go away. Rogoff says its like what happened to the subprime borrowers, people assuming that the funding is always going to be there. In 2009 and 2010 Citigroup says, the Euro zone countries will sell nearly 1.6 trillion euros or $2.6 trillion in new debt, and Britain will offer 490 billion pounds or $799 billion in new debt. Over the next decade this would slow Europe's recovery and prolong the downturn. Britain faces a bigger problem in the near term as Britain's governmetn debt equals 55% of GDP, and Standard and Poors estimates it could approach 100% by 2013. South America and Eastern Europe will also face the situation of rising rates. Asian countries like China with lower levels of debt are in a better situation, IMF's Blanchard says....

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William Hurt plays Treasury secretary Hank Paulson in the HBO movie "Too Big to Fail," on the financial crisis of 2008. The approach HBO producers took to get the details of the story right included having actors talk to the real life figures like Hank Paulson. Hurt did a lot of questioning. Paulson was aware that his legacy would be shaped by how this story was told. Hurt came out of the discussions, including a three day visit to Paulson's home on a coastal Georgia island, saying that he did not feel manipulated. Hurt would continue to look at Paulson's actions from his own notions of value.

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This exceptional article in the Economist looks inside what is called the Alt-Right, how it got its name, who are its supporters, how it linked up with Trump, the goals of each, and how this movement looks compared to other similar movements in American history, the attitudes towards blacks then and towards Hispanics today. The idea presented of a "cuckservative," Republicans who have sold out to moneyed interests and to liberal ideas.

The use of Twitter and  social media for ideas not accepted in normal society, iconography, vernacular, use of Pepe the Frog as a cartoon character. The sometimes odd mix of Confederacy in the South, anti-immigrant in western states, agrarian nostalgia, and other ideas, all fused together into a rebellious sentiment expression.

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Raising the minimum wage makes sense because it is low and has not caught up with inflation. In real terms it is lower today than in the 1960's, even though productivity has doubled, which is why it makes sense. Economic sudies show that it is not likely to reduce jobs.

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Wal-Mart is expected to announce a five year plan to meet specific targets for lowering sodium, trans fats and aded sugars in a whole range of foods- including rice, soups, canned beans, salad dressings and snacks foods- in packaged foods sold under its house brand, Great Value. Other moves towards healthy foods are to move to eliminate the extra cost to consumers for healthy foods made with whole grains. It will also lower prices on fresh fruits and vegetables. This plan is similiar to other plans announced by companies such as Con Agra Foods which set a target of reducing sodium content in foods by 20% by 2015. New York City also has a public health initiative for healthy foods. another move by Wal-Mart is to get major food suppliers like Kraft, to follow the example set by Wal-Mart. Kraft sells 16% of its global sales through Wal-Mart. The move will be gradually introduced over five years which makes for slow progress, and the targets set for sugar reductions are much less than they should be, says Michael Jacobson, executive director of Center for Science in the Public Interest. Another serious drawback is that Wal-mart has not proposed to tackle the major cause of childhood obesity, which is the added sugars in soft drinks....

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The S&P 500 has changed since 1998 for top 10 companies. Phillip Morris and Coca Cola are gone from the top 10. Apple at 256th is now the biggest by far exceeding Exxon by $200 billion in market value. J&J, Chevron are in, General Electric and Microsoft stay in. Added are Google and Wal-Mart in the top 10. Better management and vision played a role.

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The International Energy Agency says in areport that China's policy shift to develop green energy projects will reduce global greenhouse emissions by 2020. Lower economic growth worldwide and thefaster development of green energy will reduce the emissions by 5% by 2020. Instead of recent growth in emissions the lower economic growth will lower greenhous emissions by 3% this year.

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An off the cuff remark by Romney in Nashua, New Hampshire- "I like to fire people who provide services to me"- referred to health insurers that are not providing good care. Perry, Gingrich and Huntsman, the other candidates in the Republican primaries seize on this reference to firing, and another about pink slips made by Romney, to focus attention on the people Romney fired at the companies he acquired for Bain Capital. Huntsman tells reporters in Concord- "Governor Romney enjoys firing people, I enjoy creating jobs." Gingrich tells NBC's "Today" show- "Look I'm for capitalism, but if someone comes in, takes all the money out of your company and then leaves you bankrupt while they go off with millions, thats not traditional capitalism."