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The impact of the resignation of Alexei Kudrin, Russia's Finance Minister, on financial markets and the value of the ruble.

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Britain's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) says Glaxo's drug Benlysta for lupus is not "good value for money." The drug is priced at 10,000 pounds a year in the U.K. ($15,600) and much higher at $35,000 a year in the U.S. Benlysta is covered by insurers in the U.S. and some European state run health systems according to Glaxo. NICE also rejected a new multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya, which costs 19,000 pounds a year in the U.K. ($29,700), and $48,000 a year in the U.S.

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A study by Prof. Joseph Gyourko, of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, shows that the FHA risks having $50 billion in losses over the next couple of years. Analysts say the largest banks could face billions of dollars in losses if the FHA were to push defaulted mortgages back into the hands of the banks that originated these mortgages. If home prices continue their decline, a restructuring at FHA and a taxpayer bailout will be inevitable.

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Dionne,Jr., says the failure of the "supercommittee" to reach a deal would not be a failure at all if it leads to a flawed deal that does not generate enough revenues, such as the $300 billion in tax increases proposed by Jeb Hensarling. If the deal also makes 90% of the Bush tax cuts permanent this would make deficit reduction harder. Under such terms not reaching a deal, and having automatic reductions triggered by that outcome may be the preferred outcome, says Dionne,Jr.

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The Bank of England is showing concern about the amount of unencumbered assets on the balance sheets of European banks as more of the assets are committed for secured lending from the ECB and other sources. This reduces the ability to issue unsecured bonds and raises the possibility of a funding shortage.

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White, Thomson and Blumenstein interview Russian President Medvedev. Medvedev says he is very conscious of what is happening to the EU and its fiscal affairs, and to the euro, in this intervew. He sees Russia's future as a European country closely related to the future of the EU and its member countries, especially how the EU countries do as they adopt austerity measures and cut spending.

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A 3 year old lawsuit by Viacom against Google's You Tube, was decided in favor of Google. Google was granted a summary judgement in this case. Viacom claimed that You Tube tried to exploit Viacom's copyrighted works and make a profit on them. Google's argument was that it was protected by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Viacom had sought more than $1 billion in damages. Judge Stanton said that general copyright infringement was not the same as knowledge of specific and identifiable infringements of individual items. In this case once Google received specific notice that a particular item infringed a copyrighted work, it quickly took that item out. And none of the aleged video clips are on the site.

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Global austerity measures could lead to a weaker and slower recovery in the absence of other policy actions to tackle the deficits in the medium term.

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As a result of provisions in the bailout, GM won't have to pay about $45 billion in taxes on future profits. In a little noticed ruling in 2009, the federal government decided that companies receiving TARP bailout money won't fall under the rule which restricts their tax benefits. The rationale was that the tax credit would make these companies more attractive to investors, and the value of the benefit is greater than any lost tax payments.

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Britain's Office of National Statistics said that GDP declined by 0.2% in the first quarter of 2012 from the prior quarter. GDP declined by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2011. This means Britain is officially in a recession, with two consecutive quarters of negative growth. The ONS said GDP was 4.3% below its precrisis peak in the first quarter of 2008. The UK registered growth of a mere 0.4% since the coalition government of David Cameron took over in May 2010. This presents problems for prime minister Cameron in tackling the UK deficit. It also shows how difficult it will be for EU countries to address their deficits without economic growth. This has come into increasing focus with recent events in the Netherlands with the collapse of the government and upcoming elections on the issue of austerity cuts, and in France with the presidential elections and the swing to parties questioning austerity measures without economic growth.

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Economists are calling this a "wage-less" recovery in the U.S. With unemployment at 8.8%, wage pressures are weak. Average hourly earnings were flat in March 2011. The annualized growth of average hourly earnings for the last 5 months is 1%, according to Gluskin Sheff chief economist Rosenberg. After accounting for higher inflation, real wages are actually falling.

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Krugman points to the mounting toll of joblessness in America in 2011. He calls the joblessness- six million Americans out of work for more than 6 months and four million jobless for more than one year- America's overriding problem. More than the deficits which he sees as a problem beyond the immediate next couple of years, and the dollar which he says has seen drops larger than the current one during the Bush and Reagan administrations and which presents an opportunity to increase exports. He says the scare stories may distract from the major problem unemployment presents for Americans.