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Business Week's Chad Terhune points out that the health reform bill that passed Congress will do little to restrain the overbilling by pharmaceutical companies, medical device and equipment makers. Chad cites numbers from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department that shows $47 billion in Medicare spending went to dubious claims in the year ending Sept 30, 2009. This is 10% of the $440 billion Medicare program. And 10% of the Medicaid program also goes to dubious claims. Consider then that Congres allocated $10 million annual increase to fight fraud. A suit filed by a former Siemens manager at the federal court in Philadelphia states that Siemens routinely overbilled the Veterans Affairs Department and other governmental agencies by humndreds of millions of dollars for MRI and CT scan machines.

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Jean Francois-Cope, a protege of former president Sarkozy is declared a winner in the party election for the Union for Popular Movement (UMP) in France. Centrist candidate Francois Fillon continues to contest the vote and this decision. Fears of a fracturing of the centre right parties in France. Sarkozy moved to the right in the presidential election in an effort to draw votes from the right wing party of Marie Le Pen. Fillon stands for a more centrist nationalistic Gaullist position. The vote was so tight that Fillon contends he won by 26 votes and will challenge the decision in civil court. The Socialist party of prime minister Hollande faces problems of its own with the sharp decline in popularity of Hollande over his handling of economic issues.

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The chairman of India's Tata Group, Ratan Tata, talks to the WSJ's Paul Beckett. Tata Group now employs 357,000 people and gets 65% of saes from overseas. He describes the difficulties with the Jaguar and land Rover acquisition. And says Tata Motors did very well to extinguish $3 billion in debt arising from the acquisitions by raisng new capital, liquidating some assets and doing away with loose practices. The experience at the new location in Gujarat for the Tata Nano minicar is very positive and production is planned for January 2010. He has some words for India's government, saying that India will remain an agricultural country unless the government finds some better way to fairly and justly compensate farmers for their land where industrializaton is takng place. He sees an alien view of industrial development in W. Bengal and says Tata is better off from being away from that place. For the US and Indian firms operating in the outsourcing space he has some advice. He wants Indian companies to be sensitive to the American unemployment situation, the stress being felt by jobless people, and that its important not to be aggressive and alien to pain that is going on in the USA. Ratan Tata is a graduate of Cornell University in aeronautical engineering, and closely connected with the University. ...

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The shortage of labor will make the transition to a workweek of less than 60 hours for existing factory workers in China difficult, say experts. The transition to better working hours will take some time to be implemented as required by China's new labor laws and public pressure in the U.S. and China.

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First month of 2026 shows upturn for Britain's economy and $31 billion monthly budget surplus at Treasury. This is good news for Reeves and Keir Starmer as they face Manchester by election on Feb 24, 2026, first of local elections after the Mandelson episode. Unemployment is at 5.3% and inflation has fallen to 3% for the British economy in January 2026.

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Federico Valverde of Real Madrid hat trick against Manchester City March 2026. The Uruguayan Valverde has the game of his life and has Mbappe cheering from the stands as he puts in 3 goals to get Real 3-0 against Manchester City in March 2026.

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Hard liners in the Iranian parliament include Hamid Rasaee and Ali Taheri, and other members from the days of president Ahamdinejad. In the media this includes Hosssein Shariatmadari, editor of newspaper Kayhan. They oppose any concessions in nuclear negotiations by Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, and any cooperation with the U.S. on issues related to Syria and Iraq. As negotiations face another deadline of March 25, 2015, Israel and the U.S. Congress are pushing for a ratcheting up of sanctions, while the Obama administration seeks more time to complete negotiations. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamanei has urged conservative critics to avoid discussion of negotiations, also setting low expectations for settlement.

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Diamond and Kashyap, professors in finance and economics at the University of Chicago, show how the tax on banks proposed by the Obama administration can be executed. It would raise $90 billon over 10 years and offset the $117 billion in losses expected from the TARP program. They say the tax should be made on the size of each bank before the fall of Lehman Brothers so that banks cannot shrink their way out of the tax by engaging in sham accounting transactions. They say the banks have responded to the crisis by engaging in behaviours that have exacerbated the crisis by becoming reluctant to lend, and not renewing loans. Its like having the banks pay for the insurance policy that keeps them from sinking.

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Bill Spindle of the WSJ describes the Iranian Quds military organization led by Suleimani that operates alongside the Hezbollah organization in Lebanon as Iran intervenes in regional conflicts across borders. Using the militia and Quds Iran is supporting the Assad regime in Syria, and fighting Islamic State in Iraq. Quds has also supported Shiites in Yemen. The problem with the interventions may be that they may have created new problems from which Iran has gained little. The intervention on the side of the Assad regime created an opening for Sunnis supporting Islami State insurgency in both Syria and Iraq, creating another problem for Iran, and weakening the Shiite led government in Baghdad with the loss of Mosul Iraq's second largest city. The cost is in tens of billions of dollars for the intervention at a time when the Iranian economy is suffering from tighter sanctions because of an expanding nuclear development effort. Suleimani is head of the Quds military force, and Alaeddin Bouroujerdi is head of the foreign policy and national security committee in Iran's parliament, who says Iran is now a powerful force in the region. But at a heavy price and complicating the effort of Sunnis and Shiites to live side by side for centuries in the Middle East. There are no serious benefits for the Iranian people suffering from severe shortages at home, a devaluing currency, cost to subsidize other countries, getting into and exacerbating military conflicts. Prime minister Rouhani says- "Until when should our economy subsidize our policies? Lets have our foreign policy subsidize our economy, and see what happens." ...

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An August survey by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, shows 40% of the country's manufacturers saying they would shift production and R&D facilities overseas if the yen remains at 85 to the dollar. It has dropped below that. Nissan will make 71% of its cars overseas in 2010, compared to 66% in 2009. Murata Manufacturing plans to double its foreign output to 30% by March 2013. By buying Dutch printer maker Oce NV in March, Canon Inc., saw its overseas output jump to 48% for the first half of 2010. Toyota is on track to produce 57% of its output overseas in 2010 , compared to 48% in 1995. The popular Prius will now be built at a plant in Bangkok, Thailand. Sony did 20% of its television manufacturing in Japan in 2010, it is aiming to do 50% in 2011. As a result Sony showed a profit for the April-June quarter, after 6 straight years of losses. Its also important to note that when inflation is taken into account the yen has not strengthened the way it appears, which reduces domestic pressures to dampen the yen's rise. Tohru Sasaki, head of foreign-exchange research at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in Tokyo, says that in inflation-adjusted terms, the yen is 30% below the rate it reached in April 1995. U.S. consumer prices have risen by 69% since 1990, in Japan the prices rose only 8.5% during the same period. In inflation adjusted terms the April 1995 exchange rate of 80 yen to the dollar would be 56 yen to the dollar today. Japan's exporters can also benefit from the fact that a large part of Japanese trade is denominated in yen- according to Japan's Ministry of Finance 48% of exports to Asia were paid for in yen in 2009. Like China and Germany, Japan remains highly dependent on exports for growth- which provide two thirds of its growth. The yen's strength increases the outflow of production facilities. In July 2010, 10.3 millon workers were employed in manufacturing in Japan, down from 12 million in 2002. Japan's unemployment rate was 5.6% in 2009....

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WSJ's Jeremy Page looks at Admiral Wu's efforts to build U.S.-China naval ties through relations with Admiral Jonathan Greenert, head of U.S. Naval Operations. Admiral Wu has the backing of Chinese president Jinping to expand the influence and capabilities of China's Navy. A skeptical Senate Armed Services Committee led by Senator John McCain sees the effort to enroll Chinese officers at U.S. naval colleges, and offers of visits to Chinese ports by U.S. aircraft carriers, as a ways to increase the capabilities of China's Navy. McCain and members of Congress are alarmed by the effort to build China's naval power on the Spratly islands to extend control over the South China Sea and beyond. Wu is the only naval leader on the 11 man China Central Military Commission, headed by president Jinping, which commands China's armed forces. He joined the People's Liberation Army in 1964 and in 1988 has commanded a group of destroyers. Wu as an advocate for a greatly expanded mission for the Chinese Navy following what is called the "century of humiliation" with the Opium War in 1842, is seen with wariness with close neighbors Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, Australia and India....

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Roger Cohen interviews Glenn Greenwald, a journalist for Britain's Guardian newspaper, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Greenwald made disclosures of NSA spying on Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff. He now has the backing for a online publication from eBay founder, Pierre Omidyar, for the venture with financing of $250 million. Greenwald helped make Snowden's information on NSA spying public by writing about it in the Guardian from his base in Brazil. Cohen says old style mainstream journalism has been affected by the 9/11 events, and brings up David Halberstam's words at Columbia University in 2005- about not letting the powerful intimidate independent journalists. In 2013 the government of Britain asked the Guardian to turn over documents related to NSA spying, which the Guardian resisted, leading to a protest by Germany that this violated respect for freedom of the press.

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Athenahealth, a provider of software for physicians, is intervewed by Jon Kamp about the efforts to promote digitization in physician's offices.

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Is G.M. pushing too early for an I.P.O. offering in the fourth quarter. Would a year or more of good results improve the chances of making an I.P. O. on attractive terms. By then the proceeds could be used to invest in growth, fund healthcare and pension liabilities, instead of just offering an exit for the government.

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Aubrey McClendon, was one of the pioneers of the shale oil boom in the U.S. His penchant for taking excessive risk caused severe setbacks in 2008 with the global financial crisis, and in 2015 with the collapse of oil prices. In 2016 he was indicted by a grand jury in Oklahoma for illegal practices, and he died shortly thereafter in a car crash.

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150,000 homes in Los Angeles region that mostly empty are owned by foreign buyers 2025 who live in China and use it as an investment or asset to use when needed. This is a sore point for people who cannot find housing after losing their home in wildfires. Many of these homes are in the San Gabriel Valley- Pasadena, Arcadia, Temple City and San Marino.  Investors in such homes come from China, Mexico and South Korea, and real estate agents say about 1 in 10 homes are going to foreign buyers in these suburbs. Restrictions on moving money overseas by China's government has reduced the flow of international buyers in recent years.

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Simon Denyer's interview with Vinod Rai, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Rai has persisted in uncovering corruption in India. He was appointed by prime minister Manmohan Singh from India's Finance ministry five years ago, and runs an organization with 63,000 employees with accountants in all Indian states. Reports by his agency have uncovered giving away of natural resources and telecom licenses worth billions of dollars. He describes the amounts involved as huge and attributes the increase in accountability of politicians and ministers to active citizens groups. The Indian media and Supreme Court have supported efforts to increase accountability. The CAG has constitutional protection. Rai sees the CAG's role as examining government spending to uncover irregularities and make it accountable to parliament. India is rare in this respect compared to China, Russia and other emerging market countries because of its vibrant media and democracy. A 2010 report uncovered corruption in giving away mobile phone network licenses and a 2012 report uncovered allocation of coal land without a competitive auction, with loss in government revenues estimated at $30 billion. The reports showed prime minister Singh aware of the irregularities but unable or unwilling to call for transparency and proper process. Rai's six year term expires in May 2013. ...

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Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai is moving quickly to address higher costs for workers at its manufacturing sites in coastal regions of China. After extensive media coverage of conditions at Foxconn factories, a number of suicides, and Chinese government policy that encouraged higher wages for workers in foriegn owned plants, Foxconn has moved to sharply increase wages at its plants. By the end of 2011 production in cities in the interior of China- Chengdu, Chongqing, and Wuhan, where costs are one third less- will be 25% of production, up from 10% in 2010. By 2012, this will be up to 50% of Foxconn's production, according to Yuanta Securities of Taipei. Hon Hai is lowering dividends to finance the shift. Fourth quarter 2010 earnings of Hon Hai were $742 million, down 26% over the prior year, even though revenues went up by 56% to $33.1 billon- reflecting the higher costs. Hon Hai's stock is down 20% in the past year on the Taipei stock exchange. Other locations being considered by Hon Hai are Brazil, Turkey and Slovakia. Brazil's President Dilma Roussef, said that Foxconn is considering a $12 billion plan for Brazil. Hon Hai is the only manufacturer of Apple iPads and one of two manufacturers of the iPhone....

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Friedman draws attention to a very important thing that a perceptive eye like his has grasped, there is too much rhetoric on the democratic and Obama side about focussing on Afghanistan without knowledge of whats going on in the field and all the risks in haphazard involvement and expansion of the war, reminiscent of the small war that was going on in south east Asia when Kennedy assumed office. Another young and inexperienced President who needed to show that he could be tough and just as the cold war was taking shape with the Berlin airlift and other events in Europe. The early years of the Kennedy administration led to an haphazard expansion of the war without fully understanding the situation in the ground. Scweich and Rory's account and the cable by the British ambassador in Kabul and other links show that the war there has to be very carefully handled by the most capable people knowledgeable about what is happening in the ground.

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A four year U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study is put out in June 2015. It confirms that fracking can be carried out safely without contamination of drinking water. The EPA says there are a small number of contaminated drinking water wells and describes the vulnerabilities. Thomas Burke, deputy assistant administrator of the EPA's office of research and development says: "The hydraulic fracking activities in the U.S. are carried out in a way that have not led to widespread, systematic impact on drinking water resources. In fact, the number of the documented impacts to drinking water is relatively low compared to the number of fractured wells." Rob Jackson, an earth sciences professor at Stanford University, who has studied the environmental impact of fracking, says he agrees with this conclusion of no widespread impact, but says the report needed to be more comprehensive. Burke said in a conference call that the main issue was "understanding the vulnerabilities so we can address the vulnerabilities and practice hydraulic fracking in the safest possible way."...

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A joint article by Robert Rubin, Clinton era Treasury Secretary and Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute. Rubin was senior adviser to Citigroup during the period that Citigroup leveraged itself and invested in lower quality securities that have left the firm exposed to substanital losses, and led to hiring a new CEO Vikram Pandit to clean up the mess. And this may explain the joint article with a less well known economist Jared Bernstein, and the tentative nature of their advice as the two differ on the important issue of long term fiscal deficits and still agree on investing heavily in healthcare, education infrastructure, worker training and energy. In a short recession they may be complementary and you could have the best of both worlds as in the other postwar recessions. But this is unlike any of the postwar recessions and is shaping up to be a long and deep downturn unlike anything seen in the postwar period. That Rubin does not even mention this shows that probably he is out of touch, as he was during his years when Citigroup was acting much like the other banks that were in serious trouble this year. Some of the decisions for lax regulation during the Clinton years were taken with the support of Rubin and Greenspan. What Rubin calls the longest expansion could have been for the most part good fortune and a steady period for the economy with Rubin's contribution being fiscal discipline, stewardship of the Mexican rescue package and committment to free trade policies, but not facing upto huge headwinds in the economy that required challenging leadership and judgement. Here Rubin mentions nothing that suggests bold vision and judgement, instead hoping that old policies that worked during the good times would somehow work today. And on some issues like labor being squeezed and getting a smaller portion of the economic pie with no support for unionization, a drop in the number of unionized workers and weakened labor bargaining strength, Rubin who now sees this as a bad trend for the working middle class incomes, did little in his years in the Clinton administration to reverse or slow this trend. He cites productivity growth of 20% from 2000 to 2007, and yet the real income of working age middle class households was falling $2000 or 3%. ...

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A seven member panel formed by Toyota to look into Toyota's recall problems made its recommendations recently. The panel's report says Toyota was not good at responding to criticism from outside. Company executives looked at complaints about sudden acceleration defensively or skeptically, and viewed regulators in an "adversarial" manner. The NHTSA also has come under criticism in investigations, because to some extent Toyota's close connections with the NHTSA made it possible for the company to drags its feet in responding to complaints. Edmunds.com CEO, Jeremy Anwyl, says Toyota has a stable and predictable way of doing things and this does not work well in a crisis, leaving Toyota uniquely vulnerable to this. The insularity of executives in Japan because of the lack of non-Japanese on the Board. and in other important positions, magnifies the problems when they are rooted in a crosscultural environment. Such complaints in the U.S. media are viewed differently than in Japan. The report also pointed out that safety and quality are two different things - that processes that improve quality will not necessarily produce safe vehicles. By putting safety under quality and making everyone responsible for quality, no specific executives were assigned responsibility for safety. One of the lessons learned from the recall crisis is that specific responsibility needs to be assigned for safety, and the person in charge has to report directly to the President and top managers. One of the panel members, Brian O'Neil, a former president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Saferty, says the old adage is true in this case- when everyone is responsible, no one is responsible....

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Chris Wormald to be replaced by Antonia Romeo as Cabinet Secretary in Feb 2026. The only way Keir Starmer can get a new start is to be himself and follow his convictions about what is right for the nation. It means getting a new team that will help him implement a plan of action. Antonia Romeo top civil servant in Britain's Home Ministry, is given the job of Cabinet Secretary replacing Chris Wormald. This means the PM will be getting better advice on making choices for the future compared to McSweeney and Wormald, political and civil servant members from the previous team that were overawed by people in powerful positions, and did not respect people of conviction and honesty regardless of where in Labour that they came from. The future of Britain and the US, and of Europe will be build by people of honesty and conviction, common sense, and willingness to learn, not by false notions of centrist and left or right that for too long have determined the nature and sway of politics. For this to happen Starmer must look deep within himself. ...