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A look at Ford Motor a year after Mulally came in as CEO an assessment of progress. Mullaly is trying to model Ford on the consistent effort after goals such as quality and full lineup of passenger cars and crossovers and fuel efficiency. Busiess plans are amorphous and flexible and reviewed at Thurday meetings every week. He has promoted two executives up to senior positions Kuzak on the product development and full lineup side and Cischke on the fuel efficiency and sustainability side who also helped fill him in on details. He is not concerned with sales decline and says its in the plan. Passenge cars make up about half the sales and pickups the rest. It will be 2009 for consistent profitable operations. And it will be 2011 for a fulllineup of cars which will be done leveraging global resources. On another note Mullaly answers or forwards every email he receives promptly and applauds good performance with notes he sends out.

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Thanks go to Pfizer and CEO Albert Bourla for their latest effort the antiviral pill Paxlovid, says the editorial Board of the WSJ. It reduces viral load ten fold and is a game changer in the pandemic, says the WSJ, when vaccinations are not as effective as they could be with the large number of unvaccinated. Pfizer charges $530 per treatment for the 10 million doses ordered by the Biden Administration and signed a voluntary licensing agreement with UN backed Medicines Patent Pool for worldwide access. This should enable access in all countries.

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Cummins gets 5 wickets, England's top batsmen out for three ducks, two years of preparation show the tension, the need to throw the "million dollar fast ball" as bowler Harmison did in Brisbane in 2006 sending the ball straight to second slip. This time the first ball by Mitchell Starc dismisses Burns. This is the first day of the Australia England Ashes cricket series.

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DJT executive orders include one ending birthright citizenship. “It was really meant for children of slaves." DJT is referring to the 14th Amendment that was passed in 1868 by Congress and ratified by 1868 by the states. It came after the Civil War and Emancipation of slaves and was intended without any doubt for one and only one purpose to make slaves citizens of the United States Look at Section 4 of the 14th Amendment which says the United States will not allow any claim for the loss of any slave. "But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. The only SC decision in US vs Wong Kim that gave citizenship in 1898 to Wong Kim was not intended to go beyond that particular case, it was only meant to make an exception to the Chinese Exclusion Act  of 1882 after which till 1960 (JFK's election) Chinese immigration to the US was stopped, and the same for all Asians. Only immigrant labor allowed in was from Mexico for agriculture till 1960. And in 1954 Operation Wetback wwas conducted by Eisenhower to return about 1 million illegal immigrants to Mexico. DJT says- “It was not meant for everyone to come into our country by airplane, or charging across the borders from all over the world and think they’re going to become citizens.” The millions that came illegally across land border  and the flow of drugs is a new situation that Congress and the Supreme Court are only facing since 2014 a period in which wars in Afghanistan and Iraq took time and resources away from problems at home. ...

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RFK Jr's views on reducing the overuse of pesticides and agricuture that harms human health are positives. Will the RFK noimnation for Secretary of Health and Human Services make America's health and well being worse? WSJ and business thinks it will if it makes people skeptical of all vaccines. Covid vaccine being made compulsory brought RFK Jr. to public attention as some states closed too soon for too long prolonging the economic effects and not leaving an option for some groups to not get vaccinated. WSJ points out that RFK skepticism for all vaccinations is dangerous. It points to polio vaccine, and to the local areas where measles has increased where vaccination was turned down. Other risks are in betting so much on organic food that the benefits of the green revolution of adequate food supplies from the use of fertilizer for output increases per acre are lost. Sri Lanka is an example of a nation unable to feed itself as it bet everything on organic overnight. ...

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PM Modi will lead a mass yoga event on International Yoga Day 2022 on the Mysuru Palace Grounds. The theme this year is "Yoga for Humanity" and 2.5 million people will take part in various events around the world.

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Following the fifth North Korean nuclear test DW.com talks with Rudiger Frank about the test and what this means. Frank says the negotiations with North Korea and efforts to limit the program so far have been a colossal failure. Tests have continued and without a change in strategy more tests will be followed by the usual condemnations by world leaders and further sanctions. Frank says this change in strategy would include recognizing North Korea as a nuclear state, and getting North Korea to ensure the weapons are safe and secure in the country, getting a clear idea of what and where the weapons are. The International Atomic Agency would be asked to go in and make inspections. The next step would be to freeze the program at some level agreed to. This is a tough step to take but it only recognizes the reality of the situation, and continued development by North Korea of nuclear weapons if no steps for change are taken. 

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The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is at the center of talks for resolution of the crisis in Europe over Ukraine. Under the arrangement setup under OSCE with Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France as members the security arrangements in Europe are set forth- all nations as member states will respect each others national sovereignty. Russia's approach to settle its concerns about Ukraine joining NATO on its borders was to exclude European Union and deal with this entirely as a US Russia issue. For Europe turning to the OSCE emphasizes Europe's role to solve disputes in its own backyard. This opens up ways to bring all parties to the table for talks. This is because the US position remains firm not conceding on the point of Ukraine choosing its own future and foreign affairs, in effect preserving the right of all of Eastern Europe to choose its own future, something gained after the fall of the Soviet Union. The US approach is also to use an information war of sorts to deter invasion by saying an invasion is imminent. This places the ball right back in the European court in this war of nerves. ...

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The new Indian government priorities were offered in an address to the first session of parliament after recent elections. The Modi government will speed up investment projects, infrastructure development of rail and road networks, and setup industrial regions for competitive global manufacturing hubs to create jobs. For the poor and rural areas hygiene will be a new focus with plans to put toilets in every home. Education will by enhanced by connecting all Indian schools to the internet.

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Tax credit of $1700 to Scholarship Granting Organizations or SGO's, is part of the One Big Beautiful Act. This means that one gets a direct tax credit to offset taxes due in the tax return, so that a donation to an SGO will cost the one donating nothing. The government allocation for this is $254 billion to 2034 and will help parents with upto 3 times the median wage in the region finance their children's education. Will Blue states (states run by Democrats) under pressure from Education unions favoring public schools oppose the school choice this offers parents. Parents are increasingly frustrated with the public school education system's failure to give children a good education to get jobs and pursue higher education or apprenticeship education.

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The CSU wins 36.4% of the vote in Bavaria and the populist Free Voters gains ground with 15.3%. Both will continue the government in Bavaria. The AfD advanced in Bavaria to 16%. The CDU wins 34.5% of the vote in Hesse, with the city of Frankfurt in Hesse. CDU will continue to form a government in Hesse. The AfD won 18% of the vote in Hesse. The FDP got less than 5% threshhold for representation and the Social Democrats went from 19% to 15% in Hesse. The economy and immigration played a part in the losses of the Social Democrats and FDP.

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The social media site Twitter frequently loses money and took on $13 billion in debt says this report in the NYT. Musk faces financial challenges a he takes over the company, and this report says the company would be unlikely to invest and simply be paying the bills. Twitter it says, has not made a profit for 8 of its past 10 years. 

Twitter's interest expense alone would grow from $50 million to $1 billion with the new debt. Company operations generated about $630 million in cash flow to fund operations. Twitter had $6 billion in cash before the buyout and a large part of this would have gone to close the acquisition. All the financial resources of the company will now go to service the debt. About $1.2 billion in marketing expenses mostly salaries are likely to be cut. And layoffs of a significant fraction of the total employees may be a way to conserve capital to service the added debt, this report shows.

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The BBC shows pictures of King Charles visit to Germany. King Charles's speech to the German parliament, the Bundestag, was the first for a British monarch. He received a standing ovation. He made the speech mostly in German, and spoke about the close cultural connections between the two nations- the first Shakespeare association was was formed not in England but in Weimar and Handel will be played at his coronation. He touched on the war in Ukraine and said- "Since I last spoke in this building the scourge of war is back in Europe." It has left freedom and human dignity "trampled in the most brutal way." He praised "the vital leadership" shown by UK and Germany.

About the future he said- "In the long and remarkable story of our countries there are many chapters yet to be written. Let us fill these with the relentless pursuit of a better tomorrow." 

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China's breakneck growth was enabled by housing construction, and coal in a way that created problems of climate change. Now China's largest housing developers Evergrande and Country Garden together have a staggering $500 billion in debt and in serious financial trouble in or near default. How will China's government respond? It let Evergrande who had defaulted on debt payments build 300,000 apartments last year, just to protect home buyers. Now it's founder Mr. Xu is taken in for questioning and "illegal crimes." Making sure that the apartments on which people made deposits are built would cost another $72 billion, says Nomura. Yet suppliers, painters, builders and brokers are owed another $390 billion, in one estimate. And foreign creditors are getting together for complicated restructurings. Evergrande had entered wealth management promising 8 or 9% returns and has stopped making payments. All this is affecting public confidence in the future and China's growth story. For decades China depended on housing construction for high growth rates. Now the process is unwinding with both in financial difficulties. This NYT report says that after Evergrande's default, Country Garden failed to make a payment on $200 billion in debt last week and has 400,000 apartments that it sold but has not finished building. ...

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China's parliament meets this week for opening sessions. Premier Li Qiang tells parliament that China will set a 5% growth target. Facing deflation, implosion of the property sector, and declining manufacturing will make it difficult to achieve this target. 

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The effects on the residents near the site of the atomic tests in New Mexico are shown here by BBC News with the title that it doesn't win Oscars. Ben Ray Lujan, Senator from New Mexico, was on the Senate floor this week asking for support for the bill to provide help and compensation to survivors and relatives with cancer that is connected to the atomic test.

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About 53% of the uninsured Americans disapprove of the Obama health care law, in comparison to 51% of the insured with health care coverage who disapprove of the new law. About 35% of the uninsured say they are likely to pay the penalty for not carrying insurance, and six of ten uninsured say it will make their health better. Overall the approval of the law is at 39% and disapproval at 50% in the Dec. 2013 poll. A striking part of the poll result is that 57% of the uninsured say it will increase their health care costs, compared to 52% of the insured. Only 20% say it will decrease their health care costs. This reflects the lack of serious controls on the surge in healthcare spending in the law. A separate research shows that more of the costs are passed on to users who will pay higher out-of-pocket costs after the law.

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In this editorial the Wall Street Journal says it supports the "sequester" or trigger of automatic cuts in 2013 if the Supercommittee in the U.S. Congress fails to reach agreement on budget cuts. Across the board budget cuts are not the best option, but says the Journal given that politicians have failed to come to agreement this is the best option available. This will generate $68 billion in savings in 2013. The Congressional Budget Office estimates cuts will be 7.8% for domestic programs, and defense will take a 10% cut. Medicare spending will fall by 2%, mostly payments to providers. To put this in perspective the Journal points out that total domestic discretionary spending doubled to $614 billion in 2010 from $298 billion in 2000, providing a higher starting point for cuts. It says some of the cuts in defense could be restored through a supplemental bill as planned by Sen. McCain.

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US Trade Representative Tai and India Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will meet in New Delhi November 22-23 on Tai's visit to New Delhi, Seoul and Tokyo to strengthen trade and investment ties for Indo-Pacific region. Following Modi's meeting with Biden in Washington DC the discussions with Tai will reconvene the India US Trade Policy Forum in 2021, and push forward with the negotiations for the Investment Incentive Agreement to increase investment in development projects in India. All aspects of investment, trade and industry will be covered as India builds a closer relationship with US in its drive for economic development that also strives to achieve goals for renewable energy.

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US president Biden announces a plan that makes it mandatory for all employers with more than 100 employees to require their workers to be vaccinated. The Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration will issue an emergency temporary standard for implementing the new rule. This will cover 80 million private sector employees. Businesses that fail to meet the standard will face fines of up to $14,000 per violation. Employers must also give workers paid time off to get vaccinated or recover from any side effects.

Federal government workers and contractors also must meet the new requirement or face regular testing. In all 100 million workers or two thirds of American workers will be covered. 

To meet testing needs the Biden administration is procuring $2 billion in rapid point of care and over the counter at home Covid tests, using the Defense Production Act for accelerated production.

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The Bell 212 helicopter that crashed in dense fog over East Azerbaijan due to technical failures leading to death of president Raisi and the foreign minister of Iran, was originally built in 1971 for the Canadian Armed Forces. Later supplied to the US Army and in 1988 manufactured in Quebec, then discontinued in 1998. Iran and other countries in eastern Europe still use Bell 212 helicopters which were widely used for commercial purposes. Iran has to contend with difficulty of getting spare parts from the US and Canada. The only other crash reported for Bell 212 is one in 1986 in North Sea oil facilities in dense fog. Reports say the 50 year old Bell 212 depends on visual flight conditions meaning only what the pilot can see from his seat which would have made it very difficult in the steep mountain slopes of eastern Azerbaijan. 

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Romney says in the first presidential debate he will not increase taxes on the middle class: "I will not reduce taxes paid by high income Americans. And I will not, under any circumstances, raise taxes on middle-income families. I will lower taxes on middle income families." How he would do this is through limiting or eliminating deductions and loopholes among several measures, with work done on this by his advisor Martin Feldstein, Reagan's economic advisor and a professor at Harvard University- Romney's Tax Plan can raise revenue, WSJ, 8/28/2012. Where the Democrats and Republicans differ is that economic growth generated by creating incentives for business to invest and hire also plays a part in generating the additional revenues as it did under Reagan's economic plan. Behavioural factors play a large part of this as much as the incentives and other steps, to create a climate of business confidence- search in Janvoo for the Group "Reagan memo of 1980 by Shultz, Friedman," for more on this....

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Short time work programs, paid leave, aid to small business for employee retention with the government paying a big percentage of wages, and unemployment benefits till companies rehire employees with government paying for this, are all different ways in which the U.S. and Europe are coping with the coronavirus crisis.  In the U.S. 22 million have applied for unemployment benefits with the U.S. government picking up a substantial part of the wages till companies rehire these employees. In the UK the government has launched a program that gives 2500 pounds or $3100 to each worker each month upto 80% of the worker's pay. The money is sent to businesses for retaining employees. This could cover estimated 8.3 million workers in the UK at a cost of $52 billion. The U.S. has a similar program with the first phase $377 billion already distributed to small businesses which requires retention of employees for government forgiveness of these loans. The basic idea is retain employees who could stay at home or be in short work programs or work from home. The French government is paying the wages of 9.6 million workers, almost half of workers in the private sector by sending the money to 785,000 small businesses. In Germany the Kurzarbeit program covers 725,000 companies which supports the wages of employees in a downturn and is financed from a special fund. The cost for Germany, France and Spain is about $147 billion or 135 billion euros for such programs. The European Union will step in with a 100 billion euros loan package. ...

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This report in the Economist says that the days of double digit increases in the car market are a thing of the past. Future increases will be in the mid to high single digits, according to McKinsey consulting firm. China's economy is slowing and official estimates of GDP growth of 7% are described by experts as overstated, with real estimate of growth for the 1st quarter of 2015 by Citi, Conference Board and Capital Economics all below 5%, as reported in the WSJ. A sign of the change in the market is the need for higher use of incentives. The growth in the used car market offers buyers other alternatives. The new plants being added will increase production by 5.3 million light vehicles a year and come online in 2015 and 2016, this is in addition to the 22.8 million in sales in 2014. Average Chinese auto plants operate at 70% of capacity and the added volume will lower capacity utilization further. China's local automobile companies, with the exception of companies in joint ventures with foreign companies, have failed to gain customer loyalty. Many of these companies may be absorbed by foreign car makers or shut down as the industry consolidates. Foreign companies will find doing business less attractive as sales decline. ...

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Tim Cook talks to developers at a world wide virtual and in person event. 

Apple will introduce a new 13.5 inch Macbook Air with a inhouse M2 chip for $1195 on sale in July 2022. A new 13 inch Macbook Pro will also be made.

The new iPhone with 5G capability had sales of $191 billion in fiscal year ending in September 2021. iPhone sales up 6.2% in 2022 vs 39% in 2021 when the pandemic led to remote work on Apple and other PC's.

App store and ad sales up by 17% to $80 billion, larger than Mac and iPad sales. 

Apple Pay will break payments into 4 installments as an option. Messages will have an unsend or edit option for 15 minutes.