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It may come as a surprise to know that there are as many new Saudi Arabian students in the U.S. as there are from Japan. Saudi Arabia sent 22,704 students to the U.S. in 2010-2011, according to the Institute of International Education. A big factor is the King's scholarship program which draws from all segments of the Saudi society. This is likely to have an impact on the modernization of Saudi Arabia.

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Boeing's goal is to make 10 Dreamliners a month by late 2013. The current rate is 2 per month, which Boeing hopes to move up to 2.5 a month by November 2011, and 3.5 a month by early Spring. Boeing CEO, McInerney, says it will take a few years before each Dreamliner turns a profit. He expects this will happen before 2020. The large investment during this decade should see returns in terms of an annuity for 25-35 years, said McInerney. The Dreamliner is the first jetliner to be made largely of plastic-composite materials, in place of aluminium. To build the Dreamliner Boeing had to accomplish what McInerney calls "game-changing innovation," and at the same time achieve improvements in production techniques. Jim Albaugh, head of Boeing's Commercial Airplanes division, says the next step is to take what takes an hour and half to assemble and bring this down to 15 minutes. This will help meet a long backlog of orders. Boeing has 820 orders for the Dreamliner as of Sept. 2011. The first Dreamliner was delivered on Sept. 26, 2011, to All Nippon Airways....

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A plan appears to have been put in place by the U.S. and the European Union countries to strengthen the American position in negotiations with Iran underway in Istanbul. The impact on oil prices and on U.S. and E.U. growth as a consequence of higher oil prices, especially when the eurozone countries faced lowed growth, was one of the ways Iran hope to blunt the tightening of sanctions against Iran's nuclear program. It now appears from information released by the International Energy Agency that a plan was implemented by the Saudis in recent months to build up reserve supplies. At the same time a similiar effort was being implemented to increase production in Iraq and Libya so that it would add to reserves added by the Saudis. Daily output from OPEC countries increased by about 1.4 millon barrels in the Sept 2011- March 2012 period, as the confrontation with Iran took shape with increasing pressure using sanctions on Iranian oil, according to the IEA. Of this 1.4 million barrels a day increase, one third is from the Saudis and the rest from Iraq and Libya, according to IEA. In March 2012, OPEC oil production increased by 135,000 barrels a day to 31.4 million barrels, mostly from higher output in Iraq. The Saudis have filled up domestic oil inventories and placed an additional 10 million barrels of oil in storage close to markets in Europe and Japan. This suggests that this was part of a quietly implemented plan in cooperation with the U.S. and the EU countries to increase the effectiveness of sanctions and protect global oil supplies from disruptions; even as the U.S. pressured Japan, S. Korea, India and other countries to reduce purchases of Iranian oil. The economies of India, the EU and other countries were already beginning to feel the impact of higher oil prices in the 1st quarter of 2012....

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Anti-establishment government in Italy supported by the 5 Star Movement and and the Northern League set a 2.4% of GDP deficit target for 2019, triple what the earlier government had planned. This sets up a clash with the European Union over rules for deficit after the European debt crisis. Finance Minister Tria set the target at 1.6% initially, later increasing it to 2.4% to increase growth.

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Greece gets strong demand for its bond offering in April 2014. A sale of 3 billion euros of bonds maturing in 2019 attracted 20 billion euros in demand. The yield on the 5 year bond was 4.95%. This is the first longer term bond sale since 2010. The yields on bonds issued during the depths of the eurozone crisis for investors had yields close to 20%. This is a huge turning point for Greece's recovery, and shows tangible progress for the efforts of the Samaras government to stabilize Greece's finances and restore growth. With yields on 10 year U.S. Treasury debt at record lows of 2.64% in April 2014, this brings Greek bond yields to within a little over 2 percentage points of U.S. Treasuries, something that would have been unthinkable only one year ago at this time. It also helps stabilize the entire eurozone, after years of turmoil and riots in Greece created the possibility of Greece's return to the drachma.

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Denmark's shipping company A.P. Moeller-Maersk plans to split into 2 different divisions, one for transport and one for energy. Maersk Line, the largest container operator in the shipping industry, will become part of the new Transport and Logistics Division. Oil interests of Maersk will be combined to form the Energy Division. In June Maersk replaced CEO Nils Anderson with Soren Skou from the shipping business. The container shipping industry is suffering from a sharp downturn with freight rates falling in price wars, and shipping lines barely covering fuel costs. Hanjin Shipping is a South Korean company that has filed for bankruptcy protection. There is a process of consolidation taking place in the shipping industry as smaller lines are finding it difficult to survive on their own. Experts say the 20 biggest container operators could lose about $8-10 billion in 2016. Maersk has shifted to $139 million net loss in 2nd quarter 2016.

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Martin Feldstein says China is gaining control of three problems it faces of shrinking export markets, the effects from a large stimulus in response to the 2008 financial crisis, and inflation especially high real estate prices. The economy is shifting to higher role for services and less dependence on exports under the new five year plan. The real estate prices are levelling off after steep increases. And inflation is under control. New investment will go into infrastucture needs such as power development and low income housing. As the economic problems are being tackled, the political problems remain. China faces an aging population under its one child policy, and it will have to support an increasing number of retired people in the future. Inequality and corruption are two problems that continue to grow and present challenges to the new leadership taking over in 2013.

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Issues of inequality and lack of upward mobility came up in the last presidential election. A Federal Reserve Survey for 2018 shows the financial fragility facing many Americans. One quarter of working individuals say they do not have any retirement savings. About 17% of households say they cannot pay all their monthly bills. About 40% of Americans say they do not have enough cash to cover an unexpected $400 expense, and would have to rely on credit cards balances or loans from family to make the payment. This survey by the Federal Reserve is done each year since 2013, after the financial crisis hit in 2009 it became more important. Still Americans are showing unusual resilience and upbeat spirit. About 75% say they were doing Ok or living comfortably up from 63% in 2013. And two out of three described lovcal economic conditions as "good" or "excellent."  This shows that the financial vulnerability resulting in the loss of jobs in the U.S. both from jobs lost in manufacturing going overseas,  jobs lost through automation or industrial decline in some sectors, and the hit from job loss during the financial crisis and its aftermath years of 2009-2014 is still leaving a lot of families financially vulnerable. Low interest rates and stagnant wages also meant savings growth for ordinary Americans was less than it should be in a healthy economy without booms and busts. This is also the environment in which the U.S. is tackling challenges to its technological leadership in 5G following a decline in sectors such as autos and electronics, with job losses to Japan and South Korea. New trade agreements are focussed on correcting the imbalance, first with Mexico, South Korea, and now with China. Focus is also on fair wages and labour overseas to raise American wages in key sectors. The damage done by a low interest rate to savings of ordinary Americans outside the stock markets is also being seen as a downside in the boom bust cycle, that includes loss of jobs for vulnerable American families. The rise of the tech sectors has diluted the traditional protections of working class Americans with the shifts and realignment of the major parties. ...

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The ruble goes from a low of 80 to the dollar in Dec. 2014 to 50 to the dollar by May 2015. The euro also strengthens against the dollar with weakening economic conditions in the U.S. leading to a reversal in the strength of the dollar.

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Lawyers Buchheit and and Gulati help Greece design a legal agreement that writes in a new collective action clause. The collective action clause ensures a 95% participation for the bond restructuring deal Greece is doing in March 2012 to cut its debt to sustainable levels. A similiar deal could be designed for Portugal says Mitu Gulati, a law professor at Duke University. Because Greece's bonds are written under Greek law, writing in a new collective action clause is a legal mechanism for achieving a meaningful debt reduction and bond restructuring deal- this is something Gulati and Buchheit figured out because of their expertise in this field. A joint paper by Buchheit and Gulati in 2010, first explored the way in which private bondholders of Greek bonds who reject a bond debt restructuring could be forced to accept the same losses as other investors who accepted the deal. They are now advisors to the government of Greece. In early 2011 there was serious discussion that the Brady Bonds debt restructuring for Latin American debt of Argentina, Mexico and Brazil of the 1980's, under which private investors traded in their old bonds for new bonds with longer duration at reduced interest rates and lower value- reflecting voluntary losses accepted by bondholders- was the approach needed for Greece, Portugal, Ireland and other eurozone countries. Then U.S. Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady took the lead- in Landon Thomas Jr., NYT, 11/30/2010. Bondholders held out throughout this period, with Charles Dallara, one of the architects of the Brady bonds restructuring, hired by European banks to negotiate on their behalf. It was only when German Chancellor Merkel delivered an ultimatum by telling Dallara "this is the last offer," during a late night meeting on Oct. 27, 2011, at EU headquarters in Brussels, was an agreement reached on serious debt reduction- in Walker, Forelle, Meichtry, WSJ, 12/30/2011. The long delay meant a worsening crisis in Greece and the rest of the eurozone. ...

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One commentator in Norway says "an entire state apparatus has played bankrupt" with Norway's international reputation. British and Norwegian Royals Sarah Ferguson divorced wife of Prince Andrew,  Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, and the Epstein Files showing messages exchanged with Epstein even after much of his history was known, show a lack of judgement that reflects badly on Britain's establishment, on Norway's establishment. There are media reports of Mandelson, Starmer's UK ambassador to US of having sent messages to Epstein on matters relating to confidential plans of the government to sell state assets and about policy influence under a previous Labour administration.This suggests to people in Britain that Labour has failed to appoint people of integrity to important positions. Before Rutte of the Netherlands took over as head of NATO, the head of NATO Stoltenberg for 10 years was from Norway. The total population of Norway of 5.5 million is less than the population of the Houston region. Should it exercise such an important role in the affairs of Europe much less of the world? It was under Stoltenberg's appointment in 2014 as head of NATO after losing an election in Norway, with Merkel and Obama's support, that gradually changed the perception of NATO as too close to Russia's borders so that by 2019 when Covid took place the situation deteriorated in Europe beyond recognition. Russia and China joined together and Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 with Stoltenberg in a role in NATO that reflected more the British view of NATO than how DJT and other Republican leaders perceived NATO. As America turns this chapter of Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama years of failed politics in which US lost control in its own backyard to drug trafficking gangs in Mexico and Venezuela, conducted wars in remote deserts and mountains in the Middle East, and lost its economic position to China, turned over NATO to  politicians who followed a British view of hostility to Russia that did not reflect the American view of working in cooperation with Russia, China and other major powers, this appointment of Stoltenberg a figure in the Norway establishment may be seen as another failure of the Merkel/Obama years. ...

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15% or 1000 of 6800 Yale Students get free tution at $75,000 cutoff income level for free tution since 2020.  With $200,000 as the new cutoff for incomes getting free tution it would cost Yale $72 million more, $72,000 being the tution cost per year and additional 1000 students getting free tution at the new cutoff income level. This suggests it only costs Yale $72 million to look like it is doing something for the middle class that cannot afford Yale's high undergrad tution. But what is Yale doing about the high undergrad tution? Yale Tution goes up from 31,000 in 2005 to $48,000 in 2015, and up further to $72,000 per year for undergrads in 2025. In percentage terms the increase in last ten years is 50% and comparing 2025 to 2005 over 20 years it is up 232%, and comparing 2015 to 2005 it is up 55%. There is no slowdown in the increase in cost of tution at Yale for affordability. Middle class is being squeezed. Parents have to go into savings to send a child to these upper tier schools, as reported in WSJ, with incomes of $250,000 not enough to payoff huge tution fees of undergrads when there are 2 or 3 kids going to college. For Yale it is about business as usual as it can afford the additional $72 million for 1000 more students to be added at free tution- its endowment is at an hefty $44 billion which can easily handle that $72 million added cost to look good in front of the public while leaving things the same in terms of affordability and cost. All down the line at the second tier schools the situation is the same, only down the line when it comes to state universities do things change, but only a bit. It leaves Americans with the feeling that this system is also fundamentally flawed like the health care system and needs complete overhaul. ...

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Fairclough describes the experience of Poland inside the EU, but with its own currency, the zloty. Poland's per capita GDP measured by purchasing power was half the EU average in 2006, it is about two thirds in 2011. Growth is expected at 4% for 2011. Poland manufactures goods using lower to medium technological inputs, such as furniture, shoes, and processed foods. The zloty has declined in value by 25% since 2008. This gives Poland a competitive edge in exports. Additonal factors are cited by one manufacturer of furniture, Forte Manufacturing, as helping it remain competitive- ability to close one of five plants, investing in improved machinery to increase productivity, quality and just-in-time deliveries, computer guided machinery, and ability to run his plants on weekends. Central bank governor, Mr. Belka, points to competitiveness as a critical factor for comfort in the eurozone. Limiting budget deficits to 3% of GDP, and the Maastricht criteria isn't all it takes. Also needed is modernizing and improving the economy, and modernizing the banking sector, says Belka. Poland does not have the debt problems of some eurozone countries because of a constitutional limit on government borrowing and deficits. Belka says Poland benefits from having its own monetary policy, ability to adjust interest rates, the zloty able to depreciate against the euro, and not having to share in cost of bailouts. There is considerable opposition in neighboring Slovakia for having to bear the cost of bailouts. Recent surveys show declining support for adopting the euro in Poland- a Sept 2011 poll showed support at 29% compared to 38% in mid-2010, opposition increased from 47% to 53%, in a poll conducted by the Polish Finance Ministry. Risks for Poland are that 75% of the country's banking assets are owned by foreign financial firms, and the potential for a spread of the eurozone slowdown with lower demand. ...

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Warnings to governments and leaders in industry and pharmaceutical research about epidemic preparedness by Bill Gates were ignored. He spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop new vaccines and create disease tracking systems. But only governments could tackle this problem. He tells the WSJ in an interview that he feels terrible and that he wishes he had done more. His fear that a once in a century pandemic has come true. Governments did respond to the public health preparation needs as reported in France 24 to both SARS and the H1N1, both in Britain and France. It was the disbanding of this effort in the period of the global financial crisis and the eurozone financial crisis that led to the level of unpreparedness that Western Europe finds itself in today. This was caused by irresponsible banking practices. The response was austerity measures in Britain, France, Germany and Spain that led to leaving public health system investment being neglected, without fixing the original source of the problem. Misallocation of capital and lopsided priorities continued through most of the period leading up to the pandemic. There is a lot that Gates and other public spirited leaders could do now do in the new reordering of priorities and shifting the allocation of capital to public services and investments in infrastructure, and supply chain renewal to safeguard national interests. Today he is working with pharmaceutical executives and governments to produce billions of doses of vaccines while they are being tested. His foundation has reserved space in a manufacturing plant so that production can begin quickly once an effective vaccine is found. He says nobody has made 7 billion vaccines so that it will need all the help that it can get and international cooperation.  In an earlier interview with WSJ he told the interviewer in November 2014 that the world as a whole did not have preparedness. France and Britain prepared and then abandoned the effort for epidemic response by 2012 following the global financial and eurozone financial crises. Gates repeated the warning to 2016 presidential candidates in the U.S.  In 2017 at the Munich Security Conference he reminded people- "getting ready for a global pandemic is every bit as important as nuclear deterrence and avoiding a climate catastrophe." One focus of Gates was to come up with faster ways to a vaccine by using ready made components and then customizing it. This is an approach being adopted today by Oxford scientists and by Quidel Corp. in the U.S.   ...

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Denning says that because of the enormous repercusions on Iran's economy of a war in the Persian Gulf, a more likely scenario is not the cutoff of supplies of Iranian oil altogether but a smaller list of buyers for Iranian oil, making Iran sell the oil at a discount. Saudi Arabia's and Libya's added production would bring more oil to the market. The impact will be larger on Europe because of the decline in the value of the euro, with Brent crude on a 12 month average basis costing 14% more now than in the peak price in 2008. By comparison in dollar terms the comparable figure is 4% higher for the U.S. At a price of Brent crude of $120 in 2012, according to Citigroup, energy costs would take up 9% of world GDP, putting pressure on a economic recovery in Europe and the U.S.

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The breakup fee of $4 billion and the $1 billion in "book value" of spectrum AT&T is giving to T-Mobile as part of the fee are part of the cost of the failed acquisition of T-Mobile. Other costs are that this puts AT&T at a significant disadvantage in relation to competitor Verizon, because Verizon is at least one year ahead in bringing out its next generation LTE network. By the end of 2011 Verizon's LTE network will reach 200 million Americans compared to AT&T LTE coverage of 70 million. Apple's next iPhone in 2012 will be an LTE model. AT&T's network congestion will mean it will have to do more capital spending than Verizon in the years ahead. Verizon has early mover advantages from its early investments in LTE network. From 2008 through the first 3 quarters of 2011, Verizon invested $29.3 billion in its wireless network compared to AT&T's $28.1 billion.

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Toyota says it plans to sell 8.61 million vehicles worldwide in 2011, up from an estimated 8.37 million vehicles sold in 2010. This includes sales by Daihatsu and Hino Motors. The increase in overseas sales by 8% will offset slowing sales in Japan, where sales will slump after the end of a government incentive program. The decline in Japan is for a drop by 12% to 1.93 million vehicles.

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This Economist briefing on Greece before the referendum of July 5, 2015, gives a detailed account of the Greece debt crisis since 2010 leading up to the election of Syriza left party in Jan. 2015 and the referendum.

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AMR announces it will purchase 260 A320 planes from Airbus and 200 additional 737's from Boeing. This is the first order from Airbus since the 1980's. Airbus and Boeing have agreed to $13 billion in lease financing to fully cover 230 deliveries . AMR president Horton says financing has been arranged for all othe orders from 2013 to 2016 and for 80% of 2017. This is critical because AMR is still losing money. Its second quarter loss increased to $286 millon from $11 million the prior year. Total debt is at $17.1 billion on June 30, 2011 compared to $16.1 billon the prior year, and cash balance at $5.1 billion the same as prior year. The new order will help reduce fuel costs. They will use 35% less fuel per seat than the old MD-80 planes according to AMR CEO Arpey. The new engines on the aircraft deliveries of A320s and 737s in 2017 and 2018 will provide even more fuel efficiencies compared to the 737s and A320s for this model year. For this reason Standard &Poors says the large order and financial commitment by AMR does not affect its ratings. It said the order will result in an airline that is over time more profitable because of the fuel effiencies gained but also more heavily indebted. S&P estimates of fully adjusted debt are at $24 billon. For Boeing the order means a decision to go with a new engine 737 and not an all new model that would succeed the 737. The technology was there says Jim Albaugh, CEO of the Boeing commercial plane unit, but the production system was not clearly understood to get production to 60 planes a month and avoid delays. For Airbus the AMR order is a significant advance. Except for Southwest which has an all 737 fleet, AMR was the last holdout without any Airbus planes. And the decision by Boeing to stay with a new engine 737 means Airbus wil not have to worry about Boeing leapfrogging the A320neo, which is anew engine A320. ...

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About 900 Arab refugees are crammed into a boat which capsizes 60 miles off the Libyan coast in April 2015, killing about 850 people. This is the worst single incident in an increasing influx of refugees from boats leaving the Libyan coast for Italy. About 171,000 refugees from North Africa made this journey in 2014, and increasing numbers are doing it in 2015 to flee the civil wars in Syria and Libya, and hardship conditions in Tunisia, Eritrea and other sub-Saharan countries.

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Greg Ip points out that the stronger dollar in 2018 is creating serious problems for Argentina, and will have an effect on Turkey, Indonesia and other developing countries. Dollarization hurts because it increases debt as debt servicing becomes costlier with dollar denominated debt and imports denominated in dollars become costlier. The dollar has increased in importance in the global economy. This is why the economic growth has suffered in developing countries in 2018. It is also why president Trump believes he can cut off Iran from the U.S. banking system to increase chance of new negotiations to fix flaws in the Iran nuclear deal, says Ip.   Argentina has seen internal problems compounded by the rising dollar causing the peso to drop by 17% so far in 2018. 88% of Argentina's imports are denominated in dollars. A rising dollar means it costs more in pesos for imports. Argentina's different levels of government have $98 billion in dollar denominated debt, and private sector has an additional $68 billion, the total being a third of its GDP. A decline in the peso means this is harder to pay off. About 40% of world trade, according to Harvard economist Gita Gopinath, is invoiced in U.S. dollars, four times U.S. share of world trade, and developing countries together owe $2 trillion in dollar denominated debt according to BIS. This makes it harder for developing countries such as Indonesia, Turkey, India, Argentina, Brazil, as they now face rising oil prices in combination with a rising dollar. In Argentina a poor crop for soyabeans and other agricultural exports in 2018 creates additional woes.   ...

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In a television debate Jan 18, 2017, Benoit Hamon, a 39 year old former Education minister is seen as the most effective of the French Socialist presidential candidates. He proposes a universal income that particularly supports and creates work for young people ages 18-25 years.

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Brinkmauer and Pfister of the German magazine Der Spiegel interview German Chancellor Angela Merkel in September 2017. The interview covers a range of topics from whether Merkel is addicted to power, why she chose to run for a fourth term, revolving door for CDU politicians as lobbyists for the automobile industry, the AfD right wing party, the refugee crisis and the CDU's historic policy of controlled immigration, and whether democracy is losing strength.  In characteristic Merkel fashion the chancellor takes up the idea of her addiction to power by saying she is careful not to let this happen to her by reading critical articles in the press and having her staff bring critical reports. Her discussion with her constituents in her electoral district are also frank and open, more so in 2017. About the idea that Helmut Kohl's fourth term as chancellor being not good for Germany and for the CDU, Merkel responds that she has given it considerable thought. She found that she still has the intellectual curiosity to learn new things, understands that she has much to learn about how the country and the world is changing. This has been decisive in her decision to run.  Merkel believes that someone who has worked in politics should be able to work in private industry following historic practice in Germany. On the government links with the automobile industry Merkel says her approach has been to look at what was best for an industry employing 800,000 people in Germany, yet deplores the diesel emissions cheating at VW. Has democracy lost momentum after the U.S. elections and the refugee crisis? Merkel says democracy is still strong, and that she will do everything to strengthen democracy in Germany and other parts of the world.  Merkel's view is that it is important that there be counterweights in democratic systems. In this way democracy is strong in America, and also in Poland and Hungary. The chancellor cites high voter turnout of 82% in 1998, 79% in 2002, 78% in 2009. Since then she says in 2009 it dropped to 71% and 2013  72%, yet  expects that with the issues in this election people will come out to vote in larger numbers.  For many years Merkel is seen as co-opting the issues of the left parties and the SPD, being careful to move to the centre. Der Spiegel puts this idea forward to the chancellor by asking her if she is the best SPD chancellor Germany ever had.  In her matter of fact style Merkel responds that voters do not think of it this way, simply expect her to her job as best as she can possibly do it.       ...

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If the minimum wage in 1968 had kept up with inflation in the U.S. it would be $10.67 in 2013, says Ralph Nader. The federal rate for the minimum wage is $7.25 in 2013. Nader points out that president Obama's call for a federal rate of $9.00 per hour by 2016 falls well short of what it would be just to make up for inflation. This does not include productivity improvements since 1968 in which those making the minimum wage do not share, and which would make it much higher than $10.67.

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The NYT's Thomas Erdbrink makes a road trip from Mashad in the west to Tehran, just before elections in 2017. He sees abandoned factories and other signs of the impact of sanctions particularly on small businesses. Iran's economy has not rebounded from the sanctions period in the way it was expected. Lower oil prices have had an impact. Signs of decay and the effect of sanctions on people's lives can be seen, including the isolation from the outside world. It reminds one of a road trip across Cuba following the lifting of sanctions recently.