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To the other reasons, callousness on social issues and towards women and immigrants, Rove adds additional ones. The lower voter turnout with ony 51.3% of voters turning out to vote in the 2012 U.S. presidential election, the poor timing of the convention when it should have been held in June, the lack of response to an ad blitz with negativity throughout the late summer that Romney lacked funds to respond to. He points to the role of the Super PAC's and the American Crossroads organization he created in preventing the Republican candidate from being strangled by a single ad blitz in the summer that spent 20% of election campaign funds of the Obama campaign.

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Martin Feldstein says the eurozone summit of Dec. 9, 2011, was a failure because the plan for closer economic integration and financial discipline does not address the immediate problems of increasing bond yields for Italy and Spain. The summit concluded with decisions to set up a constitutional rule for each euro-zone country to balance its budget, take corrective action if the "structural" deficit exceeds 0.5% of GDP, and impose penalties if the actual deficit is larger than 3% of GDP. German chancellor Merkel wanted to have these rules put in a revised version of the EU Treaty, enforceable by the European Commission through the European Court of Justice. With Britain not agreeing to accept the plan without safeguards it requested, the new rules apply to the eurozone only, are not part of a revised Treaty and are not enforceable by EU institutions. Feldstein says it is wrong to have a common solution for Italy and Greece. For Greece the best option is to go back to the drachma, because of its shrinking economy and high debt load, and the need for a competitive currency. Italy, he says has a good chance of convincing investors to lower yields by taking strong steps. Italy's fiscal deficit is 4% of GDP, and the IMF projected Italy would have a balanced budget in 2013. How should Italy plan for the 300 billion euros of Italian bonds that need to be sold in the next 12 months? Feldstein says only 40 billion euros are needed to finance the projected budget deficit and for the rest is for existing bonds to be rolled over when they are due. Italy can repay the maturing debt with new bonds and not cash. And Italy can get the help of the IMF for some of the funds needed. On the issue of the ECB engaging in large scale buying of Italian and Spanish government bonds, Feldstein says Mario Draghi is doing the right thing by rejecting French proposals to do this, because this would be against ECB rules in the Maastricht Treaty to bailout governments and would reduce the incentive to make changes in Italy and Spain for lower deficits. ...

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In comments made to the editors of the New York Times, Mario Monti, the prime minister of Italy, says the European Union will endure because it was in the vital interests of Germany. Competitive devaluatations if a number of countries exited the eurozone would have an enormous harmful effect on Germany. Germany is an export dependent economy and sends two thirds of its exports to EU countries. In the unlikely event Greece leaves the eurozone, Monti says effective political policy responses can be expected to prevent this from affecting the rest of the eurozone. Monti is on a visit to the U.S. for talks with President Obama. He praised the effort by Greece's prime minister Papademos to meet the demands of international lenders in difficult conditions.

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Efforts to change labor laws by Italy's prime minister, Mario Monti.

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The strong showing by National Front leader Marie Le Pen and her focus on the economy in France, and the lack of growth with austerity measures, is likely to change the way the eurozone countries respond to the deficits and German insistence on austerity cuts. Marie Le Pen's economic positions for more government spending to reduce unemployment and provide additional benefits is closer to Socialist candidate Hollande's position. The right wing party in Holland also voiced the same concern recently- that it did not want to hurt Dutch pensioners with austerity cuts- when it refused to support the Dutch government leading to its collapse and new elections.

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Public sector layoffs in Spain in 2012-2013 under the governments deficit reduction plan- as mandated under fiscal compact rules agreed to in the December 2012 eurozone meetings- will worsen Spain's severe unemployment rate of 25%. These public sector layoffs are only now taking place. Upto now local governments had helped offset rising layoffs in the private sector by preserving employment. The result will be a further increase in unemployment in Spain, creating a crisis of large proportions.

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This Reagon Memo from 1980 was written by his advisors George Shultz, Milton Friedman, Paul McCracken and others before his first inauguration in 1980. It provides the new president with prudent advice on policy and methods to deal with soaring inflation and a stagnant economy. Its relevance today lies in the emphasis on charting out a long term plan for growth by encouraging private investment in the economy and providing a sure framework for the private sector to generate expansion.

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Spain delays setting up a financing mechanism for aiding regions short of funds by extending existing credits till Spain's high bond yields of 7% decline.

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Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, ratified the fiscal pact agreement of eurozone countries of December 2011 on June 29, 2012. A two thirds majority was needed to approve the pact and the rescue fund called the European Financial Stability Facility or European Stability Mechanism. To get the opposition Social Democrats support chancellor Merkel had to agree to a "growth pact" at the June 2012 EU summit, a condition made by the opposition. Facing persistent German opposition in the negotiations for short term measures to allow the rescue fund to buy Spanish and Italian bonds directly in private markets and give direct aid to Spanish and Italian banks, prime minister Monti of Italy and prime minister Rajoy of Spain as a last resort told chancellor Merkel they would block the EU growth measures. It is at that point that Merkel made the concessions to allow direct aid by the rescue fund. Blocking the growth measures would have blocked the approval of the fiscal pact which Merkel had negotiated in December 2011, as the opposition Social Democrats would then withdraw their support. It is this manouevre that finally achieved a breakthrough in the marathon 14 hour negotations between Mario Monti and Angela Merkel, which Monti described as "hard and tense" but "worth it." ...

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It is not clear how China's president Jinping's support for the idea of "China Dream," -of China as a world power on a level with the U.S.- should be interpreted. China will increase its defense budget and continue its efforts to be the dominant power in its region, even as the U.S. and Japan begin to build closer ties in the Pacific. Is it simply a new assertiveness for its rights in relation to territorial disputes with Japan, and a continuation of a policy of peaceful development of earlier leaders. The move could also be an effort to build close ties with the military as the new leadership of Jinping-Keqiang prepares to make major changes in the economy. A speech in Dec. 2012 to Communist party officials in Guangdong province by Jinping, on how the lack of unity with the military led to the collapse of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev, could throw light on the thinking. In a few days an old party was gone, as he put it. This also follows the Bo Xilai episode which involved contacts with the military and the risks of division in the military and political leadership....

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Geithner says Republicans are working to thwart the Dodd-Frank legislation- by slowing down and diluting the impact of rules required to be written under Dodd-Frank, crimping the resources of regulatory agencies, and blocking the nominations of heads of regulatory agencies such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

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On Monday August 8, 2010, the Dow Jones Industrial Averages went down by 634 points and closed below 11,000 points. This is not far from the 10,165 level of the DJIA on August 27, 2010. It was on August 27, 2010 that Fed chairman Ben Bernanke made the speech at the Kansas City Fed's Jackson Hole conference about the strategy for a QE II. Its about the time for this years Jackson Hole conference and the gains in the stock market are melting away. The DJIA closed at 12810 by April 29, 2011, then went below 11,000 by August 8, 2011. With higher inflation the Fed's options are limited.

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Su Liping, professor at Tsinghua Unversity, says there were 180,000 protests, riots and other incidents, protesting economic injustice in 2010. Most of the incidents were against land grabs, corruption and abuses by local officials, and unpaid wages. Inflation has hit the poor, migrant workers and people with low incomes hardest. Food prices were up 13.4% in August over the same month prior year. Pork prices were up 52.3%. Other problems are now meshed in with inflation. Local government debt in China, according to the National Audit Office, was 10.7 trillion yuan in June 2011. The National Audit Office estimates 23% of this, or 2.5 trillion yuan, depends on land for repayment. Analysts say China's local government made repayment in 2010 using the 2.9 trillion yuan in revenue from land sales. The same amount of land has to be sold in 2010 to make repayment. At lower prices even more land may have to be sold. The danger say Orlik and Jie, is that inflation and the pressure to acquire more land- and consequently more land grabs- will pose severe risks to the social contract in China....

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The different strategies of Apple and Samsung in getting to the point where the two companies now dominate the smartphone market. Whereas Apple makes only one phone, its iPhone, Samsung's strategy is to have multiple phones in each price segment. It has five levels of Android based phones, with 2-3 models in each price segment. Samsung also benefits from doing its own maufacturing. When faced with a number of technologies Samsung's strategy is to bet on all of the technologies until one of them emerges as a winner, and then concentrate resources on that technology. It uses a similiar strategy for televisions. Apple by contrast places more emphasis on original design and profit margins over sales, gaining sales without eroding margins by being the first innovator in the market. It also has its own unique arrangement for manufacturing at lowcost with Foxconn in China that supports its high margins. Apple is secretive about its designs and promotes its brand heavily with its own retail stores. Apple also uses its innovative edge as leverage to steer profits away from carriers. Analyst estimates are that carriers such as AT&T and Verizon pay about $400 per iPhone to subsidize its cost because this is the only way to get customers into their retail stores. IDC estimates are that the smartphone market is $219 billon in 2012. Both companies are very close in volume- IDC estimates Apple shipped 93.2 million smartphones in 2011, compared to Samsung's 94 million units. Apple has market share of 23.5% in the fourth quarter 2012, up from 16% in 2010. Samsung has 22.8%, up from 9.4% in 2010. Apple and Samsung have together taken 91% of operating profits of all cellphone companies in the fourth quarter, an increase of 30% from 2011, according to Strategy Analytics....

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Greg Ip provides useful insights into the nature of the economic recovery in Britain compared to the U.S. by 2015. The recovery in Britain has done better than in the U.S. in job creation, but has lagged behind in productivity gains. The labor force participation rate is 72% in Britain compared to 68% in the U.S., going back up to 2007 levels in Britain, whereas in the U.S. it has steadily declined with some older working class Americans too discouraged to look for work and left behind. Stagnant wage growth is a major issue in Britain, more so than in the U.S. where wage growth is slow. Economic austerity is not the main cause of the economic difficulties as the coalition government of prime minister Cameron relaxed earlier goals for austerity by 2012 with tax revenues and growth below forecasts. The structural budget deficit has been reduced by 6.6% of GDP since the peak, and the Office of Budget Responsibility estimates the UK economy was 1.5%-2% smaller by 2013 because of the austerity policies. Britain was also affected by the eurozone crisis to a larger degree than the U.S. Productivity remains a long term challenge- with needed investments in housing, education and infrastructure, improved lending for new business, and higher tech improvement exports....

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Obama's State of the Union address in 2014 focusses on increasing the minimum wage, reducing inequality and creating opportunities for the middle class. It marks a shift to doing things by executive order wherever possible to avoid protracted debates and delays by Congress.

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After over two decades of focus on GDP growth targets, China under prime minister Li Keqiang is giving more emphasis to job growth and problems of air pollution, education, and quality of life indicators. Premier Keqiang tells a news conference in Beijing in March 2014 that China needs to create 10 million new jobs each year. More bond defaults can be expected as the financial system is being changed with new rules. Li says China will no longer be "preoccupied" with GDP growth targets. Li made the new priorities clear-"The GDP growth we want is one that brings real benefits to our people, helps raise the quality and efficiency of economic development and contributes to energy conservation and environmental protection."

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Macroprudential policies of central banks in S. Korea, Indonesia, China, Canada, and other countries, as concerns grow about a housing and credit bubble.

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Mark Landler's interview with Hussain Haqqani in Oct. 2013 provides insights into the misperceptions on both sides of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship since 1947. Particularly the way Pakistan cannot shake free from seeing everything through the prism of India. He points out that Ambassador Holbrooke had a forward looking approach to the South Asian region, but failed to get the support of president Obama and the weak leadership of president Zardari, resulting in a squandered opportunity for the region to look beyond the twentieth century's conflicts towards a brighter future.

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Easwar Prasad, Cornell University economist, and a former head of the IMF's China division, says the new report by the World Bank and the Development Reform Commission (DRC), is part of an effort by government officials in China to push the agenda for change forward during the transition to a new leadership. This includes Premier Wen. There is pushback from large state enterprises. The DRC and the World Bank had called for a change from the current situation to allow more private sector involvement in the economy, which means restricting the growth of the large state owned companies and letting the private sector operate in more parts of the economy. The alternative is to see growth slowing quickly and -some economists- say suddenly without warning. The role of Zhu Rongji, a former prime minister during the period Jiang Zemin was president, in pushing for changes appropriate to the period, is also cited. The last decade under prime minister Wen Biao is seen as one in which China relentlessly pursued its currrent export led model of development with large state run companies and state run banks dominating the economy. This has made change even harder to achieve because of the pushback to preserve the status quo....

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Prime minister Mario Monti responded with humor to the remark of former prime minister Berlusconi before the June 2012 summit of European leaders that he could unplug the Monti government, by saying that his government was not a home appliance. In August Monti's long intervew with the Wall Street Journal is published in which he says the Italian bond spreads with German bonds would be 1200 or something if Berlusconi was still running the government. Angelinia Alfano, of Berlusconi's party, the People of Freedom party, calls this "nonsensical" and the parliamentary whip calls this a "stupid provocation." WSJ's Alessandra Galloni intervewed the Italian premier. Monti's office says he called Berlusconi saying he regretted the "banal and abstract extrapolation of a trend in spread values, which was included in a wide ranging interview with the WSJ, was taken as a political consideration, which was not at all the intention."