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The Italian government sold 5 billion euros of three year bonds in Jan 2013 at an interest rate of 1.85%, the lowest since 2010. This is a remarkable change from 2012.

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Gasoline prices in Europe are much higher because of the gasoline tax. In many countries many of the taxes on gasoline are fixed and as a result it does not move up as crude prices go up. The proportion of the price at the pump which is the gasoline tax is larger in Europe which makes an increase in the underlying price of crude oil less keenly felt. Europe has invested in public transportation and Europeans use smaller cars which compensate for the higher price. Japan and S. Korea also follow the European practice of higher gasoline taxes which encourages conservation and the use of smaller cars.

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This piece by Jonathan Martin in the NYT says some Republican party establishment donors and leaders now agree with Ted Cruz's assessment of the 2016 U.S. presidential election- the critical element will be rallying the Republican base to win in 2016. As Tom Hamburger points out in the Washington Post, Cruz is using technology to advantage in the campaign effort to rally evangelical base support, and working to build support from the ground up.

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This briefing in the Economist says China now faces a difficult transition to its next phase of development, in which the government is trying to change the model used by Deng Xiaoping of export led development to a consumption based economy. That model produced spectacular results between 2000 and 2015 when the middle class went up from 5% of the population to 25% of the population, as measured by people living on more than $20 a day in 2011 $ purchasing parity, as reported by IMF, EIU. The problem China faces is can this development stall if it fails to tackle problems in the next phase, with an aspiring group behind the new middle class left behind. Recent jump in the stock markets volatility, devaluing of the currency, and confusing signals sent by the government have hurt its credibility. Demographic issues with an aging population, the destruction of the environment with rampant development, and how to manage this next phase of development with respect for the constitution and the rule of law replacing the high corruption levels, are serious challenges. Experts say it will be difficult to manage a transition to the next phase of development without some degree of democratization. The rise of the internet and the social media have created more avenues for expression, which gives the government some guage of public opinion, especially in tackling pollution, mismanagement, and other problems. The government sees the need to manage things carefully, with rising unemployment posing a problem as growth slows and the government closes down inefficient manufacturing facilities. ...

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Ted Cruz is seen as the most pro-Israel of the Republican candidates for president. Pro-Israel groups are joining to fund his campaign for president after his win in the Wisconsin primary. Sheldon Adelson is one of the donors sought by the Cruz campaign. Paul Singer and the Ricketts family have funded super PACs that have financed the anti-Trump movement's advertising efforts, but not directly supported Cruz. Cruz is trying to change this following the win in the Wisconsin primary seen as the turning point in the election campaign. Cruz added to the bit of humor about the Cruz campaign on the late night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live," with this exchange: Kimmel saying that Cruz simply held out till these donors found someone they liked less than Cruz. "There you go. its a powerful strategy," said Cruz. Even backers trying to recruit new donors are aware of Cruz's ideologue reputation, saying he is still the "good designated driver" after the party. Cruz has put forward the economic message of Jobs, Growth and Opportunity, as he broadens his appeal outside the conservative values base following the Wisconsin primary....

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Efforts to nurture democracy in West African nations- Benin, Guinea, Niger, and Ivory Coast.

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Supreme Court Justice, Elena Kagan, after her first year at the U.S. Supreme Court. Kagan was appointed by President Obama in 2010. Kagan talked about her experience at the Supreme Court at an Aspen Institute event. Kagan replaced Justice John Paul Stevens. Stevens says Kagan has voted very similiar to how he would have voted on most of the cases. And Justice Ginsberg says about Kagan: "she has already shown her talent as an incisive questioner at oral argument and a writer of eminently readable opinions." Kagan takes writing opinions for the Court very seriously. She described her style at the Aspen Institute event as figuring out how to communicate difficult ideas to people who know little about the subject. An additional aspect of Kagan's writing is that she strives to put things using vivid and colorful language that sticks with people. She has used expressions such as "loosey-goosey," for instance. In her dissent on the campaign finance case she described the supposedly smoking gun found by her colleagues, as: "the only smoking gun here is the majority's, and it is the kind that goes with mirrors." The media tends to compare Roberts with Kagan, the two youngest chief justices on the court, both articulate and vigorous in their opinions, with similiar intellectual backgrounds but taking different positions. Kagan says the most valuable experience to prepare for her new position, was the year she spent as Solicitor General, where she was trying to persuade nine chief justices of the court why they should take a particular position. The difference now being that she must persuade eight justices. The most striking aspect of the two appointments by George W. Bush and Obama, with the absence of a retirement age for the U.S. Supreme Court- as in other democracies such as India- is that both Roberts and Kagan may well be on the Court for 25 years or longer. ...

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A short biography of Wisconsin Congressman and Romney's vice presidential pick, Paul Ryan.

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This Journal editorial talks about the role GE Capital has played in generating profits for GE under CEO Welch, and then leading to a need for government money to help GE Capital survive. It describes as hollow the claims GE makes about leading a drive for US renewal through jobs growth and innovation when earnings were driven by a finance division for many years during the financial boom in mortgages. Capital was then massively misallocated from productive uses to speculative investments. The claims about investment in jobs in the US rings hollow says the Journal, because GE continues to cut jobs in the US- employment in the US for GE fell by 34,000 between 2000 and 2009. By inviting "government to be a industrial policy champion, a financier and a key partner," as stated in a 2008 letter to shareholders, GE CEO Immelt, says the Journal, is simply inviting the same kind of capital misallocation that led to the housing bubble.

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Keller says that Fox News has contributed to the corrosiveness that has affected public dialogue in the U.S. He admits that the prestigious urban newspapers like the Washington Post and the New York Times can be condescending and too open to consider points of view that do not have merit. Yet, he says, they are different from Fox News in that they are self-critical and take up different points of view outside their own, an openness that Fox News lacks. A little research shows another side of the Times- during its early years the Times with a scoop of its own helped put the boss of Tammany Hall, which dominated New York politics in the late twentieth century, in jail. The journalists of the Times, even though they have their own screwups, always must carry the added responsibility of living up to a long heritage.

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The 25-30 fishing vessels and tugboats that have supplied Misurata by sea, act as an essential lifeline to the city besieged by Ghadafi. The boats operating under cover of darkness carry both humanitarian supplies and war needs for defence of the city. Libyan volunteers staff these boats, volunteers who believe that the people have finally found their voice against the Arab strongmen who have run countries in their region for decades. The defence of Misurata has another passion for these people, men like Saif Nasser who runs the tugboat Al Iradah 6- and this is to prove to the world that the Libyan people's struggle is not a sectarian struggle which should end with a partition of the country's east from the west. Misrata is a coastal city only 130 miles from Tripoli's coast. If the city is being defended against all odds, it tells the world that this is a popular struggle to build a new democratic Libya with civil rights and civil society, and a voice in their government, similiar to the struggles in Syria, Egypt and Tunisia....