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Jurgen Kroger, is the chief negotiator for the European Commission, and Poul Thomsen, heads the IMF negotiating team, for the 78 billion euros in loans extended to Portugal under a bailout agreement. Kroger offered his views on the agreement in Lisbon. Kroger said he was convinced that the program gives Portugal the means to boost growth and jobs, as it builds a sustainable and competitive economy. Two thirds of the loans come from the EU at an interest rate that is yet to be set. The yield on Portugal's 10 year bonds keeps rising and is now at 10.20%. The IMF will provide one third of the funds. The IMF's Thomsen said the issue of interest rates was addressed by arranging for two thirds of the loan package money coming in the first of the three years of the program. What this does is to take Portugal out of the markets for medium and long term debt for a "little over two years" he said and gives Portugal the "breathing space" it needs to restore credibility before going to the financial markets. The fear expressed by analysts is that the tough austerity measures in the programs of the EU and IMF can cause the economies of these countries to worsen, making it even harder to repay the much larger debts when the loan package money is added to the original debt. The IMF and the EU negotiators had to create a credible program for recovery in the light of these facts. Already Portugal's finance minister is predicting a contraction in the Portuguese economy of 2% in 2011, and 2% in 2012. The negotiators appear to have taken this into account in setting interest rates. Portugal will pay the IMF an interest rate of 3.25% for the first 3 years, with the rate going to 4.25 in the fourth year. By comparison Greece's loans are for seven years with an average interest rate of 4.2%. Ireland's seven year loans carry an interest rate of 5.8%, which it is working to renegotiate. To give Portugal more breathing space the terms of the loans set a slower reduction in the budget deficit than originally planned. Portugal gets to cut its budget deficit to 5.9% of GDP in 2011, and 4.5% of GDP in 2012. The 3% target is set for 2013, one year later. Economists such as Carl Weinberg of High Frequency Economics, say the loan package will only increase Portugal's debt and lead to a larger default later on when the debt amount owed is larger. The debt restructuring solution is being actively debated in the EU, including the risks that European banks would take large hits. Negotiators are also mindful of keeping any negative impact on Spain as low as possible. As Portugal's financing costs have risen, Spain's have risen also. Spain offered higher rates to sell 3.4 billion euros of five year bonds on May 5, with the average yield on Spain's bond sale rising to 4.55%, up from 4.39% on March 3. ...

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U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's speech at the annual Jackson Hole conference in August 2011.

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U.S. gasoline prices at the retail level have come down only marginally with lower Nymex crude prices. The reason is the large difference between world crude oil prices and the prices for Nymex crude. Oil demand is expected to go up by 6.1% in China and 3.6% in India according to the International Energy Agency. J.P. Morgan Chase expects oil demand to grow by 1.2 million barrels a day in 2011. The IEA estimate is for 600,000 barrels a day increase for 2011.

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The women's vote in the 2012 U.S. presidential election and the concerns of women about the economy, children, and prospects for the future.

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A Brookings Institution study finds patents produced in a few cities in the U.S. In addition to Silicon Valley, the area around Santa Clara and San Jose, the study finds Rochester, Minnesota, Corvallis, Oregon, Burlington, Vermont, and Boulder, Colorado, as cities where there is a high degree of patent activity. The IBM research centre in Corvallis, Oregon, is one reason for Oregon being on the list. The greatest importance is having a research university nearby. Government funding of research universities helps fund new research. The study finds strong correlation between patents and innovation.

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The step that Osborne took to lay out Britain's Conservative party's plan to tackle Britain's awful deficit of $280 billion, and making this journey through the bleak landscape ahead is forbidding but enormously useful, says the Economist. Everyone shares the burden equally and the Conservatives will keep the 50% tax on higher incomes, raise the age for pensions, freeze public sector pay in 2011, take away middle class tax breaks.

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Thomas Frank on the end of an illusion about the all wise "Markets". Wisdom remains, good thinking remains, the timeless truths remain, ideologies fail.

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Brazil lost 650,000 jobs in December 2008, with automobile manufacturing one of the hard hit industries. Also affecting Brazil is declining demand worldwide for Brazilian exports of iron ore and other commodity exports. The job loss is higher than the job loss of over 524,000 jobs in the USA in December 2008, and 533,000 jobs in November 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Brazil will see a contraction in GDP in the fourth quarter 2008, and first quarter 2009. Brazil has an inflation of 7%, but there is a always a fear of hyperinflation from its experience in past decades, and even a trade union leader like President Lula has resisted calls for rate cuts in the last 6 years because of this. This time Brazil's central bank has relented and reduced rates by 1% to 12.75% which is still the highest rate in Latin America.

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The House bill just passed will only help 500,000 homeowners avoid foreclosure, when foreclosures this year are expected to be more than 2.4 million and much higher next year, as its estimated that 9 million homeowners have negative equity in their homes already. It doesn't do enough to prevent a downward spiral in house prices that will be difficult to control once it picks up speed. So while Congress is only doing too little, Bush administration is doing nothing. Here a NYT editorial points to Mr Bush's worthy efforts as having negligible impact. Hope Now after 5 months has barely dented the problem, Project Lifeline hasn't produced results, and FHA Secure has helped fewer than 2000 homeowners facing foreclosure. This is a shame because Mr Bush has praised FHA Secure. Doubts expressed that Mr Bush is sincere about his intentions or efforts, that the Republican's free market biases may be behind this, that bold action would not let the market offer a necessary correction in their view. Also possible is that like the Council of Economic Advisors chairman Lazear, Bush feels optimistic that the economic situation is not as bad as its made out to be and will respond to the stimulus package of government checks....

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The impact of rumors in a financial blog Zero Hedge on the financial condition of Morgan Stanley drives down the share price on Sept. 30, 2011. The rumor was that Morgan's net exposure to European banks was $39 billion. Share prices of Morgan Stanley are down 49% in 2011, Goldman Sachs 44%, and Bank of America 57%.

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Toyota makes a sharp rebound after the recall and the tsunami in Japan. Still Takahiko Ijichi, senior managing officer, strikes a note of caution. He says "the latest numbers are not necessarily reflective of our true strength." Toyota has to contend with the slowdown in China, the problems in Europe, and the strong yen in coming months.

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A poll by Reuters and the University of Michigan in mid 2012 shows U.S. voters by a large margin of about 10% feel they are worse off in 2012 than they were in 2008. The situation in working class towns such as Allentown, Pennsylvania, is likely to be critical for the outcome of the U.S. presidential election of 2012.

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India's largest oil refiner, state owned Indian Oil, had a loss of $4 billion in the June 2012 quarter. Analysts say prices have to go up by 26% for sales to be profitable. The government mandates fuel prices at below market rates. Below market prices for diesel are estimated to cause 60% of the loss at refiners.

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McDonald's has its first drop in same store sales since 2003, with a 1.8% decline for Oct. 2012. McDonald's faces more frugal consumers who are eating out less often, increasing competition from Burger King, Wendy's and other food stores. McDonald's also face difficult conditions in the eurozone with 40% of sales revenue and profits coming fom Europe.

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The Israel perception of the protests for democracy in Egypt are different from that of other observers and the press in the US and other countries. They fear that the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt will not be honored, and they fear Islamist elements will co-opt the democracy movement as has happened elsewhere they say.

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For Americans who are worried that the new NYSE Euronext-Deutsche Bourse merger will put the stock exchange into German hands, here's a surprising fact. According to the data on the exchange's website US investors own 41% of Deutsche Bourse. Germans own only 17% of Deutsche Bourse. And US investors own the large majority of NYSE shares.

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The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization released its food price index for February 2011. This shows a 2.2% rise in world food prices. The index has seen an eighth successive increase since June of 2010. It is now at an average of 236 points. International export prices of food grains are up 70% since this time in 2010.

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CTS Corp of Elkhart, Indiana supplies accelerator asemblies to Toyota. It is now designing a new pedal to stringent specifications from Toyota. These pedals are manufactured at aplant near Toronto. CTS also supplies parts to Honda Motor Company and Nissan Motor Company, and says only 3% of its business is from Toyota. It mainly builds auto sensors and components.

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Europe and India are preparing to sign a free trade deal that would triple existing 53 billion euro trade level in 5 years. An E.U.-India summit will take place in the fall to conclude this deal. Spain is particularly interested in India as its domestic market shrinks with austerity measures taken to reduce the deficit.