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The ruble has stabilized by April 1, 2014 following Russian intervention in the Crimea and western sanctions. It reached record lows of 37 to the dollar from a range of 29-33 rubles to the dollar since 2011. To stabilize the ruble the Bank of Russia says it spent about $24 billion in March 2014. The Russian Finance Ministry held its first auction of Treasury bonds on April 2, 2014 with yields increasing to 9% from 8% in February. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov says the ministry will resume daily purchases of foreign currencies of about $100 million- stopped since March 4, 2014- to replenish its sovereign wealth fund. Bank of Russia head, Ms. Nabiullina, says consumer inflation will exceed the target of 5% and economic growth is likely to fall below 1%. The crisis come at a bad time for Russia as it has slowed economic growth when growth had already fallen sharply in 2013. Russia plans to introduce its own payments system to reduce dependence on Visa Inc., and introduce its own credit ratings system as S&P, Moody's lowered its credit ratings....

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Unemployment reaches 6.2% in Oct. 2014, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and the Australian economy faces the risk of a recession in 2015.

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Following positions heading manufacturing in 2006 and the expansion of Ford's China operations in 2008, Joe Hinrichs is now president of the Americas group in 2014. Hinrichs is responsible for the product launches in 2014-2015, including the new aluminium body F-150 pickup. Hinrichs supported a strategy for expanding SUV sales in China, which helped increase Ford market share to 4.4% in China in 2013. He started at GM after getting an electrical engineering degree from the University of Dayton in 1989. He is one of the younger managers who came up through manufacturing and feel at home in factories, talking to workers telling them why things should be done a certain way, and problem-solving on the factory floor. Apple CEO Tim Cook also started in manufacturing, with roots in Alabama, and joined Apple in 1997 as Apple struggled with quality issues in factories.

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Blackberry employees reached a peak of over 17,000 in 2011 as the company continued to hire through 2009-2011. It was about 8000 in 2008 the first year of the financial crisis and recession and doubled in 3 years. The employee count is at 12,700 in 2013. The company was hit hard by the introduction of smartphones by Samsung and Apple. Blackberry now plans huge cuts of about 40% by the end of 2013. This shows how quickly the winds can change in the tech business field where disruptions for existing technology are the norm. A niche in the corporate business field was not sufficient to keep Blackberry from shrinking rapidly as businesses shifted to the new smartphone technology from rivals. Failure to anticipate new technologies can lead to irreversible losses. Blackberry shows the way down can be just as fast as the way up and a lost year or a wrong decision can be the difference between success and irreversible failure.

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The July 2017 unemployment rate drops to 4.3% from 4.4% the prior month. The Labor Department reported nonfarm payrolls up by 209,000. One in four of these jobs were in the restaurant business, resulting in more lower paying jobs. Economic growth remains low at 2%.

A better gauge of the jobless situation is the U-6 which includes underemployment and people on parttime jobs looking to work full time, and people who have stopped looking-it is at 8.6% in July, same as the prior month. It was 7.9% in late 2007 before the financial crisis.

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Patrick Soon-Shiong Surgeon, medical businessman and LA Times Owner, bought the LA Times for $500 million in 2018 which is now incurring losses of $48 million. He wants to take the LA Times public with an IPO offering. Soon-Shiong made $6 billion with blood thinner heparin of APP Pharmaceuticals and Abraxis Biosciences chemotherapy drug Abraxane, both firms he founded.

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Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai is moving quickly to address higher costs for workers at its manufacturing sites in coastal regions of China. After extensive media coverage of conditions at Foxconn factories, a number of suicides, and Chinese government policy that encouraged higher wages for workers in foriegn owned plants, Foxconn has moved to sharply increase wages at its plants. By the end of 2011 production in cities in the interior of China- Chengdu, Chongqing, and Wuhan, where costs are one third less- will be 25% of production, up from 10% in 2010. By 2012, this will be up to 50% of Foxconn's production, according to Yuanta Securities of Taipei. Hon Hai is lowering dividends to finance the shift. Fourth quarter 2010 earnings of Hon Hai were $742 million, down 26% over the prior year, even though revenues went up by 56% to $33.1 billon- reflecting the higher costs. Hon Hai's stock is down 20% in the past year on the Taipei stock exchange. Other locations being considered by Hon Hai are Brazil, Turkey and Slovakia. Brazil's President Dilma Roussef, said that Foxconn is considering a $12 billion plan for Brazil. Hon Hai is the only manufacturer of Apple iPads and one of two manufacturers of the iPhone....

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China Investment Corp., China's sovereign wealth fund, and its investment strategies. Efforts to separate investments in China's state banks from CIC. Changes made in 2011 resulted in the formation of CIC International, separate from the Central Huijin unit which is focussed on investments inside China. CIC controls both. CIC was started in 2007 to get better returns on China's foreign exchange reserves which upto that point were mostly in U.S. Treasury securities. At the end of 2010 CIC had assets of $410 billion. China's foreign exchange reserves are about $3.2 trillion. CIC initial funding of $200 billion was allocated with half going to investments overseas, and the rest in China's state banks. A new $30 billion in funding for CIC from the People's Bank of China will go to overseas investment.

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This editorial in the WSJ in June 2016 points out the dangers in the U.S. president Obama not facing up to the threat in the Middle East since 2013 leading to the fall of Mosul,  and in not clearly focussing on the threat since then. This has created divisions inside Europe and the U.S. in internal politics, and is being exacerbated with the rise of far right groups in Europe and by Trump in the U.S. It points out that by not clearly identifying the threat president Obama has given "illiberal" policy a boost. It says Hillary Clinton should be careful to formulate her own position in line with policy that has been pursued since FDR.

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Indian Finance Minister Sitharaman gives the following remarks in parliament on the White Paper presented to the 18th Lok Sabha in January 2024, describing the dire condition of the Indian economy by 2013 with mismanagement and "big ticket" corruption. India's Finance Minister Sitharaman describes the situation in three key areas by 2013 that left the economy of India in a fragile state, with projects stalled, development delayed, and capital investment not taking place. She gives as 3 main points of focus- the state of affairs at Defense Ministry, at the Environment Ministry, and for Energy supplies. At the outset she says PM Modi had suggested the need for such White Paper by 2015 so that future generations would know what had happened in India that failed the country at a time when China had already joined the community of developed nations. The issues go back to the coal scandal when coal auctions had to be cancelled by the Supreme Court for irregularities, the misuse of state owned banks leading to a large increase in non performing loans, and the mismanaged Commonwealth Games under government before 2014.  Sitharaman told parliament this had the effect of national security being compromised, Environment as a Ministry becoming a bottleneck, and the leadership failing the country. In the military there was a critical shortage of ammunition and equipment. She cites the Defense Minister at the time having the attitude that independent India has had a policy for many years not to develop the border areas, as an undeveloped border was better than a developed border. She also says Ministry stated that 92% of the Defense Budget was used up and major acquisitions have to wait for the military. Following this Sitharaman cited the scandals of that period and leakages of funds that weakend the country and failed its people. She compared capital expenditures today of 6.22 lakh crores in 2024 thre times the number in 2013 of 2.53 crores. HAL now makes Tejas jets and helicopters in Made in India production. At the Environment Ministry the delays that were 86 days reached a high of 316 days by 2013 for approval of development projects, with 355 projects pending, the nation brought to a standstill with the effects of the coal supplies to thermal power plants being wholly inadequate and Coal India in poor shape. The root of this was said Sitharaman- what everyone in Indian business knew, the term "genteel facts," as the cost of business going up. She cites the changes since then of aiming for Balance and Development- Transparency, Online Green Clearance, Standardized Environment Impact Studies, A new Department of Climate change, International Solar Alliance 2015, Mission Life 2022, Green Hydrogen, Namami Gange, Rooftop Solar. India set ambitious goals at the last Climate change Conference.    ...

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Statistics bureau CBS says unemployment in the Netherlands increased to 6.8% in June 2013. Household spending declined by 1.8% on an annual basis in May, following two years of declines. Fall in house prices since 2008 have led to smaller spending and decline in sales of cars, appliances and household products. As the household sector cuts back, the banks and government are also working to reduce debt and improve finances. The cutbacks are happening at the same time leading to the paradox of thrift, says a professor at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, where all sectors are saving leading to a reduction or collapse of aggregate demand. The government of prime minister Mark Rutte is adhering to financial discipline to meet EU requirement in 2014 and implementation of 6 billion euros in spending cuts by Sept. 2013.

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As Jacob Zuma resigns on Feb. 14, 2018, he leaves behind a South Africa in which the African National Congress is no longer the party that Nelson Mandela led in the struggle against Apartheid. South Africa's economy and governance has suffered during his 9 year rule. Corruption and mismanagement of the economy during this period led to the ANC forcing Zuma to resign a year and half before his term expires. He is replaced by Cyril Ramphosa, the deputy president of the ANC, an anti-apartheid leader who became a businessmen with ANC connections.  A black lower middle class failed to see the promises made by the ANC realized under successive ANC leaders Mbeki and Zuma. Police action against miners during a strike in 2012 led to the growing belief that the ANC leadership had distanced itself from its roots among ordinary South Africans. In recent years Zuma was unpopular in Gauteng province which includes the large cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Appointment of loyalists with little experience to senior positions in the cabinet and state companies including state utility Eskom and South African Airways, led to poor management and corruption. A case relating to use of $650,000 in public funds for upgrading a Zuma homestead led to a court case and impeachment proceedings. In the 2016 local elections the ANC lost in the major cities. leading to a sense that the ANC's rural vote could not ensure winning half the vote in the upcoming 2019 elections.   ...

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Antonis Samaras, leader of Greece's New Democracy Party, opposes the tax increases mandated by the E.U.'s June 2011 program for Greece. He supports the spending cuts. The shrinking economy with no hope for recovery under the current plan will only worsen the situation. The Greek economy declined by 4.5% in 2010 and will decline 3% to 4% in 2011, and unemployment is already at 16%, with much higher unemployment among young people. Many experts, and editorials in the Wall Street Journal and the Economist, share this opinion. With the austerity program's cuts and tax increases deeply unpopular among ordinary Greeks Samaras's party is moving ahead of Prime Minister Papandreou's socialist party in public opinion polls. Papandreou is not expectd to complete his term of office which ends in 2013, and a change of government may come by the end of 2011. At that point the E.U. leaders will have to negotiate with Samaras. Samaras says he told German chancellor Merkel- if your plan works I will say I was wrong, but if it doesn't you will need a new plan....

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In August 2008 Russia invaded Georgia and established the independence of the 2 breakaway countries of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia tried to enter NATO that year but the French and the Germans objected, and the U.S. did not want to commit deep in the Caucasus region. In the 2012 election the anti-Moscow government of Mr. Saakashvili was replaced by a government that sought friendly relations with the West and with Russia. There are still no embassies between Russia and Georgia. A special representative to Russia was appointed in the new government of Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who made his money in metals and banking in Russia. Saakashvili is now a Ukrainian citizen and is a governor of Odessa province, on the Black Sea, with separatist influence. Russia's trade ties with Georgia, a destination for Georgia's exports including wine, are gradually being restored after a trade embargo imposed in 2006. The trade embargo was lifted in 2013. The representative to Russia says its no use keeping the illusion of NATO membership even though it is an objective, as Georgia has to defend itself, the consequence of being in a difficult region. The strident anti-Russian rhetoric is now muted, as Georgia rethinks its relationship with Russia and the West to live in a difficult neighborhood. Ukraine went through some wild swings with the Orange Revolution, and the change in government to a pro-Russian government that jailed the earlier leader for corruption, leading to the protest movement calling for close relations to the West, the collapse of the elected pro-Russian government followed by the election of Mr. Poroshenko, and the Russian intervention in Ukraine in 2014-2015, leading to western sanctions on Russia. The sanctions end in Jan 31, 2016. The situation in Ukraine may stabilize where the NATO readiness force and German chancellor Merkel's call for "a persistent NATO presence in the Baltic states," lead to a situation where Russia determines the best course is cooperation with its neighbors, and trade, economic relations....

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Events before and after the hacking of emails during the U.S. presidential election of 2017 and contacts with Russia of Republican party leaders and campaign officials for the Trump campaign are discussed in this report by the BBC.

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Steve Lee Myers reporting from Moscow and St. Petersburg, Jo Becker from Washington and London, and Jim Yardley from Nicosia, Cyprus, provide this extraordinary and exceptional report on the rise of a small group of friends, mostly from Mr. Putin's time in St. Petersburg, into a new sort of oligarchy replacing the old one under Mr. Yeltsin. This includes more familiar names such as Sechin at Rosneft, but also less familiar names such as Mr. Kovalchuk, chairman of Bank Rossiya, which owns major television and radio stations and newspapers in Russia. M. Kovalchuk is described as having acquired many of these media properties at a fraction of their real value. Bank Rossiya assumed management of assets of Gazprombank, and Gazprom bank purchased Gazprom Media with five television and a number of radio stations for $166 million, when Medvedev, a Putin associate put the value at $7.5 billion 2 years following the acquisition, according to this report. Other assets acquired in this manner include Channel 5 and Ren TV, giving Putin's inner circle control of the media and reducing any critical or different views on issues facing Russia. Many of Gazprom's assets were transferred to Bank Rossiya, say critics, including insurer Sogaz which was acquired for $100 million, later valued at $2 billion, says the report. Names on the this inner circle also include Yakunin, head of Russian Railways, also include names like Fursenko and Timchenko. Most of the people in this inner circle are now targets of western sanctions. Missing in this report is mention that that this inner circle of the second term as president replaces the larger circle of the first terms as president and prime minister, with Putin benefitting from experts and advisors in the first terms. That circle included Finance minister Kudrin known for his successful management of the economy, and others who left the administration after flawed parliamentary elections. Even prime minister Medvedev is not mentioned as part of this inner circle, suggesting a degree of isolation which could be perilous for the Russian economy as it deprives the Russian president of different opinion and useful advice. This is a pattern seen in many emerging market countries which experience corruption during the period of industrial development. A pattern seen also in China under the Communist Party. And in Venezuela where a new Bolivarist class was created. In emerging market democracies such as India and Turkey the problem is also present, except that in India the recent open election led to the ouster of the Congress led government with many cases of corruption in its second term. A similiar election led to a new government in Indonesia, showing that there is another way beyond the Putin Way. Behind the protests in Hong Kong and in Russia, as well as in India, were the huge gaps in wealth and the growing inequality, corruption, lack of responsiveness of ruling governments. In Russia this takes another dimension with efforts to control the internet and media, and efforts to spread this style of democracy. This has created problems in the Putin government's relations with western nations having open societies and free media, and unwilling to accept a distorted model of democracy. Another less noticed aspect of the evolution of these emerging markets is that upto a point development proceeds even accelerates even in the presence of corruption, and then reaches a point where development and growth slows with problems of corruption, mismanagement of resources, declining productivity, economic and political errors, or unfavorable external environment. India faced this problem in 2012-2013, Russia is likely to face this in 2015, and China faces the prospect of growth slowdown by 2016. This feature of emerging markets also reminds one of the frequently quoted old English saying by Lord Acton- "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." An idea also attributed to William Pitt the Elder who said- "unlimited power tends to corrupt the minds of those who possess it." ...

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The top 1% of billers get 17.5% of the payments from the U.S. Medicare program for 2012, according to the Medicare agency's reports. The Medicare agency released data with details of payments to 950,000 doctors, medical providers, certain health care companies, the second year this information is being released. This covers $90 billion of payments. Astonishing as it may sound the transparency comes late, after large increases in medical costs and the increasing U.S. deficit. It happened only after the long and persistent effort by the Wall Street Journal to overturn a 1979 ruling that required such records to be kept secret. By intervening in that suit in 2011, the WSJ's parent company Dow Jones was able to convince a judge about the need for transparency, leading to reversal of the injunction in May 2013. The WSJ and the media has used this information to monitor the waste and fraud in the Medicare system, a vital role only the media can perform to protect the public interest.

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Denmark's central bank cuts its main interest rate twice in Jan. 2016 as the ECB announces its $1 trillion euro bond purchasing program for 2015-2016. The action is intended to reduce the impact of the ECB program as its currency, the krona, strengthens against the euro. The action is to maintain export competitiveness.

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Southwest prepared for jet fuel at $3.30 a gallon by passing on cost increases to passengers. Now it is preparing for jet fuel at $3.50 a gallon, CEO Gary Kelly said in an interview. The acquisition of AirTran in 2011, increased the size of Southwest by 20%, and is expected to generate additional revenue synergies of $400 million to $500 million. It also gives Southwest access to Atlanta and increases the number of cities served from 72 to 94. Kelly sees additional opportunities for growth in the lower 48 U.S. states before looking at markets in overseas destinations close to the U.S. Southwest has an order of 100 bigger and more fuel efficient 737-800s from Boeing. Boeing's Max jets are expected to be delivered in 2017. Other opportunities for growth will be expansion from Dallas Love Field to more destinations beginning in 2014.

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Sharply lower consumer spending is hurting Apple sales in China. Apple cut sales and issued a sales warning in January 2019. This follows Apple's sharp slowdown in India with its uncompetitive pricing.

Retail sales growth in China- which bounced back in previous downturns- dropped to the lowest level in 15 years in November 2018. Auto sales are down with the sharpest drop in 7 years- the first annual drop in sales since 1990. Fears of a housing bubble have led to restrictions on home purchases for speculation which have not been lifted. Income tax reduction has not increased spending. GDP growth for the fourth quarter dropped to 6.4%.

Further signs of a sharp pullback are seen in the drop in consumption tax revenue falling by 61% in October and 71% in November 2018. The consumption tax is placed on cars, gasoline and luxury goods, and is paid by the companies making the products.

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Chrysler-Fiat's efforts to ramp up Jeep's global sales in 2012-2014. Plans to build 120,000 Jeeps annually in St. Petersburg. Chrysler CEO Marchionne sees Jeep as Chrysler's global brand. The problem with sales in Russian and Chinese markets is price, because of high import duties. In Russia this can add upto $22,000 to price, and in China $37,000. This put Jeep prices in Russia at about $86,000 for a Grand Cherokee, forcing it to compete with luxury SUV's like Land Rover. Production locally in Russia and China should make Jeep prices competitive. For covering the international market Chrysler's plan is to build 6 Jeep models with new designs for a sleeker appearance as a lifestyle vehicle. In the past the Jeep was seen largely as a off-road SUV in emerging markets rather than a lifestyle vehicle.

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Equity markets in Europe and the U.S. are likely to see some of the 62 trillion yen, or $630 billion, which the Bank of Japan plans to add to holdings of banks and households in two years 2013-2014. A senior advisor to Deutsche Bank, Thomas Mayer, says equities of Germany, France and Britain are likey to see interest from Japanese investors, as are bonds and equities of the U.S. Japanese companies such as Toyota and consumer product companies such as Sony and Panasonic will now be able to better compete on price against their S. Korean, American and European competitors.

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Changing perceptions of European companies about the viability of U.S. manufacturing in 2012-2014. The views of Atlas Copco AB, and Skanska, two Swedish companies, on why it makes sense to make products in the U.S.