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Prof. Cherlin of John Hopkins University's sociology department tells us why it is important to revive the term "working class" in America after it has fallen into disuse. He points out that lumping the "working class" with the middle class, as most political leaders including Obama have done, is a serious mistake. As disparities have increased between college educated Americans and non-college educated Americans with only a diploma or less ( who comprise 54% of the adult population with children under age 18), and as the lifestyles, living standards, and educational opportunities of children have diverged for these two groups, this no longer makes sense. One reason for the disuse was that the term was seen as derogatory at some point in time because of media stereotypes of working class people. Yet only by reviivng the term and facing up to the problems faced by this group can America really address its problems as a society, or as a people. Even economic recovery could be elusive without increasing the consumer spending, and by this the incomes and future prospects of the working class. Underneath this is something more important, which has shaped the lives of people throughout the world in the 20th century and into the 21st- the sense of hope and opportunity, of upward economic and social mobility, especially for children of all classes. ...

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Mexicois facing adeep recession and rising unemployment- the economy is expected to see adecline of 7% in 2009. And President Calderon though he retains apopularity rating of 70% has lost the midterm elections and the opposition party the PRI has amajority in Congress. The government is trying to raise tax revenues and support social spending. It wants to raise spending on antipoverty programme Opportunidades and achieving universal health care. The highest earners face taxes going upfrom 28% to 30%.

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Germany's calls for closer political and fiscal union for the eurozone countries to complement and support the euro currency arrangement. German chancellor Merkel calls it "more Europe," "step by step." It all hinges on French president Hollande and how well the Socialist party does in the elections to the National Assembly on June 10 and June 17, 2012. If he does well and gets a working majority with other like minded parties he will not need the support of parties that are opposed to giving up sovereignty. Hollande's mentor is Jacques Delors, a former president of the European Commission and a strong supporter of the idea of European Union. England under the Conservatives remains Euro-skeptic. France and Germany were driven closer by the idea of European Union by necessity, because of history and three wars. The European Union had strong support after 1945 from French and German leaders, Monnet and Adenauer, who struggled with political opposition but won over skeptics, with the process continued by German chancellor Kohl, a mentor of Angela Merkel....

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In this op-ed in the NYT Matthew D'Ancona, former deputy editor of the Daily Telegraph, is sharply critical of British prime minister Theresa May for planning to remain in office after the election losses of the Conservative party in the June 2017 election. He calls her decision deplorable and the alliance with the Democratic Unionist party of Northern Ireland with its 10 seats and less than 1% of the total vote a huge mistake, because of its extremely conservative views on social issues which are out of touch with socially liberal conservative voters. His prediction is that the parliamentary majority will be under constant attack, making governing difficult. He expects the government to collapse.

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Economist Lawrence Lindsey says the Fed has boxed itself and has little choice but to keep interest rates low. Borrowing at the more normal interest rates of 5.7%- which is what it was over the last three decades- and not at the current 2.5%, would mean an increase in borrowing costs for the U.S. government of $800 billion in 2021, says Lindsay. Lindsay bases this on the U.S. debt growing from $14 trillion in 2011 to $25 trillion by 2021, and interest rates going back to normal levels by 2021. Just to put this in perspective Lindsay says it would require all the cuts Republicans and Rep. Ryan are asking for just to pay for the added interest, not even about reducing the size of the U.S. debt. This would be a disaster for the U.S. Treasury, so we're stuck with really low rates. The term used by economists is "financial repression." Savers and retirees will have to put up with low returns. Lowering unemployment is only one aspect of U.S. Fed policy, the other aspect is in the constraints Bernake faces....

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Small farmowners hate to see good fruit and vegetables go to waste just because of odd shape and appearance, even if it is just as nutritious. EU standards across Europe for fruits and vegetables made it difficult to get this farm produce to consumers. EU standards are now being revised, but supermarkets set their own standards and continue to accept fruit and vegetables only with "a slight defect in shape and development." A study by the Dutch and Swedish governments show Europe wastes 89 million tons of food a year and the two governments called on the EU "to reduce the amount of food waste caused by its labeling system." In Portugal as much as a fourth of the fruits and vegetables are at risk of waste because of such rules, according to small farm owners. Ugly Fruit, is a company trying to get this produce to consumers at lower prices in Lisbon. Farmowners say the idea that quality can be measured only by appearance is a mistake, as nutrition levels and flavor can be the same.

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Pearlstein argues that the US and the Obama administration achieved most of its goals, even though the Europeans took the credit. On regulatory reform, Geithner's regulatory reform proposal he says, could well have been written at the French Finance Ministry, as at the US Treasury. And it gives Obama ammunition to prepare, as private equity, hedge funds, and banks try to water down his proposals for regulatory reform. By having member countries commit to adding $850 billion to the resources at the IMF, and regional development banks to provide help to countries in serious difficulties- and giving instructions that the money can be used not only for debt rollover, bank recapitalization and balance of payments support, but also for stimulus spending, infrastructure investment, trade finance and social support- the Obama adminstration has accomplished a great deal. It has succeeded in putting in place the necessary financial resources to support not only the financial systems of countries in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America that need help, but put emphasis on the need for resources to go for helping reduce job losses, create jobs, and provide some forms of income or support to people in these countries. This is a major step as it means the countries of Eastern Europe and other developing countries can deal with their crises in confidence. Mexico is taking loans from the IMF. Dominique Strauss Kahn had begun the policy of shifting IMF's focus to these social goals as significant parts of the recovery process in countries, but he faced the old mindset among the IMF staff, as when its reported staff wanted to increase interest rates in Pakistan by 10% instead of the 3% that was finally agreed to. That would have caused serious difficulty to the people of Pakistan, created chaotic situation and disturbed the social fabric of that country. See the link to this for S. Korea and for Pakistan. And as Gordon Brown put it the old conditionality that lay behind the IMF loans, is phased out. This makes it the new policy at the IMF backed by the G20 mandate. The Washington consensus which prescribed open borders, floating exchange rates and fiscal prudence is now ended. And to support this change the developing countries will have a bigger say in IMF policy and decisions. ...

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David Brooks looks at the traits and skills of national leaders Washington, Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, F.D.R., Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Reagan, and compares that with the skills needed in a business environment. He does not find much relevance for the traits and skills learned in business by Corzine, Rumsfeld, Regan, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina in leading a state or a country. He finds traits in political leaders in government to be emotional security, political judgement, a sense of humility as being part of a larger purpose in God's world, and the ability to overcome major setbacks. He sees today's claims of candidates to being outsiders or having business experience as a spurious and false story line.

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Wadhwa describes the impact of patent trolls on the U.S. patent system. He says the patent system in its current form, with extensive patent defenses by technology firms costing billions of dollars, litigation by companies that are not representing inventors, and the overall negative effects on new companies, actually reduces innovation. There has been a surge in lawsuits regarding smartphone and software patents as a result of businesses that collect patents and sue to earn money through legal settlements.

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Cities like Huntsville, Alabama that have alarge presence of military defense contractors and have NASA presence are doing well in this downturn. So are cities that have industreies or plants not affected as much by the downturn. Cities like McAllen and Brownsville in Texas, Mobile, Alabama, Ogden and Provo, Utah, York, Pennsylvania, Youngstown, Ohio, Yakima, Washington and Lafayette, Louisiana. Consumer loan balances for these cities are shown as increasing in these cities from data developed by Equifax and Moody's Economy.com. Some of this could be from more overborrowing but other information suggests that local economies and employment have held up well in these places. Also problem loans at local banks in places like Huntsville, are a low 2%.

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The different approaches of presidential candidates Hollande and Sarkozy to reviving France's economy as they contest the elections on May 6, 2012. Sarkozy proposes a value added tax and has called for broadening the mandate of the European Central Bank to stimulate growth. Hollande proposes higher taxes on the wealthy, and hiring more teachers and making no cuts in the civil service. Hollande opposes the austerity measures being pushed by Germany and adopted in eurozone countries.

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Efforts to boost the share of national income that goes to rural households and workers in China. The share of income taken by state owned enteprises and taxes paid by the enterprises would have to change for reducing the gap in incomes and reducing inequality in China.

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How much is the drop in sales of light trucks, including truck based SUV's? Acttually not much so far, title is misleading! 2004- 55.7% of total vehicle sales 2005- 54.9% of total vehicle sales 2006 1st quarter- 53.8 % of total vehicle sales source: Autodata, NYT cite For GM in April 2006 situation according to GM figures Overall Light Truck sales up 1.5% Escalade up 127% Tahoe up 30% Overall GM down 7.3% in all vehicle sales in April source Ward's AutoInfo Bank But the mix weighted toward the Escalade, Tahoe, and new SUV's which are non-incentive and priced to meet demand, which mean higher profits to make up for lost volume in cars. This is occurring in the middle of bigger changes, and as GM moves to introduction of more fuel efficient cars with better quality and appeal to younger demographics. GM is restructuring to transform itself into a global company with growing Asian sales and shifting volumes overseas. It is shifting employee and capital base to more countries overseas to create new opportunities and make GM a new and different company, a global company. Incentives pay part of the gas price for buyers, and more fuel efficient SUV's also chip in to pay gas costs. Americans are not out to get off the SUV's just yet, as fuel effficiency standards go up.The investments oil companies are making are expected to provide a payoff in increased production by 2008-2009, and the new oil policy of Saudi Arabia kicks in (see Naimi at CSIS 2006 meeting). The situation eases up for families accustomed to carrying kids around or hauling stuff around. See also links to Tradin Frenzy (Mouawad, NYT, 4/29/06) speculators in oil markets cause 10-20% of price rise, could lead to drops later after ethanol part of spike eases, and if global demand drops with economies cooling off a bit. ...

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Lowenstein points to the need for restricting leverage, letting banks get upto their necks in debt, as the key to preventing fututre crises. And this means off balance sheet and derivatives control so that the overall debt is strictly manageable. Regulation is needed in these areas and just making banks smaller won't be enough he says.

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Donald Trump remains far behind Hillary Clinton in preparation for a general election in fall 2016, and behind where Mitt Romney was at this stage of the campaign in 2012. Part of the problem is his unconventional campaign based on personality and minimal grassroots structure, which is only now being organized with field offices, large staff, and campaign experts, getting a late start, and the campaign supporters not accepting the change. Trump has about $36 million from his personal finances, and $11 million raised from donations. Hillary Clinton has spent $26 million on 1100 organization staffers and firms providing digital, strategy, and voter data services, compared to $7 million spent by Trump for 200 staffers through March 2016, and Romney's $17 million spent at this point in the campaign. Romney advisor Stevens is skeptical about the Trump capabilities for the campaign that is expected. A NYT report says a Hillary super PAC is already preparing its advertising strategy and booking television time for $125 million in April 2016....

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Crude oil or crude world. This book by Peter Maas "Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil," shows how places like Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea suffer from the lack of infrastructure and jobs, as the oil industry does not create many jobs and the companies and the ruling classes in these countries are the main beneficiaries. Nigeria's anticorruption official, Nuh Ribadu, is cited in the WSJ, with an estimate of $380 billion of $400 billion in oil revenues in Nigeria over 3 decades being wasted through corruption and misuse of funds, with little money going into infrastructure and jobs. Manufacturing in China, Vietnam, and Malaysia for basic consumer products from textiles to shoes, creates jobs even at low wages, making the people in these countries better off as wages rise. Oil on the other hand creates few jobs and companies do not move upscale manufacturing tech products in the next stage of manufacturing, leaving the people as worse off as before. The margins are thin in manufacturing, whereas much of the oil revenue can be deposited in accounts of influential individuals. Mouwad in the NYT points out 93% of profits go to the government in Nigeria, only 7% to western oil companies. Even in countries which have tried to root out corruption through socialist experiments such as Venezuela and religious parties such as in Iran, the failure to integrate with the globalized economy and extremist policies leads to lack of development and backwardness. This shows that the best way to develop is through emphasis on education, science and technology, building a culture that thrives on modernization and technological advancement over several decades, even if this means starting with basics and continually moving forwards into higher technologies. Japan, South Korea and China moved from shoes and textiles to iPads and smartphones, Japan starting in the 60's, S. Korea in the 80's and China in the 90's. ...

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Panasonic announced a third quarter loss of over $8.8 billion. New CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga says Panasonic will reduce manufacturing in Japan, cease selling mobile phones overseas and reduce investments in solar panels and rechargeable batteries. Tsuga told a news conference: "Unless we take this step, whatever we say will be an empty promise. That's how damaged our current situation is." Panasonic faces severe competition from Samsung which has larger investments in manufacturing, research and marketing of televisions and mobile phones. Panasonic share prices fell 19%.

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Japan's new LDP prime minister, Shinzo Abe, supports targeting the yen at around 90 yen to the dollar to support Japanese exporters. He sees this happening through monetary easing by Japan's central bank. At a rate of 85 yen to the dollar or above Japanese exporters would be in a position to become profitable and pay taxes. Abe says central banks around the world, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, are printing money to support their economies and increase exports. Switzerland and S. Korea pursued policies to keep their currencies from becoming too strong to support their exporters. China has managed its exchange rate to maintain export competitiveness. Exchange rate intervention has not been effective for Japan, and the focus now is on monetary policy and setting a 2% inflation rate target.

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Jerome Fons rates the credit rating agencies F for failure, and says its time to leave out ratings language from financial contracts. Its time to rely on good judgement. He is former managing director of Moody's. The system is rife he says with conflicts of interest and the whole system has failed and is still in failing mode. The finacial system he says can function without letter ratings, regulators and investors should consider all the relevant information about an investment including market prices. And he says lets return to the tool we all used before we delegated responsibility to ratings agencis, and this tool is our better judgement of things.

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The difficult task ahead for Fiat's Marchionne, trying to reverse Chrysler's decline. Running Opel and Fiat, will take a lot of energy and initiative, and its by no means clear how he is going to go about doing this. Some arithmetic done by analysts shows the value of the Fiat, Opel, Chrysler auto companies, by excluding other non-auto parts of Fiat, and taking out Fiat debt and liabilities estimated at $8 billion euros. And taking that number and Fiat's market cap, the difference gives a value of 5.5 billion euros as what investors ascribe to Fiat Auto and its ambitions. This is just one fourth of the Fiat auto units 2009 revenues of 21.7 billion euros, as estimated by Morgan Stanley.

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Brenner of McGill University and Fridson of S&P say the Bernanke Federal Reserve in the U.S. is doing what President Truman and Treasury Secretary Snyder did in the war and postwar years- paying down the U.S. debt as cheaply as possible by inflating the money supply. There are no new monetary insights here, and even though the policy is maintained outwardly as one to promote economic growth and employment, the main focus is to keep the cost of paying down the debt as cheaply as possible with low rates. This hurts savers and retirees earning very little on savings. They cite Bernanke's writings that show he is imitating the policy of the war years when the U.S. held down interest rates and succeeded in doing this for a decade.

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The amazing story of Abdel Hakim Belhaj who is seen as a foe by the CIA and turned over to Gaddafi's regime from Bangkok, followed by six years in Libyan jails. He is in the Western mountains near Tripoli leading a brigade that enters Tripoli. Because of the military discipline and experience gained in Afghanistan, Belhaj is put in charge of Tripoli by the Libyan Transitional Council. He looks to the future and is grateful to NATO and the U.S. for freeing his country. He holds no rancor for the past and looks to the future.

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The Obama administration was slow to respond to the democracy movement in Libya. France's Sarkozy and Britain's Cameron led the effort to support the Libyan rebels with airpower, no -fly-zones, and military assistance. As the Assad regime uses fighter planes, helicopter gunships and artillery against its own people and heavily populated areas, the Europeans distracted by the economic crisis, and the Obama administration following its earlier pattern of slow response in supporting democracy efforts, have failed to take an active role in helping the democracy movement in Syria.

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The P5+1 talks with Iran are stalled and not ending in agreement by August 2012. The former head of military intelligence of Israel, says the Obama administration needs to tell the Israeli parliament Knesset directly that preventing a nuclear Iran is a U.S. interest and the U.S. will take military action if needed. He points out that the U.S. with its larger operational capabilities can take additional time compared to the Israeli capabilities, but this goes against Israel's creed of not relying on the U.S. for its defense or outsourcing defense. For the Israelis to rely on the U.S. it needs this clear committment and statement of intention. In addition the Obama administration needs to take five steps to reassure Israel says Yadlin: a statement to Congress in writing that the president reserves the right to take military action, increased military presence in the gulf, provide advanced military technology and intelligence to Israel to enlarge Israel's window for military action in exchange for giving sanctions and diplomacy more time, talk publicly about the dangers of reconstitution of Iran's nuclear program, and commit to the security of U.S. allies in the gulf. The strategy Yadlin emphasizes is that if this is going to work for a peaceful goal, preparing for war is essential....

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Under new proposed changes carbon emissions permits would be sold to industry and heavier polluters would have to pay more. And to make it fair to European companies exporters in other countries like China would have to buy these carbon permits to be able to export to Europe. There is similiar discussion about this in the USA which expects caps on greenhouse gas emissions in a few years. These changes wouldn't go into effect till 2013 at the earliest and industry will be trying to create a level playing field by then. Countries like China and India because they are developing have been exempt from the greenhouse caps under the Kyoto Protocol which expire 2012. Under the Kyoto Protocol which Europe signed and the USA did not sign, European companies are giving carbon permits free to emit a certain amount of greenhouse gas every year, the heavier polluters have to buy the permits from the ones that pollute less creating an incentive for companies to reduce emisssions.