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Apple's low tax rate of 9.4% on global profits
03/24/2011
Companies ranging from Apple and Google to GE pay low tax rates. The New York Times reports that corporate share of U.S. tax receipts dropped from 30% in the 1950's to 6.6% in 2009. This has a serious impact on states and local governments and the federal government as they cut essential services and education to balance their budgets or lower deficits.
Linked Articles
Apple's Tax Strategy Aims at Low-Tax States and Nations
New York Times 04/28/2012
G.E.'s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes AltogetherNew York Times 03/24/2011
The slow shift to healthy choices at grocery chains and restaurants in the U.S. even as the healthcare costs reach alarming proportions
01/20/2011
U.S. companies, workers, and the U.S. economy is squeezed between the growth in obesity related diabetes and other obesity related diseases and the growth in health care costs to treat these diseases. Yet no coordinated action plan exists to tackle the problem between companies, government, universities, public interest groups, and other groups. And the progress charted out by grocery chains, restaurants and other organizations in the food business to provide and encourage healthy choices is incredibly slow.
Linked Articles
Wal-Mart Plans to Make Its House Brand Healthier
New York Times 01/20/2011
Low-Cal Items Fuel Restaurant SalesWall Street Journal 02/07/2013
The striking change for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the companies return $185 billion in aid provided by the U.S. government by 2013
11/04/2010
By 2013 Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac return almost all of the $186 billion in aid injected by the U.S. government during the housing and mortgage crisis.
Linked Articles
Fannie, Freddie Payments Nearly Match Aid
Wall Street Journal 11/08/2013
Fannie, Freddie Overhaul Could Cost $685 BillionWall Street Journal 11/04/2010
Increasing auto emisssions, coal fired plants and the extreme air pollution in Beijing and other cities in China
07/28/2010
Linked Articles
Wall Street Journal 01/16/2013
In China, Pollution Worsens Despite New EffortsNew York Times 07/28/2010
Workers at Hon Hai, Honda, and other companies in China struggle for higher wages.
05/29/2010
China's governmet policy shifts to encourage higher wages to promote domestic consumption.
Linked Articles
Unrest May Signal New Phase in China Economy
New York Times 05/29/2010
Hon Hai to Raise Workers' PayWall Street Journal 05/29/2010
Pepsi and Coca Cola's competition in emerging markets
05/22/2010
Linked Articles
India Has 1.2 Billion People but Not Enough Drink Coke
Wall Street Journal 06/27/2012
Pepsi Battles Coke in ChinaWall Street Journal 05/22/2010
Long standing reputations for quality and safety damaged by failures in quality systems at J&J McNeil and Toyota.
02/02/2010
Both Toyota and J&J Mcneil unit responded poorly and with long time lags to federal agencies that supervise safety for their products. Both companies took along time to investigate the consumer complaints, one for faulty brake pedal and the other for musty odor from Tylenol Arthritis caplet bottles.
Linked Articles
Maker of Tylenol Explains Actions Taken to Alleviate Musty Smell of Pills
New York Times 03/17/2010
Obama Administration Says It Is 'Not Finished With Toyota'Wall Street Journal 02/02/2010
Iran, N. Korea and President Obama's approach to nuclear weapons proliferation
07/05/2009
The views of Nunn, Perry, Shultz and Kissinger after meetings at the Hoover Institution on developing a new approach to nuclear proliferation after decades of relying on "mutually assured destruction", and the approach of President Obama. During the Cold War the U.S. and the Soviet Union faced each other, the situation in 2012 is very different with Iran, N. Korea, Pakistan, and the risks of terrorism.
Linked Articles
Youthful Ideals Shaped Obama Goal of Nuclear Disarmament
New York Times 07/05/2009
Deterrence in the Age of Nuclear ProliferationWall Street Journal 03/07/2011
Even when the recovery occurs and inventories get replaced gorwth will be slow, as deleveraging process takes many years.
05/28/2009
Mr. Mecksworth, chief economist at MAPI says even when arecovery happens it will mean slow growth as companies will be saving money and paying off debt for many years to come.
Linked Articles
Once a Key to Recovery, Detroit Adds to Pain
New York Times 06/01/2009
Sharper Drop Is Forecast for Factory ProductionWall Street Journal 05/28/2009
The rapid structural shift in employment to new industries and fields may create high unemployment even as millions of vacancies go unfilled.
04/30/2009
The Labor Departments JOLT statistics for job openings shows over 3 million job vacancies. The reason for this is the mismatch in qualifications and the speed with which industries are downsizing, and the shift to new industries and fields away from banking, retail, construction and autos. This makes new initiatives in retraining and government cost sharing to enable companies to hire and retrain super critical. Germany has some initiatives lkke this.
Linked Articles
Stuck at Unemployed: When A Layoff Becomes a Lifestyle
Washington Post 06/06/2009
Help Wanted: Why That Sign's BadBusinessWeek 04/30/2009
The deeper changes underway in America, as American business and corporate ways of working are themselves changing.
03/29/2009
The ways in which business and companies operate are changing in America as this crisis continues. The social fabric and people and the kinds of lives they live are becoming important in American business view of the country and the world.
Linked Articles
Steven Pearlstein - A Rare Triumph of Substance at the Summit
Washington Post 04/03/2009
How Crisis Shapes the Corporate ModelNew York Times 03/29/2009
Amgen founder Rathmann and venture startups in the biotech industry
03/16/2009
Rathmann's focus on EPO when Amgen was near bankruptcy in the mid-1980's saved the company. By 1989 Amgen had secured FDA approval for Epogen, a hormone based drug to stimulate the production of red blood cells. This is a rare success in a biotech industry with many failed startup ventures or ventures strugglig with only 6-12 months of cash remaining.
Linked Articles
Cash Dries Up for Biotech Drug Firms
Wall Street Journal 03/16/2009
Amgen's First CEOWall Street Journal 04/23/2012
"So am I", the President responds to special interests gearing up to thwart his plans to revamp the economy.
03/01/2009
My message to them, is this: "So am I", with that remark in his radio address Obama says he knows special interests are gearing up for a fight to prevent needed change in education oppportunities that otherwise would close the door on the middle class, on health care coverage that otherwise will leave in addition to the 46 million not covered an additional number of that magnitude uncovered as unemployment rises and insurance premiums become unaffordable, and on energy that leaves energy policy to oil and gas companies that have done little to promote conservation or new technologies to reduce demand amid mushrooming global demand.
Linked Articles
Obama Calls His Budget Needed Change
New York Times 03/01/2009
Liberal Groups Are Flexing New Muscle in Lobby WarsNew York Times 03/01/2009
The Elop memo in 2011 and the sale of Nokia's mobile phone business to Microsoft in 2013- the startling change of fortunes for Nokia
02/09/2011
Nokia was a pioneer in the development of mobile phones in an earlier era when fixed lines were the norm. It dominated the mobile phone business in the period before 2009 for 2 decades before the coming of smartphones. The change in Nokia's market came quickly and suddenly with the advent of the iPhone and Nokia was unprepared for this development. This is a classic case of obsolesence and disruptions caused by innovation and new technologies. Other companies from the previous era before cloud computing and the internet, H-P, Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft, face the continuing challenge to adapt or lose to new competitors.
Linked Articles
Microsoft in $7 Billion Deal for Nokia Cellphone Business
Wall Street Journal 09/03/2013
Full Text: Nokia CEO Stephen Elop’s ‘Burning Platform’ MemoWall Street Journal 02/09/2011
How Samsung jumped ahead of Sony in the smartphone market- the dismal failure of the Sony-Ericsson joint venture
01/07/2011
The glaring weaknesses of the Sony-Ericsson mobile joint venture was the slow decisionmaking and the inability to take advantage of Sony's strengths in manufacturing and its companywide technological capabilities. As late as 2011 Samsung was struggling behind other competitors. A key advantage was the quick decisionmaking and marshalling of resources within the company for the smartphone effort in Samsung. The joint venture proved to be a disaster for Sony.
Linked Articles
Samsung Moves in Smartphone Race
Wall Street Journal 01/07/2011
Sony Stakes Recovery on New SmartphoneWall Street Journal 03/01/2013
Local governments and state-owned companies are fueling a real estate bubble in China in 2009-2010.
07/29/2010
Northwestern University Prof. Shih estimates that state banks in China hold $1.68 trillion in debt of local investment companies which invest for local governments. In many cases the banks have little collateral. The central government in China aggressively supported this lending to quickly get money to projects in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, but this may have backfired with money going into speculation and building a bubble.
Linked Articles
Chinaâs Real Estate Boom and Conflicting Policy
New York Times 08/01/2010
Where China Hides Its DebtBusinessWeek 07/29/2010
Research and Development (R&D) approaches of pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Glaxo with smaller budgets and smaller units
07/01/2010
Linked Articles
Pfizer Profit Declines 19% After Loss of Lipitor Patent
New York Times 05/01/2012
Glaxo Tries Biotech Model to Spur Drug InnovationsWall Street Journal 07/01/2010
Strike at Honda and suicides at Hon Hai reflect worker dissatisfaction.
05/29/2010
Wages an issue at both companies. Military style discipline and monotony of life and work an issue at Hon Hai which employs 800,000 workers in China and is a key part of the Chinese manufacturing system which makes all kinds of electronic products
Linked Articles
Why Apple and Others Are Nervous About Foxconn
BusinessWeek 06/03/2010
Unrest May Signal New Phase in China EconomyNew York Times 05/29/2010
The problems facing Sony after developing the first e-reader in 2004 and the first OLED set in 2007- lack of a consumer mindset
04/22/2010
Competition from lower cost manufacturers adds to earlier problems of not keeping a consumer point of view for new products. A problem common to many of Japan's electronics companies.
Linked Articles
How Japan Lost Its Electronics Crown
Wall Street Journal 08/15/2012
How Vizio Beat Sony in High-Def TVBusinessWeek 04/22/2010
Danone and P&G's (Procter & Gamble) innovative strategies for reaching low income customers in emerging markets.
12/12/2009
In 2004 Indonesian managers showed Franck Riboud, CEO of Danone, a pyramid of customers in Indonesia's population of 240 million people. It showed only 20 million customers at the top of the pyramid as the only ones who could afford Danone products. At that point Ribaud made up his mind to go after the large number of people at the lower end of the pyramid and come with strategies to do this profitably. By 2010 46% of Danone's sales were from emerging markets, up from 10% a decade earlier, showing the pace of the change. Unilever, P&G, Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive and other companies are following similiar strategies. P&G has used Mexico as a lab for experimenting with new products at low price points and Danone has done this in Indonesia.
Linked Articles
Danone Expands Its Pantry to Woo the World's Poor
Wall Street Journal 06/25/2010
P.& G. Sees the World as Its ClientNew York Times 12/12/2009
BP, Shell and other foreign oil companies expand production in Iraq in 2012-2014
07/01/2009
Ambitious goals for oil production are set by the Iraqi government as oil companies from the, U.S., Europe, Russia and China, provide the expertise to increase production from older oil fields. Problems of infrastructure and national oil legislation hinder rapid development.
Linked Articles
Crude Oil Output Is Soaring in Iraq, Easing Markets
New York Times 06/02/2012
Oil Companies Reject Iraq's Contract TermsWall Street Journal 07/01/2009
S. Korea's second household debt binge in the 15 years since the 1997 financial crisis
05/18/2009
The first period of rising household debt ocurred with the credit card boom when the government promoted consumer spending as a way to stimulate the economy. By 2003 this became a serous problem and the government rescued a credit card issuer in 2003. Household debt is again a major problem in 2012 with the increasing number of companies in financial lending that are not regulated.
Linked Articles
Notes From Another Credit Card Crisis
New York Times 05/18/2009
S. Korea tries to curb mounting debt and avert a crisis - The Washington PostWashington Post 07/09/2012
Grantham and Zweig express deep skepticism about the stock markets 2nd quarter 2009 recovery.
04/23/2009
Too many of the companies that looked like "garbage" to Zweig have gone up steeply, and Grantham expresses the same skepticism when he says 'the junky companies have been diluted like hell just to keep them alive."
Linked Articles
Economist 04/23/2009
Wall Street's Clearance Sale Leaves Few BargainsWall Street Journal 06/06/2009
As capital markets shun small biotech startups large drug companies raise money for acquisitios and mergers.
03/16/2009
Drug companies have $155 billion they plan to use for mergers and acquisitions and are tapping the bond markets for funds. Meantime small biotech startups are running short of cash in large numbers. Will this squeeze innovation and new products as startups wither and the mergers run into problems?
Linked Articles
Drug Firms Bet Big on High-Risk Deals
Wall Street Journal 03/17/2009
Cash Dries Up for Biotech Drug FirmsWall Street Journal 03/16/2009
The labor underutillizzation rate may hit 10% in 2010. This is the number to watch because of deepseated changes in the labor markets.
03/09/2009
This raises a number of questions about the economic recovery and calls for new initiatives in retraining and government assistance for companies to hire and retrain.
Linked Articles
Stuck at Unemployed: When A Layoff Becomes a Lifestyle
Washington Post 06/06/2009
Jobless Scars Will Outlast the RecessionWall Street Journal 03/09/2009
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