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France showed zero GDP growth in the second quarter of 2012 compared to the first quarter, according to the national statistics office Insee. French president Hollande will have to raise 33 billion euros in spending cuts or higher taxes to reach the target for the budget deficit of 3% of GDPin 2013, according to a July report of Cour des Comptes, a body that audits public institutions. This will be harder now that the slowdown globally is leading to expectations of slower growth than the 1% growth forecast used in the audit. French president Hollande has so far received good marks from analysts and financial markets. French borrowing costs have reached new lows especially in short term maturity bonds where bondholders are lending money at zero interest rates, partly because of the flight to safety from Italian and Spanish bonds.

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Labor unions and some of his political allies propose increasing taxes on the rich to pay for additional stimulus that would ease the effects of the economic downturn in France as the jobless rate rises.

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Peggy Noonan says in this WSJ article that Republicans should not shy away from telling president Trump that his erratic style is affecting the entire Republican agenda on taxes, infrastructure, and economic growth. This follows the firing of FBI Director Comey, the president's tweets about Comey as a "nut job" and the media coverage, followed by appointment of a Special Counsel. Her concern goes back to U.S. democracy. Her friends in Europe tell her the U.S. is having a nervous breakdown with the behaviour of the Trump administration. She tells Republicans to tell president Trump that democracy is a serious thing, not something to be toyed with.

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The head of Oxfam International shows how tackling problems such as clean water, health, daycare, can improve participation of women and generate additional employment. A major problem worldwide particularly in the developing world is the lack of enough good jobs. Investing 2% of GDP in healthcare in African, Asian and Latin American countries can generate additional 1-3%  employment. Higher levels of investment are needed in health and other services that improve the quality of life.

About $170 billion in taxes not paid to governments of developing countries because of tax dodging leaves governments short of the funds needed to invest in public services, schools and hospitals.

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After a lot of corporate advertising image of HP like Dell has become old and stodgy. How to revive the brand. Try taking a lesson from Apple. Try appealing at apersonal level, and try appealing to younger people to shake off the old image and put in a more invigorating one. About 180,000 visitors were attracted to an HP website named FingerSkilz.tv which shows closeup videos of a man's hand on a desk performing soccer tricks with a padded paper ball just bfore the 2006 World Cup. This was part of a new HP global campaign to give HP the cool image of an Apple. Content Links 1. We wanted to step away from selling computersas a commodity to telling a story in an autographical way- quote from Steve Simpson. Creative Director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which is creating new ads for HP. 2. Uses personalities like Jay-Z a rap artist and Shaun White a snowboarder, and is creating European and Asian personalities for advertising in other continents. 3. the print work features prominently images of hands see as a powerful symbol of communication around the world. 4. Sponsoring a new tv show Meet or Delete on MTV in which young people compare suitors basedon the content of their hard disks. ...