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A Congressional Oversight Panel said the Obama administration foreclosure plan is not addressing the problems of today. It is borrowers with good credit who ave lost their jobs or those with complex mortgages who are not getting help, and this will add to the higher default rates. THese borrowers because they are jobless are not able to afford even the reduced monthly payments. The HAMP program for reducing payments fails to address these problems.

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The US is turning to an unusual source for oil supplies after banning Russian oil, says this report in the WSJ. US is turning to Venezuela.

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Demonstrations by public workers in Madison, Wisconsin. Public workers are protesting cuts in benefits by Republican governor, Scott Walker. Governor Walker is proposing legislation that will require public workers to pay more for health insurance and pensions, resulting in a reduction in take home pay of about 7%. He is also proposing changes that limit bargaining to basic wages, excluding benefits from bargaining. Wisconsin faces a deficit gap of $3.6 billion for the next 2 years.

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European preparations for an embargo on Iranian oi. Development of technologies to develop nuclear weapons advances in Iran, causing concern that leads to action by the U.S. and the E.U.

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55% of Chrysler cars went to corporate and rental fleets in Septemeber and incentives are higher than ever, both warning signs for Chrysler. New Fiat models are not due for another 2 years.

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Three factors make up risk in diversification and risk reduction through bonds in 2025 with the estimated 1.5 -3 trillion in spending planned by 2030 with $400 billion in 2025 alone. AI in corporate bond indexes up to 15% and reach 20% by 2030 vs 40% of stock indexes (JP Morgan),  AI risk in bonds diversification from over issuance and downgrades is something to look at. One cannot assume bonds will reduce risk in the same way as before with overissuance of corporate bonds to power AI spending by Tech companies. There is also the risk to the Nation in the massive capital misallocation of funds that will crowd out essential spending in the crumbling infrastructure of the Nation, in education and healthcare, that degrade American leadership in industry, science and technology.

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Thomas Frank writing about the public outrage about executive compensation quotes Bill Black, a Professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, who makes an important point. Beyond the size of this compensation there was something else happening that was perverse in its design and in its effects. Black says that at each point in the development of the disaster of mortgage securitization, it was the pay for performance systems that sent the wrong signals to loan officers, real estate appraisers, accountants, and bond rating agencies. The compensation or reward systems actually encouraged wrong, unethical and ultimately disastrous behaviours for the companies and the economy. Another way to look at it, the way it happened on Wall Street- especially at Merrill Lynch and some other financial institutions- the bonuses and other compensation was a way for executives to recklessly milk (loot is the other word) the companies for all they could yield regardless of the results afterwards. And as Black says, to do this through normal corporate mechanisms. A whole range of behaviours of this type took place in the final years of the boom. See other articles by Thomas Frank. ...

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American workers at the bottom of the income scale, black, younger and low wage workers benefitted the most from wage increases in 2022.

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Neom, infrastructure development the size of Massachusetts in Saudi Arabia, is a futuristic vision of the Saudi prince Mohammad bin Salman. It includes a75 mile long Mirror line project that is shown here in the WSJ. The cost of the project is about 1 trillion dollars. The Saudi prince sees this as away to diversify the economy away from oil using oil revenues that are high at today's prices.