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The U.S. has 22 states that offer some form of work sharing programs to reduce layoffs by having workers work for shorter hours and receive partial unemployment insurance. This is a variation of the "kurzarbeit" programs that have helped Germany reduce layoffs during 2009 and during the period of high unemployment in Germany following the reunification of the country. Worksharing has major benefits in high tech and manufacturing industries where it is difficult to replace employees when the downturn is over and demand picks up. For the economy as a whole it reduces the stress of higher unemployment from cyclical swings in the economy.

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The World bank president Robert Zoellick in an interview with Sudeep Reddy of the Wall Street Journal. He says its frustrating to see Europe respond to problems in banking, sovereign debt and competitiveness that have a chance to work, but only to find that the action is a bit late and a bit short every time. He says the Germans are right in insisting that credit cannot be given away freely, and that reforms have to be made. Yet these reforms in the case of Spain and Italy to increase competitiveness will take time and in the meantime both countries will need bridge financing. A direct recapitalization of European banks by the European Financial Stability Facility is needed to avoid this slow and continuous decline in confidence from negative news and uncertainty. Because the problem now is of a longer term nature with debt issues that will take time to resolve and energy price volatility, Zoellick says simply doing short term stimulus and monetary will not work, and a longer term plan needs to be implemented. Zoellick supported the China Development Report of the World Bank and China's DRC which called for a shift in the economy away from reliance on state owned companies and heavy infrastructure spending. Here he says the new stimulus plan for China was necessary because of slowing growth. Yet he hopes China's leaders keep this in mind as they develop solutions for the long term that avoid the rampant credit expansion and investment of the 2008 Stimulus, and come up with a new policy mix....

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Yields on France's government bonds turned negative on July 9, 2012. As the pool of bonds from haven countries such as Holland and Germany is shrinking, France with its deep and sizable debt market is benefitting. France was able to sell 3.9 billion euros of 13 week Treasury bills at a yield of -0.005 and 2 billion euros of 24 week bills at an average yield of -0.006.

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Yascha Mounk says Germany is not as committed to the West as it was in the days of chancellor Adenauer. Policies pursued by Gerhard Schroeder distancing Germany from the U.S. were also carried on under chancellor Merkel.

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The International Energy Agency says in areport that China's policy shift to develop green energy projects will reduce global greenhouse emissions by 2020. Lower economic growth worldwide and thefaster development of green energy will reduce the emissions by 5% by 2020. Instead of recent growth in emissions the lower economic growth will lower greenhous emissions by 3% this year.

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Clive Crook points to the dangers of complacency in 2010. He reminds readers that the critical thing is as Charles Goodhart mentioned in the Financial Times, that capital and liquidity requirements must be time varying and strongly anti-cyclical. He points out that in good times when lending is expanding quickly and financial institutions are least concerned about capital, liquidity requiremets must tighten, something that is not happening under current rules. Repairs in areas of "too big to fail", separating investment banking and commercial banking, and others, will not succeed unless this principle is adopted. And this he says will be opposed by financial institutions because it reduces their growth. But this fight has to be won. It goes back to William McChesney Martin's idea of taking away the punch bowl before the party gets going.

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Mario Monti, prime minster of Italy, defends his labor reforms in Italy, in a letter to the Journal.

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With Britain not willing to join an EU wide agreement for all 27 countries in the region, Sweden and the Czech Republic asking for time to consult its parliament, and Hungary declining, only 23 EU countries are now on board for new EU wide treaty changes for fiscal discipline. This makes new EU treaty changes unlikely, and means France and Germany will move ahead with a eurozone agreement for the 17 nation group. This can be done much faster than the cumbersome process for EU treaty revisions. The details of the new agreement will be worked out in the coming weeks and should restore confidence in financial markets. The problem now most experts say is that a new agreement might move too quickly to reduce deficits, worsening the economic prospects in the European Union countries. Fernando Fernandez, an economist at IE Business School in Madrid, says the critical question is how much time countries will be given to meet new rules. If for instance debt is to be reduced by 20 percentage points of GDP in 3 years under new rules, this would impact eurozone growth severely with sharp contractions in already fragile economies. Peter Morici, business professor at the University of Maryland, underscores this, saying Germany is close to zero growth and economies of countries like Spain, Portugal and Italy are contracting. Higher unemployment will result with smaller tax bases, making the situation appear to improve as borrowing rates for Italy drop now, but worsening the situation in 2012-2013 as deficit projections are not attainable. This is already true in Britain where earlier deficit projections are being pushed into future years as economic growth is declining....

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Simon Nixon says British prime minister, Cameron, has antagonized European leaders by making demands to protect Britain's financial industry. Ironically this happens as Britain was arguing for stricter financial regulation. Britain has been isolated and risks remaining on the sidelines from now on. Nixon says this starts a process that could lead to Britain withdrawing from the European Union.

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Anne Applebaum describes comments of European diplomats she talked to who were strongly critical of British prime minister Cameron's efforts to win special protections for London's financial district, the City. They described this as petty, especially when the European negotiators were working to save the Euro currency. Sarkozy said recently that the British hate the euro, and have done little to help, and should shut up. And that is the sense today in European capitals even as Conservatives in Britain applaud Cameron's move. The result is to isolate Britain from the rest of Europe, even as Britain will be put in a position to having to play by rules set by the other 26 countries in the European Union, who are its main trading partner.

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Discussion in China's inner Communist party leadership circles about the way forward for democratic reforms, including free speech, and monitoring of government policy through criticism. This follows an unusually frank sppech in Shenzen in August, by premier Wen. A number of party elders call for further action in democratic reforms for better governance, and to curb corruption. The sense that China is reaching an impasse, and further development beyond what has been achieved in three decades requires democratic freedoms for the people of China. This has the potential to be a signifcant development, because it comes as economic policies of the past will have a harder time working now because of western resistance to high level of Chinese exports. The search for a new economic model may involve soul searching, and new thought on the political models that are needed now.

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Blackberry CEO Heins is interviewed by the WSJ's Will Connors in January 2013 during the launch of the Blackberry 10 touchscreen smartphone.

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A documentary that will be shown on HBO in fall 2016 was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2015. It shows the disagreements between Holbrooke, who negotiated the Bosnia accords that ended the war there, and president Obama.

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Merkel prods Russia to follow Germany's example as she lands in Kiev on the 75th anniversary of the nonaggression pact signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Merkel said: "That today a German chancellor can be here shows what has happened... We want countries to be able to freely decide their political direction. We no longer participate, as the Federal Republic of Germany, in stirring up historical misery, and that is a good development of history." Russia badly needs to find a new place in a new world rather than stir up memories from the Soviet or Tsarist period, just as Germany has done in the period since 1945 with chancellors Adenauer, Brandt, down to Merkel and president Gauck today. The world today is very different from the period when Merkel grew up in the German Democratic Republic and Putin lived as a KGB officer in Dresden, Germany. Even more so as the manner of living in urban areas in different parts of the world, business, industry, the arts, culture, products is increasingly converging, with higher expectations. ...

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Journalists shot and wounded in the violent police crackdown on protesters in Cairo on August 14, 2013.

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James Stewart of the NYT looks at the outlook for U.S. and international stock and bond markets in 2016. In 2015 stock and bond markets in the U.S. and international were affected by the huge fall in the price of oil and the sharp slowdown in the Chinese economy. This affected commodity producing countries and the oil industry worldwide including the U.S. The slowdown in China affected stock markets in other countries including Germany.

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This article in the Economist describes the different perspectives on the Greece crisis in July 2015 as seen inside Germany. It cites a poll showing German 51% to 41% favoring a Greek exit from the eurozone. About 85% reject further concessions in a July 1, 2015 poll, including 68% of the supporters of The Left, a post-Communist party. Social Democrats leader Sigmar Gabriel, said of the Greece timeout from the euro proposal by finance minister Schauble- that it was the appropriate thing to consider all options. And 78% polled see Greeks not keeping their side of the deal. Some experts see stronger sentiment about Greece after the events in July 2015, and the raising of the issue of the debt haircut given to Germany in 1953, because Germans see themselves as having gone to great lengths to build a strong Europe after their own troubled history in the 20th century. If the goal was to win German support in 2015, this has come across as poor tactics and poor strategy, considering how it has changed German opinion across the spectrum of political opinion....