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Jurio Osawa talks to Toshiba Corp.'s CEO, Norio Sasaki about Toshiba's plans to increase investments in infrastructure businesses, including nuclear energy. Sasaki sees continuing need to use nuclear energy because of limited supplies of oil and gas to meet needs in emerging markets. He sees demand growing for nuclear energy in China, Brazil, India, Turkey and Vietnam. Toshiba owns Westinghouse Electric, a maker of nuclear power equipment, and acquired Landis+Gyr, a Swiss company which makes advanced power meters. Demand for Westinghouses' AP1000 reactors with safety equipment in China is expected to grow from the 4 being built today to 20 in 2020, and 70 in 2030. He says the consumer electronics businesses have suffered because of the strong yen, and for the failure of Japanese companies to taking strong action to improve their competitive position and staying ahead of market trends. At the same time the consumer electronics business generates cash because investment requirements are low compared to infrastructure businesses, which is why Toshiba will continue to operate in profitable parts of the consumer electronics business....

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Nocera points out that in a larger sense pay czar Feinberg hasn't accomplished his goal- to change the ethos of the pay culture at banks and companies. $200 million to be paid out at AIG is in contracts for March 2010, and 14 of the highest Citigroup executives still will make $5 million to $9 million each, and Ken Lewis wil still get $70 million in retirement pay, and nothing that Feinberg can do about it. A lot of it has been shoved under the rug. As far as shifting compensation to stock instead of salary, Goldman and Morgan Stanley have already done that and that is a change that is already happening at these banks. But executive compensation will nevertheless be out of proportion and the public angry. Nell Minnow, the co-founder of the Corporate Library, says the only way is to throw the bums out, meaning the board members on the compensation committees. But this is up to shareholders and the job maybe to make it possible for shareholders to do so easily.

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Hirofumi Gumi, a top official of Japan's Financial Services Agency, during the administration of prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, says he cannnot understand why America is making the same mistakes as Japan. It took some tough actions under the leadership of prime minister Koizumi (2001-2006)- after 6 years of failed policies till 2002 following Japan's banking crisis in 1996- that helped restore the country's banking system. Under Heizo Takenaka, as head of the agency supervising banks, a large part of the bad loans in the Japanese banking system were taken off the bank's books. Some banks with insufficient capital, such as Resona Bank, were nationalized. Takenaka told the banks not to cover up or pretend the problem was not big enough, and declared he was not open to negotiating. Gumi says Takenaka's tough actions helped to restore credibility in the country's banking system. One of the key lessons from Japan is that no stimulus is likely to succeed until the banking sector is fixed. This is the lesson the Obama administration has failed to grasp....

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GE's share price falls below $10. It has dropped 77% in 1 year from the 52 week high of $38.52 a share. Last time it hit this level was April 17, 1995. And its GE Capital unit faces problems. For years it generated half of GE's profits, now it had to sell its commercial paper to the government when markets dried up last fall. It has had to use a government bond guarantee program for bond issuance in recent months, even though it was at one time one of the largest corporate bond issuers. It has been unable to sell its $30 billion private label credit card operations and it appliances and light bulb units, as there are no buyers. As the stock drops GE has to consider cutting the dividend of $1.24 per share, to keep more cash to navigate this crisis. GE's Immelt continues to have his managers focus on the operations, and its business reviews that were conducted weekly are now conducted daily, and the monthly reviews are conducted weekly. But being proactive hasn't helped in this environment. ....

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Places like Denver with houses in the distant suburbs or exurbs, on cattle ranches south of Denver, where people then commuted to work in the city of Denver, like other places across the country, are seeing a reassessment of the costs of time and money in being so far from the city weighing that against the benefits of being in the open country. There may not be a complete shift back to the cities but a reordering is expected to make city and nearby suburbs living more attractive. And housing prices are recognizing this as exurbs house prices are declining faster.

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The views of Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Fed, of Robert Steel Undersecretary of the Treasury, and of r Schwartz of Bear Stearns and Dimon of Chase JP Morgan and Ben Bernanke in answering questing at a key congessional hearing of the Senate banking Committee about the Bear Stearns collapse. The $2 a share was determined after Geithner and Paulson knew that JP Morgan was prepared to bid $2 a share, and Paulson saw the need to keep the price as low as a higher price would create the possibility of moral hazard. Dimon's view he was buying a house on fire and he had to do in 48 hours what it would take a month to do, Schwartz, view the rumors did Bearn Stearns in ans set the stage for a bank run, Geithner's view the Fed would not have lent money to Bear Stearns directly under its new policy of lending to investment banks because it felt very uncomfortable about Bear Stearns knowing what it knew at the time. Officials say that the first $1 billion in losses from Bear Stearns would be borne by JP Morgan and after the $10 a share upgrading of the Chase offer the Fed lent $25 billion to Bear Stearns/Chase to complete the deal separate from the $30 billion Fed support of the original deal. Fed disclosed that securities firms borrowed an average of $38.1 billion a day through the week ending Wednesday and direct lending to tradtional borrowerswent up dramatically to $7 billion a day up from $550 million a day the previous week and the highest level since 9/11. Ben Bernanke's view it was action necessary in the interest of the American economy, and the bailout of Bear Stearns was a bailout of the markets in general. This includes Asian markets because the pressure was to do something before Asian markets opened Sunday night....

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About 80% of Ballmer's money ($150 billion -former Microsoft CEO) is in Microsoft stock and 20% in index funds. He tried investing in stocks, Colgate Palmolive at advice of Jim Cramer a college buddy. Then tried diversifying. Tried money managers and found it difficult to find ones that outperform. So he dumped them all. His approach was shaped by Warren Buffet who says put it in S&P shaped index fund. He says-  Keep it Simple. Keep it Simple. We are financially blessed. What I seek says Ballmer is not to have anxiety, not to have to spend a lot of time, where we are blessed enough if we make 7%, the standard S&P return in the long run. He had luck listening to the right people and his loyalty to the company.  When Balmer left office as CEO in 2014 Microsoft market capitalization was $300 million. Ten years later it is $3 trillion with work on cloud computing and AI. Microsoft gained 29%  each year in that period including dividends, the S&P 13% with dividends, endowments 8%. As investor non-investor Ballmer now exceeds $150 billion and is No. 9. Most investments are in one trick ponies Google for example or in two trick ponies Apple, Amazon or Microsoft. One trick pony means they milk it, and milk it, and milk it. Three trick ponies not many you can find. ...

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This WSJ report on critical analysis of coronavirus data has a very useful chart of Estimated Range of Symptomatic Cases Reported by Country. Complete coronavirus data for all symptomatic persons who have the coronavirus infection is lacking in most countries. Many people in large populations have symptoms and are positive but are not reflected in the official data collection. This is a big problem as the total number of cases are understated by a magnitude of twice to five times the numbers reported in official tally.   South Korea has done a good job of getting more of the symptomatic people with the infection in its data, as about 53% to 90% of such persons are reflected in official data. Next comes Germany at a range of 38% to 55%.  China comes third and has about 28% to about 38% of such persons reflected in its data, the U.S. currently on April 4 at about 14% to 19%, according to this chart in the WSJ. The source for this is Mathematical Modeling Center at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. What this means is that the US. number of cases at 278,000  reported infected people with symptoms (April 4) is only 14% to 19% of the true number. Another way to say this is that the actual infected persons with symptoms is about 5 times what is reported, or over 1 million not the 278,000 reported.  As happens for China data collection agencies may never get the true number. To be comparable to the Chinese numbers, as the U.S. is a large country, the figure closer to the true numbers would be twice the 278,000 reported or over half a million symptomatic infections of coronavirus in the U.S. Why is this data important. With widespread testing as in South Korea one gets data that tells one how many people are infected (the size of the problem) and therefore the resources needed and the point of greatest impact. Also it tells one the typical transmission rate per person, and it helps hospitals in each area know what to expect and what resources are needed to prepare- not find people suddenly turn up in the E.R. in unpredictable numbers. The lack of widespread testing and better reporting in the data to get a grip on the pandemic is shown in this chart for countries hardest hit, less than 5-6% for Italy and Spain. The UK and France at 5-8%.   ...

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The WSJ is still calling the president's stop fentanyl flows tariffs on CMC Canada Mexico and China economic tariffs in this editorial board opinion. It is incomprehensible that little or no mention is made in most of the media of the magnitude of injury to the US, the 490,000 deaths in America over 12 years as the result of Canada, Mexico and China not taking the needed action to stop fentanyl flows into the US. There is also the added factor of lack of a level playing field in trade which has resulted in the same communities in many cases having suffered from in the case of China loss of 25 million jobs over the last 10 years and loss of $250 billion in infrastructure and public services for schools, libraries, childcare, and health care clinics that were lost from losses in taxes for local communities in the US. This has decimated life in these communities and in small towns across America.  In the case of Mexico the illegal migrant flows that were not stopped at the border have put an added burden on already underfunded and strained public services in local communities in the US. This is the reason for much of the frustration and anger that has built up over time in these communities with the response from the DJT administration to find solutions. CMC countries could have taken action on their own, yet the US had waited too long for this action. Reciprocal in reciprocal tariffs is about fairness, a level playing field, something that China had agreed to in the spirit of the WTO entry in 1994 and American desire to aid China industrialize build a modern economy. Instead US business was coopted by China during the industrialization process 1995-2010, 2010-2020, including in the first term of the DJT administration even when tariffs were imposed. This happened with transfer of technologies happening late into the first term of the DJT administration 2016-2020, which has led to a much of the pent up frustration and action in the first 100 days of DJT in 2025.  ...

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Chile, Mexico and the U.S. rank high in the diabetes rate for top soda consuming countries. In the U.S. the diabetes rate is at 7.7% of the population, in Chile 9.6% and Mexico 9%. Soda consumption per capita was at 165 litres in the U.S., 146 litres in Mexico and 134 litres in Chile, and 145 litres in Argentina where the diabetes rate is at 3.9%, for 2012. A new public service ad in Mexico City subway stations says it all, showing an ad with a soda bottle and the words- "Would you take 12 teaspoonfuls of sugar? Soda is sweet, diabetes isn't." The new Pacto de Mexico agreed to by all major political parties includes the soaring diabetes rate in Mexico as a problem to be tackled, including lunches at public schools and the consumption of coke and sodas by children. A particular acute problem in Mexico is the lack of clean drinking water in many areas and the dependence on coke and sodas for liquids. But bottled water could be used in its place if available at lower prices. One proposal is for a soda tax which could generate $2 billion and be used for setting up clean drinking water fountains in schools and other places. Elected officals in Mexico are firm about the need for action, as Mexico recently became the first country over 100 million inhabitants with the highest obesity rates at 7 adults out of 10 over the age of 20 obese or overweight, and the consequently high diabetes rate. Diabetes is the No. 2 killer in Mexico, and a serious health danger. Coca Cola gets its second highest revenues from Mexico after Europe, and the situation has evolved after years of heavy coke advertising to the point where Coca Cola is taken at every meal by some Mexican families, and is a sign of prestige. The company's response is to fight the public service ads with ads showing people burning off 149 calories by walking. The country now faces a long and uphill fight. Russia is one of the countries which is also conducting a similiar fight against soda drinks. The Bloomberg Philanthropy is financing efforts against soda drinks in Mexico, as part of its campaign against smoking and sodas as health hazards, and this maybe Bloomberg's bigger contribution to society than his service to New York City. Developing middle income countries such as Mexico, Chile, India, China, Brazil, are the hardest hit by soaring diabetes. And the costs to their health systems in 10-20 years from uncontrolled obesity and diabetes will be enormous. The U.S. is a developed country with similiar high rates of obesity and diabetes, with soaring medical costs, and serious problems that strangely have not received the public awareness and efforts that one should expect. ...

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A U.S. Navy destroyer travels within 12 nautical miles of the Spratly Islands on October 26, 2015. The Spratly islands are reefs that are submerged under high tides and only recently turned into islands through land reclamation by China. Under international law all nations can uses the seas near the reefs as opposed to rock. The U.S. wants to keep the sea lanes open for all countries. The Spratly Island reefs are located in the shipping lanes near Vietnam and Indonesia in the South China Sea, a great distance from the Chinese mainland. U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter made it his top priority when he took this position in 2015 to assert the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. The action was taken after the Xi Jinping visit to the U.S. to tackle this issue without affecting bilateral economic and global cooperation relations with China.

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The most recent U.S Congressional Budget Office projections make assumptions of an higher U.S. unemployment rate for the next 10 years. This worsens the outlook for the U.S. deficit. The CBO projections assume unemployment of 8.5% by the end of 2012, remaining over 8% till 2014. The deficit for fiscal 2012 is projected to be $973 billion, or 6.2% of GDP. This is down from $1.3 trillion, or 8.5% of GDP in the fiscal year ending Sept 30, 2011, after spending cuts. Over the coming ten years CBO projects cumulative deficits of $8.5 trillion and U.S. debt at 82% of GDP in 2021, under a scenario where Congress renews the Bush tax cuts and payroll tax cuts, and is unable to reduce fees paid to doctors under Medicare. The gap between revenue and spending is widening- revenues are at 15.3% of GDP in 2011 and spending is 23.8% of GDP.

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New information shows a crisis is developing in higher education as student debt passes $1 trillion with the unrelenting rise in the cost of college. Higher debt levels is leading to higher droput rates. According to think tank Education Sector, 30 percent of college students taking out loans dropped out of school, compared to 25% ten years ago. And work can be a large factor as students take parttime jobs to lower the loan burden- half of college dropouts attributed dropping out to work, according to a 2009 study by Public Agenda. It also adds another burden to the productive potential of the U.S. economy. The director of the Center on Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University, Anthony Carnevale, estimates the cost to the U.S. economy at half a trillion dollars in terms of skills not available for increasing economic output and income lost for dropouts.

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Apple is investing $700 million in a new material called sapphire that will replace glass to provide better breakage protection for the iPhone. The first sapphire screens will be coming off a manufacturing plant in Mesa, Arizona, that Apple runs with GT Advanced Technologies. Apple is using sapphire, a harder and more corrosion resistant material that is costly to produce, for the cover on the fingerprint reader and iphone camera lens. About 11% of iPhone owner screens have cracked or broken screens, according to warranty provider SquareTrade. Compared to Gorilla Glass costing $3 per screen, the sapphire screen would cost $16. Apple paid $113 million for a 1.4 million square foot Mesa facility from a solar panel producer and leased it to GT, a manufacturer of furnaces to produce sapphire. Apple is paying GT $578 million to install furnaces at the factory and run the plant.

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The number of people working lesss than 35 hours per week is approaching 7 million according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many of these families are seeing furloughs of afew days amonth, pay cuts and shorter working hours. All this means buying at the discount store, like this family which keeps careful track of account balances while shopping, and keeping a meticulous track of purchases tossed into the shopping cart with a calculator so as not to go over the budget. This may be the reason companies like P&G have introduced affordable lower end brands, so as not to permanently lose these customers to store brands. See the link to P&G's discount brand strategy, which couples with its developing super premium brands at the same time, yet barely eking out a 1-2 % revenue gain in 2009 and 2010 by its estimates.

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Eco-power washes for engines developed by Pratt and Whitney, a manufacturer of jet engines, is aservice that costs $3000 to $5000 per wash. It helps take the dirt and sludge off the engines that accumulates after ears of flying. The caked on grime from the inside of the engine can reduce fuel consumption by 1.2%, which adds up over time. Pratt estimates that if the entire industry used this service $1 billion in fuel costs could be saved and emissions of carbon dioxide reduced by 3.2 billion pounds. There is additional savings in maintenance as the engines run cooler when cleaned, and airlines can avoid costly overhauls for as long as 18 additional months. Wasdhing takes 90 minutes, is clean and pays for itself in weeks. Southwest started its program in April and by late May 2008 had done 248 washes. It estimates savings from these washes at $1.6 million.

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This picture essay in The Guardian shows the 700,000 additional people displaced inside Afghanistan in 2021 in addition to the 2.9 million displaced people by 2020. The British stayed out of Afghanistan except for brief forays from concern about Russia entering close to British India. Not much happened till Zahir Shah, the King of Afghanistan was seen as not doing much for a famine that struck the country in 1972. Drought struck much of the country in 1972 leading to the deaths of over 100,000 people from starvation. The King had ruled since 1933. And for a brief period his cousin and brother-in-law Daud Khan had actually run the administration between 1953 to 1963, before being dismissed with a new constitution adopted not allowing the royal family to rule the country without consulting parliament. The poor handling of famine relief led to the fall of the government appointed by King Zahir Shah in 1972. In 1973 Daud Khan violates this constitution and assumes control of the country. British India was in 1972 the India of the Nehru period, with his daughter Indira Gandhi the democratically elected prime minister. India fought a brief war with Pakistan in 1971 that set up the new nation of Bangladesh from territory of East Bengal. India preoccupied with Bangladesh refugees did not do what the British had done to keep outside powers out of Afghanistan and maintain a stable monarchy. Daoud Khan's repression of Communist party leaders led to Communist party military factions in the army taking over the country in 1978. The Afghan military led by officers in the army's Communist factions had little support in the traditional Islamic nature of the countryside for their land reforms. Leading to a rebellion and entry of Soviet troops under a friendship treaty signed in 1978 with Soviets under Leonid Brezhnev. It is this disrupting of the stability of the Afghan monarchy or the entry of Soviets or Americans or any other foreign influence that was carefully prevented in British India by Britain's India policy, which resulted in a period of peace and stability in that region. The events of 1974 with the fall of the monarchy, and the entry of Russia in 1978 broke two of the main rules the British had observed from 1750- a stable monarchy and no outside influence in Afghanistan. A policy the British also followed for Tibet. When China entered Tibet in 1950 Nehru was too preoccupied with the millions of refugees from Pakistan and failed to prepare in the years 1947-50 for following British policy on Tibet by preparing or anticipating the entry of foreign powers. The entry of China into Tibet in October 1950 led to the Sino India border war of 1962, and led to the current situation of India facing a Chinese army all along the border of Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Nepal and all the way in the Himalayas to Kashmir. The result has been billions of dollars spent by the US every week starving domestic priorities, as president Biden observed this week, and a burial place for empires. Ten years for Russia, and twenty for the US with the same result. It has left the whole region poorer and in humanitarian crisis for 50 years, and created crises for Russia, Pakistan, India, and the US. ...

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A number of critical issues need to be resolved for nuclear energy to play a critical role in energy supply. One is how to dispose of the waste product and storage facilities for the waste product, the other is fuel reprocessing tfor reuse and the separation of plutonium which can then be subject to possible theft for use in nuclear bombs. The other is the rising cost of concrete, steel and other products as well as the labor to build new nuclear plants. So a plant may now cost $7 billion rather than $3 billion for a 1500 megawatt nuclear reactor. Government incentives thus become a necessary part of this to reduce risk to companies. NRG Energy Dominion and Duke Energy have filed applications to build plants based on the incentives put in pklace by Congress. The subsidies include a 1.8 cent tax credit for each kilowatt hour produced which could be worth $140 million per reactor per year, a $500 million payout for each of the first 2 plants built, and $250 million each for the next four. if there are delays for reasons outside the company's control, and a total of $18.5 billion in loan guarantees. The loan guarantees are crucial to get banks to loan the money. Tho other issues are the shortage of skilled workers and contractors with nuclear certification, lack of potential sites for new reactors, and only 2 companies Japan Steel Works and France's Creusot Forge, a unit of Areva, have the technology for building key reactor parts such as massive pressure vessels. Another issue is whether other alternatives can supplement nuclear energy such as solar and the incentives that can be provided to solar energy. So nuclear energy which provides 20% of the US energy needs wil go much higher it will be supplemented by other energy moves and nuclear plants will be built but not to the extent that McCanin would like to see of 45 plants by 2030. ...

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A cap on oil prices till the end of 2022 and beyond, indexing pension payments to inflation, and providing more income to self-employed, are some of the ways reelected president Macron plans to meet the cost of living crisis. A parliamentary majority is expected yet cohabitation with Mr. Melenchon as prime minister is a possibility says this FR24 support. Mr. Melenchon who narrowly missed beating Le Pen to become the second round candidate is positioning himself to lead France into the second term presidency of Mr. Macron. It was with the help of Melenchon supporters that Macron was able to win the presidency in the second round. Melenchon campaigned in the belief that the presidency had become too powerful and remote from the issues facing ordinary people. Melenchon as prime minister could bring someone familiar with the struggles of ordinary people in cost of living and to get good manufacturing jobs into the leadership ranks for the fight to Build Better in Europe. ...

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Ben Rooney of the Wall Street Journal interviews Mike Lynch of Autonomy. He tells Rooney that the main reason he sold his company to H-P was that H-P had no legacy database business, and this made it possible for H-P to take a new look at how to make data human friendly and to do new things with data that haven't been done before. He describes this as the 85% of what data is about that none of the legacy database companies have shown interest in doing. H-P's size means that it can bring more resources to this effort. He calls this an alignment of values that was the main attraction of H-P to Autonomy. The canny Lynch also says H-P's price, an 80% premium over the share price, was not a blow-out or over-paying by H-P. The London listed technology firms are about 25% undervalued. The acquisition by H-P of Vertica, an advanced database company, also converged in the same direction, says Lynch. And the potential for H-P is to use these resources as a major advatage in developing new products. On the UK technology scene, Lynch says the access to high quality graduates from Cambridge, Imperial, Herriot Watt, and Warwick is an advantage. He worries more about problems lower down with standards of math failing in high schools. ...

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In China since 1981 the poorest people making below $1.25 a day fell to 207 million in 2005 from 835 million in 1981. In India the number of people below $1.25 a day increased to 455 million in 2005 from 420 million people in 1981. The share of the people in poverty fell to 42 percent from 60 percent during the same period. Corresponding figures for East Asia including China show a drop from 80% of the people in poverty in 1981 dropping to 18% in 2005. The proportion of people living below the $1.25 a day poverty line worldwide fell over the nerarly 25 year period from 1981 to 2005 from 52% in 1981 to 26% in 2005. In subSaharan Africa, now the poorest region half or 50% of the people live under the poverty line of $1.25 a day in 2005 almost where it was in 1981. In absolute numbers the region had 380 million people living below the poverty line in 2005 compared to 200 million people in 1981. Note that the World Bank this year changed the poverty line from $1 to $1.25 a day, to make allowance for the inflation that is hitting the poorer countries. Is China a rich nation after the Olympics? Some parts of China, the coastal regions and the regions around big cities like Shanghai and Beijing are relatively affluent with pockets of poorer people but in the rest of the country there is poverty as defined perhaps in terms of deep poverty, poverty, poor middle class without health insurance or any kind of savings for emergencies. With 200 million people in 2005 below the poverty line a question could be asked how many people in China below say $2.00 a day which could be seen as being poor at a time when inflation in food and fuel costs has been significant in developing countries. If its somewhere in the range of 300 and 400 million people in China this explains why in relative terms China would identify with India and the rest of the developing countries and it also explains its stand in the WTO trade talks acting as a developing country protecting the rights of agriculture and farmers within China. And it also explains the reasons why China sees a long transition before it ceases to be a poor developing country and why there is real concern that these 300-400 million people as well as others adversely affected by the rapid industrialization and exercize of state authority, corruption and increasing gaps between rich and poor, adverse effects on environment, that these people adversely affected are listened to and accomodated in the interests of stable progress and fairness. Much of recent history has shown that countries open to foreign trade have done better given the right conditions and careful policy measures. China opened up around 1981, and India around 1991. Also progress and gains are more significant in infrastructure building and in poverty reduction in the latter phases of development as the synergies increase, capital pool increases, and the development accelerates, this shows why China's gains look significant compared to India's at this point in time. In ten years or fifteen years a better assessment could be made and then some points may favor China and some India, and the results will be a result of different history, experiences and problems faced and routes taken because of prior developments in each region and varying complexity. ...