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Coal India, is a state run monopoly which is a huge stumbling block for India's economic development. India lags behind Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia in the percentage of the population having electricity. Production methods do not use modern technology similiar to mines in other countries, and the average age of the 333,000 employees is 45-50 years. An eight hour shift at some mines produces as much coal as a mine in the U.S. does in 5 minutes, because of the lack of modern technology. About 300 million Indians lack electricity. The Modi administration's focus is on improving efficiency, introducing competition, and bringing major technological changes to the coal industry. Piyush Goyal, India's Coal minister faces one of the biggest challenges in the Modi administration. His focus is on efficiency, and the Modi administration has set a target of 1 billion tons for 2020, a 15% increase in production each year for the next 5 years.

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It goes beyond gun control. Arizona has taken the freedom to carry guns all the way back to the Wild West. High capacity ammunitions are legal. And this is why one person could fire 30 rounds into the crowd in Tucson, and only when he was trying to reload could somone disable him. Also you can carry guns to work and carry guns on college campuses, carry concealed weapons, and little effort is made to restrict someone with history of drug use or other offences by requiring identification checks. The ammunition in this shooting was purchased freely at a Wal-Mart in Tucson. Residents of Arizona seem to think it makes them safer as is evident from comments made by people of different political opinions. Rep. Giffords district also has a 104 mile border with Mexico, which is going through a spree of drug gang related violence. And the shift in the political landscape happened recently with a new Republican governor and the legislature going Republican with hardened attitudes on immigration issues....

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Krugman points to the connection between the failure to achieve debt reduction through debt forgiveness and the sluggish economic growth in the eurozone and U.S., five years after the global banking and financial crisis of 2009 and four years after the beginning of the eurozone debt crisis in 2010. In the U.S. debt reduction for homeowners was delayed with a wave of foreclosures, and in Europe austerity budgets were the norm as Germany pushed hard for austerity policies. In 2014 small relaxation of austerity to give relief to voters took place in Greece, France, Italy and Spain, with austerity budgets still in place. Growth also slowed in Germany to slight contraction in the third quarter and no growth in the fourth quarter of 2014. This is leading to the formulation of new policy to address growth challenges in the eurozone. Debt to GDP is growing in eurozone countries and Britain because of lack of growth, even though spending cuts have been made, showing the need for rethinking policy. ...

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Solomon and Lee of the WSJ describe the role played by Ayatollah Ali Khamanei in the talks, down to the final days- as late as July 14, U.S. Secretary of State Kerry is described as asking his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif, "do you have the mandate of the Supreme Leader?" Zarif replying that he was confident that he did. The media announcement of a deal came that same day July 14, 2015. The last weeks of the negotiations were conducted under the tension that if a deal was not reached quickly the Iranian military or some other factions could upset the deal. Even after the announcement of the deal in the media, Kerry was not certain, saying he never indicated he was confident, and it would all depend on its implementation. U.S. president Obama who initiated the contacts with Khamanei and his close advisors early in his presidency, said that the deal offered the U.S. and the world an opportunity to move in a new direction.

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Germany has 4 million Muslims and Russia 13 million Muslims. Germany is considering banning the anti-Islamic video in Sept 2012. Russia will ban the video and has warned internet companies not to show the video because of its extremist content.

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Malkiel says both sides in the investor debate are right. Those saying the CAPE ratio in the U.S. at 25, well above long run average of 15, are right to point this out. So are the others in the debate who point to the lack of alternatives for investors when the 10 year Treasury bond is at 2.4% and short term rates essentially at zero. Stock prices reflect the discounted present value of future cash flows from dividends and capital gains. This discount rate in 2014 has to take into acount the rate on low risk securities such as 10 year U.S. Treasury bonds and and a premium for riskiness of the stock market. Add three or four percentage points to this and one gets a low discount rate for future earnings that helps support reasoning for higher stock prices, says Malkiel. On the issue of low interest rates Malkiel's view is that they will be around for a long period because the unutilized productive labor capacity and low growth are likely to persist for a long period. Here he supports Fed chairwoman Yellen's view based on the U6 labor utilization. He also sees the long run equity returns from today's prices to be much lower than the 10% long run average. By accomodating both sides Malkiel supports a broadly diversified portfolio with adequate room for emerging markets and international stocks....

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An appeal to the progressive coalition of the 30's, 60's and 90's in the FDR, Kennedy, and Clinton years, by U.S. president Obama in his second inaugual address, could be described as conservative. Yet it presents challenges in the post-boomer period of today with slower growth and an aging population.

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Words from Scalia that form part of his legacy- on democratic self-government as the development of the millenium. It "assumes a continuing appreciation of the need for structural checks," says Scalia. Essential to democratic self-government says Scalia is "what our Framers would have called a liberal disposition on the part of the people: a reluctance to impose their views by law in the face of significant opposition, a reticence to require others to love all that they love and to hate all that they hate." For Scalia that meant " a spirit of liberty" that is never too sure of being right and seeking to understand the thinking of other men and women.

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Von Mark Schieritz of Germany's Zeit Online describes the changes underway following the election campaigns in the U.S., and France, and the Brexit vote in Britain, all signalling the discontent of people left behind by the tech, capitalism, trade and globalization changes of the last two decades. The appeal of one time fringe politicians using racist slogans and divisive rhetoric to appeal to those left behind, appealing to people lacking intergenerational mobility, and without much hope for a better future, is a serious concern. People who are gullible enough, lack college education, or racially isolated so that they are not likely to look carefully at what is being offered in terms of programs and change of competing parties, and likely to overlook the hard and difficult road for corrective course of action, because of anger and pentup fears. Schieritz cites as part of this change the unanimously approved conclusion in its final declaration at the G-20 meeting in Chengdu, China- "The benefits of growth need to be shared more broadly within and among countries to promote inclusiveness." Yet this can be a sort of "too little, too late."  Bankers who are cited in an email going around Wall Street lack credibility with groups on Main Street, to people adversely affected by tech, trade and globalization changes that have been persistently ignored for over a decade, close to two decades. More convincing is the tone of Theresa May, the British prime minister's first statement outside 10 Downing Street- who spoke of the "burning injustices" and her determination to make this a top priority of her government. Still more convincing are the programs to invest $275 billion over 10 years in infrastructure put forward by the leading candidate in the U.S. presidential election of 2016, to provide easier access to public universities and colleges to those left behind, as a sure way to create new jobs and address intergenerational mobility. In fact every leading candidate had made the loss of upward mobility their central plank already in 2015, long before Trump and Sanders started their campaign. The real hope lies in western leaders Merkel, May, and Clinton, all keenly aware students of changes, all women by the way who have sensed the injustice and have the ability to come up with something new and promising for the future, after learning the lessons of the past. ...

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US Vice president JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance and their three children are on a 4 day state visit to India, to New Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. Vance said- "There’s a vitality to India, a sense of infinite possibility,”  It’s a striking contrast with too many in the West, where some in our leadership class seem stricken by self-doubt and even fear of the future.” Vance says relationship with India will define the 21st century. India's pride in its thousands of years old civilization dating back to the Buddha in 2500 BC and the Upanishads, its history and culture, Vance says contrasts with Western countries that are critical of India while embracing the “same bland, secular, universal values.”   ...

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Asking the right questions is important to Tim Brown at IDEO. But how do you find the right questions, that takes work says Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO. He was supported as a 21 year old by the head of a large woodworking company in England, given the opportunity to show what he could do with design. He has tred to do the same with young people in his company. He is eager to participate in the new ideas that come up, but now makes sure others own their ideas and gain confidence and grow. He delegates operational stuff that others can do better so he can focus on the important questions facing the company.

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Volvo sales reached about 135,000-140,000 units in North America in 2003-2004 and is dropping since then down to about 100,000 units. Now Volvo worldwide which had a loss in the 2008 first quarter of $151 million on a decline in sales by $400 million and selling 22,000 fewer cars, compared to same quarter 2007, is cutting production. Volvo is affected by its mix in sales with larger cars and its larger SUV not selling as well as its smaller cars. This even though sales are expanding in Russia and China. The exchange rate between the Swedish kronor and the dollar is hurting Ford as the adverse exchange rate has cost Ford $1.7 billion in losses in the last 2 years. About 3000 workers buyouts in the last 2-3 years from a global workforce of 25,000. And 100 positions were cut through consolidation at a single North American headquarters in New Jersey. North American dealerships will be reduced from 350 to 300 by 2009. Production cuts are at plants making the larger models. Production has been cut at the Torslanda plant in western Sweden, where the pace of production will be cut by one third from 60 an hour to 44 an hour cars produced. The plant shift redction will lead to about 700 layoffs by January2009. No cutbacks are planned at the plant in Belgium which makes smaller cars and the S60 crossover SUV. ...

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Four resolutions Jack Welch suggests for 2009 and tough times for anybody leading acompany, adivision, or a team, are to be focussed on delivering innovative products and services. Your customers are hurting too so give them more value for their buck. So don't get too defensive and be looking at the internal side of costs alone. Be outward looking and stay on the offensive suggests Welch. This is the first and foremost resolution. The second resolution is make the value of integrity and keeping it, employees learning that ignoring ethical violations however small is the same as making one. Third, he suggests educating the employees and the public of the dangers of taking away secret ballot in labor elections through the Employee Free Choice Act. Its the failure of the union to change work rules and other ways of doing things that has created a lot of the problems facing the Detroit auto industry. Its not the best way to preserve jobs and benefits when they be eroded by failing competitiveness and other errors. And the last resolution for 2009 and the tough years ahead is to celebrate the hard work and results in addressing the difficult challenges ahead so the team remains motivated, inspired, and works with enthusiasm to build on small victories and heroic efforts. ...

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A letter from 600 American economists to the Speaker of the House and party leaders in Congress outlines the case for increasing the U.S.minimum wage in 3 steps till 2016, with 95 cent increases each year taking it to $10.10 an hour and indexing it to inflation. This would help take the wages for the full year of 17 million Americans- most disproportionately women struggling to make ends meet, working age of about 35 years and older, and parents of small children- from $15,000 to $21,000 a year. Another 11 million who are just above the new minimum wage would benefit as companies adjust their internal wage ladder. The letter points out that negative effects on employment are little or none even at a time of weakness in the labor market. It says that instead there would be "a small stimulative effect on the economy as low wage workers spend their additional earnings, raising demand and job growth, and providing some help on the jobs front."

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Japan has accomplished a remarkable transformation of its workforce and its economy even as the working age population is declining. For years Japan was seen as a stagnant economy with a rapidly aging population. In recent years Japan has shown how a change in policy can work. Since 2012 working age population declined by 4.7 million, yet the number of people working increased by 4.4 million. The proportion of the population in the workforce rose sharply since 2012. To do this Japan turned to three underutilized parts of its workforce and population- the elderly, women and new immigrants. Japan has pursued an active policy of reviving the economy by bringing women into the workforce and breaking taboos on new immigrants. In 2004 Japan raised retirement age from 60 to 65, and then made it mandatory for companies to raise or abolish the retirement age, or introduce a system for re-employing workers who retire. This has changed Japan a lot with Japanese men working well into their 60's and 70's. In the west coast city of Kanagawa which now has a bullet train to Tokyo, out migration was a big problem that added to a declining workforce. The head of Ohara, a family owned company that makes desserts tried a novel method of advertising to seniors in apartment blocks and starting attracting seniors to fill worker shortages. It found that seniors came to work on time, performed even tedious tasks, and brought a great deal of experience. Since then the regional government has started programs to get more retirees and women into the workforce. The special programs teach small companies to adapt to the needs of retiree workers who can work in shorter shifts of few hours and do less physical jobs. Women need predictable hours to pickup children from school and shorter work weeks, for which the regional government program helps companies adapt by sending in specialists to guide the companies. As a result female participation in the workforce, for very long a big handicap is no longer so. Female participation has jumped to 63%, higher even than that in the OECD where the average is 62 years.  Japanese women had a M curve that meant they worked most in their 20's. less in the 30's with children, and more in the 50's. First the government tried to correct this with extended parental leave, increased childcare, and rewarding companies with good work-life balance. Then in 2009 the effort accelerated with employers required to offer 6 hour days if a worker asked for this. Under prime minister Abe's "womenomics" effort child care was significantly expanded- by 2015 Tokyo went from 28 to 38 spots open for every 100 two year olds. Alongside these efforts the Abe government tried to get companies to rethink their assumptions about quantity of work and overtime as productive effort. One could work shorter hours and be productive, and the old notions were seen as resulting in lower productivity. As fathers with parental leave took on more responsibility the changes transformed the attitudes for women at work. Most remarkable is the quiet change in immigration policy. The government allowed foreign construction workers to address shortages for work on the 2020 Olympics. It introduced a 3-5 year visas program for nursing care workers. Two new categories of visas will add 340,000 additional blue collar workers over next 5 years. The total foreign born workers in Japan doubled from 2012 to 2017 to 1.3 million. ...

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The LDP's landslide victory in the Dec. 2012 elections is not seen as a mandate for Shinzo Abe, the new LDP prime minister. Abe acknowledged this when he said: "We recognize that this was not a restoration of confidence in the Liberal Democratic Party, but a rejection of three years of incompetent rule by the Democratic Party." The LDP won 294 seats compared to the 308 seats won in the landslide win by the Democratic Party of Japan three years ago. Abe campaigned on a stronger stance in Japan's disputes with China. Yet he is committed to maintaining relations with China, a key trading partner. On China Abe says: "Our goal is to stop China from making these challenges, but we do not intend to allow an overall worsening in relations." Osaka Mayor Hashimoto's Japan Restoration Party was expected to do well but his campaign lost momentum after joining with Shintaro Ishihara, a nationalist politician. The Tomorrow Party which campaigned on the nuclear issue and anti-nuclear sentiment petered out after voters sensed the impact of electrical shortages and prices. The LDP is pro-nuclear and plans to reverse some of the anti-nuclear steps taken by the DPJ. The Democratic Party of Japan gained only 57 seats, and the former DPJ prime minister during the earthquake and tsunami, Naoto Kan, lost his parliamentary seat. Just as the PRI, a party that held a long monopoly of power was returned to power in Mexico in 2012, the LDP is returning to power, but very dependent on voters aspirations for good governance and its performance in office....

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A small group of founders of the Pay Pal company Sacks, Thiel and Musk  are only a small fraction of the larger tech universe that includes Apple, Google and Amazon and other technology companies in many industries including auto, aerospace, chips, other manufacturing,  possibly no more than 10--20%. They are now enabled by US Supreme Court decisions to allow business supported PAC's to operate freely to influence political events in 2024 for promoting their own business interests.  The influence operates through social media channels in ways that limit verifying of information because of the speed with which information can be posted on the internet. This has created new challenges for 2024 and the American system of representative government enshrined in the words in the preamble of the Constitution about  "We the People" - "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." ...

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This article by Gerald Seib in the WSJ says not enough was done to attract white working class voters- critical for Trump in industrial swing states- at the Democratic National Convention. He says only on the last night of the convention did a factory worker, a home care provider and a laid off restaurant worker, appear on the stage. These are the voters who have drifted away from the Democratic Party. The convention draws ironically on Republican themes, defense foreign policy as in the speeches by Leon Panetta and retired General Allen, and in efforts to portray Hillary as more human with frailties but a 40 year public service record that includes exceptional work for children. Actually the appeal to traditional Democratic white working class voters was there always in the background with most of the speakers, as it colored most speakers comments including Biden and Kane, who have the colloquial language and style to appeal to this group. The appeal to traditionally white working class voters is in the party platform with the $15 minimum wage for service industry workers, and in the promise to provide college free tution for people making less than $125,000. The Democrats simply painted this with a different brush. Contrasting the callous attitude to the poor and struggling of billionaires like Trump with those who have fought for pushing people up the ladder since FDR- with the lapses in recent years from the tech boom which left some workers short now being addressed. This was expressed by Hillary Clinton saying to Bernie Sanders voters- "your cause is our cause." For Democrats it was more effective to tackle the traditionally Democratic working class voters first, before shifting to working class voters who are border line Republican because of social issues or those who are so disaffected so as to be beyond reach. ...

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This editorial in The Economist magazine points out that the doggedness of prime minister Theresa May now looks like pig-headedness. The crisis is of poor leadership. It also exposes two deeper problems in the Leave campaigns distorted message that it is possible for Britain to leave the EU, "to take back control" without making it harder to for British business and the economy to trade with its partners in Europe. It also exposes concerns of democracy that see the referendum as the only message from the people- the general election of 2017 brought Conservatives to power without a majority in parliament changing the picture about the referendum's message. Particularly since the referendum Leave campaign presented a distorted  message leaving out what the cost would be for Britain.  Ejection from the single market, decline of industy from finance to carmaking, destablisation of Northen Ireland peace agreement, exit bill of 50 bill euros was not advertised in the Leave campaign. Buses with posters of immigrants streaming across borders in Europe presented an emotional message recklessly sold to voters. Representing the will of the people can be claimed now by all sides, says the Economist. Leaving Europe on March 29 deadline with no deal would be bad for Europe and economic upheaval for Britain. Discerning the will of the people should not be the work of squabbling MP's or backbenchers in parliament. The only practical and sensible way out of this mother of all messes is to go back to the people and get a new opinion with broad daylight thrown on the realities facing Britain.   ...

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As a federal criminal probe gets underway into AIG, questions remain about whether AIG misled investors, and whether AIG executives themselves suppressed information from their own internal auditors and ignored the advice of their external auditors Price Waterhouse. The internal auditor raised questions with his boss Mr Cassano about the credit default swaps that AIG had written for its clients. An requests for collateral from AIG to support the credit default swaps were kept hidden. The internal auditor Mr. St. Dennis wrote" I was gravely concerned about this (the request by clients for collateral from AIG worth billions for the derivatives called credit default swaps AIG had sold) and AIG believed that the likelihood of makig payouts was remote." Mr Cassano kept Mr Dennis out of important meetings because he said "I was concerned that you would pollute the process." An important aspect of all this is how it relates to executive compensation that has motivated some of these actions. Mr. Cassano according to the audit committee chairman, earned $280 million over 8 years at AIG, left the company in March and was slated to receive $1 million a month through the end of 2008. The contract was terminated the day before the Congressional hearing. This is a huge amount about $35 million a year and not only is this executive compensation but it is paying someone enough that he would do something that is unethical, or lead to large negative consequences, or even commit fraud, depending on the ethical base of that individual. And this is where executive compensation has ceased to be executive compensation but almost enough to pay someone to do something equivalent in consequences to robbing the bank....

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Closer scrutiny shows that tech companies that have gradually bought into or expanded into new technologies have market power that works to the detriment of democracy in the US. It also fuels a race of other companies with opposing views such as News Corp to use its market power resulting in rival groups not the people of the US able to form their own judgements about the best policies for the American people and the world. NY Times says of Google's Class B voting shares that have 10 votes per share giving founders Larry page and Sergey Brin control of the company that it is OK given their motto "don't be evil." Yet this advertisement of benevolence may just be a way of preventing close scrutiny of the company. Google through You Tube and Podcasts controls huge parts of the media space in 2024 in streaming services that are replacing cable television in 2024. What effect it is it having on public discourse in the US and is a separate class of voting shares a detriment to democracy? This report says NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange oppose this and this type of Class B is because it was set up before Google went public. NYTimes takes a casual approach to all this by saying it is Google followers, people who come after Brin and Page, or someone who buys the company,  who might be sloppy or greedy.  Closer scrutiny shows that tech companies that have gradually bought into or expanded into new technologies have market power that works to the detriment of democracy in the US. It also fuels a race of other companies with opposing views such as News Corp to use its market power resulting in rival groups not the people of the US able to form their own judgements about the best policies for the American people and the world. ...