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The Securities and Exchange Board of India SEBI Chairman Damodaran announced rules for foreign participation in the Indian stock market. Half of the foreign investment in Indian stock markets is in the for of participatory notes, and there are $89 billion in participatory notes outstanding as of August 2007, up from $8.1 billion in March 2004, according to SEBI figures. SEBI took aim at the anonymous investors not registered with SEBI and Indian regulators like hedge funds and some banks that bring speculative short term cash into the markets and increase volatility. From now on they will have to be registered with Indian regulators so that the Government can observe and has some control over the inflow and outflow of speculative money. SEBI also announced that funds not regulated in their home markets could no longer use participatory notes. This removes Hedge Funds that are not regulated at home. And SEBI asked that investors using participatory notes based on derivatives to unwind their positions in 18 months. To get longer term investments in the stock markets SEBI invited foreign pension funds, endowments and university trusts to beome registered investors. These rules go into effect Oct 26, 2007. India's stock markets have been up so much so that it has the appearance of a bubble in the making, so SEBI had to take action to preserve the long term stability of Indian stock markets. ...

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The Obama administration's proposed budget for fiscal 2013- for the year beginning Oct. 1, 2012- shows the budget deficit for the year at over $1 trillion. It shows new revenue of $1.7 trillion over 10 years mostly from ending the Bush period tax cuts on families earning more than $250,000 a year, restoring the estate tax to the 2009 level and limiting subsidies for oil and gas companies. It proposes raising the tax rate on dividends from 15% to as much as 39.6%, for households earning more than $250,000 a year. This measure is expected to generate $206 billion over 10 years. The budget also offers "principles" for future tax reform by proposing the Buffett rule replace the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The AMT was not indexed for inflation so it has the weakness of putting more middle class taxpayers into AMT, leading to temporary solutions by Congress. The Buffett rule would have people earning more than $1 million pay a tax rate of at least 30%. Many wealthy Americans like Mitt Romney paid lower taxes using deductions to lower tax rates- Romney's tax disclosures show he paid effective tax rate of 14%. The White House says the budget will reduce the deficit by $3 trillion over 10 years through the new taxes, and small changes to Medicare and Medicaid and other spending cuts. This is in addition to the $1 trillion in spending cuts agreed to in a deficit reduction agreement in 2011 between Democrats and Republicans in Congress. The budget proposal proposes investment in education and transportation projects of $137 billion, and continuing through Dec. 2012, a tax break for businesses to increase investment. It includes mandatory spending of $2.7 billion for new community college programs, $6 billion to modernize schools, and $1.8 billion to make homes more energy efficient. It also increases the resources of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the CFTC (two agencies overseeing the banks), $26 million for a new Interagency Trade Enforcement Center to counter unfair trade practices, and cuts U.S. postal delivery to 5 days a week. The result is a program designed to be balanced in terms of economic fairness, making modest investments in the future for education and energy, continuing policies to stimulate growth, and extending the date for bringing the deficit under control to 2018 instead of 2014 as planned earlier....

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Episode 121 of Mann Ki Baat by PM Modi of India on April 27, 2025 covers a range of subjects from the economic advancement of Kashmir region and the efforts to disrupt this economic progress, to the fight for freedom at Champaran and the role played by Rajendra Prasad. It looks at the British rule in India forcing farmers in Bihar to destroy their land's productivity by planting indigo to meet British traders demands. This was leading to farmers and their families starving for lack of food till Mohandas Gandhi took up the struggle to help farmers with the first test of Satyagraha struggle.Modi describes the months of April as a period of independence struggles from the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre by the British in the Punjab, and the Dandi March from the sea to protest British Salt Tax. Modi describes the efforts to aid Myanmar in earthquake relief, and vaccine aid to Nepal and Afghanistan. He talks about India's scientific mission to Moon, Mars and its 106th launch of space satellite flights. He describes how science is attracting the nation's youth and its imagination as even in Chhatisgarh science centers are attracting young people. This gives a good sign about the future for modernization of the biggest nation in the world. ...

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This is not just offering something to every group, it is rebuilding the middle class when seen in the larger context of rebuilding America's industrial base and taking  it to new heights after losing it to China under Bush-Obama 2000-2016. Under MAGA Trump inequality is tackled just differently from the way Democrats tackled it under Biden. The tax break for auto loans, interest on auto loans is deductible for taxes, is part of the new Tax Bill to appeal to auto workers. It is only applicable to US made cars and this promotes US made cars over foreign factory made cars such as the Germans and Koreans and some Japanese auto makers did before 2025. Reagan scrapped this tax break, it is back under Trump as the Republican base now includes auto workers and the now back to growth mode middle class. The deduction in local and state taxes increases to 30,000 to benefit small business owners. There is also the tax on tips which is removed. Retired people get an added $4000 deduction and not elimination of taxes on social security benefits entirely because of the Bryd rule that prevents changes to retirement with a simple majority vote not the 60 votes in the Senate.  ...

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Agreement was reached for the civilian nuclear deal between India and the U.S. in all night talks, just as President Bush landed in New Delhi. Bush is changing the whole dynamic of India/Pakistan and U.S. relations in a manner comparable to Nixon's visit to China and handshake with Mao. It will never be the same. Divide and rule policies inherited from the British colonization period which pitted India and Pakistan in relation to western interests is put into the dustbin of history. A new period in the relations of the western nations with Asia is beginning, Japan in the Meiji period, China with its opening after the Nixon visit, and India now after the Bush visit. See the speech to the Asia Society by Bush. In this sense Bush and Rice are making huge farreaching changes coinciding with the changes they see in Asia, in a way not even fully understood by themselves and much less by the American press and even less by the American public.

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JP Morgan Chase Treasurer, Joseph Bonocore, left the bank in October 2011, and his replacement took office in March 2012. Bonocore had served as chief risk officer of the Chief Investment Office for 11 years and was intimately familiar with its operations. The executive in charge of risk management at the Chief Investment Office had little risk management experience. Mr. Goldman was named chief risk officer in February 2012. His brother in law Barry Zubrow had previously served as chief risk officer of the bank for many years. In January 2012, Zubrow took the position of head of corporate regulatory affairs. Goldman had spent most of his years as a trader starting at Salomon Brothers in 1980's He later worked at Credit Suisse and Cantor Fitzgerald. He left Cantor after his unit incurred trading losses. In February 2012, Goldman, Zubrow and Ms Drew met with officers of the Federal Reserve arguing in favor of less regulation on proprietary trading, including the Volcker Rule, according to Fed documents....

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Barcelona's football club is unique for several reasons and may support time tested ideas of good ways of managing an organization. It is unique because it is a source of Catalan pride- Catalan having suffered under the rule of General Franco. The Club is owned by its members, called socis in Catalan. There are 150,000 members. Management is responsible to 2500 randomly selected socis and 600 senior socis. Barca also has a boarding school, La Masia, where it brings up talented athletes from a young age, almost like a children's choir in European cathedrals. The boarding school stresses character building and values of team spirit, self-sacrifice, perseverance. Messi is a product of this school's training and support from a very young age. This special feeling of the Catalan spirit, of which Barca becomes the embodiment, makes the club something that may not be easily created elsewhere. Yet the Catalans may have learned some things about nurturing talent, character and team spirit that they have used to setup their unique arrangement. ...

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Total compensation and benefits at publicly traded Wall Street banks and securities firms was a record $135 billion in 2010, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal. This is up 5.7% from the $128 billion in 2009 for the same firms. The 25 largest financial firms saw revenues increase to $417 billion. Things are going back to where they were before the financial crisis with total compensation and benefits now exceeding the levels in 2007. In 2010 deferred compensation made up half of the total pay compared to being one third of total pay in prior years.

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Ingram says Obama's 2015 budget is more of a wish list for Democrats, because 2015 spending levels are already set and House Republicans will put together their own budget putting forward the Republican views. Obama's budget includes new taxes on busiess and the wealthy to reduce the deficit. Other ideas- raise tobacco taxes to pay for universal pre-K education, a "Fianncial Crisis Responsibility Fee" on big banks, overhaul immigraion laws to increase tax revenues, limit itemized deductions for the rich, force drug companies to give large rebates on Medicare prescriptions. Another proposal is a $56 billion "Opportunity, Growth and Security" Initiative, for spending on early childhood education, job training, and medical research. To pay for this he would cut the amount wealthy people can save tax free for retirement, cut crop insurance and raise airline security fees.

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Fernando Lugo, a former catholic bishop wins elections in Paraguay ending the rule of the Colorado party which has been in power for 61 years.

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This WSJ picture essay report from Afghanistan shows life in different provinces, and the road north from Kabul to Herat on the Iranian border. It says that while the Taliban restrict freedoms, the end of the fighting brings peace to the countryside so long plagued by war, and relief for Afghans from endless war.  It also is year of a severe drought that is expected to cripple agriculture, the worst since 1980. It was just this kind of drought in 1972 that crippled agriculture leading to a famine in the country under King Zahir Shah. For some 300 years since 1700 the British kept foreign powers out of the British Empire's surrounding regions including Afghanistan and Tibet. That drought led to the King's brother-in-law taking control of the country in 1974, conducting a repression of Communist leaders who responded by action inside the military leading to 2 communist factions inside the military taking control. These factions fought for control and invited the Soviets into the country with a friendhship treaty. India under prime minister Indira Gandhi had just fought a war in 1971 to set up a free nation of Bangladesh out of the old East Bengal. It had to deal with millions of refugees from Bangladesh in 1971-72 when these changes were taking place in Afghanistan. British policy had maintained peace for so long but Indira Gandhi was not aware of the dangers from the ousting of a king who had ruled since 1933 and the wars that followed. Bringing Russia into Afghanistan after centuries of peace led to the first error America made fighting a proxy war in Afghanistan under the Reagan policy. After a brief period following a ten year struggle and withdrawal of Russia, the US entered Afghanistan in a 20 year conflict which led to the withdrawal this year. President Biden finally ended the war saying Afghanistan had never been united in its history. Because of the far flung provinces and mountainous terrain, the nature of the country, this is correct. It is also a graveyard of empires which is why the British carefully, rigorously carried out a policy of no foreign powers in Afghanistan and Tibet, both neighboring India, ensuring peace since 1700. ...

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Brandenburg Berlin metropolitan region of which Brandenburg and city of Berlin are separate states remains a strong economic region. This is where Germany has evolved under ruler Frederick since the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648. Dietmar Woidke of ruling Social Democrats is expected to win a fourth term in office with the SPD expecting 25% of the vote in the important state of Brandenburg next to Berlin. Even though the AfD right wing party is expected to do well approaching 25% of the vote, there are other factors at work. Sara Wagenknecht has rebranded the Die Linke Left party with immigration policy that is similar to policies now being accepted in Denmark, France, Netherlands and other EU countries that see the need to restrict immigration, drawing 15% support. A good example being Mette Frederiksen, Social Democrats in Denmark. A coalition with the Christian Democrats CDU with about 15% expected vote and Greens with less than 5% is likely for about 45% of the vote. Other factors that show a stable Brandenburg are the economy with the new regional airport hub of Berlin Brandenburg airport, a new Tesla factory, rich natural resources a third of the state of 2.6 million people being filled with forests and lakes, and a stable population after the reunification in 1990 without rural depopulation as in other parts of East Germany, only 12% people of immigrant background including Wagenknecht.   ...

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Efforts to bring the two sides together for ceasefire succeed for Black Sea but hit snags along the way. Russia wanting to get sanctions lifted on it's Agricultural Bank to lift grain and fertilizer exports. A separate deal on not attacking energy infrastructure was negotiated.  Fundamentally NATO needed to be reconstituted at the end of the Cold War. Russia's apparent weakness was temporary as it converted to a market economy from the Soviet model. It's GDP is not a correct representation of it's capabilities and need for respect as an advanced European economy. With US-Russian cooperation nothing like Syria and Venezuelan disasters would have happened disrupting the fabric of American and European democratic systems. Russian conditions include ones that were clear from the early days of the war. Ukraine joining NATO threatens Russian security. That this was not to be allowed. And Ukraine to relinquish territory now controlled by Russia in Crimea and in Ukraine's east. DJT in the US has ruled out joining NATO for Ukraine. These territories have been integrated into Russia and it is unlikely that this would change so that continuation of the war after so many lives are lost doesn't make sense. Europeans particular Baltic Republics and Poland are concerned about Russian intentions- this too is not going to change by continuation of the war. It can be addressed by putting in concrete safeguards. ...

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Mary Schapiro, head of the U.S. S.E.C., joins Promontory Financial, a consulting firm set up by former Comptroller of the Currency managers to act as a "bank doctor" for banks that expect to face regulatory scrutiny from government regulatory agencies. In one settlement for mortgage debt which banks settled for $9.3 billion, Promontory Financial was paid $2 billion, according to this WSJ report.

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Two divergent approaches to the coronavirus are shown in this report in the WSJ. One in Italy which relies on quarantine and lockdown and mandatory social distancing, and the other on keeping borders open and aggressively tracking down the infected using data and testing. In South Korea infections have stabilized at 8000, and in Italy the are rising at 15,000. The divergent approaches and the results vary with the people's history, culture and recent experience. The cultural difference in Asian societies with people willing to cooperate and work together with health authorites for the social stability and good of the country is different from the more individualistic nature of western societies. In addition Italy has a long period of foreign rule of Hapsburgs nd French that has created an attitude of working around authority, the tendency to being furbo which prime minister Conte referred to in a nationwide address.  South Korea and Taiwan also have experience with the SARS and MERS virus during which public health regulations were instituted and comprehensive databases setup that are now being used to combat the new health crisis by tracking down people with health needs. The precedents have taught people in South Korea and Taiwan of how serious this kind of crisis can become, which was absent in Italy in the early stages. Both South Korea and Italy are democracies. The difference being that one has experience with public health crises from experience with SARS, MERS, H1N1, and has developed policy tools, broadened public support and increased state powers in anticipation of such crises. In South Korea there were fines of $8300 for those not willing to be treated and the government aggressively tracked down people. Public support and awareness also helped in controlling the situation. Taiwan has done better than South Korea as covered in a separate article in the WSJ, and shown here, controlling the situation from the beginning including shutting down flights from China early because of its close proximity to China.  ...