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Erich Scwartzel's exceptional account of Dreamworks going astray as its CEO went in a hundred different directions- a smaller studio trying to get into multiple platforms and industries, and trying to compete with much larger Disney in China- provides a unique insight into what happens when a CEO, especially one with creative talent, loses his primary focus. Extensive interviews by Schwartzel with insiders shows the creative people at the studio struggling to get Katzenberg's attention as he made many of his frequent trips to China. DreamWorks Animation CEO's effort to get into several related businesses, television, publishing, theme parks, children's toys, and enter the Chinese market in a big way to compete with Disney, has led to a loss of focus in its main business of feature films. The result is large impairment charges and several films from the "Rise of the Guardians" in 2012 to "Penguins of Madagascar" recently, that did not cover rising production costs at the box office. Four of six films since 2012, before the recent film "Home," failed at the box office since 2012. Katzenberg now says he realizes pursuing different directions led to spreading resources too thin, and he intends to make producing 2 or 3 good feature films every year his No. 1 priority. Restructuring underway and some box office flops led to 4th quarter loss of $263 million from $17 million profit the prior year. About 20% of the workforce or 500 workers will be laid off, a Northern California operation will be closed, and the Glendale headquarters sold and leased back to improve cash flow. DreamWorks shares were at $22.68, March 27, 2015, down from $44 Feb 2010, and IPO day close of $38.75. ...

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Half of the 109 economists and housing analysts polled in October 2010 by MacroMarkets LLC, expect home prices to bottom in 2011, and half don't expect home prices to bottom till 2012. Backing this up is growing inventory in many markets. The Wall Street Journal's latest quarterly survey of housing market conditions in 28 major metropolitan areas showed inventories of unsold homes were up in 19 markets at the end of 3rd quarter 2010, compared to the prior year. The largest increases were in California- in Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Diego. Only parts of Texas, and Washington D.C, and some other areas which have shown decent job growth are an exception. In the Realtor's Report, median home price fell 2.4% to $171,700 in September 2010 from a year earlier. This data does not include the suspension of foreclosures due to title defects, which will further dampen prospects of a recovery in housing. This will affect New Jersey, Florida and other "judicial" states, where the banks must complete foreclosures through court. At the current sales pace it would take 10.7 months to sell the 4.04 million home inventory of unsold homes, according to the recent NAR report. Six to eight months is considered normal. This does not reflect the "shadow" inventory of homes in some stage of foreclosure, which is estimated at around 4 million, creating a problem that even current low rates for a fixed rate mortgage of 4.21% cannot solve....

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Germany faces the possibility of a pandemic surge of the unvaccinated, something that is happening today in the southern United States.  For days the percentage of people that are fully vaccinated remains at 62%. Some vaccination centers are closed. A vaccination center outside the train station in Cologne offers passersby free vaccinations. Berlin's Social Democrat mayor Michael Muller is very frustrated. He says "I am now coming to a point where I think we have exhausted what we can do in politics."  At 62% the rate of fully vaccinated people in Germany is too low to prevent a surge of the Delta variant in the way that it has hit the southern US, and California. Vaccination rates of close to 85% are needed to tackle the risk of another surge in highly contagious delta variant. Not everyone remaining is die hard opposed to vaccines. The Robert Koch Institute estimate is that 5 to 10% of people are in that die hard category. The remaining 20-30 % are people who have various other concerns and fears, hesitancy, that may be changed.  The chairman of the World Medical Association Frank Ulrich Montgomery favors a vaccine mandate, what he calls a 2G rule, that should be introduced in Germany requiring vaccination to attend events, sports, restaurant visits, adopted nationwide. German government has rejected idea of mandatory vaccination of health personnel, that was adopted in France. Vaccination drives are regionally based. Some are ineffective such as the Deutsche Bahn train system vaccination drive for commuters that only had a few hundred doses of J&J vaccine and ran out quickly in Berlin. One prick J&J some say is better for vaccine skeptics. Vaccine skeptics think they may get away without getting covid infection. How does one get over this misconception? Others including members of the Greens party say vaccine needs to be delivered where people are- transit points, bus stops, doses offered in evening and early morning hours, trying new ways to reach people and inspire confidence. Germany now ranks behind France but ahead of Bulgaria in terms of vaccination percentage in September 2021, not a good situation. ...

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David Gelles of the NYT column Corner Office, talks to the head of Accenture, Julie Sweet, about creating an inclusive workplace and levelling the playing field for women. In this interview Julie Sweet talks openly about her upbringing in the small Orange County, California town of Tustin. Her mother graduated from college when Julie was in her freshman year. After several jobs to help her family she went to law school and joined a New York law firm. She tells Gelles about her experience at this law firm Cravath where there were very few women partners and about breaking down sobbing at a unconscious-bias training session at the firm when asked about her own experience as a woman. After being elected partner she set up the first woman's program leading up to bringing more women upto the point where today women are 25% of the partners. Accidently she takes a call from a recruiter 17 years later about a position as general counsel at Accenture. She accepts the offer and five years later she is made the CEO North America of this consulting company with 469,000 employees. Asked about what tactics are effective in creating a level playing field for women Julie Sweet says it comes from making it a business priority. Making diversity and women a priority with measurable goals. Set goals, have accountable leaders and measure progress, says Sweet. Accenture did a study and found stats that were shocking. 40% of companies have no plan for advancing leadership, and less than 40% look at attrition between men and women. A big disappointment but also a large opportunity here to get results by putting in place some basic things. In 2015 She set Accenture goals for 40% women, and sees 2020 goal at gender parity 50-50%. For a firm with hundreds of thousands of consultants worldwide what are the qualities she sees as important in hiring? Sweet says lots of different interests and curiosity for learning. Next comes being able to do straight talk with clients, to deliver tough messages as companies are constantly telling her they want to hear what they need to hear not what they want to hear. ...

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Efforts in 2014 by Jizhong Energy Company to reduce pollution in the city of Xingtai, population 7.6 million, by closing down the worst polluting plants and installing new equipment. The World Bank put the cost of pollution, including cancer and other health problems, at 9% of gross national income in 2009. The Ministry of Environmental Protection estimates 3.5% of GDP as the cost of pollution in 2010. Xingtai's pollution levels have been recorded by air quality monitors at as high as 30 times China's national standard. Government figures show the PM2.5 in the city's air is 150 micrograms per cubic meter over the last 12 months, more than 4 times the national standard. To get some idea what this means, consider that Fresno, California, with the highest pollution level in the U.S. had PM2.5 level of 18 micrograms per cubic meter. To show it is serious the central government requires the city to post pollution figures online, down to individual smokestacks and exhaust ports.

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Younger next generation franchisees now account for 30% of total McDonald's franchisees, reaching 37% in five years, according to McDonald's. This brings new ideas from the younger franchisees. Some of the ideas compete with older notions of fathers, other ideas have to win the approval of McDonald's management. Management at McDonald's implements ideas that it sees as acceptable for all 14,000 restaurants. Local changes such as including book activities for children and sponsoring community events were tried at one franchise in Tolleson, Arizona, and then adopted by 220 restaurants in Arizona. A similiar situation happened at Subway where local franchisees in California tried new ideas in pricing. Ideas implemented throughout the franchises which originated from young next generation franchisees were the use of credit cards which has increased sales, ordering system which uses pictures which reduces wait times, free Wi-Fi, and Angus burgers.

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Margo Oge, headed the Office of Transportation and AIr Quality at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1994-2012. Here she points out the contradiction in what automakers supported when the current fuel emission standards were set and today's effort by the Trump administration to loosen the standards. She also points to the contradiction between the trends in Europe, China, India, which are moving towards stricter standards and the U.S. reversing direction.  About one dozen states in addition to California have the power under the Clean Air Act to set their own standards. These states make up about one third of the U.S. market. What would result is a fracturing of the U.S. market. This would create problems for automakers as one expert recently pointed out in the NYT, that automakers should be careful what they wish for.  Automakers such as Ford say they support the current fuel emissions standards, yet call for flexibility. GM's CEO, Mary Barra, says she supports current standards. Toyota also says it supports the current emission standards. And diesel engines are now declining in Europe as a result of fuel emissions standards to preserve good air quality. History has shown the automakers have suffered badly from competition when emissions and fuel efficiency standards were lax. During the last decade the auto industry in Michigan faced decline as a result of poor management decisions and lack of foresight in pushing forward with new technologies in this field. The current recovery in the auto industry is a result of a reversal of the poor decisions made between 2000-2008, including fuel emissions and fuel efficiency, air quality decisions.    ...

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People in California did not feel the early blows of the coronavirus like New York. This is now turning into a disadvantage as people in California have now failed to follow the guidelines for social distancing and masks as carefully as they should be. The state reopening  took place as the case numbers were increasing as the economy and unemployment became an issue.  State hospitalizations are up 40% on July 1 from 2 weeks ago. Percentage of tests coming positive are close to 6% but in some counties much higher- in Riverside county has rate positive in tests at 11.7% and bars are only recommended to close. In Los Angeles county it is 8.2%. On June 20 the day after the bars were allowed to open 500,000 people visited bars in Los Angeles County. A big problem is that for lockdown the whole state was asked to lockdown by the governor. For reopening it is done by county and each county is doing this differently. Pressure to reopen has led to counties with increasing and poor metrics for cases still reopening. Some counties felt pressured to open when other counties had reopened. Even when a county such as Riverside or Los Angeles county is doing poorly the governor waits 14 days for it to be on a watch list before acting. This is too long for the extremely contagious virus giving it time to spread quickly. Governor Newson is now facing serious problems tackling the coronavirus. ...

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How the final legislation language and fuel efficiency manadated standards were worked out . At 35 mpg for the combined fleet the standard for 2020 is well behind what is seen in European Union countries and in Asian countries. The final language gives the EPA and the states like California the right to set their own standards for tailpipe emissions.

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Th Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, is designed to provide relief to homeowners facing foreclosure. HAMP has also prevented these homes -from the seven million home loans that are delinquent -from joining the overall inventory of homes, and depressing home prices further. Eighteen months after HAMP was introduced, it looks like HAMP has failed to help homeowners to the extent needed to revive housing. Of the 1.3 million modifications extended to homeowners, about half have been cancelled, and about one third or 422,000 homeowners have received permanent loan modifications. The results for July 2010 show that it is slowing down even more. The number of homeowners receiving modifications in July is growing at a much slower rate. 17,000 new trial modifications were started in July, 2010, but 5 times that number of loan modifications were cancelled. HAMP has reduced the montly payment through a lower interest rate and longer term, with the average borrower receiving a montly modification of $500. But even with lower payments and permanent modifications homeowners still have lots of debt. The median rato of total debt payments to pretax income is around 63.5%. And analysts estimate that 20% of borrowers with permanent modifications will re-default. The program had aroused huge expectations, hoping to help 3 million homeowners. Which is why Professor Kenneth Rosen, of the University of California, Berkeley, considers the results embarrassing for the Obama administration. Adding that the Obama administration should be ashamed of these results after all the hopes that were aroused for real help to homeowners. ...

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are required to send nearly all profits to the U.S. Treasury in the form of dividends. By the end of 2013 the two companies will have paid $185 billion in dividend payments, close to all the $186 billion in aid provided by the U.S. government during the housing and mortgage crisis. Fannie will have paid $113.9 billion of the $116.1 billion in aid given by the U.S. Treasury, and Freddie will have paid the entire $71.3 billion in aid given by the U.S. government. This was possible because of the recovery in housing prices since the collapse of the housing market in 2009. Most of the housing price recovery occuring in the worst hit states California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida as buyers were attracted to lower price homes in foreclosures and provided Fannie and Freddie a large boost, followed by recovery in prices as traditional homeowners entered the market. At one point in 2010, Nick Timiraos cited estimates of $680 billion for total aid that would be needed for Fannie and Freddie, which shows how far things have come from the low point in the housing market. ...

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Adam Nagourney is Los Angeles Bureau chief of the New York Times. Here he follows California Governor Jerry Brown's efforts to tackle the state's fiscal problems, and talks about his many conversations with Brown. He describes Jerry Brown the man, how he and the state he governed years ago have changed, and the challenges he faces in finding solutions to the state's financial problems. Nagourney and Brown talk about the problems with the political culture in the state, how things have changed- Brown was 36 when he bacame governor in his previous term and is now 73 in this term- how term limits have created their own set of problems with the lack of experienced legislators who can push bills through.

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Amazon expands during the pandemic when retail on line delivery has helped people reduce trips to the grocery or retail stores. Amazon hired 427,000 people to expand its workforce to 1.2 million people by November 2020, 9 months into the pandemic. Almost doubling the employee workforce. These workers are mostly at warehouses, with some software engineers and hardware specialists. This includes hiring in India and Italy and is worldwide hiring. This does not include 100,000 temporary workers for the holidays, and 500,000 delivery drivers working for contractors.  Only hiring of 230,000 people by Walmart about 2 decades a ago in one year comes close. Walmart hired 180,000 people during the pandemic. Walmart has 2.2 million employees. With the expansion underway Amazon looks to become the largest private employer in the world in 2 years, say experts.  Amazon pay is $15 an hour after an increase of $2 recently. Its coronavirus safety practices have been upgraded after early criticism in April and May. Recent expansion in Italy and in India are also part of worldwide expansion after Walmart has pulled back from its worldwide expansion. This also shows how quickly major aspects of life are changing during the pandemic as some companies in online business are becoming more prominent than others. Target and Walmart have also increased in size. Best Buy has changed its focus with its conversion into a company that leads with personal service in online plus store hybrid retail and a focus on seniors and older people for healthcare service and product delivery. Companies are changing the way they run or getting a new life in remaking their business. This is also a time when other aspects of business such as social media are becoming evident. Subtle aspects such as reports of higher rates of mental depression through use of social media platforms. There is also the awareness that information technology companies in Silicon Valley generate most of their money in advertising and this advertising of $100 billion is only a small fraction of the $12 trillion U.S. economy. Should Silicon Valley based in California decide priorities on where capital allocation should go through the part it plays in moving startups based less on America's priorities than other considerations. Healthcare, education, cities, and infrastructure have not received funding they need and capital allocation by financial markets has failed the American people, as it has failed in Europe and other parts of the world for similar reasons. This has hit hard communities and people across the U.S. and Europe and also in Latin America, Africa and Asia, with the loss of manufacturing to China and other countries from the U.S. India and Europe. ...

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Shiller points to a Gallup poll that shows that two thirds of Americans don't see a recovery in two or more years. He cites the economist Samuel Bowles who points to the errors of thinking that a high performing economy can be based on self-interest alone. In these lectures titled "Machiavelli's Mistake" at Yale, Bowles warns that the overuse and abuse of incentives that appeal to individual's self interest only could lead to a collective disorientation. He points to a book "Identity Economics" that carries the same theme. In that book economists George Akerloff of the University of California, Berkeley, and Rachel Kranton of the University of Maryland, show that an economy works well when peple identify with it . Their self-esteem has to be woven into the activities of the society and economy. This describes today's mood where other polls done by Wall Street Journal and NBC in January 2010 show a majority of people do not see a bright future for their children's generation. And it has become hard for ordinary Americans to identify with activities in an economy where individuals are pursuing their self interest regardless of how it benefits the society and the economy as a whole....

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Taiwanese engineer, William Wang, who earlier ran a failed computer monitor company Princeton Graphics, started Vizio in 2003 in Irvine, California. He started Vizio as a low priced brand with a focus on high tech HD sets and a supply chain in Taiwan to make HD sets at lower prices. He negotiated agreements with Foxconn and AmTran Technology giving them equity stakes in Vizio. Costco provided shelf space for the early HD sets. Vizio still manages to make 4% in operating margins on $2 billon in revenue with an efficient supply chain. Wang's insight was that televisions would go the way of PC's where lower prices were the norm. Sony Electronics U.S. Division chief, Stan Glasgow, says it is harder to charge premium prices as technology and improving quality rapidly converge in the television industry, similiar to what is happening in PC's. The story of Vizio at the low end, and S. Korean manufacturer Samsung at the high end, is also the story of the decline of Japanese companies in the television business. In 2010 after seven years Vizio passed Sony to become the second largest television brand in the U.S., with sales of 6 million LCD TV's. This is up from 3.6 million in 2008, according to research firm iSuppli....

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The suicide note left by CFO Wauthier of Zurich Insurance in August 2013. This followed heated and tense exchanges with chairman Josef Ackermann of Zurich Insurance, who joined the company in 2012. Wauthier says Ackermann created a very stressful working environment and treated managers disrespectfully, putting pressure on the finance department. Ackermann joined Zurich Insurance after a career as investment banker and CEO of Deutsche Bank AG. Zurich Insurance's board said an internal investigation will be conducted on cultural issues about whether excessive pressure was placed on the finance department by senior management. Ackermann resigned immediately. Ackermann had tried to change the culture at Zurich of courteous and quiet internal meetings. His position was non executive chairman but he took a vigorous role. Zurich Insurance was facing a difficult macroeconomic environment and missed three year operational targets set in 2010. Wauthier was a 53 year old dual French-British citizen who joined the company in 1996. He worked in southern California for the company in one position, where he improved his surfing skills. The differences between the hard charging investment banking demeanor of Ackermann and the quiet demeanor with engagement in sports of Wauthier, suggests serious differences in management styles leading to conflict that ended in tragedy....

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500 million tons of plastics are produced today compared to 250 million tons in 2004. Califonria sued Exxon Mobil in Sept 2024 for overhyping the promise of recycling. In reality says NYT's Hiroko Tabuchi only some of it gets recycled- an astounding low rate of 30% getting recycled- and the rest 70% of 500 million tons or 350 million tons ending up incinerated or in landfills or ending up in the environment on coastlines. The NAPCOR is association for PET resources, PET standing for single use plastic the kind you have in water or soda bottles. It is presenting the promise of recycling and the importance of these bottles for hydrating, without stating that there are alternatives.  All the time this is going on the threat to public health for the people, for us all, gets larger. Note that even developing nations such as India have the prime minister himself take up the campaign against microplastics, plastics bags and bottles, as Mr. Narendra Modi has done in India. A conference in Busan South Korea is discussing a global plastics treaty to end this plastics threat to health and the land we live in. It shows how regulation is needed in a capital-ist economy because companies and jobs at companies of 70 plastics and recycling companies are at stake and so is the public health, our health and our land, its coastlines and waters. ...

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How electric utilities and the oil industry are backing California's fight with the EPA to regulate auto emissions, cutting them by 30% by 2016 for new cars and trucks in the state. Its a fight endorsed by 14 states in the Northeast and Northwest. California sued the EPA, and in effect the Bush Administration which controls the EPA, in federal district court and federal appeals court. THe EPA has taken two years to respond to California's request for a waiver so that it can regulate auto emissions in its state. California's auto emissions rules are part of a broad effort to reduce all emissions in the state by 25% by 2020, including by manufacturing, electric utilities and the oil industry. Utilities and the oil industry share the opinion that all sectors of the economy should be required to take on this responsibility, including the transportation sector. In the past oil companies and the auto industry have been at loggerheads about who is responsible for the worsening dependence of the USA on foreign oil and the worsening impact of the oil consumption on the environment and their advertising campaign have often shifted the blame on each other. Is this part of the continuing debate about oil as oil prices rise and consciousness about global warming rises as it has already done so in Europe. See the links to the Frankfurt Auto Show. BMW known for gas guzzling machines has done an aboutface in the face of public opinion in Germany and is advertising its image as environment friendly and investing in new technologies to curb emissions and increase fuel economy. ...

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The new minimum wage of $15 effective Nov. 1, 2018, applies to 250,000 current employees at Amazon, 40% of its global  workforce. An additional 100,000 seasonal workers also get the $15 wage. California's minimum wage is set to go to $15 an hour in 2022. The Amazon move helps it attract and retain workers in competition with other retailers such as Target, UPS and Fedex. In doing this Amazon is removing certain incentive pay and stock compensation for these hourly employees. Target has set 2020 as the date for $15 per hour wage, currently it is $12 at Target. Walmart with 1.5 million employees set $11 per hour as the starting hourly pay for workers in 2018. Overall median salary annually for Amazon workers worldwide was $28,446 in 2017, which works out to about $13.68 an hour, but this includes software engineers and lower wage workers overseas. That figure is lower than the poverty level set by the U.S. government for a family of four. Much of the criticism has focused on wages at companies such as Amazon, as lack of upward mobility is a major issue in the U.S. - growing worse over two decades of tech advances, also carrying with it literacy levels for children which have also deteriorated. ...

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German born Joerg Reinhardt, the new chairman of Novartis, is overseeing the plan to revitalize and strengthen its R&D operations. Reinhardt who has a doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences, spent 30 years working for Novartis and its predecessor company Sandoz, before leaving for Bayer in 2010 and returning to Novartis. He is leading the effort by setting up a board subcommittee setup to oversee the research and development effort. The new subcommittee's task is to review the R&D strategy and organization. The subcommittee will advise the board on scientific trends and activities critical to R&D success. Novartis has increased R&D budget to 5.6% in 2013, which will remain at that level in 2014. The pharmaceutical industry by contrast decreased spending by 2.2% in 2013 compared to the high point in 2011, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Research activities will be concentrated in 4 cities- Shanghai, Basel, Boston and La Jolla, California, to take advantage of infrastructure already in place in these places. A review of Novartis's portfolio of business begun in 2013 will be completed in 2014. Reinhardt says acquisitions of upto $5 billion could be made to build scale for promising smaller units. The review also includes Novartis's one third stake in Roche built up since 2001, and conversations Reinhardt is having with Roche's new chairman Christopher Franz....

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Uber and Lyft, ride-hailing apps are adding to the traffic in downtown areas of major cities in the U.S. It is getting worse to the point where cities are looking for ways to ease the congestion in downtown areas of Chicago, San Francisco, New York, New fees are being enacted in these cities on Uber and Lyft, and regulators are also considering fees. The problem is that ride sharing apps customers prefer not to pool or share rides as the ride sharing apps said they would to prevent congestion. Another problem is that Uber and Lyft are actually pulling people away from buses, subways and walking creating new waves of congestion and poor utilization of public transportation designed to ease travel for most of the post war period. Worse they are not supporting healthy living because it is harder to walk on traffic congested streets and some people become lazy and just grab a ride rather than walk a short distance or walk to public transportation. Another issue is that an estimated 40% of the time the Uber and Lyft drivers in major cities cruise around for fares without passengers. San Francisco county officials have found in a study that over 60% of the slowdown of traffic speeds in San Francisco between 2010 and 2016 was due to the introduction of ride hailing apps. In Chicago, the policy director in the mayor's office says there is exponential growth in traffic congestion from these ride hailing apps.  A December report by the California Air Resources Board found that ride- hailing cars are driving with no passengers 39% of the time, and New York city estimates cruising at 41%. Mr. Schaller, a New York City official who has studied this issue says surveys in many cities show about 60% of riders in Uber and Lyft would have walked, biked or taken public transit or stayed home if a ride hail car was'nt available. More and more so called disruption by Silicon Valley in the interest of rapid and chaotic growth is looking like a bad thing, says this report in the WSJ, creating a whole new set of problems. What is not even understood here is the vast misallocation of resources, the billions of dollars that could have improved public transportation, bike paths and other means of getting around, improvements in cities downtowns to make them friendlier and with new park spaces with those dollars invested there instead of in ride hailing apps.   ...

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The difficult task facing Governor Jerry Brown of making the painful cuts in education, the state's university system and social services, as he faces a $15.7 billion gap in the state budget. The Republicans in the legislature have made it difficult for governors in the state to get the two thirds majority to increase taxes, and the Democrats have opposed the spending cuts, leading to chronic budget shortfalls. Governor Brown says unless temporary tax increases, including quarter percent rise in sales taxes and income tax surcharge on the wealthy are passed, California will have to make cuts of $6 billion in January 2013. This would include cuts in public schools and the university system. This would be in addition to cuts of $8.3 billion he has proposed for cuts in welfare, social services, and health care for the elderly. Experts say the political culture in the state is a problem, and is proving to be impervious to this governor's long years of experience and considerable skills. Jerry Brown says California, and the U.S. are both living beyond their means and need to take the medicine....

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The trade deficit with China has led to loss of 3.8 million jobs, 75% of them or 2.9 million in manufacturing. Go back to 1990 and Beijing was a city of bicycles not cars. If Beijing shifted to a open economy and simply imported products from the US and Europe as it had done since 1700 it would have remained a backward agricultural economy. It took 20 years of focused effort after 2000 for China with US technological assistance to excel in manufacturing, as the US had done after 1920. Can or cannot the US excel in Manufacturing with its own focused effort and restore jobs and decent wages to the American people, that is the question. That a $1 trillion deficit that has already destroyed the US manufacturing and its capacity to defend itself by rapidly building up the US Navy, is that not an emergency, then what is, is also the question, and the role, the duty, of the president of the US in such a situation. The federal appeals court has allowed the DJT Tariffs to remain in place till it goes to the US Supreme Court. Today May 30 the WSJ in a front page article shown here says the one California shipyard could assemble a supply ship in 5 days in 1942. China's independence in the fight against Imperial Japan and the Kwantung Army's adventures, and the independence of Europe in the 1940's depended on this vital US capacity. Is this forgotten? FDR acted step by step by 1938 to restore the US lost capacity at that time, what is the role of the president today? ...

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Researchers David Autor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Gordon Hanson of the University of California, San Diego, and David Dorn of the Center for Monetary and Fiscal Studies in Madrid, in independent research, studied the impact of trade on 722 clusters of interrelated counties in the U.S. They focussed on the surge in Chinese imports and found a pattern. Counties with higher exposure to Chinese import growth showed higher unemployment and higher expenditures by the government for unemployment benefits, food stamps and disability benefits. Their calculations show the increased government payments amount to one to two thirds of the gains from trade with China. This does not include the losses suffered by people losing jobs who deplete savings as they look for new jobs. Hanson studied the effects of trade and Chinese imports in the 1990's and found the effects were relatively small. This time the effects are large and show counties that lacked local investments in industrial machinery and technologies in which China was still playing catchup such as Caterpillar in Peoria, Illinois, and Boeing in Everett, Washington, were most susceptible to higher jobless rates and in need of government support payments. Autor and Hanson found that from 2000-2007, communities in the 75th percentile- ones with greater exposure to Chinese import growth than 75% of all communities- saw a manufacturing jobless rate of about one-third more than communities in the 25th percentile. The government payments mean higher taxes or larger deficits are needed to support these communities, and long periods of unemployment reduce the incentive to work. Michael Spence, a Nobel prize winning economist from New York University, says the world has never seen such a rapid pace of growth as China experienced between 2000-2011, with rates approaching 12% in some years, making past experience and prevailing theories on trade an insufficient guide to what is happening....