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The Italian cabinet of prime minister Mario Monti, includes Corrado Passera, CEO of Italy's largest retail bank, as minister of economic development and transport. In selecting his cabinet Monti brought in respected members from academia, banking, business and the higher levels of the civil service. Monti's agenda includes cutting public spending, increasing revenues, changing the pension system, reintroducing a property tax on first homes, and making it possible for business to hire and fire workers by changing Italy's rigid labor laws. Emma Marcegaglia, president of Confindustria, Italy's business association, says he is the right person to restore credibility and to put Italy back on the road to economic recovery. She had a high regard for the selections in the cabinet. The big challenge in her view was now to get the Italian parliament to approve the changes.

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The crisis facing investment bank Jefferies Group about the extent of its holdings of European sovereign debt. Jefferies faces rumors about its financial condition. The desperate effort of CEO Handler to contain the crisis by listing online its holdings of debt by country and maturity with every ID number for every bond to show that it was not using credit default swaps to hedge investments. Shares of Jefferies Group fell 20% in October and 60% for 2011. As a safety measure Handler sold off $1.1 billion of sovereign debt of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain in November, and continued to reduce its exposure during the last week of November 2011. The collapse of MF Global for making large bets on European sovereign debt followed by crisis in market confidence was the background in which Jefferies Group fought for survival.

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Ian Thompson takes over as the new Chief Credit Officer at S&P. He replaces Mark Adelson, who will remain as a senior fellow at S&P. He was hired by the previous CEO, Deven Sharma. Deven Sarma was replaced by former Citigroup excutive, Doug Peterson, in September 2011, weeks after the downgrading of the U.S. sovereign credit rating. Ian Thompson reported to Mr. Adelson, as the head of the Asia-Pacific region. Adelson joined in 2008 with the task of making it difficult to earn the highest credit rating for issuers following the subprime mortgage crisis, in which credit rating firms gave top ratings to lower quality mortgage securities. Mr. Jacob, the structured finance chief, will also be leaving S&P. The frequent management changes are viewed as making it harder for S&P to win back credibility in its ratings.

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Bank of America's mortgage unit will have a new head who reports directly to CEO Brian Moynihan. Terry Laughlin who worked previously with Moynihan at FleetBoston Financial will head the unit. The unit is called the "Legacy Asset Servicing" group and has 1.3 million delinquent loans. This is part of an effort to deal with the losses from delinquent loans. As part of this effort the bank will exit the busiess of reverse mortgages to concentrate on critical areas. Because of the bad loans that came with the acquisition of Countrywide in 2008, the mortgage unit lost $8.9 billionin 2010. In the fourth quarter the bank also recorded a $2 billion noncash impairment on a drop in value of that business and took a $4.1 billion provision to cover buybacks of mortgages that government agencies and others purchased from Countrywide.

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Apple maintains its grip on the tablet market with its iPad at $499. Experts at Wharton and the Stern School of Business say Apple has found the strategically right price to maintain a dominant share of a rapidly growing market. So rapidly growing that some estimates show tablet computers surpassing PC sales by 2013. Apple CEO Tim Cook, has the logistical expertise that helped him work out the right price. The Kindle at $199 is hardly profitable by some estimates. Samsung has a smaller tablet at $499. In 2011 Apple saw its tablet market share decline from 87% to 68%, according to IDC Research, but still able to get a dominant share of sales. Apple uses the same approach to pricing for the iPhone. The profits generated on large sales and higher margins helps Apple invest in new products.

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Chrysler-Fiat's efforts to ramp up Jeep's global sales in 2012-2014. Plans to build 120,000 Jeeps annually in St. Petersburg. Chrysler CEO Marchionne sees Jeep as Chrysler's global brand. The problem with sales in Russian and Chinese markets is price, because of high import duties. In Russia this can add upto $22,000 to price, and in China $37,000. This put Jeep prices in Russia at about $86,000 for a Grand Cherokee, forcing it to compete with luxury SUV's like Land Rover. Production locally in Russia and China should make Jeep prices competitive. For covering the international market Chrysler's plan is to build 6 Jeep models with new designs for a sleeker appearance as a lifestyle vehicle. In the past the Jeep was seen largely as a off-road SUV in emerging markets rather than a lifestyle vehicle.

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Katsuya Okada is elected leader of the Democratic Party of Japan in Jan 2015. He is from a prominent business family. His brother is CEO of Aeon, a supermarket chain in Japan, which was founded in 1758. Okada says he supports Abenomics, saying: "I have no intention of completely rejecting Abenomics. On the contrary, there are many areas where I'd like to tell him, 'Go for it. Step up the pace.' " Policies he backs are deregulation to improve productivity, and Abe's policies to increase worker wages. He also supports being better prepared for regional conflicts, and said the DPJ would study Abe plans for legislation to strengthen the role of Japan's defense forces. Okada's comments reflects the changing sentiment in Japan about Abenomics since Abe's win in the snap election, and winning credibility for his economic policies.

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Lee Kuan Yew, passes away at the age of 91. He led Singapore for 31 years after becoming prime minister in 1959. During this period he helped transform Singapore's economy into a centre for international trade and finance by attracting foreign investment. To do this he developed infrastructure, setup training colleges for the workforce, and provided tax breaks for investors, using Singapore's strategic location on the sea lanes in Asia to best advantage. Singapore became a export hub for Japanese electronics companies, and U.S. companies such as HP and General Electric established regional headquarters there. Strategic investments were made in high tech industries and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund took stakes in companies overseas. He retired in 2011 after opposition parties won 40% of the vote in general elections. His son is now the new prime minister.

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Total's new CEO, Patrick Pouyanne, is moving ahead with plans for the $27 billion Russian Arctic Yamal LNG project. As China shifts away from coal with increased imports of LNG and pipeline natural gas, it is keen on providing financing for the project. Chinese banks will provide the bulk of the financing. Pouyanne disclosed in an WSJ interview that this would be $15 billion in Chinese bank financing to be arranged in 2015. Most of the LNG will go to meet China's needs. Partners in the Yamal project are OAO Novatek of Russia, and China National Petroleum Corporation. OAO Novatek's major shareholder is on the western sanctions list making it difficult to obtain financing from western banks. This makes the project riskier because of foreign exchange risks taken on by Total SA which are to hedge against.

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Maruti Suzuki has 41% of the Indian car market. Sales in rural areas are helping the company weather the downturn in sales in 2013 because of a weak economy. In the April to November 2013 period sales were up 18% in rural areas compared to 5% decline in urban areas. With 7 small car models Maruti is able to provide a small car that is useful on Indian roads. Sales for the last fiscal year reached 1 million. The Maruti Suzuki sales network reaches 60,000 villages and planned expansion is to reach 100,000 villages. CEO Bhargava says the fast growth in rural markets is critical for Maruti, making up 30% of its sales. Overall sales for urban and rural sales is flat for Maruti and declining by 5.3% in the April to Nov. 2013 period, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

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A loan scandal at Post Hellenic Bank cost the bank $678 million. The CEO of Pos Hellenic Bank, Angelos Filippidis, recklessly approved loans without guarantees according to prosecutors in Greece. He is now in a Turkish jail awaiting extraditon to Greece after being arrested in a Istanbul hotel. Eleni Raikou, and Popi Papandreou, are the two leading Athens prosecutors conducting the investigations. Three deals for submarines, tanks and aircraft cost $6.8 billion and are said to be purchased at inflated prices. These deals are being investigated. It is this widespread corruption in the political elite in Greece that has drawn the ire of Germans when considering the request for new loans to prevent a bankruptcy in Greece in 2011-2012. Especially because ordinary Germans have accepted lower wages to bring down the once high unemployment rate.

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Don Knauss is CEO of Clorox. Here he describes the things he looks for in new hires and people working in the company- passion for work, ability to work smart (analytical, creative capabilities), mentoring ability (how they develop people), informal manner (not tied up in hierarchy), and values (especially integrity). He says the more authority one has the more one relies on persuasion, as this tells the people around you, you are OK- someone they can trust and work with. Knauss sees leadership as being dual, a head part and a heart part. The head part not more than 3 things to focus on, easily distilled and incentive structure aligned around it, the simple fundamentals communicated over and over. The heart part is about the people and caring for them more than you care for yourself.

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The new J.D. Powers Quality Survey put out in Feb 2013 showed the Lexus, Toyota, Mercedes, Buick, Chevrolet, Lincoln and Dodge Ram brands performing at the top level in number of problems reported by owners of 3 year old vehicles. Land Rover, Jeep and VW brands did poorly. Most of the Chrysler Dodge cars performed poorly. The redesign of vehicles initiated by Fiat Chrysler CEO Marchionne does not show up in this study. The redesigned Jeep and other vehicles will show in next years study. The study also showed buyers of economy vehicles were likely to switch easily when buying another car. New models are showing fewer problems and are more dependable compared to previous years, with the average number of problems declining from 170 per 100 vehicles in 2009, to 132 in 2011, and 126 in 2012.

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Walmart CEO Mike Duke talks with Journal reporters Ann Zimmerman ans Miguel Bustillo. He says customers are under alot of pressure, and he sees what they buy, delaying purchases and the buying at midnight on the first of the month. Apparel sales are down and so are discretionary purchases and basic necessities and things like vitamins and the $4 generic pharmaceuticals are up. Walmart sees 140 million customers in stores every week, and has information systems to show how customers are buying, which gives it a unique lens through which to see changes in buying behaviour after the financial crisis and increasing numbers of jobless. Customers are saying he says that I will invest in basic needs and defer discretionary purchases. Among other things he talks about sustainability as something his company is paying attention to.

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Days after firing Henderson, and leaving Lutz with an advisory role with no reports, Whitacre who is now the CEO has moved to bring younger managers in important positions. Mark Reuss assumes the role of head of the North American operations. One year ago he was running the Australian operations. He was only recently in charge of engineering at GM. The Board is pushing for these changes. Whitacre says the GM culture and tendency for top managers not to bring in younger managers to run things has stifled talented younger people at the company. Susan Docherty was given additional responsibilities of marketing. Some of these moves were long overdue. The old echelons simply stayed on for too long risking the jobs of tens of thousands of GM workers and taking the company to the brink of disaster.

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Graham Allison of the Kennedy school of Government at Harvard and John Deutsch former head of the CIA under Clinton and now a Professor at MIT, say it would be adesirable thing that Afghanistan develop into a prosperous, poppy-free and democratic country, but it is not vital for American interests. They say lets face it, one cannot push Afghistan into modernity overnight, just because we wish it. It would be atragic mistake to do so, and take a huge and ultimately failing effort to do this, with a vast expenditure of American blood and money, to do this. One can expect for Afghanistan after we exit to revert to conditions that exist in other countries at the same level of development, like Bangladesh, Sudan, Somalia. Allison sees a vital interest at stake in Pakistan because of nuclear weapons.

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What it is like in the biggest oil producing county in America- Lea County, New Mexico. What happens when renewables replace oil to address climate change?

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The most striking aspect about Pew Research on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practices and DEI in companies in Nov 2024 compared to early 2023 is the shift in sentiment about how much it hurts White Men. 36% of Americans now think it hurts White Men compared to 14% a shift of 22%. Among Republicans also there is a striking shift of 10% in just over a year. Asians no longer see it improving their situation. It comes also at a time when White Men are going through an unprecedented drop in college enrollment compared to women after financial crises and surging college costs, the kind of trend that is seen as unhealthy for the Nation.  Overall the shift shows says PEW Research that workers are more likely to believe that focussing on DEI is a bad thing and too much attention is going into doing this at companies. Reports in WSJ on Jan 10, 2025 say CEO's are making a shift away from DEI in 2025 consistent with the change in sentiment nationally.  ...

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Republican Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell no's and 50-50 US Senate vote, a tie on Hegseth nomination. Only a last minute change of heart by Senator Tillis gets the 50-50 tie that was broken by VP Vance's vote to get the Hegseth nomination through. Armed Services chairman Wicker in questioning in the Senate supported Hegseth as he faced tough questioning from Democrats Duckworth, Slotkin and Peters.  Wicker cited Hegseth's service in two wars in combat as a Major in Iraq and Afghanistan and the way many who had fought in these wars had struggled and overcome difficulties, the need for second chances in some situations. Other Republican senators said the position was held by others who did not have experience running large organizations. Panetta was a lawyer and Gates an academic who had CIA positions before appointment to Secretary of Defense. Perry had experience running defense supplier companies. Chuck Hagel served in combat in the Vietnam war and started his own company Vanguard Cellular and was a talk show host.   ...

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In his commencement address to to 1000 cadets graduating from the US Military Academy at West Point, NY, DJT tells graduates to think big, take risks and hold on to the culture. He says president Dwight D. Eisenhower who graduated from West Point believed that it was important to think big the harder the challenge, as problems sometimes difficult to solve become easier to tackle when one thinks big at the larger problem. Other advice was to hold on to the momentum achieved in any task to move on to the next step which may lead to big results. And always living with thrifty habits and hard work that pays of with perseverance. A certain CEO of a large bank who has been around almost forever says most important in life is to go out and listen to people, talk to people, the only way to find out what is happening. He also says courtesy and humility are very important. These are not habits DJT mentioned at West Point but are very important in real life along with hard work and perseverance to achieve lasting results. ...

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China imports most of Iran's oil exports about 1.8 million barrels a day which flow through the Straits of Hormuz. Iran is heavily dependent on these exports for oil revenues that support it's economy. All Asian economies are heavily dependent on the oil flowing from Saudis, UAE and Iran through the Straits.  For Iran it would mean the loss of oil revenues needed to support its economy if the Straits are shut down. Iran's central bank says it get $67 billion from oil exports 90% of it going to China alone.  82% of oil imports of Asian countries  from Saudi, UAE, Qatar and Iran sources go though the Straits.  The US is not dependent on the Straits- less than 10% of its oil. Also true of Germany. The US  would have to use air strikes to prevent any mining of the waters seaway, and China, US, Japan, India would join in combined effort to keep all sea navigation open for international shipping.  ...

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How the state of Maharashtra was formed from Bombay state that included Gujarat, by making language as a basis of state formation offers clues for India's economic and political solutions to the problem of modernizing the country in the way Japan and China have done. The same is true for Gujarat.  Gujarat added the princely states of Saurashtra. The original Bombay state did not include Saurashtra or the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of today's Maharashtra state. Vidarbha and Marathwada were added to create Maharashtra, Saurashtra was added to create Gujarat. Voting patterns have given the party that is pushing hardest for modernization of infrastructure with speed and scale favorability in most regions of Maharashtra except Marathwada regions and most regions of Gujarat except Saurashtra. The Bombay city region that forms a large part of the voting population in Maharashtra came first under the influence of British, then Gujarati business, then trade unions, followed by a Mumbai for Marathis movement, and now an integration of the Marathi movement into one that reaches for leadership for modernization on a national scale.   Bombay city is itself being dug up in a way Tokyo in the 20's and 60's must have been, or Shanghai in the 90's, 1912 sites have been dug up for a next generation Metro system of trains, a bullet train to Ahmedabad and New Delhi and for bridges across the Arabian sea, new expressways. Projects that were stalled for decades because of political stalling inaction are now being pushed ahead to be finished in 2-3 years or half the time. In Japan in the 20's the incentive was Japan's resurgence, in the 60's its recovery from world war. In China in the 90's the rush to modernize after the Japanese invasion and failed attempts in the 60's. In India today it is the rush to modernize after the British Empire's extraction of wealth from the country since 1850, and the failed attempts twice in the 60's and 90's.   ...