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The Alawite sect in Syria, a sect of Islam different from Sunnis and Shiites, consitutes only 12.5% of the 22.5 million population of Syria. Alawites live mostly in the mountainous coastal region near the Mediterranean. Under the French the Alawites who are open to foreign influences and western education, were used as a buffer against the majority Sunni population, with many Alawites joining the government and army. One of the Alawite military officers, Hafez Assad, took over Syria in 1971.

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Frances Haugen testifying in the US Congress says "Facebook products harm children, stoke division and weaken our democracy." This understates the problem which is that over a short period of 5-7 years new tech companies have used capital markets in the US to rapidly take up most of the space in the internet pushing out established news organizations. They have also lobbied hard to prevent new legislation from being drafted to regulate the internet space. They have also rapidly acquired smaller companies to create a monopolistic control over the new internet space. This situation has also led to one where these companies set up in overseas locations such as Ireland do not assume fair responsibilities for maintaining the infrastructure in their home countries by paying their fair share of taxes. In doing so these companies run by persons in their twenties an early thirties are doing the work of established news organizations that have been doing it for most of the twentieth century, without these new tech companies being qualified in any way to do so. The result is distortions spread by internet technologies over a wide space creating a toxic effect for children, women, and the dialogue necessary in a democracy. The perverse effects extend to vaccination where distortions spread by algorithmic and artificial intelligence in selection and dissemination of information has led to negative effects on the vaccination drive. This even created much frustration for president Biden as he watched a stalled vaccination drive in the US and complained about Facebook and social media's ill effects. Ultimately the national interests of the US, European Union, Britain and India are affected because other countries see democracies as being weak and ineffective even in protecting their own citizens, and weak even in the time of the pandemic. ...

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Stress-testing a portfolio and diversification, by Jonathan Burton, the Money and Investing Editor at Market Watch in San Francisco.

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McDonald's is seeing declining sales in the U.S. The percentage of people in the U.S. going to McDonald's declined by 12.9% in the 19-21 age group and was flat for the 22-37 years age group, according to Technomic. Younger Americans especially are seeking out healthier alternatives with emphasis on fresh food. Another competing trend is fast casual restuarants such as Panera Bread. Fast casual restaurants increased from 9000 to 21000 in the last 10 years, while McDonalds has remained at 14,000. Chipotle started in 1993 and now has 1600 locations. Five Guys has 1000 locations. Consumer Reports surveyed 32,000 subscribers and rated McDonalds as the last in taste of 20 burger chains. Consumer Reports gave as a reason millenials and younger consumers who will try hard to get the right food. Problems in Russia about sanitary conditions and declining sales in China after the government accusations about a key supplier using expired meat also add to problems. Increasing concern about healthcare and obesity also add to the search for alternatives and careful selection of meals, especially among younger educated buyers....

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Under new CEO, Georges Plassat, Carrefour focusses more on Europe and reduces expansion in emerging markets. As part of this strategy Carrefour buys 127 malls in which it operates stores and forms a separate propoerty company in which it owns 42%. This reverses the decision in 2001 to sell 150 malls partly to finance the push into China, Brazil and Argentina and other European countries. The prior CEO, Lars Olofsson, increased emphasis on hypermarket stores and expanded presence in emerging markets. Carrefour share price took a 60% drop in 2010-2012 and is gradually recovering. Plassat's strategy is to go back to focus on Europe and withdraw from poorly performing places such as Greece, Portugal, Indonesia and Columbia.

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Apple provides about 40% of Taiwanese company Pegatron revenues. Starting with older iPhone models, the company now supplies the new model iPhone 5C. Revenue in the 4th quarter 2013 for iPhones and tablets increased 20%, as sales from televisions and PC's declined. Operating margins increased slightly to 1.9% in the 4th quarter 2014 from the prior year quarter 1.6%.

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Japan's new prime minister runs into difficulties in improving public finances by cutting some of the pork-barrel spending and making chages such as abolishing the gasoline tax to put more money in the hands of consumers. Cuts of wasteful spending came to less than a fourth of the target of $33 billion. The Finance Minister said that tax receipts for the year ending March 2010 would come in at $400 billion, about $100 billion less than estimated earlier, and this is less than the deficit for the current fiscal year of $590 billon.

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A decision by management of the Ginori porcelain tableware company near Florence, Italy, to compete at the low end leads to its bankruptcy. Ginori was considered a prestigious maker of porcelain tableware since 1735, and hired top designers. The decline in formal dining led to a decline in demand. The decision to move to the low end is considered by workers to have been a mistake as low end Chinese imports have dominated the market in Italy. The difficulty of competing at the low end and the need to come up with a product and technological advantage that commands a higher price is a challenge facing Italy's manufacturing industry.

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Not very convincing efforts to prevent corruption in China. Party officials do not have to declare their income or assets in China. The Corruption Bureau has not been set up and its unclear whether its being seriously considered. All corruption investigations are handled by CDIC (Central Disciplinary Inspection Commission) which gets its directions from the very top. A small change has been made by sending to the provinces CDIC officials from Beijing or from other provinces to ensure a proper investigation. In the past this was done thru provincial officials themselves. But provoncial officials still have to be informedbefore an investigation is begun. And the press cannot report corruption cases without official approval. All this and the temptations of corruption in a rapidly industrializing and fast growing economy without transparency and the education and institutional safeguards, and lacking a free press, make corruption a significant problem in China. How much this is costing China in the medium to long run, as well as how much environmental damage is costing China can only be underestimated as its covered up by the huge savings rate, investment and rapid growth today and in the immediate future....

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This report in NYT shows the movement of Mexicans who migrated to the US in the 1970's in an earlier migration and the problems they faced seeking a better life in America on the east and west coastal cities. In 1971 Ruperto and Eustacia Enriquez migrate from Puebla, Mexico to New York. They make two migrations within the US after a mugging incident in Brooklyn in 1980. First to Santa Ana, California where they find life difficult with gang crime in neighborhoods, and move to an affluent suburb in the east side of Seattle. Their son Daniel gets a Bachelors degree in philosophy from the University of Washington. In 1996 he returns to New York to study for a Masters degree in Latin American Studies at New York University.  After 25 years in New York and taking up a jobs two financial firms he reflects a strivers mentality, always looking for self-improvement. He helps his younger sister with an application to win a Fullbright scholarship in Germany. Another sister works in Washington as a business analyst. He helped a brother who became a school teacher in New York public schools. Daniel found an apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn and by 2013 joined another financial firm in its global investment research group coordinating publications.  The story reflects some of the growing pains of Mexican Americans who migrated to America in the 1970's in the earlier migrations. In 2022 Daniel Enriquez 48 years was shot on the subway while going for Sunday Brunch, 25 years after returning to New York City. Crime was once again up in the city after the pandemic. 950 crime offenses happened in the subway system for the year till May the same as in 2019. Subway ridership was 40% lower in May this year.   ...

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Toyota's changes in its global architecture in 2011-2013. Reorganization to build amore tight knit management structure for better responsiveness and decisionmaking. The focus is on getting rid of bureaucracy after years of growth that led to excessive and sometimes indirect reporting layers. For instance, chief engineers now report directly to top product planning executives to speed decisionmaking and make new product introductions faster. Regional managers are now shrunk to three groups: North America and China; Japan and Europe; Australia, Russia and emerging markets. It is interesting to note that China and the U.S. are put together- the logic is based on the idea that the buyers in each group tend to have similiar buyer behaviour for vehicles, say Toyota managers. Another significant effort focusses on increasing the use of standardized parts to 50% for vehicles that are of similiar size. The Prius C, the redesigned Camry and the Etios subcompact in India, were cited recently by CEO Akio Toyoda as examples of products that have utilized these changes in methods and approach....

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Luis Gutierrez, Charirman of the subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, has a bill in Congress that is presented as a reform effort by the lending industry, many Republicans and some consumers. It would allow payday operators in the $50 billion payday lending industry, to charge what amounts to an annual percentage rate of 391%. Rep. Maxine Walters described the bill this way, "we've got to resist any attempt to make it look as if we are cracking down, when in fact we are opening the door to more abuse." This is what Countrywide's Mozilo does in a interview with BW, that he gave at the time the housing and mortgage crisis was breaking open in 2008. And this is the way those in both political parties in Congress, lobbyists, and businessmen who profited from all the unethical things that went on in the housing lending industry, all worked together to undermine the foundations of the country's economy by putting toxic assets at the centre of the credit and banking system of the US. They did this by saying that they were helping the poorer classes get access to housing, and used the term "a piece of the American dream," which seems to be the phrase that opens all sorts of caves in the American imagination, like Ali Baba and his magic lamp and his magic phrase did in Arabian times. And so the NYT editorial writer, facing the greater evil suggests that a smaller evil, an usurious rate of 36% that is an option afforded to military families is a desirable option, when at that rate the loan numbers would double in less than 3 years. All this when the government at federal state and local levels could assume this among the many activities it already undertakes, because it does best those activities, such as some of the public transportation and other services. The government bank could require proof of desperate need, and provide loans for purposes of medical care, care of elderly, care of children, educational needs, food and shelter needs, at rates of 10-15% to make up for losses in loans not repaid, and run it as a nonprofit. Capitalism is also of the good kind and the bad kind, the 391% payday loan capitalism or the loans at pricing that made them unaffordable to low income people, or loans to low income people who did not have incomes to afford housing (where the risk was then passed on to the owners of the securities after a false sertification of A rating had been obtained by undermining the rating process) is a bad kind of capitalism, and the 36% usurious rate for military families is of the tolerably bad kind of capitalism, and the 10-15% kind of payday government sponsored loan is of the good kind of capitalism. And critical to its understanding is what experience has taught us in the last 100 years- that for this good kind of capitalism, there is a critical social role for the government to play. ...

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The Journal points to the lack of changes to "too-big-to-fail" financial institutions after the global financial crisis of 2008, as the same large banks are likely to be put on the Federal Reserve's list of banks that are considered to be "systemically important" four years later in 2012.