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The Vickers commission, has been appointed by the Cameron government to look into the British banking system and the largest banks. Ringfencing to protect retail deposits from the bank's other investment activities has been suggested. The focus is on increasing capital requirements as critical to protecting British taxpayers and the banking system. This means going beyond the Basel 3 requirements to build an extra safety buffer for the types of situations the British government was faced with in HBOS, where losses were even greater than average. Determining this should be coordinated with EU and Basel regulators.

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It is too much to expect central bankers to solve the US economy's problems, especially with rates nearly zero, and no agreement between the political parties before mid-term elections. The Federal Reserve by itself cannot fix the economy's problems, with the US economy facing prospects of deflation in 2011; and local governments cutting back as they face revenue shortfalls. Deficit concerns have led to inaction on further stimulus or help to local governments, and the Bush tax cuts are expiring shortly. In 2011 austerity cuts will be the singular theme in the western world, and these cuts are of a magnitude not seen in 40 years. In this situation there is only so much the US Fed can do.

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France's foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, has sounded a warning about a nuclear agreement with Iran in the past. In 2013 he warned the West not to get drawn into a "fools game." In an intervew with the WSJ on May 31, 2015, he says without proper verification which includes military sites a nuclear agreement with Iran is meaningless. He points to the dangers of other countries in the region saying the agreement lacks clout and opting for developing nuclear weapons.

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Meeting between prime minister Modi of India and prime minister Sharif of Pakistan is unlike anything that has happened between leaders in the region since independence in 1947. Sharif told NDTV: "I intend taking up threads from where Vajpayee and I left off in 1999." Modi says Sharif touched on some emotional things in his conversation. Sharif told Modi about his visits to his mother once a week, and how Modi's visit to his mother seen by Sharif when visiting his mother touched both of them deeply. Rarely has a visit been captured in poetry in the manner Sharif did in answering a question, when he recited an Urdu couplet: "cling to the tree and hope, for spring is in sight."

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Vernon Smith asks the question why when $10 trillion in losses were experienced in equities in 1999-2002 the financial system did not collapse, and in 2008 losses of $3 trillion in mortgages held by homeowners resulted in a collapse of the financial system. In the 2002 period the losses, he says, were borne largely by institutional and individual investors who largely owned the assets outright. In the 2008 crisis homeowners purchased about 90 to 100% of the housing assets on margin, and declines in value of 50% or more in the low price tier were seen for homes bought at the peak of the bubble. These losses were transmitted to banks and lending institutions. The consumption binge added to the debt of households. The result is that lending went down sharply for durable goods consumption, and this is seen in the decline of auto sales of 41% from Feb. 2008 to Feb. 2009. The collateral damage then occurs in retail and labor markets. This is similiar to how Ben Bernanke viewed the Great Depression crisis in an important paper- the inability of the financial system to perform its economic role of lending to households for durable goods consumption and to companies for production and trade. This understanding is different from the Friedman view of a contraction of the money supply, and the view that excessive speculation caused it. Bernanke's experience studying the causes of the Great Depression uniquely qualified him to address the causes of the global financial crisis of 2008....

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Indian companies and the speed and effective ways they do research offers a new model for western pharmaceutical companies and many of them are collaborating and setting up partnerships to discover and benefit from new drugs.

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This New York Times editorial says a smaller Wall Street and growing jobs in other fields will be good for New York as well as good for the country. It says New York politicians should focus on finding new ways for New York to broaden its tax base and get new businesses and new opportunites in fields such as media, advertising, entertainment, health care and tourism. Especially welcome are initiatives such as the science and tech campus of Cornell University promoted by Mayor Bloomberg. Tighter financial rules and higher capital requirements are good for the country and for New York the editorial emphasizes, because they help control reckless banking practices that destroy capital and opportunities for growth elsewhere in the economy. It points to Kevin Rose's Nov. 21, 2011 account in the Times showing a healthy culture shift in New York and the country with the status jobs being seen not at Goldman Sachs but at Google, Apple and Facebook. Rose's account shows that in the last 3 years the number of Wall Street employees of ages 20-34 declined by 25%....

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Germany and France finally get serious about tax havens that help people evade billions of dollars in taxes. They will push for international sanctions at the next G20 meeting.

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Where on the global map has there been a far bigger runup in house prices than in the USA? Answer Ireland, and way bigger runup. The average house price went up to $490,000 at the beginning of 2007, an increase of 300% compared to 130% in the US over ten years, according to the IMF. Important to note that in Ireland home prices have dropped only 7%in 2007, even though according to the Economic and Social Research Institute 90,000 new homes were constructed in 2006 double the number needed which suggests large inventory buildup of homes. This is similiar to the situation in the USA where house prices have not dropped more than 10% and in some parts like the northeastern USA not yet dropped according to the National Association of Realtors considering February 2008 over February 2007. See the BW link. What this suggests is that there will be a slow unwinding of the housing price bubble and that it has a long way to go for prices to go down 20-30% as many experts expect. Ireland also shares other problems as we see in countries like Ireland that changed the rues to promote foreign investment, China for instance. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Ireland's hourly pay for manufacturing workers was an astounding $25.96 in 2006 compared to $23.82 in the USA and only $4.99 in Poland. See the link to China, BW April 7, 2008. China is seeing a jump in wages, according to one manufacturer in Hebei province the wages for unskilled workers is 1000 reminbi a month compared to 500 renminbi a month in Vietnam. Ireland is losing foreign investment from companies that are either closing plants or postpoing new investment. Groeth rates close to 6.5% on average for the last 10 years now is projected at 1.6% and will probably be negative when the full brunt of the housing crisis hits Ireland....

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A study published in the British journal Lancet shows that the number of people suffering from diabetes went from 153 million in 1980 to 353 million in 2008. The study shows the U.S. having 24.7 millon diabetics in 2008, which is three times the number from 1980. About 70% of this is from population growth and aging, and the rest from obesity, lack of exercize, changing diet. The American Diabetes Association estimated the cost of treating diabetes in the U.S. at $174 billion for 2007. About 138 million diabetics live in China and India. In India there is an additional cause- malnutrition in early childhood years for the poorer segment of the population. European countries have done better than the U.S., Mexico, India and China. S. Korea and Thailand have done better than other Asian countries. And this is attributed to healthier lifestyles, diet and less obesity in these countries.