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The serious problem of the large number of long term unemployed in the U.S. in 2012, strikingly different from any previous recession the U.S. has experienced. This means that if the problem is not addressed or solved these unemployed people will simply fall by the wayside, say experts. U.S. Federal chairman Bernanke, says this is a priority to be taken into account in setting interest rate policy. His fears are that this will be a permanent loss to the productive capacity of the U.S. Evidence of the extent of this problem is that the share of the population that is working has barely budged since late 2009 when the global financial crisis hit. It dropped from above 62% to about 58% in late 2009. It was 58.6% in ealry 2012, based on Labor Department data, even though the unemployment rate edged down to 8.3% by Feb. 2012.

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China's Bright Foods Group acquires a 60% stake in Britain's cereal maker, Weetabix Food company. Cereal demand is growing in China and increased to 1.2 billion yuan or $191 million in 2011. This is an increase of 70% over 2006, according to Euromonitor International. Everbright sees large potential for Weetabix cereal in Asian markets. Cereal Partners Worldwide, a joint venture of General Mills, Nestle SA and Seamild Group of China, has the largest share for cereals in the Chinese market. Everbright is looking for more acquisitions as it plans to double sales in China by 2015 to about $14 billion. It has 3,300 retail stores in China. With the Weetabix stake Everbright gains shelf space and distribution channels in Europe and the U.S. An effort to take a 50% stake in French yogurt maker Yoplait failed in an earlier bid when it lost out to General Mills.

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Reducing inequality and giving labor a larger share of national income to increase consumer demand, allowing more immigration, and targeting a higher inflation rate are unconventional measures necessary to increase growth as monetary policy reaches the limit of its effectiveness at near zero interest rates, says Galston. Growth in U.S. since 2000 is about 1.8% annually on average compared to 3.6% in the postwar years to 2000. Growth since 2000 rarely reaches 3% a year. Robert Gordon has pointed out the factors of a slowdown in mass education, rapidly aging population, rising inequality and increasing public debt as reasons for slower growth in the future. Glaeser and Summers also support this view. There is also the possibility that the secular stagnation idea suggested by Hansen in 1938 after years of low growth, comes at a point when growth is about to pick up pace as happened during and after the war.

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Following positions heading manufacturing in 2006 and the expansion of Ford's China operations in 2008, Joe Hinrichs is now president of the Americas group in 2014. Hinrichs is responsible for the product launches in 2014-2015, including the new aluminium body F-150 pickup. Hinrichs supported a strategy for expanding SUV sales in China, which helped increase Ford market share to 4.4% in China in 2013. He started at GM after getting an electrical engineering degree from the University of Dayton in 1989. He is one of the younger managers who came up through manufacturing and feel at home in factories, talking to workers telling them why things should be done a certain way, and problem-solving on the factory floor. Apple CEO Tim Cook also started in manufacturing, with roots in Alabama, and joined Apple in 1997 as Apple struggled with quality issues in factories.

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Home prices rise by 10.9% in March 2013 over the same month prior year, according to the S&P/Case/Shiller index of home prices tracking 20 U.S. cities. Prices increased by 1.2% for the 1st quarter of 2013. Part of the increase is because of the extent of the downturn, other reasons include the Fed's loose monetary policy and low mortgage rates of around 3%. The Shiller index also includes foreclosed properties which enlarges the increase in home prices when the share of foreclosed property sales fall. A separate index by Lender Processing Services shows a 7.6% increase in home prices for March. Prices are up in all 20 cities of the Shiller index for the first time. In San Francisco prices are up by 22.2%, in Phoenix by 22.5%. In the midwest Detroit prices are up 25%, as the auto industry rebounds strongly from a decade of decline.

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Efforts to save the VW brand in North America as it faces disappointing sales. It lost $1 billion in North America for each of the last 3 years. VW faces perception issues among customers in the USA who read JD Powers surveys. The surveys show VW in the bottom 20% for reliability, quality and service. Its younger customer base does online shopping and compares models and this led to sales declining from 338,00 to 235,000 in 2006. Now Jacoby, an accountant by training, who headed VW global sales and marketing and boosted market share from 18.1% to 20.3% in European car sales, has been given charge of the American operation to get VW to breakeven n North America by 2009. Previous ad campaigns showing VW safety in car crashes and Helg a German dominatrix failed to stir up much interest in Jetta and Passat models.

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China's assembly work accounts for just $3.70 of the Apple I Pod's value, The display module costs$20 made by Toshiba-Matsushita and of the $224 wholesale price $80 consisted of Apple's gross profit. This is from a study by 3 economists of the University of California at Berkeley and Irvine, Linden Dedrick and Kraemer. Out of electronic and IT exports of $300 billion China's value added was about 15% or $45 billion according to Leo Branstetter of Carnegie Mellon University. Foreign firms account for the largest share of exports and all of the top ten are overseas firms. In India mostly the IT business is a services business and it has not made the breakthrough to create original software products that are marketed worldwide.. In this sense there are a lot of missing pieces in both countries efforts and a lot remains to be done.

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Iraq is only spending one percent of its $80 billion in oil revenues generated each year on repairing roads, bridges and other infrastructure. The reason for this and the extreme nature of the situation is because Iraq has shortage of trained staff, extremely weak procurement and budgeting systems with computerization and electronic currency movements and financial check clearing house as one sees in modern states in Europe or in Asia are nonexistent here and stacks of cash have to be moved around to finance projects. The violence and sectarian strife complicate the situation further with little agreement on wehere the money should be spent. On the positive side all these revenues mean money will be available for reconstruction on a big scale once the politicians and political groups among the Sunnis and the Shiites and the Kurds can get together and this should help to restore normal life in the country.

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How governments are getting a bigger share of oil revenues.

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Jenny Strasbourg of the WSJ provides this much needed report from London about the courageous decision by AstraZeneca and Oxford University to give vaccines away at no profit to the whole world, to billions of people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Without this brave decision by a British company and a British University the world would be a lot poorer, more variants could have happened, making us realize the great contribution Britain has made and how indispensable it is to the planet. Add to this the effort of Indian companies including Serum Institute that provided the manufacturing facilities and capabilities for making most of the British vaccine. AstraZeneca delivered 2.3 billion doses of the vaccine globally as of mid-December, according to the company. The International Monetary Fund estimates that low and middle income countries received 3.25 billion vaccines as of Dec. 11, About half of this or 1.6 billion doses were Astra Zeneca shots. This is a bigger share than any other vaccine by far and a life saver to the world. AstraZeneca stepped up early in a true to the best ideals in Britain to meet the needs of the world-  aiming to deliver 3 billion doses in 2022 and sell them at no profit as long as the pandemic continues. As the shot does not need cold storage it is ideal for India and other Asia, Africa and Latin America. "We are all very proud throughout the company of the impact we have had," says AstrZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot. By far the biggest manufacturing was done at Serum Institute of India which supplied 1.3 billion doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to 70 countries. Mr. Modi pushed forward the export of vaccine made in India to the world from the beginning in the same spirit of cooperation and the best ideals that Britain was living upto. Serum Institute can produce as much as 250 million doses of vaccine a month making it possible for India to tackle the vaccination population of 1.3 billion people.   None of this could have happened without Oxford University and AstraZeneca and Indian companies with Mr. Modi's active support living up to the best ideals of Britain and India for the world. "When you add up the benefits to humanity, I think you'll find the vaccine holds up pretty well in terms of the ill health it has prevented, and the deaths it has prevented," says John Bell, a senior Oxford academic who in 2020 guided the University through its vaccine-partnership talks with Astra Zeneca. Because in the real world AstraZeneca shot has held up so well it is also a choice for booster shots. ...

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An important investigation by the Wall Street Journal looks at the 60 day sprint to find the origins of the Covid virus that killed about 6 million people worldwide, with excess deaths three times that. Did labs in the US and in China and scientists experiments cause this or did it happen naturally in the wilderness or in wild animal markets in China. Were other points of view excluded, asks the WSJ by NIC in it's 90 day sprint meeting with president Biden on August 24, 2021. WSJ Investigation says the FBI WMD scientist Banaan and scientists at the Defense Intelligence Council Hardham, Cutlip and Chretien were kept away from the president at a crucial final meeting of National Intelligence Council with Biden on the 90 day sprint to discover where this virus came from. Comparable is the  25 million people who died in the Black Death plague in Europe in 1348- Europe's population did not return to its pre-1348 level till the 16th century, says Britannica.  A scientist working at the FBI offices in Virginia Banaan was brought to main FBI offices for WMD to look into the origins of the virus in Feb. 2020. He and the FBI expected to be called in to see president Biden at a special meeting with Avril Haines, James Murphy of NIC. The FBI and Defense Intelligence Council scientists were not called in to see the president. Scientists on the DIC Council section on the Virus were not given a chance to share views or join the meeting by the Director DIC Scott Berrier who had his own theory on the virus, says WSJ. These scientists had done genomics research that showed a spike protein part of the virus that enable it to enter human cells was constructed in a lab, says WSJ. The WSJ investigation says the investigation sought by president Biden in a 90 day sprint was done with the National Intelligence Agency officials under Avril Haines, a State department official who joined the agency after the 90 day sprint, and James Murphy of the NIC who headed it's WMD section. WSJ report says the heads of Defense Intelligence Agency and NIC believed in what is called the zoonotics theory that the virus was of natural origins and simply transferred from animals to humans. A Lancet article in Feb 2020 by a group of scientists including Daczak of EcoHealth Alliance that supported coronavirus research at Wuhan had supported this theory in the interest of global cooperation to fight the virus but called any alternative explanations conspiracy theory, says WSJ, politicising something that should never be politicized.     ...

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Russia's economic planners and president Putin underestimated the importance of foreign investment to build its tech sector and diversify the economy away from its dependence on oil and gas commodity exports. The strong balance sheet with only 20% of GDP in government debt and over $300 billion in foreign exchange reserves created a false sense of security. An adventurous foreign policy has resulted in western sanctions and a poor investment climate crippling much needed foreign investment. Capital flight exposed vulnerabilities in the economic situation and cracks were evident in the emerging markets crisis in early 2014. Russian corporations were exposed as they depended on access to financial markets which was reduced with EU and U.S. sanctions. These problems were compounded by Dec. 2015 as OPEC led by Saudi Arabia did not cut back production to offset higher shale oil supplies, leading to the drop in oil prices below $50. Experts see the drop as being a lasting factor and Russia's finance minister sees no rebound of oil prices to $100 as happened after 2008, accepting a long term situation of low oil prices. This increases dependence on oil says Barley. It shows how Russia under Putin had grown complacent about the risks to the economy of not forging ahead with an aggressive plan of diversifying into tech and related sectors. In a competitive global economy the risks of standing still, of complacency, misallocation of resources, poor decisions, and weak political processes, can be disastrous....

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The latest version of the Galaxy smartphones is the Galaxy Note 8, which replaces the Galaxy Note 7. The Galaxy Note 7 had fire prone batteries which led to a costly recall costing about $6.5 billion. The Galaxy 8 has an "infinity" display that covers the entire front of the phone, for 6.3 inches. It has a dual lens camera and other features to match the iPhone 7. The Galaxy Note 8 effort was led by mobile chief D.J. Koh, who told his engineers not to hesitate in pushing the frontiers of technology, pointing out that Samsung could compete only if it was not afraid to innovate. Actions taken by Koh to prevent quality failures include signing 3 years instead of 1 year contracts with suppliers. The crisis with the Galaxy Note 7 forced Samsung to have its teams work with closer coordination. Samsung's sales have increased with the 6% increase in the market in the second quarter. Samsung had 22% of total shipments, compared to Apple's 11%, and Huawei Technologies 11%, according to Strategy Analytics. Samsung had 20 million shipments of Galaxy S8 and the S8+ since April 2017. In the U.S. Samsung continues to lose share to Apple. Yet overall Samsung has made a strong recovery. ...

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The latest news from Catalonia ahead of the Dec. 21, 2017 election shows a hugely divided region in Catalonia, as prime minister Rajoy of Spain campaigns in Barcelona. The head of the left wing ERC party which is likely to win the largest share of the vote according to a poll in newspaper La Vanguardia was arrested along with fired ministers in the Puigdemont government. This time unlike the 2015 election ERC party says it will not join Mr. Puigdemont in a single pro independence bloc. Mr. Puigdemont is in exile in Brussels after declaring independence for Catalonia. Barcelona's mayor Ada Palau who won in 2015 on a platform showing support for people who suffered after the financial crisis and real estate meltdown, says she does not support the independence movement. Palau says Mr. Puigedemont and others "tricked the population for their own interests." She is critical of the way prime minister Rajoy handled the crisis including invoking Article 155 to dismiss the elected government for new elections. Palau has broken the pact with the Socialist Party. This shows a fragmented and divided population when it comes to independence. This BBC report says about half of Catalans today do not support independence for a complete break with Spain. ...

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Liz Claiborne second quarter results as new strategy takes shape under McComb.

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Job cuts may be in the future for Opel plants following the acquisition by PSA Peugeot. CEO Tavares is known for making efficiency gains and this may be the only way forward at Opel as PSA makes changes to the way the company is being run.

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Anglo American responds to declining commodity prices and the slowdown in China with deep cuts of 53,000 jobs from its 151,000 workforce. Some of the jobs will be layoffs and other job cuts will be through sale of mines. In Australia mining employment is down 13% in the 2d quarter of 2015 over prior year. Anglo American plans to sell over a quarter of assets in the downsizing. BHP has spun off over ten mines into a separate company called South32. American Pittsburgh based company Consol Energy says it will no longer provide guaranteed health insurance to retired workers. Anglo American is one of the hardest hit companies. It had losses of $3 billion for the first half of 2015, and needs $1.5 billion in cost cutting to become profitable again.

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Sears adjusted earnings before Ebitda are a negative $250-300 million for the period July 26-Oct 26, 2013. Management is reducing investment in the retail stores. As a result there is a deterioration in the conditions at stores making it less attractive for shoppers to go to Sears. There is severe price competition from Amazon and online stores for established retail companies such as Target and Best Buy making it even more difficult for Sears to compete. Analysts say Mr Lampert, CEO of Sears, is an asset manager and Sears liquidation is likely to continue with sale of pieces of the company as it is worth more this way. Lands End, Sears Canada, and the Sear Auto stores brand are expected to be sold to raise cash in this ongoing liquidation process.

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The Fabian Society suggests extending the freeze on income thresholds to generate 12 billion pounds. The reasoning is that it would be fair to most of the middle and lower income households- only the top 20% would pay higher. “The chancellor  (Reeves) recently she wanted to ensure that those with the ‘broadest shoulders pay their fair share of tax’. Our modelling suggests that half (49%) of the revenue raised would come from the highest-earning fifth of households. Conversely, the poorest fifth of households would bear just 4% of the cost,” he writes. “With our public services in dire need of investment, and our public finances under great pressure, there are few good options. Continuing the freeze in income tax thresholds for a further two years is surely one of the better ones." Reeves has been a poor choice for chancellor throughout this Labor administration as she lacked the ideas to go with the grassroots and the people all across Britain struggling to live beyond paycheck to paycheck including the middle class, and follow Labour's own instincts about what was right for Britain at this time in 2025. In this case 49% of the revenue would come from the highest earning fifth of the households and only 4% from the poorest fifth of households. Such choices have inevitably to be made and a lot is needed for the infrastructure and services that benefit all segments of the population and most the four fifths of the population. ...

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The median net worth of Hispanic and Black families has been severely affected by the recession. Because minorities hold a much larger part of their assets in household equity the foreclosure crisis and the recession have had a devastaing impact on both minority groups. The median net worth of Hispanic families dropped by two thirds and black families by half after the 2008 recession from the 2005 figures, and was around $6000 for 2009 for both groups, according to data from the Pew Research Center. The Pew report shows median net worth of a white family is 20 times that of a black family, and 18 times that of a Hispanic family, with the gap between these minorities and whites twice as large in 2009 compared to the period before the recession in 2005. This was even true for Asian American families, whose median net worth dropped by half from 2005 to 2009, to $78,000. The figure for whites dropped much less from $135,000 to $113,000 during the same period. Another significant finding is that within each group the share of the wealthiest 10% of the people increased between 2005 and 2009, for all households this went up from 49% to 56%, for Hispanics from 56% to 72%, for Blacks from 59% to 67%....