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Biden hopes to kickstart the green hydrogen industry in the US with $7 billion in subsidies for new technologies and infrastructure. Green hydrogen is made by splitting water or H2O into its component parts and new cost effective technologies are needed. WSJ shows where in the US this money is going. About $1.75 billion will go to Appalachia and Mid Atlantic states such as West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania with Pennsylvania a key state in 2024 election.

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Timiraos and Shin provide more evidence in the WSJ that the hopes for generating more revenues from a huge tax cut have proven illusory in the past under Reagan and Bush. The question is whether the tax cuts can make up for the revenue lost through economic growth. In the short term there is a spurt of growth but in the long term this has left a revenue shortfall paid for by higher taxes later on.

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Boeing's gumdrop shaped ship that will take Sunita Williams 58 years and Barry Wilmore 61 years  to the International Space Station in May 2024. It launched at 10.34 am on Monday May 6, and will reach the Space Station in 1 day and return a week later to earth. Both Williams and Wilmore have made 2 trips on NASA space shuttle and on Russia's Soyuz vehicles to the International Space Station.

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England's central contract system made it possible with contracts of half a million pounds for players like Andersen to play Test cricket for England. West Indies has a central contract system yet it only pays about 150,000 pounds and leads to its best players opting for T20 cricket. Here West Indies captain Braithwhite tries to inspire his players with reminders of the legends from the past like Gary Sobers and Rohan Kanhai, Wesley Hall.

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50,000 Olympics volunteers in Paris with turquoise shirts make this Olympics special. This Washington Post reporter says he was greeted by one as he got out of the subway at the exit of Nanterre Prefecture Metro station. This is Omodele and her big foam finger showing people the direction to swimming venue. 80% are French locals. There is also this one from Denmark driving a taxi. They volunteered without pay and enjoy a new experience. 

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This essay by a female head of a bank says things have not changed much for women in banking. She cites a Treasury report that says the presence of a alpha male culture is part of the reason women do not get involved at the higher levels of banking and finance. Her personal account is that it was a major hurdle in her getting 58 million funding for her company as she approached banks for funding.

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1. PETROBRAS KNOWHOW IN DEEP-WATER DRILLING HONED IN DEEPWATERS 100 MILES FROM RIO. In the 1970's Petrobras discovered oil in the coastal area near Maca. Later geological tests showed large deposits more than 100 miles offshore and more than a mile deep underwater. Senior Petrobras engineers worked with manufacturers to develop pressure resistant instruments and the hardware needed to drill deeper. This technology was developed over the years and Petrobras has now honed its skills in deepwater drilling. Since then Petrobras has become the leader in deepwater drilling.. The fact that Brazilian oil was offshore made Brazil focus on offshore oil exploration and use the Atlantic ocean near Brazil for one big R&D project. Petrobras uses floating platforms, of which many are converted oil tankers. These platforms are more agile in deep and remote waters and better weater waves and storms. Petrobras gets 90% of its oil from the waters over 100 miles north east of Rio de Janeiro from a cluster of 38 such platforms. The floating platforms are like large ships that can be connected to hoses to pumping points on the seabed. 2. PETROBRAS INVESTMENTS IN OVERSEAS OFFSHORE DEEPWATER OIL PRODUCTION. Petrobras has the size and profits to have global reach and make the large investments and bring deepwater expertise to other regions. It is 55.7% state owned. Production was 1.9 million barrels a day in 2006. Sales of $45 billion and profits of $10 billion for 2005. The 2005 profit was a 50% increase from 2004. Countries where Petrobras is working include Angola, Tanzania, Turkey and India. Petrobras has stated that it will increase overall investments by 66% in the next 4 years investing $87 billion, mostly on exploration and production from 2007 to 2011. Of that $12.1 billion will be invested overseas for new platforms off the Gulf of Mexico and new fields off the coast of Nigeria and Angola. Petrobras plans to invest $2 billion in the Gulf of Mexico for deepwater drilling. ...

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This is a WSJ special report on Nissan and the failure of Carlos Ghosn's management style at Nissan leading to deep discontent in management ranks and employees, and also in Japan. Ghosn failed to invest in Japan seeing it as an aging society, and preferred the U.S. for investment. This was an affront to many Japanese, not just Nissan employees.  A big problem was that Ghosn's salary was larger than that of all nine top Nissan executives combined. Even during the 2008 financial crisis and cost cutting Ghosn's salary was understated by using accounting methods not approved by its auditor Ernst & Young. Under new Japanese rules oversight on compensation was given to Mr. Imazu who had to uncover the different shell companies that were used to shield the compensation and benefits going to Ghosn from public view. Lack of transparency and frugality was a major issue as one Nissan executive put it- "where is the transparency, and where is the frugality." New laws introduced in Japan in 2015 required release of compensation for any company executive making more than $800,000. Under these rules Japanese prosecutors were able to investigate the situation at Nissan.  In the end when the CEO of Nissan, appointed by Mr. Ghosn announced the arrest and detention of Mr. Ghosn, the Japanese audience applauded, showing how deep the discontent was in Japan. On November 19, in a carefully managed operation that would make a detective type story Japanese prosecutors arrested Mr. Ghosn as his plane landed in Tokyo, and arrested his assistant Mr. Kelly on the same day after his plane landed and his car was taken off the road to a rest area. Ghosn story has also its management lessons as this type of hard driving management with time spent jet-setting more than in contact with people and employees of the company is becoming unpopular. It is bad for employees and presents a rather unhealthy lifestyle, lacking any kind of role model for the rest of the company and society where the company is located. In this case not just Yokohama, but all of Japan, which resented the way it was treated. Recent articles have highlighted the situation at other companies. The General Electric story about the failure at GE in the U.S. - also explored this week in the WSJ -tells a story of hard driving management style of some executives that is increasingly becoming unpopular. A more thoughtful management style, with mindfulness, not based on personality or ego, is more productive leading to better decisions after taking in all views and enabling participation of other top and middle managers. ...

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Obesity is a problem today of global dimensions. In the U.S. this problem has reached a new high and increased U.S. risks in the face of the coronavirus. This author and her nutrition organization say the U.S. dietary guidelines put out by a government agency have failed over decades to do what they were supposed to do - guide people in the right direction to make good food choices. People at this time of the coronavirus need to make their own choices, independent of these guidelines that have failed. Intuitive choices for healthy eating by increasing vegetables and fruits in the diet, increasing use of healthy herbs such as turmeric, basil and ginger, eating carbohydrates and fat in a sensible way, increasing ancient whole grains in the diet, reducing meat in the diet in favor of plant based foods such as lentils and a large variety of whole grains. 

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With more vaccines available from Pfizer and Moderna, and the poor SinoVac Chinese vaccine effectiveness against the Delta variant, Brazil and other countries in Latin America and Asia are shifting away from Chinese vaccines. Brazil's federal government has halted negotiations for additional doses of Chinese vaccines. In the early stages in 2020 Chinese vaccines helped Brazil cope with the devastating rise in cases. The slow pace of vaccinations in US and Europe has freed up more vaccine doses of Pfizer for other countries including Brazil. From accounting for 80% of vaccines in Brazil early in 2020, SinoVac vaccines now make up only 35% of Brazil's vaccine doses. At that time Brazil bought 100 million doses of SinoVac vaccine which were delivered. The local producer of SinoVac vaccine, the Butantan Institute will no longer make Chinese vaccines. While Sinovac vaccines are effective at preventing deaths, the vaccines have a low effectiveness rate for symptomatic infections. ...

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Pulitzer prize winning journalist reporting on the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, Karen Elliott House, describes the changes in Saudi society and politics against the backdrop of the changes in the Middle East. Her exceptional reporting and insights provide a look into the Middle East at a time when young people make up the largest demographic and are looking for jobs and economic opportunity, with political structures lagging far behind in meeting the growing aspirations. The larger backdrop of the region extends into South Asia, with large Muslim populations unable to make the right choices for freedom and economic progress because of internal divisions, widespread illiteracy and lack of education of the rural population, and poor leadership. The lag affects western society in different ways, including the threat of terrorism, sporadic involvement in the region's conflicts, and a sense of not being able to do the right thing by its own ideals.

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How Ohio which lost quarter million jobs since 2005 and is skeptical of free trade policies that cost jobs at home is being pandered to by the Clinton and Obama campaigns in primaries March 4, 2008, before a Presidential contest. Criticism of Nafta by both candidiates and a call for 27.5% tariff on Chinese imports as action against China for manipulating exchange rates. The working class white male, steel worker or factory worker is becoming important part of the determiners of this election campaign for primaries and for President. See his concens in the link in the WSJ. One thing is for sure a tariff on Chinese goods would upset a delicate trade balance that has existed for the last 2 decades. Its also ironic as China is finally shifting policy that will make Chinese goods more expensive in the USA, which is already apparent in apparel on American store shelves. And exchange rates are gradually shifting to add to price pressures inside the USA. Whats more the Fed finds it more difficult to raise rates while inflation picks up so a tariff would add to inflationary pressures and lower consumption in the US. See the links on this under China inflation policies. ...

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Maureen Dowd's conversation with Donald Trump in Jan 2016 just after the seventh Republican presidential debate in which Trump opted out. She describes him as a person who can be sensitive himself, and yet not be sensitive to what he says about others and how that is seen by the public, especially for his comments on women. He feels that Fox News is pushing him around, not that he made comments about Megyn Kelly such as "bimbo," and "lightweight." Couldn't Trump just withdraw these words, asks Maureen. Trump says he doesn't have to make up because he is enormously successful. Yet when Maureen tells him about Newt Gingrich's statement to Fox News that Trump was acting with petulance in his response to what Gingrich saw as a poorly worded newsrelease from Fox News, and that it would "shrink" Trump, Donald sounds like he feels offended.

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Croatia will join the European Union on July 1, 2013. Sentiment in the country has been affected by the situation in Greece and the eurozone crisis. Recent polls indicate Croatians still see joining the European Union as best for the country. Prime Minister Milanovic says the benefits are greater than any drawbacks. Croatia will get $2 billion in aid from the EU in the next few years. Major changes to its legal system are being made as required by the European Union. Milanovic says Croatians will have to work hard and be competitive to make this a success, membership alone will not ensure success. There is concern about immigrants from Spain, Italy and Greece because of Croatia's long Adriatic coastline. Other concerns are that a small country of 4.5 million people, with 12 members out of 740 in the European parliament will not have much say in its affairs.

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India's National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority placed pricing controls on frequently used antibiotics including Ciprofloxacin, diabetic drugs including Metformin, and heart medications. It also said it would audit manufacturers to ensure that normal production continues. The pricing authority acts under a 1955 law that requires pricing to be affordable for essential drugs needed by the vast majority of poor people in the country. Some mass consumption drugs are now imported where it is unprofitable to make them in India. In the case of other drugs the volume increases from lower prices increases access to medicines, and the volume makes up for the price cuts. An example cited by the pricing authority is essental antibiotic (especially for children), Augmentin, where the prices dropped by 40% but the volume increases as it became more affordable have more than made up for the price reductions, with overall sales higher than before the price cuts.

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For the first time since the 1995 Srebrenica massacres of 8000 Muslims the Serbian police has made arrests of persons involved in the killings. Serbia is trying to make amends and come to terms with the past and set the path to the future as a new member of the European Union. This is a major step for reconciliation in the Balkan region through efforts for closing this troubled chapter in its history. Serbia's deputy war crimes prosecutor, said about the 8 arrests- "We have never dealt with crimes of this magnitude. It is very important that Serbia take a clear stance toward Srebrenica through the judicial process. We have sent a clear message that the Srebrenica victims, perpetrators or even potential war crimes will not be forgotten." For Serbia and the region this long awaited step brings the Balkans back into the fold of civilized Europe.

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Inflation in the eurozone is running at 0.7%, well below the target of 2%. In a opening speech for a 2 day conference organized by the ECB in May 2014, ECB president Draghi said the increase in the value of the euro since 2011 has made commodities like oil cost less in euros, contributing to lower inflation. A key concern referred to in Draghi's speech is the data from Spain and Portugal about the difficulty for business to get loans in Spain and Portugal. About 25% of Spanish businesses and 33% of Portgual's businesses have difficulty getting loans. Even profitable companies have difficulty getting loans. One way the ECB could tackle this is to make cheap loans available to eurozone banks conditional on the money being lent to businesses and not invested in government bonds, as has happened during prior ECB efforts to capitalize banks.

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How ratings firms gave A grade ratings to mortgage pools of securities where the borrowers had ridiculously easy down payments or made no payments at all financing the down payment with a second loan. And despite gathering evidence about the shakiness of these securities continued to give these ratings till late 2006. Did the large portion of Moody's earnings and othe ratings agencies earnings come from such shaky deals that wiggled out higher ratings so that the securities could be marketed globally and held in the portfolios all around the world Even in the portfolios of otherwise conservative institutions as pension funds? What a mess. See Henry Kaufman in today's WSJ on the greed motives or a better sounding word aggressive risktaking that make such crises likely in the future, even as globalized trading and the internet spread these mistakes faster around the globe.

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Ingrassia presents a different view of Steve Miller. He became the bogeyman for putting the facts the way they were: the days of the highly paid auto workers were over in a global economy, where automakers compete globally and parts can be made anywhere in the world sometimes at a fraction of the cost in the USA. Should Steve get some of the credit for the union taking the wakeup call? Delphi did not benefit from this public acrimony with the union. Was there a better way. Dana's McCracken thinks so doing this in a less public way. On the other hand the debate needed some kind of point man who got the discussion into focus even with straightforward remarks that would make few friends. Was it risky for Delphi and GM ,with the possibility of a lengthy strike. This was a serious risk.

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Hispanics expected to make 20% of the US electorateby 2020 up from 9% today. In California efforts to deny social services to illegal immigrants alienated Korean and Chinese voters who are mostly small business owners. Thus it creates an anti immigrant bias. Another point made here most of the Latino illegal immigrants here are related to legal immigrants so these are mothers brothers, sisters and relatives so this issue and poor treatment of these immigrants sparks protest in the minds of legal immigrants as well. As the USA demographics change how will this issue develop and play out. By 2042 the Census Bureau projections stated that the ethnic and racial minorities will comprise a majority of the US population thanks to higher birth rates and the media has focused on this and the Republican platform has according to this editorial called for walling off Mexico.

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"250 million doses of vaccine Made in France, that's our goal," says French president Macron, as French firm Delpharm manufactures final vaccine products in vials of the Pfizer vaccine at its factory in France. This should boost France's vaccination drive which got off to a slow start.

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This inside account of the events leading to the cancellation of the meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea shows how quickly the idea of a meeting between the two leaders unraveled following Trump's statements about the Libyan example being followed by North Korea. Soon after the suggestion for a Trump meeting was made by Kim Jong Un to South Korean officials Mr Trump picked up and endorsed the idea. North Korea made a public announcement critical of Mr. Trump  and National Security Adviser John Bolton took this up with Mr. Trump at 10 pm on May 23, 2018.  This report says Mr. Trump fearing that Kim Jong Un was looking for a way to back out of the talks acted first- possibly sensing that Mr. Trump could be made to look weak and small if the situation continued to develop and the U.S. is seen as a desperate suitor. The meeting had been set for June 12 in Singapore.  In the end the South Koreans and the Japanese were the last to learn about the cancellation and were taken by surprise by Trump's decision. ...

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The Swedish government is seeing the 3 Baltic countries as part of its own economic region, and is treating them as part of the home region. It plans to do whatever it can to help them. The recapitalization effort for Swedish banks that made a large amount of loans to these countries, is similiar to the one that Sweden conducted for its banks in the 1990's, after a real estate bust. Swedish banks loans to the 3 Baltic countries amount to about 20% of Sweden's GDP. According to Danske Bank the loans could cost Sweden 2 to 6% of its GDP over several years. In 2009 the economies of the Baltic countries could contract 6 to 10%. Already Sweden has approved a rescue package of $173 billion, or 1.5 trillion kronor, to guarantee issues of Swedish bank debt, with some of it used to recapitalize banks with heavy losses. It contributed 1 billion euros to the 7.85 billion euro rescue package for Latvia made by the IMF, and traded $1.1 billion woth of Estonian kroons for Swedish kronor to help stabilize the Estonian currency. Swedbank and Nordea Bank are taking part in the recapitalization, while the SEB Bank of the Wallenberg family has so far managed on its own....

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The close ties developed in the postwar years between Japan and Boeing. Japanese suppliers supplied 16% of the 767 model in 1982, growing to 21% in 1995. By 2011 with the 787 Dreamliner Japan's role had increased to 35%. ANA and JAL almost exclusively use Boeing planes, shutting out Airbus from the Japanese market. New upstart airlines are beginning to order from Airbus. The Japanese government also supports suppliers of Boeing in Japan. Employment is also a consideration as 43% of employment in Japan's aviation industry is linked to Boeing. The battery on the Dreamliner 787 is supplied by Kyoto based GS Yuasa Corp., and Kanto Aircraft Instrument Company near Tokyo makes the circuit board that runs the battery. Battery related fires have led to grounding of 17 Dreamliners operated by ANA and 7 Dreamliners of JAL airlines in Japan. All Nippon Airways is the first and largest operator of the new Dreamliner aircraft. So tight is the relationship that Airbus has in total about 44 planes flying in Japan, with newer airlines such as Skymark expected to use the new Airbus A380 superjumbo aircraft in 2014. ANA and JAL typically do not bargain hard on pricing with Boeing because this supports Japanese manufacturers. ANA managers say it was involved in the design of the jet, including the use of a durable Japan made paint. In the 1990's Boeing studied Japanese manufacturing methods to improve work on its assembly lines, which goes on till today....

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Of all 5 comments to this editorial in the Economist, all did not think it made any sense to support the Karzai government and risk American troops on the ground with an increasing presence.