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Here are some ways to make for a better day at work.  1. Have what is called a "monk-mode" morning when you just keep out all phone calls and focus on "deep work," without distractions. Every little distraction in the form of a call or some other interruption has its costs in terms of having to refocus and not being able to concentrate on the task at hand as it deserves. 2. Have "meeting-free" days. These are days that you can focus, concentrate on tasks without distraction of meetings. Have walking meetings and meetings where you can walk out in the open for fresh air and some exercize. And no phones at meetings. 3. Replace reading with presenting powerpoint presentations. Have people write out their ideas for others to read so that discussion can be engaged and effective. Amazon CEO Bezos never believed in powerpoint presentations and required staff to write so that they could in the process improve on the clarity of their thinking. 4.  Have weekends free of email. This reduces the stress of workers under a manager who spend time writing and answering emails over weekends when they could replenish their energies and come back charged up on Monday morning for a fresh start on a new week. 55. Grab a coffee with a colleague and do some one on ones talking as one walks around the offices. This was done by Intel's Andy Grove as an effective way to get things done eliminating some of the need for formal meetings. This also provides an opportunity for casual conversation Also laugh and socialize in different ways.       ...

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Alicia Munnell, is the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Munnell says the Domenici-Rivlin deficit reduction proposals should serve as the basis for putting Social Security on a sound financial basis. Tackling the budget deficit should not be focussed simply on the 12% of the budget that makes up nondefense discretionary spending in his view. Tackling Social Security would build confidence and reduce the long term deficit. The Domenici-Rivlin plan has the following proposals for Social Security- indexing the full retirement age after it reaches 67 to improvements in life span, a smaller cost of living adjustment, increasing the earnings subject to the payroll tax to about 180,000 from 106,800 in a gradual way, and gradually taxing employer and employee premiums for health insurance.

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The effort to shift China's economc growth away from the rampant overbuilding in housing and industrial capacity of the past to domestic consumption, and focus on meeting the demand for better medical care, quality of food, education and other quality of life products. China's leaders met at the Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing in Dec. 2015 to work out ways to make this shift so that growth rate of 6.5% and other goals can be met. Plans include reducing industrial overcapacity, dealing with overinvestment and unused inventory in housing, reducing financial risks from high corporate debt to GDP ratio approaching 160% estimated by Standard and Poors Ratings Services. By comparison the U.S. debt to GDP ratio is 70%. A steep rise resulted from the huge China stimulus program of 2008-2009, when the ratio was 98% for China. Experts such as Derek Scissors of the American Enterprise Institute are pessimistic about the prospects of successfully implementing reforms, saying reducing industrial overcapacity was a goal of the new Jinping Li-Keqiang leadership in 2013, but not much progress has been made in 2 years....

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Ariel Mckenzie is the daughter of  Boeing machinist who told his daughter to join Boeing as generations of Boeing workers in the Seattle area have done. Not anymore. Airel says she can't tell her 15 year old daughter that it can provide a good life today with wages falling behind soaring costs in the Seattle area. Note that the new contract states the 437 billion dollars of planes backlog Boeing has will not be made in non union plants in the South, most will be made in the Seattle area home to Boeing since it's founding. How does Boeing see this happening without a wage deal that workers are not happy with, when since 1997 the workers were being treated as a transaction and losing out. Boeing workers say the new contract has no bonus program and does not restore fixed benefit pensions which were replaced by 401 K's . The housing prices index in the Seattle area for last decade rose 128% and average price of a home in Seattle is $835,000. Average worker pay in 2024 is $75,000 and fallen far behind costs of living. It's all been downhill say veteran Boeing workers after the 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas and the shift of corporate offices to Chicago. ...

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The plant in Tychy, Poland where Fiat turns out 500,000 small cars a year, one every 55 seconds. Chrysler engineers are now visiting this plant to see what can be done with small car production. The Fiat 500 is turned out here. Its Fiat's best effort in terms of quality. Zdzislaw Arlet, is director of the Tychy (pronounced TICK-ee) plant. He says the right combination of robots to individual workers was critical to achieve efficiencies and to have the flexibility to switch to different Fiat small car models depending on which is selling more. This enables the Tichy plant to operate round the clock six days a week. About three years ago workers were assigned an individual ID that is stamped on the sections of the car that they assemble so any problems at the end of the line can be traced to the source. As a result of these efforts defects have fallen from 20% in 1996 to just 4% now, and the time to have a car roll out of the assembly line has been halved.

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Greece's new Syriza government plans to put a bill through parliament on the minimum wage as one of its first steps. It will reverse plans to sell the government's 67% stake in the port of Piraeus, and a planned sale of the state controlled utility will be held back. Sigmar Gabriel, the Social Democratic leader in the coalition government in Germany says Germany is ready to show solidarity with the Greek people, and says the new government has the opportunity to take better action against corruption and tax evasion in Greece than previous governments. Previous governments including governments of the Pasok and New Democracy parties which make up the ruling political elite in Greece failed to make the serious changes in tax collection needed in Greece whereby the upper class in Greece pay the fair amount of taxes due. The IMF's Lagarde also emphasized the tax collection, and separated it from austerity issues where most of European and American opinion believes growth oriented policies are the right path....

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By May 2015 the Russsian ruble had recovered to 50 to the dollar from the low of 80 to the dollar in 2014. In August 2015 the ruble declined to 70 to the dollar as oil prices dropped below $40 per barrel. GDP growth showed a decline of 4.6% for the economy in the 2nd quarter of 2015. The ruble has lost close to 50% of its value in 2015 compared to the prior year.

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An assessment of Brazil compared to the other leading emergig market countries Russia, China and India, shows that Brazil has a lot going for it. Compared to Russia and China, Brazil has a stable multiparty democracy. And the differences between the countryside and the urban areas is not quite as large as it is in China and India. Surprising as it may appear about 83% of Brazilians now live in cities. And the process of urbanization that is taking place in China and India took place much earlier in Brazil. Between 1940 to 1980 industrialization and a growth rate that averaged 7% for most of that period brough large numbers of people from rural to urban areas. And the problem of inflation which wracked the economy from 1986 to 1994 before being brought under control is now well under control at about 4.7%. Debt problems from the Asian crisis contagion effects are now behind it as Brazil is a big exporter of commodities from coffee, soyabeans, orange juice to iron ore, with the real strengthening from 68 as measured in the currencies of its trading partners in 2001 to 100 today. Brazil's growth rate has reached 5.4%. and has been at an average of 4.5% since 2004. Between 1980 and 2000 Brazil's growth was in a slump so this has been a period of great changes in Brazil. Brazil is importing more plant and equipment with a stronger currency and booming exports. Brazil invests 19% of GDP according to Vale of MB Associados and that number should reach 25% of GDP at which point it would be easier to maintain a growth rate of 5% a year. With consumer credit growing at 25% each year for the last 2 years consumption is growing. And Brazilian companies were the second largest source of foreign direct investment in developing countries after China, according to the Fundacao Dom Cabral, a business school, and Columbia University, with the stronger real helping the balance sheets of Brazilian companies. The big change is that under the Lula government Brazil has done much better for the working classes and the rural poor. The Bolsa Familias is a program of cash transfers to poor people under the poverty line but which has strings attached so that they are required to send their children to school and have them vaccinated. It reaches 11 million families and is considered a major success in reducing poverty and in helping to see that poverty is not passed on from generation to generation. A program that may be copied in India. Acccording to the Observador Brasil/ Ipsos survey 23 million Brazilians have left social classes D and E and joined class C which means that they can have a rented apartment, a car and some gadgets. This give more confidence in Brazilian democracy and capitalism as more of society's diverse groups have a stake in the future....

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President Macron moved to invoke an article in the French constitution that allows the government to pass a law bypassing the legislature. He used this to pass his pension overhaul. The law allows the president to bypass the National Assembly. A motion can then be introduced in the National Assembly to censure the president. This cannot pass because Macron's party has a majority in the National Assembly. Opposition lawmakers had hoped to introduce thousands of amendments to stall legislation on pensions.  Under the overhaul the entire salary history of employees are taken into account in calculating a pension amount. Previously the highest earning 25 years were used. For civil servants the last 6 months of service were used. The pension system was also fragmented providing different terms to different groups with some more favored than others. To maintain the old system a 40 day transport strike was organized in December 2019, but failed to change public opinion on the issue which favors a single pension system instead of the many different and disparate pension schemes with different rules. ...

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The Chinese 90 seat regional jet called the ARJ21 made by government run AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Company has about half of its equipment supplied by US companies. Its maiden flight is Septemeber 21. Canada's Bombardier is investing $100 million in the larger version of this plane citing parts sharing and cost saving potential for its own jets. The Chinese market is expected to grow at about 9% annually according to Boeing's forecast. China will spend about $600 million on the program for ARJ21 according to Chinese aviation officials. The ARJ21 also called the Flying Phoenix has 206 of the 300 orders it needs to breakeven. The plane is targeting the high altitude airports and the lightly travelled routes of western and central China. China is also looking to sell the plane in emerging markets of Malaysia, Turkey and India. According to General Electric China will need at least 500 regional jets over the next 20 years. GE which makes the engines for the ARJ21 sees the 500 jets equal to engine orders of $15 billion. Other companies that are looking for supplier orders are Parker Hannifin, Goodrich, and Mitsubishi....

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Chrysler's sales are dropping the fastest of all the car companies . April 2009 sales dropped 24% from March 2009. Ford sales are doing better than Toyota, as they declined in April over same month prior year by 32%, compared to 42% for Toyota. It appears that the Buy American factor may be helping Ford Motor more than the other American car companies, and that Chrysler also suffers from the lack of new models with new technology and investment in new features. At GM the situation is better at Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC, where sales in April 2009 declined by 29%, over same month prior year, which compares with a 55% decline in sales, of Pontiac, Hummer, Saab, and Saturn brands which are likely to be dropped. See the related link on same day on steep fall in Chrysler sales.

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India's 267 million farmers 44% of the workforce that make it difficult to reduce 39% tariff on imported dairy and grain. Older Americans have lost the memories of famines in India including one in Bihar in the 1960's, not to mention the Bengal famine during the British rule in 1944 in which Britannica says 3 million people lost their lives. By 1965 India depended on US grain. Dhume reminds readers that in as recent as 1966 9 million tons, a quarter of US wheat crop, was sent to India to prevent famine. China had a similar situation of famine and starvation in the 20th century. This is why India and China have focused effort on achieving self sufficiency in food, and  agricultural productivity is one of the great achievements of the 20th century ranking with electricity and other inventions. When it comes to other upscale agricultural products such as walnuts, blueberrries, and almonds, and other, India's middle class would benefit from nutritional benefits of US agriculture in these fields at low or no tariffs. This suggests there is room for opening some sectors other than dairy and grain that are staple to the Indian diet of the vast population. US 50% tariff is motivated by India going from 2% Russian oil imports in 2019, to shifting importing from Saudis and UAE to Russia so that Russia now makes up a third of it's oil imports by 2024. In May it reached 4 million barrels a day dropping to 2 million barrels a day by July 2024.   ...

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Long term changes in voting patterns, with voters shifting allegiance to third parties in larger numbers led to the need for a coailtion government. The Liberals with 23% of the votes won 57 seats. In this election 35% of the vote went to third parties, the highest proportion since 1918, and these patterns are seen as likely to remain. Far smaller number of seats now are close Tory and Labor contested elections, and the Conservatives win their constituencies with large majorities, as a result some of the Tory votes does not register in the way of seats. With a seven point lead over Labor Margaret Thatcher won an overall majority of 44, now Cameron struggled all the way and fell short.

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Bolivia's economy showed 6.5% growth in 2013 and the portion of the people in extreme poverty has dropped from 38% in 2005 to 24% in 2013. Policies of president Morales are winning praise for being prudent from the IMF and the World Bank. A greater share of the revenues from natural gas production and high natural gas prices, Bolivia's main export products, has enabled the government to build international reserves to $14 billion. This is half the country's GDP, and the highest ratio of reserves to GDP in the world. Morales has adopted socialist policies and at the same time provided fiscally responsible management, showing the two are not inconsistent and can be adapted to local conditions to build a middle class and improve living conditions.

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GM, VW and Toyota are shrinking in China's rapidly expanding EV and hybrids market. Local China brands expanded by 9% to 61% of the market. 23 smaller Chinese brands were merged into larger China brands or exited the market. China's car market expanded by 5.5% to 22.9 million vehicles.  Production capacity is about twice that with 112 brands in the market. US is at about 16 million vehicles.

Production of EV's or plug in hybrids has hit 10 million in China in 2024, so that about half of all vehicles made in 2024 are EV's or hybrids.

Tesla China sales at 662,000,, up 8%, with Model Y selling at $33,000 and 5 year car loans at no interest from Tesla. China's leader BYD sells 4 million cars in 2024. GM's 6 plants in China suffered- GM lost 50% of it's sales in 2024 and took a $5 billion charge.

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David Kostin, Goldman Sach's U.S. equity strategist and his prediction of the S&P 500 at 1250 at the end of 2012. The S&P was at 1421 on April 1, 2012, the highest it has been since May 20, 2008. In his research note Kostin says that over the longer term the stock market will offer opportunities after a more normal growth environment is reestablished. This is similiar to the view held by John Bogle, founder of Vanguard. For the short term- the 2012-2013 time frame Kostin sees tactical risks, and results below average. The reason he gives is low economic growth and the large degree of uncertainty. The situation in Europe shows slowing to no growth and more deficit problems, and the sanctions on Iran pose risks for oil prices.

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By offering the prospect of higher returns in a low return environment venture capital firms are raising new funds at the highest rate in 15 years in 2016. Venture Capital firms have raised about $13 billion in the first quarter of 2016 from pension funds, endowment funds, and other sources, with about 50% of the funds going to about 7% of the total number of firms, according to Venture Source- including $2 billion to Accel Partners, other firms are Andreeson, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins. The returns for ten years from venture capital are about 11% compared to 6.8% for S&P 500 index, according to Cambridge Associates. Usually the fund capital raising lags behind market downturns. Much of the returns for some of the startups are not reflected in cash inflows with returns being large on paper, and startup financing has increased for firms, resulting in capital shortages and more fund raising in the industry.

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Resistance to EU reforms for a Single Sky Plan by controllers and national aviation agencies. The EU Transport Commissioner, Sim Kallas, is pushing the Single European Sky plan. This is being planned for January 2012. With the creation of the Single Sky national barriers would fall, national air traffic bureaucracies would give up powers, and controllers in European countries will have to work more efficiently and may face job cuts. Europe's air traffic system is splintered. There are 39 national agencies, and Eurocontrol with 64 control centers. Europe has twice as many bureaucrats and support staff compared to the U.S. European air-traffic agencies costs per flight are 75% higher than the FAA's, mostly because of labor costs. According to Eurocontrol, air traffic in Europe went up 1% in 2010 over 2009, but delays went up by 34%. Over 40% of scheduled flights in Europe were over 5 minutes late in 2010- the comparable figure for the U.S. is a little over 25%. This splintered situation became an obvious drawback during the volcanic eruption in Iceland, when the lack of a single regulator meant the lack of a common standard. In 2009, the EU presented its own program that would group 32 national agencies into nine units called airspace blocks, which would given the task of breaking down internal barriers and integrating operations A common set of standards for all air traffic agencies would be set, and advanced technology would be used to support safety and efficient flight management. This program is now set for initial implementation in January 2012. As part of this effort European governments like Spain are tackling their high air trafffic controller costs....

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Richard Portes of the London Business School provides two good reasons why the EU's decision to adopt the French Banking Federation's proposal for rollovers with 10% interest costs is a serious mistake. It doubles the interest costs from 4-6% to 10% with 2% Greek GDP growth and makes debt servicing untenable. Portes says the real Brady Plan from the 1980's included a 35-40% bondholders haircut. Deals of this type have a precedent- in Mexico in 1988 and in Argentina in 2001 such bond exchanges were soon followed by deals that placed bondholder haricuts on creditors. The lesson from Latin America in the 1980's, says Portes, is that the burdens of servicing a debt of such proportions under onerous conditions only extinguishes the enterprise, investment and productive capabilities of the particular country trying to service that debt, making the debt even less serviceable. See the Wall Street Journal's editorial on this deal which it calls "The French Deception." The terms sound like Greek to the editors leaving a sense that French banks are only saying "gimme." The only benefit achieved may be putting off the problem and avoiding contagion to Portugal and Spain. Yet this is not that much of a benefit when one realizes that the problem has not gone away, and is likely to look much worse six or nine months from now....