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The disadvantages of 99 week unemployment benefits. Research has shown that the job search is most effective in the early months when the job hunter's skills and networks are at their best. The long term unemployed are about half of the total unemployed. Federal Reserve of San Francisco researchers show that about 0.8% of the jobless rate is a result of 99 week benefits.

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Charlie Rose interviews Salesforce.com founder Marc Benioff. Benioff says he worked for Steve Jobs at Apple in 1984. He was writing assembly language code in the Macintosh division in that year. He sees his company as constantly recreating itself. The best way of dramatically lowering the cost of IT, says Benioff, is to move to cloud computing, which he has embraced from the beginning.

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Maruti Suzuki plans to introduce a new model to replace its best selling Alto model in India. Declining demand for gasoline powered cars compared to diesel in the Indian market, because diesel costs 4% less, led to total sale decline of 11% in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, to 1.01 million cars. Maruti sold 308,228 units of the Alto, which also declined by 11%.

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New Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke, has contacts with the Chinese leadership, and has years of experience on China trade issues. He was Governor of Washington state, which has about a third of its jobs dependent on foreign trade and looks west to the Asia Pacific region for growth. He is the country's only Chinese-American governor, as governor of Washington state from 1997 to 2005.

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India recorded 100,000 cases in one day on April 5, 2021. About half of these cases are in one state Maharashtra. Most of the cases are in about 6 states. Super spreader events such as cricket matches, weddings and social gatherings, political rallies with elections in states of Tamilnadu, Kerala, West Bengal, and Holi festival, are increasing the rate of infection. People have become lax in wearing masks and following the safety protocol after cases dropped to less than 15,000 for the whole country in February. This report says variants also are playing apart. Google Mobility Reports have shown that movements around retail areas dropped to about 80% below regular levels in the middle of the national lockdown in spring of 2020, and have come back up to about 20% below normal levels. When the winter surge did not happen, and the vaccination drive started in January in India people became less vigilant, allowing infections to increase. The vaccination drive is accelerating and open to everyone over 45 years. About 80 million doses have been given and the target is still for 300 million doses by August.  ...

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On October 28 France reported 36,000 daily coronavirus cases. French president Macron announced a new lockdown starting October 30 that last till December 1.  Under this second lockdown people can leave home only to go to work, to go to school, to give assistance to loved ones, for essential shopping and for 1 hour of physical exercize. People will have to show documentation when leaving home. Travel between regions is banned. Bars and restaurants and nonessential businesses will be closed. Universities and higher education will be done online. Schools will remain open, essential businesses will remain open. Most public services will be open. Factories, farms and construction sites can continue to operate. There will be extensive economic support for business and people. Small businesses will have access to 10,000 euros per month of assistance, employees get short term work assistance, and people having trouble with rent receive assistance. About half of intensive care beds are now taken in France. And Macron said transferring patients to other regions will not be possible as the virus is everywhere. ...

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One of Boeing's major customers airline Norwegian Air has subsidiaries in Denmark and Sweden that have gone bankrupt. Boeing has 92 undelivered orders for 737 Maxs and 2 787 Dreamliner aircraft waiting to be taken to Scandinavia. Additional 219 orders from leasing companies for aircraft were cancelled. In addition airlines such as Emirates are renegotiating price of 787 aircraft orders. Boring's commercial aircraft division is using up $4 billion a month just to keep production and suppliers running. It has used up half of a $14 billion credit line and has $15 billion in cash.The 737 Max crashes and failures cost an additional $18.7 billion in costs. 2019 ended with $27 billion in debt. Boeing has few options- the Trump administration is likely to support a government guarantee because Boeing is one of America's best companies and makes up 1% of U.S. GDP. Boeing assembly lines for models 747, 767, and 777 are going into full production on April 21. 787 line will open April 23 and run at full capacity by April 26. ...

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With coronavirus spread out over wide parts of each country and with so many people infected it is very difficult to do the contact tracing and isolation that was tried during the first wave. In Germany during the first wave efforts for contact tracing and isolation worked reasonably well. During the second wave in November things have changed. In Germany authorites do not know in November where 75% of the people testing positive for coronavirus got it. In Spain this figure is 93% for the last week of October. In France and Italy it is at 80%. In New York it is over 50%. Other problems are the increasing number of cases where the coronavirus is spread in an home setting, the lack of restaurant data collected on who visits, and the delay in getting test results. In Germany frequently people say they cannot remember where they were. Researchers from the German version of the FBI, the Pasteur Institute in France and the Koch Institute in Germany are getting involved in November to understand in what settings the virus spreads most. ...

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This view in DW.com looks at the rising inequality in Chile and the devastating inflation of over 50% in Argentina, the failure in providing basic public services such as sanitation in Brazil, as failures in the economic models and also in the lack of social solidarity within Latin American nations.. The pursuit of "what is the most of what I can get" in place of "what is the best I can do so that the country and people benefit as a whole including myself as part of that society." Argentines have billions of dollars overseas, and billions are stored in homes outside of banks because no one trusts the government or banks to keep inflation in check. In Chile the economic model accepts high inequality as a norm. In Brazil much of the public spending goes to generous pensions crowding out basic services such as transport and sanitation. In each case one section of society looks after its own interests at the expense of the society as a whole leading to a breakdown and misery for all. ...

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A confidential report made for the British government is leaked to Buzzfeed News. The report points out that under every plausible scenario the British economy would take a hit from Brexit even it it remains in the single market. In the best possible scenario that it remains in the single market after leaving the EU Britain's GDP would decline by 2% over a 15 year period. In the scenario where Britain made a comprehensive trade deal with the EU, yet remained outside the single market growth would be lower by 5% than current forecasts. Ever sector of the economy is negatively affected except agriculture, according to the report- "EU Exit Analysis- Cross Whitehall Briefing." The current situation is that of a transition period for Britain with the EU  giving Britain 21 months of membership benefits, without the power to form new EU laws. UK economic growth of 1.8% for 2017 is the lowest since 2012, with the decision for Brexit affecting the economy adversely. This even leaves open the possibility of a new referendum on Brexit in coming years. ...

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Kaname Harada, 98 years, was a Japanese fighter pilot during World War II. Here NYT's Martin Fackler provides this exceptional account of Harada's effort to remind each new generation since 1965 of the horrors of war, and why Japan should not forget the lessons of World War II. In 1965 Harada started teaching kindergarden children at a school he opened to help give a new Japanese generation the right values of peace. Since he retired he gives frequent public speeches on the values of peace, and how Japan has benefitted from the post war peacetime period. He reminds listeners about the horrors of war from his own experience shooting down 19 Allied aircraft from his Zero fighter plane, and being close enough to see the horror stricken faces of Americans in the other planes. Even at the age of 98, Harada's voice has vigor though he suffers from throat cancer. His message is that the best way for Japan to protect its children, and its children's children from war, is never to forget. He says the current generation of leaders were born after the war and have no idea what it is....

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Chancellor Merkel's now widely quoted words were made in Munich on May 27, 2017, after a NATO summit meeting in Brussels and a Group of 7 meeting in Italy, in which she was disconcerted by U.S. president Trump's positions on NATO, Russia, climate change, and trade. These words "the times in which we could rely fully on others - they are somewhat over." Merkel added "This is what I experienced in the last few days." After the election of Emmanuel Macron in France, Merkel expressed great relief at the outcome of the French election with Macron winning about two thirds of the vote, setting the stage for the election in Germany after several months of difficult watching and waiting. Now there is new confidence in Germany shaping its own future, with France and the rest of the European Union without Britain. Merkel says she "experienced this" meaning that she had undergone a transformation in these few months, and visibly in the last few days. She was also sending a message to Germans and people of the European Union - "we have to know that we must fight for our future on our own, for our destiny as Europeans." This also complements tactically to form the approach of Germany and France at the leadership of the EU, as French president Macron said at the end of the Group of 7 conference that multilateralism was intact, and the U.S. and EU shared many common goals.   ...

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To help growth in the present situation of the pandemic the U.S. central bank is adopting a new policy of letting inflation float above 2%. Interest rates will be kept low for a longer period to support jobs and growth. Jerome Powell the head of the Federal Reserve announced the new policy.  Powell is mainly concerned about jobs. He sees a lot of difficulty in the services sector as jobs are lost. It will take time for this sector to recover. This is "a strategy where undershoots are not forgotten" Powell told the Jackson Hole gathering, meaning that the Fed in contrast to current policy will adopt a strategy of staying with a goal of full employment till the people who are lagging behind in regaining employment are back on the boat with the rest. In the past these people were left to fend for themselves, even when the loss of work was due to no fault of their own- crises from banks overlending and losing money as in 2009, or today because of a virus from Wuhan.  This is the part of economic policy that resonates in the country today and it shows that the Fed is on board in the effort to revive the American economy putting the people first as in the early years after the second world war when national unity prevailed under both Truman and Eisenhower. Powell uses both economic jargon about "a long tail" and common sense language in a way few central bank presidents have in America. He says the Fed is looking at "a long tail of a couple of years at least" during which he says the Fed will "stay with these people, the millions of people still looking for work." No mathematical formulas will be used. Just plain common sense and putting the people of America first, which is just what is needed. Mathematical economics have taken America nowhere. ...

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Quentin Letts writes this exceptional and humorous account in the Daily Mail of the events that unfolded in the weeks after the Darling-Salmond debate on the Scottish referendum for independence, and after the first polls showed Alex Salmond's Scotland Independence Party ahead in the vote. Here he describes in good humored as well as insightful detail -the moves, maneouvring and efforts of London politicians, the media, and the elites, during the days leading to the referendum as alarm grows about a breakup of Britain. Cameron, Clegg, Miliband, 100 Labor MPs rushing to Edinburgh to plead with the Scots, and the clever Alex Salmond who had a flair for old style political haranguing, all figure in what Letts says was a worthwhile topic for a Shakespearean tragedy, showing Britons in uncharacteristic passionate terms. Lets does not mince words about the motivations of the actors- Labor Party seeing damage to its own prospects in the next elections by losing its Scottish base will do everything to avoid the prospect of dissolution. Cameron of the Conservatives looking to energize the English vote with a promise of devolution for all including Englishmen to improve his own prospects, when the UK Independence Party and Nigel Farage were threatening the Conservatives from the right. One actor Letts does not mention is Britain's former Labor prime minister Gordon Brown, who is from Scotland. Brown may have saved the day by his passionate plea to fellow Scottish voters to stay with Britain, the only truly credible voice from London in Edinburgh and the countryside. As it turned out Glasgow went to the Independence Party, but Edinburgh went to the "Stay Together" alliance with over 60% of the vote, and prevented any last minute surge for the independence vote. Brown pointed out in an oped in the WSJ that Scotland had gained on almost equal terms with England and the rest of Britain in terms of average incomes as a result of efforts in recent decades, truly important bedrock considerations....

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With a mere 1% of GDP invested in public healthcare India remains backward in its commitment to the welfare of the rural poor. Prime minister's Modi's plan is laudable says this BBC report, but the record of implementation is spotty at best at the state level for such plans. The new plan announced in the 2018 Indian Budget is for a health plan covering 500 million Indians with 5 lakh rupees coverage, something never tried before but with a cost of a mere $1.7 billion is something that the country woefully lacked or neglected to tackle.

This plan may be better implemented at the national level, and particularly where the reputation of the governing party and its plans for industrialization are at stake in the coming year's national elections. If accomplished and the Modi government is eager to take on these challenges it would be a significant step to balanced and overall development of the Indian economy.

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Walmart plans to take a 75% stake in India's online retailer FlipKart for $15 billion. The move comes as Amazon is making an an effort to invest heavily in online sales in India. Amazon plans to invest $5 billion and is making strong gains in the growing Indian online market. This is expected to give Amazon about one third of its revenue growth in the next 3 years. The move by Walmart is seen as a defensive one against Amazon's efforts.

Walmart has 21 Best Price wholesale stores in India which it started in 2009. Foreign owned companies can only sell their own products under Indian rules and this makes it harder for Walmart. Online retailing is away to get around this restriction to sell many products and brands. India is growing in online retail with $35 billion estimated for 2019 by Forrester, this compares with $935 billion in China and $459 billion in the U.S.

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The Journal's interview with Weight Watchers International CEO, David Kirchhoff. Weight Watcher's strategies focus on increasing its online business and getting males to join Weight Watchers. According to Kirchhoff it has 1.4 million people, 90% of whom are women, attending meetings each week all over the world. Online business is surging, with an average of 1.8 million additional subscribers for the first 3 quarters of 2011. In the first 3 quarters of 2011 the online business showed gains of 70%. Estimates are for the online business to generate $400 million in revenues and $200 million in operating income in 2011. Today 65% of the business is in the U.S. and a large part of the rest is in Europe. Kirchhoff sees new opportunities in China, where poor lifestyles- the use of the internet instead of being outdoors, and the increased access to all kinds of food- is creating a surge in obesity.

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This Washington Post editorial says Obama and the politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, want something for nothing. The Ryan budget, Obama's health care plan, all require paying for it with higher taxes, but the mention of the word "tax" is the last word any of the politicians will say. These comments come as the U.S. Supreme Court considers the mandate that young Americans and others be forced to pay for health care along with the rest, as required by the health care mandate, with the idea of keeping costs down. The idea of getting something for nothing was also emphasized in an op-ed in the WSJ, March 29, 2012, by Mayor Bloomberg of New York City, where he called for letting the Bush tax cuts expire for all income groups, and an up or down vote in Congress on the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan, as part of a two step plan.

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After taking the recent writedowns Bankia should have setu provisions for losses on real estate bad loans equal to 48.9% of its real estate portfolio. The Spanish government said on May 25, 2012 that it would inject 19 billion euros to recapitalize Bankia. Yet this raises more questions about the rest of the banking system and the need to set aside adequate reserves for bad real estate loans. Extrapolating from the writedowns at Bankia for real estate losses, about 45 billion euros would be needed for the other Spanish banks, according to UBS. And this raises the question of how the government would raise the money to recapitalize the banking system, as Spain's borrowing rate on its 10 year bonds has increased to 6.45% in May 2012. If Spain provides government bonds to banks the markdown on the bonds would still need to be shown separately, and a large figure would be a sign of increasing riskiness to bond investors.

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The Aam Aadmi anti-corruption party led by Arvind Kejrival won 67 of 70 seats for the Delhi legislative assembly. The BJP won 3 seats. In the natonal parliamentary elections of 2014 the BJP led by Mr. Modi won in Delhi and the rest of the country. The Aadmi Party won the election by gaining the votes of ordinary people who were willing to give Kejrival another chance after an earlier stint at governing that lasted a few months. Kejrival's platform is for giving better access to electricity and water to the people of Delhi, and limiting corruption. In 2011-2012 Kejrival was part of the Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement in India that conducted nationwide protests against corrupt officials in the Congress Party led government. Following this effort which led to the election losses of the Congress Party in parliamentary elections, he setup a political party to contest elections on an anti-corruption platform.

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This WSJ editorial says president Obama's second inaugural address missed the opportunity to bind old wounds with a reference to King on Martin Luther King day. The president chose to set forth a broader liberal agenda including climate change. The editorial points to the tone of the inaugural as setting the tone for the rest of the term and the possibility of return to the rancor that characterized the first term. "We the People" from the Consititution was mentioned several times in the sense of "collective action" that defined this text as government action. The programs of Medicare Medicaid and Social Security as "committments we make to each other." And the programs "do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great," which are seen by the Journal as not appropriate for an Inaugural address that rises above the fray of politics.

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Netflix reported a small profit for 1st quarter 2013 of $2.7 million compared to a loss the prior year quarter of $4.6 million. Netflix had 27.91 million paid streaming customers at the end of March 2013 compared to 28.1 million for the Time Warner HBO premium cable channel, according to SNL Kagan. Netflix sells $7.99 monthly subscriptions. Netflix is investing in original programming, including $100 million for the political drama series "House of Cards." It has $5.7 billion in longer term content commitments. High content acquisition costs resulted in $42 million in negative cash flow for the 1st quarter of 2013. Netflix generates revenues from a $7.99 subscriber plan. The DVD by mail business, Netflix's original business, is shrinking with a loss of 240,000 subscribers in 1st quarter 2013, and 7.98 million subscribers remaining. Netflix raised $500 million through a bond offering in Feb. 2013, with $225 million going towards refinancing existing debt and the rest for expanding its business....

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THe GM restructuring that leaves the US and Canadian governments with control of 72.5% of the company, and unsecured bondholders with 10% of the company. The unsecured bondholders were offered warrants that could bring up their share of ownership to 20%, in return for forgiving $27 billion in GM debt. The UAW has the rest, 17.5% of the company, plus $6.5 billion in preferred equity and $2.5 billion in GM debt. The US government will commit $30 billion to GM in addition to the $20 billion already given to GM. ANd the Canadian government will give $9 billion. By taking a large share of the ownership of GM- at a time when the market for automobiles in the US is at 9.5 million vehicles and GM needs a 10 million automobile market to breakeven according to the restructuring plan- the government is implicitly taking on the responsibility for additional loans to GM till the market recovers.

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A look at Ford Motor a year after Mulally came in as CEO an assessment of progress. Mullaly is trying to model Ford on the consistent effort after goals such as quality and full lineup of passenger cars and crossovers and fuel efficiency. Busiess plans are amorphous and flexible and reviewed at Thurday meetings every week. He has promoted two executives up to senior positions Kuzak on the product development and full lineup side and Cischke on the fuel efficiency and sustainability side who also helped fill him in on details. He is not concerned with sales decline and says its in the plan. Passenge cars make up about half the sales and pickups the rest. It will be 2009 for consistent profitable operations. And it will be 2011 for a fulllineup of cars which will be done leveraging global resources. On another note Mullaly answers or forwards every email he receives promptly and applauds good performance with notes he sends out.

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As car sales drop and Chrysler drops some models from its production line, it is running many plants on one shift, leaving the factories idle the rest of the time. This means higher costs per car, as the fixed costs do't change by that much with lower production. Chrysler may also have steeper sales decline than the other carmakers, because it has fewer small cars in its lineup. All this means losses that won't be disclosed as it is privately owned, through 2009, as the economy goes through what looks like a prolonged recession of at least a couple of years. As losses are not disclosed management does not have to worry about the effect on stock price, but the longer this situation lasts, the harder its going to get for Chrysler, for a long time the weakest player in the American car market compared to the others from the US, Germany and Japan.