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DJT wants to see good relations with Russia and Russia to join the G-7 to make it G-8 nations as it was before Obama-Merkel. He sees Zelensky as an obstacle to peace early in the second term, that has changed now that Russia and Putin continue the war. By July 8 after calls to Putin and Zelensky, he now sees Russia as an obstacle to a negotiated settlement and the need for defensive shipments to Ukraine.

As this happens in the US Congress Lindsey Graham, senior Senator from South Carolina leads an effort supported by 80 senators to place sanctions on countries that support Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

 

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The Guardian provides this first account of what happened in the Galwan Valley border between India and China at the Line of Actual Control. It is described as the worst fighting in 60 years. On the high steep ridge lines above the rapidly moving Galwan River a patrol of Indian soldiers encountered Chinese troops in a steep section of a high mountainous region. They believed the PLA Chinese Army had withdrawn from the ridge in line with a June 6 disengagement agreement. The Indian government says that what happened afterwards was pre-meditated ambush by the PLA forces. In the fighting that ensued the Indian commanding officer was pushed from the narrow ridge falling to the gorge below. Reinforcements from the Indian side were called from a post 2 miles away and about 600 men were fighting in near total darkness in high mountain ridge with stones iron rods for upto 6 hours. Following a decades long tradition to avoid escalation of hostilities because of nuclear weapons of both countries the two sides have not used other weapons. Most deaths on both sides were from soldiers falling or being knocked from mountain ridges. The main problem in the conflict is the Line of Actual Control exists but since China's takeover of Tibet in 1950 there is no agreement that has set the official border. The British Simla agreement in 1912 set the border with Tibet in an agreement between Tibet and the British Empire in India, when Tibet was an independent country. China claims that historically going back to Ming and Qing dynasty Tibet was part of its region. For most of its history Tibet was an autonomous region with closer contacts with India because it is close to Nepal and Nepal is very near the Indian Bihar state border.  A new rail link from Raxaul, Bihar in India to Kathmandu is only 137 kilometres, and from Kathmandu to the Tibet border is only 205 kilometres. Fast rail or road links would put Tibet within a few hours by rail or road to Tibet from India. For the entire period the US exists as a nation about 250 years and from the first landing of the colonists on American shores about 1607 Tibet was a mountainous region that was so remote that few people even knew about the country's existence. Beijing and Shanghai are four thousand kilometres away, India much closer to Tibet through Kathmandu, Nepal and India sharing a common culture, and no one thought much about the mountainous borders at 15000- 20,000 feet in the western Himalayas, till China's takeover of Tibet in 1950. India had no clear idea what this meant in 1950- no clear border except for what was agreed between the Tibetan independent government  and the British in 1912 which was set under the British Empire- resulting in a fluid border. And China had no clear idea that this would put in a place it would not want to be thousands of miles from the Yangtse valley region home to most of China's population, in a remote mountain region at heights of 15,000 -20,000 feet, with little to gain. Throughout history since 1000 and earlier Tibet remained a region that acted as a buffer between China's western provinces and India, the high mountains at 15,000- 20,000 feet making it inaccessible. Which is why the Ganges plains and the Yangtse river valley plains contact was made more through the oceans than by land, and the areas developing distinctly different language and cultures. All this changed after 1954 when the Qinghai Tibet highway was built, the closest city on the Chinese side is Xining. Xining to Tibet is a distance of about 2000 kilometres at an average height of 4500 metres or about 14,000 feet.  ...

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This report by Peter Baker shows President Trump only reluctantly agreed to certify the Iran Nuclear Agreement. He opposed it in discussions with the Secretary of State Tillerson. It took the combined effort of Tillerson Dunford of the combined chiefs of staff, Defense Secretary Mattis, and of National Security Adviser McMaster, to get Trump to agree to go ahead with the deal. President Trump wanted a new strategy to counter Iran in the Middle East. The Iranian foreign minister Zarif has not yet met with Tillerson of the U.S. Zarif says Iran may withdraw from the deal if there is significant nonperformance by the U.S. Trump advisers are wary about the influence on Europe as the EU is not interested in taking a new look at the Iran nuclear deal. The EU sees things differently- that the issues of Iranian influence in the war torn Middle East is a separate issue from the nuclear deal, and that in any case a nuclear constrained Iran is better than one with nuclear weapons. Another factor is that the Middle East is now a complicated place with relations crisscrossing in different and even conflicting directions. The U.S. played a part on the Iranian side in the retaking of Mosul in Iraq with U.S. bombing strikes against Islamic State. In Iraq the U.S. is supporting the Abadi government which is mainly Shiite in its structure and is supported by Iran. The Trump position is that president Obama gave away too much in negotiating the deal and was not against the negotiating process.   ...

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Questions about how Mr Geithner has handled his job at the New York Fed and at Treasury during the bailouts of financial firms. Were there close relationships with bankers, hedge fund managers, and others that compromised the Fed's ability to regulate the financial industry? Why was Geithner advocating loosening standards for the reserves financial institutions have to hold to insure against potential future losses, as late as 2007? Inherent in the design of the job of New York Fed President was a conflict of interest, as the institution is supposed to be a watchdog over the financial industry, but the President of the NY Fed reports to a board that is comprised of the heads of banks and financial instituitons. These financial leaders also participate in the selection of the new President. Geithner was a quick learner and a listener, who asked questions, but he was an outsider coming from work at AID, the IMF and Treasury. He is described by one bank executive Sanford Weill as "a baby face," and lacked experience in dealing with the financial industry. He was brought in by Rubin and Summers, two mentors at Treasury. These two had close ties to the financial industry, and did not question practices of overleveraging and risk taking in the financial industry. Was it too much to ask of Geithner, under the circumstances, that he would rock the boat and ask the tough questions about risk and leveraging. On the other hand did he miss things completely when he was asking for even looser capital standards for banks in 2007, less than a year before the crisis hit, which were never adopted. And was he too close to the financial industry and aggressive in the wrong sort of way when advocating in a meeting as President of the New York Fed, that the government back up all the debt in the financial system. Did he too casually overlook the conditions that could easily be put in place for the government to be able to recover some of the money put into the bailouts. And was he too close to Goldman Sachs, that he brought Goldman in for advice in the AIG bailout, even though there were conflicts of interest and money that would never be recovered from the $182 billion bailout of AIG, some of which went to banks including Goldman. If Geithner had seen some of the problems in risk taking why had he not supported FDIC's Bair in her opposing view for capital reserves, and government conditions on bailouts that enabled some recovery of capital put into failing financial institutions. And did he get too close to Citi, that at one point Sanford Weill tried to bring him in as CEO even when he was already President of the New York Fed. Does it go to show that -the very idea that this was even possible- the design of the New York Fed with the President reporting to the Board of the very same bank presidents that he was supposed keep in check, makes for an incomprehensible position of regulation at odds with the structure of reporting and selection....

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Fiat plans to pay Chrysler $1.27 billon to increase its stake to 46%. This will happen after Chrysler refinances $7.1 billion in U.S. and Canadian debt to pay off government loans. A debt offering is expected in coming weeks. Fiat's Sergio Marchionne sees this as critical to the next step forward for Chrysler- the speedy approval of $3.5 billion or more in low interest loans from the U.S. Department of Energy for projects that increase fuel efficiency. Marchionne would like to leverage as much as he can from DOE as they will be essential to Chrysler's investments in improving the fuel efficiency of its vehicle lineup. Chrysler paid $1.2 billion in interest on its debt in 2010. Much or all of the $1.27 billion from Fiat will be used by Chrysler to reduce government debt. Chrysler will not use any unused funds from the government. Chrysler is also planning to add a revolving line of credit for $2 billion. By the end of 2011 Fiat will add another 5% stake to bring its stake up to 51%, and make it the majority owner. Fiat and Chrysler are operating as an integrated company. Marchionne says it makes little sense to have separate legal entities for Chrysler and Fiat, as the two companies are already developing, building and selling vehicles as one company. The Chrysler financials will be consolidated with Fiat's....

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On October 30, Sheila Bair heading the FDIC, the main advocate for reducing foreclosures by reducing the mortgage payments is in discussions with Treasury officials for a plan whose details are still being worked out. A key part of it is for the government to assume half of the losses on home loans that are incurred if mortgage companies agree to lower monthly payments for at least 5 years. The cost to the government is about $50 billion that would come from the $700 billion bailout fund. Right now loan companies are reluctant to reduce monthly payments because homeowners might defaul again or the owners of mortgage securities might file law suits. The funds would go to shoulder half of any future losses on default. For example if under a loan modification program 40% redefault and losses on loans are 55%, and $500 billion in loans are modified under the program, the total losses government would bear are $55 billion. This scenario is possible in a deep and prolonged housing and economic slump. This would be a gradual program if mortgage companies or companies with home loans or servicers of loans have to decide if they want to take advantage of this program, and time is critical as the foreclosures are accelerating and thisputs downward pressure on prices....

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Russia faces inflation of 7%, and the central bank policy is to fight inflation by increasing interest rates to 7% in March 2014. The crisis in Ukraine and Russian intervention in the Crimea has worsened the prospects for the economy at a delicate time after Russia's growth rate was slowing rapidly in 2013. Capital flight in 2013 accelerated in the 1st quarter with the Ukraine crisis- with about $60 billion in capital outflows in the 1st quarter 2014. Speaking at an investor conference in Moscow, the former finance minister Alexei Kudrin, who strengthened Russia's finances in Putin's previous term continued to warn about taking risks with the economy and Russia's finances. He had earlier warned about higher defense spending. He now says the sharp economic slowdown expected with a possible contraction of 1.8% in 2014, is the price Russia is paying for an independent foreign policy. The policy is popular in Russia now with Putin's rating at about 80% in April 2014, but Kudrin says this does not reflect the situation if the contraction leads to falling real incomes. As investment spending stalled in the 1st quarter, only consumer spending supports growth for the remainder of the year. Russia's Economics Ministry favors stimulus to support growth, but the central bank is concerned about keeping inflation of 7% in check, and the Finance Ministry favors current policy of building up the rainy day fund from higher oil prices. As a result no stimulus is planned even as the economy slips into a risky contraction phase. For emerging markets in 2014 political problems have exacerbated slowing growth first in Turkey in 2013, and now in Russia in 2014, with the reverse taking place in India and Indonesia where elections and a change in government lead to more optimism....

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Pictures of Sheikh Sabah of Kuwait in peacekeeping roles as a diplomat for the Gulf region including Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Gulf states. He passed away at the age of 91. The pictures include one with British prime minister Alec Douglas of Britain in 1964 three years after gaining independence from Britain in 1961. With the renewed effort for peace in the Gulf region his role is better appreciated not only as an ally of the U.S. but also as a diplomat keeping good relations for the Gulf states and neighbors. He was foreign minister since the sixties and ruler since 2006. He was one of an older group of leaders in the region who operated with a slow ruling style but sought consensus. During the divisions in the Gulf Cooperation Council with Qatar splitting from the rest in 2016, Sabah was active in keeping the Gulf states together. When he was born in 1929 oil had not been discovered in Kuwait and the area the size of New Jersey was run by his father as part of a dynasty that ruled for 3 centuries. Kuwait has 6% of the world's oil reserves. ...

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Full time workers in Sweden have the right to take leave for 6 months to do something they want to do, including starting a new business. This includes taking care of a relative or study leave. Workers can come back after 6 months to resume their old job. Employers cannot say no except for special reasons.  This leave has the support of employers, unions and the government. In Sweden's unique culture which emphasizes work-life balance workers taking 6 month leave of absence can get back to their old jobs smoothly.  In Sweden it is very hard to fire an employee who is permanent. So that once an employee has permanent status there is very little incentive to leave to do something else. The 6 month leave option lets workers try out something different or start a business without incurring career risk in addition to financial risk. Workers are more comfortable venturing out when they know they can come back to their old job and are not risking their careers. This BBC report shows profiles several new business owners who took 6 month leave to start a new venture they were passionate about. The way this happens is that an employee first tries out an idea in his spare time while he works full time. When he is comfortable making the move he can take the 6 month leave to devote time to it full time. Experts say Sweden is the only country in the world to give this right to leave to start a new business. In 2017 175,000 people took this leave compared to 163,000 in 2007, according to Statistics Sweden. During this period registration of new companies shot up from 27,000 to 48,000. ...

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The first significant action to help homeowners threatened with foreclosure comes from Sheila Bair, Chairman of the Federal Deposit insurance Corporation, one of the few people after Bernanke and Paulson who have shown initiative and foresight in the current crisis. Bernanke and Paulson had the foresight to open the Fed lending window to investment firms like Lehman Brothers and others but little has been done for homeowners to have significant impact. When interviewed on television in the days surrounding the Bear Stearns crisis Sheila has shown a good grasp of the issues and courage to take the initiative. This action is similiar in line to what Martin Feldstein has suggested on the pages of the WSJ for some time now. Martin wanted the Federal government to step in to loan homeowners the 20% of their outstanding loan and work towards bringing the homeowners payment to an affordable sum. According to Feldstein's calculation this would be about the right amount as a percentage of their loan so that homeowners rationally would not be better off walking away from the loan as the best possible decision under the circumstances. If the rational option was taken under a scenario that homeowners would get no direct help here is what would happen even though it may be intuitively read in one's mind. Homeowners would walk away in increasing numbers, it would become the popular option, one that has happened in prior housing crises in Colorado for example but this time it would be spread out across America, making it dangerous. This would launch a downward spiral or cycle in which the more homeowners walk way, or default the more house prices drop, and the more house prices drop a new group of homeowners who previously had enough equity in the house now because of the last price drop enter the category of homeowners who would be better off just walking away as a rational option. During the next wave this gorup would default and set the spiral or cycle moving again to lead to further price declines and another group of homeowners finding not enough equity in their homes to justify making payments and this group would walk away. At each turn of this spiral another cycle would be set in motion which is why it is so dangerous once it gets started, and the need for timely but also well thought out plan and good execution. This cycle is that of the economic system as a whole. As house prices drop at each turn of this cycle, it would have a serious impact on consumption for an already indebted American consumer. A drop in consumption means fewer product purchases by consumers, and the falling demand means factories would close as companies consolidate operations around the remaining factories to keep capacity utilization at reasonable levels, and this would mean layoffs and cuts in investment and other spending. The layoffs in turn would add another layer of homeowners leaving their homes through foreclosures adding to the pool of homeowners who have left their homes, and adding to the downward pressure on house prices. The pickup in inflation would bite at exactly the worst time as this would mean consumers would have to spend even more carefully. The price of oil which normally would respond to changes such as a fleet of cars with higher mileage on American roads would take a longer time to respond as this fleet change would take a few years to occur. It would respond to lower demand for oil in American factories but the considerable demand in Asia and other countries where the economies are likely to slow down but still be growing at rates to accomodate the large number of people who have not benefited from the market economy, would make the price decline in oil a gradual affair. The weaker dollar would add to the price of imports adding to the inflation. This bite from inflation would lower consumption even further in the economic cycle. And this would mean lower production in factories and even more layoffs at the next turn of the economic cycle. The Federal Reserve would find itself having difficult choices between maintaining confidence in the dollar, for which Capman and McKinnon argue on the pages of the WSJ recently and lowering rates but not achieving much in terms of stimulating either consumption or investment as this would take time to work itself out and all the Fed could achieve by its interest rate making tool is to buy time to weather these adjustments in an orderly manner. There is almost a consensus among experts that interest rate reductions in the current climate of inflationary movements in prices and the current currency exchange rates moving towards a loss of confidence in the dollar is something to be done very carefully and each action taken only with careful understanding of the possible consequences. A look at the proposal itsel shows that it gets around the whole issue of moral hazard by having the cost paid for in this manner. The mortgage investors will pay for the 5 years of interest on the 20% of the loan the government provides. The homeowner takes over after that. The mortgage investors cannot add deferred interest, prepayment penalties or other ways to make the homeowner pay some of the interest charges. And the homeowners payment has to be afforadable so mortgage investors have to show that the payment is not more than 35% of income of the homeownercalled the debt to income ratio (DTI). And only homeowners with mortgage payments above 40% DTI are eligible. And the government would raise the money needed through a $50 billion offering. To show there is no moral hazard that is the government bailing out any of the parties involved, the government will get back all of its money or intends to do so, the government will have the first rights to the money should a home foreclose and before anybody else is paid. ...

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The first trips by the Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin show the Biden administration's priorities. Efforts to strengthen ties with Japan and South Korea giving the Indo-Pacific region top priority with the emergence of China as a challenge to US interests. Next stop is India. Even before the trips to Korea and Japan, a virtual summit was setup between the Quad countries, the democracies of Australia, US, Japan and India that are committed to an open and free Indo-Pacific region.

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We show here discussion of the the opinion of Samuel Alito Jr who made it an issue of state sovereignty so that Congress could but the federal government could not ban states from approving sports gambling. Yet in today's cost of living crisis with 4 out of 10 Americans lacking enough savings for a medical emergency, it shows that how even the Supreme Court lacks an understanding of the economic issues facing the Nation. Add to this that it made no difference whether they were liberal or conservative as Justice Breyer supported Justice Samuel Alito. The NCAA and NBA, most sports organizations, say the 1972 ban was needed for the integrity of sports. Alito in his opinion mentioned but did not give weight to the problems the SC was creating of "hook the young on sports gambling, encourage people of modest means to squander their savings, and corrupt professional and college sports." In calling the ban in his opinion "a more direct affront to state sovereignty is not easy to imagine," Justice Alito showed, and the 7-2 majority showed how little it cared about the effects on workers and their families of sports gambling. At a time of cost of living crisis and soon after the pandemic and people still struggling the Justices as in their decision on student debt relief have shown how little they understand the American people and the basic of freedoms. What Franklin Roosevelt called in 1935 State of the Union " the right to obtain for him and his a proper security, a reasonable leisure, and a decent living throughout life" that today is threatened from so many quarters. ...

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People of America reflect on what has the most promise for our future?  Critics have focused so much on delivery on one night to forget what was actually said. The president's message to Congress and the American People of last week is all there for everyone to read. It states what was said in the State of the Union in January 2024 on the floor of Congress with vigor not seen since the days of FDR in 1932. Critics could read the actual text of what Biden said in the debate, and they did nothing of that acting in ways that only the uneducated would do and manipulating information about the president's health in dishonorable ways. Polling is an uncertain business and may be all wrong depending onthe sample and what questions are asked. This was proven true in last week's results of the French election. Where are the people relying on polls who predicted RN National Rally on top when it ended up in third place. The pundits have not reflected on the meaning of the French election and the British election where parties that made cost of living action, fighting for working families, and infrastructure investment coming out on top. Who is going to fight for and take climate change action and going delinquent on climate change is that an answer the American people will make? Who has done the most for climate change action, health care and education? How does the US compete with China without investing at home a fight which president has fought with economic theory from the Reagan/Friedman era that let American industry wither while China took the lead in industry after industry?  ...

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Improvement in the managing of India's trade deficit with China. Merchandise exports from India to China increased from $11.93 billion in 2014-2015 to $21.6 billion in 2021-2022, an increase of 78% over the last 6 years. Imports from China from $60.41 billion in 2014-15 to $94.6 billion in 2021-2022. The trade deficit with China during 2021-2022 is at $73.31 billion compared to $44.03 billion in 2020-2021. Most of the goods imported from India were in equipment and intermediate parts to meet the needs of electronics, telecom and power sectors in India. 

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About 12 million women left the workforce in the US during the pandemic. Women gradually returned to where there are 1.2 million more women in the workforce as of March 2021. In the new workforce remote work is an option for two career couples with children, wages are up, child care is up. WSJ looks at the situation of a 51 year old  mother of two boys ages 10 and 11, whose husband is a surgeon in the military. She quits work during 2021, and restarts work in a remote work job in 2023. Another worker with children decided not to return to the workforce. 

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This Observer view in The Guardian reflects on the issues raised by British chancellor Rishi Sunak's tax affairs. It says that this shows politicians are out of touch with what ordinary people are going through after the pandemic and the rising cost of living during the Ukraine war, with an increase in taxes. A recent Observer survey shows that only 6% of people feel the politicians are sensitive to voter concerns for fairness, and 78% think politicians are not able to understand the difficulties ordinary people in Britain face in day to day living. 

 

 

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The US dollar is only 5% way from reaching parity with the euro. The euro was at $1.03 during the beginning of May. It is at $1.05 on May 21. With the US central bank raising rates, and the effects of energy shortages on the European economy, parity looks likely says this report in WSJ. Additionally weakening demand from China for European goods or the EU shifting its supply chains back to home countries and trading less with China could also have an impact from the ripple effects of China's support for the Russian position on Ukraine.

 

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U.S. economic growth in the third quarter of 2020 was 7.4%. This is a record and the closest to this was the economic growth in 1950 which was 3.9% a little over half of that. This is the equivalent of 33% on an annualized basis.

The economy is about 3.5% smaller than when the pandemic started. This record is better than the one in 2008 financial crisis when over a period of one and half years the economy declined by about 4%. By 2021 the U.S. economy will have recovered to where it was back to its original shape if recovery proceeds at this rate.

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American men took the biggest hit for life expectancy in an Oxford University study, with life expectancy dropping by 2.2 years in 2020. American women life expectancy dropped by 2.65 years. Lithuanian men had a decline of 1.7 years. This is the largest decline going back to the days of the Great Depression in the 1930's

Elsewhere in Europe, life expectancy declined in many countries for the first time since the Second World War. This happened in Spain, Italy, England, Wales and Belgium. Women in 8 countries and men in 11 countries had drops in life expectancy over more than 1 year.

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VW's Dieselgate settlement required it to spend $2 billion on electric charging stations in the US to compensate society for air pollution caused by its faulty diesel engines. The Washington Post looks at these EV charging stations and finds many of these do not work. An author of a reliability study on charging stations Prof. David Rempel of UC Berkeley says there should have been more oversight as he considers it to be public money. About 80% of these charging attempts are successful at 4000 fast chargers run by Electrify America according to JD Power, and customer satisfaction is low.

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NYT's Brad Plumer looks at the assessment of a report from REPEAT (Princeton), MIT, and Rhodium on how well the Biden Climate laws are building renewable energy- how well this is working to tackle climate change goals. The goal set by BIden was a 40% reduction over 2005 greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Electric car sales are moving at a pace that is consistent with the goals but renewable energy instead of being at an average of 46 gigawatts of carbon free electricity for 2023 and 2024 is falling short as it was at 32 gigawatts carbon free electricity for the US in 2023.

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"The economy is performing well, and the near term prospects are good" says Mark Zandi of Moody's, in his speech on the US economic outlook at an event of the National Economists Club. He is optimistic about the economy and sees moderating inflation and higher consumer confidence. Investments in the CHIPS act and the Inflation Reduction Act in science, in chip manufacturing, in renewable energy manufacturing, other investments in infrastructure, he sees as building a stronger economy with job creation and improved potential for growth. Oil prices could pose a risk. Increased supplies of US oil, and stable production by the Saudis are needed for stable oil prices after recent turmoil in the Middle East.

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The Brazilian economy is growing too fast, and this pace not only won't be sustained, but it has signs of serious trouble ahead. The Brazilian economy grew at an estimated annualized pace of 10% in the last 6 months and generated 962,000 jobs between Jan-April of 2010. Growth in 2010 is expected to be 7%. The jump in growth is partly the result of the stimulus measures of the Lula government. But a consensus of experts is that Brazil still saves too little, has not invested enough in infrastructure,and its economy has the potential of 5% sustainable growth each year. The central bank has increased interest rates - increase of 0.75% in April 2010, and economists in Brazil think the rate will go up to 13% in 2011. About $10 billion in cuts in spending have been announced but they are cuts to an already growing budget approved by Congress, so in reality it will only slow the increase in spending. Public debt is at 42.7% of GDP. Real interest rates have fallen from close to 20% in 2003 to between 5-10%. Costs per unit of labor are increasing at about half the rate of real wages according to a finance official. The National Development Bank or BNDES played a role in helping the economy with subsidized loans when the financial markets ran into trouble. It has expanded lending by 50%, with money from the Treasury of 180 billion reais. Some of the measures of the Lula government has reduced the skewed income distribution Brazil, and in doing so has increased consumer demand. Meeting high consumer demand, and meeting the need for commodities like soyabeans and metals from China, has boosted growth in Brazil to twice the sustainable rate and it is now at a par with China and India. But this places Brazil too dependent on the boom in Chinese demand, especially as the stimulus in China slows and the property bubble threatens China's economy. See links to China. A new President after the upcoming Presidential election will have to tackle the high interest rates in 2011, lower commodity prices, and the need for better infrastructure, and make the adjustment to a sustainable pace of growth....

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A former Merrill Lynch banker is shown by WSJ responsible for economic actions leading to economic meltdown in Lebanon. Lebanese currency is worth 2% in relation to the dollar and no state supplied electricity.  For most of the modern period since 1800 this part of the world has represented a place of tranquillity and rule of law. The story of the economic collapse of Lebanon as a result of unscruplous finance at the central bank leading to arrrest of Riad Salameh is told in WSJ. It acts as a reminder and warning that once tranquil places can be dislocated and turned upside down by allowing unscruplous financial dealings in the economic affairs of a Nation, putting too much trust in finance or finance professionals. Trust is easily subverted once placed by the People. It can happen in any part of the world.  It can happen in developed nations as happened during the 2009 financial crisis. A finance professional governor of the central bank of Sri Lanka raised borrowing costs with a unscruplous bond auction in 2005 leading to higher borrowing costs and bankrupting the country. This results in the familiar guardrails for democracy and rule of law collapsing in unpredictable ways leading to disaster.  ...

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Hong Kong's waterfront is to be transformed with the Victoria Dockside project. This will turn an aging waterfront into a modern art and design district, with retail, residential and commercial properties. This is a $2.6 billion 3 million square foot project. The project will be completed in 2019.