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Fiat CEO Marchionne's tells Fiat managers to focus on export markets and to look beyond, Italy and the European market. In a presentation to prime minister Mario Monti he emphasizes the capacity utilization at Fiat's Italian plants of 40% in 2012.

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The shortage of labor will make the transition to a workweek of less than 60 hours for existing factory workers in China difficult, say experts. The transition to better working hours will take some time to be implemented as required by China's new labor laws and public pressure in the U.S. and China.

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The Georgetwon University Center on Education and the Workforce 2015 report shows the different college majors, annual wages and lifetime earnings based on Census Bureau data. Engineering comes first, followed by computers. Advanced graduate degrees make a large difference in earnings in health sciences. A lot depends on the standing in the class with top 25% of the class in finance having much higher earnings. A lot also depends on the individual. Employment opportunities may be lacking even if annual wages are high, as in architecture.

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Ford CEO, Alan Mulally, says the electric battery in the newly designed Ford Focus EV electric car costs about $12,000 to $15,000. The car price is $39,200. The similiar gasoline powered car price is about $22,000. This car has a 23 hour kilowatt hour battery pack. Based on this information the cost is $522- $650 per kilwatt hour. The U.S. Department of Energy has set a goal reaching $300 per kilowatt hour by 2013, as it funds new electric car development in the U.S. The Ford Focus EV is directly competing against the Nissan Leaf. The Leaf starts at $35,200, with a range of 73 miles on a full charge compared to 76 for the Focus EV. The Focus can be recharged in three and half hours using a 240 volt charger, compared to 7 hours for the Leaf. What the battery cost tells us is that the electric car development has to bring costs down rapidly for electric cars to become price competitive.

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Ben Van Heuvelen documents in the Washington Post what Ali Nabhan and Bradley pointed out in the WSJ in May 2009, that the officers in the Iraqi army lacked the training and discipline to act as an effective fighting force. These early indications proved correct and were ignored by the Iraqi government and the Obama administration till it was too late with the fall of Mosul and the ensuing chaos in Iraq.

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Obama's comments during a visit to Greece about the challenges facing multiracial and multicultural societies such as the U.S. and the people left behind through globalization. He says "we are going to have to guard against a rise in a crude sort of nationalism or ethnic identity or tribalism that is built around an "us" and a "them."  Obama also referred to a global elite "that seems to live by a different set of rules, such as being able to avoid taxes," which he said "fuels a feeling that globalization only benefits those at the top," and leads to a push back from people who feel they are losing control over their future." The problem for workers is that fewer and fewer workers are needed in todays advanced automated factories and manufacturing moves across borders leading to anxiety. The president may have realized the extent of the damage only in the closing days of the campaign in 2016, because of his support for trade agreements without talking in this manner about the lives of workers.  ...

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U.S. Federal Reserve governor Daniel Tarullo tells the Council on Foreign Relations that so much remains to be done four years after the financial crisis. The law firm of Davis Polk says 67 percent of deadlines were missed for new rules required to be set in place by the Dodd-Frank legislation, including the Volcker Rule. Tarullo said: "It is sobering to recognize that more than four years after the failure of Bear Stearns began the acute phase of the financial crisis, so much remains to be done." Tarullo fears that crucial momentum may be lost because of the long delays stemming from resistance by the banks. Tarullo met with bank CEO's in April 2012. Banks have protested that Fed stress tests have not revealed the parameters for the testing. Tarullo's response given at a recent Fed conference in Chicago were that this would let banks game the exercize by running the Federal Reserve model and not improving risk management and capital planning, making this a mechanical compliance exercize. Banks have particularly opposed a requirement that limits the risk in business between two banks to 10% of their credit risk....

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Peter Baker of the New York Times takes a detailed look at Obama and the Presidency in October 2010. He has a long informal interview with President Obama, and uses his knowledge of prior Presidents, to provide a revealing look at Obama's first term in office upto this point. It provides an exceptionally insightful look at the man and his administration, in all its facets, facets that have create both hope and disillusionment. Obama comes across as the cerebral person even in his musings about popular disappointment with the administration, and does not seem connected with the gut-wrenching issues of jobs, foreclosures, the economy, and the economic future as a President needs to be. After all the inspirational rhetoric, Obama, says Baker, did not stay connected to the people who put him in office in the first place. And revealingly Baker shows that even today Obama talks only to a few insiders, compared to Clinton's wider circle, to understand what is happening in the country.

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Jumbo loan mortgages in dollars accounted for 20% of first lien mortgages in 2014, the first time since 2005, and back up from 5.5% in 2009 at the height of the subprime mortgage crisis. This part of the market for homes priced over $417,000 or $ 625,500 in pricier regions, has gained its footing faster than the rest of the market. Sales of existing single family homes between $750,000 and $1 million, were up 21% in June from the prior year, compared to an increase of 12.5% for homes between $100,000 and $250,000, with homes below $100,000 declining by 3%, according to the National Association of Realtors. The jumbo originations are closely correlated with the stock market. The loan performance criteria were tightened after the 2009 crisis leading to requirements of larger down payments and higher FICO credit scores. The strong loan performance is shown in the credit score for May 2015 of 770, and down payment of about 32% for jumbo loan originations, according to CoreLogic. Interest rates are also very close between smaller Fannie conforming mortgage loans and jumbo mortgages, 4.05% compared to 4.07% on jumbo loans. The higher demand is leading to competition between JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America in this part of the market. Chase is focussing on this part of the market with the strong loan performance- only 1.9% of jumbo mortgages being late 30 days or more compared to 6.5% for Fannie Freddie conforming loans, according to Black Knight Financial Services. As part of its strategy Chase offers minimum down payments of 15% and credit scores of 680 for single family homes as primary residence, starting August 5, 2015, down from 20% and 740 earlier, for mortgages between $1.5 million and $3 million, a change already made in 2014 for jumbo mortgages upto $1.5 million. Similiar move is made by Chase for lowering down payment on vacation homes and second homes. Wells Fargo also cut the minimum down payment- to 10.1% from 15% for jumbo mortages upto $1 million. ...

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Daily Show host, Jon Stewart, interviews US President Obama. Obama told Stewart that "it was fair" to say that Obama had done his work, in Stewart's words, in "a political manner that has papered over a foundation that is corrupt." Obama says "we got 90% of what we wanted," which reflects a huge gap between how he is seen by people in the U.S., and how he sees his first 2 years in office. Obama's defensive responses, and no efforts to connect with the youthful audience on the Daily Show. Stewart points to the gap between the "audacity" in the rhetoric of Obama, and the "timid" nature of his administration. Stewart made particular reference to the hiring of Larry Summers, a former Clinton administration official, to guide the President on economic policy and the dealings with the banks.

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Duncan Moore of the University of Rochester points out what makes Pittsburgh, San Diego and Rochester different from Detroit, Cleveland and Fresno. The investment in the local community, large universities and the research money they bring in, the small businesses using advanced technologies and connecting with the universities, have helped these communities thrive even when a dominant employer or a dominant business has suffered decline. In Detroit's case it is also learning some of these lessons- the areas around Detroit such as Dearborn are recovering with the recovery of Ford Motor Company, and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is a major research hub with large federal funding, the Fiat engineered recovery at Chrysler is also giving new life to the region.

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China surpassed Germany as the world's No. 1 exporter in the first 10 months of 2009, with $957 billion in exports compared to Germany's $917 billion, according to customs data compiled by Global Trade Information Services, a Geneva based firm. With the global financial crisis China's exports fell 20.4% in the first 10 months of 2009 compared to 27.4% for Germany and 21% for the USA. Global consumer spending has fallen more than the capital goods and machinery exported by Germany. Yet these numbers suggest that there has been no significant change to the export models of the two countries even after the global economc crisis revealed cracks in the export model.

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Lina Nilsson, the innovation director of the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the Universityof California, Berkeley, says female engineers are attracted to programs and research that focusses on achieving societal needs and goals, humanitarian projects, and meeting the special needs of developing economies. Better engineering that helps people improve lives attracts the involvement of women. She cites enrollment at the Blum Center for Developing Economies programs, PhD. minors in development engineering at UC Berkeley, undergraduate international minors at University of Michigan, the D-Lab at M.I.T., humanitarian engineering programs at Arizona State University, University of Minnesota, Penn State, Santa Clara University, Princeton's Engineers Without Borders chapters and clubs, where women's enrollment exceeds that of men. She contrasts this with the low numbers of women engineers in general- less than 20% of tech engineers at Google and Apple, and less than 14% in the U.S. workforce. Her advice- make work meaningful to society and women will enroll in large numbers, not just in computer engineering, also in mechanical and chemical engineering....