“We got away with it, now we can get on with making money in the same old way,” is how economist John Kay described the attitude at the St. last week. Four banks were seized by US regulators last week.

The US polity is becoming uglier by the day; Republicans are talking of ousting Pelosi and are refusing to work past 2 p.m. in order to delay things. The obvious reasons is the stakes in most major issues, mainly financial regulation and healthcare, are too high. Nobody knows who is batting for whom and who is squatting at whose prodding.

Following Obama, the developing world has quietly started moving towards compulsory healthcare, forgetting that corporatisation of healthcare is an impracticable concept in at least Asian cultures.

The financial world is doggedly pursuing Greece, insisting it has to default at some point of time, the argument being that no nation can cut expenses 25% in one go. However, what matters is not Greece but the euro, which did weaken perceptibly last week. Curiously, problems of Athens have imparted a certain degree of stability to currencies and commodities.

Yuan continues to be a thorny issue and looks like China has started preparing to throw a lollipop of sorts, say 6.7 a dollar, since that may also help control domestic inflation. That is the only conclusion one can draw when CEOs of heavyweight firms like Lenovo, China Merchants and Hunan Steel openly advocate a stronger yuan. But one never knows. If US consumption keeps declining, the bickerings may continue. The key point is that a predominantly manufacturing economy cannot afford to let its currency gyrate like a ballet dancer.

Hungary seems to have actually managed to sell carbon credits that weren’t valid, hurting ‘investors’ in the process. Ireland’s per capita alcohol consumption dipped 9.6% in 2009 and China awarded $112,219 to 737 persons for information they provided about pornography on the Internet. Drought stricken Venezuela has asked everybody to cut power consumption by a fifth and has started punishing violators, which include Sony. Vague and unconfirmed reports say a famine like situation is building in North Korea again. While Hong Kong and Singapore are still struggling to be treated as financial hubs in their own right, and Frankfurt and Zurich continue to fret about London’s status, Warsaw says it too wants to be a financial hub.

The list of companies that are no more considered ethical by The Ethisphere Institute reads like a who’s who: BMW, Danone, Dell, Holcim, Honeywell, HSBC, Kellogg, M&S, Marriott, McDonald’s, Novartis, Oracle, Safeway, Unilever and, of course, Toyota. Start redesigning your algorithms for enterprise valuation since eventually somebody at the St is going to use, sooner or later, these rankings for pushing up (or down) a scrip.

Google isn’t God, insist the Chinese, as the tiff continues to escalate. Frontline companies in China and Hong Kong have started abandoning Google search engine. Microsoft’s browser has lost some share in EU after it made it easier for users to use other engines with Windows and expects a billion to use cell phones with software for Internet-calling, messaging and video within three years. India’s Airtel has finally sealed a $9 bn deal for the 42 mn customer base Africa business of Kuwait’s Zain; perhaps it should have followed China Mobile and bought a bank instead. Cisco expects to expand its payroll by 3,000 this year.

Citi’s latest offering is a credit-card portfolio with $40 bn outstandings. Dai-ichi Mutual Life is to raise $11 bn for God knows what; one thought life insurers are lenders always flush with funds.

Toyota’s aggressive discounts in March have forced rival Honda to follow suit, and the scene stands reversed completely with GM and Ford showing restraint while Toyota and Honda are going for the jugular.

BMW is supply fuel efficient diesel motors and transmissions worth $1.35 bn worth for US police cars, Volkswagon is planning to raise nearly $6 bn to ensure adequate ratings post-takeover of Porsche, and Daimler, accused of having paid bribes in 22 countries, including Russia, China, Greece, Turkey, Nigeria and Vietnam, has agreed to pay over $200 mn in fines.

Posco is going for shipbuilding plants in India and Indonesia under a $30 bn expansion plan and is even gunning for Daewoo Shipbuilding but Warren Buffett, a shareholder, says he would like the company to undertake a thorough study of the market.

Dubai World, which owes money to 90 banks, is to be supported by the govt with $9.5 bn in new funds, Arrow Energy (Australia), having a lot of coal seam gas, is being taken over by Shell and PetroChina jointly, for A$3.4 bn, and sales of Li & Fung of Hong Kong fell only 6% to about $13.5 bn, despite prices having plunged 9%. China Railway has won a $4.8 bn railway contract in Indonesia and Tiffany quarterly revenue is up 17%, rising to nearly a billion in the latest quarter.

Diabetes is reportedly growing in China, having reached 4.5% compared to 7.1% in India and 12.3% in India. Incidentally, diabetes is routinely described as the disease of the rich, perhaps because only the rich can afford permanent medication.

A typical car has about 80 microprocessors and nearly a 100 mn lines of software code and all software have one defect per 10,000 lines. The are going to provide black boxes, like aircraft, but remember you can access them only from up above, after reaching either heaven or hell.

Industrials in S&P 500 had a cash hoard of $832 bn last year and all financials, including banks, are oozing money from eyes and ears. Treasuries are finding few takers while corporates are making hay by handing out fistfuls of bonds. Where is the world going and what to do? Read the Lehman report and try to understand how Repo 105 worked. If it worked for Lehman, may be it will work for your company too.

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