Will Airbus Ever Figure Out How to Produce the A380 Profitabley?

Despite six years of effort to build Airbus A380 superjumbo jetliners more efficiently, the European plane maker must still cut the cost and time needed to produce its two-deck airliners. WSJ's aerospace correspondent Dan Michaels reports:

What's next for ETFs?

The ETF industry has seen phenomenal growth, but there are obstacles ahead says Fleming Meeks, Barron's Executive Editor, and Beverly Goodman, Mutual Funds Editor: 7/14/2012

"Opinion: The Dimon Principle"

Paul Gigot is the Wall Street Journal's editorial page editor. The pols are after my favorite banker. Listen to to his commentary last May 14th on the political assault on J.P Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and regulatory failure.

Does Europe Need an Alexander Hamilton?

 Every year, Nobel Prize-winning economist Robert Mundell, the intellectual powerhouse behind supply side economics, hosts a conference with Central Bankers held in Siena, Italy. On speaks on Bloomberg Television's "Bottom Line," Sara Eisen reports: 

Udvar-Hazy Strikes Again!

Steven Udvar-Hazy founded International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) which is both the pioneer and, until the financial crisis, the powerhouse of the aircraft lease business. Eventually AIG bought ILFC so that AIG became Airbus's and Boeing's biggest customer. 

Then came the financial crisis. AIG got into financial trouble holding the bag for structured financial products engineered for investment bankers' profits and bonuses rather than its own financial health.  AIG lost its investment grade rating and had to give controlling interest in the firm to the U.S. Treasury in return for TARP funds.  ILFC lost access to financial markets and the entrepreneurial Hungarian found himself reporting to federal bureaucrats.

So what did Udvar-Hazy do?  He jumped ship and started all over again.  He is now the chief executive officer of Air Lease Corp.  He has reentered the big time with a whopping order for 737s at the last Farnborough air show two years ago a bigger one for the Airbus 320neos subsequently and now a $7.2 billion order of Boeing Co.'s 737max planes at the current Farnborough air show.

In this video from yesterday (July 9) he speaks with Guy Johnson on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop:"

A Post Boomer Mustang? What Would Sally Think?

For the last decade, automakers have connected with baby boomers by recreating storied cars from their youth. Now, Ford is shifting its Mustang muscle car's focus to a younger generation. Mike Ramsey explains on Lunch Break.

Hillary Goes to the Movies

The Wall Street Journal's Dan Henninger and Heritage Foundry blogger Lachlan Markay and discusses the State Department's decision to feature the documentary "Gasland" at the American Film Showcase:

Senate Democrats Are Like Rats Deserting a Sinking Ship on the Keystone Pipeline

Alana Goodman reports in Commentary that "Contentions Dems May Force Obama to Make Keystone XL Decision."  The House has already picked up 69 Democratic votes to approve the pipeline and Byron York reports in the Washington Examiner that in the Senate, whee there is a Democratic filibuster against the pipeline, "Democrats are using the filibuster to stop the pipeline, which means 60 votes are required to pass it. (Some Democrats who bitterly opposed the filibuster when Republicans used it against Obama initiatives are notably silent these days.) In a vote last month, 11 Senate Democrats stood up against Obama to vote in favor of the pipeline. Add those 11 to the Republicans' 47 votes, and the pro-pipeline forces are just a couple of votes away from breaking Harry Reid's filibuster."

Joplin: If All Else Fails, Try the Market

To anyone around here, when you mention the name, "Joplin," they think of that day of wrath when tornadoes ripped through the midwest and one, seemingly released from hell, devastated Joplin, Missouri.   One doesn't have to reach far among one's neighbors and friends to learn of someone who was touched by the disaster.  I heard of one mother who, lacking a tornado shelter, hid with her two children in a clothes closet.  When the Angel of Death had past over, she opened the door to find the closet the only thing left standing.

Many in Kansas, no stranger to tornadoes, helped as the community worked to rebuild itself. They "did and maybe asked permission later!" with typical midwestern get-it-doneness. The speed with which churches and religious organizations mobilized would put the Pentagon to shame! To rephrase Archbishop Dolan, they did not help because those in need were Christian, they helped because they were Christian.

An economics professor at Troy University, Daniel J. Smith, studied how this spontaneous action accomplished wonders. The story is the more poignant as we watch the Japanese bureaucracies in government and "private" utilities obscure reality and stand in the way of recovering from Fukushima Daichi.  Fortunately for Joplin, it was blessed with lax regulation and not plagued with crony capitalism.

Here is what professor Smith found: