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Journalists of the Economist magazine describe the EU's problems and the British perspective on the issues facing the European Union.

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The lower house of the French parliament approved the EU budget discipline treaty that limits deficits to 3% of GDP. It passed with a large majority of 477 votes to 70. About 284 members of the left parties voted for the bill. Sarkozy had pushed for passage of this treaty and Hollande agreed to it in his talks with chancellor Merkel of Germany. At the same time Germany and France agreed on promoting growth measures. The new French budget for 2013 reflects this committment to reducing the deficit to 3%. France's deficit declines from 4.5% in 2012 to 3% in 2013 under the new budget. It does this with shared sacrifices and higher corporate taxes and without sharp cuts in government spending that could hurt the economy.

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Britain's prime minister Cameron faces the prospect of a split in the right wing vote between the Conservatives and the UKIP party. This will increase the prospects of the Labor Party in the 2016 election. The economy is recovering but working class people say they are not seeing the benefits.

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S&P downgrades France's credit rating from AA+ to AA. Government spending at 56% of GDP remains at the second highest level in the EU, second to Denmark. President Hollande has reduced the deficit mainly by raising taxes which is seen as having reached its limit. The French economic growth was at 0.5% for the second quarter of 2013 compared to the first quarter, unemployment is high at 11.1%.

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This editorial in the Economist says Scots should get fiscal autonomy, and manage their own affairs including setting minimum wage, and tax rates. It says England should not subsidize Scotland as it currently does, and this will lead to Scotland bearing additional cost of about 8 billion pounds. It reminds readers that only about 50% of Scottish voters voted for the Scottish National party in the 2015 general election, and once Scotland has to balance its own books voters would have a chance to rethink the level to which they want a welfare state. As in Quebec the nationalist party may not have the same voter support when it has to tackle the difficult tasks involved in self government. This also means Scots would not be voting on how to manage affairs in England, leading to a federation for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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In addition to the efforts by protests to preserve Hong Kong's special autonomous status, there is a protest by students "Occupy Central," similiar to the "Occupy Wall Street" protests. That aspect of the protest is aimed less at Beijing than at the financial establishment in Hong Kong. Because of its role as financial capital in Asia a lot is at stake for the U.S., Britain, and for China itself, in preserving the special role that Hong Kong has enjoyed for two decades since 1997 transfer from Britain. That independent role and separate status is needed for a world financial centre and access to the best human resources.

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Areddy describes the choices facing China's president Xi Jinping as he faces protests in Hong Kong demanding the resignation of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. Protestors are also calling for canceling of a plan to limit nominations for chief executive to a committee loyal to Beijing. Xi Jinping has experience with Hong Kong affairs as he held the portfolio for Hong Kong affairs as part of the leadership when he was vice president. There are precedents where Beijng has changed course, as it sees it important to put memories of Tiananmen protest suppression behind. In 2003 six years after Britain handed Hong Kong to China -under an agreement for "one country, two systems," that granted separate status and system of government to Hong Kong- an anti-subversion law was pulled back. And the unpopular Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, a shipping magnate, resigned after 18 months. Beijing has to balance its concern for the "contagion effect" of protests on other parts of China, with the need to maintain the right climate for business and investment in Hong Kong and other financial centres. With slowing growth and limits to overexpanding credit, a crackdown in Hong Kong would further exacerbate problems with the international community, and create tensions in Taiwan about future reintegration with China. China warned foreigners not to interfere, and the American Consulate in Hong Kong stated it "strongly supports Hong Kong's well-established traditions and Basic Law protections of internationally recognized fundamental freedoms, such as freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and freedom of the press." The British government also pointed to Hong Kong's "fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right to demonstrate," which were in the spirit of the 1997 transfer agreement....

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The Economist says working age young people arriving as migrants from war torn areas such as Syria should be welcome in the EU, because the EU's society is aging. As the labor force declines in the EU, it will need younger workers to make up for the declining labor force and the large number of pensioners to be supported. Fears of terrorism could be overcome by having a strong screening process, and cultural assimilation can be speeded up by providing free language education and access to the university system, as in Germany. This would turn the Syrian refugee crisis into a plus for countries such as Germany, which have a large program for newcomers. The war in Syria is so deep and widespread, and emigrants have made a long and perilous journey, making asylum a credible reason.

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E.J. Dionne, of Gerogetown University and the Brookings Institution, says the current situation in U.S. politics resembles the 1912 presidential election when a Princeton professor Democrat Woodrow Wilson called for stronger curbs on big financial institutions, and Republican Teddy Roosevelt, a former president, called for tighter regulation. During his presidency Roosevelt had helped pass legislation to curb monopolies, and represented the Progressive wing of the Republican party. Taft who was president was Teddy Roosevelt's protege and vice president before becoming president, and alienated Roosevelt by moving away from progressive actions taken during Roosevelt's administration. Dionne says Hillary Clinton's views are similiar to Teddy Roosevelt's views, and Bernie Sanders' views to Wilson's views. Wilson won 435 electoral votes to Roosevelt's 88, and Tafts 8. The big difference now is that on the Republican side the progressive wing that Teddy Roosevelt established is non existent, with Cruz's positions similiar to Reagan's, Kasich and Cruz at best close to Jack Kemp's views on broadening the Republican base with concern for working class issues, and Trump's views not clear because of lack of clear policy or programs beyond the personality based campaign. Dionne points to the problems facing the "progressives" of Sander's young supporters staying away from the polling booths with Hillary Clinton as the nominee, putting a Republican nominee into the White House. Overlooked here is the idea that much of the election campaign even in an advanced country like the U.S. is fought on slogans, leaving out some critical facts. The problems progressives face emerged during a period when a Democrat was president, and the influence of lobbyists had not diminished. Outsiders on the Republican side are focussed on diminishing the power of lobbyists, the political calculus of elections, and other interests that have affected policy in the last 8 years hurting the middle class and working class. ...

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Morello of the WP describes the situation in Afghanistan with about 10,000 U.S. troops remaining in the country and the Taliban refusing to continue negotiations started earlier. About one in five migrants to Europe are from Afghanistan as more educated people leave the country for better lives overseas. The Taliban is tapping into the discontent in the country with the large number of unemployed following the U.S. withdrawal. Morello says the poverty rate has increased to 49% by 2016.

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People from Denmark are known for fluency in English, and are some of the best non-native speakers of the English language. About 38 percent of courses at Danish universities are in English. Yet debate is shifting to the inflluence of immigrants in society as "pizza-Dansk" or "pizza-Danish" is spoken by Middle East immigrants at pizzerias. One Danish member of parliament from the DF Party is suggesting the government prevent the spread of "pizza-Dansk" and help preserve the Danish language spoken by 6 million people in the country. It is reflection of the anti-immigrant mood in Sweden, Denmark and other European countries, where parliamentary elections have given parties opposed to immigration a larger number of seats.

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Krugman points to the connection between the failure to achieve debt reduction through debt forgiveness and the sluggish economic growth in the eurozone and U.S., five years after the global banking and financial crisis of 2009 and four years after the beginning of the eurozone debt crisis in 2010. In the U.S. debt reduction for homeowners was delayed with a wave of foreclosures, and in Europe austerity budgets were the norm as Germany pushed hard for austerity policies. In 2014 small relaxation of austerity to give relief to voters took place in Greece, France, Italy and Spain, with austerity budgets still in place. Growth also slowed in Germany to slight contraction in the third quarter and no growth in the fourth quarter of 2014. This is leading to the formulation of new policy to address growth challenges in the eurozone. Debt to GDP is growing in eurozone countries and Britain because of lack of growth, even though spending cuts have been made, showing the need for rethinking policy. ...

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Working America, an arm of the U.S. trade union the AFL-CIO, conducted conversations with 350,000 voters in 17 U.S. states. Here a representative of Working America, says the overwhelming response to the question "does it make a difference whether Democrats or Republicans are in power for my well being," is reflected in one of the responses- "does it even matter?"

The suggested approach here is for Democrats in particular who have represented working class voters in the past, to start with a fresh approach by creating new conversations with working class Americans.

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Some of the crude rhetoric at Donald Trump rallies, and use of coarse language, according to the NYT. Working class and older Americans show their anger at a system that appears to have left them behind with slogans, stickers, T-Shirts. The idea of the wall figures in much of this and shows that the wall has become not jut about Mexico but a metaphor that captures this anger, that reflects this anger. Another aspect of the 2016 campaign is that those most vulnerable and most in need of help have not sought the comfort of knowing about programs to improve middle class and working class wages, incomes, to build infrastructure, create jobs, stop companies from shifting jobs overseas, plans for improving accesss to health care and education, to ask for specifics and delivery. This is the supreme irony of the 2016 election campaign that not enough attention is going to what will be done for the middle and working class, and what specifics will be delivered, in what time frame- which is essential for restoring the condition of the American middle and working class to where it was in the 2 decades after the Second World War. ...

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Krugman says there is cause for concern from May's U.S. jobs report of only 38,000 jobs added- low even with Verizon strike jobs added back in- compared to the 200,000 a month average since Jan 2013. One cannot read too much into one months report, yet the political uncertainty in a election year adds to the problem. The low interest rates near zero offering little possibility for rate cuts, make it difficult to come up with a policy response. Under a Clinton administration the infrastructure spending option would face Republican resistance.  It is not clear how a Trump administration would respond. Krugman says the jobs figure reflects a stronger dollar- a result partly of the Fed's plan to raise rates- that is hurting U.S. exports.

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Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, has a fascination with Germany. He helped arrange the recent exhibition on Britain's relationship with Germany at the British Museum. He now leaves Britain to help manage another project, the Humboldt Forum in Germany.

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France's finance minister says the government will focus on growth and set deficit targets that will support growth. There is a feeling in the business community that France has reached the limit for tax increases. The government has given up the goal of reducing the deficit to 3% of GDP in 2013. The government says the deficit will be about 4.1% in 2013 and 3.6% in 2014. Economic growth is expected to be only about 0.1% for 2013, and 0.9% for 2014, lower than earlier forecasts. Muscovici has said the French are fed up with higher taxes, and he is looking for savings in spending. About 15 billion euros of savings are planned in the 2014 budget from ministry expenses and healthcare spending. Extra taxes of 6 billion euros planned for the 2014 budget will now be cut to 3 billion euros. To increase growth it is necessary to stabilize taxation and give business a clear picture for 2014-2015.

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The Pirate Party, a party of digital activists favoring more transparency and sharing of information online has about 10% of voter support according to recent polls. The Pirate party concept started first in Sweden, but it is in Germany where it has gained political support. This party was founded in 2006 in an underground Berlin nightspot C-Base, where many digital activists gathered. In Sept. 2011, the German Pirate Party gained 9% of the vote, 15 of 249 seats in the Berlin state elections. This was repeated in the Saarland state elections, and now is likely to happen in elections in Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia. These votes are coming at the expense of the Free Democrats and the Greens. The Free Democrats are hurt badly, and may not make the 5% of votes needed to win seats in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Greens are seen as part of the establishment, giving the Pirate party support from people thinking outside of the establishment. The polls show the Christian Democrats having voter support of 35%, Social Democrats 27%, Left 7%, Greens 14%, Free Democrats 3%....

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The recent appointment of fast food executive Andrew Puzder as Labor Secretary has caused great concern among union leaders. Puzder supports a $9 minimum wage compared to $15 supported by Democrats. Unions now represent 7% of the labor force, down from a high of 20% during Reagan's time when Reagan appointed a construction company executive as Labor Secretary and cut regulations.  Globalization has thinned the ranks of workers in unions. And the failure of Democratic administrations to stem the shift of factories overseas to China, Mexico and other places, as part of global supply chains focussed on cost, has weakened Democratic support among workers since the period of Bill Clinton. It eroded to the point where Obama won 65% of support among unions and Hillary Clinton won 56% in 2016. Interestingly the Republican Romney gained 33% versus 37% for Trump, showing voters were more inclined to move away from Democrats and only a smaller number willing to support Republicans, but the shift enough to give Republicans a win in 2016 for the presidency. The figures are from a Election Day survey of trade union AFL-CIO, and a larger proportion in midwestern states showed disaffection with policies from Clinton to Obama. In fact Obama spent years promoting another free trade agreement TPP that favored tech more than auto and older industries, just as Bill Clinton had promoted NAFTA, without giving thought to what this was doing to its worker base of support. A similar situation happened with Social Democrats in Germany as a SPD administration moved to the centre and handed Christian Democrats led by Merkel a win in parliamentary elections. As Democrats such as former Labor Secretary Reich, a professor at UC Berkeley who served under Bill Clinton, describe the problems of working class people their is less reflection on the impact of the changes from globalization and how Democrats handled or mishandled it, and more on the politics between the two parties.   ...