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WSJ says Congress will not support lower drug prices by about 50% in Canada to permit drug imports from Canada. Yet in today's America will Congress stand in the way when both Democrats and Republicans support drug imports or anyway to get lower prices and reduce the most costly part of the cost of living in the US. WSJ editorial opinion says this policy of higher drug prices by a factor of 2 or more makes American people healthier. This is clearly wrong. President Biden has said over and over that "I don't get it." It makes American people less healthier by large enough margins and America less strong, and the time is passed when there was any doubt about the great damage this is doing to the health of the American people. The time is passed when the will of the American people was not resolute enough to find a healthier life for the American people.

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The narrowest of majorities in the House- just 1 vote for Republicans will require that every Congressman be present during a vote, and that not 1 Republican decides to do what he or she believes is the right thing to do. This will make it difficult to deliver on DJT's agenda says  this report in WSJ. 

On paper Republicans are 220 to 215 for Democrats. With resignation of Rep Gaetz  it comes to 2019 to 215. This means no more than 1 defection is possible for Republicans to pass legislation. Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida and Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York will become the National Security Adviser and US Representative at the United Nations, which means by February 2024 till new elections are held for these 2 seats the House will be 2017 to 2015. At that point a single defection would risk blocking legislation.

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91 year old Chuck Grassley is head of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He has a passion for vigorous Congressional Oversight that has not diminished with age. He says in an interview that he does alot of oversight and all of us should know from our 8th grade civics that Congress has a responsibility for checks and balances to make certain that the executive branch enforces laws consistent with the oath they take. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a veteran of the US Senate, who like Biden has served for a long, long time under many presidents since he entered the US Senate in 1980 and now holds the office of Senate President pro tempore, says- "We not only pass laws, but you learn in eighth grade civics that we’ve got a responsibility of checks and balances to make sure that the executive branch of government actually enforces the laws according to the oath that they take. So that’s my job and I do a lot of oversight. " He expects Democrats to rebound quickly so that we will have a very different situation in 2026.  ...

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Treasury Secretary Paulson has emerged as the critical bridge builder within the Bush administration to get some tangible economic results in the spirit of bipartisan cooperation. It has not been easy in a Bush Presidency that has not valued compromise and cooperative relationships with Democrats. Treasury's influence, unlike the Rubin days under Snow and his predecessor, has been overshadowed by the politics of the Bush administration. Some of his initiatives had not fared so well, the efforts to reform Social Security and Medicare. The China-America dialogue may have reduced tensions but still did not amount to something significant. Now with Bush going his own way on Jan 18, 2008 to announce his own stimulus plan and spurning Democrats efforts for a bipartisan agreement and making them feel left out and angry, Secretary Paulson finally got into his own groove of compromise, diplomacy and deft bridgebuilding to get restraint from Bush. He worked out the details in the meantime to forge an agreement by the following week. Paulson was instrumental influence behind this stimulus package. His disregard for ideological debate in an administration that has been too close to this and not known for cooperaive relationship building, is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise desolate field of politicking. Particularly helpful in the middle of a risk laden economic situation for the country, and the other global economies that are intertwined with the US economy....

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This NYT report looks at the 20 counties within 5 battleground states in the midwestern states of Wisconsin, Michigan, eastern state of Pennsylvania, southern state of North Carolina and western state of Arizona. It shows the percentage of votes gained by the Republican and Democratic parties in the last 3 presidential elections. A look at the trend and direction of vote percentages gained by each party in each of the 20 counties in different states may be a better indication of the final result than polls alone as both parties are pushing hard in the 2020 election down to the last day. The Republicans strong in the ground game and organized effort, and Democrats in television advertising outspending the Republicans. Because of the clearly delineated positions the Democrats and Republicans stand in sharp contrast to each other both in image and substance.  Because of the Electoral College and states assigned electoral votes based on size the U.S. system is not based on the total vote count in the country. Who wins each state by vote count and gets the assigned electoral college votes assigned to that state, an builds up more than 270 Electoral College votes wins the election for president of the USA.  In Michigan there is the impact of the resurgence of the auto industry, with president Trump pulling out of TPP agreement and renegotiating NAFTA in favor of the U.S. auto industry bringing back jobs from Mexico. This puts the union vote in the auto industry- with Ford, GM and Chrysler located in Michigan- favoring these auto friendly policies from the current administration. The resilience of the auto industry sales during coronavirus is part of the economic story in Michigan. The renegotiated NAFTA treaty also helped dairy farmers of Wisconsin increase sales to Canada. In Pennsylvania the coronavirus and economic impact has hit harder than in Michigan with the decline in oil prices and effect on fracking industry. Closure of coal plants is also having a negative impact on the state. Tariffs on Chinese steel by the administration are helping the steel industry. Offsetting these economic stories is perception of how the coronavirus pandemic has been tackled by the administration. Added to this is the suburban women's vote and the shift of out of state liberal voters to suburbs in North Carolina (Wake county), and in Arizona (Maricopa county and Tucson area). States not covered here but also relevant are Minnesota which could be a battleground state in the midwest and Iowa. Racial protests in Minneapolis add another dimension with controversies about the policing in cities such as Minneapolis and recently Philadelphia. The sharp contrasts in image as well as policy, the coronavirus pandemic and the handling of the pandemic as well as the way rallies are being conducted differently by both candidates, and the economic stories, present an election like no other since the 1960's. The contrast is as sharp as between Gen. Dwight Eisenhower of the wartime allied effort and Adlai Stevenson a liberal and humanist in the 1952 election. That election saw some of the highest turnouts since the second world war, and this is now happening today. That election also determined the direction of postwar growth and dominance of American industry, the setting up of the National Highway system and important changes that were later continued under the Kennedy administration. It also marked the beginning of the Cold War following the Korean War under the Truman administration, a situation that is emerging in a different way today with the free world and the tension from relations with China. ...

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ig changes in transportationpolicy will change the way Americans move around. Its not just the auto industry that is being remade. US transportation policy is being shaken up and is in for big cahnges. The head of the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee is a Minnesota Democrat Rep. Janes Oberstar, he is suggesting Congress steer $30 billion to highways and bridges and $12 billion to transit as part of the $85 billion being discussed for transportation spending in the stimulus plan. This would be a much higher percentage than what transit secured for many years.

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Zeit Online shows in this article the continued efforts of the Russian government of president Putin to discredit Chancellor Merkel, following efforts to do this for Hillary Clinton in the U.S. presidential election.  During the Ukraine crisis and the settlement accords of 2014 Germany was seen as a partner by Russia, following sanctions, and renewal of these sanctions Russia no longer sees Germany as a partner. This report shows Russian efforts to discredit chancellor Merkel and the use of RT German channel, WikiLeaks reports of Chancellor Merkel and the TTIP agreement, for the same purpose. The refugee crisis following what is happening in Syria with Russian involvement, terrorism, financial crisis aftermath from 2008, are being used  says Zeit Online to support a movement for "order" as the state ideology now put forward from the Russian government. This could be an early indicator for the 2017 German federal elections, says Zeit Online. Merkel has said that she supports continuation of western sanctions on Russia. It is hard to see what Russia has gained in improving its economy and the standard of living of the people from this type of political action. Putin was able to achieve economic goals during 2005-2010 using good Germany- Russian relations as shown in LyrArc. This was the earlier period of Putin's terms in office, with a broad group of advisors, including finance minister Kudrin, who set forward a prudent economic course for Russia including foreign investment. The world and Russia are poorer from the departure from this earlier set of policies which would have enhanced Russia's economic growth. Kudrin was fired in September 2011, and the economic course has gradually drifted away from what is most prudent for the Russian economy and growth, and for the global economy. Nationalism was part of an earlier period before 1950, that led to frequent wars and economic catastrophes. A new course has been set since then, especially by American presidents Truman and Eisenhower, and people in India, China, the developing world, in Europe and in the U.S., would see little to gain from the politics of that earlier period in world relations.  ...

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As Prime Minister Aso's ratings in the polls drop to 20%, it looks increasingly likely that the Liberal Democrats will lose the election that has to be held before September 2009. Yoshimi Watanabe, who was minister for administrative reform in two previous administrations and the most visible face for reform of the bureaucracy at the current time, quit the Liberal Democratic party recently. Aso's plan to stimulate the economy with a $130 cash payment to all people in Japan is meeting with skepticism and disapproval, as it is considered doubtful it will jumpstart the economy. Polls indicate 70% of voters oppose it. Aso came in as PM in September 2008, before the full brunt of the global economic crisis hit in November 2008. Voters see him as another old face of the Liberal Democratic party, older politicians who do not have the popular appeal especially with the shift to the younger Obama type politicians in the USA. The Liberal Democratic party has ruled for all but 11 months since the Second World War. Polls also show voters trust the opposition leader of the Democratic Party, Ichiro Ozawa, more than Taro Aso....

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Case-Shiller home price index shows 18.5 % drop year over year for December 2009, for single family homes in 20 major metropolitan areas. The Conference Board Index for consumer confidence dropped from 37.4 in January 2009 to 25 in February 2009. Of the 5000 households surveyed more 90% said they expected conditions would be the same or worse in the next 6 months. The Obama $275 billion plan for homeowners does not address the weakest cities in the market which are in places like Phoenix, Las Vegas, and much of Florida and Southern California, where prices have fallen 40% or more from their peak. This is because mortgages that are under water are not included, these are mortgages where more is owed on the house than the house is worth, and is ocurring faster in places where price declines are the steepest. One expert Martin Feldstein who is also on the Obama advisory panel has insisted since early 2008 that these homeowners under water have no rational incentive to continue making payments. What this does is to make consumers to postpone purchases like autos and hold back or cut back on all kinds of spending. In this global economy this means places like China's coastal regions which export to the US get hit hard and in turn exporters to china like Germany also get hit hard as what starts in the USA gets passed on theough the global economy from one region to another. Which also means US exports to Asian and other emerging market countries of tech goods and aircraft are in turn hit hard. As Republicans and Democrats follow their ideological leanings they cancel each other out in the debate, as Prof. Potter at Harvard an expert on economic strategy points out in a link, resulting in necessary actions not being taken and no clear direction. ...

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Michael Barnier was the candidate for Les Republicains. Macron's Movement Renaissance party is closest in thinking to the Les Republicains, the party of De Gaulle. He was appointed prime minister of France by Macron. Barnier had proposed a strong policy of turning off non European immigration for 4 years, and not allowing relations of immigrants within the country to come in. This immigration policy is becoming accepted in Europe among the socialist parties. In Denmark socialist prime minister Mette Fredriksen was elected with policies for the working class and unions but opposed to migration on grounds that it hurts the working class. France, Germany are shifting in this direction after overburdening of social services, and crime by migrants. The US is also shifting in this direction for both Democrats and Republicans with Biden policy to close the Mexican border. This ends a period of relative tolerance which set back goals of workers and their families for a decade or longer as anti migrant parties used the protest vote to oppose worker rights and shifted the economy into the hands of pharma, oil and tech companies, billionaires in the US, UK and Europe at the expense of workers, middle class, and students.  ...

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What has happened that makes it so hard for Democrats Biden who stood on a picket line for the UAW autoworkers union, Harris fighting for workers, that they cannot easily convince workers that they are on their side? It is because compared to 1980 not the lowest income groups but the "downwardly mobile" white and other groups without college degrees have taken the brunt of the loss of manufacturing jobs. It is why the "zero-sum" stories of the former president have appeal to some workers who have lost the most from deindustrialization of the US. Even though Biden, and Harris, have fought hard and are putting in place the policies for the fight to reindustrialize America by taking old plants and modernizing them one by one across the country. No one has ever done this before including years in which the former president was in office. In these visual graphs it is easy to see the sharp decline in incomes and status in society of workers without college degrees as the economy changed after 1980 sending steel, auto and other industries to Asia. By 2024 these workers lives had been upended by the loss of these industries and the hope for income and place in society that existed in 1980. Every US president from Reagan through Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump had failed to address this. Biden was the first president to take this up but too much has happened with to reverse this in 4 years, the pandemic, inflation from loss of supply chains to Asia, and wages not keeping up with cost of living.  NYT's Badger, Gebeloff and Bhatia show analysis of the economy, incomes and jobs in 1980 vs the economy, incomes and jobs in 2024 for persons with a college degree and without a college degree.It shows the sharp differences in the eastern Midwestern states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania over 4 decades of job losses, loss of income status and self worth for men without college degrees. With their jobs in manufacturing disappearing also disappearing was the middle class lifestyle- of owning a house, having a cottage or boat in the countryside, and sending kids to college. ...

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No country benefited more than first Japan and then South Korea till 2000, and now China till 2022 from the trade and sharing of industrial technology enabled by the American backed system of trade and industry. Walter Russell Mead says in WSJ that China has chosen to challenge the system through which it developed into an industrialized nation with the US running huge trade deficits, sharing its technology and letting Chinese manufacturing displace American local manufacturing. China is seen as challenging the system. Yet what has happened is that this process of displacing American manufacturing and industry was not sustainable anyway and continued for a decade longer than it would otherwise have lasted because American industry could not easily reverse a course it had set of setting up manufacturing in China, once that manufacturing base had already been transferred from the US to China and American companies had grown accustomed to a new state of affairs of making overseas in China. Not much thought was given to how American workers would react to that situation as companies and industries making that transfer made independent decisions. This led to the election of Trump with wins in midwestern states that had suffered from loss of manufacturing communities.  The Trump tariffs on Chinese goods and the Biden administration lining up completely behind American workers and families for the first time for Democrats has sent the signal to China that it finds the situation of China's dominance in the trade system unacceptable. The document of "China 2030" of the Chinese Government with planned dominance in key sectors and industries was met with alarm across America in all parties. The paradox of Apple as a key sector in Chinese manufacturing and the largest American company is the result of policies pursued by America without realizing the true cost of shipping manufacturing out of the country. That process is now being reversed with change of management starting at Intel Corp. and other companies to bring the manufacturing base back to the US. This policy is being resolutely pursued by the US and will speed up following the pandemic which has further demonstrated how much of a mistake the policy of sending out manufacturing in critical areas such as health could be. This is the reality behind the rhetoric and verbal exchange between China and the US. With the rapid growth of Chinese manufacturing countries such as India were put in a difficult situation  as this was preventing the local industrial base developing in India with Chinese imports in the same way as it had damaged that of the US and the EU. Worse it led to the use of US and European technology in China's defense industrial base including aviation and other sectors that threatened India's borders with repeated Chinese incursions in the Himalayas, from the Pakistan western Himalayas to Ladakh and the eastern Himalayan mountains. That situation existed long before the Trump and Biden administration and the Modi administration called for a return to America of its industrial manufacturing base and its technological leadership. Both the Bush and Obama administrations and the Indian Congress administrations failed to realize the dangers of letting the US, European and Indian industrial base wither. India is not just a country but a culture that extends from the Himalayas all the way across Bangladesh to the Indonesian islands which shares a common cultural history of Buddhism and the Vedanta. This is a region that has a population of about 2 billion people. In a larger sense the cultural history extends to  Vietnam and Japan with its Buddhist culture whose origins go back to India, and also of China itself. In the larger sense this is a population of close to 3 billion people. The economic development of this region and learning from the parliamentary traditions and scientific discoveries of the modern period since 1700 is a task for both the US, Europe and the people of the region.   ...

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After intense efforts German Chancellor Merkel was able to pass legislation expanding the EU bailout fund with the support of members of her coalition in Parliament. The opposition Social Democrats and Greens supported the legislation. Merkel carried the vote with a 4 vote margin from her CDU-FDP coalition. Fifteen members of her coalition voted against the legislation. This increases the bailout fund's lending capacity from around 250 billion euros to 440 billion euros. There is considerable skepticism among members of the German parliament about whether this will work. German guarantees for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) increase to 211 billion euros from 123 billion euros under the new legislation. German finance minister Schauble ruled out borrowing by the EFSF from the ECB and leveraging EFSF funds in the process. The fear for German policymakers is that this would lead to Germany losing its triple-A credit rating and create its own risks. Experts have cautioned against the use of leveraging because of the financial risks....

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The Obama Stimulus Plan of January 2009 was passed in the House by avote largely on party lines of 244-188. The Democrats have a 255 to 178 advantage in the House. Before the vote Mr Obama met with business leaders at the White House including Sam Palmisano of IBM and Cote of Honeywell. Cote said these are not times for timidity, thank god you are not a timid man. And later told Bloomberg News, that the need was urgent to move ahead and not wait any longer to get it passed and into action, because the situation was deteriorating with more layoffs announced this week by a number of companies. For his part President Obama said quoting Justice Brandeis that the best disinfectant is sunlight. To ensure transparency and effectuve use of the money the information on the spending will be posted on the internet for the public to see and monitor.

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Electric cars are seen as not affordable for ordinary Americans facing a cost of living crisis. Sales for electric cars lag behind milestones set by California. Only 7% of American cars are electric. GM is pushing for scuttling of the California ban on gas powered cars in 2035. The US Senate is set to vote next week to revoke California's emissions waiver. About 35 Democrat members of Congress support Republicans in this effort to scrap California's ban on gas powered cars in 2035. Zero emissions vehicles make up 20% of sales in California far behind the goal set of 35%. Enthusiasm for electric cars is waning after the lack of technological advances in cutting cost. The lack of rare earth minerals such as dyspromium for electric magnets that is 94% controlled by China means less of it can be imported into the US. China has invented refining technologies to convert the mining materials into the rare earth mineral giving it a monopoly as shown in the WSJ. ...

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Alice Rivlin's efforts to break the deadlock in the bipartisan Obama administration commission. The commission was setup to recommend ways to control the US budget deficit. This group is paralyzed by politics as Democrats have tried to safeguard Social Security, and the Republicans are dead set against tax increases. Rivlin is working through a shadow commission on the deficit headed by former Senator Pete Domenici. This shadow commission is supported by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank setup by former Republican and Democratic majority leaders. The idea is to get the process started through leaders of both parties, as happened in 1983, when Senators Monynihan and Dole initiated the process after a similiar deadlock. The agreement reached then led to a change in the Social Security law, which increased the cap on payroll taxes and raised the retirement age.

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This is not just offering something to every group, it is rebuilding the middle class when seen in the larger context of rebuilding America's industrial base and taking  it to new heights after losing it to China under Bush-Obama 2000-2016. Under MAGA Trump inequality is tackled just differently from the way Democrats tackled it under Biden. The tax break for auto loans, interest on auto loans is deductible for taxes, is part of the new Tax Bill to appeal to auto workers. It is only applicable to US made cars and this promotes US made cars over foreign factory made cars such as the Germans and Koreans and some Japanese auto makers did before 2025. Reagan scrapped this tax break, it is back under Trump as the Republican base now includes auto workers and the now back to growth mode middle class. The deduction in local and state taxes increases to 30,000 to benefit small business owners. There is also the tax on tips which is removed. Retired people get an added $4000 deduction and not elimination of taxes on social security benefits entirely because of the Bryd rule that prevents changes to retirement with a simple majority vote not the 60 votes in the Senate.  ...

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Republican Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell no's and 50-50 US Senate vote, a tie on Hegseth nomination. Only a last minute change of heart by Senator Tillis gets the 50-50 tie that was broken by VP Vance's vote to get the Hegseth nomination through. Armed Services chairman Wicker in questioning in the Senate supported Hegseth as he faced tough questioning from Democrats Duckworth, Slotkin and Peters.  Wicker cited Hegseth's service in two wars in combat as a Major in Iraq and Afghanistan and the way many who had fought in these wars had struggled and overcome difficulties, the need for second chances in some situations. Other Republican senators said the position was held by others who did not have experience running large organizations. Panetta was a lawyer and Gates an academic who had CIA positions before appointment to Secretary of Defense. Perry had experience running defense supplier companies. Chuck Hagel served in combat in the Vietnam war and started his own company Vanguard Cellular and was a talk show host.   ...

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With Labour leading in polls Mr. Johnson faces a no confidence motion in parliament after 53 Tory members called for the motion. No elections are planned before Jan 2025. There are no choices for the Tories other than Mr. Johnson who could hold his broad coalition of working class districts in the north of England and affluent districts in London. Mr. Johnson has also taken England through the pandemic, vaccination drive, and pandemic aid programs to help the UK recover, which he reminded Tory members of parliament.  The partygate scandal refers to parties that Mr. Johnson says never happened but took place during the worst part of the pandemic which have created an impression of callous behaviour and disregard of rules. The Conservatives face another problem in that the US and the EU including countries such as Denmark, Germany and France are moving in a direction that favors leaders who are promoting a revival of manufacturing locally, creating local jobs instead of job shifting overseas, increasing minimum wage, and promoting interests of workers and families. Labor had lost credibility during the Blair years similar to SPD losing credibility during the Schroder years, France's Socialists losing credibility under Hollande, and the Democrats under Clinton-Obama, and a general loss of credibility of socialist leaders who failed to work for the interests of workers and families. Biden, Scholz, the German Greens under Habeck, and French under Melenchon are changing this today wtih a new and genuine commitment of respect for the dignity of workers and families, and women. There may be a sense of unease among Tories about how long the working class districts in the north of England will vote Tory when no investments are being made to fulfill the promises Boris Johnson has made. Yet Tories have no alternate leader and may be stumbling their way into the remaining part of their period in office as Britons look for a new future where the massive investments needed in manufacturing locally and in infrastructure take place to benefit workers and families. ...

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Elections are won on messages that can be put in one line. FDR's in 1932 he stated clearly and applies to Biden in 2024- it has Abraham Lincoln's message from his writings. FDR said in 1932 "Give me your help not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people." America in 2024 during the pandemic resembles America in 1932 during the Depression with widening gaps between the upper and lower classes and in opportunity for better life. Philip Bump in his Analysis in the Washington Post points out that the 2024 US election remains a referendum on the former president Trump. This is because as is already evident the voters have made up their minds, on Biden's side people that have decided they will not vote for Trump, and on Trump's side people who will vote for Trump. Biden has a stable vote when the election is referendum on Trump. Crime has come down so that crime is not so much of an issue. Immigration is also coming down and the Lankford- Biden immigration legislation did not pass to close the border as it was seen not attractive for the reelection bid on basis of immigration fears from the former president. Biden has take steps to close the border using executive action in the absence of Congress stalling on advice of the former president. The other issue is abortion and the selection of J.D. Vance for VP creates more fears about abortion bans for suburban women in all 51 states. Climate Change action is another issue and if stalled for 4 years it would cost the US upward of 1 trillion dollars to make up for action not taken till 2028. Donilon has said elections are fought on issues that can be put in one line for focus and concentration. For Democrats it is democracy in the words of FDR in his 1932 address: "Give me your help not to win votes alone but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people." It is good to reflect and know that this is what president Abraham Lincoln would also have said knowing Lincoln's views from his writings on the this aspect of freedom in the Civil War in fighting the plantation economies of the Southern states. ...

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Gerald Seib, executive editor of of the WSJ, attributes the divisions in America both on the left and the right to a deep skepticism among people about the intentions of the U.S. political and financial establishment to conduct the country's affairs in a way that benefits all people. Both the traditional Democratic and Republican establishments, the Bush-Reagan, Clinton-Obama politicians and the financial community were seen as self-serving and looking after their own interests. The right of center supply side economics and the the tolerance for immigration levels of 30% rise in the last decade were discredited. A much larger recovery program was seen as needed from the deeply bruising effects of the financial crisis of 2008, started by the reckless financial establishment behaviours, than either the Reagan supply siders or the Obama people had understood or planned. This opened the way for Mr. Trump to take up the cause of ordinary Americans with a message of ambitious infrastructure development, confronting China's use of trade adversely affecting American workers, and slowing down immigration. And within the Democratic party the emergence of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders with programs for a wealth tax that would finance Medicare for All and college education supported by the federal government. Both the traditional Republicans under Bush and Democrats under Clinton Obama were seen not upto the task, after the 2008 financial and economic crisis created deeper scars than were imagined possible. The lack of effective policies under Bush or Obama simply aggravating the situation further. The culture wars have split Americans down the middle with a breakdown of the traditional American family and social structures creating deep anxieties in America. Obama's comments unsettled people in the heartland when he said that economic decline in the Rust Belt had made people there to "cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them."   The trillions of dollars spent in wars in Asia and the Middle East were seen by Mr. Trump as an enormous waste when much needed investment was deprived of attention at home. Mr. Trump hammered this point home till today it is well accepted across America.  Even as political divisions persist they are now on how to tackle the redevelopment and growth of the U.S. The new focus of agreement has shifted with agreement across the country that infrastructure development in the U.S. and defending workers rights to jobs and opportunities is the top priority. That trade relations need to be reshaped keeping this priority ever present in negotiations. As a result all parties could agree on infrastructure and the recently concluded agreement for trade with Mexico and Canada and phase 1 of negotiated agreement with China. In overseas affairs the U.S. under Trump seeks cost sharing with a 2% of GDP defense spending by other nations so that money can be diverted to use at home. In this sense the debate has already shifted in the U.S. and the UK to how to address the problems of uneven development and growth across the two countries and better allocation of scarce resources to needs at home. Which is for the U.S. a good thing in the middle of all the perception of divisions.      ...

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The crisis came after finance minister FDP's Lindner wrote a paper calling for slashing corporate taxes, reducing welfare benefits, and reducing climate related regulations. It was seen as a provocation by the other partners Green's Habeck and SPD's Scholz leading to the firing of Lindner by Scholz. From the beginning of this coalition over its 4 years FDP has prevented major investments in the German economy the Social Democrats and Greens had promised in the last election. By contrast Biden invested over a trillion dollars in infrastructure and manufacturing leading to strong growth in the US and weak or no growth in the German economy. The Free Democrats are very conservative in spending, even though the Western economies need added investment in infrastructure. FDP's popularity is less than 4 percent. Social Democrats have lost trust with workers as a result of not keeping their promises for investment and growth. 

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ProPublica Report that shows taxes paid by Warren Buffett of Berkshire, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Michael Bloomberg of Bloomberg, Soros of financial business, and Elon Musk of Tesla. This report put out by Americans for Tax Fairness shows tax rates of a group of 25 such business persons at 3.4% on wealth growth between 2014-2018 of $401 billion. This is not to say that Democrats or Republicans can be elected to solve this, which is basically a problem not of fairness but of how it enables underfunding of America's basic infrastructure of health, education, transportation, and public services such as parks, clean air, and renewable energy, energy grids, water supplies, heating infrastructure, on and on on the list. Why because the difference between a modern industrial base country and a backward, lack of industrial base country is just this list. When the companies also unfund maufacturing in the US as Apple does by making almost  all products overseas it means lossof manufacturing knowhow and loss of leadership of the free world which simply means chaos without America's leadership based on its founder's values.   ...

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Progressive caucus in the US House of Representatives led by Pramila Jaypal, a first time Indian American Congresswoman defeats an attempt by Josh Gottheimer of the Problem Solvers caucus to separate much of the president Biden's agenda in health, education and social policy and risk it being defeated by Senators Manchin and Sinema in the US Senate. Without the efforts on child care, education and health, climate change and social services part of the Biden Workers and Families Plan much of the Biden agenda would remain unfinished and Democratic party promises not kept. This also means that Manchin a Senator from West Virginia with a population of 1.8 million and Arizona with a population of 7.2 million, both conservative leaning Democrats could sink the entire agenda of president Biden to support American families and workers for a population of 331 million people. That two states with a population of less than 3% of the American population could sink the entire agenda of president Biden shows how fragile a situation has been created within the Democratic party to support workers and families even during the pandemic following the leadership of Carter, Clinton, and Obama Ms. Jaypal, a three term Congresswoman from Seattle, Washington state, was first elected in 2016 with an endorsement from Bernie Sanders who was the Democratic Party's leading candidate for president till the late stages of the 2020 US presidential primaries. Bernie Sanders says of Jaypal- "I think she is doing an extraordinary job. And I think the Progressive Caucus is doing an extraordinary job." Sanders founded the Progressive caucus after getting elected to the Senate from Vermont 30 years ago. Even though it is hard to imagine the Democratic party being the Democratic party without bold policies in climate change, affordable housing, reducing income disparities,  investing big in childcare, education and healthcare, attempts were being made to sink the entire Democratic party and national agenda going back to Franklin Roosevelt. Jaypal is described in the WSJ as diplomatic and firm, saying "I am so proud of our caucus; I have never seen our caucus so strong. And I am a very good vote counter also." Fifty members of the 100 member Progressive Caucus held firm in support of president Biden's original agenda without which the president would have little to show in keeping promises he made to the American people in the election and little to differentiate him from Mr. Trump who also supported infrastructure spending. Separating the infrastructure bill would have risked sinking Mr. Biden's plan for recovery of America from the pandemic and the devastating policies pursued by American presidents in the last two decades. Policies by previous presidents that have impoverished the country, created huge income disparities, weakened America in the world in trade and technological leadership, and wasted resources in foreign wars. There are no centrists or far left- these are just labels. When Ms Japal said "Let's just remember the Speaker (Nancy Pelosi) is a great champion of this agenda. I think she was trying to do as much as she could to get this done," she could have said it is Mr. Biden's own agenda pushed forward with conviction to help workers and families during the pandemic, and build a solid American recovery, restore American leadership in the world. Pramila Japypal is the first Indian American woman in the US Congress, and one of only two dozen naturalized American citizens in the US Congress. That she could play such a critical role for good in the US Congress shows that with the right convictions, determination, experience, much can be done for the common good in America and the world.   ...