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The revival of NATO in 2022 as America "prepares extensively and carefully" to meet the challenge from Russia as it invades Ukraine. President Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Germany's Scholz and America's Biden form a partnership as the Europeans and Americans join together to defend the interests of Europe, America, Latin America, India and other Asia, Africa, the entire free world in a way that FDR and Truman, with Adenauer defended the free world after the Berlin Airlift in 1948. Biden tells Europe and America the days ahead will be hard but America and Europe and the allies in Japan, India and the rest of Asia, Latin America, Africa, are resolved to met this challenge.

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When Whitmer in Michigan said "FIx the Damn Roads" that is exactly the kind of language people wanted to hear. Harris and Walz should do the same. They should take up Border Security in a big way face the issue head on. President Biden has already used executive action to cut migrant flow at the border. The next step is take up the issue and defuse it for good. It was evident in Arizona today when Harris said she would sign into law the legislation negotiated by Republican Senator Lankford that passed the Senate and was held up by Trump for making it an election issue. Lankford says in today's NYT August 10 interview shown in this page that the bill would have passed in December 2023, once Trump became the nominee in February 2024 he realized it had no chance. Harris needs to repeat that at every rally "We will Pass the Lankford -Biden Immigration Bill" "Smash the Gangs" that is the message Starmer took from Labour Together think tank paper "Migration and Insecurity." Keir Starmer studied the issue of immigration carefully and told the public he was different - he would tackle illegal immigration head-on. He said he would "Smash the Gangs" benefitting from illegal migrants. In his first week the setup the Border Security Command. That week it was shown that Tories wasted time and money on Rwanda scheme that had deported hardly a couple of migrants. ...

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Democrats lost 6 Congressional districts won by Biden in 2020. This is more than any other state in the US. Wolfson, a former deputy mayor of New York City says it may have cost the Democrats the House of Representatives in 2022. It all started with redrawing of districts by Democrats in the House that was thrown out by the courts, leading to it being done by someone appointed by the court, and redrawing that was unfavorable to the Democrats. Democrats also failed to grasp the effects of laws passed that change the way judge set bail for offenses which Republicans pointed to as creating a larger crime situation. A 30% rise in crime in New York City was made an issue by Republicans in the midterms, which Democrats failed to address. The Republican majority in the House is thin and there is a sense that New York state played apart in Democrats losing the House.

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The European central bank increases interest rates by quarter percentage point taking the deposit rate to 3.5%. The US Fed held off on increases. The US Fed started early with its increase in interest rates and maintained a steady posture with 8 interest rate increases over 2022-2023 in a period of just over 12 months. It has strengthened the dollar against the euro. The slow response of the ECB and price gouging in Europe has worsened the inflation picture there. The US Fed's policy combined with consumers resisting price gouging by halting purchases from stores, untangling of supply chains, the Biden administration's series of actions to tackle the cost of living increases, and overall investment in the economy that keeps employment resilient including government investment for the first time, is creating a better economy for America than most of the last two decades. 

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US economic growth was 2.4% in the second quarter of 2023. Even though the Fed increased rates at 10 consecutive meetings by 5% since March 2022 to tackle inflation the US economy appears strong. Large investments in the trillions of dollars in US manufacturing and infrastructure, tackling climate change is what is different this time compared to the past 2 decades when bad decisions were made with twin wars in the Arab and Muslim world, and the supply chain was transferred to China, investments were neglected in infrastructure, education and health in public goods, and capital markets allocated money with decreasing advantage to the economy. President Biden was in a unique position after the pandemic to take stock of all these mistakes and move the nation forward in positive directions in a decisive way in scale as well as in spirit and determination. That he has done so is more proof of the resilience of America.

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US president Biden makes these remarks at Emmanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Biden tells this South Carolina audience that the idea of the South fighting for States Rights was presented as the South's cause in fighting the Civil War after the end of that war. This he said was a distortion of the truth as the Civil War was fought to end slavery in these United States once and for all, which for America was "the original sin." Biden says something like this is happening today as the truth is being distorted. Much of this history of slavery began by the seventeenth and eighteenth century in Charleston itself. It is here that Biden began his successful campaign for president in 2020 and was the inspiration for his effort.

 

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Levelling up is proving to be a false promise of the Conservatives. Where the money is coming from and how much and where it is going answers the question in America for Biden. Fair taxation is key, a strong economy is key for Biden. Fair taxation supports trillions in public investment that in turn generate private investment. In the second quarter of 2023 business investment was up 56% in Biden America, about $1 trillion with more in the pipeline.  The Conservatives fail on both and have no plan for step by step action that fits needs and opportunities in the economy as Biden has. Getting equal share of the fruits of labour to all Britons is never going to happen under trickle down economics of the Trump or Tory kind. That much is clear as daylight.

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Meg Gentle, who helped build the first LNG terminal for Cherniere Inc. in the Gulf Coast of the US for export of natural gas extracted in the US, is now switching to work in green hydrogen production. The first facility goes up in Texas by 202 7after an experimental project in Chile. WSJ shows many former fossil fuel executives are taking this route to green hydrogen. Gentle says the nascent green hydrogen industry is similar to the beginnings of natural gas. She says there are all the same elements in both. And that the new companies can go from one plant to create a new transformation just like that done for LNG. A chief technology officer of Airbus, a head of GE Europe and China, and an Italian from Eni Enel are also working at green hydrogen companies. What has turned an historically uneconomic business into a possibly profitable business are subsidies from president Biden put in place for clean energy. These subsidies now cover 60% of the cost of green hydrogen, says the WSJ. Green hydrogen requires permiting, infrastructure, financing, customer agreements, similar to the fossil fuel industry. Many are joining for the challenge as green hydrogen when converted into a liquid for transport can't carry as much energy as fossil fuels. About 120 startups raised $2.6 billion in 2022, a 50% jump from 2021. The GE executive says no one has done this on scale making the opportunity enormous. ...

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Twenty Democrat Governors meet with Biden on July 3, 2024. All says they support Biden. Governor Newsom put it this way- "I heard three words from the president tonight. He's all in. So am I." Newson said he was not just a defendor of the president, he was a passionate supporter of Biden. Most say those who can hear understand that his achievements are undeniable. Governor Whitmer said "He is in to win it. And I support him." Kamala Harris said "We will not back down. We will follow our president's lead." Governors from Minnesota and Maryland said "He had our backs during Covid. We have his back." The problem it appears upon closer look is that the media did nothing, nothing to question where it should ask questions about what is not in character with Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, Truman, Ike, not in character with the founders Jefferson, Adams and Washington. It did not look closely at what president actually said- only the delivery which can depend on the day- an educated media would never do this. The media's credibility today is the lowest it has ever been, on this basis the media including the largest television stations and the newspapers have failed, and failed the Nation. In the UK the media supported Brexit and failed the British nation, this is how the British people feel today as they go to vote in the general election on July 4th. It is the reckless behavior of the unelected media that is put to the real test in 2024. ...

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Texas under new state law S.B. 4 can  impose criminal penalties of upto 6 months in jail on non citizens who illegally enter Texas from Mexico. It allows state judges to order deportations to Mexico- without Mexico's consent- and allows local law enforcement to carry out the orders. The US Supreme Court upheld the US Court of Appeals 5th Circuit decision that says the law S.B. 4 passed in Texas can be enforced temporarily till it is submitted to the Court for final decision. Both Biden and Trump have visited the Texas border with Mexico. This was after Biden and Schumer passed a immigration bill 70- 30 in the Senate which Jim Lankford  Republican of Oklahoma had negotiated with Democrats. Biden said he would sign it to close the border- it would also change parole and asylum law to stop large illegal migration entirely. The former president intervened to stop passage in the House to keep the issue alive for 2024.

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Joe Biden, US president says the US will have 300 million vaccine doses by the end of July. 200 million more vaccine doses, with 100 million from Pfizer and 100 million from Moderna are part of new finalized purchases by the Biden government in February 2021. Biden says vaccine supplies were in much worse shape than he thought after the last 2 months of the Trump administration led to distractions that affected handling of the pandemic. 

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Gerald Seib of the WSJ says president Biden is coming back with new actions to revive the Democratic agenda after a challenging period in the first year. Yesterday's first formal press conference of 2022 gave Biden an opportunity to respond. Why the WSJ, NYT, did not cover on their online edition front pages president Biden's first formal press conference on Jan. 19, after 1 year of the Biden administration, will remain a mystery. With the American press acting this way it did not take much for Germany's DW.com to run the story with the title "Biden's first year weighed down by disappointment," with a thoughtful Biden at the press conference replaced by a picture of Biden staring downwards.  This is only the first year of the Biden administration. Actions are planned to ease the supply chain situation and bottlenecks at ports. Much is made of inflation, Afghanistan, Ukraine, by Republicans assailing the Biden record. President Biden responded to this by asking at the press conference what Republicans are for. On Afghanistan Biden held firm on not investing billions of dollars every week when there is so much need in America and the rest of the world at this time of the pandemic after a failed adventure for 20 years in "a graveyard for empires."  Biden pointed to the bright spots in 2022- vaccination and testing achievements in the face of anti-vax sentiment with 200 million vaccinated, the job creation in the economy with unemployment way down and wage increases by employers, and the $1 trillion in infrastructure spending tackling much needed projects state by state with immediate impact. Rarely has a president faced so many challenges in the first year as Biden pointed out- vaccination drive in the face of the Delta variant and anti-vax sentiment, the Ukraine crisis with a president Truman period like event of the Berlin Wall coming up just potentially around the corner, and efforts to tackle problems left untackled for a generation in infrastructure, for working families and climate change. Scoring on infrastructure spending, one of the three, with the other two for working families and climate change to be tackled in the remaining three years and beyond.  Biden also told the American audience at the press conference that he was reminded of what his father used to tell him- that if all goals are equally important, nothing is important. In saying this he said help for working families through child tax credit, child care assistance, community college education funding, health care costs, climate change investment were priorities for his administration that would be tackled step by step. And he pointed out from the outset of the conference that only one or two senators were blocking the party's plan for children and working families. All 48 other senators were united in the Democratic party behind his plans for workers and families. As were 5 Republican senators who he said he would not disclose because of confidentiality. In that sense president Biden already has the majority he needs in Congress. This is not happening because of the peculiar situation of the 2016 and 2020 elections in the US and also in Europe- the historical problem of administrations of Democrats in US, Social Democrats in Germany, and Labor in Britain having give up on their working class families and middle class roots. Tech revolution and internet has further complicated the situation with economic changes, tech companies not paying taxes normally due, and tech workers shifting to Democrats yet living in a world distant from working class families fracturing social cohesion. This is changing in Germany with Scholz in Germany with the help of the Greens determined to restore the dignity of working class families, for Biden with a similar coalition, and a process underway in Britain as Labor returns to its roots. In essence Biden was saying- the process of unwinding decades of unwise policy that hurt America as a nation and leader of the free world would take time, requiring a patient step by step approach. To bring America closer to its own roots and Jefferson's immortal words of "all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Jefferson went on to say in the Declaration that when government becomes destructive of these ends it is the Right of the People to alter it.   ...

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This WSJ editorial sees president Biden's speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia as intended to give the Democrats the advantage in the midterm elections for Congress. It says Vice President Pence and other Republicans opposed Mr. Trump when he claimed he had won the election. Seen from outside the US in Europe, and Asia, other parts of the world there was a real sense that democracy was facing a critical time in the US. Mr. Biden's speech about the struggle for the soul of America is very real considering that the Republican party is today for the most part pro-Trump and lessons learned from the traumatic experience of 2020 are sometimes set aside. There were real issues with the future of democracy during the transfer of power to Mr. Biden in 2020, and the future of America's leadership in the world as the place where the Declaration of Independence inspires the whole world for 200 years, which cannot be ignored and will always be remembered, as much in America as in the world to which offers hope and acts as a beacon. ...

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At a time in Jan. 2022 when 73% of Americans have received two dose vaccines and 39% have a booster shot according to the CDC, the US Supreme Court is deliberating on the Biden vaccine mandate that seeks to get the rest of the people vaccinated.

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In Biden's address at the UN General Assembly he talks about climate change and Covid-19, and a foreign policy that brings together US and its allies in Europe and Asia. He said "the next decade will quite literally determine our futures."  He encouraged "competition" but he stressed he was "not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocks." Biden also said the US would spend $10 billion to end hunger and invest in food systems around the world.

Biden also increased US commitment for developing countries to reduce emissions to total $11 billion by 2024- in a recent interview Indian finance minister Sitharaman says India has done its work for COP21 emissions entirely without US or other funds.

In a few days Biden will hold a Covid summit where he will call for vaccinating 70% of the world's population. 

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Biden and Xi meet at an estate outside of San Francisco in the most important meeting of 2023.  Biden says his government would continue "to preserve and pursue" high level diplomacy after the two leaders talks. President Xi said about this period of global transformations that are taking place in this century that it was important that the two countries act in a way that "benefits the two peoples and fulfills their responsibilities for human progress." The two leaders came to an agreement on fentanyl, and on AI, and setting up high level communications including direct conversation between Biden and Xi Jinping. Coming during the conflict in the Middle East and in Eastern Europe this is a really important accomplishment of Biden and Xi for the people of the two countries, setting aside differences and looking for shared interests.

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William Burns is president Biden's CIA chief. He has spent 33 years in the State Department and this experience is being used by the Biden administration as Burns is sent on key missions to the Middle East. He was in touch with Putin before the invasion of Ukraine. He made 16 overseas trips since taking up the job in March 2021 with missions to Kabul to talk to Taliban and to UAE to meet leaders. He is seen here in this WSJ report as someone who can take up making conversations with people Mr. Biden isn't ready to talk to or preparing the way for future conversations as in the Middle East. Mr. Pompeo took that role under Mr. Trump.

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US president DJT on the craziness of UK, China, Japan, India getting their oil and gas from Hormuz Straits after frequent disruptions over 40 years. And expecting US to keep lanes open, expecting the US to do this alone when US is self sufficient and exports oil and gas in 2026. UK, China, Japan and India does not want a wider war, US also does not want a wider war, and has asked these countries to stop shopping for the best price and find alternative sources of oil and gas for many years. China and Japan get 90% of their oil from the Hormuz Straits region- the US president is asking does that even make sense? Are they doing this because it is cheaper, ignoring the other costs, and the hidden costs of unreliable supplies to the poorest countries paying $125-150 a barrel? Germany has set a better example for these countries to follow getting only 6% of its oil and gas from the Hormuz Straits and being far ahead in renewable energy. China and Japan, South Korea are oblivious of all that has happened, the disruptions in supplies of the last 40 years, and have made no serious effort to find alternative sources and supplies. Whatever happens in coming weeks Mr President DJT has a point. Even more so as the MAGA base has insisted on a focus on domestic policy and problems, the Biden base also had the same desire to focus on domestic policy and problems. Nothing should divert from this focus, particularly the needs of countries that have not made changes in energy policy and logistics they should have a long time back. ...

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John Fetterman Democrat of Pennsylvania has maintained a friendship with Katie Britt, Republican freshman from Alabama, and even turned up in Congress to show Britt's son around the House and Senate buildings. It shows how some senators in the US Congress are taking stances independent of their parties different factions and staying true to their authentic selves about what they see as right. For example Fetterman and Britt are introducing legislation requiring children to be 13 years of age to use social media platforms. Texas Senator Cornyn and other Republicans are at ease talking to John Fetterman. It is the kind of bipartisanship that is emerging in 2024 in the US. Fetterman says he is behind president Biden and is campaigning in 7 states calling Biden "a decent, good guy," and a tough guy.

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The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare gave families of 4 with incomes of less than 125,000 or single income less than $60,000 a chance to buy insurance with federal subsidies. When these subsidies were increased under the IRA Act of president Biden the enrolment has doubled in the last 5 years to $24 million. These subsidies expire in 2025. Under the One Big Beautiful Act the policy of subsidies for ACA is not being renewed when it expires in 2025. This shows the band aid approach of Obama to healthcare and the lack of a comprehensive approach. The policy on migrants during the Obama and Biden administration also stretched public funding resources. Insurance companies now plant to make up for the los of subsidies from the government by raising prices for this subpopulation in a broken healthcare system in the US by 15-20%. This report in WSJ shows a young woman on ACA insurance in Illinois with a payment of $590 a month to Blue Cross of Illinois facing a new payment of $678, almost the size of a mortgage. ...

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One estimate fof US economic growth is for 4.6% growth in the third quarter for the US. The US economy is doing much better than expected, much better than either Germany or China in 2023, with the investment in infrastructure and renewable energy of the Biden administration.

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Biden's 2024 Budget shows the contrast with the Republican candidate's policies. It is largely based on adding to investment in the economy, and in the nation's workers and families, and yet reducing the $34 trillion deficit by making corporations pay their fair share of taxes. And not increasing taxes one penny on anyone making less than $400,000 a year. It also includes investment to increase the Medicare hospital insurance trust fund to strengthen Medicare and Social Security for future generations.

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Nikki Haley lost the New Hampshire primary yet made strong inroads among Independent voters. The adjoining analysis in WSJ shows how Independent voters are an important factor for 2024, and could affect the outcome in a changed landscape. President Biden looks to restore the kind of voter support that propelled FDR and Harry Truman, John Kennedy right up to the 1960's. In that landscape the Clinton Obama years fade in significance as workers in manufacturing once again form the core base of the Democratic party.

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With a win in the Kingswood byelection, a Tory stronghold, Britain's Labor party is now seeing a real shift of voter sentiment for a large majority in parliament in the coming general election. Britain entered a recession in Feb 2024 and the Conservatives have no solutions for the economy after many years in power, and 4 prime ministers in a constant change of leadership. Britain also lacks the resources that make it possible to have the kind of investment and scale of investment in the US that president Biden has launched.

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The US oil embargo in 2022 is not a big decision for president Biden. The US only imports 3% of its oil and 1% of its coal from combatant nations in Europe's east. 70% of the oil from that region cannot find buyers because of sanctions risk says the WSJ. This WSJ view from the Editorial Board says Biden's policy of not boosting US fossil fuels production is contrary to what makes sense in the current situation of high oil prices. Seen from the point of view of US commitments at COP26 Glasgow and global warming effects on the planet, president Biden's commitment to boost renewable energy and use this as an opportunity to make the US less dependent on fossil fuels presents an alternate perspective. One that is needed looking beyond the situation that is faced in 2022.