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South Korean public opinion shows 80% of the public opposed to the release of slightly radioactive Fukushima water into the sea by Japan. Japanese public opinion is accepting this as unavoidable. This is weakening the position of South Korean president Yoon in coming elections. Yoon is a prosecutor who joined politics only a few years back and has seen his popularity drop by 7 percentage points to 35%. Yoon is known for his effort to bring South Korea and Japan closer together with the US in dealing with North Korea and China. Biden met with Kishida and Yoon at the White House only recently, and Yoon made a state visit to the US before India's Modi. Because Yoon is an outsider to politics he has been able to get South Koreans to accept the idea of settling past disputes with Japan tracing back to the colonial era and World War II, yet the Fukushima water release is opposed by the vast majority of South Koreans.

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With China's economy slowing, fewer jobs for college graduates in the cities, what is president Xi- who is visiting San Francisco this week- doing to tackle this problem? Even in Guangdong province with cities like Shenzen, it is very, very, very rural says Brian Spegele in this WSJ discussion. He talks about widespreard rural poverty. From his own experience spending time in the countryside in the impressionable years Xi has put this task to revitalize the rural areas to young people. In Guangdong alone about 300,000 youngsters will be given the opportunity to improve their credentials for future government work by going to the rural areas to bring talent that was drained from the 20 years of free market hypergrowth and urbanization. China is about 40% rural in 2023 and these regions have suffered badly, and Xi's efforts to revitalize come at a time after the pandemic when it makes little sense to continue urbanization as the only solution to problems. ...

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Trump asked him to put him above the Constitution of the United States of America. He refused, making clear his overriding commitment to the Constitution of the United States, says former vice president Mike Pence. More clearly one sees a different understanding and grasp of the meaning of the Constitution of the US by the two individuals. This is what is at stake in what Peter Baker in the NYT calls an issue that will decide the future of America as a strong democracy. Deeper still are the questions of education and culture that this has raised that will not go away even then. How do you build a democracy when as a people, as a political class, or as groups of people one is not jolted by the fact that two thirds of American fourth graders fail the reading comprehension test, an indication of the deep lack of knowledge of the basic history, geography and political structure of the Untied States of America across broad sections of the people.

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Women voters made up 53% of the voters in the 2012 election. The 2016 U.S. presidential election in unique because of the first women candidate for president with advantage in the women's vote. Also unique is the split between the college educated and the non college educated voter, something that has into happened in an election in this way for a long time. A pro business party such as Republicans finds itself with a significant part of the non college educated vote.  Another difference is the huge turnout of Hispanic voters, and questions raised about how their loyalty may have shifted for decades with Republican positions on immigration and deportation. The demographics have also shifted with college educated voters in suburbs of southern states such as Georgia, Colorado and North Carolina. States that once dominated the national election such as Ohio with a larger number of non college educated voters are now not as significant as in the past. As a result the picture is changing in the electoral map. ...

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The New Popular Front in France is a group of socialist partties that include the Socialist Party of former president Mitterand, the France Unbowed of Jean Melenchon, other left parties, and the Greens. NFP has put out its economic plan for France, RN National Rally has not. NFP puts out the details that can make it possible to raise the minimum wage in France to euros 1600 a month. And to invest in France's aging infrastructure the way Biden is doing in the US. About $100-$150 billion needed for the economic plan would come from contributions and taxes of the wealthiest similar to Biden's plan in the US. It also rejects the so called neo liberal thinking and culture that has become entrenched in France, in Europe and in the US where infrastructure is failing, public services are failing yet the wealthiest are not paying their fair share in taxes so that the countries of Europe and America can be rebuilt and renewed, to provide a better life for all.

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In this economy there is wide divergence in the US for upper income people earning well on assets they own at 5%+ for extra income and the lower middle classes wage earners that are struggling even with low unemployment and inflation at 3%. WSJ looks at these two divergent parts of the US economy and what can be done. Inflation could be worse with higher Trump tariffs on imports, says WSJ. The situation is a difficult one for families struggling even with higher incomes, as this one in Michigan in the WSJ, that finds it necessary to take money out of savings with prices higher but not reflected in inflation statistics of 3%. One example is higher housing and apartment rental costs with 25% of families having to spend over 50% of their income on home rental leaving little for food and expenses. President Biden has called for limiting price increases on home and apartment rentals to 5%, and Harris has proposed aid for families spending more than 30% of household income on housing costs. Strong action is needed. ...

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"It's an immense pleaure, a dream come true, a lot of emotions" says Mbappe of his joining Real Madrid on July 1, 2024 after 7 years at PSG. Kylian Mbappe will captain the French team at Euro 24. He was the all time lead scorer for PSG with 256 goals, scored 44 goals in 48  games this season winning the French League- yet after faltering in the Champions League games with Dortmund he was not satisfied with his performance. It shows the constant stress players and coaches in soccer face. After differences with PSG president Nasser Al-Khalaifi when he did not agree to a 1 year extension he transfers to Real Madrid. He says some people made him feel unhappy and someone who is happy has more chances of playing well. Mbappe posted on X in February that he would not play another season at PSG, the club left him out of a preseason tour of Japan.

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This comes as both president Biden and Republicans under Trump are increasingly wary about the lack of oversight and inability to limit the monopolistic behaviour of tech firms. The investigation of Joshua Wright who defended Facebook, Google and Amazon. After learning about the investigations Amazon acted immediately. Google and Facebook waited before finally acting says this report in WSJ. Joshua Wright, a George Mason University law professor was appointed to the FTC where he had other commissioners dilute the powers of the FTC so that it would benefit Google, Facebook and Amazon from weaker oversight by the FTC. During this period the three companies acquired immense power with monopoly behavior and lack of the necessary oversight from Congress or the FTC. Related to this is the story in this WSJ report of the relations of a GMU law professor with his female students that led to GMU and the tech companies distancing themselves from Joshua Wright as each new story emerged.  ...

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The CDU has the nost popularity at 34% yet Merz himself. a private equity executive with Black Rock Germany, is not personally popular with the German public. His popularity is at about 25%. Boris Pistorius, the Defene Minister in the Scholz SPD and Greens government is the most popular politician in Germany today. Elections are only 4 months away in February 2025, a short time but also a long time with all the changes going on today. In the past CDU and SPD have worked together. Past CDU approaches may not work as Germany badly needs to invest in its economy as the US has done under president Biden. The experience of Britain shows that simply making deals and counting on free trade deals doesn't work, and cuts to public services to budgets including on basic services including water and transportation, climate, do not work either. Are their good leaders and policies that fit the times is a question that will be persistent for many nations.

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Potential Treasury nominee Kevin Warsh is given the possible role at Treasury plus appointment as Fed chairman after 2026 when Jerome Powell retires. At 35 years Kevin Warsh was the youngest governor of the Federal Reserve, America's central bank, appointed in 2006 by George Bush. At the time his appointment was criticized for lack of experience- Warsh comes from upstate New York and went to school at Shaker School in Latham, then Stanford, in economics and a JD at Harvard, followed by 7 years at Morgan Stanley. He was executive secretary of the National Economic Council in 2002. During the bank financial crisis of 2009 the lack of macro regulation led to failure of investment banks. Warsh was able top save Morgan Stanley and he acted as an avenue of information from banks to the Fed.

Warsh left the Fed in 2011 and returned to public service in 2016 when Trump made his first run for president as an adviser to DJT. 

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Linda McMahon was head of the Small Business Administration during the DJT first term. The president of the American Council of Education says she is a good pick as she has experience in workplace education programs. She aims to encourage apprenticeship training modeled on countries like Switzerland. More money will be funneled to appreniceship training, technical education, as a separate pathway from 4 year college degree to help the middle class. Linda McMahon says- “Our educational system must offer clear and viable pathways to the American Dream aside from four-year degrees.” Linda McMahon is chair of the America First Policy Institute which supports technical education. It also supports more transparency with parents knowing about their child's education in school, and teaching American history in a positive patriotic way. She is a graduate with degree in French from East Carolina State University and ran for the US Senate from Connecticut. She and her husband ran a small business Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment. ...

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Wages are now consistently up more than inflationary pressures since mid 2023 to July 2024 by about 0.6 to 1.0% in Labor Department graphs about cost of living. This is good news for the US economy. It shows the policy of president Biden investing in rebuilding infrastructure and Science/Chips, and renewable energy is delivering for the American people alongside cost of living actions by the Fed's Powell and Biden. For the first time since 2021US CPI index for inflation from the Labor Department drops below 3%. It drops to 2.9% for July 2024. The Consumer Price Index increasing by 2.9% over the same month in the prior year 2023. This shows a definite trend for the cost of living to moderate after the supply chain events that increased inflation leading to lagging efforts for wages to catch up- cost of living issues for ordinary Americans. The costs of medical care and automobiles, automobile repair, food, all moderating. Housing costs still to moderate with higher interest rates.  ...

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Kamala Harris is a lifelong learner, this is how she has overcome different situations that were not favorable to her running for District Attorney, running for Attorney General, and running for president against Biden, then after being chosen VP nominee and VP elect navigating the last 4 years. Each time the effort to learn and always with a sense of belief that one associates with some of the Olympic athletes in cycling and rowing in the recent Paris event. BBC News looks at different events in her career and how there were doubts about her, she was put in unwinnable situations,  yet she continued her work resolutely with determination, keeping her values she gained from her mother and grandfather and learning from each situation to be better. So that when the time came after the first Biden Trump debate one long time Democratic supporter told her "Put on your seatbelt," to which she replied "I was born with a seatbelt."

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Bill Clinton campaigns for Kamala Harris in small towns in rural America. Jonathan Martin of Politico talks to the former president  during his campaigning in Rocky Mount, eastern North Carolina. Bill Clinton says- “I think that what she ought to do is to pick the things that she cares the most about and she believes and go beyond what’s been done." “I still don’t think most people know the Democrats favored the immigration bill. I think if they did know it would make a difference.” Bill Clinton says work together, be inclusive, work across party lines, and with an open hand- "I think that for her, her message is she wants to be inclusive and open a new era of working together. I think it’s really important because I think people are basically sick of all this paralyzing bad-mouthing.” ...

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Presenting the ReARM package in Brussels the European Union president Von der Leyen says- “This is a moment for Europe and we are ready to step up.” The proposals Leyen said “could mobilise close to €800bn of defence expenditures for a safe and resilient Europe." About $650 billion comes from increasing the European spending on defense by 1.5% of GDP from numbers below 2% that reflected underspending on defense. The EU will loosen strict deficit rules. The CDU coalition government in Germany with SPD under Merz that is being setup will remove the debt brake in the German Constitution that limits defense spending to 1%.  Another $150 billion in loans can be generated from joint EU borrowing that could be given to countries. That will Leyen says- “It will help member states to pool demand and to buy together. This will reduce costs, reduce fragmentation, increase interoperability and strengthen our defence industrial base.” The European Investment Bank will participate in the lending. ...

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Iran's government drastically cut subsidies for gasoline, electricity and basic food items. Gasoline prices were raised from 1,000 rials (about 10 cents) per liter to 4,000 rials. As a result gasoline consumption is down 14% in early January from the prior month. Use of public transport is up 20%. Fares for Tehran's buses and subway went up by 20%, far less than the price increase for gasoline. The government introduced a $40 per person monthly stipend to soften the impact especially for poor families. Iranians are gradually tightening their belts and adjusting to the price increases, reducing wasteful energy use. Iranians have one of the highest rates of wasteful energy consumption in the world, according to IMF. This is because Iran has so far provided generous subsidies, covering 80% of the cost of energy and basic food items. President Ahmadinejad has introduced the Smart Subsidy Plan which calls for a gradual five year phaseout. These cuts will save $100 billion a year, according to government estimates, and is supported by the IMF. Iran is rigorously monitoring price increases in retail stores to ensure that retailers are not passing on the increases to customers. Trucking and transport businesses are allowed to raise their fees by only 15% to cover rising costs including the 837% fuel price increase....

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U.S. president Obama's chief of staff and former deputy national security advisor, Denis McDonough, meets with Peter Altmaier, Chancellor Merkel's chief of staff, and Gunter Heiss, head of Directorate-General 6 of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service in July 2014. The meeting was part of an effort to improve U.S.-German relations following the problems created by NSA spying in Germany. This meeting took place following the shooting of a Malaysian airline flight over Ukraine and the call for stronger western sanctions on Russia. U.S. president Obama sought to convey to Merkel the importance he placed on German-U.S. relations after Obama failed to make a serious effort to soothe tensions with Germany over spying revelations.

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Regulation in theE.U. is more difficult than in the US because of the differinginterests of countries, with the U.K. seeing things diffrently from the Germans and the French. Under the new Obama financial regulatory framework white paper the Fed gets increased powers for overisght over the financial system. Under the proposed system for the E.U. that emerged from the Brussels summit, June 19, 2009, the European Central Bank would setup a European Systemic Risk Council headed by the President of the ECB. But its role is only advisory. This Council would "have the power to make recommendations but not to implement policies directly." French President Sarkozy says that it will acquire powers over time through experience and practice.

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The 1953 coup that toppled the elected Mossadegh government was supported and attributed to planning by the CIA. During a cold war with the Soviet Union countries in the middle were considered expendable by either side. Added to this was the interest of big oil companies similiar to the Anglo-French response in the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. This still rankles with Iranians. In response to the election of President Obama and his offer for an open discussion the Iranian President Ahmedinejad calls for an apology for that coup and the toppling of an elected government. This led to replacing it with the Shah's monarchy which was overthrown in 1979 after 26 years.

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Ceasefire arranged by president Sarkozy of France who holds the rotating Presidency of the EU when he visited Moscow and met Medvedev the Russian President. It lets Russia keep a bigger peacekeeping force in Georgia than before and preserves the internationally recognized borders and so the sovereignty of Georgia yet not the territorial integrity of Georgia, as it lets Russia continue to issue Russian passports to residents of Abhakazia and South Ossetia the two breakaway regions. The opposition in Georgia says it will question the Georgian President's decision to launch an attack in South Ossetia and ending up losing the 2 breakaway parts of Georgia and will ask him to resign after things settle down.

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Clean Energy and Manufacturing investments under Biden Inflation Reduction Act in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kansas, and other Republican states are leading to the Senate Republicans taking a position favoring keeping such investments in the DJT 3B Tax Cuts Bill. Republican states getting bulk of clean energy investments from Biden's IRA Act are working to keep the jobs and factories being built in their states. About $130 billion of $271 billion to 2032 has already been given out, the Senate 3B Tax Cuts Bill wants to keep these tax credits for renewables till 2027. North Carolina is an example which has $21 billion in such clean energy and manufacturing investments since 2022 when the Inflation Reduction Act of president Biden was passed. The IRA Act gave states $271 billion for such investments over a decade. Senator Thom Tillis is leading the Republican Senators group that wants to keep these projects that bring jobs to North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia as the biggest recipients.This means the Senate bill sent back to the House will try to come up with a moderate position on Clean Energy and Manufacturing investments that bring jobs to Republican states. ...

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DJT's 32% reciprocal tariff on Taiwanese goods including chips is working. When reports under president Biden showed TSMC investing in Arizona it was still a slow process with much foot dragging including articles by TSMC executives about how difficult it was to make in US. Lyrarc commented specifically on this as TSMC founders got their education and training in the US and it sounded a bit too condescending. Now that the Trump administration has its tariffs in place this WSJ report says the factory in Arizona is advancing production by several quarters, and it has started production late in 2024 with quality comparable to TSMC plants in Taiwan. How quickly DJT's approach with tariffs to level playing field and letting Taiwan know it owes defense and its education in semiconductors to the US is working, is shown by this example like others. And the $65 billion investment is now up to $165 billion in the US that TSMC is planning. The extra $100 billion is a commitment made to DJT. TSMC revenue growth is higher now at 30% than 20% it had previously with AI and robotic demand in 2025 so that it needs to make more chips quickly. ...

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The SPD's Peter Steinbruck's criticism of Merkel's handling of the eurozone crisis. Speaking to the Bundestag Steinbruck said Merkel had wasted time and billions of dollars of taxpayers before committing to keep Greece in the eruozone. "You should have held this speech three years ago... Never has Germany been so isolated in Europe as it is today." He said Merkel was not being honest with Germans that to be part of Europe Germany had to take on some of the cost and that it was worth it. Instead she was riding the wave of negative opinion for the eurozone and at the same time trying to keep up Germany's influence in Brussels, creating a perception of a new kind of German "industrial imperialism." This comes as France's president Hollande expressed serious dissatisfaction with Merkel's handling of the eurozone crisis in an interview with reporters of 5 European newspapers in October 2012.