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The Editorial Board of The Financial Times (UK-Japan) says Germany needs leadership to fix problems, not just manage crises. The Merkel years were marked with Angela Merkel fixing the euro crisis- itself a legacy of missteps under her mentor chancellor Kohl who pushed too fast for entry into eurozone of countries such as Greece without meeting requirements. As Annalena Baerbock points out the actions taken by Merkel are still being questioned such as the austerity policies. Baerbock says in a rare interview- "The major lesson from the eurocrisis is that austerity can end up suffocating an economy, which is why fiscal reform was needed. Germany and Europe needs to become the engine room for innovation again." A fuller and more objective reassessment of Merkel policies by the German people is likely to happen after the elections. Merkel only moved away from austerity policies after the pandemic, committing to European solidarity and sharing the burden of aiding the economies of southern Europe in 2020. This happened at the end of her administration following 10 years of austerity, a period in which Germany invested little in her infrastructure or modernization. Much of the goodwill for democratic practice and forms of government among German people generated by Adenauer and Wily Brandt in the early postwar years was wasted with her migration policies which were also reversed by 2019, as Mr. Biden is doing in 2021 in the US. The potential for good with new direction of a combined Biden administration in the US and a Scholz-Baerbock  administration in Germany and Europe is immense and sorely needed. ...

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Corruption is not a necessary factor for a market economy, it is one of its ills that if left uncontrolled or unregulated risks the downfall of the entire market system with loss of confidence among the people in a market system. This BBC report shows the staggering sum of $44 billion taken out of Saigon Commercial Bank. The report says 93% of loans  given by the bank went to Truong My Lan who set up the bank by merging 3 smaller banks, and shows the brazenness and the scale of the corruption. My Lan started with a market stall during Vietnam's shift to a state driven market economy in 1986 like China, and gradually acquired hotels and other property. Nguyen Phu Trong is the General Secretary of the Communist Party since 2011 and president 2018-2021. The risks to the Communist Party of such corruption have become evident and Nguyen Phu Trong as leader of the Communist Party in Vietnam started his campaign against corruption in 2016 after pro business prime ministers of the past had led to Saigon's economy being left unregulated after 1986 in then Doi Moi reforms. It is Vietnam- and China's- lack of familiarity or experience with the market system that has led to tolerance of outright corruption in the past. In no way does a market system need any corruption of any sort to function that damages the credibility of the system with the people. As it is insidious and can affect the whole economy it requires vigilance, oversight and regulatory checks. ...

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Emma Tucker describes the elation in the News Desk and for reporters of the WSJ on August 1, 2024  following the release of a young reporter Evan Gershkovich held by Russia for coverage in sensitive Russian regions. Emma Tucker said-    "We are grateful to President Biden and his administration for working with persistence and determination to bring Evan home rather than see him shipped off to a Russian work camp for a crime he didn’t commit. We are also grateful to the other governments that helped bring an end to Evan’s nightmare, in particular the German government that played such a critical role." Who is Emma Tucker and why does it matter?-   It matters because of monopolistic/oligopolistic hold over communication of news in the public space that belongs to public service since Lincoln, TR, FDR, Kennedy in the US, and it's shaping of public perceptions such as no action needed on climate change fires/floods, or on infrastructure investment in a dilapidated US. Emma Tucker studied in Sussex and in New Mexico before studying philosophy, economics and politics at Oxford. She becomes a graduate trainee at the Financial Times  in 1990 continuing for 30 years right into Covid years (FT now owned by employee owned Nikkei since 2015 acquired from Pearson for $1.32 billion). In 2022 she was selected to run Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal acquired by him for $5 billion- including $2.25 billion premium- from the Bancroft family that owned it and Dow Jones since 1928.   ...

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Astrid Prange says the movement started by Luther against paying for penalties for sins being paid for by indulgences, and seeing faith as a gift from God, helped the renewal of the church and Christianity. It came at the time of the printing press, touching a chord with people in Germany. Luther was not a revolutionary, as he was conservative and principled, his goal being to go back to the Christian church's origins. Prange says that in this he is typically German. On October 31, 2016, Pope Francis joins Protestants in Lund, Sweden, for the Lutheran World Federation's celebration of 500 years since the Reformation. Luther would have welcomed this, considering what Pope Francis brings to the Catholic world with tolerance, spiritual renewal and reviving the original teachings of the Christian church.

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Ukraine leader Zelensky is expected to be in Washington to meet president Biden and to address the US Congress on December 21, 2022. A bill in Congress includes $44 billion for aid to Ukraine.

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US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal relaunch the US India Trade Forum for a winning partnership as Tai visits New Delhi in November 2021. 

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Coronavirus cases reach a daily high of 53,000 in the UK, December 28, 2020. London has twice the rate as England. There are calls for a nationwide lockdown as the NHS faces a crisis.

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The new Indian parliament building in New Delhi where the flag is hoisted in 2023 marks a remarkable journey since the first parliament met Aug. 15, 1947- a 75 year journey for India.

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The world is truly changing again. Japan which suffered from deflation after it went through decades of rapid growth is once more reviving and has its first experience with inflation in decades in 2023.

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JN.1 is the latest mutation of the Omicron virus. it is spreading in France and other countries. The NYT looks at this new variant and the threat it poses in November 2023.

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Starting in 2023 the penalty on missed RMD drops to 25% from 50%, and down to 10% if corrected in 2 years. The statute of limitations for missed RMD's is three years.

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About 21% of Independent voters are less likely to vote for the former president Trump after the conviction of the former president in New York trial in a Ipsos survey in June 2024.

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India's new bankruptcy law is a big step forward in letting credit markets function normally and drawing in new capital. The new law says the bankruptcy should be completed in 180 days after a default. Indian banks hold about $105 billion in non-performing or bad loans, according to the Reserve Bank of India. It is essential that India cope with the bad debt to attract new capital investment and increase growth. Asset reconstruction company being formed by Ambit and J.C. Flowers & Company was approved in late 2016 by the Reserve Bank of India, India's central bank. So far Indian banks have showed unwillingness to take a loss on the loans and take a big discount. Only $3 billion in asset reconstruction has taken place in 2016 through selling bad loans, according to Credit Suisse. Indian industry has relied heavily on bank loans and sale of stock for capital investment as the corporate bond market is undeveloped. This is about to change to finance growth, with the bankruptcy law and transparency as a first step. Larger foreign firms are teaming up with local partners to tackle distressed debt and bad loans, with locals knowledge of risks making it easier to profit from capital invested. ICICI bank won the first ruling of the new bankruptcy law by the National Company Law Tribunal against Innoventive to recover assets, providing the first test of the law. In the past such action would drag on for years, showing India is now serious about getting rid of bad loans in the banking system, and to revitalize credit markets to finance new growth. ...

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2023 is the year when electric cars will finally be made competitive with gasoline cars with the help of government incentives, competition, and lower raw material prices. This trend will continue. Battery powered GM vehicles will cost $30,000 this fall. The Inflation Reduction Act provides government tax credits of $7500 for electric car buyers.

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World leaders at COP26 in Glasgow 2021 agree to pledge that they will end deforestation by 2030. This includes countries with large forest areas such as Russia, Brazil and Indonesia, and countries in Africa. Forests act like a carbon sink absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. About one third of global emissions are absorbed in this way.

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Indianapolis and Terre Haute in Indiana, Columbus in Georgia, Whitesburg in Kentucky and Hutchinson near Wichita, Kansas are smaller cities in areas that suffered a drain of people in the past. They are cities that offer $5000 to $7000 in 2025 to remote workers to attract them to move back to the midwest and central states.

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China State Shipbuilding and China Shipbuilding Industry merge in $16 billion merger August 2025. The companies were split up in 1999. In an effort to create scale the companies are being merged. This company is building China's first aircraft carrrier the Shandong. China's main port is at Quingdao in the northeast.

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Cummins raises questions about the Australian team. Lyons failed to get a wicket in 34 overs against South Africa 2025. Is the Lyons, Hazlewood, Cummins, Starc bowling with few new additions not enough for the games ahead? Markram's 136 against Australia showed the need for changes in Australia's lineup.

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Simon Tisdall says in The Guardian that Macron's style of bold, haughty and hyper may not work in the 2022 election. En Marche was a movement hastily put together by Macron as a minister in the government of French Socialist party's Hollande, months before the last presidential election. It has failed to live up to its goal of renewal in France. The first round of the French election is on April 10, 2022.

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Sri Lanka's foreign exchange reserves drop from over $7.5 billion in 2019 to about $2.8 billion in July 2021. The tourism industry on which Sri Lanka depends for foreign exchange and which supports the economy has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Sri Lanka rupee has depreciated by 8% in 2021 and the country struggles to maintain food imports with declining dollar reserves. Sri Lankan government declared an economic emergency last week with rising food prices.

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The German lower and upper houses of parliament, the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, passed legislation to end the use of coal by 2038. The phase out has two parts one is the legal avenue for reduction in emissions, the other is the regional economies of affected states. The government will provide 40 billion euros for restructuring economies, including reskilling workers and providing new infrastructure, for the effort. coal operators will also receive compensation if they announce plans for closure of coal plants by 2026.

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Hou You-Yi of the KMT and Tai Ching-Te of the DPP are candidates for the Taiwan elections in 2024. The Guardian looks at their differing positions in relation to China and the US.

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45 cities in China which represent 40% of China's economic output are now in full or partial lockdowns in the second week of April 2022, according to one tally, says the WSJ.

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A second election technology company Smartmatic has a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News Network. It says FNN falsely implicated the company in a bogus narrative about vote rigging in the 2020 presidential election.

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China's rare offer for disarmament or first use restraint talks with the US as both sides increase their military nuclear missile arsenals in 2024 and increase military spending. How should the US respond?