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China is exceptional in the speed with which it is moving on infrastructure projects. And this bodes well for American exporters like Caterpillar which is seein g big jump in excavator sales, and for China which may see thre fourths of the 6.5% increase in GDP in 2009 coming from infrastructure building. Fortunately there is still a need for alot of infrastructure development in China. Typical is the approval and start of work on the $930 million Xiangshan Island Bridge which will extend over the East China Sea and through mountain tunnels. Caterpillar CEO James Owen says of approval and start of construction as fast, "its something like nine months in the USA versus 9 weeks " in China. China has agood pipeline of projects and alot of planning work has been done for many years. For Xiangshan Island Bridge this goes back to1994. Liu Cijun completed a PhD dissertation in 1999 on bridge wind resistance, and the Ningbo native is now Chief Engineer for the project. Preparatory work on the bridge goes back to 2004 and the stone cutting ceremony in 2006. In August the bridge's feasibility report won approval from aplanning agency in Beijing, and in December approval by the Ministry of Transportation. Construction started in just 11 days after the Chinese government approved the project. China's investment in infrastructure has jumped by 102% in the 1st quarter of 2009 from a year earlier, according tho the National Bureau of Statistics. By comparison Washington has distributed $69 billion of its $787 billion in stimulus fundsto states and localities, which have spent $14 billion according to the WSJ....

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One Laptop Could only bring the price down to $188. And Intel has a Classmate for $230. Microsoft offers a version of its Windows software and a small version of Office plus educational programs for $3. What this does is keep One Laptop from bringing Linux and AMD competitors of Intel and Microsoft out of the developing countries markets throughout the world. Intel and Microsoft definitely responded to the threat and countries in the developing world see the Intel Microsoft machines as definitely a winner over the One Laptop machine which is now floundering. It did help to bring about this change and in this sense Negroponte succeeded.

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Fact check looks at the facts and what candidates claimed happened. Jeb Bush is right says fact check about the casinos Trump tried to get started in Florida. Fiorina overstates what she accomplished at H-P. Kasich is largely right about fixing the finances in Ohio. Trump is wrong about the U.S. being the only country with birthright citizenship- there are 30 countries according to The Center for Immigration Studies. Trump throws the number out of $200 billion, as what it is costing the U.S. for illegal immigrants. An estimate by The Federation for American Immigration Reform put this at $113 billion a year in welfare programs. From this one has to deduct what illegal immigrants pay in payroll taxes to get a good estimate. Trump says he never went bankrupt, he means not him personally- his companies have filed for bankruptcy Chapter 11 protection. Considering how many times Trump has misstated, it would be useful if the network broadcasting the debate would have an independent company do the fact check at the same time as the misstatements are thrown around, and show this on the bottom of the screen or during the advertising breaks, because it is very important to viewers to get the right information. In our opinionated partisan environment it is important to let candidates know that they cannot get away with it by misstating facts, over and over again....

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The significance of Notre dame Cathedral for France and Europe over 1000 years is shown in this timeline in Le Monde.  The year 1163-  An ancient cathderal St Etienne Cathedral is in decline. In its place will be built Notre Dame. Maurice de Sully becomes Bishop of Paris in the reign of Louis VII in the 12th century. Sully decides to build a great cathedral in honor of the Virgin Mary. The first stone is laid inthe presence of Pope Alexander III. The year 1239- Louis the IX is the first canonized King of France, Saint Louis participated in the seventh and eighth crusade and purchased the relics of the Passion from the Latin Emperor of Constantinople. These relics are seen to be the most honored in Christendom and are installed in the Notre Dame Cathedral.The most significant is the crown of thorns which he carries into the cathedral barefoot in 1239. He build Sainte Chappelle 500 metres away in the Isle de Cite. The year 1594- The Wars of Religion tear France apart. Henry IV is caught in the midst of the Wars of Religion between Catholics and Protestants from 1562 to the Edict of Nantes in 1598 . It is at Notre Dame that the King Henry iV asserts his power against the Catholic League by attending a Te Deum. Notre Dame is again used as a symbol of recapture in 1918 and on Aug 26, 1944 with the Magnificat for Liberation. 1708- With Louis XIII comes the dedication in 1638, the Vow of King Louis XIII putting his kingdom under the protection of the Virgin Mary, and August 15 as celebration day. 1844- Viollet le Duc emerges as the builder of the renovation of the now aging structure of Notre Dame. Two million frances for restoration run out in 1851. The project resumes in 1859. 1991- It is the project of tourism and heritage as the national site of France. 2019- the second renovation of Notre Dame in Paris begins after the fire.   ...

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A survey by Bonn based infas Institute of Applied Social Science in 2017 shows Germans are not affected by 2 years of crises in the way they look at the world. Germans are still the same in their international outlook, in tolerance and openness, and liberal outlook. Chancellor Merkel even says today that she would do again what she did during the height of the refugee crisis when refugees gathered at Keleti station in Budapest and began the long march to Austria and Germany. Merkel goes into the 2017 election with the kind of confidence that did not appear likely even at the beginning of 2017. The European Union could even emerge stronger from the crisis. Britain's Conservative government appears isolated after the Brexit vote.

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As Cruz leads in Iowa and other states putting Trump in second place, Hamburger provides an exceptional look inside the Cruz campaign. Cruz's campaign manager says rules of the past no longer apply, in a changing voter environment pushing out establishment candidates and with the digital media tools now available. Data analysis and use of methods such as "psychographic targeting" to tailor appeals to voters based on what appeals to them using Facebook data on likes are being used by the Cruz campaign. Cambridge Analytica, a firm financed by hedge fund executive Robert Mercer, a Cruz supporter, has built an effective data gathering operation of potential Cruz supporters among evangelicals. This has helped the Cruz campaign recruit pastors in Iowa, and in the U.S. for the Cruz campaign. It also helps in micro efforts such as home calls made by supporters, and in "geofencing" or sending emails and messages to a particular building or physical location such as a gathering of the National Rifle Association, or Republican Jewish Coalition. A mobile app "Cruz Crew" is another aspect of the digital effort to organize efforts of supporters and volunteers....

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American journalist, John Foley, beheaded by ISIS Islamic State insurgents in Iraq following American bombings near Mosul dam and Erbil to push back the militants attack on Kurdish Northern Iraq. John Foley survived a 44 day ordeal after being captured in Libya in 2011. He went back to cover the Syrian conflict and was captured by ISIS in 2012. He is shown with a helmet covering the war in Aleppo, Syria, in November 2012. His father John Foley in Rochester, New Hampshire, says Foley was as much a humanitarian as a journalist. He graduated from the Medill School at Northwestern and saw the covering of the Middle East as bringing a voice to the powerless and the helpless in the region.

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Much of the debate in Germany today is around the topic of reunification, was it good or bad for Germany, and why there is an issue of a separate identity in the East. Most East Germans feel they live in a separate country with a separate identity. This issue has social cultural and political consequences, says the Economist.    The CDU is increasingly facing questions about how it has turned out for East Germany. It is losing votes to the AfD in Saxony, Thuringia, and other places in the east. The migration crisis in 2015-2016 created new fault lines. When the Integration minister in a government in Saxony, which includes east German city of Leipzig, talked to people in her state why Germany was helping refugees, she was told to first integrate East Germans.  East Germans do not like resources being wasted on refugees when they feel left out themselves in their own country. After reunification of Germany by chancellor Kohl in 1990 about 8500 companies in the east were privatised or liquidated leading to a loss of jobs in old industries such as mining. Many of these older people ended up in odd jobs and then on Hartz IV, skimpy unemployment benefits. At unification 1 million people moved to the west from the east, predominantly younger people and predominantly women.  Over time one fourth of the population in the east 18-30 years moved to the west, two thirds of them women. Rural areas especially hit hard, with tax revenues slumping, shops and schools closed. Some estimates are that 80% of east Germans were out of work at one point. The humiliation their parents felt is only now being discussed as children in the east talk to their parents about what happened and the hardships their parents suffered 25 years ago. Was unification done the right way is a topic for discussion today. Today the east is much older than the west. Since 1990 over 60's increased by 1.1 million even as the overall population dropped by 2.2 million. In future some districts in the east will have 4 funerals for every birth say forecasters. So what could have been done differently in 1990 so that East Germans did not end up feeling like a "colonized people" by a biased western exploitative culture that portrayed them as culturally inferior and with very little that the west could learn from. Today it is said that the government agency Treuhand that handled closure of businesses could have moved slowly. The 1:1 transfer of west german currency for east german currency was to make east german companies uncompetitive overnight, and should have mitigating plans to tackle the problems of keeping these businesses in operation to keep local jobs. A new constitution and economic plans could have been written, a transition period for such a constitution and economic plan be put in place, so that changes could be studied and plans made to reduce the negative effects.  Culturally there was something the east did better. It had a culture of social solidarity that could have provided lessons for the west.  The good aspects in the east such as respect for women and encouraging them to work outside the home, free child care, the welfare state protecting vulnerable groups, could have lessons for the west to emulate and adopt practices. This would have given easterners a sense of self-respect as in some ways the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as the country was called in the east, had aspects that the west could learn from. For this to happen west Germans need to change their views- half of them see the reunification as a success, two thirds of east Germans see it as a failure culturally, and socially, and wrought with the economic impact of sudden shift in population and business, and loss of most productive young people to the west. ...

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As deflation takes hold in China, the lessons of US relations with China that were handled by business to maximize profits that caused climate change and destroyed the environment, and caused deindustrialization in the US show the need for a wiser approach on both sides. Consumer prices in China declined 0.8 of percentage point in January over previous year. People in Hong Kong cross the border to shop in city of Shenzen for lower priced goods. These are the first signs of deflation in China. This is the beginning of a repeat of Japan's experience of the last three decades. Rapid growth followed by unsustainable growth after 2000 in China created problems for the environment and climate change because the growth was compressed into a few years and China's size. The experience of Japan's growth in the 1980's was repeated but this time on a scale that reflects China's population of 1.4 billion people compared to 125 million for Japan. The result many American factories unable to compete with lower costs in China closed in 2000-2015 leading to a general decline in towns and communities across the US destroying livelihoods.The effect is magnified as the support services jobs and wages that go with factory jobs magnifies the effect on jobs by a factor of three or four. The result is a situation that did not have to happen this way hurting both the climate and supply chains, hurting both America and China as business interests in both countries made short sighted decisions. As America diversifies from concentration of supply chain in China, into India and Vietnam, the process needs to be such that it benefits both the American and Indian people not be allowed to be left to business alone to determine as happened with China. This is one of the lessons of this period. ...

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The unemployment rate drops to 7.8% from 8.1% in September according to the Labor Dept. The decline partly comes from people taking part time jobs because they are unable to find full time work. The establishment survey shows 104,000 jobs added in the private sector in September, and revises the figures for July and August to show 86,000 additional jobs created. Of the 104,000 jobs added, jobs increased in health care and transportation. Government added 10,000 jobs. Manufacturing jobs declined by 16,000, a cause for concern. A more accurate measure of unemployment is the underutilization of labor called U-6 by experts, this includes part time workers who would prefer to work full time- this has remained at 14.7% for Sept. 2012. The overall picture is that the job market remains sluggish. Because Labor Department numbers are prone to revision this could change in coming months. The slowing economy in China with the new stimulus in China coming in at one eighth the size of the old stimulus (1 trillion yuan over 4 years compared to 4 trillion yuan over 2 years 2009-2010) because of inflation concerns and risks of aggravating a property bubble, and the declining growth in the eurozone- France with zero growth in 2013 and Germany at 0.9%, Italy and Spain declining growth- means the prospects for U.S. economic growth will be lower in 2013. U.S. GDP growth was 1.3% in the second quarter according to the Commerce Department, and Macroeconomic Advisors predicts GDP growth of 1.5% in the third quarter in downward revisions. ...

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Hubbard at Columbia, Scott at Harvard, and Zingales at University of Chicago, go over the options. Bad bank option has the drawback that you have assets that are written down and you put them in a bad bank, but what about all those assets that deteriorate as the economy deteriorates, would'nt they have to be be put in the bad bank too? Banks hold $6 trillion of mortgages and mortgage securities, with mortgage securities of $1.3 trillion. Option two, guaranteeing bad assets has been tried for Citigroup, where taking asset pool of $306 billion which was created, Citigroup absorbed the first $29 billion losses, Treasury and FDIC jointly fund next $15 billion, and Fed holds 90% of remaining losses. The government getting $7 billion in preferred stock with 8% yield. This Citigroup option according to a conservative estimate would cost the government $60 billion after stock warrants received. This would cost for all the banks something like the $700 billion of the TARP, and if bad assets deteriorate further as is likely, could end up costing the government trillions. So this isnt a great option. Hubbard, Scott, and Zogales, say that the option of encouraging banks to spin off toxic assets into separate affiliated bad banks would be a reasonable one. But the government should't guarantee the assets of that bad bank if it poses systemic risk. And banks with negative capital or close to negative capital should be taken over by the government, nationalized, through already established FDIC procedures, such as bridge loans. ...

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Alison Smale describes a perception of German preference for "order" and "peace and quiet" in its response to the Ukraine crisis. He describes how Germans responded first to the news of NSA surveillance of Angela Merkel's phone, and then to the crisis in Ukraine. German public opinion has preferred a policy of diplomacy and engagement with Russia- letting Russia vent its feelings about NATO enlargement to its borders something American respected diplomat Kennan suggested avoiding- to resolve the crisis without disturbing the economic relationships built up over many decades and different administrations, from the time of Willy Brandt and Kohl to the present day.

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Krauthammer says it has become a cliche for people to say "politics is broken" in the U.S. John Beers, head of the Standard & Poors sovereign ratings committtee, also cited a broken political system in his rationale for the U.S. credit downgrade to AA+. This happened even as S&P repeatedly emphasized the triple A rating for France during this weeks (early August 2011) tumult in the markets over French credit risks. But in reality when you look closely and have a sense about the serious changes being discussed, says Krauthammer, something exceptional has happened, and the system is working. For the U.S. Congress and the government to come to grips with an ever expanding debt -with 39 cents of every dollar spent being borrowed as Alan Simpson of the Simpson-Bowles Commission never tires of pointing out- when both branches of government have ignored or shunted off the question with a "deficits are ok" attitude for decades- is a significant achievement. When one looks closely contrary to what S&P's and other opinion says there is actually a political process that is working in the U.S. compared to the process in Europe. In difficult situations when strong opinions are bare knuckling it with each other this process can be boisterous, but it only suggests an effort to wrap ones hands around the problems in a serious way. This is actually one of the strengths of the U.S. system with its checks and balances and its spirited dialogue. In business management Intel's Andy Grove called it "constructive confrontation," and he described this as positive and essential for business institutions to survive and grow....

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Peggy Noonan calls the Bernie movement and Hillary Clinton adopting his efforts to improve incomes and condition of working class people, a major development. The most electrifying line in her view is the one made by the father of a U.S. Army Captain who died in Iraq, Khizr Khan, himself an immigrant, who said about Trump at the convention- "You have sacrificed nothing." She cites Bloomberg, a successful businessman in media and former Mayor of New York, who said about Trump: "I'm a New Yorker, and I know a con when I see one."  Bloomberg traced the history of the Trump business through repeated bankruptcies, lawsuits and missteps, and added "Trump says he wants to run the nation like he's run his business. God help us." And Noonan cites Hillary's speech as getting better as it progressed, not her best, but doing the work, especially with the line- "Don't believe anyone who says "I alone can fix it."  Biden and Kaine hit on this point repeatedly, and that "he doesn't have a clue," with the crowd chanting "Not a Clue."  ...

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Why are the French  protesting so strongly against extending the retirement age from 62 to 64. It is a question of French identity, of hard won rights to work and leisure that are seen as defining France. It also affects women differently who have a harder time working longer so that their benefits would be affected. Age discrimination is large in France so that it works against extending the age till the culture changes. Worse it comes at a time of stress for working families, and a cost of living crisis.

NYT says that when this retirement system was introduced after World War II it helped bring a fractured country together. A hard won social and labor right not easily forfeited, says NYT.

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France plans to increase military spending from 295 billion euros to 400 billion euros for 2024 to 2030. Some of this will come from reform of the pension system that takes up 13.1% of economic output by raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. A million people protest in Paris on Jan 20. One of the problems in implementing this is that in France there is significant age discrimination for jobs compared to Germany and other countries. This means workers would have to wait longer for pensions even workers with good qualifications looking for work. Efforts to tackle this cultural issue with companies biased against older workers are lacking.

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Emmanuel Macron graduated from Sciences Po University in 2004 with a degree in public affairs. He joins the Finance Ministry as an inspector and then buys himself out of government service contract by 2008 to join a private bank. He arranges an acquisition from Nestle and other business deals during this period. In 2012 he is appointed as deputy secretary general for the president's office after Francois Hollande a socialist is elected to the presidency. In 2014 he is offered the position of Minister of Industry and Digital Affairs in the second Manuel Valls government. He makes some changes to French government but opposes the wealth tax or tax on business, and is generally pro-business, though he acts as a member of the Socialist party.  He uses this period to build momentum for his own run for the presidency as support for Hollande falters having lost support from his working class base with Macron and Valls inspired changes.  Macron finally announces he will run for the presidency forming his own En Marche movement which he finances with his own fund raising. Throughout this period right up to the election in 2017 Macron has not run for public office. When he wins the presidency in that year he lacks the experience needed as the youngest president in French history at the age of 39. Like another young president Obama he handles his public image with the media for his En Marche movement promising to unblock France. This public image and his lack of experience makes him impervious to the social changes going on in France that lead to the yellow vest protests in 2018. This is a period when there are changes in the midwest as workers in Michigan and other midwestern states turn away from Hillary Clinton and Obama.  French workers are in the position of workers in the US with the decline of manufacturing, much of it shifted with the supply chain to China and Japan, and the gap opening between rural and urban tech educated areas. Macron follows Obama's quick rise from Senator to run for president yet lacks experience, and lacks sufficient grasp of the social changes with loss of manufacturing, the wide gaps between rural and urban tech educated people, conditions in the rural and farming areas. Macron survives this period, is reelected in 2022 with the help of socialist Melenchon voters. He says he will govern differently, less distant from average Frenchmen, but his instincts are to push for pension reform. At a time of cost of living crisis, and when the French budget office says the change in pension from 62 to 64 was not critical at the present time when inflation was hitting the public after the pandemic. Macron does this by Article 49 in the way he has done under the Manuel Valls government, by executive action alone. This time he faces a no confidence motion in parliament in March 2023 following some of the largest protests France has seen in years, with two thirds of the French according to FR24 opposing the change in pension law. Women see this as coming at a time when age discrimination hurts their chances of earning a living after 50 years of age.  Age discrimination is widespread in France, in a way it is not in Germany, say reports in the NYT. And with the cost of living crisis acts as a major hurdle for the average French person, if pensions are delayed without addressing these cultural issues in France. The result is that the protests have substance and Macron is seen as not sensitive to this at a time when he lacks a majority in parliament. ...

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The leaders of Republicans and Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker Boehner, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Minority leader Harry Reid, reached a budget compromise with the White House in October 2015 after long closed door negotiations, following years of deadlock in previous years. The compromise lifts sequester spending caps agreed to previously in a previous settlement of differences, and lifts the budget ceiling till March 2017. Speaker Boehner said it was time to "clean out the barn," as he did this over the opposition of Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz from the right wing of his party who opposed his efforts to compromise with Democrats. On October 28, 2015, the House of Representatives passed the two year budget agreement 266-167, and the following day Speaker Boehner passed on the Speaker's position to Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. On Oct. 29, 2015, the Senate voted 64-35 to pass the budget compromise agreement. The agreement increases discretionary spending by $80 billion over 2 years, giving half to defense spending with the increase in military threats overseas, and the other half to domestic spending programs. The domestic spending goes to limit premium increases for some Medicare Part B beneficiaries, and a prevents a 20% across the board cut to Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, set for 2016. This removes the uncertainty posed by threats of a showdown on the budget ceiling and threat of defunding Planned Parenthood posed by right wing Republicans in Congress, which were bad for the economy at a time when the U.S. and Europe faces increasing threats overseas. Without a budget agreement the U.S. Treasury Department would have seen its borrrowing authority expire on Nov. 3, 2015....

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The Vice Chief of the Indian Army explains in detail how the scheme that is rolled out for Agnipath is a pilot project and how the lessons learned will be incorporated over the next 5 years. He says the recruits leave with something like 24 lakhs rupees for a second innings at age 22, with the opportunity to get 13 lakhs in preferential basis loans in government assistance to start an enterprise. Others could choose to enhance their education and go on to get degrees under preferential educational setup. The idea is not to set them up for life but get them off to a good start as they are only about 22 years and with special technical skills acquired during their 4 years in the armed services. Technical skills acquired in the airforce could be even more advanced. Private industry in an India almost twice the size of the economy that exists today and the fastest growing economy in the world would easily absorb 30,000 of such highly trained disciplined people in the scheme who leave. The US GI Bill and other similar programs for the military have shown that this works and private industry is eager to take in these people on a preferential basis. These in fact have proven to be even more attractive opportunities using the example of the US experience than a government job. Lt. Gen. Raju says about the All India regiments replacing the homogenous units of the past. The Rastriya Rifles  and similar units in the Army have shown that the bonding happens for people from different parts of the country. He could have said that it is seen in the cricket teams where the bonding is between people from different regions and places. These units have performed very well says Raju in the LAC, in Kashmir, in border areas and in other situations. ...

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People in China with 800 yuan or $114 can now invest in low cost mutual funds. They can invest in 5700 domestic mutual funds offered by Vanguard's partner in China Ant Financial Services Group. Vanguard offers investment advice in assembling mutual funds. The investment advice will depend on algorithms not people to provide investment advice.  Ant owns 51% Vanguard 49%. Chinese investors are known for speculative approach to investing and making risky investments. By contrast Vanguard's approach in the U.S. is more careful and makes a serious effort to reduce risk with its index based mutual funds which it pioneered. China is making an effort to bring American companies into its financial  markets as part of the opening up sought by the U.S. Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley says his goal is "to fundamentally change for the better how individuals in China invest." Vanguard says it has taken the long view having worked for a long time on getting regulatory approval and its own approach for investing to introduce in China. It studied the market since 2018 talking to industry peers, regulators and clients. It says Chinese regulators appreciate Vanguard taking the long view. Today Vanguard's office in China has only 20 employees, and it has stayed away from setting up private investment funds for wealthy individuals and institutions which is permitted for western firms in China such as Fidelity International.  Vanguard's Mr.Bogle pioneered low cost index mutual funds that follow and index as opposed to having mutual fund managers determine investments. This takes the guesswork and individual bias out of the equation as experience has proven that over the long run this approach works best. Vanguard now has $6 trillion in funds under management, and is by far the largest mutual funds company in the world. It now has the potential to tackle a huge market of 900 million individuals in China. ...

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France was exceptionally well prepared says France 24, citing a report in Le Monde, for the SARS crisis in 2002 and the H1N1 influenza in 2009. A billion masks were stockpiled by 2009. Following the H1N1 influenza not appearing in any significant way the media, political parties and the public shifted their attention away from public health crises preparation. For H1N1 the government spent 1 billion dollars some of it going to pharmaceutical labs. The eurozone financial crisis that followed the global financial crisis shifted policy to austerity measures. The entire preparation effort for influenza type health crises was abandoned as too costly.  The same pattern repeated in Britain which was also well prepared before 2010. Austerity budgets after 2010 had little room for public health investment.  One could say a similar pattern was seen in the U.S. Today the worst hit countries are U.S., Britain, France and other European countries. France which had 1 billion masks in 2009 to tackle a possible H1N1 epidemic finds itself with 150 million masks in March 2020 and scrambling to find masks. Some masks which were usable were even destroyed as expired, ministers and experts who had built up the prevention effort in 2009 were even demoted and forgotten, as was much of the preparation in these years. It wasn't just medical supplies pubic awareness had practically disappeared. In the U.S., in Europe, the same situation of a lack of public awareness so that experts, government, and the public could work together quickly, was clear to see. In countries such as Taiwan the preparation led to speedy response at all levels, making contact tracing, isolation of clusters effective. In the U.S. and Europe this early, early, period was lost leading to makeup mitigation measures and the growing sense of a loss of control over the virus. ...

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China faces the problem of an ageing population as births decline and their are fewer young people to support senior citizens. The shift to a two child limit after the policy limiting children to one per couple has not accomplished the goal of restoring the birth rate. The Central Committee of the Communist Party and the president Xi Jinping have taken the decision to allow three children per family.  This comes at a time when the old policy meant a fine of 10 times the disposable income for having a third child. The law was not enforced in all regions but acted to deter larger families. Yet there is a cultural effect of decades of having smaller families that will not be easily overcome with a change in the law. In Latin America smaller families are the result of decades of cultural change towards smaller families. Young people are increasingly aware of the cost of raising and educating an additional child, and the effect on the standard of living. Experts say it is too costly to raise another child  and housing is not cheap in China.  This discussion with 3 billion comments over Weibo in the discussion of this policy in China last week, misses a more obvious point from the graph shown in this report in The Guardian. That graph shows the curve for the birth rate in 2019 dropping faster in South Korea and Japan than in China, so that in 2019 the birth rate in Japan and South Korea was lower than in China. This shows that even without a one child policy the birth rate in Chia would be closer to that of South Korea after industrialization progressed and society experienced profound cultural and economic change. Japan today has the lowest birth rate in Asia. The Latin American experience also confirms this shift to small families. ...

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It may come as a surprise that even a conservative Republican Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, talked recently on CSPAN television about the US needing immigration in an organized manner to meet the growing shortage of workers in the coming years in the US. This report by Alicia Caldwell in the WSJ looks at the city of Topeka, Kansas, home to University of Kansas in nearby Lawrence, which is trying to attract immigrants who are allowed to work to meet 6600 worker positions that remain unfilled. Mayor Michael Padilla of Topeka is a cross between a liberal Republican and a conservative Democrat as are many immigrants from countries in South America. The Greater Topeka Partnership is looking to attract Spanish speaking people to fill these jobs, because of stagnant population and a lower unemployment rate than the US average. This effort in Spanish language has resulted in 10,000 resumes submitted. Another effort for Uniting with Ukraine has brought 160 Ukrainians to Topeka. These efforts are happening since 2019 and in some cases the city has offered $15000 a person for relocation costs. Citywide the effort is being welcomed including the business community. Topeka, a town of 126,000 is home to 17% Spanish speaking residents. Molly Howey who heads Go Topeka and the Greater Topeka Partnership is shown here, and says Topeka had already had success with its Spanish speaking population when it started welcoming new immigrants.  The rapid recovery of the US after the pandemic and its resilience for growth over the next decade is creating a recognition among Republicans as well as Democrats, among economic planners and business of the need to fill shortages of workers as the US invests trillions of dollars in its economy in coming years in infrastructure, manufacturing and and new technologies. It is an effort that is unprecedented since the post war effort to build a modern economy in the 1950's. ...

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"The NHS is on its knees," says Starmer, one more reaon to ban outdoor smoking. Labor in 2007 put the ban on indoor smoking. Sunak had a plan for the Tories to ban smoking. Starmer is now following this to reduce the burden on the NHS and improve public health in the UK. The bill would gradually ban smoking for people born after 2009, an idea proposed by Sunak and the Conservatives. The bill would place new restrictions on outdoor smoking, including outdoor spaces at, and pavements outside, clubs and restaurants, as well as at universities, children’s play areas and small parks. Asked about this during a visit to Paris, Starmer said: “My starting point on this is to remind everybody that over 80,000 people lose their lives every year because of smoking,” he said. “That is a preventable death, it’s a huge burden on the NHS and, of course, it is a burden on the taxpayer. So, yes, we are going to take decisions in this space, more details will be revealed, but this is a preventable series of deaths and we’ve got to take action to reduce the burden on the NHS and the taxpayer.”  The prime minister said-“It is important to get the balance right, but everybody … who uses the NHS will know that it’s on its knees.” Dr Layla McCay, the director of policy at the NHS Confederation, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It is absolutely the health challenge of our time. It’s the leading cause of preventable illness in the UK, so we are heartened to see that progress is being made and that the intention is moving forward to really address one of Britain’s main drivers of health inequalities.” ...

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Ford Motor Company profit increased in 2015. Ford made $1.9 billion net profit in the 2nd quarter 2015, a 44% increase over the prior year quarter. Revenue declined to $37.3 billion, as margins reach the projected 8-9% range for 2015. Full year operating profits are estimated by Ford between $8.5 and $9.5 billion. Prices on the F-150 truck were up $3600 over the prior year, reaching $44,000. Ford sold more larger vehicles and pickups than sedans. A favorable sales environment is helping sales of more profitable larger vehicles- low interest rates, low gas prices and higher fuel economy on newer F-150 vehicles, including an aluminium body on the new F-150 truck. Recent China sales also show increased demand for the larger vehicles and SUV's, with Ford China market share increasing to 4.5% for 2014. In the U.S. Ford and GM are losing market share, with a focus on profitability. In China sales are growing at a slower pace with the economic slowdown, with 2015 sales growth estimated at less than 1%. Worldwide sales for VW and GM increased to 5.04 million and 4.9 million for the first 6 months of 2015, on the basis of larger market share in China. Toyota worldwide sales declined slightly to 5.02 million. Future prospects may not be as good, as the market in China could become very competitive with too much capacity. The price competition in smaller cars could reach the larger vehicles at some point with the slowdown reducing profits from China....