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Most people are not aware that EU had 10% tariff on US car imports into the European Union over many decades. US tariff was only 2.5%. The US tariff of 15% on EU car imports into the US in 2025 comes after EU recalcitrance for decades in lowering its tariffs on US car imports.  German carmakers have prepared for the higher tariff and EU car stocks were up as this is a lower tariff than the initial tariff of 25%. German car makers export luxury cars with higher margins which offers some offset as well as increasing efficiency in car making so that only a small part of this will be passed on to the US car buyer. An offset to the US car buyer is in the One Big Beautiful Act of 2025 which lets car buyers deduct the interest costs of leasing a car. The result is that US car industry will have the advantage it has long been deprived of and American car buyers will not be affected in the way the media has presented, or not at all. Over time German car industry will also do well with its access to the growing American market. Germany will lower its tariff on US car imports to 2.5% from 10% which makes it profitable for BMW and Mercedes to make SUV's in the US to export to Germany and EU, making this a win-win for US and EU. ...

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US - EU Trade Agreement with 15% tariff on EU imports to the US and $750 billion in US exports over 3 years of LNG, oil and gas, semiconductors etc. Including military purchases. EU would invest $650 billion in the US.  Aircraft and their components, particular chemicals, semiconductor equipment, some agricultural products looked set to be exempted from the new tariffs placed by the US on EU imports into US. To even the playing field where German and Japanese cars had a free ride into the American market since 1980, 15% tariffs lower than the 24-25% proposed tariff will be place on German cars. Business in the US sees this as a least bad outcome says WSJ. Yet this ignores that the US gave special privileges to Japanese and American car makers to export into the US since 1980 with no corresponding benefit to the US in other industries or to the US auto industry. This gives the US industries and the US science and technologies opportunities to get back into the game of exporting, opportunities that the US gave to Europe and Japan since 1960. It also strengthens the US economy by helping restore the US as the industrial power it was from 1920-1980.  ...

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By settling for a 15% tariff Japan was protecting its other industries from the higher tariff of 24-25% proposed earlier. US industry has operated with no assistance from the US government and faces a financial markets structure in the US that is not helpful to American industry making long term investments that overseas makers with support from their governments are able to make. US workers suffered badly over three decades and the ineptitude of previous US presidents in protecting American workers from this situation. The Europeans and the Japanese, South Koreans know this and understand that the US plays the critical role in the free world and without it, without the workers and rural communities of the US, their way of life and freedom will suffer irreparable harm. Japanese PM Ishiba and its business organization Keidanren are focused on implementing the US Japan Trade Agreement mitigating any effects inside Japan. Japan was able to protect it's auto export model to the US from high tariffs settling for a moderate tariff of 15%. A similar agreement was accepted by Germany when Leyen accepted the 15% tariff on German car export model. For decades Germany and Japan have used their auto export model to take a large share of the US market, joined by Korean makers, putting American car makers and their workers at a disadvantage since the 1980's. This creates a level playing field in world trade and is in the interest of workers in the US. ...

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NHK Proportional representation exit polls for Japan's  2025 elections for parliament show twice the number of people in 20's 30's and 40's voted for Sanseito over voted for the LDP. The LDP is the party that has run Japan's government for mostly all of the past 75 post war years. It is losing its touch with the common man as issues of cost of living, migration, and income mobility affect the Japanese people as they have done in Europe and the US. The two opposition parties are the Sanseito and the Democratic Party of the People formed in the last ten years to fight the entrenched LDP governments, and the Constitutional Party of Japan that has acted till now as the main Opposition Party. Not just LDP, the Constitutional Party of Japan also draws most of its support from the 50's, 60's and 70's people age groups and are being trounced by Sanseito and Democratic Party of the People with younger age groups. This is a significant observation on the direction Japan is taking with resistance to too much tourism, too much migration, and not enough attention to Japan's national interests. The LDP under Ishiba is now navigating a new environment as it looks to running the government taking credit for the US Japan Trade Agreement and working with the new parties. ...

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A big win for the US and a win-win for the European Union in the sense that it brings stability to the trade relationship. For the US it brings a level playing field in world trade that had suffered fo far too long from unfair advantages taken by Japan, Canada, European Union and other nations, in addition to the serious distortions of the world trade system with China's state version of capitalism financing an export model. So the first step was to straighten out the situation with partners and allies the US has supported in the past 75 years. US European Union Trade Agreement is reached July 27, 2025, at meeting between Von Der Leyen of Eu and DJT of the US in Scotland. It includes $750 billion EU purchases over 3 years of US oil and gas, LNG, nuclear fuel, semiconductors, etc and $650 billion in investments in US, including military purchases. It puts a 15% tariff on all products from the EU entering the US, replaces the tariff of about 5% under Biden. On Pharmaceuticals it is what the US president decides says Leyen, though for now it is included.  The EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefovic says- “I think that what was most important for us was to make sure we would have this predictability and we would have stability for our businesses." ...

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Chloe Kelly of England soccer plays a key role with her self belief, energy and pace in Euro Finals 2025 against Sweden in a come from behind second half, against Italy, and now in a come from behind against Spain in the second half. She makes the pass that Russo heads into the net for 1-1 going into after time. She comes in after Lauren James ankle injury and immediately makes a difference with her pace attacking with Hemp and Bronze the back line of Paredes and Batlle of Spain.

England beat Spain 3-1 on penalties with Chloe Kelly making the winning penalty kick.

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Chloe Kelly of England soccer gets in the winning kick in Euro Finals. England beat Spain 3-1 on penalties. This analysis in The Guardian goes over how Chloe Kelly survived obstacles to come back into English soccer and make a difference in games against Sweden, Italy and Spain. She had a falling out with Gareth Taylor at Manchester City and her deadline day decision for transfer to Arsenal played apart in reviving her spirits. By reviving her game she put herself in coach Sarah Wiegman's plan for the Euros soccer this summer. She came in after Lauren James was pulled out following ankle injury in the first half. The wingers pace and running came in as a threat to Spain's back line of Batlle and Paredes which had benefitted from the James injury. With Bronze and Hemp, Kelly changed the game in the second half as has so often happened in this tournament. In a previous game in the Euros England had also fallen behind in the first half and come back in the second half. A pass from Chloe got the equalizer with a header from Alessia Russo. The game then went into the extra time 1-1 and England won 3-1 on penalties. ...

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Hardship withdrawals from 401(k)s reach high of 4.8% in 2024. Analysis of 3 million retirement accounts at Vanguard research for 2008-2022 shows higher volatility for hourly paid workers than salaried workers. Hourly paid workers have income swings of 15% compared to salaried and when they leave an employer often take out savings in 401(k)s- 42% with income $50,000 to $75,000 took out their savings compared to 28% in salaried group with same income. Many do so to deal with emergency needs. Thus income volatility hurts workers savings in the hourly sector.

A US law passed in 2022 lets employers automatically enroll employees earning less than $160,000 in emergency savings accounts that they can put in $2500 every year in a Roth type account and withdraw from it penalty and tax free. This is helping some employees avoid touching their 401(k)s.

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Just as with the huge Indian score at Edgbaston Test of 578, England at Old Trafford put up 669. Stokes and Root both with centuries take England to 669 1st Innings vs India, Old Trafford, July 2025. At Edgbaston Gill broke records with 269 and 161 runs in each innings. At Old Trafford Root gets to being the batsman with the most runs in Test cricket except for legendary Tendulkar. And Stokes get record of 5 wicket and a century in one Test.

In this Test series with India one record after another is broken. The Test that England won at Lord's was close India conceding by only 20 runs with one extraordinary catch by Archer of Pant making the difference with Sundar's overconfidence playing a part.

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DJT will meet EU's Von der Leyen in Scotland to iron out differences remaining to get to a US EU Trade Deal. Following the one with the UK and Japan this would be a signifcant win for the president and show that his tariff policies are working when flexibility is added and negotiations are speeded up. It also benefits European relations with the US on many fronts, not just in talk as has happened before but in real improvements in sharing of responsibilities.

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A key figure in approval ratings is 46% with DJT getting 46% approval for the economy and on a range of issues including immigration. On tariffs the situation is steadily improving with new trade agreements with Japan, the EU, South Korea that were announced after or just when this WSJ poll was taken on July 20. Among Republicans 88% support the president and 66% strongly support him which says this report means more of them would turn out to vote. More significant is that the optimistic rating of the economy went up by 11 percentage points from April 2025 to 46% in July 2025. This is also the view of Fed chairman Powell. Each step of the way as DJT tariff actions result in tangible improvements in trade relations for the US and result in concrete real world trade agreements for a level playing field in world trade, the president's actions are seen in a different light. The first Trade Agreement with the UK, then with Japan and now quite possibly with the European Union. All this within 6 months of the president acting in February 2025. A major role played also by Bessent, Greer, Luttnick and others in the cabinet of ministers. This lifts perceptions of the president in the eyes of the American people in handling the economy, business and world trade, and protecting the interests of America's farmers, and rural communities. ...

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Scott Bessent, DJT's senior most economic executive says-“There’s nothing that tells me that Powell should step down right now. He’s been a good public servant." The media is making much out of DJT criticism of US central bank Fed chairman Powell. Yet Powell is one of the original appointments by DJT in 2018 and has done his job carefully and methodically, explaining to the public each step of the way. He correctly pointed out the role of supply chain in inflation during covid and was careful to calibrate his moves so that the Fed is ready to respond but does not overreact. His explanations were direct and his manner humble enough to get him respect. In fact DJT may have made one of his best appointments in Jay Powell who was nominated in the Senate by a vote 84-13 in 2018. Compared to his predecessors his style and work carefully monitoring inflation and unemployment to strike the right balance is far better than any of his predecessors going back to the 1980's, and complements the work done on trade for a level playing field by DJT.     ...

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India China Border and rail connection $40 billion project Chengdu to Lhasa 2025. The infrastructure brings China greater access to the western region of China some of it from the occupation of Tibet in the 1950's that now makes up territory the size of 80% of the contiguous US. India is rapidly modernizing it's side of the border with tunnels and bridges.  This situation is new. For most of history from 1000 to 1950's China had only a remote connection with the Tibetan and Indian border regions where nomadic tribes and Tibetans lived. Very few Chinese numbering by the hundreds or a few thousands may have visited the region as even under the British contacts were very limited with Tibet and border regions in the Himalayas. For China it is far from its major population centers in Beijing and Shanghai and Hong Kong, Shenzen. And it provides few advantages in spreading over a vast region that is remote and in high over 15,000 feet in the Tibetan and border regions. It is only the invasion of Korea and China by Japan in the close of the nineteenth and early part of the 20th century that has created the idea of having buffer regions that protect it from foreign powers. And this is what may happen over the next 50 years as the region goes back to what it was before the 1950's, but with modernization, as India does not seek to reach out beyond Himalayan borders into regions closer to China. ...

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Japan, this report shows was in a weak position and was willing to concede- its auto industry could absorb a 15% tariff but the rest of it's economy must be protected. Any economic weakness would be exposed and conditions mght deteriorate in the Japanese economy by letting things go past August 1 and steep tariffs. Luttnick's idea of investment fund was supported by Japan for investing $400-$550 billion in the US with 50% of profits going to the US. Earlier NYT report by Ana Swanson shows the American side of the deal where Howard Luttnick, with experience as a bond trader and on Wall Street, came up with the unconventional idea of an investment fund knowing that the LDP facing elections and  fearing loss of  its majority was unwilling to give DJT what he wanted on some trade issues. Japanese negotiators decided that giving some way on auto tariffs accepting a 15% flat tariff on auto imports was one way to accomodate the Americans and protect other Japanese industries exports from steep tariffs. One would not know this from reading the WSJ, but DJT with Luttnick, Bessent and Greer as negotiators with Akazawa and Ishiba of Japan have won a historic and significant win for America in creating a level playing field in trade. It also sets a precedent for all other trade deals.  ...

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What should be considered an extraordinary achievement by thinking outside the box by Howard Luttnick alongside Bessent, Greer and Akazawa is correctly reflected in this NYT report by Anna Swanson, when today's WSJ Editorial Board opinion ignores this achievement and criticizes the president. Howard Luttnick a WSJ bond trader and businessman thought up the idea of the investment fund when he realized Japan was not going to give DJT all he wanted to see in opening up Japanese markets to US products. This fund of $400 billion with 50% of profits on investment going to US would be put together by Japan for the US to sign the agreement with just 15% tariff total on Japanese autos and other products. The president calls it a signing bonus. WSJ Editorial and similar efforts to shortchange DJT tariff efforts to level world trade playing field also belittles the extraordinary effort of Luttnick, Bessent and Jamieson as trade negotiators in getting the deal with Japan for $400-$550 billion. It says DJT was lucky to get the deal when it is clear that Japan is returning the US the favor the US did to Japan, as a true ally should do, aside from US defense of Asia. ...

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Private credit market has grown to $2 trillion in 2025 in 10 years  reaching $3.5 trillion in 2028 yet remains unregulated. Private credit is when investment funds such as Blackstone and Apollo, others, loan money to large companies. After the 2009 financial crisis bank regulation was tightened so that riskier loans were kept off the banks books to avoid another financial crisis. This led to the private credit market as a source of loans for small companies.Over 10 years the loans are now going to large companies and it is growing fast. As is typical in the capitalist economies regulation falls behind new financial developments or tech developments. Congress is always playing catchup and is distracted by other issues or has lobbyists asking for less regulation.  This report in the WSJ says when companies like Blackstone have private credit loans of $260 billion this can pose substantial risks for the US economy when this area of lending has no regulation as is required for a modern economy to function correctly. Private credit offers returns of 14-16% for these funds with risks associated and regulators are not asked to set the required rules. It only makes bank regulation ineffective as lending goes to unregulated parts of the economy. ...

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This Editorial by the Editorial Board of the WSJ says Obama, and Biden are covered by the same immunity that protects DJT under the Supreme COurt decision 6-3 that SC Justice Gorsuch called "a decision for the ages." It says DJT is understandably furious about the rabbit hole of the Steele dossier on collusion.  What started DJT comments on Obama was the publication by WSJ of a story on Mr. Epstein. All this plays into the partisan politics which is getting the nation nowhere when under Biden and now under DJT there is a singular focus in different ways and with different perceptions of need, to rebuild the Nation's industrial base and the living standards of the workers and people of America. Much of it frittered away under the negligent administrations of Republican and Democratic administrations of Obama and Bush with engagement in remote Afghanistan and Iraq foreign wars started under Reagan and the elder Bush during the Cold War, with its spinoff into migration issues that hurt social cohesion in the US and Europe. ...

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WSJ Board criticism of DJT Tariffs paints a picture different from what is happening at a time when the president needs support to change the rules of world trade so that there is a level playing field for everyone. First Japan and then China have begun and pursued a course that uses the international trading system set up after 1945 to their advantage resulting in the deindustrialization of the US and Europe since the 1980's. WSJ's own reporting in July shows the inflation is subdued at about 2%. The president's jawboning or moral suasion has worked so that retailers such as Walmart have actually reduced prices on basic products and all retailers including Amazon and Target have cut prices on the more expensive products where their margins are larger. One WSJ report shows Amazon increased prices on products that were made in the US, as its own form of jawboning so that Amazon would get the point. It also belittles the extraordinary effort of Bessent and Jamieson as trade negotiators in getting the deal with Japan for $550 billion. It says DJT was lucky to get the deal when it is clear that Japan is returning the US the favor the US did to Japan, as a true ally should do, aside from US defense of Asia. ...

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Fox News and WSJ are taking differing positions on Epstein case with Fox News ignoring it and the WSJ carrying the story. Murdoch and DJT have a complicated relationship in July 2025 following the $10 billion DJT lawsuit against Murdoch filed in late July after a story in the WSJ. WSJ parent company Dow Jones says it stands by the story and will defend the accuracy of its reporting. Both the DJT Republicans and the Fox News network appeal to conservative viewers of television, and people in business. WSJ has carried stories questioning the tariff policies of the president, and is critical. It is also not fully supportive of policies to handle migrants. Fox News another Murdoch news outlet is through programs like "Hannity" supporting the president and DJT supports it. This creates a dichotomy in the support when DJT and Republicans are putting forward an agenda that is moving fast on the economy, migration, crime, and world trade requiring support to keep the conservative groups together in the US. This is not a situation encountered before as the nation is moving to a crossroads in which direction it should take. And this does not even take up the issues of climate protection which will come up, and of pharmaceutical companies overcharging Americans for healthcare, other battles that will take place.   ...

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Picture of a weather sign outside a Pharmacy in Paris shows the heat wave hitting Europe- the Temp. 44 degrees C. This is 111 degrees Fahrenheit. In places loike Seville, Spain the temperature can get even hotter. Europe is woefully under airconditioned with many hospitals and public facilities lacking airconditioning. The US is far ahead in airconditioning. Conservative parties in Europe are accusing the liberals in power of not doing enough. In London Sadiq Khan is Mayor and housing construction rules require considering other cooling design options before putting in air conditioning. Some members of parliament call this "ridiculous."  In France the opposition parties say the government "is out of touch." Consider government views in France. Energy minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher says heat from large-scale air conditioning would make heat waves worse. “It’s a bad solution, We should air-condition for vulnerable people to give them a break, but on the other hand we shouldn’t do it everywhere.”  ...

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Syria Druze and Bedouin sectarian violence on border with Israel 2025. This part of Syria offers a buffer area for Israel, with Syria moving to being a state with different autonomous regions and not a centralized state to maintain peace.