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Walter Mead describes the roots of the refugee crisis in 2015, as millions of refugees flee Syria, Iraq, and other countries in the Middle East, lying in the failure of governments throughout the Middle East to accomodate modernity, women's rights and technological progress into the old Islamic thinking. He says he sees this in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, and other countries in the Middle East. The Arab Spring which aroused so much hope for the people of the region has floudered in the failure of both the Islamic leaders, the military elite, and civil society to come up with a consensus rooted in what a modern Islamic society that accomodates modernity, women's rights, the participation of people in their government, technological progress should look like. The Western nations of Europe and the U.S. also underwent soul searching to come up with a modern Christian society through its own struggles, which the Islamic societies have failed to do; and as a result floundered and broken up by sectarian, religious and military conflicts. Mead takes the long view, yet falls short when it comes to how European leaders and societies face individual challenges to bring their own Christian faith and ideals into the real world, in the way chancellor Merkel has responded in Germany. Europeans have had their own period of conflicts and civil wars, the refugee crisis and refugees in chancellor Merkel's words who "have gone through the hell of a civil war" are very real, and how each European responds defines who he is and how far Europe has come from its own dark days....

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State run programs that help businesses to retain employees and avoid layoffs are a great way to operate during the lockdowns and gradual reopening. In these workshare programs workers work reduced hours and collect prorated unemployment benefits to offset lost wages. This avoids full layoffs. As the coronavirus is a temporary setback companies need their employees in a healthy economy. How to retain employees. Shift some of the cost of retaining employees to the U.S. or state governments funded by the federal government which comes in the form of unemployment benefits. Workers can then do shorter hours and get through this period.

Such programs are now set up by states in more than half of American states covering about 70% of payrolls. The problem is getting companies and employees to use this program. As of March 28 only 1% of 8.2 million employees have used the program, but it is growing.

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Porter points out that the Reagan tax cuts did little for the bottom half or one of two Americans, leaving them just where they were before the tax cuts. He cites World Wealth and Income Database data showing they earned $16,371 a year on average in today's dollars in 1980, by 1988 when Reagan left office they made $16,268. The Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 had the same result, with income before tax cuts at $17,827 and when Bush left office at $17,473, accounting for inflation. After factoring in taxes and transfers this was up only 0.4% a year. Under Reagan the top 1% increased income by 6% a year.

The distribution nature of the 2017 tax cuts do not suggest a different outcome from the Reagan and Bush tax cuts as they are designed disproportionately favoring the highest incomes, not even the higher incomes, and leaving the lower incomes practically untouched.

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The tough job President Obama faces as he faces opposition from politicians who have interests to protect, and healthcare businesses with interests to protect. The President has to come up with a plan that is deficit neutral, because financial markets could see a healthcare bill that further widens the deficit as a signal for higher interest rates that would deepen the recession. At the same time each of the three sources of revenue puts him at loggerheads with political leaders in Congress or groups with interests to protect. Limiting income tax deductions for high earners could raise $267 billion in 10 years. It would require taxpayers in the top tax brackets deduct their mortgage interest, state and local taxes, and charitable donations, at the 28% tax rate instead of the 33% and 35% tax rates. The opposition is with democratic leaders that it would hurt charities, universities that depend on tax deductible donations, and taxpayers in high tax cities like New York city that are the home base of Democratic leaders. Yet only 1.4% of households would be affected says the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, says charitable giving would decrease by 2%. The other opposition on this comes from the preference of Senators Baucus and Grassley, who head the Senate Finance Committee, for tax increases or cost savings to come from the health sector. Specifically they want to see the value of workers' employer provided health benefits subject to income taxes. It is a situation in which every sensible person admits the need for healthcare reform and would see the current pace of healthcare costs as unsustainable and dangerous; and after that will just go back to his group and try to preserve as much of the status quo as possible, so as not to disturb by much the benefits or compensation they have secured from the system over the years. Then there are political leaders in Congress with their own preferences, and Congressmen who are the subject of heavy lobbying by these interests. The administration and the Presidents job is to navigate this stream with a workable deficit neutral plan, without any requirement for any group to make sacrifices, and in some situations even small sacrifices for the public interest. Would charitable institutions be hurt that much, what if charitable institutions were exempted, why would other interests the try to obtain the same exemption. Its like the unions trying to keep the old unsustainable goldplated healthcare and other benefits at GM even as the ship was going down. Taxing employer provided employee health benefits as income would raise $2.5 trillion over a decade. The opposition here is from unions which are a force in the Democratic party and which count tax free health benefits as a legacy of the labor movement. Employer provided health insurance covers 160 million American employed and their dependents under the age of 65, so it has a wide impact. Yet most economists favor ending the tax break. They say it mainly goes to upper income taxpayers, and discourages cost consciousness among consumers of health care, thus encouraging excessive spending and surging health care costs. Senior Obama advisors, Peter Orszag, the budget director, and economist Jason Furman favor this approach. So do Republicans in Congress. Senators Baucus and Grassley are not asking for the complete removal of the tax break, what they want to see is capping the value of benefits that go untaxed. If the tax-free limit is $13,000, a policy worth $15,000 would pay income taxes on $2000. A third spource is to spend less on Medicare. About two thirds of the $948 billion in savings Mr Obama has proposed over 10 years comes from a number of reductions in Medicare spending. $177 billion comes from insurance companies bidding for government reimbursements for offering private plans to seniors. $106 billion comes from cutting the subsidies to hospitals serving the uninsured as universal coverage should remove this need. And $110 billion in reduced payments to hospitals and doctors because of productivity gains. A range of industries insurance companies, hospitals, doctors drugmakers, nursing homes, home health care companies and medical device makers, all stand to lose from reduced payments from Medicare and Medicaid. And these groups with interests to protect are another factor in this process of working out a healthcare plan. ...

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The U.S. Federal Reserve Flow of Funds report for 2011 shows Fed purchases of 61% of total net Treasury issuance. Goodman points out that the net issuance of Treasury securities for covering U.S. budget deficits is normally 0.6% to 3.9% of GDP on average for the last six decades since 1950, compared to on average 8.6% of GDP today. A big jump in Fed purchases with a corresponding steep fall in the participation of foreigners and the private sector. Foreign purchases declined from 6% of GDP in 2009 to 1.9% of GDP in 2011. U.S. private sector- mutual funds, banks, corporations and individuals- purchases declined from 6% of GDP in 2009 to 0.9% of GDP in 2011. This helps keep interest rates low and funds U.S. government needs. Lawrence Lindsay pointed out in the WSJ in 2011 that Fed has itself boxed in being forced to keep interest rates low for years. If the government borrowed at a more normal rate of 5.7%, instead of the Fed induced rate of 2.5% today, Lindsay estimated the U.S. government would face an additional $800 billion in interest costs by 2021....

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Sweden is one of the first countries providing men with greater opportunities for raising children- both through laws for parental leave, and through a cultural transformation that gives fathers an accepted role in caring for children. Laws reserve at least 2 months of well paid 13 month parental leave for fathers. 85% of Swedish fathers take parental leave and its cool for fathers to be doing work inside and outside the home to care for children.

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Why cutting rates will not do much good at this time as inflation concerns may hit consumers more than the benefits of lower rates to consumers borrowing costs.

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Andy Grove makes this passionate plea for the dignity of workers in America in 2010. It is worth reading in 2020 what this founder of Intel Corp and pioneering spirit of Silicon Valley has to say. Andy Grove of Intel says there is something seriously wrong when the unemployment rate in the Bay Area is higher than the 9.7% national average for the USA. American companies have added jobs like crazy in Asia, but things are sputtering back home. Hon Hai has 800,000 employees and makes most of the electronic and computer products for American companies. Grove says startups are not the answer, unless they scale up and create jobs the way Intel did starting back in 1968, with a $3 million capital infusion by investors. The move from the first production model to mass production is critical, as companies hire thousands of people. Innovation and scaling up have to go together. He makes his point clearly by pointing out that Apple has 25,000 employees. For every Apple employee there are 10 employees in China working on Apple iMacs, iPods, iPhones. And he adds that the same 10 to 1 relationship applies to other U.S. tech companies. And here Grove asks the tough question by first posing an answer. He says it sounds like- no big deal, we keep the high paying jobs, we keep most of the profits, but what kind of society are we going to have with highly paid professional workers and lots of people unemployed? And he doesn't mention that there are a lot more young people unemployed. He says the US has become very inefficient at creating tech jobs, and it would be a great mistake not to act decisively early on. And adds that the investments in such areas as solar power and electric car batteries have to be made early on to maintain leadership in these areas. Grove faults academics like Alan Blinder and others who say loss of manufacturing jobs and whole industries was no big deal. The U.S. has forgotten the value of manufacturing jobs. He wants to see America focus on jobs and rebuild its industrial base. And less of transferring engineering knowhow and new technologies overseas, technology that can help bring innovation and scaling up of factories at home. In his view individual companies doing their own thing, in a misguided fashion that jobs don't matter, is not the answer to the situation we face. The industrial economies of Asia, China at the present day, have focussed on jobs and technology, and scaled up. Grove reminds readers of the situation in America in 1932, when jobless veterans demonstrating outside the White House in large numbers were dispersed by soldiers with live ammunition and fixed bayonets. This makes him shudder at the very thought of it, and brings back memories of his early years in Hungary, as a young man in 1956. Are we listening? ...

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The Rousseff administration announces plans to cut $30 billion in 2011 spending. Inflation is up by about 6% in January. Most of the cuts says Finance Minister Mantega, will be achieved by cutting earmarks added to the budget, and by slowing hiring in the public sector. But analysts say this will not be sufficient to control inflationary pressures, as 2011 spending will still be above 2010. Higher inflation puts pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates at an high of 11.25%, which in turn brings in speculative money and creates a highly overvalued currency.

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Behind the June jobs numbers is the information that the average workweek fell to 33 hours, the lowest ever on record, and 0.8 hours lower than before the recession began. With the extra 48 minutes the same aggregate work says Denning of the WSJ, could be done by 3.3 million fewer employees. And the unemployment rate would then be 11.7% rather than the 9.5% it is now. The number of people working parttime has doubled to about 9 million or about 5.8% of the workforce. Employers will first try to employ parttime workers as full time, and increase hours of existing workers before they hire new workers deepening the recession.

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February 1, 2011, the day when a million demonstrators were expected to come out on Tahrir Square in Cairo, the Washington Post makes a call for a democratic transition in Egypt. The Post says unfortunately the debate has been affected by considerable misinformation and mistaken ideas. It singles out three for correction. The protestors have no platform, that the radical Islamists are likely to assume power, and that the US has little power to influence the change. The April 6 Movement is a principal organizer of the protests and is run by young people. The party of Mohamed El-Baradei and the Muslim Brotherhood have joined together with the young protestors movement to have a common platform. And in a country where an estimated two thirds of the population is under 30 years, the older leaders in the El-Baradei party and the Muslim Brotherhood are deferring to the younger leaders. The movement is middle class, centrist, and its main grievance is the yearning for liberty. Eliott Abrams, the deputy national security advisor to former President George W. Bush, and Mr Bush on C-SPAN, have come out in favor of the Egyptian people's struggle for freedom. See Abrams column in the Post. The Muslim Brotherhood is unlikely to win anything more than a minority of seats in any elections, because the overwhelming influence in the protests is secular, middle class, and seeks the democratization and modernization of Egypt. For the American people this is an opportunity to support the aspirations to freedom and a modernized economy for the Egyptian people....

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This account describes the events that preceded the raid on the compound in Abbottabad that housed Osam bin Laden. The first information came years earlier during interrogation of Al Quaeda suspects in Iraq, who referred to a courier carrying messages from senior leaders. One suspect Hasan Gul referred to an important courier in 1994, and tried to disclose as little as possible. Over several years the information was pieced together leading to the courier's location at the Abbotabad compound. There was another individual living there who rarely ventured out and a seven foot wall protected the terrace in that part of the compound, making it impossible for outsiders to see who he was. Garbage was burned at the compound, and the nature of the compound with high walls and security led the CIA to believe there was a high probability that senior Al Quaeda leaders were inside. In December the CIA asked Congressional lawmakers at a secret meeting for additional funds to finance the operation. Adm. McRaven was placed in charge of the operation. A mock compound was built in Afghanistan and the attack on the compound was practiced by Special Forces. In April, Leon Panetta, who had tracked the information about the compound as head of the CIA, held daily meetings. He told his team "we've got to find out what the hell is in that compound." On April 19, Panetta informed Mr Obama that the CIA believed Osama Bin Laden was there. The same day Obama gave the go ahead for a helicopter assault....

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Barboza and Daniel provide a detailed account of the ownership circle of Jack Ma at Alibaba and its affiliated companies, with connections to different individuals in China's business circles.

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Coca Cola has a mix of brands from orange juice to soda drinks. Sugary drinks increase obesity which leads to other diseases. The pandemic has shown the increased risks of obesity with studies showing obesity doubles the risk of being hospitalized for coronavirus 200% and increases risk of ending up in intensive care unit by 74%. UK prime minister Boris Johnson learned this the hard way and has changed all his eating and exercizing habits, and urges others to do the same. 

China, India, Mexico, Vietnam have much more to do to increase awareness of the risks of obesity from sugary drinks. The influence of Yoga, Ayurveda and traditional herbal foods and drinks is increasing awareness in India. This is not the same in China, Vietnam and other Communist countries where the dangers of smoking and sugary drinks are not part of the education put forward by the government.

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With 121 medals the U.S. team did better than in any Olympics except 1984. Britain did extremely well, and the Australians were overestimated. China did not do as well as in the Beijing Olympics, which was expected. The British investment in training athletes has paid off since the London Olympics, getting 67 medals.

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This exceptional report from rural areas in France by Roger Cohen shows why the support is growing for the far right and the far left in rural areas and smaller towns outside the large cities which have suffered from high unemployment and neglected as technology and capital moved to other areas. Cohen talks to Nicholas Bay, secretary general of the National Front, who says this election is about patriotism, the nation state vs globalization, as the National Front tries to portray its opposition as being less pro-France, and less pro French culture. The centrist candidate Macron stands in front of a statue of Alexandre Dumas in Picardy, an hour northeast of Paris, and says he is for an "open patriotism" that embraces people of different origins and embraces refugees. Cohen attends a Le Pen rally in Metz, Lorraine, talks to a National Front mayor in Picardy and left party supporters in the town, talks to foreigners in the banlieu of Sevran. Cohen says a National Front victory is possible if enough voters who support the far left party of Melenchon do not vote for centrist candidate Macron, and enough voters of centre right Fillon supporting French culture and nationalism drift to Le Pen. As in the Dutch election with Moroccans derided by the far right the immigrant issue is a factor. Against this background is how events play out in the last weeks of the election. In March and April the events in the U.S. show a Trump administration moving to the centre, adopting a quieter and more constructive tone towards Mexico and immigrants. Relations with Russia have worsened after the U.S. response to the chemical attack in Syria, and the French public may now see this as a common threat to NATO and the European Union. As in the Dutch election a lot depends on the last weeks of the election and how well the centrist parties, the centre right and the centre left get their message across about what is to be gained by building anew on the foundations of the past without risking a lot on an uncertain path of referendums and exit from the European Union.   ...