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LA Dodgers in Game 7 11th innings with Yoshinobu Yamamoto as Dodgers pitcher. Yamamoto retires 8 Toronto Blue Jays batters. The night before he put in 96 pitches for 6 innings in Game 6. In Game 7 Yamamoto with no rest day pitches the next day 34 pitches for two and half decisive innings with the Dodgers ahead on a homer by Rojas to end the World Series with Dodgers 5 Toronto 4 in Game 7.

With 18 innings in Game 3 and 11 in Game 7 this World Series rates as one of the all time great classics of world baseball. It also shows the intuition of Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts in keeping 34 year old Rojas in the Game 6 and 7, and in bringing in Yamamoto in the final 3 innings after exhausting the entire Dodgers pitching rotation. From Game 3's 18 innings it was clear that if the game went on to extra innings the depth of the Dodgers team and the experience of it's manager would come into play to overturn any predictions. 

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he doesn't yet have the necessary votes to stop Democrats from calling for witnesses. Democrats want former presidential National Security Adviser Mr. Bolton to testify under oath about the president's motivations for freezing aid to Ukraine. During three day of presentations by Mr. Trump's defense legal team the focus of Pat Philbin and Alan Dershowitz was on the actions of the president on Ukraine policy not rising to the level of Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Justice that Democrats in the House have presented as the 2 Articles for impeachment. Earlier the White House legal team put the focus on Mr. Biden, and his son Hunter Biden's role in the Ukrainian company Burisma as a board member. Burisma was being investigated for corruption by Ukrainian prosecutors. Much of the defense presentation recalled the effort during the early days after the Civil War to impeach president Andrew Johnson simply because Republicans in Lincoln's party did not like Mr. Johnson's views on Reconstruction of the South, and his dismissal of Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War. That effort failed because it lacked one additional vote needed for a two thirds majority in the Senate. Republicans say not only are the president's actions on Ukraine calling for an investigation of the Biden's not an impeachable offense as "a high crime," but also that Democrats dislike of Mr. Trump just as Republican dislike for Mr. Johnson was lowering the bar for impeachment by making malleable charges. They argued that one of the country's founders Mr. Mason even rejected the idea presented to him that "maladministration" as grounds for impeachment should be put in the Constitution for the very same reason, that it was malleable to a preconceived notion of what is wrong. Four Republican senators Gardner of Colorado, McSally of Arizona, Tillis of North Carolina and Collins of Maine face tight races in upcoming elections, and may decide in favor of a compromise for the calling of witnesses. This would allow Republicans to call Mr. Biden and Hunter Biden to testify, and Democrats to call Mr. Bolton to testify on his views expressed in his to be published book that the president withheld aid to Ukraine because he felt that corruption needed to be investigated.   ...

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Opec cuts by 2.2 million barrels a day on December 17, 2008, and forward curve for Nymex crude oil prices which goes up $10 to $50.64 for the May 2009 contract and $70 from late 2012, offers liitle support in terms of higher oil prices. Some of it is explained by costs of storing oil on tankers and some of it by higher credit costs, and prices beyond 6 months do not have as much significance as the situation is uncertain. With Russia needing oil revenues and Iran and Venezuela also in the same situation, it looks increasingly unlikely that the strict reduction in production will hold. And things like higher inventories with a steeper downturn in 2009, can keep prices down for a long time.

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Xi Jinping's effort to shift the economy of China more towards serving the interests of Chinese who were left behind in the boom years includes a shift away from coal, away from real estate for speculation, and away from reliance on trade with the US and Europe as a driver for growth. This is proving to be difficult as the pandemic has increased demand for Chinese exports making trade a bigger driver for growth than before the pandemic. Introduction of a property tax to cut into real estate speculation has been scaled down to trials in 10 cities.  China did not put stimulus checks in the accounts of its people the way the US did which has led to Chinese domestic consumption not rebounding the way it has done in the US. Figures for consumer spending in China for September show an increase of 4.4% from the year earlier far below the pace of 8% set for 2019. The lack of social security and other safety nets in China makes people to save even more today. Chinese savings rate was 40% in 2019, today it is 45.2% for May 2021, according to one survey. Personal consumption makes up 38% of China's GDP in 2020, it was 39% in 2019. In the US it went up in 2021 June to 69% compared to 67% by the end of 2020. Infrastructure and construction deepened debt problems in China, and expanding exports created trade tensions. Both these problems have deepened with the pandemic. As this report says Chinese exports have gone gangbusters. Problems in production in Vietnam and Malaysia have added to export surge from China. China's trade surplus with the world is now at $535 billion in 2020, and surplus with US increased by 7% to $317 billion in 2020 from 2019.  Chinese government policy is now for "common prosperity" to reduce inequality and spread wealth and income more evenly for all the Chinese people. This is taking time and Chinese government policy is now set for the long run with these short run problems. ...

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The US and Japan are coordinating efforts to limit transfer of sensitive technology to China and increase trade and cooperation within the G-7 in high technology sectors. Efforts are being coordinated with South Korea. Janet Yellen says the IMF has overblown the effects on the world economy from the US decoupling from China. IMF reports have also in addition presented India incorrectly as a non aligned country, when it is a close partner of the US. In 2023 US is the largest trade partner of India.The US position is to limit flows of technology in sectors considered vital, and continue world trade in other areas with China. US is committed to friendshoring to India, Vietnam and other countries. Germany's three parties CDU, Greens and SPD are reversing close trade and technology links with China. This is also the policy of the Modi administration which seeks close trade and technology ties to US and EU. The shift is in response to what is really an overconcentration of the supply chain in China that happened as business in the US and EU and the Merkel and the Bush-Obama-Trump administrations failed to see the risks of overconcentration. And carried out misguided policies in trade and investment that are now being reversed by US president Biden, Kishida in Japan, and Modi in India. ...

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The Trump administration is preparing direct aid to Americans and American industries hurt by the coronavirus epidemic. Each check will be based on family size and income, according to a Treasury Department memo seen by WSJ. The direct payments in two rounds will be on April 6 and May 18. This is part of a $1 trillion stimulus program. $50 billion lending facility is being setup for the airlines. Another $150 billion goes to distressed sectors in the economy. $300 billion will go to a small business interruption loan program, which will go to temporarily cover payroll costs for employees. The idea is to put a safety net and support workers who will need help while they are not working. The measures include two weeks of paid emergency leave for a large number of people. Money also goes to additional Medicaid funding, more money for food stamps, and for unemployment insurance program. Congress has passed the bill and president Trump is expected to sign it into law. Other bills will follow in Congress. A third economic package will cover additional needs of agencies of government, with $11.5 billion for Department of Health and Human Services, and Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security. All this is being done in Congress and by the Trump administration at top speed. ...

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Age discrimination is a problem in France more than in Germany or other countries in Europe. A person over 55 is half as likely as younger people to be hired by companies. This makes raising the pension age from 62 to 64 much harder for the government. In the US people are working for much longer.

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In a visit to Washington DC Mr. Trump talks about an all tariff revenue system that would replace the income tax. He says he would take the corporate tax down from 21% to 20%. He meets with the CEO's in the Business Round Table including Dimon of JP Morgan Chase and of Bank of America.

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Zeit Online takes a look at German chancellor Angela Merkel's statement made in a beer tent in the Muich suburb of Trudering- "The times in which we can completely rely on others are somewhat over, as I have experienced in the past few days." Zeit Online says the words "ein Stuck" in German were meant to say a bit or somewhat, but the essence of the statement that the depending on the trans-Atlantic alliance was now over comes right through.

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France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain agreed to have automatic exchange of information for offshore accounts to fight tax evasion. Luxembourg agreed to join this group. The EU nation move follows the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010 which requires foreign banks and entities to disclose accounts of U.S. citizens, in an effort to fight tax evasion.

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"The whites are here to stay," a line in a paper prepared by Kissinger set the policies of the Nixon administration supporting Apartheid in Africa. NYT in this report on Kissinger points to his involvement of the US in the Angolan civil war on the side of South Africa as he did not understand the popularity of liberation movements. Kissinger was steeped in the Austrian and German politics of his original home country Germany from the Napoleonic period to 1914 covering Metternich in Austria-Hungary and Bismarck in Germany. He also failed to grasp the popularity of liberation movements in Indochina. As a result of these policies many many hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, which cannot be said of Secretaries of State before him. Jefferson, Madison and Adams, and Seward for Abraham Lincoln, Elihu Root for Teddy Roosevelt, Cordell Hull for FDR, George Marshall and Dean Acheson for Harry Truman, John Foster Dulles for Eisenhower, George Shultz for Reagan. Kissinger served only for 3 years and the lives lost are incredibly large. We think of Geroge Marshall and the Marshall Plan that rebuilt post war Europe, Seward's role with Lincoln in the Civil War, and Cordell Hull's fight for freedom of Asian countries including India under Gandhi.  And we can see why there are such strong opinions for Kissinger almost seeing Kissinger as a Napoleonic figure where power faced the hundreds of thousands of lives lost with complete indifference. There is the opening to China yet this happened simply because as a coincidence of events in China in 1970 after the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution led to Lin Piao incident and China seeking a connection to the US more than Kissinger's own policy or plans. David Sanger's account of his conversation with Kissinger simply says he just "shut up and took notes."  ...

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Kulfi Indian easy to make ice cream treat, no ice cream maker required. Use a loaf pan and pour in the thick milk ingredients and freeze, then cut into small slabs.

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The U.S. faces a migration crisis of migrants from Guatemala moving through Mexico to the U.S. The Trump administration works to get Mexico to police its national borders with Guatemala using trade tariffs  as a tool of diplomacy. This story shows how failing coffee prices have increased levels of migration from Guatemala. 

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Spain will allow a European banking supervisory authority to visit banks and exercize financial supervision over banks receiving aid from the EFSF, the EU rescue fund. In addition investors including small retail investors will have to take losses to reduce the loans required to recapitalize Spanish banks.

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Germany's kurzabeit or short work system avoids layoffs in a crisis. The Bundestag parliament in Germany quickly reintroduced it following the coronavirus. It provides subsidy to employers so that wages of upto 2500 euros can be paid to employees. The German parliament changed the requirement that makes it law fro a 30% of workers of a company being impacted by a crisis to 10%. About 2.3 million workers will benefit at a cost of 10 billion euros says this report in The Financial Times. The Federal labor office has a fund of $26 billion to which workers and employers contributed just for this purpose of safety net.  Workers get about 60% of their wages under this scheme while the crisis lasts. The last time it was used during the financial crisis of 2008-2009 1.3 million workers benefited from this scheme to prevent layoffs.  Germany with its strong vocational training system invests in worker training. The logical next step was to preserve this knowledge component of workers and avoid its loss through layoffs due to some crisis that is temporary and beyond the control of the company. Britain is adopting this idea this time with the British Treasury supporting  80% of lost wages upto 2500 pounds a month in the new economic aid package announced by the British government. Spain has a scheme under ERTE for 70% of wages to be paid as safety net. France has set aside 8.5 billion euros aid for assistance to workers in a similar scheme as safety net. ...

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Kate Bingham, head of the Vaccine Task Force in Britain is commended for her intelligent approach in placing bets on vaccines in different technologies, "four buckets" as she calls them. This includes the Moderna and Pfizer in the mRNA technology and the viral vector Astra Zeneca, J&J vaccines. This approach made the British vaccination drive effective by being supported by a resilient supply system.

The Indian government has supported the effort to get several companies to make the Sputnik Russian vaccine in India in an effort to diversify supplies. Reddy Labs is one of the major manufacturers working on the Sputnik vaccine in 2021.

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The UAW added 7000 workers to the 18000 already on strike at Ford, GM, Stellantis.The UAW is making progress in its talks on Stellantis on cost of living adjustments and outsourcing, and says it will spare Stellantis from more walkouts. Stellantis also has the least hourly workers of the three US auto companies. Stellantis has operations in Europe and gets half of its profit outside the US. The UAW is also not stopping work at the largest SUV and pickup truck plants that make the most money for the auto companies. The idea is to do only what is needed to achieve its goals of fair pay and benefits for the auto workers.

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Democrats feel the landscape has shifted in their favor for the midterms in 2022 after the US Supreme court ruled against abortion in its Roe vs Wade decision. Democrats feel they can now appeal to more women and to independents and that this issue has energized some of its campaign base. The Kansas vote affirming abortion rights has further energized Democrats.

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Amazon makes an offer to buy the whole of TikTok on April 1, 2025 before a April 1, 2025 deadline. A law passed in Congress in 2024 was upheld by the US Supreme Court requiring the sale of China based TikTok to American buyers for national security reasons or be closed to US users altogether. Amazon has connections to TikTok where TikTok users refer other users to products which can be bought on Amazon with revenue being passed on to influencers who get a cut on the transactions.

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A Yale Brown universities study in 2024 shows the huge dividends from investments in childcare in the early part of schooling years- $1 invested in free full time daycare for preschoolers generates $6 in economic benefits. It only includes the economic benefits from the lack of affordable childcare for parents that lead to cutting back on work hours and changing careers. This does not even include the results decades from today in 2050 when these children provide the Nation with a strong educated workforce to propel industry and the economy forward in new ways. Catherine Rampell in the Washington Post shows that these economic benefits are  just the beginning, as the effects ripple through to local economies, touching on kids, parents, employers, local tax revenue. This is not counting the effects on mental health of parents struggling with childcare and the overall mental wellbeing of the Nation knowing that it has got the priorities right for a better future.   ...

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Even after bankruptcy of Takata, this WSJ article points out that the job of replacing 54 million defective airbags in just the U.S. could go on and on for many years. Honda the carmaker most affected has set aside $4.9 billion over 2 years to cover recall costs. The airbags failed because of manufacturing defects.