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A quick look at the graph in this Times Report shows the carbon dioxide CO2 emissions for the US, European Union, China and the Rest of the World in 2020. For the EU it is about 3.0 billion tons of CO2 emissions, for US it is 5 billon tons, for China 10 billion tons and the Rest of the World 16.0 billion tons. What this tells us is that a lot will depend on not just China, but India and other countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia in the developing world for how much CO2 emissions can be reduced to tackle climate change and other environmental problems.  For that 16 billion tons in the rest of the world reduction will depend on renewable supply and technologies to do it, rapid growth of economies in India and other countries to generate the resources and technology initiatives to get a shift from coal. Meanwhile it is a choice between having electricity for homes in rural areas in India or not. This is where bright spots such as solar technology in India that are giving quantum leaps for renewable solar energy with new technology cutting cost in successive waves of development can play a part.  ...

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The situation in California on December 12 is dire as its daily cases for coronavirus increase to over 25,000. For Los Angeles county the figure is over 10,000. California coped well with the first wave. As the summer arrived fatigue with lockdown restrictions had increased, social distancing and mask wearing were not followed. When bars and restaurants opened in Los Angeles county huge numbers of people gathered in close proximity. Beaches were crowded.  A further spike in cases is expected from the Thanksgiving period. LA officials are saying one person is dying every 20 minutes. ICU capacity is shrinking. In southern California it has dwindled to less than 10%.  In Santa Clara county in Bay area only 31 ICU beds remain for 2 million residents. San Francisco is expected to run out of ICU beds on December 27, 2020. A patchwork of restrictions varying by county means there is no uniform effort. Fatigue with restrictions means compliance is patchy with social distancing and mask wearing even at the height of this pandemic. Public officials have failed to convince the public to do their part including the governor of the state and the mayor of San Francisco, because of inconsistent messages. ...

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Rising home prices are leading to higher property taxes in Colorado. A surge of new people coming to Colorado has meant higher property taxes of much as 40% for those already living in the state. David Chen talked to residents in the state and found a retiree, a former X-Ray technician retired for 20 years, facing a 20% rise in property taxes in Littleton, Colorado, and having to sell some of her stuff to meet the higher cost. For retirees in Colorado and across the Rocky mountain states- where people have moved to from California and the Northeast  paying higher prices for homes- living on Social Security checks is particularly hard these days. In Montana property taxes went up by 40-50% in some counties in 2023. Democrat Governor Polis says just because your home price goes up by 40% does't mean you have 40% more cash to pay taxes, your income may be up 10-12%. For retirees on Social Security checks alone it is only the inflation coverage in those checks. The situation is also true for Arizona and Utah with many newcomers and the trend for hybrid work adding to it. ...

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President Biden meets newly elected South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol on his visit to South Korea. During the visit Biden also promoted South Korean investments in Texas and Georgia. He visited a Samsung semiconductor plant with the president of Samsung. Samsung is investing billions of dollars $10 billion for a new electric vehicle plant in Savannah, Georgia. By getting American semiconductor and electric car manufacturers to invest heavily in the US president Biden is changing how America invests for regaining technological leadership by 2030. In an effort to get plants to support unions president Biden called for the plants to hire union workers. Biden called by name two Senate contestants in upcoming Georgia elections for their efforts in getting the Hyundai plant that will hire 8000 workers. In contrast to Mr. Trump who lacked a plan or vision for the future Mr. Biden is keenly focused on getting South Korea, Japan and Germany to invest heavily in the US and help restructure the whole supply chain. Where Mr. Trump called for South Korea and other partners to share the defense burden, Mr. Biden is focused on getting American allies to have their large companies invest in American plants and jobs and a new supply chain. ...

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The vote in the Senate was 67 to 27 to move forward with the $95 billion aid package to Ukraine and Israel. The bill has $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine, and about $8 billion in economic assistance. $14.1 billion to Israel and $10 billion for civilians in conflict zones. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell leads a determined group of 18 Republicans in the US Senate that support efforts by Majority Leader Schumer to get a bill for Ukraine Israel Aid passed in the next few days. This would also include economic aid for Ukraine and humanitarian aid in the Gaza conflict. Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska says that deterrence is not divisible, American credibility is not divisible." This comes as former president Trump opposes the passage of such aid in Congress. This report says the former president says America's role should be only transactional, and to Russia the NYT reports he says he would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. President Schulz of Germany met with president Biden at the White House this week. After passage in the Senate it faces a challenge in getting enough Republicans to support passage in the House. ...

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Swiss regulators engineer UBS buying Credit Suisse for over $3 billion in an emergency rescue. This happened after the Swiss central bank made and infusion of $50 billion into Credit Suisse that failed to stabilize the Swiss bank. With outflows of $10 billion Swiss Francs in the week recently Swiss regulators had to quickly arrange UBS buying out Credit Suisse for over $3 billion.  In its early days in the nineteenth century Credit Suisse helped build the Swiss electricity grid and the Swiss rail system. After World War II it was part of the reconstruction effort in Europe. After 1990 it merged with banks in the US and engaged in international acquisitions, investment banking operations, and wealth management. This led to problems and the company had to make settlements for each of its businesses in the last three decades, leading to the current crisis. The bank is seen as lacking good governance, and taking on excessive risk in the pursuit of profit. A bank that was known for setting up key infrastructure in Switzerland in the nineteenth century succumbed to poor management and risk taking over one hundred years later as it fumbled in each of its businesses. ...

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The astonishing fact about America in 2023 is that 90% of people in retirement are insecure in retirement with less than $100,000 in savings, and 50% have no savings at all.  A situation like this would be impossible when America led the world in manufacturing in the 1960's and savings of a majority of Americans in today's dollars were higher multiple times. A tiny one tenths of one percent have around $5 million and 4% have over $1 million savings in retirement. This report in WSJ by Dagher and Tergesen shows that only 3% of Americans have saved $1-5 million and one tenth of one percent have saved $5 million plus in retirement. People shown here are  software salesperson, pilot, surgeon, veterinary practice specialist. About 4% have savings of $500,000 to $1 million. 18% have savings of $100,000 to $500,000 of which the greater part of this number are closer to $100,000. This reveals the shocking fact that in today's America in 2023 only 10% are income secure, the rest 90% are income insecure, of which a shocking 50% have zero savings. ...

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South Korea's LG Energy Solution is pushing forward with its aggressive investments in electric vehicle batteries by going public, raising $11 billion through South Korea's largest listing on January 27. LG Energy has made large investments in the US and is dominant in Europe. CEO Kwon Young-soo told a recent news conference that its strength is that "we have global buyers and global production facilities in the US and Europe, which CATL doesn't have." Saying that LG Energy is not Chinese is a big pitch, and LG Energy is taking advantage of the current trade war between the US and China.  China's CATL or Amperex is the largest maker of electric vehicle batteries with 30% of all batteries sold, compared to LG Energy's 20%. Yet CATL is concentrated in the China home market. The next three companies are in order Japan's Panasonic, China's BYD, South Korea's SK Innovation, and Samsung SDI. The South Koreans plan $15 billion in investment in the US. They see the fact that they are not Chinese a big advantage in meeting European and US automaker needs. ...

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How third party candidates in 2016 put Trump in the White House is shown in graphs in the WSJ. Since 2000 about 2% of the vote goes to third party candidates such as Greens, Libertarian, and others, in 2016 this reached 6%. It hurt Clinton the most as the Trump lead in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin was merely 5-10% of 200,000-300,000 votes for independent candidates in Wisconsin,  in Michigan and in Pennsylvania. Hillary Clinton lacked clear focus in her campaign and her years as overseas traveling foreign minister left her out of touch with the alienation of the working class and fragmentation as Silicon valley tech and financial interests intruded into the Democratic party. This had the effect of muddying the focus on the Democrats FDR/Truman working class base and also with America's rural voters suffering from a toxic mix of problems. In 2024 the Kennedy candidacy takes as many or more votes from Mr. Trump says the WSJ. The Biden focus on workers and families gives the Democrats a clear direction along with wage gains by union labor and a resilient economy with low unemployment. This suggests that the independent candidates may not find more traction than the 2% of previous elections since 2000. ...

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These simulations show the  importance of flattening the curve for coronavirus especially the steep jump in the curve when it grows exponentially as people mingle in crowded environments, on trains and subways, and in public gatherings of more than 10 people. This is shown here in four different simulations in the Washington Post. Social distancing and quarantine worked in China, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea. Though the attempted quarantine simulation here does not cover the situations in China, Taiwan and Singapore where quarantine has worked and was the only way to tackle the coronavirus in time to do least damage. Additional simulations would show the way it was limited in Singapore through contact tracing and mandated staying at home for all who have come in contact with affected persons. And in South Korea a simulation could show how this worked through containment by testing and limiting spread, or China by an effective quarantine or lockdown of a city or province.  The basic idea is to limit contact and separate so that intermingling is restricted to as few places as possible for a limited period during which health authorites can achieve a controlled situation through systemwide organized efforts.  ...

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African continent debt reached $1.1 trillion in 2024. About 900 million people live in African countries where interest payments on debt exceed money spent on healthcare and education. In Nigeria external debt is $40 billion, in Kenya $35 billion and Uganda $12 billion.  Take Nigeria with 220 million people. 40% of the revenue collected goes to meet interest payments on debt. For many African countries there is zero per capita income growth for a decade. During the 2010 crisis as interest rates reached new lows US and European Reagan era intellectuals including Democrats encouraged African countries to borrow at low rates and banks loosened restrictions putting more African countries into debt buildup borrowings. As interest rates went up the cost of paying the debt accumulated required more loans at higher interest rates. Nigeria paid a premium over that of 10% for a loan of $2 billion just for interest payments. The debt crisis means African currencies depreciate reducing purchasing power.  With war in Ukraine and Covid prices of food and energy rose. Only the strong and disciplined leadership and rapid industrialization provided breathing room as with Modi in India, Jinping in China, the African continent and Latin America lacked this and are feeling the pain. ...

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Allyson Chiu and Emily Wright show how inventors in India are working on more efficient residential air conditioning units that cool single rooms. About 1.2 billion units are there across the globe, billions more may be needed to replace the old ones and to meet surging demand in Asia, Latin America and Africa. International Energy Agency estimate is for these AC units to triple by 2050 what they are now, adding 2.4 billion AC units. Using the existing technology and emissions would mean putting 2 billion metric tons of emissions from these older AC units into the atmosphere in 2050 or what 476 million cars put out, says IEA.  The Indian government, RMI, a global coalition including Gree of China, and Daikin of Japan are doing the research on new AC units. In 2015 about 5% of India's 300 million households had such AC units. 8-10 million units were sold in 2023. This would rise to 1 billion units sold and installed by 2050 says IEA, that would emit 25 gigatons of cumulative emissions in 2050, or what a staggering  6 billion gas powered cars emit. ...

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China reduces US share of exports to 15% from 18% -yet with Vietnam made Chinese goods added in it is 21%. 15.8 million job loss for China from US fentanyl tariffs 2025 from one estimate. Chinese businesses are already feeling this, says WSJ. Exports represent 13% of China's GDP and China had redoubled its export effort after the property bubble burst. There are 2 drags on growth property crash and exports tariffs. China has less room for stimulus in 2025 and the government is focusing on bottom line thinking to prepare for hard times. Already companies are cutting shifts and laying off 10-30% of workers in garment, toys and other basic industries. President Xi is preparing for a long struggle reminiscent of how Mao led China to fight the US forces under Gen. McArthur in the 1950's Korean War, says the WSJ. In the past the state subsidy system worked to take huge share of new industries such as semiconductors, smartphones, solar, electric cars. This will be harder now with less money available to invest and drive out competition, and with the US and EU making their own products boosting their industrial and manufacturing base. ...

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President Obama ordered the surge in 2010 for 30,000 additional troops in Afghanistan. There are now 150,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan. Of these two thirds are Americans. The goal of the surge was set by President Obama as " disrupting, dismantling, and defeating al Quaeda and its extremist allies" in Afghanistan. Yet the fact remains that official estimates on the coallition side are for only about 100 or so al Quaeda militants operating in Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan is being fought with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan who also live in the mountainous region that comprises Pakistan and Afghanistan, and has some form of clandestine support from sections of the Pakistani military and intelligence services- the Pakistani military having played a critical role in the formation of the Taliban from its inception to act as Pakistan's proxy in that region. With the democracy protests in the Arab world in 2011, al Quaeda does not fit into the existing mood in the Middle East and the Muslim world. Considering these facts- and the mood favoring American disengagement on the part of America's allies in the Afghan government and Pakistan's military, and the American public mood favoring disengagement, the Taliban seeing their conflict as purely domestic and little to do with al Quaeda- the situation is likely to move in the direction of phased American withdrawal. ...

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Black or illicit money in India is estimated to be $400 billion to $1 trillion, much of it in the domestic economy. About 30% of land transactions are in black money, and it is growing with 500 and 1000 rupee notes increasing in circulation by about 79% and 106% between 2011 and 2016, according to government sources. The Narendra Modi government has announced that 500 and 1000 rupee notes will no longer be accepted in transactions as of midnight. People have 50 days to exchange them at banks, and banks will keep records so that this money can be taken into account for taxes due. A senior official in the Department of Economic Affairs, Mr. Das, says-"You cannot have a shadow economy representing a substantial percentage of the real economy." Big banks will be closed on Nov. 9, and ATM's till Nov. 11, 2016. Mr. Modi, the prime minister said in a televised address: "In the last few years the specter of corruption and black money has grown." He cited "the challenges posed "by threat of terrorism, the challenge posed by corruption and black money." ...

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The confusion among Tsipras supporters in Athens as the creditor terms that are stricter than the ones rejected in the July 5, 2015 referendum win 250 votes out of 300 in the Greek parliament on July 10, 2014. The centre right New Democracy and centre left Pasok parties and other parties support Tsipras, and the far left of Syriza abstains in the vote. Serious damage was done to the economy in the 6 months of Syriza negotiations ending in the referendum, increasing the size of a new bailout. The increase size of the bailout came as a shock in Germany reducing any flexibility for chancellor Merkel in the internal debate within Germany. In addition relations were damaged with the EU by the referendum and Syriza's handling of it. As a result opinion polls showed German support for concessions dropped to a low of 10%, increasing pressure on chancellor Merkel within her CDU party. Analysts say Greeece could lose another 10% drop in output if Greece leaves the eurozone, showing the risks taken by the far left Syriza party and economic mismanagement. Even if it stays within the eurozone Greece faces additional costs with lower tax revenues from the fallout in the economy of events in July 2015. Greek officials say the restrictions on ATM withdrawals to 60 euros a day for each account could stay in place for months. These developments are not taken into account by academics and young people in Greece as they refer to European solidarity. ...

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  The state of Kerala is on the southwest coastal region of India south of Goa, and had its first encounter with the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. It is also the state with one of the highest literacy rates in the country. It lagged in industrial development after independence with a large number of people migrating to other countries. Prime minister Modi inaugurates the first Kerala Vande Bharat high speed train between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasargod. He also inaugurates today the Kochi Water Metro with  electric boats covering 38 terminals over 10 islands. Kochi is the commercial capital of the state. Modi said: "Our government emphasizes cooperative federalism and considers the development of the states as the source of the country's development. If Kerala develops then India will develop faster." "Kerala is a state of aware and educated people. Hard work and humility of people here is part of their identity." ...

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The large 11 point margin for State Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz, a Democrat, shows the effect of the issues of women's rights to abortion and of democracy are having in the state. She promised to use the new 4-3 majority in the Wisconsin State Supreme Court to nullify Wisconsin's 1849 abortion ban and overturn the state's gerrymandered Republican friendly legislative maps. It also shows the changes in the midwestern states. In Chicago Brandon Johnson came from behind to win the Mayoral election calling for new taxes and a vast program of social programs, in addition to a community involvement effort to fight crime over a candidate that focussed on the crime issue and policing. Happening in the same week these two elections give president Biden  more confidence going into the 2024 campaign that people in the midwestern states understand Mr. Biden's approach of investing in people and infrastructure with higher taxes, and rebuilding American manufacturing and technology, protecting worker rights and incomes. ...

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The Ayushman Bharat Mission (Swasth Bharat) launched by the Indian prime minister this week aims to fix the healthcare infrastructure that was neglected for decades since independence. It aims to increase investment to provide much of the rural population access to healthcare services. Investment in healthcare will increase over a six year period from 1.15% to 2.25% of GDP. The investment is of 64,000 crore rupees, about $10 billion over 6 years. By comparison the UK invested 5% of GDP in 1980 for healthcare spending which increased to 9% by 2017. This suggests that this is just the first step towards increased investment in healthcare spending to build medical colleges, hospitals facilities, and rural healthcare clinics from the smallest unit level in districts across the country.  The pandemic showed weakness in India's healthcare facilities particularly at the rural level. The Ayushman mission was launched in Uttar Pradesh India's largest state with a population of 250 million where healthcare facilities suffered most from neglect since independence. ...

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One way to tackle procrastination that works is to clear all distractions, focus on the positive effects of getting tasks perceived as difficult done first, and enabling this by breaking up a difficult perceived task into a couple of smaller tasks. 

Other things to do to get work done is to set specific times such as 9 to 11 am for perceived difficult work, simple rewards are set such as having a cup of coffee afterwards or taking a walk after two hours of work, time cleared by distractions pushed out of the way. People usually find out that it wasn't that bad anyway to tackle that perceived difficult work, and it helps to have tackled it and the couple of other tasks that are sitting on your desk remaining to be done. Pretty soon your list clears up, increasing satisfaction, rewarding yourself along the way,  and you have a new burst of motivation to tackle more.

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French president Macron in a televised address with frankness and humility, the fourth for coronavirus, says the national lockdown will extend till May 11. As infected cases and deaths gradually level they are still very high. His main point- "There is new hope but nothing is won at the moment... the epidemic is not under control." "Were we prepared? No. Clearly not enough. There were failings, there was a lack of material." "These are difficult days and we are now feeling afraid and anxious for our parents and ourselves." In many ways he reflected the feeling in France, Britain and Spain, a sense of humility after the virus.  "We have to reinvent ourselves, and me first of all... We are vulnerable. When can we hope for an end to this? I understand you have many questions and I would like to answer all of them. But I say in all humility, I don't have definitive answers today."   ...

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With the departure and replacement of Dan Cummings, the prime minister gets someone with extensive financial and other experience to replace his free wheeling adviser who lacked experience. Dan Rosenfield who worked at Treasury till 2016 under both Labor and Conservative party chancellors is the new choice for prime minister Boris Johnson's chief of staff at 10 Downing Street. Experts say less games, more interest in what matters in managing the costs of covid budgets. Here Mr. Rosenfield is described as the person at Treasury who put together the Olympics budget that came out at a little over 9 billion pounds after little preparation was done and Britain won the bid for the Olympics by bidding only 2.3 billion pounds. As Rosenfield puts it, there wasn't even a cats in hell chance of doing the Olympics at that cost, and the only option was to control costs as aggressively as we could. Britain now faces the task of keeping Covid budget costs manageable and getting a recovery in place in 2021-2022. ...

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Small business and farmers are driving a recovery in the Indian economy in the latter half of 2020 after the impact of the pandemic. Rural India with demand from farmers for cars and tractors is also helping build demand. Maruti Suzuki, India's largest auto manufacturer, had sales increase of 10% in rural India vs. 4% overall in the third quarter of 2020. Manufacturing and farm sector are leading the recovery. Transport and hotel, airlines are also seeing an increase in demand. From 2 million in June airline passengers have increased to 5 million in September compared to 12 million before the pandemic. The second generation reforms made by the Modi administration and the many initiatives are expected to boost the potential growth and scale of the Indian economy. Building a strong manufacturing sector and getting foreign investment in that sector is also a critical step to building the economy's growth potential. Working with Taiwanese investment and investment from the U.S. and the European Union is part of this effort. ...

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After a second round of price increases P&G's last price increase of 10% leads to first quarter revenues up 4% on sales volume declines of 3% for the first quarter of 2023. The company making Gillette razors, Charmin toilet paper and Tide detergent for household supplies has shown the persistence of inflation as companies increase prices to pass on the increase in price of raw materials. Some of this money will go to buy back stock- P&G plans to buy back $8 billion of its own stock. Companies such as P&G are countering criticism of price increases by saying they offer premium products or use the term "irresistable superiority" says this report in NYT. This leads to "profit price spiral" and adds to "wage price spiral" effects. A executive board member in eurozone says half of the price increases in EU can be attributed for the last quarter of 2023 to company profits.

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Ruffenach gives an excellent account of how many people describe their expectations and how it actually turned out in retirement, the good and the bad. He cites numerous examples to give as broad based a picture as possible. Health and active life, passions and interests, loss of self esteem in work for some and finding substitute interests, taking risks to try something new and the rewards. More people describe positive experiences in those surveyed. Health is the main concern for 41% in actual retirement, children and other things are all less than 10%. Travel should be planned early as it becomes harder as the years go by and one gets older. It is not as difficult as people think to make new friends in retirement, and this active social life with new friends can play a positive part in spending time. In addition there is the opportunity in retirement to take things slowly and leisurely, and spend time more on oneself and one's own interests.