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Michigan has three highest elected officials who are women Gretchen Whitmer Governor, Benson Secretary of State, and Nessel as Attorney General. The former Governor was Jennifer Granholm who is now in the cabinet of president Biden as Secretary of Energy.  Harris has moved up by 5 percentage points in Michigan and has the support of people across all communities in the state. Even though Michigan and Wisconsin are shown as states similar to Kansas and Iowa, they have in Michigan a strong manufacturing worker base, and in Wisconsin the influence of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, that make the state very different and forward looking in its thinking.

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The economy, wages and cost of living, the failures in infrastructure and at Deutsche Bahn, migration or remigration are issues in Germany. During periods when there are Christmas market attacks in recent years  remigration has emerged as an issue. Migration is no longer the issue in Germany as it was during high levels of migration under Merkel following the wars in Syria and Iraq, unrest in North African countries such as Tunisia with Arab Spring.  The policies of CDU's Merkel tapping into potential migrant labor to meet shortages of manpower in the economy have been reversed by CDU and SPD+ Greens since 2020. Musk wades into this issue only to find Christian Democrats, Free Democrats cautioning him that he lacks understanding of what is happening. Remigration is now essentially accepted by the Social Democrats, and Christian Demcorats, advocated by Wagenknect Left and AfD right parties alike, leaving little room for AfD to grow except from unease.  CDU Merz polls at 30-36% but lacks answers to the Ukraine war. AfD is at about 20%. Wagenkenecht has taken positions opposing immmigration and migrants similar to Socialist parties in Denmark, which means most of the European Union across all parties have reversed position on migration similar to Labor in Britain under Keir Starmer. ...

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Critics say Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe's declaring of a state of emergency in densely populated areas till May 6 comes a bit late in the fight against coronavirus. 

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The U.S. is falling behind China in the race to setup 5G technology networks. This requires government collaboration with private industry that was missing in the U.S. China has taken the lead by prioritizing 5G global leadership through central planning, subsidies, university training, and recruitment of tech talent. 

In the U.S. a small group of activists made net neutrality an issue says the WSJ leading to extensive proceedings at the FCC and acting as a distraction from the task of setting up 5G capabilities. The U.S. now has to catchup in this field using its strong 4G network for upgrading to 5G and its innovative tech culture for the apps needed.

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In areas such as elderly care facilities Japan leads the world in designing such robots for staff and for aging seniors. Robots are also seen as useful for housecleaning services, simple yet complex tasks as washing dishes, cleaning rooms, vacuuming, are tackled by robots as the number of workers available for such tasks is small. Robots are also used at the entry of buildings. With low immigration and resistance to immigration, Japan prefers to use robots. The robots will be in display for the Olympics with Toyota having a special set of welcoming robots. 

Japan leads the way in making robots human, cuddly and friendly, and are presented in this way in popular culture. A big difference from the way robots are used in manufacturing by U.S., Taiwan, South Korea and China, and how robots are seen in other countries.

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Krugman on tax breaks for large corporations that do not create jobs and large cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

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Cable news in structural decline says this report in NYT. It is particularly severe at CNN News. Viewers are declining rapidly dropping 27% in the second quarter for a year ago, and down to 639,000 people in prime time. This trails MSNBC where viewers have declined by 23%. Fox News viewer numbers show a 1% increase.

Viewers looking for discriminating and in depth news have other alternatives including online editions of major newspapers around the world.

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Social Democrats meeting in Weisbaden, Germany, elect a new leader with barely two thirds support. About one third of the delegates in SPD voted against Nahles because of the split within part ranks over which strategy to pursue. after a disappointing result of 20.5% support in the last general elections. This part of the party wants to see a return to its socialist roots, to become a party of the workers as it was during the postwar years under Brandt and Schmidt. The part of the party that supported her wants to see cooperation with the Christian Democrats to continue but with the SPD's unique role and policies. Nahles favors staying in a coalition with Merkel yet bringing its own emphasis in policies in line with SPD policies from the postwar years.   Nahles has to lead the SPD back to a more popularity in line with its role as one of the two main parties in Germany for most of the period since 1950. She has to find a way to do this even though there is skepticism within the SPD about how someone who has occupied prominent positions for many years can renew the SPD. ...

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Feldstein, adviser to the Romney campaign, refutes the assertion based on computer models that the Romney Tax Plan of a 20% across the board cut in taxes cannot be paid for by limiting the deductions of high income tax earners. His own analysis based on IRS data, shows taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes of over $100,000 made itemized deductions of $636 billion in 2009. By taxing these deductions at a 30% marginal rate, additional revenue of $191 billion can be raised to pay for the Romney Tax Plan's static revenue loss of $181 billion. A smaller revenue loss of $148 billion is predicted based on increased incomes and taxes from the behavioural effects of lower taxes on earners. He says this was the thinking behind the Reagan tax cuts of 1986 and the Simpson-Bowles commission plan that would generate economic growth by reforming the tax system's distortions.

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Only upto a point does money make a difference and only in an highly unequal society that comes around every 100 years at times like this. This comparison here is with top 10% and bottom 10% when cost of things have gone up tremendously. It is a poor comparison and validates a society that does not value health and character over money. In a more normal situation where incomes are better laid out across the population for decent access to a good life, public investment for health facilities in every town or section of large cities, and looking at people in the middle from 20% to 80% in the income distribution -it is the choices made how much to spend on fruits,  vegetables, ancient grains, and the educational access in a fair deal society that teaches one to make good food choices, avoiding processed foods and eating less meat and poultry, exercizing, and avoiding alcohol and tobacco, meditation, yoga and spiritual life, and use of public health facilities for exercise, can gradually add up to better healthier living at moderate incomes.  ...

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France's $1.5 billion project to make the river Seine safe for swimming in the Olympics is shown in this WSJ video.

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Japan is meeting a shortage of workers by bringing in workers from other countries including China. In jobs ranging from apple picking to airport baggage handling Japan is getting foreign workers, and making changes in its immigration laws. Prime minister Abe is pushing for these changes to increase growth of the Japanese economy. In the past 4 years the number of foreign workers has nearly doubled to 1.46 million and a new visa system will accelerate the process to bring in more workers. Out of 27 countries in a Pew Survey Japan is the only country where more people favor immigration to rise than those who think it should decline. The Chief Cabinet Secretary Mr. Suga says- " In my view that shows how real the labor shortage problem is." Immigration authorities say they gave visas to only 82 refugees in 2018, less than 1% of those applying, so that there is not a sense of recasting Japan as a nation of immigrants or fulfilling any obligation to accept people from war torn nations. The problem Japan is facing is that 3 in 10 people are over 65 years old. In 2018 the population declined by 430,000, causing a need for job applicants. In fact cities and towns are looking for new ways to hire older workers who retired by offering flexible hours. ...