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In this report WSJ looks at US Treasury Secretary's warning to China about its role in the free world and its position in the international trading system and the obligations to human values that come with it. Janet Yellen is so well known as head of the Federal Reserve and as US Treasury Secretary that it is easy to forget her experience at Yale studying under James Tobin who supported meeting social goals, whom she calls a life long mentor. Tobin set the foundations for economic policy in the Kennedy administration in the early post war period, after working in the Franklin Roosevelt administration during the war. Social goals, business paying its fair share of taxes, building infrastructure, were all a part of the FDR and Kennedy-Johnson administration.  It is also easy to forget that Yellen set the foundations for economic policy under Clinton and then under Obama administration the period when social goals were not met, infrastructure was neglected, globalization meant shipping jobs and factories overseas to China, and lack of financial oversight over banks that led to the 2009 financial crisis. The contradiction made Yellen realize only late during the Obama administration how much of a diversion she had taken from the social goals of the FDR-Truman-Kennedy post war period.  As one of the architects of the economic policy underpinning the emergence of China's role as the factory of the world, that destroyed many working class communities in the US, Yellen is in the economic role that Merkel shares in world of political economy with her integration of the German economy with that of China. Today as she calls for a retreat to the values shared by her mentor James T, Tobin and of FDR and Truman as they responded to the Berlin Crisis in the aftermath of 1945, and the Korean War with large scale invasion of South Korea and the kind of refugee crisis that we see today in Ukraine, there is much room for reflection. Reflection on what was lost in the intervening years of the Bush-Clinton and Obama years that led to the situation that the free world faces with totalitarianism today.   ...

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Tom Donilon, is national security advisor to President Obama. His experience includes working as chief of staff for Warren Christopher in the Clinton administration, and 8 years as an executive at Fannie Mae before being brought into the Obama circle by Rahm Emmanuel as deputy to national security advisor Gen. Jones. Robert Gates view was that Donilon would be "a disaster." His early experience as a political operative for the Carter campaign to his work for the 1988 Biden presidential campaign, and work at Fannie Mae as a business executive, suggests lack of experience in foreign affairs needed for this role. A focus on efficiency and being able to sync with Obama's thinking on foreign affairs may not be the qualities needed in this critical role.

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Maggie Haberman has covered Donald Trump from the period before he ran for president in 2016. Here she looks back at this period and reflects on the trial in New York with Judge Merchan, the campaign trail, and reflects on what it all means today to the people of the 51 states. She says it shows a former president who sees his best days in the 1980's when the Trump Tower was built, the connections with the New York elites who at once ignored and embraced this new view of the world and a place for greed in this world. It is also a period that began with Reagan Bush and the start of the Iran Iraq wars, the Bush war in Afghanistan, the Clinton embrace of economics that led to decline in US manufacturing, the 2009 financial crisis and Obama's continued war in Afghanistan- a period of decline in standard of living of the American people and failure to invest in essential infrastructure to improve quality of living.

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Krugman points out that the high growth during Jeb Bush's period as governor of Florida was a result of the housing boom years. When that boom collapsed by 2008 the economy slumped badly. Taken as an average for the boom and slump years Florida's growth rate is slightly below the national average, says Krugman. Economists and other experts say productivity is a key factor for increasing wages and growth, which is a result of factors depending on the use of technology, business investment in productivity, human capital. It is stuck at a low level of 0.4% since 2010, according to economists, and not a factor that is dependent on who is president. During the two terms of president Obama growth was 2.1%, George H.W. Bush 2.0%, George W. Bush 1.6%- making the Bush and Obama years in office similiar in terms of growth. Before 2000 we see higher growth rates under a Republican president Reagan 3.4% and a Democratic president Clinton 3.7%. A significant factor since 2008 is the financial crisis and housing bubble which has in many countries such as Japan and Mexico, and to a lesser extent in the U.S., led to a lost decade....

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The foreign policy establishment and the Obama administration is caught completely by surprise by the protests in Egypt against the 30 year rule of Mubarak. Secretary of State Clinton makes shifting statements on the protests. The WSJ editorial reminds the state department that support for democratic government worked in the Philippines and S. Korea. The Journal points to the state department realists who opposed President Bush's efforts to reach out to civil society groups inside Egypt. And refers to US Ambassador Frank Ricciardone's admiration for President Mubarak and his downplaying of US support to democracy for Egypt. The Wall Street Journal in this editorial concludes by saying it can't see how the US can walk away from supporting those who favor more pluralism in politics.

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The majority report of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commisssion says Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke, regulators, and several financial institutions were responsible for what was an "avoidable disaster." The report criticizes Mr Greenspan for advocating deregulation and considers the failure to stem the flow of toxic mortgages under his leadership at the central bank as a "prime example" of negligence. The report also says that the New York Fed under Timothy Geithner, now Treasury Secretary, also missed signs of trouble at Citigroup and Lehman. There are 6 Democrats and 4 Republicans on the Commission. The fourth Republican has his dissent, calling policies to promote home ownership, the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a major cause. The panel was hobbled by internal divisions and staff turnover, which have made what should have been a report of major significance into one marred by partisan differences. The majority report itself was heavily shaped by Phil Angelides, the committee's chairman, and it has many literary phrases. Overleveraging was a critical factor in the crisis. For every $40 in assets, the US's 5 largest investment banks had only $1 in capital to cover losses. The banks hid their leveraging with derivatives, off-balance sheet entities and other devices. The banks relied heavily on short-term debt which worsened the crisis. The report also said the Clinton adminstration's decision to exempt over-the counter derivatives from regulation- made in the last year of Clinton's term- also helped set up the ground for later events leading to the crisis....

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Closest to president Biden in 2024 is Ted Kaufman who sat next to Biden on these trips from the US Senate to his home in Delaware over three decades in Amtrak trains. Ted Kaufman 82, was Biden's Senate chief of staff from the early days when the youngest senator at 32 years started his 5 term Senate run in 1970. He is described by Biden's sister as Biden's alter ego. Kaufman was with the president during the 2020 run for president. In 2009 as Biden assumed the role of vice president Kaufman was made junior senator for Delaware in Biden's place. The other two who are in their late sixties are Ron Klain who was Biden's chief of staff at the White House till 2023. And Mike Donilon 69 years, who is the closest to the president today in his day to day work. He decamped from the White House in January 2024 to get a view from the outside so essential as the mood of the country changes and failures are not so clear from the inside, and  which must be addressed.  The younger group includes Jake Sullivan who the president has used with Tony Blinken to get his domestic policy reflected in foreign policy and economic policy. Of the older advisers Donilon must have addressed with Biden in turn migration and the border, the cost of living and the pandemic recovery residual effects that have affected the middle and lower class, the effects of world affairs in domestic politics. Dnilon says many presidents fail to answer the question "why are you running" with a direct answer. For Biden it is about the preservation of democracy and freedom. Donilon is a University of Virgina law graduate who worked in the Carter, Clinton and Obama White House. He even helped Carter phase into civilian life after his presidency. As chief of staff to Warren Christopher Clinton's Secretary of State. He was Obama's NSA adviser till 2013. He has a treasure trove of experience. Tony Blinken worked under him at the State Department showing the close connections Biden has with his extended group of advisers. This includes Anita Dunn communications, Steve Ricchetti Capitol Hill, Bruce Reed policy advice.   ...

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Clinton backs Obama, with a "No Way, No How, No McCain" call at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, on August 26, 2008.

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"We will never abandon the American worker and her community wherever it is located," says president Biden's head of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). He tells the Economic Policy Institute that many economists had questioned the policies that hurt American workers even as early as 1996. He joined EPI in 1992 and says he has followed the trade debate since then and heard the warnings as China entered the WTO in 2001 after years of negotiations in the last year of the Clinton administration.  Common sense questions were asked- Why asked Thea Lee now at the Labor Department is it good to have protection of intellectual property rights but not labor rights under NAFTA. On TPP and FTA's or free trade agreements in general he who writes the rules gets to benefit from them. Free trade having far less to do with free trade as generalized is the first thing he noticed when coming to Washington. Certain business groups captured the task of writing the rules in TPP  to benefit them.   ...

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The Democratic Party faces a split in 2015 between Elizabeth Warren likely to focus on income inequality and Hillary Clinton expected to focus on broader issues.

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A Delaware judge rescinds a compensation agreement for Elon Musk saysing he is too close to directors on the Board. The compensation $55.8 billion, a number that is a reflection of how how deep the swing has been from the FDR.Truman/Eisenhower/Kennedy period to the Reagan/Clinton/Obama era when the United Auto Workers are just coming out of wages close to the poverty line in 2024 and Tesla workers encouraged by the UAW agreement are pushing for better wages in Europe. The hidden truth is that just as there was a consensus in the country, and from Republicans and Democrats in one direction there has been a consensus in the completely opposite direction, this time flawed and dangerous by not giving workers the benefits of their hard work and long hours during the pandemic and after. As public awareness increases a new consensus and culture is emerging supported by the words and message of Abe Lincoln and going back to George Washington's warnings about extremes and lack of fairness. ...

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The battle of Dien Bien Phu has another significance as looking back it was not the cold war conflict with the soviets but a struggle for freedom and independence from French colonial rule. The conflict cast a shadow over the Kennedy administration, and after John Kennedy lost his life in Dallas, led to a loss of Kennedy's vision of the New Frontier, ideas that were lost for 4 decades of mediocre or inexperienced leaders from Nixon to Clinton, Bush and Obama and Trump that embroiled America in distant wars and wasted resources needed at home for infrastructure and needs of the people. FR24 looks back at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu 1954, that gave Vietnam freedom from colonial rule and independence. The French ended their rule and Vietnam was divided into 2 states. The US was drawn into the struggle by support and advisers to the new government in the South. Just 6 months after Dien Bien Phu the French were faced with another conflict with the Algerian war of independence that went on till 1962. In the South Vietnam situation it happened in the backdrop of the struggle of the US with the Soviet Union and the People's Republic founded by Mao in 1949, called the Cold War. In 1956 Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest to crush the Hungarian revolution. It is in this context that president Kennedy was pulled into the conflict of North and South Vietnam. Would Kennedy in a second term have handled it differently than Lyndon Johnson who with the Tonkin resolution had America drawn into the conflict left behind by the colonial French power. It is possible Kennedy would have handled it by consulting Congress and the people and looked for solutions outside Cold War conflict. The result and the end of Kennedy's term led to the vision of the New Frontier and Kennedy's imaginative leadership being forgotten with a series of mediocre presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump for three decades leaving America into expanded wars in Cambodia, Star Wars competition wit the Soviets, Iraq, Afghanistan and wasted America's resources, neglecting its infrastructure and needs of its people in health and education. ...

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Hillary Clinton holds a large margin over Bernie Sanders for favorability ratings with African Americans. The margin becomes smaller for African Americans who know about both candidates.

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Photos of industrial decline in the US with text by Helen Epstein, professor of human rights and public health in The Guardian. This was a period in the early 1980s when America's major industries in steel and other parts of the economy went into decline. Cities and towns across this vast land were left to decline with loss of jobs and with it decline in quality of life, decline in health, education, says Prof. Epstein, as the Democratic Party jettisoned its foundational principles. The term "Reagan Democrats" emerged in the late years of the Carter administration, and again after Clinton, Obama took the shape of the Trump vote. By 2021 the situation has reversed with the Democratic Biden administration putting forward a program for revival with his $1.8 trillion Families Plan for infrastructure and for the benefit of America's workers, students and families. What was a protest vote during 2016 is now taking new shape in the form of this plan for the renewal of America. ...

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The WSJ calls it a chaotic runup while conceding that the stated purpose was clearly to stop fentanyl and migrants coming across the US land Borders with Canada and Mexico. In reality its purpose is clear and it is the recalcitrant positions of Canada and Mexico and the failure of previous administrations since Clinton-Bush-Obama to act forcefully in the face of such an attitude that was the problem. Of what amounts to indifference from Canada and Mexico to fentanyl flows  and the destroying of America, that made it imperative for America to use all the powers at its disposal to get action to stop fentanyl and migrants.  These powers at America's disposal include economic power tariffs being one, and other powers as necessary, as no nation can long endure such indifferent attitudes to harm done against another for long. It is a lesson for America that what TR called carrying a big stick can be a problem when there is the complete opposite taking place.     ...

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Biden's record on taking America through the pandemic, and getting the largest vaccination program in history like that of prime minister Modi has been forgotten to some extent by the Nation and more by the media than the Nation. Decisions on supply chain concentration in China were made long before Biden for decades since Clinton and Bush, Obama and Trump, which caused the spurt of inflation and cost of living to 9% that has so disconcerted Americans on incomes below $100,000. Biden and Fed chairman Powell brought this down to 3% in 2023. Yet the cost of living in housing and transport has lingering effects that lead to people describing Biden's record in a disparaging way as this title suggest, when it has through investments of trillions in aging dilapidated  infrastructure and in renewable energy, chips, science given America a pathway to a bright vision for the future. It is left to Kamal Harris to communicate this vision and what it offers for America's future. ...

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This view in WSJ about Trump the candidate being no different in 2024 than eight years back in 2016, by Gerard Baker, gets 3813 Comments from Readers. It says Trump today in 2024 is no different than in 2016, only then he faced a candidate Hillary Clinton who had spent so much time in endless foreign travel as Secretary of State, that she had lost touch with the American people. In that situation Trump prevailed and that by only 90,000 votes in 3 states. Baker comes to this conclusion by reading carefully and objectively assessing the meaning of the Mar Lago interview that Trump gave last week. He says this time Trump is up against someone who is clearly in touch and and a seasoned politician. One that is able to give voters a chance to project on a clean slate whatever they want to see. This even though Kamala Harris has well known views from her days as Attorney General and Senator. Baker sees Trump lacking a coherent message and failing to provide a vision for the future, simply restating what was said before. ...

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When do Democrats support Republicans? When do Republicans support Democrats? Arrogance for one thing, belittling your opponents, not having that humility and listening skills essential to govern. Carter belittled Ted Kennedy for challenging him, his chief of staff Jordan ignored opponents. Clinton spent too much time outside the country as Secretary of State lost touch with working class people. Trump demeaned other Republicans- Esper, Milley, Bush Sr and Jr. and most painfull of all Senator Lankford. Trump came across in the debate with Harris as arrogant and demeaning to Harris.  The hero today is Republican Senator Lankford who authored critical immigration legislation, loyalty to Nation. Profiles of Courage by John F. Kennedy was written in 1954, and covers Republicans and Democrats in Congress over 175 years who had the courage and humility to question the accepted views even at the risk of being set aside by a overzealous public.  ...

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Donald Trump, has consistently tried to capitalize on the changing demographics and economic conditions in the country during the primaries by embracing a neglected white working class on issues such as trade, wages and jobs. He now has taken on the issue of law and order. In his acceptance speech Trump once again used a canny ability to sense the public mood, in the summer following the Orlando shootings, the Nice attacks, and the Baton Rouge police shootings, by calling himself "the law and order candidate in this race for the White House." He touched on the police shootings and terrorism by making the centrepiece of his speech- "Our convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation. The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our way of life."  The speech ended by Trump saying "I am your voice." By embracing the major issues in a way a skilled politician would do using his years of experience on the Apprentice television show with catchy slogans and phrases; long before the other candidates had caught on, and using the language of ordinary people, on trade, wages, jobs, terrorism, Trump has galvanized this portion of voters. He also made an appeal to Bernie Sanders voters. The distance between working class voters and other candidates who feel neglected on issues of wages and jobs, and are also most open to issues of law and order and terrorism, was the story of the Republican primaries. Whether this carries over to the broader electorate- as less than 20% of the eligible voters in the Republican primaries voted to give Trump wins in the primaries- and how well Hillary Clinton has held onto traditionally Democratic white working class voters that Trump is appealing to, will affect the 2016 elections. As this piece in the Guardian points out Trump has it well on touching on all the right buttons for which he has a canny ability, but will the American voters look for more in terms of experience and other factors, and Hillary's own fighting spirit, may affect this unusual election.   ...