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The documentary "Last Train Home," directed by Lixin Fan, shows the life of migrant workers and their families in China. Fan sporadically spent 3 years with one family, Zhang Changhua and Cheng Suqin, to capture glimpses of this family's life as one of China's 130 million migrant workers. The family left a village in Sichuan province, to work in a factory in Guangzhou, which manufactures denim jeans. For 7 days a week -once working 15 hours a day for 29 days straight- the Zhang family works continuously, just to send money back home to the grandmother who raises 17 year old Qin and another child. The daughter is rebellious as she is resentful of the parent's absence. This is the story of migrant families throughout China, the quiet hidden ordeal, that is behind the cheap products available in western countries. And Fan documents this well with scenes at the railway station, as the family catches the last trains back to Sichuan, for the yearly trip back to the village. There is a whole society in transition, and there are many sides to this story, this is the human one of families caught up in this transition. Lack of farm subsidies and taking over of farmland for building and construction has hurt life in agricultural areas. The Communist party has made dissent difficult. And the imposition of a decades old registration system that denies education and social services to migrant workers from the villages, creates huge strains on family life. Fan says- before the showing of this film at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village- that he hopes to raise questions in the minds of viewers. Does the blame for this go to the government, the factory owners and companies, or the West, something Fan says he is not able to answer. That there is little official opposition to the film- in the same manner that the suicides at Hon Hai, and the factory conditions there and in other factories across China, are being freely reported- suggests that China is coming to terms with the different angles from which to view the economic transition that has taken place over the last two decades. It is also a belated recogniton of the whole range of questions raised by a singleminded policy of manufacturing for western markets, especially when these markets with debt-laden consumers may present huge uncertainty in the future....

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Jennifer Lind, associate professor at Dartmouth, says the right policy for the Abe administration is to follow Defence Minister, Itsunori Onadera's apology for Osaka Mayor Hashimoto's remarks about "comfort women" during the war period. Onadera said, Hasimoto had caused misunderstanding and mistrust in Japan's neighbors with his imappropriate remarks about the history of Japan, and emphasized previous apologies of the Japanese people. A senior Chinese delegate Zhou Bo of the Defense Ministry to the Singapore regional security forum, where Onadera made his statement, stated that Onadera's remarks pointed towards a optimistic future for the region. Editorials in the WSJ have consistently pointed out what Lind says in her op-ed- that the Japanese people support for the Abe administration is based on its efforts for achieving economic recovery and not for creating tensions in the region with neighbors. This also is evidently the policy of the U.S. government and its European allies.

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The yen strengthened to 88 yen to the dollar, the strongest in 13 years, and Hirohisa Fujii, the new Finance Minister said that the government would not step in to weaken the yen even if it went up further. Thomas Harr a foreign exchange strategist at Standard Chartered in Singapore says the elections were a big boost for the yen. It created a new environment in Japanese politics for the first time since World War II as the LDP party was swept out of power. The hope is that by moving away from dependence on exports and reviving the domestic economy Japan can turn the page to a new chapter in its economic growth, away from the stagnation of the last two decades. But its a tricky balancing act between exporters and the domestic consumer.

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GE is selling three of its healthcare units in India to its venture with Wipro, third largest Indian software and IT company. The idea is to develop products faster. The units are Medical Systems India, Life Sciences and Medical Diagnostics.

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Diet consultant Tallmadge says be careful about reduced fat peanut butter, enhanced water, energy bars and multigrain foods. She says reduced fat peanut butter is worse than ordinary peanut butter because it takes away the nutrients in the oil. Enhanced water can be nothing more than sugary drinks with vitamin added, better to drink clean tap water. Sugar is a major ingredient in energy bars. Better to snack on fruits and veggies and yogurt, or carry nuts and dried fruits if hiking or doing outdoor activity. And watch out for the marketing words saying its multigrain, what you want is whole grain not refined starch. Don't be fooled by the marketing of the packaged foods industry, check the ingredients carefully, because labels such as "low fat," "high fiber," "multigrain," and "natural," don't mean much. Eating right starts with selecting food carefully and diligently, and goes a long way in preventing many of the diseases and problems coming out of poor eating habits.

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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's inspector general points to significant flaws in reporting of equipment problems at U.S. nuclear plants. There is ambiguity in the reporting requirements, with one section Part 21 of the reporting law requiring reporting defects that can cause a loss of safety functions, and another section requiring reporting only the actual loss of safety functions. As a result 28% of the nuclear plants are not reporting safety defects in equipmment unless this leads to an actual breakdown. This represents an unacceptable level of risk for nuclear plant operations, and the inspector general calls for increasing the margin of safety. In fact the NRC is aware of these lapses in reporting since 2009. NRC has identified 24 such instances between Dec 2009 and Sept 2010, and yet no penalties have been assessed or corrective action taken to make the law clear about the reporting requirements. The lack of a good reporting system complicates things further, because early indentification of defects and defect resolution for equipment problems is critical to effective quality assurance for nuclear operators. Safety defect spotted at one plant could come up in other plants. For this reason the Inspector General's report calls this "a substantial safety hazard."...

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The Sergei Magnitsky bill in the U.S. Congress which would impose visa and other restrictions on Russian officials involved in the imprisonment and death of Sergei Magnitsky.

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Russian prime minister Putin makes a road trip that stretches for 1,240 miles from Khabarovsk, near the Pacific coast, to Chita, a city near the Mongolian border. For half of the distance Putin drove a Russian made Lada compact, and for the other half he used a minivan. He seemed to be enjoying the trip shown on state media. The Wall Street Journal shows a picture of him filling gas in his yellow Lada car at a gas station somewhere in Siberia. Political analyst Alexei Makarkin, says the Medvedev-Putin partnership seems to work well, with Medvedev appealing to educated urban middle class, and Putin to the working classes with his informal style and manner. Driving on the soon to be completed Amur highway -which is historic because it links eastern and westen Russia for the first time- Putin was able to connect with local people and working class folk in small towns on the way.

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European Union and at its heart Germany cut oil and gas use by 25% over a short period. The WSJ looks at one company that makes agricultural machinery such as harvester combines in Germany, and how it did this. The lesson from this experience- long dependent on cheap oil and gas supplies from Russia Germany was not expected to bounce back and cut its use sharply, when prices of Russian gas increased 20 fold. Not only did this German company slash gas use by 30% by making technical changes in how the machinery operated, and by using oil pipes, storing LNG from other countries such as Britain and Norway.  A 6% decline in sales to eastern and central Europe was offset by a 35% growth in sales in the US. By pivoting to the US German manufacturers have increased sales. The US has also become a major supplier of LNG to Europe. This makes it possible for Germany to conduct its own policies free of the kind of influence Russia exerted on Europe. So what does the CEO of German company Claas say about this experience- he says the export model is robust but in a different form with the US Europe's and Germany's biggest partner. The lesson of the past few years says CEO Bock- "Don't be dependent on one country." Not Russia, and not China. ...

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Emmanuel Macron graduated from Sciences Po University in 2004 with a degree in public affairs. He joins the Finance Ministry as an inspector and then buys himself out of government service contract by 2008 to join a private bank. He arranges an acquisition from Nestle and other business deals during this period. In 2012 he is appointed as deputy secretary general for the president's office after Francois Hollande a socialist is elected to the presidency. In 2014 he is offered the position of Minister of Industry and Digital Affairs in the second Manuel Valls government. He makes some changes to French government but opposes the wealth tax or tax on business, and is generally pro-business, though he acts as a member of the Socialist party.  He uses this period to build momentum for his own run for the presidency as support for Hollande falters having lost support from his working class base with Macron and Valls inspired changes.  Macron finally announces he will run for the presidency forming his own En Marche movement which he finances with his own fund raising. Throughout this period right up to the election in 2017 Macron has not run for public office. When he wins the presidency in that year he lacks the experience needed as the youngest president in French history at the age of 39. Like another young president Obama he handles his public image with the media for his En Marche movement promising to unblock France. This public image and his lack of experience makes him impervious to the social changes going on in France that lead to the yellow vest protests in 2018. This is a period when there are changes in the midwest as workers in Michigan and other midwestern states turn away from Hillary Clinton and Obama.  French workers are in the position of workers in the US with the decline of manufacturing, much of it shifted with the supply chain to China and Japan, and the gap opening between rural and urban tech educated areas. Macron follows Obama's quick rise from Senator to run for president yet lacks experience, and lacks sufficient grasp of the social changes with loss of manufacturing, the wide gaps between rural and urban tech educated people, conditions in the rural and farming areas. Macron survives this period, is reelected in 2022 with the help of socialist Melenchon voters. He says he will govern differently, less distant from average Frenchmen, but his instincts are to push for pension reform. At a time of cost of living crisis, and when the French budget office says the change in pension from 62 to 64 was not critical at the present time when inflation was hitting the public after the pandemic. Macron does this by Article 49 in the way he has done under the Manuel Valls government, by executive action alone. This time he faces a no confidence motion in parliament in March 2023 following some of the largest protests France has seen in years, with two thirds of the French according to FR24 opposing the change in pension law. Women see this as coming at a time when age discrimination hurts their chances of earning a living after 50 years of age.  Age discrimination is widespread in France, in a way it is not in Germany, say reports in the NYT. And with the cost of living crisis acts as a major hurdle for the average French person, if pensions are delayed without addressing these cultural issues in France. The result is that the protests have substance and Macron is seen as not sensitive to this at a time when he lacks a majority in parliament. ...

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China's premier, Wen Jiabao, opened the National People's Congress, annual meeting of the Chinese parliament, by saying that China had lowered its growth rate to 7.5% from 8%. GDP growth for 2011 was 9.2%. Wen set an inflation target of 4%. The CPI index increased by 5.4% in 2011. Wen set 14% growth target for M2, China's broadest measure of money supply.

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More flexiblity from Secretary Paulson as Senate leaders on a bipartisan basis get restless about the lack of Chinese action on their currency to help reduce the US trade deficit and protect US jobs and manufacturing. One of the arguments they will manufacture elsewhere samer goods imported from Chia may not hold because places like India and Vietnasm have weak infrastructure and are just now getting started so its difficult for them to replace Chinese goods in the very near term. The other point mentioned here is that the strengthening of the euro has significantly helped the US trade deficit.

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Krugman says that Obama better warn the Chinese that they are playing a dangerous game with their currency. He says month after month of the suffering of unemployed workers in the USA is going to look very bad for the Chinese, at the same time as the trade deficit numbers soar again. He asks for urgency from the Obama administration in telling the Chinese to let their currency appreciate . See the related article by Niall Ferguson.

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Li Keqiang, China's new premier, is a member of the "Class of 77," who gained entry to Peking University when university entrance exams were reinstated after Mao's death. This is a period of great curiosity in China about the outside world. Li described it this way in 2008: "In this period knowledge was expanding with the speed of an explosion. I came here not just for knowledge, but to mold a kind of temperament, to master a kind of academic discipline." This he did by working extremely hard trying to master the English language and Western legal theory. He is now the only leader in China who can speak fluent English and is familiar with western concepts of law. For this he owes much to one of his professors, Gong Xiangrui, who studied at the London School of Economics in the 1930's and supported a multiparty system for China. Li was selected as one of the students to translate "The Due Process of Law" by Lord Denning, a British jurist. He spent the next 15 years in the Communist party's Youth League and moved up through the ranks. Many of the "Class of 77' " are still close friends and in academic positions in Singapore, Hong Kong and other universities. He understands the weaknesses in China's legal system because many of his close friends are lawyers, judges and law professors. Evidence of his intellectual openness, is his return to Peking University for a masters degree in economics years later, his thesis on urbanization, and his sponsorship through the Development Reform Commission think tank and the World Bank's Zoellick, of the report published in 2012, "China 2030." That report called for China to change course and reverse the role of state owned firms in the economy, giving consumers a bigger role. Like many of China's leaders this openness also meant during the period of turmoil of the Mao period and the decades following this, of a reticence to talk about political change that came over the entire country, in the words of the 2012 Chinese Nobel Prize Laureate's name, Mo Yan, a kind of "Don't Speak." Taking any kind of political position was simply too risky. The presence of 4 older Politburo members in their mid-60's who are close allies of former president Jiang Zemin and likely to preserve the status quo, also suggests a cautious approach in making changes. One key difference between Jinping- Keqiang from the Jintao-Wen Biao leadership is that Jinping has experience in provincial leadership positions in Hebei, and Keqiang was provincial leader in Henan, China's most populous province, as well as leader in industrial Liaoning province. By odd contrast Hu Jintao was a leader in the remote Tibet region and Wen Biao was a geologist in the northeast for many years. This gives the new leadership team a first hand knowledge of conditions in populous provinces, and the connections with the World Bank's Zoellick a kind of window to the outside that no other leader has had. Jiang Zemin, a former mayor of Shanghai, China' most westernized city in the 1930's and today, was himself a experimenter in his own right when he initiated the changes tht gave China entry into the World Trade Organization. His support of Xi Jinping gives Xi the needed backing for making change happen when the time comes....

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Consumer prices rose 0.2% in October 2010, compared to September 2010. This was almost entirely because of rising energy costs, leaving consumer prices almost flat, according to the Labor Department.