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The Sanders and Clinton campaigns work together to limit damage for party unity at the Philadelphia National Convention of the Democratic Party. This follows DNC email leaks showing DNC bias against Bernie Sanders.

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To preserve and protect the industrial base of America that was shipped overseas starting with Tim Cook and Apple in 2000, and without this industrial base the consequences not just in jobs and manufacturing knowhow lost forever but in loss of leadership of the Free World  which depends on industrial strength, the US president has to decide in 2025. A decision that comes after 25 years of deindustrializing America. DJT says- “I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else." “When they build their plant here, there’s no tariff, so they’re going to be building plants here. But I had an understanding with Tim that he wouldn’t be doing this. He said he’s going to India to build plants. I said, ‘That’s okay to go to India, but you’re not going to sell into here without tariffs,’ and that’s the way it is,”  “The iPhone, if they’re going to sell it in America, I want it to be built in the United States.”  ...

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Forecasts show global oil output exceeding demand by 630,000 barrels a day for the fourth quarter of 2012. This is partly the result of extra oil supplies coming in from Saudi Arabia to counter the situation with Iran at the same time as oil demand is slowing with the economic slowdown in the U.S., Europe and China. Prices of crude declined to $85.73 a barrel on the Nymex, and $107.85 for Brent crude on the ICE Futures Exchange on Oct. 24, 2012. Goldman Sachs cut the 2013 price forecast for Brent crude to $110 a barrel from $130. Earlier the QE III monetary easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve had rallied oil prices because of a weakening of the dollar.

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Jack Hough points out the problem with TIPS, Treasury Inflation Protected Securities. The CPI-U that is used to calculate the inflation for TIPS is not representative of inflation for the average household. It understates the cost of gasoline, tution increases for kids in school, and price increases for prescription medicines. Prescription drugs have a weighting of only 1.25%, college tution only 1.53%. The CPI-U index went up by about 3.9% in 2011, and at the same time the gasoline portion increased by 33%, for households spending a lot on commuting to work. Another problem is slowing inflation- with inflation slowing to 2%. Compared to TIPS the alternative of dividend payments by cash rich companies with secure market positions are a better hedge against inflation.

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The controversy surounding Greece's purchase of submarines from Germany costing about 1 billion euros. This at a time when public pensions are being reduced by 5%. A vice admiral of the Greek navy resigned in protest citing this reason, and it is reported that the deals are politically motivated, with the Greek deputy prime minister saying that he feels "national shame" about the decision to buy the submarines. Reports question whether the German and French effort to rescue Greece involves efforts to continue military sales to Greece. Chancellor Merkel denies this. In a visit to Athens Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan said that both Greece and Turkey do not need fighter planes and submarines, and need to reduce military spending to help build their economic future.

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Economists at Goldman and Citigroup see a loss of another 2 million jobs, with job losses into 2010, for total job losses of about 4 million jobs, even after the jobs saved or created of 2.5 million jobs from the large stimulus of $700 billion that the Obama administration is said to be planning. A lot depends on smart policy from the new Obama administration because it will require enough stimulus and public investment to break the loop of falling unemployment, and at the same time allow private investment and business to get back to work with new investments in plant and equipment without getting bogged down in industrial policy with the government trying to do alot more than it is capable of.

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The migrants moving north from Central American countries is a result of gangs taking control of neighborhoods with extortion rackets and little control from the authorites. In one country San Salvador gangs control most of the nation's municipalities. Unlike the drug gangs these gangs a residual of the guerilla wars in these countries and other gangs, operate in their own neighborhoods. As  this report points out the gangs employ about three times as many people as the largest 2 employers in San Salvador Hanes Brands and Fruit of the Loom. The cost of this is about $4 billion or 16% of GDP according to the country's central bank with a major loss being human, losing the best people and lost investment.

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Half of the 17 percentage points of lower investment in Britain between 2016 and 2023 came from administrative barriers with EU and of Brexit. Britain had deindustrialized and hoped to get growth from so called "clever industries" such as finance, media, and higher education. The Tories party led by Johnson and then Sunak painted a rosy picture for Britain leaving the European Union and doing better without it by working with China and the US and connecting to global supply chains. They ignored the actual facts of the globalization cycle reversing itself leaving Britain exposed in the storm.The slump in investment from Brexit hit Britain hard, the Ukraine war meant higher prices for energy imports from Norway and the US. The result is that only about half percentage point of 2 percent cumulative GDP growth in Britain between 4th qtr 2019 and 4th qtr 2023 came from jobs growth compared to about 3.75% in the EU economies. Eurozone growth at 4% was twice that in UK, and the US with higher productivity and job growth was growing at four times that in UK and twice that in EU at 8% over this period. ...

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Angela Merkel of Germany and other EU leaders decided to back "global supply chains" and declined to support the EU Commission in Brussels at a virtual summit attended by 27 leaders of the EU states. It was also attended briefly by Joe Biden. Ursula von Leyen said 21 million doses of vaccine had been shipped from EU to Britain, of which 1 million were from Astra Zeneca and the rest from Pfizer and other makers of vaccines. A total of 77 million doses made in the EU wer shipped to 33 countries since 1 December 2020. Governments of Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium and Sweden were not in favor of blocking shipments from the UK because of the effect on supply chains. Pfizer is strongly opposed to the move to block shipments. Merkel emphasized the need to respect the global supply chains while making efforts to ensure EU countries get a fair share of vaccine supplies. The problems of UK vs Britain on vaccine supplies comes from the yield problems at a Belgium plant of Astra Zeneca and the company's refusal to divert supplies from the UK. Of the 120 million promised only 30 million could be delivered to EU. The UK's contract with Astra Zeneca states that supplies from its plants in Oxford and Staffordshire must be delivered to Britain first. The UK is facing an acute shortage of second doses even though it has given 31 million jabs. At this time 45 out of 100 people in the UK have jabs, compared with 13 out of 100 in the EU.   ...

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Here are some ways to make for a better day at work.  1. Have what is called a "monk-mode" morning when you just keep out all phone calls and focus on "deep work," without distractions. Every little distraction in the form of a call or some other interruption has its costs in terms of having to refocus and not being able to concentrate on the task at hand as it deserves. 2. Have "meeting-free" days. These are days that you can focus, concentrate on tasks without distraction of meetings. Have walking meetings and meetings where you can walk out in the open for fresh air and some exercize. And no phones at meetings. 3. Replace reading with presenting powerpoint presentations. Have people write out their ideas for others to read so that discussion can be engaged and effective. Amazon CEO Bezos never believed in powerpoint presentations and required staff to write so that they could in the process improve on the clarity of their thinking. 4.  Have weekends free of email. This reduces the stress of workers under a manager who spend time writing and answering emails over weekends when they could replenish their energies and come back charged up on Monday morning for a fresh start on a new week. 55. Grab a coffee with a colleague and do some one on ones talking as one walks around the offices. This was done by Intel's Andy Grove as an effective way to get things done eliminating some of the need for formal meetings. This also provides an opportunity for casual conversation Also laugh and socialize in different ways.       ...

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A man with a handgun and magazine of ammunition is shot by federal law enforcement officer on Jan. 24, 2026 as protestors confront federal law enforcement officers in Minneapolis. Earlier federal law enforcement in California, and in other states, Washington DC, Nashville Tennessee, have led to protests but not of the kind in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis is a state with liberal views yet it also has a strange mix as it was in Minneapolis that local police shot an unarmed black man during the Covid epidemic. This time it is not local police in that role but local police under the orders of the state and local authorites, the mayor and state governor Frey and Walz, not cooperating with the federal law enforcement of immigration law in the US that seeks to remove migrants with crime records from the US neighborhoods and streets. Walz was selected by Kamala Harris to run on the Democratic ticket for president in the US against DJT and Vance in 2025. Republicans allege serious fraud in Minnesota and misuse of state funds that have added to the dangerous mix of politics in the state, that is found nowhere else in America. From the Republican point of view unwanted migrants from certain unstable countries with criminal records were allowed to settle in the state. Democrats and Democrat media are not cooperating as the national elections in the US were lost on just this issue of migrants illegal entry numbering about 7 million over the last administration of Biden with costs to the US of over $110 billion in federal and local funds. No one knows where this will end up yet the view world wide over migration is moving to safe neighborhoods and safe streets as essential human rights, essential women's rights, essential rights of all Americans and all Europeans, that the problems of failed states cannot be solved on American or European soil. The Monroe Doctrine was put in place for just this reason as respecting Russia as a power in its area of influence in Northern Europe means no intervention by Russia or  China in the western hemisphere, so that the US never faces the situation of Guatemala and central American states, or of Venezuelan failed states in sending millions in a stream through Mexico for illegal entry on US southern border. Overall US policy, domestic and foreign has changed to ensure safety wellbeing in the US as the first and only priority for all its citizens and the sum of good citizenship the main objective for the Nation. ...

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Softbank the epitome or synonym of waste on a huge scale of capital allocation for the last 2 decades in massively distorted capital markets when healthcare, childcare, manufacturing technologies and infrastructure is suffering from lack of funding, is hit with a loss of $23 billion for the second quarter which was one and half times the loss of the first quarter. As the WSJ reports Softbank and Masayoshi Sen was delirious in his own words during the tech booms of the last 20 years and its founder talked about bigger and bigger capital allocation even as productivity of capital declined rapidly. This happened astonishingly with little restraint in capital markets shown by participants even as healthcare in the ten years before the pandemic was not adequately funded, and education, infrastructure, manufacturing technologies were neglected which would have provided better returns on capital and served the interests of the American people and the world in a way that would have been said was well done had this been done. This went on astonishingly right into the pandemic period. Investments of about $50 billion were made in tech startup companies in 2021.  ...

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The president says of the remarks by the former president about European countries that do not meet defense budget needs that Russia could then do what the hell it wants, that it was un-American and strange. Biden said- "History is watching. History is watching. History is watching. Failure to support Ukraine at this critical moment will never be forgotten." He also pointed out that most of the $60 billion in military aid will be spent in the United States, it will create American jobs, it will renew the defense infrastructure of the US that is needed. Senator Tillis, Republican of North Carolina also said this on the floor of the Senate in the bipartisan Senate. effort. The House of Representatives led by a small faction in the Senate has changed Speakers 3 times, and the new Speaker Mike Johnson from Louisiana lacks extensive experience and is in this role for a few months. He is now faced with deciding how to move forward even with president's call to have a vote immediately on the biparitsan approval in the Senate for $91 billion in aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan that passed 70-29 with 22 Republicans voting for. ...

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WSJ interview with Narendra Modi before he meets Joe Biden at the White House. This interview talks about India seeking larger role in world affairs, about Indian democracy. Seen from inside India the perspective is different. India is at the same stage where China was in 1990-2000 with the rising aspirations of a billion people, Japan in the Meiji period in 1900. It is all about jobs, investment, technologies and manufacturing on a scale that surpasses China in that period with newer technologies to meet the rising aspirations of 1.4 billion people. China's trade with the US was three times higher than the Indian trade with the US in 2022, India desperately wants to catch up and fast. The Danish ambassador to India was asked what he saw in India today and he said it was the rising confidence of people that struck him most. The digitalization that has changed the way government benefits are provided to 1.4 billion people and opened bank accounts for all, provided delivery of services to all parts of the population. The infrastructure that is being built at breakneck pace, and new colleges and universities expanding access to quality education, healthcare.   ...

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US ceasefire proposal July 3, 2025 for Gaza accepted by Israel and Gaza/Palestine. An end to Gaza/Palestine war July 3, 2025 with US Egypt UAE mediators after months of fighting that have left Gaza in ruins, Iran and proxies in disarray, and leadership in Gaza changing three times. This opens up a path for humanitarian help to the population of Gaza/Palestine, ending hostage crisis, and finding a new path to Palestine/Gaza living in peace with its neighbors, Egypt, Israel, UAE and Gulf States.  It marks the end of another chapter of failures in the wars of the Middle East starting with Afghanistan/Pakistan under Reagan and Soviet leader Brezhnev on opposite sides, then Iraq/Iran interventions under Reagan/Bush/Bush first on one side then on the other, Afghanistan/9/11 under Bush Jr., Syria under Obama and Trump, Iraq/ISIS under DJT, and Afghanistan closure under Biden, Iran/Gaza/Israel under DJT second term. Forty Five Years War is an appropriate term reminiscent of the Thirty Years War in Europe in the 17th century, this one that destroyed Soviets and the American administrations priorities of Reagan to Biden 1980-2025. ...

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For 51 million seniors over 65 years the $4000 added deduction in the Big Beautiful Bill 2025 would take the standard deduction for married to $40,000 a year in 2025 and $41,100 in 2026.This is in lieu of eliminating the tax on social security benefits entirely which was originally considered but could not be done under the budget reconciliation rules used to pass this DJT budget. For married taxpayers it is phased out after reaching $250,000 of income. What does $4000 provision over 65 years cost? It costs $66 billion over 3 years, and needs renewal in 2028. Eliminating taxes on social security benefits entirely would cost $1.4 trillion over 10 years or over 3 years $420 billion with a lot of it going to income earners with income over $100,000 or $150,000. It makes sense that this was avoided, and the political appeal being still in place for an ideal situation where when it comes to social security where middle class incomes of $200,000 are not taxed-as consider that it costs that much to just have a middle class life in these costly times.  ...

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After a gap of $25 at times between Nymex and Brent crude prices in 2011 and 2012, the gap is now about $9 in Feb 2014. Analysts expect this gap to narrow further as U.S. bottlenecks ease and prices increase due to low inventories.

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The leading Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Elizabeth Warren, says she is eager to work with DJT, Tim Scott and Republicans in Congress to make life affordable for working families and to rebuild the middle class. She says Republicans and Democrats have thir reasons for th housing shortages and hgih costs of housing, and both are right. Republicans pointing to the supply shortage and Democrats pointing to the price fixing and corporate landlords.

On DJT proposing to cap credit card interest rates at 10% Warren says she will work with Republicans to make it happen.

Warren cites personal experience as reason she is at her job. Her dad lost his job and almost lost his home. This is why in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis caused by banks engaging in speculation she says she became Senator and why she is fighting to make life affordable for all Americans.

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Politicians, militant groups, intelligence agencies and security forces, unsettle the Kashmir valley, at a time when Pakistan faces a serious economic crisis, and India faces a slowing down and inflation also. Changing the demography of Kashmir and the dispute over 99 acres seems rather phony and it shows that political unrest can be whipped up when there is such a long legacy of conflict even when the conditions worldwide in developing Asian countries are shifting to modernization.