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The electricity grid in Africa is being strained by electricity demands of mining companies. Power outages are costing African economies as much as 2% of their GDP according to World Bank estimates. Energy shortages in South Africa are creating blackouts in South Africa and neighboring countries Botswana and Zambia and affecting the mining industry in these countries. South Africa's energy company Eskom is petitioning regulators for a hike of 50% in electricity prices to reduce demand. Shortages of electricity have increased prices of platiinum and other metals in the commodities industry. Mining in South Africa produces 7% of GDP but consumes 17% of the electricity leaving less for domestic consumption and for industry. Eskopm was late in ordering new plants not taking action till 2004. For Africa the total electricity generating capacity of 63 gigawats supplies 770 million people about what Spain generates for 40 million people. And the expression energy poor means that this shortage in urban areas means the rural poor wil have no electricity for decades to come. And in places like energy rich Port Harcourt Nigeria electricity is inconsistent or in dire shortage. An accountant at a construction firm in Dakar, Senegal has to choose between paying his child's school fees or paying for electricity, chooses to pay for electricity as prices have gone up by 88% in 3 years. And rural areas of Africa have little hope of electricity. This is another sign of how adverse effects of huge energy consumption in places like China and the wasteful consumption in the USA affect global energy prices and in turn affect the poorest in Africa. In places where the voices will never be heard. How boom times in some Asian and westen economies can lead to choices like fuel guzzling vehicles and energy wasteful plants in China that reverberate across Africa....

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Plans by France's Sarkozy government to increase the VAT (value added tax) to 19% from 16%, and reduce the amount companies have to pay for pensions and social welfare costs, making this up with the extra proceeds from the Social VAT. The argument is that imported products would take up part of the burden of the social welfare system. The Socialists who oppose the move say this will lead to lowering employee pay and a push by unions for higher wages, which will offset the benefits of such a move and reduce France's competitive edge in wages. As France faces a possible downgrade in its credit rating the focus has shifted on taking action in such areas as the Social VAT, and a move to allow working hours and pay to vary with demand. German competitiveness improved with action taken by the German government in these areas. Germany raised the VAT from 16% to 19% in 2007. Sarkozy will discuss these proposals with business and union leaders on January 18, 2011.

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After test driving a Tesla Roadster in California in April 2010, Akio Toyoda, Toyota CEO, asked a senior executive Ihara to test-drive Tesla's Model S prototype car. This has led to a deal between the two companies, Tesla Motors and Toyota. Under this deal Tesla will use the NUMMI manufacturing facilities in Fremont, California, to build the Model S electric car. Model S is Tesla version of an electric car that would fit high end customer's budget for an electric car. The Model S price is starts at $50,000. Before this Tesla build 1000 Roadster electric cars which cost $100,000 each. Tesla was given $465 million by the US governmet to make a car that would be closer to what car buyers pay for premium cars. As part of this deal Toyota will buy $50 million of Tesla stock after its IPO. Toyota will cooperate with Tesla in the development of electric car parts and production systems and engineering. Separately Toyota plans to bring its own electric car to the market by 2012.

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Jorg Asmussen, Germany's representative on the ECB'S Executive Board, will take the position of deputy secretary in the Labor Ministry in the new coalition government of Angela Merkel with the SDP. He moves to Berlin from Frankfurt to be close to his two small children and family, who continued to live in Berlin after Asmussen moved to Frankurt ECB headquarters. Germany is likely to nominate Sabine Lautenschlager, member of the executive board of the Bundesbank, to Asmussen's position on the executive board of the ECB. The ECB Governing Council, including the six member executive board and the heads of 17 central banks, will now have the first female member. Ms. Lautenschlager's expertise is in banking regulation, which is relevant today because of the ECB's new role as regulator of banks in the eurozone. Asmussen, who is from the SDP, assumes a position under Labor minister Andrea Nahles. He will be responsible for introduction of the national minimum wage, which was a key demand of the SDP for joining the coalition with Merkel....

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Something that Bernanke has studied for adecade and has spent time preparing for. He took the step yesterday to proceed with a $300 billion purchase of Treasurys by the Fed. The idea is to reduce long term borrrowing rates on consumer loans to corporate bonds that are benchmarked to Treasury bonds. By reducing the yields on Treasurys the Fed hopes to keep borrowing rates lower, now that it is clear from the jobless numbers of 500,000-600,000 a month that slack in manufacturing capacity will keep inflation down and risk deflation. The Fed will purchase Treasurys of 2 to 10 years maturity. THe Fed also increased its ceiling on purchases of mortgage backed securites guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie to $1.25 trillion from $500 billion previously laid out. So far Fed has purchased $69 billion of mortgage backed securities and committed to buying $148 billion more. It will increase the amount of Fannie and Freddie debt that it buys to $200 billion from $100 billion. So far to March 11, it has purchased $48 billion of their debt....

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The WSJ opinion section. WSJ points to the British plan as "a Plan -at Last", something that gets to the root of the crisis more than Paulson's plan to buy toxic assets. It will directly help to capitalize British Banks. The British govbernment will inject 50 billion pounds in return for preferred shares. It will guarantee 250 billion pounds in new debt issuance for those banks that participate in the recapitalization plan in order to secure their short term funding. And an additional $200 billion pounds is provided as additional liquidity through the Bank of England's Special Liquidity Scheme. And the British, the Fed, the Swedes, the Swiss, all lowered interest rates by half a point in a coordinated effort. Note that the British just as badly or even worse than the Americans binged and got drunk on debt and British banks were overleveraged to extreme. America is hardly the oonly scapegoat in this WSJ points out and reminds Brown that the five biggest British banks combined assets are about 4 times Britain's GDP. ...

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A locally produced ton of hot rolled coil steel in India, an industry benchmark, is up 42% in price to $675, since January 2008, when Tata unveiled the Nano. Raw materials account for a higher portion of the costs of making a car like the Nano, and account for 23% of the costs of making the Nano, according to consultants Global Insight. This means margins will be harder to preserve on the Nano. As Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata group of companies put it at a shareholder meeting July 24, "if we passed on all costs to the consumer, it will affect demand, and if we don't it will affect margins". Tata is accomodating suppliers like Rico Industries that make the engine blocks that use steel for increased costs of raw materials. Other costs also are going up. For new car loans the interest rates are between 14 and 16% and fuel prices are going up making the cost of operating the 50mpg Nano costlier for those riding motorcycles. Tata faces other higher costs, its managng director Ravi Kant says the project for the Nano plant in Singur is costing more. The $470 million invested so far is 18% more than it had projected in January and double the amount stated when the prject was started in 2006....

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Wal-Mart is expected to announce a five year plan to meet specific targets for lowering sodium, trans fats and aded sugars in a whole range of foods- including rice, soups, canned beans, salad dressings and snacks foods- in packaged foods sold under its house brand, Great Value. Other moves towards healthy foods are to move to eliminate the extra cost to consumers for healthy foods made with whole grains. It will also lower prices on fresh fruits and vegetables. This plan is similiar to other plans announced by companies such as Con Agra Foods which set a target of reducing sodium content in foods by 20% by 2015. New York City also has a public health initiative for healthy foods. another move by Wal-Mart is to get major food suppliers like Kraft, to follow the example set by Wal-Mart. Kraft sells 16% of its global sales through Wal-Mart. The move will be gradually introduced over five years which makes for slow progress, and the targets set for sugar reductions are much less than they should be, says Michael Jacobson, executive director of Center for Science in the Public Interest. Another serious drawback is that Wal-mart has not proposed to tackle the major cause of childhood obesity, which is the added sugars in soft drinks....

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The former commander of the NATO US forces in Europe 2014-2018, Gen. Ben Hodges, says the war could end in 2023 with air support to Ukraine. Hodges tells DW.com's Ines Pohl, that the only red line for Washington's support in Ukraine is "boots on the ground." Hodges says Ukraine must retake Crimea to maintain the international rules based order and the UN Charter.

About the Russian offensive in Feb 2023 Hodges says Russia was attempting to "surge" a new offensive but it does not have the capability to launch a "major' one. "They don't have the armored forces, the ability to break through," and that it will not change the "overall operational environment in Ukraine." This is the first serious assessment of the new phase in the war on an overall basis looking at the larger picture of Russian and Ukraine plus outside support capabilities. 

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Announcing that he would not attend the COP27 Summit in Egypt and then deciding to go shows a lack of commitment, says Mark Landler of Rishi Sunak's decision to finally attend the climate change meeting. Mr. Johnson is remembered for his clear support at COP26 in Glasgow and he will be attending the meeting in Egypt as a private citizen. The demotion of Mr. Alok Sharma by Sunak after his role in organizing the COP26 Summit in Glasgow also does not help. Mr. Ben Wallace, and Mr. Cleverly hold the Defense and Foreign Ministry positions in Sunak's cabinet and supported Mr. Johnson throughout and after Mr. Sunak withdrew his support leading to Mr. Johnson's resignation, says Landler. During a cost of living crisis, there is also a sense that there is not enough commitment from the Tories to meeting the challenges of ordinary families with support, in addition to problems of climate change remaining unaddressed under Mr. Sunak's leadership.

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India takes on the G20 presidency on December 1, 2023. Modi's phrase "this is not an era of war" becomes the classic part of India's vision for G20, that the next generation will miss out on development if conflict takes the place of cooperation. India stands firm on this point at the G20 and it is accepted by world leaders at the summit in Indonesia and makes it to the joint declaration as a key point. Modi also extended his hand to China's Xi Jinping showing where India stands. India's connections to Indonesia from ancient times, from the Buddhist and Hindu periods of Indian civilization, the connections to Hanuman that extend to Indonesia, were mentioned by Mr. Modi as he took on the role held by Mr. Widodo of Indonesia. India offers a new path forward and a lifestyle suited to the period of tackling climate change through its ancient Yogic civilization, Mr. Modi said.

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Ballooning debt at high interest rates under the Rajapaksa brothers government seen as a family dynasty has ruined Sri Lanka's economic prospects. The civil war did not need to happen as Sri Lankan or Ceylonese communities of Buddhist and Hindu faith had coexisted under British rule from 1802, and coexisted under Portuguese and Dutch rule since 1505. The combination of civil war, corruption, and mismanagement of finances, as well as mismanagement of agriculture, has hit Sri Lanka hard. In economic terms the several political dynasties from the Senanayakes, Bandaranaikes, and Rajapaksas have not served the country well just as the Nehru political dynasty has failed to deliver the kind of economic progress that China was making in the period 1990-2010. That period will be remembered mostly for missed opportunities. Today Indian states are struggling to free themselves from the trap of low aspirations, corruption, political families, as India's young people realize how much is being lost. Their aspirations are seeing a new surge with the passing of every year.   ...

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Janet Protasiewicz, a Democrat, wins 55% to 45% for Republican Daniel Kelly in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. This gives Democrats a one vote majority in the Supreme Court. It will mean a challenge of a 1849 abortion law and the redrawing of the electoral maps that gives Republicans  a majority in the state assembly. The governor is Democrat Tony Evers and the legislature in Wisconsin has a Republican majority.  States in the midwest such as Michigan and Wisconsin played a part in Mr. Trump's gain of the presidency. Since then Ohio has moved into the Republican side, and the close contests are in places like Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Colorado moved to the Democratic side. Just 40,000 votes in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin separated Biden from Trump in the election of 2020 even though Biden had 7 million more votes than Biden because of the Electoral College system which goes by state's won. In 2016 Trump and Biden were separated by just 80,000 votes.   ...

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China is in isolation and in a freeze in ways that are unprecedented, that have never happened before. It has depressed world trade, disrupted supply chains of world trade, forced companies to restrict their employees movement, or bring them back home. Apple with 10,000 employees has closed operations and offices in China till Feb. 9. This is happening for many foreign companies in China as they deal with something they have never encountered before.  There is slowing down in demand fro crude oil as the lockdown affects the economy of China and world trade, Oil prices dropped 16% since the virus was detected. When the Sars virus happened in 2003 the Chinese economy was sixth in size in the world, now it is the second largest. At that time 7 million Chinese travelled abroad, today it is about 150 million, affecting international tourism. First quarter growth in China is now forecast by economists surveyed by WSJ at 4.9%, the lowest in decades. ...

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A great transformation is taking place for 172 million people -after the grueling experience of pandemic followed by effects of Ukraine war, and climate change- in building external resilience. The quick IMF action in Bangladesh in contrast to Sri Lanka. After taking in the shock of pandemic and the war in Ukraine Bangladesh faced large drops in remittances and in export revenues. Added to that problems in foreign exchange reserve management and exchange rate management. By getting immediate access of aid from IMF $4.7 billion and additional assistance from India Bangladesh is now in a position where in less than a year it has rebounded with current account surplus reaching $2 billion in the first half of the 2023-2024 fiscal year, as reported by Xinhua. Increasing productivity, education of labor force, increasing female participation in the workforce, social investment in economy, will give Bangladesh a chance to reach from LDC to lower middle income status by 2031.   ...

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Inflation has moderated to about 3% and unemployment is at historic low of 3.7% in March 2024. Public perceptions are gradually changing when asked about the economy this WSJ survey shows. Key points are that now 37% approve Biden handling of inflation up 7 percentage points, and 40% approve his handling of the economy up 4 percentage points. The public perception of the economy had diverged so much from the actual strength of the economy under Biden that this was hard to understand in 2023. This is changing in 2024 as there is now a clear sense that the better reading on inflation and unemployment is not temporary but is only the beginning of a surge in economic progress. The public has not yet grasped the extent of the change for the first time in 3 decades of the scale of the reinvesting in the economy under Biden and a bipartisan Congress of trillions of dollars being invested and the speed of execution of projects. This will become clear as the year progresses.  ...

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is the only Treasury Secretary who also served as the chairperson of the US central bank the Federal Reserve 2014-2018, and the only woman in these roles. Here she says she toured the country in 2022 a year after joining the Biden administration as head of the finance ministry. What she has seen are the early results of president Biden's  two trillion dollar bills, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the Science and CHIPS Act 2021, which give manufacturing and new infrastructure building a critical role in a new revitalized America. All across this vast country aging infrastructure is being rebuilt and new infrastructure is changing the landscape. Yellen says the US economy is resilient and growing amidst a global economic slowdown and higher interest rates. The labor market is strong and household balance sheets are healthy, consumer spending robust, says Yellen. It provides the basis for American global economic leadership in the years ahead. ...

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Unintended effects of Title 42 law introduced by president Trump which quickly returns migrants crossing the US border with Mexico leading to repeated crossings by the same persons. This leads to a more complicated picture at the border.  About 2 million will have attempted to cross the southern border in 2022 fiscal year. About 22% of crossings involve repeat border crossers.Two thirds of the 182,000 migrants crossing in July 2022 were single individuals. The pandemic hit Mexico and Central America hard and the quicker economic rebound in the US is leading to a surge in migrants looking for work. In addition to Central America asylum seekers come from Cuba and Venezuela with repressive action by regimes. Mexico only takes some of these migrants back. There is also a flow of illegal drugs across the border from Mexico which continues to this day even after the Trump Wall at the border, as most of it comes through official entry points. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have taken action of different kinds yet the problem remains unresolved. ...

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Fed's Jay Powell says about his interest rate increases of five percentage points at consecutive meetings since March 2022- "We've seen the beginnings of disinflation without any real costs in the labor market. That is really a good thing." Greg Ip of the WSJ looks at the 9 year period of most growth cycles in the US economy since 1980 and says a soft landing could be followed by growth till about 2030. Business investment led to 2.4% growth in the second quarter 2023. More investment is in the pipeline under the Biden economic plan. As inflation is going down to about 3% from 9% at its peak in 2022 the US is set for economic growth that would help it grow in a way that would enable America to meet the challenges of today in climate change, worker incomes and the cost of living, and in need to rebuild the nation's infrastructure in the way it was done in the years after 1945 under Truman and Eisenhower.

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"It's an immense pleaure, a dream come true, a lot of emotions" says Mbappe of his joining Real Madrid on July 1, 2024 after 7 years at PSG. Kylian Mbappe will captain the French team at Euro 24. He was the all time lead scorer for PSG with 256 goals, scored 44 goals in 48  games this season winning the French League- yet after faltering in the Champions League games with Dortmund he was not satisfied with his performance. It shows the constant stress players and coaches in soccer face. After differences with PSG president Nasser Al-Khalaifi when he did not agree to a 1 year extension he transfers to Real Madrid. He says some people made him feel unhappy and someone who is happy has more chances of playing well. Mbappe posted on X in February that he would not play another season at PSG, the club left him out of a preseason tour of Japan.

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The CDU has the nost popularity at 34% yet Merz himself. a private equity executive with Black Rock Germany, is not personally popular with the German public. His popularity is at about 25%. Boris Pistorius, the Defene Minister in the Scholz SPD and Greens government is the most popular politician in Germany today. Elections are only 4 months away in February 2025, a short time but also a long time with all the changes going on today. In the past CDU and SPD have worked together. Past CDU approaches may not work as Germany badly needs to invest in its economy as the US has done under president Biden. The experience of Britain shows that simply making deals and counting on free trade deals doesn't work, and cuts to public services to budgets including on basic services including water and transportation, climate, do not work either. Are their good leaders and policies that fit the times is a question that will be persistent for many nations.

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Linda McMahon was head of the Small Business Administration during the DJT first term. The president of the American Council of Education says she is a good pick as she has experience in workplace education programs. She aims to encourage apprenticeship training modeled on countries like Switzerland. More money will be funneled to appreniceship training, technical education, as a separate pathway from 4 year college degree to help the middle class. Linda McMahon says- “Our educational system must offer clear and viable pathways to the American Dream aside from four-year degrees.” Linda McMahon is chair of the America First Policy Institute which supports technical education. It also supports more transparency with parents knowing about their child's education in school, and teaching American history in a positive patriotic way. She is a graduate with degree in French from East Carolina State University and ran for the US Senate from Connecticut. She and her husband ran a small business Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment. ...

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It is Tuesday afternoon in Volant, Pennsylvania, population 126 residents and a Minnesotan Walz is talking to farmers in rural parts of the state, farmers trudging their way to see him. In this part of midwestern America there is anxiety about the cost of living, about immigration, and about a way forward. It is here in Beaver County that Biden campaigned in 2008 and in 2020, and Walz is back in 2024 in the closing days to get his message across that America can be tough on immigration, and also invest in renewal by investing in the future, and controlling the cost of living, fighting monopolies and corporations that don't pay their fair share of taxes that can fund America's  rural infrastructure that has been neglected for three decades by both parties till the Biden legislation funding rural infrastructure renewal. This means getting the message out and fighting every step of the way in rural America that needs and deserves respect, says Katie Glueck.

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Pierre Poilievre gained prominence when he supported the Canadian truckers strike in 2022.  That year he was elected leader of the of the Conservatives party of Canada. In March 2022 the Conservative party crossed the Liberals with popularity at 32%. The NDP coalition ally of the Liberals was at 17%. Starting March 2024 the Liberals took a huge slide in the polls to 25% with Conservatives gaining to reach 42%.  The issues about cost of living, the Border and transgender culture issues resonate in Canada in the same way that they do with Americans. Voters say they can't afford gas at the pump and groceries. Pierre Poilevre has emerged as a leader of Conservatives at a point when for the first time since the 1980's it has a 20% point margin over the Liberals and Trudeau. There is also the issue of who will be best at negotiating on the tariffs issue with the DJT administration in the US. DJT does not take Trudeau seriously calling Canada the 51st state. ...

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President Biden becomes the first US president to be present at the picket line. Biden says through a bullhorn at the UAW strike picket line in Detroit- "Unions built the middle class. It's a fact." He is pushing for auto companies to reach an agreement with the UAW union, and avoid any effects in the economy. He told union workers outside a Belleville Michigan GM plant near Detroit- "You've heard me say this many times. Wall Street did'nt build this country. The unions built this country. And the unions built the middle class. That's a fact. Let's keep  going. You deserve what you earned. And you earned a hell of a lot more than you get paid now." When he handed the bull horn to Shawn Fain the UAW leader, Fain said about billionaires and the executive class- "They think they own the world. But we make it run."