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Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, calls for fresh elections on September 20, 2021. His term ends in 2023. Trudeau called for elections early as government aid programs have helped Canadians during the pandemic, and Canada has managed to vaccinate 70% of the population over age of 12. The economy is expected to increase by 6% in 2021. Trudeau's party, the Liberals, are popular and Trudeau hopes to increase his progressive base. He currently leads a minority government making it difficult to pass legislation on the government's priorities for child care, clean environment, healthcare, and affordable housing.

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The first major restructuring and overhaul for modernization of Indian Railways since independence in 1947. The goal is to make Indian Railways an efficient and modern organization that can deliver on technology and compare well with rail systems of Europe and China in its plan for 2030. Central Public Sector Enterprises CPSE will cover all production units of Indian Rail. Indian Railway Construction Limited IRCON will oversee all construction of infrastructure for Indian Rail. 

The Cabinet Secretariat has written to the CEO of the Railway Board calling for monthly reports on the action plan to ensure speedy implementation.

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As China shifts from an economy that was built on low cost manufacturing in factories that polluted the skies and water, to an advanced economy with modern factories the nature of industry has changed. More recently the focus is on advanced technologies and increased productivity. As a result the hours worked are declining every year with modernization following the trend in western countries. There is also high unemployment of about 20% for young people. High university enrollment of about 60% means many graduates will have a hard time finding jobs in a slowing economy in 2023. With it comes a shift in attitudes to work.

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Nicola Sturgeon of the Scottish National Party wins a vote in the Scottish parliament by a 10 vote margin with the help of the Scottish Greens to request  a vote on a referendum around Spring 2019. The British government is likely to agree to a referendum, but on its own timing after Brexit negotiations are completed and Britain leaves the European Union. Scottish voters by a large margin rejected Brexit. This has put England at odds with Scotland, risking a breakup of the union between Scotland and England setup by Acts of the parliaments of the two countries in 1707.

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The two men, the couple one a Professor and the other a hard charging investment banker who kind of fit in together, their background, personalities, and preparation for this crisis. Throughout this crisis both had little sleep paulson some 4 hour and Bernanke leaving at midnight to catch some sleep and how the crisis kept going on and on, with one fire put out another remaining to be put out and finally after day after day on Diet coke or diet Dr. Pepper and little sleep Paulson agreed with Bernanke's opinion that "we've got to go to Congress." In fact based on his studies and research on the Great Depression and of the crisis in Japan in the nineties in the banking system there, Bernanke had given his conclusion early on about a year earlier that if there were significant decline in housing prices the government would have to step in with a large intervention. But in the end it happened all so suddenly with Paulson agreeing and both Paulson and Bernanke going upto the President and the President saying lets do it. So the meeting with Congressmen was arranged a few hours later after the inital meeting in Speaker Pelosi's office. Any reluctance to meet Congressmen who had considered any steps in this session unlikely having disappeared, and the stark nature of the crisis in the words of Senator Dodd, Chairman of the Banking Committee, became clear in the opening remarks of Paulson and Bernanke. Dodd told a news reporter that for a long time there was complete silence in the room and he does not recall a moment like this in 25 years in Congress and it being a scary story. By now it had become overwhelmingly obvious that something needed to be done in hours and days....

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Mr. Trump trashes the state of Florida and calls it "a dump" says the Editorial Board of WSJ, because of personal interest as the 2024 primaries come closer. "The real DeSantis record is one of misery and despair. He has left a wake of destruction all across Florida," is the quote from a spokesman, in a statement issued by Mr. Trump. WSJ says that is not how Floridans saw it when DeSantis was elected with 59.4% of the vote. It says Florida is a model of successful Republican governance and Republicans should be citing it as a role model, not "a dump."

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The new prime minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga is critical of the three phone carriers forming an oligopoly and keeping prices for mobile phone service in Japan very high. Another criticism is that Japan has failed to compete in phone technologies by staying out of world markets that would improve its competitive spirit. Japan has failed to keep up with China and other countries in mobile technologies. 

As part of the first step to change this and make NTT competitive by entering world markets, NTT is paying a 41% premium on the part of NTT Docomo that it does not own in a $40 billion deal. NTT chief Sawada sees this as a way to speed up decision making, as he sees a crisis in Japan's struggle to compete with China and the U.S. in world markets.

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The Ukraine war with increases in prices of oil and natural gas, and food imports has hit Bangladesh hard.  The currency has declined by 20% which also adds to the cost of imports. The government of Sheikh Hasina is seeking $1 billion each from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.  It is also seeking $4.5 billion for budgetary and balance of payments support through the new Resilience and Sustainability Facility set up by the IMF. The government is doing this in advance to avoid a situation in which most of the tax revenues go to paying for imports at high prices with little left for spending on development needs. Bangladesh imports cooking oil, wheat and other food, as well as fossil energy. The current account deficit is $17 billion and the foreign exchange reserves are about $39 billion in July, down from $45.5 billion in 2021, enough for 5 months of imports for a nation of 160 million people.  Action is being taken to curtail use of air conditioning at mosques. Power outages are increasing and electricity rationing is being done. ...

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Climate Reset Berlin, a coalition of climate change action groups, has introduced a referendum that brings forward climate change action goals put off till 2045. The referendum makes 2030 the new target date for 95% reduction in carbon emissions consistent with the 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement. Berlin is 80% dependent on fossil fuels for energy needs in 2023. Proponents say there is great potential for wind and solar energy. Opponents say that it is too costly and will take up funds now allocated for childcare and education. The outgoing Greens SPD government of Berlin opposes it, as does the new expected CDU government. The Green senator for Berlin supports it, as do other private groups. Buildings need to be renovated and private transport curbed which would cost billions of dollars. Opponents say this would bankrupt Berlin. Supporters say not enough is being done. If approved it goes into effect immediately. Supporters include the Sustainability Group at Humboldt University, Germany's national cyclists association. They say Berlin has 52 acres of available land in Brandenburg that could be used for wind energy. ...

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The average price of a smartphone in India in 2022 was $206 excluding taxes, Apple's smartphones go for $898. With discounts Apple is now bringing the price down to below $500. In 2019 phones over $500 made up 3% of the market. This has increased to 6% in 2022. Apple is counting on this share of the market going up and prices being brought down below $500 to build a larger share of the market. Its market in 2023 is about 5% in India compared to 22% in China.

In China Apple has its own stores. It is only now opening its first store in Mumbai. This and building manufacturing facilities in India could be the way to increase its share of the market in India to where it provides an alternative comparable to the Chinese market. This is the first time after the pandemic and the supply chain issues, the idea of friendshoring, that Apple is reorienting its policy for making India a key part of its supply chain and market. 

 

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"Once social change begins it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate a person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate a person who feels pride." The United Farmworkers union was formed by migrant farm workers Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta to bring decent wages and good working conditions for farm labour in the US, with most of the work done in California farm areas. March 31st is now Cesar Chavez Day in the US with a Biden proclamation. His niece is shown in the adjoining article as an adviser in the White House and now campaign manager for 2024. She is a softspoken Latina who grew up around Chavez in the fields and farm pickup trucks of the sixties and seventies, as shown in the Washington Post on this page. Biden has proposed an overtime rule for farmworkers, and ensuring farm workers get a fair wage and decent working conditions is the goal of the White House- including recovering $21 million in back pay and wages ensuring 26,000 farm workers get the wages they earned. And remaining steadfast says Biden to ensure workers get paid sick leave, good working conditions. ...

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King Charles view that Britain "is not an island" are opposite of Brexiters and Liz Truss who see Britain as an island apart from Europe, says this editorial in The Guardian. King Charles views on Irish issues are well known and the efforts of the Tories to make things difficult for Ireland and Northern Ireland to work within the Peace Accords is seen by The Guardian as a sign that Ms. Truss and Mr. Johnson now find themselves working against the views held by Prince Charles as the constitutional head of Britain's government. Queen Elizabeth and the royal family have worked for decades to build good relations with Ireland, setting history aside. The Tories have said clearly that the monarchy has not just the right but a duty to make its views known, says the Guardian. And Charles has no hesitation in making these views known. Will the Tories and Liz Truss, now work with the Irish government under Michael Martin and take the advice of president Biden to build relations of the two Irelands within the Irish peace Accords, asks this editorial. ...

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Problems for women and for childcare in Germany after the Merkel administration's failure to invest in child care. This DW.com report looks at this problem. Mothers have to send their children to grandparents or pay for expensive private day cares and nannies if they are able to do this. If they are not able to do this the mother usually reduces her work hours or delays returning to her job entirely. A German Youth Institute DJI study is cited which shows that in 2020 49% of parents with children under age three said they require child care. Of these only 24% were able to secure a place at a child care center for the necessary hours. For children over age three 97% needed childcare and only 71% said the necessary hours were covered. This problem was bad before the pandemic, during the pandemic it has only become much worse for women. A similar problem is happening in the US, so that this problem has consequences for women in both the EU - in Germany, France, Italy- as well as the US. It places additional burdens on women with children in the workplace. ...

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Financial markets are pricing in 2 quarter point percentage interest rate cuts from Bank of England. But the weaker economic outlook could lead to 4 such cuts creating more room for Labour's Budget as it struggles to fight austerity spending, meet aspirations for better public services and infrastructure and still be seen as responsible in spending goals.  In September 2023 analysts referred to the mini-Truss British budget and the speed with which borrowing costs increased for England as the "moron premium." As debt servicing costs increase in 2025 and less optimism about growth, there is concern that the 9.9 billion reserve that Rachel Reeves had planned after balancing day to day spending with tax receipts to 2029-30 would disappear. The Labour Budget had planned on about 105 billion pounds as debt servicing cost for 2.6 trillion pounds in UK debt as indicated by Office of Budget Responsibility. The 30 year yield is up to 5.3% in Jan 2025 and this could erase the 9.9 billion reserve with higher interest costs. The situation is different from Truss but will need to be watched carefully. ...

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Jeff Sommer talks to Harvey Markovitz, considered the founder of portfolio theory, on share prices and the stock market. Markovitz says portfolio selection are the two most important words he wrote and the ones to remember. Building a diversified portfolio is the most important thing in investing. Markovitz says investors should forget about individual stocks and their oscillations, and buy low cost index stock and bond funds. Allocating these in a way that depends on the volatility and risk that the particular investor feels comfortable with. Rebalance the portfolio as needed periodically, and change allocations. Other than that do other hobbies, things that give you a greater sense of reward. Markovitz was deeply influenced by Hume's ideas of skepticism and the thought that one was never sure about the probability of an event occuring even if it had ocurred before.

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Tim Cook talks to developers at a world wide virtual and in person event. 

Apple will introduce a new 13.5 inch Macbook Air with a inhouse M2 chip for $1195 on sale in July 2022. A new 13 inch Macbook Pro will also be made.

The new iPhone with 5G capability had sales of $191 billion in fiscal year ending in September 2021. iPhone sales up 6.2% in 2022 vs 39% in 2021 when the pandemic led to remote work on Apple and other PC's.

App store and ad sales up by 17% to $80 billion, larger than Mac and iPad sales. 

Apple Pay will break payments into 4 installments as an option. Messages will have an unsend or edit option for 15 minutes.

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President Biden visits the Polish town of Rzeszow close to the Polish border with Ukraine. It serves as the headquarters of the 82nd Airborne Division and Us operations to supply weapons and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The Russian offensive met with stiff resistance and incurred high casualties in Ukraine with this WSJ report showing 40,000 casualties in the 150,000 Russian invasion force, making it less effective. 
Russia appears to have scaled down its objectives to focus on the separatist Donbass region in the east. The offensive on Kviv, Odessa and Kharkiv is stalled with stiff resistance. About 10 million people have been uprooted.  3.7 million people fled Ukraine, with 2.2 million crossing into Poland.

The US has warned that it would respond if Russia attempted to use chemical weapons. 

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Jack Healy, who the NYT says writes about the rapidly changing politics and climate of the American southwest, provides this report from the border town of Nogales, Arizona, on the border with Mexico. In this desolate isolated border region America's future is being decided- Biden being the only Democrat since Harry Truman in 1948 to take Arizona and by just 10,000 votes. There near Nogales the border wall Trump built ends abruptly at the Kelly ranch in a picture shown in this report. Rural Santa Cruz County is except for migrants a solitary and quiet place along the border. Mr. Kelly moved here in 2002 and runs more of a hobby ranch unlike the bigger cattle ranches in the area. Migrants make their way through this part of the border and the Kelly ranch. In the most recent episode a migrant is shot and Mr. Kelly reports the shooting to police. Healy looks at the lives of the rancher and the migrant to give a snapshot picture of what life is really like on the border. And the different sides of the story seen from the rancher's and migrant's situation.  A border area where in a vast dry mesquite region ranchers on the Arizona side live alongside Mexico with people facing high unemployment where people are looking for work and choose to take the risks of crossing the border illegally. Crossings that are made at points on the border wall that end in canyons and riverbeds where migrants and their smugglers make their way. It affects the lives of the ranchers and the migrants in many ways. Ranchers who are in isolated areas- the Kelley ranch is 170 acres- feel isolated and vulnerable as they see a threat in the network of smugglers sending migrants across the border. This is also where the future of America is being decided. After the overconcentration of manufacturing in China, there is the border with Mexico, two regions that have little to do with each other but determine politics and emotions in the US about workers, about migrants and about borders. By understanding both sides of the story president Biden became the first president since Harry Truman to win Arizona in the presidential election of 2021. He won it by just 10,000 votes with a recount showing about 360 more votes. Without Arizona and Georgia both won by Harry Truman in 1948 Biden could not have begun the process of tackling the major issues facing America in 2021. Keeping uppermost workers and families, keeping uppermost the people of America as Truman had done in 1948.     ...

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People in California did not feel the early blows of the coronavirus like New York. This is now turning into a disadvantage as people in California have now failed to follow the guidelines for social distancing and masks as carefully as they should be. The state reopening  took place as the case numbers were increasing as the economy and unemployment became an issue.  State hospitalizations are up 40% on July 1 from 2 weeks ago. Percentage of tests coming positive are close to 6% but in some counties much higher- in Riverside county has rate positive in tests at 11.7% and bars are only recommended to close. In Los Angeles county it is 8.2%. On June 20 the day after the bars were allowed to open 500,000 people visited bars in Los Angeles County. A big problem is that for lockdown the whole state was asked to lockdown by the governor. For reopening it is done by county and each county is doing this differently. Pressure to reopen has led to counties with increasing and poor metrics for cases still reopening. Some counties felt pressured to open when other counties had reopened. Even when a county such as Riverside or Los Angeles county is doing poorly the governor waits 14 days for it to be on a watch list before acting. This is too long for the extremely contagious virus giving it time to spread quickly. Governor Newson is now facing serious problems tackling the coronavirus. ...

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Stalled peace process for Ukraine after Alaska meetings September 2025. Europe is looking ahead to no quick end in the war in 2025. Russia seeks better relations with US but wants to end the war in Ukraine on its own terms. Congress supports Ukraine, as DJT looks for ways to improve relations with Russia as a nuclear superpower, and find ways to bring both sides closer to end the war without success. Following the Alaska meetings a few signs of progress but not enough to reach a settlement of the war as Russia seeks to keep territory in the east and Ukraine looks for security guarantees that Russia has not yet agreed to. Germany under Merz ramps up its defense forces as the US seeks to avoid involvement in a conflict in northern Europe.

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Biden's ultimate faith in the fairness of the American cause and the American people gets him two big wins with the $280 billion semiconductor bill, and the $369 billion climate change action bill. Biden says about this when many had given up hope- "The work of government can be slow and frustrating, and sometimes even infuriating. Then the hard work of hours, days and months from people who refuse to give up pays off. History is made. Lives are changed." With Europe at war and struggling to get through the winter with gas rationing it was up to America to lead the way as the world faces ever increasing floods, fires and heat waves that affect food supply and environment. And Schumer? The New York Democrat asked about the effort quoted his father who passed away last year. "As my late father said: you need to persist. God will reward you." For months Mr. Manchin a critical vote in the US Senate had opposed the Democrats proposed bills. Then Senators Mark Warner of Virginia, Chris Coons of Delaware, John Hickenlooper of Colorado took a different approach. They did not openly criticize Mr. Manchin, and appealed to his sense of history, his zeal for playing a leading role in a high stakes legislative deal. Schumer and Biden were willing to make some concessions for fossil energy now that with the war in Ukraine the US needed to export LNG to Europe to replace Russian supplies. China and India were still going to be using fossil fuels after COP26 and after the pandemic induced lower growth. The US had to find a different approach some fossil fuel concessions would make it possible to use it as abridge towards the larger goal of getting ahead on renewable energy in a big way. This opened the way for a deal that centrists could support.  ...

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This op-ed essay by the President of Toyota Motor Company, Akio Toyoda, talks frankly about the situation that led to the quality failures at Toyota and promises that Toyota will try to live up to the ideals that shaped its beginnings some 70 years ago. Toyota had humble beginnings in the thirties when the original founder of Toyoda was in the textile loom manufacturing business. Following a new venture in automobiles in the 1930's, for three decades Toyota was only trying to catchup with the U.S. in auto manufacturing. It started with the current chairman Shoichiro Toyoda's father -and Akio Toyoda's grandfather Kiichiro- visiting a Professor of Metallurgical Engineerig at a university in Tokyo to collect ideas and information for entering the automobile manufacturing business. Akio Toyoda seems quite cognizant of these beginnings in this essay. Action steps he mentions are a top down review of global operations, establishing an Automotive Center of Quality Excellence in the United States, and asking a blue-ribbon safety advisory group of outside experts in quality management to independently review Toyota's operations, with the findings made public. Akio Toyoda points to the lack of effective communication in quality matters in its global operations that led to the problem festering for so long. He says that in regard to sticking accelerator pedals, Toyota "failed to connect the dots between problems in Europe and problems in the United States because the European situation related primarily to right-hand-drive vehicles." Toyota also moved to address problems in its Prius and Lexus HS250h models for anti-lock braking systems....

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Former Nissan head Carlos GHosn is released from a Tokyo jail on $9 million bails after 108 days in jail. He will live in a court approved residence to prepare for trial The surprise arrest of Ghosn took place on Nov. 19, and earlier bail requests were rejected until this one. Prosecutors say Mr. Ghosn had used Nissan money for personal benefit when Nissan assumed the loss on a derivatives contract made by Ghosn, and for failing to include $80 million in compensation in financial disclosures.

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Hear the complete speech of German Chancellor Scholz to an extraordinary session of the German Parliament on DW.com. This may be the most important speech in the last 30 years of German history since reunification. An extraordinary speech that sets the tone for the new Europe that Germany leads with its partners in the European Union. Fundamentally Scholz tells the German people that Germany is fighting alongside Europe for its freedom and democracy, so that the last 30 years of peace are seen not as an exception in history. Germany will not let Putin take us back to the imperial wars of the 19th century, Putin told parliament. Scholz tells the German people sending arms to Ukraine "was the only response possible to Russian aggression." He also tells them that it was not the Russian people, it was Putin who had launched this aggression. "This is Putin's War. Putin is destroying the European security structure." "A peaceful free Europe, we will defend it." This is the way Scholz finished his speech. Scholz outlined 5 actions Germany was taking including actions on investing $100 billion in Bundeswehr armed forces, in strengthening NATO capabilities, in building up Germany's technological capabilities, in 2 huge natural gas terminals. The entire German parliament stood up to applaud for a long time as Scholz described how Germany was with the Russian people who braved arrest to protest Putin's War, and there are many, many, Russians who do not support the war. Reconciliation with Russia remains a building block of German policy he said.   ...

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What does fast growth in the world's fastest growing economy, that is a key part of America's and the European Union's and Japan's supply chain look like. It is based on people inclusive development called Sab Ka Vikas Sab ke Saath, Gandhiji's idea of the last person in the line ever present and watchful of the task at hand. This Powerpoint of the blueprint of the Indian Budget  for 2024-25 from Nirmala Sitharaman and the Finance Ministry shows a visual of what the growth looks like for the farm, industrial, housing, health, education and other sectors of the economy. It is a journey just beginning under Vikshit Bharat with a target date of the 100th  anniversary of independence 2047. Here one can see the target of increasing capital expenditures for infrastructure and various development schemes by 11.1%. GST (one tax one country) tax revenues are expected to increase by around 12% which support this budget. Strengthening financial sector to bring investment back on track after the pandemic is one of the support pillars, so is deepening and widening tax base through the GST a uniform federal tax for the whole country. Another pillar is proactive inflation management- the story of how India tackled the cost of energy by accessing from different suppliers at the best price is told this week in Feb 2024 in the WSJ. Foreign Minister Jaishankar told the Munich Security Conference with Blinken and Baerbock in the panel that India with 1.4 billion people's future at stake should be seen as done the right thing, the smart thing. Inflation has been kept at about 5%, and key economic growth projected at 7-8% over the next decade with goal of becoming the third largest economy in the world. ...