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The forcible removal by aviation police of United Airlines passenger Dr Dao from a flight due to scheduling issues caused a major uproar in social media, with many people saying they will not fly United again. In this report Susan Carey says people close to United say the airline has too rigidly asked employees to follow the rule book, that the problem could have been avoided by airline employees using choices that are not in the manual or rules book. Sources say employees at United can face termination for not following the rules, and deviating from rules is discouraged. Also raised is the issue why the airline employees did not raise the compensation from $800 to something much higher considering the problem being faced, and why higher up managers were not involved earlier. United has lagged behind other airlines in JD Power customer satisfaction surveys.

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Over 4 million Italians are preparing to get back to work after 8 weeks in lockdown. Yet they face a major dilemma. How do you get back to work when schools and daycare centers are closed till the fall? They have to first figure out who will look after the children. Starting May 4, manufacturing and building businesses will reopen if following social distancing guidelines. Followed by shops, and public venues on May 18, and restaurants hairdressers on June 1. Other countries will be looking at how the reopening is tackled in Italy, and the problem of who takes care of children will also come up in the U.S. and other countries also. Grandparents were widely accepted as a solution for childcare in Italy. Yet this raises many questions about the safety of the grandparents and increases anxiety for the parents. The Italian government is providing financial aid to families for babysitting and more parental leave but this does not cover the costs. As they tackle this problem parents face additional stress and anxiety. ...

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A look at Israel at 70 by the Economist magazine shows a country that has combined early achievements of socialist governments such as free health care system and good education system with the addition of 1 million immigrants from the collapsing Soviet Union, to build a highly trained technically skilled workforce and international companies.  It says the Israeli Arabs are still poor and unable to integrate. With ultra Orthodox Jews they make up 30% of the population, and many of them who do not work. Infrastructure has suffered from lack of investment and public transport is in poor condition. About 4.5 million Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza remain a continuous source of tension with no settlement in sight. The shift of the capital to Jerusalem is recognized by the U.S. Trump administration, a win for Israel, but leaving the divisive politics of Mr. Netanyahu in place. So that with the growing economy, there are social problems and political division which need to be addressed as much as the economy. A problem left for another administration, another leader from possibly a revived Labor party and another day. ...

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Kate Conger NYT looks at working for Google in 2007 vs 2025 how tech or software jobs are not exciting anymore. Many of the so called Tech companies -as technology and science is the very basis of life since the year 1700 in UK, Europe and the US and today's "Tech" is a misnomer in that context- have become huge bureaucratic, and unresponsive. Computer coding is not the profession it once was, not even in India as Indian reports show it has also lost it's glamour there. This kind of "Tech" of Google, Apple, and social media was always a cultural fad that made things look cool so that the highest profit margins could be made and justified, ignoring the essential facts about science and technology over 300 years 1700-2000 in the UK, Europe and the US. Since the early scientific observation in the 18th century in UK and Europe science has underpinned our lives, and with the industrial revolution and machines it has covered every aspect of our lives with new inventions and scientists into the 19th, 20th and 21st century. As a cultural fad of the Google /Apple kind it came on the back of the largest deindustrializing of US and Europe in the late 20th and 21st century, and ignored the fact that science and technological application is part of everyday life, the very meaning of the word modern that Japan, China and India has aspired to, to copy the Europeans and Americans, not the prerogative of any corporation.   ...

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The riots in Dublin, Ireland, covered in depth in The Times, started with a stranger approaching an Irish language primary school in Parnell Square East, and attacking children there with a knife. A deliveroo driver on a motorcycle moves to the scene and using his helmet hits the attacker felling him to the ground where he is disarmed. Minutes later the scene is replayed over social media channels TwitterX, Whats App, and far right figure puts it in a Twitter account that a "foreign man entered the school and stabbed five people," setting off marauding youth to riot on the streets A tram and several police cars, shops in the centre of Dublin, a hostel for asylum seekers, are damaged or set on fire.  In September 2023 200 people protested high immigration outside the Irish parliament. As in Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Utrecht area  housing in Dublin is unaffordable to the locals. Immigration has surged particularly from Ukraine all over Europe in 2022. It is an issue in UK, Netherlands and Ireland. With the cost of living crisis, the aftermath of the pandemic with people suspicious of the state, overcrowding in socially deprived inner city areas Parnell Square being one of them,  and record homelessness; immigration has become a scapegoat. The suspect in this situation was a naturalized Irish citizen who has lived in Ireland for 20 years and is of French-Algerian origin. The Deliveroo driver who came to the rescue is a 43 year old Brazilian Caio Benicio. It took three hours after nightfall 6.00 pm for police to restore order. ...

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The election of Sebastian Pinera only confirms a new emphasis in Latin America towards a social cohesion agenda. In Mexico with Calderon, in Columbia with Uribe, in Brazil with Luiz Inacio Da Silva, in Chile with Pinera promising to work closely with the Concertacion and carry on social programs introduced by that coalition which reduced poverty, the trend is the same. It is to put behind Latin America the struggles between the military, the universities, business, unions and other parts of society and forge a common consensus for coupling social programs for the less well off with business friendly policies to improve the economy. Its even a process that is taking place in Spain which has a great deal of influence on Latin America, as Spain combines social support programs with business friendly policies. And the Concertacion President in Chile, Michelle Bachelet, leaves with personal popularity ratings of about 75% showing that these policies are popular with Chileans, as they are in places like Brazil and Mexico. The fatigue with 20 year old Concertacion rule shows with a change in administration but overall policy direction will in large measure continue....

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Lally Weymouth of the Washigton Post, interviews Dilma Rousseff, the newly elected President of Brazil. Her plans to invest in infrastructure needs, housing needs, improving the quality of public health care, improving public safety. The new Social Fund will use governmet resources from the oil find to invest in education, health care, science and technology.

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The Social Democrats suffered defeat and the lowest share of the vote in any election since 1949. THe SPD got only 23% of the vote down from 34% in the last election. The centre left parties in UK, France, Italy and Poland are also facing serious divisions between balancing social protections and business freedoms in a period of global competition. With its promarket reforms the SPD lost much of its traditional working class base.

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This WSJ Investigation shows Facebook is aware of the acute flaws in its product, that the product is riddled with flaws that only Facebook fully understands. Yet it says the company has not acted in a way that correct these flaws. Some of the flaws of how this app affects teenage girls was a subject of one part of this report. In other parts it looked at how the Facebook app in social media use could increase the level of division in society, and affect the achievement of public interest goals, as users make use of the app and apps like Facebook such as Twitter to increase discord. This is becoming an issue as public interest goals are now seen as critical for recovery. Vaccination for coronavirus in US and Europe, national infrastructure development in India and developing nations, effects of social media on women's health, are critical areas in which social media may have failed to deliver constructive results, and actually gone the other way to make things worse for all. This may also be why leaders of large nations including Mr. Biden, and leaders in India and Europe, have lost patience with social media. ...

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The Greens made speed limits on the autobahn a key plank in their program. The Social Democrats SPD party also agrees. The new proposed speed limit is 131 kms per hour or 81 mph. 
In 1952 speed limits were lifted on the autobahn in a reaction to the strict limits imposed in the Nazi period, and a sense of freedom in putting the past behind on the road.

The Greens party estimated 1.9 million less emissions of CO2 from the speed limit. The auto industry including Audi VW have not supported this change. Auto fatalities are 23 per 1000 kms of motorway in France compared to 30 in Germany. In sections of autobahn where there are speed limits in Germany the fatalities have dropped sharply. About 77% of Germans stay within the 81 mph speed limit which today is advised but not mandated.

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Just five prime ministers have remained in office for more than 5 years in Japan since 1945. Prime minister Yoshihide Suga's popularity dropped to 26% from high sixties since September 16 of last year. Five candidates are trying to lead the LDP party. Another period of uncertain revolving door politics appears to be the prospect. This would mean a weak effort in vaccinations and in tackling the coronavirus pandemic. 

Just as in Europe and the US, in Japan there are effects of the pandemic, economic downturn, widening social disparity, plus a contracting population. Yukio Hatoyama, Yoshhide Suga, and Shinzo Abe in his first term served for short periods of one year or less since 2012. There is a perceived need for the older leaders to retire from politics and let a younger generation tackle the problems the country faces as in Europe.

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This view in DW.com looks at the rising inequality in Chile and the devastating inflation of over 50% in Argentina, the failure in providing basic public services such as sanitation in Brazil, as failures in the economic models and also in the lack of social solidarity within Latin American nations.. The pursuit of "what is the most of what I can get" in place of "what is the best I can do so that the country and people benefit as a whole including myself as part of that society." Argentines have billions of dollars overseas, and billions are stored in homes outside of banks because no one trusts the government or banks to keep inflation in check. In Chile the economic model accepts high inequality as a norm. In Brazil much of the public spending goes to generous pensions crowding out basic services such as transport and sanitation. In each case one section of society looks after its own interests at the expense of the society as a whole leading to a breakdown and misery for all. ...

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The German parliament will try to set an example by turning down thermostats to 20 degrees centigrade from 22 centigrade and turning off hot water boilers that provide warm water to the wash basins. There are 736 MP's and 5000 parliamentary staff in government buildings in the government district of Berlin.The CDU wants all ministries to follow this example. Only 63% of reserve supply storage is filled in Germany for gas that heats the country in winter and a cutoff of Russian gas supplies could happen at any time.

Chancellor Scholz says an average family of four could have energy bills this winter go up significantly calling it "social dynamite." One estimate is for it to go up by 2000 euros per year for a family of four. Vonovia, Germany's largest residential landlord says it will turndown thermostats to maximum of 17 degrees centigrade in winter.

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This WSJ editorial cites French president Macron on the provisions in the Biden Inflation Reduction Act that favor Make in the USA and how it affects foreign automobile manufacturers. WSJ also says the actions taken by Japanese, Chinese, Canadian and German governments favor their domestic industries. For decades Make in the USA was neglected hurting American workers, American communities, and creating serious even dangerous (for democracy) social gaps in society. The Biden administration is following a Make in the USA policy that is now being followed by the EU and Germany of bringing supply chains closer or back to home ground after the pandemic showed the serious shortcomings of shipping American or European manufacturing overseas. After the hollowing out of Detroit over two decades Detroit now gets a chance to come back with the rebuilding of the car industry in the renewables age.

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Mistakes under Merkel continue under the Greens and Social Democrats. Germany fails to invest in its solar industry even as the fight against climate change ramps up and the need for solar energy is growing rapidly. Manufacturers of solar cells in east Germany that remained under Merkel- surviving Chinese investment ramped up to overcome a German lead in solar- by pursuing niche markets, are still failing to get the federal government's attention and support. This NYT report shows the situation in Germany as Chinese imports of solar take up 97% of the market. China sends solar panels to Germany and the EU at below production costs this NYT report says, with the US having erected barriers to Chinese imports to build its own manufacturing capabilities with Biden's support. Product intended for America is now put in the European market pushing prices down even further. 

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Jimmy Carter is collecting eulogies at 99 years. He has outlived all presidents. Carter lives with his wife Rosalynn in a two bedroom one story rambler in rural Georgia since 1961, in a house that is so plain and simple that it can only be compared to one that dates back to the mid fifties the simple house in Independence Missouri in which US President Harry Truman lived after leaving Washington in 1952. Both two of the most revered Democrats of this century. At a time when Mr. Reagan has a diminished reputation from all the wars in the Middle East that started from his policies and the failure of laissez faire in bringing fairness to working people and families in America, Truman, Carter and LBJ are seeing their reputations enhanced to a remarkable degree. Building on the work of FDR and Truman, LBJ helped to build Social Security and Medicare for a fairer, better America respecting the dignity of men and women.

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After recovering from the eurozone financial crisis Spain is recovering with low inflation of 1.8%, and growth of 2.4% in 2024, 2.1% in 2025, and unemployment at 11.2%. Even with high unemployment prime minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain sees new immigrant workers aiding higher growth and supporting pensions- Spain's tourism growth also supports this. “The contribution of migrant workers to our economy is fundamental, as is the sustainability of our social security system and pensions.” This makes Spain one of the only countries to continue supporting legal migration to the country- 250,000 are needed both in high skilled jobs in hospitality and construction, and "invisible" jobs in agriculture and other places. 1 million migrants will arrive each year till 2028. Spain will also give legal stats to 500,000 undocumented migrants mostly from Latin America including Venezuela's middle class. ...

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The changes in Saudi Arabia being made by 30 year old Prince Mohammed bin Salman amount to a large cultural change for Saudis. It means Saudi Arabia is now seeing a new generation of Saudis taking over, and making economic and social shifts as the Saudi young population surges and change becomes inevitable. Younger women are entering the workforce and foreign workers are leaving the country. Changes include having retail locations close by 9 pm instead of later so that people can spend time with their families. New jobs are being created in unlikely places such as renovating architectural monuments in Riyadh.

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Prime minister Boris Johnson says he will proceed with "maximum caution" as he plans reopening of the economy. The reproduction R ratio for the virus is just below 1.0 and may have gone up recently, say public health officials. Britain faces a problem of deaths in care homes that is not under control.

Prime minister Johnson will announce Sunday new moves which will be limited- allowing people to go out to take as much outdoor exercize as they like, and restart activities such as tennis, golf and fishing. Businesses will get guidance to prepare places for social distancing when people return to work. Restrictions on limiting people contact to those within their household will remain.

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The head of the European Centres for Disease Control ECDC, Dr. Andrea Ammon, says the Delta variant of the coronavirus will make up 70% of all cases in Europe by early August, and 90% of all cases by the end of August. ECD modeling shows that there is a risk of another wave like the one after last summer in Europe. The Delta variant is much more infectious than the UK Alpha variant and the UK variant much more infectious than the original variant. A 50% reduction in non-pharmaceutical interventions such as allowing the staging of events would lead to an increase in infection in all age groups. Latest ECDC data show 34% of people in Europe fully vaccinated and 57% with one dose. One dose offers much less protection. Younger individuals have a lower vaccination rate and are vulnerable. Also vulnerable are the older people not vaccinated yet. About 40% of people over 60 are not yet vaccinated, and 30% of people over 80 years are not yet vaccinated in the European Union. As in the US vaccination varies by region within the EU. All these vulnerable groups can be affected in another wave of the coronavirus similar to after last summer when restrictions were removed. Dr. Ammon is a former advisor to the German government. She says it is important for young people who are not vaccinated to continue to follow the strict social distancing precautions.  This is not happening today as governments are relaxing mask mandates in Britain, France and Spain. Soccer games are coming back to fan filled stadiums increasing the risk. Tourist spots in Portugal and Greece are now looking similar to the vacation spots in Croatia that increased infections in Europe after summer 2020. ...

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Polly Lower quit her job to take care of her granddaughter, and Eddie Gonzalez-Novoa quit a $88,000 job to help a nephew who is a cancer survivor setup his startup video-gaming and social media site, and provide childcare for his granddaughter. They are 2 examples of the equivalent of 2.5 million workimg people the Congressional Budget Office estimates will reduce hours or quit jobs and take the government subsidies to lower income earners for healthcare insurance in the U.S.

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Mette Fredericksen, Social Democratic party prime minister of Denmark has made it very clear that she believes who is hurt most by migrant families coming to Europe is the working class. Years of austerity policies and other policies that hurt working class families that struggled with the cost of living and loss of jobs shifted overseas were pushed by parties that were elected for opposing such migrants and migrant friendly policies.   Under Merkel there was with a migrant friendly policy the neglect of infrastructure, neglect of childcare and social goals to help working class families, and neglect of the needed action to tackle climate change. Only in the last 2 years of her administration did Merkel realize that this policy was misconceived and reversed it leading to a dramatic decline in such migrants coming to Germany. Policies were shifted to work with African countries to promote development and security, so that the conditions such as wars and economic crises could be prevented and managed in Africa. Countries such as China and India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, are living proof that development works and what is needed is not working class in Europe paying a price for failed policies in Africa but tackling the situation in Africa and parts of Asia with the right kind of development assistance where the migrants originate.  Mette Fredericksen was one of the first European leaders to lead a large delegation of Danish business and logistics leaders from companies such as Maersk that visited India in 2021, with the goal of expanding trade and business with India. Especially in upgrading logistics for a country of 1.2 billion that is promoting Made in India for the world. This is the kind of collaborative action that Fredericksen is taking in the international sphere that is helping world progress during the pandemic.   ...

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Charlie Rose talks to Bowles and Simpson of the President's Deficit Commission. On health care and Paul Ryan's point that the Deficit Commission did not take on health care, Simpson says they did not do as much as Paul would like to see, but they have $500 billion in cuts for the next 10 years. Simpson says its garbage to say that they balanced the budget on the backs of Social Security, and Bowles says they took a very balanced approach. With the Social Security Trust fund running out in 2037, Bowles-Simpson raises a little bit of revenue, benefit cuts mostly on upper-end people. On the Bush tax cuts Bowles says, if you give more tax cuts you lose revenue. Their approach was to broaden the base, bring down rates. Bowles points to $1.1 trillion worth of tax expenditures, what he calls spending, in the tax code that benefit mostly upper-end people. Some of these are mortgage interest deductions, deductions for state and local taxes, charitable deductions, and he says their approach was to eliminate those and bring tax rates down to 8%, 14%, and 23%, and the corporate tax rate down to 26%....

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Unknowingly many people have ownership in gun manufacturers through their pension funds. Pension funds for public employees in Florida, Texas Wisconsin and Ohio have stakes of less than 1% in American Outdoor Brands, formerly Smith & Wesson, the manufacturer of AR-15 semiautomatic rifles used in mass shootings at schools and other locations. Even a reputed fund such as TIAA representing teachers has small stakes in this company, this report in the NYT shows. New Jersey is one of the states cutting out investments of state pension funds in gunmaker companies. New York state still has small positions in its teacher pension funds in these companies. AS this NYT report shows it is through the use of  broad stock indexes that pension funds end up owning these stocks even when they have not specifically picked out such stocks. Equally or more alarming as reported here is that funds such as Fidelity and Vanguard own large stakes in the gunmaker companies. Fidelity is reported as the top shareholder of Vista Outdoor, with 15% of the company, through actively managed funds.  Vanguard has a 9.5% stake in Sturm Roger, and a 8% stake in American Outdoor Brands. Black Rock and Capital Group also have stakes in gunmaker companies. This points to a larger culture problem in the U.S. as financial companies see this as " a social issue" whatever that is supposed to mean in the minds of investment managers, when it is really an everyday issue for parents and children. In a culture prevalent in parts of the country and American society that sees something as basic as guns in schools and other public areas as "social change" a spokesman for Vanguard can quietly say that "mutual funds are not optimal agents of social change," without arousing a response. ...

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Chavez wins 61% of the vote to Rosales' 38% and wins reelection for a six year term. Social goals will continue to dominate in Venezula's oil based economy. Importance of cooperatives for poorer classes. Development of a Bolivarist class of businessmen who support social goals with freedom to operate and benefit from oil resources fueled economy. Are their similiarities in a sense to pursuing welfare and equity goals to the elected government in Iran? Both are oil based economies and large producers with exploration and production issues, how do these similiarities and policy differences with the US affect oil access and prices?