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Poland's collapsing birth rate at 1.0 compared 1.62 in France another Catholic country, and Spain's 1.1, Germany's 1.3- 2.1 is the replacement rate per woman. This has profound consequences for Poland. The future workforce will be 20% smaller compared to 4% smaller in France in 2 decades. Many schools will close in rural areas which are hit hard. There are more deaths than births in many small towns. At this rate 1.7 million homes will become vacant in 2 decades.This report looks at Warsaw as well as rural areas near Belarus where the war has created much anxiety. The population of Poland will shrink from 36 million to 31 million over three decades if these trends continue. By 2000 the birhtrate dropped from 2.1 to 1.3 and the government introduced payments of 190 euros per child per month and expanded the childcare system. But this has not helped as the rate dropped to 1.03 in 2025. Under the Communist system industries were located in small towns and men stayed there while women moved to cities leading to a mismathch for men and women. The economic boom that doubled per capita income led to less interest in having children. The economy was supported by long hours of work which led to less interest in bearing children for women. Other reasons are a lack of interest in sharing and making the effort, the cost of raising children in a hyper competitive society like South Korea where births are at 0.7. ...

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Unemployment in Spain among people ages 16-24 is 42.9%. This is the highest rate in Europe, and it is double the overall rate of 19.3% for Spain. By comparison the overall jobless rate in the USA for workers ages 16-24 is up to 19.1%. Why this high an unemployment rate for young workers? Greece has youth unemployment rate of 25%, while Ireland has a youth unemployment rate of 28.%, and Italy 26.9%. The rate in Poland is 21.2%, down from 35% a few years ago. In Eastern Europe overall the rate is 27.9%. This puts Spain at a level higher than Eastern European countries where youth unemployment has traditionally been higher. Worse, this is a result of a spike in unemployment from 17% at the height of the boom three years ago, to the currrent 43%. Alfonso Prieto, deputy secretary general of employment studies at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, says this high rate in Spain is a result of a disproportionate share of Spanish youth employed on temporary contracts. During the boom years a large number of young workers joined a culture of temporary work, with the term "mil euristas," used for workers on 1000 euros a month. With the economy in trouble these were the first people laid off. Low skilled and immigrant workers who lost jobs are also reflected in the statistics, as Spain witnessed an influx of millions of immigrants during the boom. Still worse the government is under tremendous pressure from the EU and bond markets because its budget deficit reached 11% of GDP in 2011, and austerity measures are being adopted. Spain is spending 30 billion euros in unemployment benefits, but the money is not doing much to prepare workers for jobs in new industries or new vocations for the future. ...

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There is a small opening for talks between North and South Korea after sanctions lead to an overture by the North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. The Korean president Moon sees this as part of his campaign effort to engage directly with North Korea. This report points to considerable skepticism of South Koreans whether a new "Sunshine Policy" effort is likely to work as it was tried with little success by previous presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. Yet it offers an opportunity to calm things down after the volatile exchanges between Trump and North Korea.

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Gregory Zuckerman report in the WSJ on Jan 15, 2008 commented on the bets against housing that netted $3 billion to $5 billion for a financial firm that bet against subprime mortgages at the right time. It also commented on Alan Greenspan who joined the firm as an adviser after engineering a period of low interest rates that created conditions in the housing market for such speculative boom bust behaviour. The 2009 financial crisis marked a period of 10-15 years when the US lost its competitive advantage against China as a result of such speculation and poor leadership at the central bank. And leadership from the Reagan presidency in 1980 through 2009 that defunded infrastructure, manufacturing and public goods services in favor of deregulation and financial firms.

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What is not thought possible, water poverty in America in 2020, in this Guardian report, as millions of ordinary Americans face increasing bills for running water in their homes. More than 4% of household income for water bills annually is considered unaffordable and more than 6% for energy. This is more important today as coronavirus makes running water essential for fighting the pandemic. The source of the problem is aging infrastructure, environmental cleanups, changing demographics, climate emergency. Cities include New Orleans, Santa Fe, Cleveland, Fresno, Tucson and Austin where low income residents face rising costs and water shutoff or even lead to homelessness from unpaid bills. It also is a problem in places such as San Diego and Seattle, with 13% of low income people in Seattle struggling to afford water. Federal funding peaked in 1977 and has fallen since leaving local utilities to raise the money for infrastructure and upgrades for chemical contaminants, and other climate issues. About 90% of these local utilities are really municipally owned at the city level and a few large companies. At least $35 billion is needed for water upgrades for infrastructure and quality each year for 20 years- $700 billion. WIth these kinds of needs America has no room for foreign wars in remote places, and no room for offshoring its vital industries that removes the tax base for cities and states and the federal government affecting not just jobs and livelihoods but the very basic infrastructure itself.  ...

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Estimates including one by Fimat, of $80 per barrel when the security premium for oil goes even higher after the Iran backed Hezbollah war with Israel in Lebanon. oil markets jittery.

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Black employment for adults in Washington D.C. has dropped from 62% in 1988, to 56% in 2000, and to only 49% in 2009, according to the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute

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Taa Consultancy Services is building a modern office complex with new architecture in Chennai, India, at a cost of $200 million. When completed it will house 24,000 of its 180,000 employees. Tata and other software consultancy firms in India use the modern office space to attract software engineers from elite colleges.