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Speaking for the Biden administration Anthony Blinken says that "on the current trajectory, if we don't do more, if the entire world doesn't do more, the entire world won't be vaccinated until 2024." What is needed he said is to "speed this up, and get that done, I think, in a much shorter time." Experts say the immediate impact of the Biden decision to give waivers on transfer of patents technologies is to get drug companies to cooperate with each other and for them to voluntarily join in the manufacture of vaccines globally. This would be done through global manufacturing alliances in major pharmaceutical manufacturing nations such as France, India and other countries that can quickly ramp up manufacturing if they have access to the technologies involved and the knowhow itself. The Biden decision is then the first of many decisions that would lead to voluntary action by pharmaceutical companies cooperating say Novartis and Sanofi in France and Switzerland with a Pfizer or Moderna in increasing manufacturing capacity or a Serum Institute or Reddy Labs in India working with Pfizer and Moderna or Novavax. These companies already have the basic structures to ramp up. This would take months yet the process has to start immediately. Today many companies such as Glaxo Smith Kline in UK and US are in a position to get involved in manufacturing but need access to the technologies and knowhow. Leadership by the US plays a huge part in making that happen.  ...

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The arguments of both sides in front of U.S. Supreme Court Justices on the Health Care Law's expansion of Medicaid. Justice Scalia said the law gives the states no choice. Justice Kennedy pointed to the situation of the states which have no way to opt out without stripping millions of Americans of medical care. Justice Roberts pointed to the states willingness to accept federal aid for years which brings us to the current situation. The attorney generals of 27 states have objected to the Health Care Law's provisions which they believe effectively requires the states suffering tight budget constraints to cover more of the poor than they they think they can, with the alternative being dropping out of Medicaid totally, not giving them much of a choice. As the three day hearing came to a close on March 28, 2012, the Supreme Court's conservative Justices expressed doubts whether the Obama Health Care Law could surivive if some key parts are struck down. With Justices Sotomayor, Ginsberg, Kagan, on one side, and Scalia, with other conservative Justices on the other side, the Court's final decision depends on Justices Kennedy and Roberts. ...

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Actas or slips like receipts from every time a voter votes are generated from voting machines in Venezuela. Enough actas were collected in the Venezuela elections that show a landslide win with a 38% margin for Gonzalez over Maduro. The Maduro government has not accepted the result. It shows 7.3 million votes for Gonzalez, a former diplomat, to 3.3 million for Maduro the successor of Chavez, says the Wall Street Journal. For president Biden it was the surge in Venezuelan migrants flow and the refusal of Maduro government to take back migrants making deportation difficult, that precipitated the immigration crisis as an issue in the 2024 elections. The problem was tackled by closing the border with Biden taking executive action, after the law closing the border cleared the Senate in February but was held up in the House by Mr. Trump. Trump hoped to benefit from the Border issue to get elected in November 2024 held it up. That law was negotiated by Republicans McConnell and Lankford and Biden. Kamala Harris says the first thing she will do if elected is to pass that law. Republicans like the Tories in the UK are now seen as pandering on the issue to keep power, not keen on resolving it once and for all. As we show from the example of Mette Frederiksen in Denmark and her far sighted thinking it is possible to be good for workers and families, and tough on immigration that hurts workers by creating like foreign wars a huge and unnecessary distraction. Why for instance must workers and families live from paycheck to paycheck because of misgovernance in Asia or Africa or Arab world ,or deliberately created wars to empty countries of population as in Arab lands. Taking the issue up in the countries themselves with whatever action is needed was the right answer from the beginning, and lost on Merkel and other leaders in the US and Europe. Lessons are learned and now action must be taken. ...

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The Economist cites estimates from the Bank of England showing Britain's national output peaking at 1.5 trillion pounds in 2007 and not likely to return to that level till 2015. It points to fears of a lost decade. Meanwhile debt is rising from 600 billion pounds in 2008 to 1.1 trillion in 2012, making reducing the debt to GDP ratio by 2017 even more difficult. Lower growth affects tax revenues even as social benefit costs increase. Part of the problem is that from 2009-2010 to 2011-2012 public sector net investment declined from 48.5 billion pounds to 28 billion pounds. The Economist suggests Chancellor Osborne take up an additional investment in infrastructure of 28 billion pounds, even borrowing 14 billion pounds in the bond markets if needed, as a prudent step to revive growth. Small improvements in rail, roads and bridges could make up for a lack of large projects. Other suggestions include expanding the "funding for lending" scheme with banks to get capital to small business, finding more savings in the National Health Service, and changing the way Britain taxes development land that remains undeveloped. Britain, now joins, Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, in the failure of austerity measures alone creating a return to economic growth and lower deficits. In 2013 improving competitiveness and boosting economic growth become critical following years of austerity measures....

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This Journal editorial on Oct 5, 2012, says that by not offering leadership in the Syrian conflict beause it would lead to a wider conflict the U.S. and the European Union face a wider conflict. The current crossborder shelling between Syria and Turkey is the latest evidence of this. Turkey and the Saudis cannot handle this on their own. Without U.S. leadership the costs of this conflict will be even greater, and even poses risks for the Turkish economy if handled badly.

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Italy and Spain get Germany's chancellor Merkel to agree to direct recapitalization of eurozone banks by the European rescue fund instead of the government having to ask for rescue funds as happened for the $125 billion aid request from Spain. The condition is that a European banking regulator with wide powers to regulate eurozone banks has to be setup first. This means Spain will have to provide the initial funds to recapitalize its banks but can reduce the stress this places on its debt by letting the banks get aid directly from the European rescue fund later this year. This is one of the short term measures needed to restore market confidence. Italy pushed hard for the rescue fund to be allowed to buy Italian or Spanish bonds in the private markets to reduce the high yields on Spanish and Italian government bonds, which reached 7% for 10 year Spanish bonds in June 2012. Merkel agreed to this with fewer strings attached. These are the immediate short term measures which were very important for Spain and Italy. Through marathon 14 hour discussions described by Monti as "hard and tense," the Italian and Spanish governments stood firm on these short term measures, and at one point indicated their willingness to let the talks collapse if Germany did not agree. France's president Hollande stood by Italy and Spain in the negotiations. Other long term fixes such as a European authority for country fiscal policy review and a detailed road map were left for future meetings in October 2012....

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NYT Shanghai bureau chief Alexandra Stevenson sends this report on the magnitude of the problems facing Country Garden, China's largest housing developer, Country Garden has $200 billion in unpaid bills, has missed interest payments on debt. It lost $7.6 billion in the last 6 months. A million apartments remain unfinished. The government's first concern is that buyers are made whole, it is less committed to housing as a driver of economic growth. And the numbers are just way too large for the government to tackle. By one estimate the unpaid bills goes as high as $370 billion in unpaid bills. What happens to all those construction workers, carpenters and other workers who remain unpaid. Country Garden follows failure of Evergrande another huge Chinese real estate developer in 2021. Experts say even if people buy Country Garden's apartments the losses are too large to make up.

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Of the 27 nations represented at the EU summit meeting on January 30, 2012, all except Britain and the Czech Republic agreed to the new measures for budgetary discipline. The new fiscal compact will come into effect after 12 eurozone countries have ratified the compact. This prevents one or two countries holding up the agreement. This provides the Merkel government in Germany an agreement on concrete measures for budgetary discipline- evidence of specific action to dissenters inside the Christian Democratic party and in German public opinion- which would enable it to support efforts by the ECB, the IMF and the EU to address the crisis, including the funding of the European Financial Stability Fund. The text of the fiscal compact makes it harder to block sanctions against countries that fail to impose budgetary discipline, while at the same time making allowance for countries with excessive debt such as Italy.

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Over half of all Americans don't care about age, and many voters see it as benefitting the country because of the experience. In Biden's case the longest serving Senate record in the US means getting things done. It all depends on the choice voters have. With Trump 78 years old as Election Day approaches, and Biden 81 years, the difference between the two becomes slight- result a wash. If Mr. Trump brings it up as "sleepy Joe" as he did in 2020 it may sound as old hat. A polling research firm Navigator showed Mr. Biden to a group and found 35% approval on the grounds of age, after being shown the State of the Union address with a feisty Biden energized to take on the Republicans the approval jumped to 55% on age alone. Other experts point to the deciding factor being not age but accomplishment. It is true for all Democrats and for the significant voting group of Independents and Moderates. Biden's list of accomplishments in making trillions of dollars of investments in the US trump all other concerns.  ...

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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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Make no mistake president Biden is saying it is America's, and India's turn to reinvent the semiconductor industry with government capital support, and with the zeal and inventive capabilities of the US and India. This interview by Ben Cohen gives a glimpse of how Morris Chang now 92 years sees the founding of Taiwan Semiconductor in 1985 in retrospect in 2024. He talks about his early life in the US as an immigrant from China after 1949 and his work at Texas Instruments learning about the semiconductor industry. In the 1980's Japan was the rising industrial nation in semiconductors. By 1985 Intel which dominated memory chips faced challenges in quality and cost and cheap capital from Japanese capital markets encouraging exports. By 1988 Japan took over the market. What Morris Chang is not telling is that Chang already had the Japanese example in 1985. If Japan could do it on all three fronts quality, cheap capital with government assistance, and ten year effort Chang and Taiwan could do this and accomplished this which it has done. ...

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DJT announces actions on Liberation Day, April 2, 2025 freeing America on attacks on its manufacturing base and its workers for 50 years since the 1970's. He announces reciprocal tariffs on all nations with large trading imbalances with the US, a 34% tariff on China and a 20% tariff on all imports from the European Union. These nations he says have taken advantage of the US and looted and pillaged the US workers and communities for decades mainly because of the presidents who sat in the White House executive room and allowed this to happen. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent advised all trading nations-  "My advice to every country right now is, do not retaliate." His advice- "sit back, take it in.... Because if you retaliate, there will be escalation". The US is in no mood to be lectured or retaliated when these countries including China, Japan, South Korea and the EU, Taiwan, India a list of about 20 nations have taken unfair advantage of the US in trade for 3 decades. ...

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Utah governor Spencer Cox and call for introspection on open debate and discussions without rancor and strife. Cox launched a “Disagree Better” campaign in 2023 with Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in an effort to restore civility and respect in open debate between differing viewpoints. After all there have been strident difference of opinion since the founding of the Nation and the many crises it has faced. The years leading to the Declaration of Independence to the War with Mexico, the Civil War, the peace movement before World War II, the McCarthy years, Nixon years, and the strife over DJT rhetoric and style of politics. Cox says- “It’s important to understand that in our political system today all of the incentives are lined up against this concept of dignity and respect,” he added. “We made a decision that we would only run for this position if we could do it in a different way and it had to be a positive vision.”  “Social media is a cancer in our society right now, and I would encourage people to log off, turn off, touch grass, go hug a family member, go out and do good in the community."   ...

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A big change for the presidential election in 2012 is the lopsided way in which white voters who are struggling with job losses or seeing economic difficulties are alienated from President Obama. By 58% to 32% these voters favor Romney over Obama in a May 2012 Wahington Post-ABC News poll, a 26% margin. Of those struggling financially about 7 in 10 lack a college degree. This is happening even though 31% of these voters in this poll say they are Republicans and 27% Democrats. It is true that Obama could still win in 2008 losing this group 58% to 40%, an 18% losing margin, similiar to Kerry in 2004, and Al Gore in 2000. A wider margin of 26% poses more risks if the unemployment situation and the economy looks weaker by November 2012.

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The WSJ's Alessandra Galloni speaks with Mario Monti, the Italian premier, for in-depth interviews. Here Galloni and Walker provide an account of what happened during and after the June 28, 2012 summit of European leaders. Monti described the comments of ECB president Draghi in early August- about ECB buying of bonds of Italy and Spain being within the mandate of the ECB if monetary transmission channels were not working properly to reduce yields- as a bold effort following the agreement made at the June 28 summit to support Italy and Spain. Monti expressed the idea that Draghi should feel morally and politically justified if and when he makes the bold moves to rescue the euro. The only problem he says is whether one has to wait till the night before the euro is about to disintegrate for this to happen. This is the first time Monti has publicly expressed the possibility of this happening.

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Only the week before Tuesday April 7 Pakistan Foreign Minister Dhar failed to convince China to get involved. April 7th Tuesday in the US 1.30 pm US time, 8 pm Islamabad Pakistan time, China finally decided to jump in to convince Iran to accept peace talks in Islamabad. It is quite possible that behind the scenes the US was talking with China which has a 25 Year Comprehensive Agreement with Iran signed in 2021 that is the main support for the Iranian economy. China acted to reassure Iran that talks in Islamabad would proceed smoothly, and persuade Iran to accept ceasefire and talks. Why? Knowing that brinksmanship by US and Iran would lead to unforeseen consequences and hurt China's economy with oil price volatility as well as  hurt the US economy, and hurt the prospects for the planned May14-15 visit by DJT to Beijing to improve economic and political ties, both China and the US wanted to do everything to prevent this from happening. The result a hastily arranged peace talks in Islamabad so that by 4 am Islamabad time on Wednesday or 6.30 pm US time on Tuesday evening the ceasefire had already been agree to by US and Iran, according to this report in The Guardian from Pakistan. The crux of the matter was that it would affect US and China's economy with oil volatility, and US-China relations by jeopardizing May 14-15 revised date for DJT visit to Beijing. This good sense prevailed over all the war rhetoric and the media information and disinformation. It is confusing because of all the misinformation, but becomes clear when one understands this in the context provided in this report from Pakistan by the Guardian. Why Pakistan? For Pakistan the missile attack the day before of a Saudi petrochemical complex by Iran was drawing Saudis into the war and Pakistan has signed a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia that requires Pakistan to support Saudi Arabia if it gets into a war. For Pakistan it was a fragile situation that would be a catastrophe with unforeseen consequences on its economy. Already schools are closed for 1 month in Pakistan and oil is in short supply, paying for it at $115 or $125 a barrel would put severe strain on Pakistan. Who wins, who loses is being told in the media- much less on the good sense that prevailed  the efforts and the predicament of the large powers China, India, the US, and Germany, European Union, the poorer countries, all hurt economically, caught in a war they do not want, do not need. ...

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Jaishankar was asked at the 2021 GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava in 2021 why he thinks anyone will help India in case of a problem with China after it did not help others for Ukraine. Chancellor Scholz of Germany cites Indian Foreign Minister Jasihankar's remarks in Bratislava, Slovakia, in 2021. Jaishankar said- "Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world's problems, but the world's problems are not Europe's problems. That is if it is you it's yours, if it is me it is ours. I see reflections of that. There is a linkage today which is being made. A linkage betwen China and India and what's happening in Ukraine. Chia and India happened way before anything happened in Ukraine. The Chinese do not need a precedent somewhere else on how to engage us or not to engage us or be difficult with us or not to be difficult with us." These are Scholz's remarks at the Munich Security Conference. Scholz says Jaishankar has "a point."  "This quote from the Indian Foreign Minister is included in this year's Munich Security Report and he has a point it would't be Europe's problem alone if the law of the strong were to assert itself in international relations." To be credible European or North American in New Delhi or Jakarta, it is not enough to emphasize shared values. "We generally have to address the interests and concerns of these countries as a basic prerequisite for joint action. And that's why it was so important to me to not merely have representatives of Asia, Africa and Latin America at the negotiating table during the G-7 Summit last June. I really wanted to work with these regions to find solutions to the main challenges they face growing poverty and hunger, partly as a consequence of Rusia's war, as well as the impact of climate change or COVID-19. There is another side to this -Scholz and Germany's president Frank Walter-Steinmeier are from the social Democrats party which has sought closer cooperation with Russia, and also carry a great deal of ambivalence for the war. America is not fighting this indirect war in its neighborhood, Germany is. And some of the roots of this conflict go back to the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in the 1800's period and the German invasion in the 1940's. Macron is even more ambivalent in his position and he has remained this way from the beginning- not committed to humiliating Russia. In a way it is the position of the Social Democrats from the historical context of Germany's invasion of Russia, and Christian Democrats eagerness to create a German recovery with low cost Russian energy that created the dependence that Russia sought to use. In what it sees as the unfairness of NATO being allowed to expand right next to its borders. Because of a sense of righteousness on both sides- Russia of the Soviet period failing to see the feelings of a Budapest in 1956, East Berlin in 1953, and Prague in 1968, sees little wrong in an invasion of Kviv. And with it all the biography of Brezhnev the last leader of the Soviet Union, describes that very struggle in the Great Patriotic War the soviets fought against Nazi Germany which was fought by Ukrainians including Leonid Brezhnev with great will and purpose against all odds.  Cambridge historian has written the history of Europe that Scholz is cited to be reading in 2021- Europe The Struggle for Supremacy 1453 to the Present.  It shows Europe since 1453 engaging in balance of power of European powers, Sweden Denmark, Russia, Austria, Germany, France, Britain, Turkey, continually for 500 years. Europe simply forgot its own history. Asia including Japan, China, Indonesia and India, simply emerging from the situation of falling behind in science, technology, and the industrial revolution and building their economies with the help of the US since the Meiji Restoration in Japan in 1868. The Balance of Power Simms says was maintained for 500 years is simply based on no country allowed to act with impunity, no country allowed to do whatever it wanted because of its position of strength at that moment or period of time. In that situation all other powers regrouped to keep the balance from being upset. The war in Ukraine is also likely to end in a way that is consistent with that which Brendan Simms writes about because this has not changed now for over 500 years. Biden knows this and it has fallen on America to shoulder the burden for this in the last 150 years, Scholz is aware of this, Modi in India sees this, and Jinping in China realizes this even with its concerns about Taiwan.   ...

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Greek tax evasion is estimated by three economists who studied data from Greek banks at about $11 billion based on a 40% tax rate, a third of the country's annual deficit for 2009. Unreported income is estimated at $28 billion. Doctors, dentists, lawyers, architects, engineers are the biggest groups underreporting income. Greece's parliament took up a bill in 2010 but the bill failed because of oposition from these groups. It remains to be seen if the Samaras government with support of the IMF-EC can take action similiar to that taken by the Monti government in Italy to go after tax evaders. By cutting the minimum wage and incomes of lower income groups disproportionately compared to cracking down on tax evasion and protecting incomes of higher income groups the economic plan for Greece proposed by the IMF-EC and the Greek government becomes unworkable and threatens the social fabric. By not raising this issue Germany's media and government have appeared callous in their pursuit of austerity measures as working class Greeks protested in Athens in 2011-2012, even though some of the issues raised by the Germans are legitimate. France and Italy are imposing a wealth tax to cut the deficit but this is not taking place in Greece. Global financial media has also not reported adequately on these aspects of the problem in Greece and Italy....

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This WSJ editorial says that if BNP Paribas wants to do business in the U.S., it has to abide by U.S. laws. U.S. laws and sanctions against Iran were violated in BNP Paribas currency and other dealings with Iranian clients in 2002-2009. Similiar conduct happened for Sudanese clients.

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Last month the Nevada probate commissioner said Rupert Murdoch could amend his irrevocable trust if he is acting in good faith and in the interests of his 4 children. A trial to determine if this is in good faith begins in September 2024. The current trust for Murdoch and his news properties is an irrevocable trust set up 24 years back in Reno, Nevada. It gives one vote each to Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence after Rupert Murdoch's death. He is 93 years. Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch have views that have led to Fox News and Wall Street Journal news coverage that is seen as extreme. James ran the News operations with Lachlan till he could no longer support the shift, a shift consistent with his father's views. William Barr, an Attorney General for Bush and Trump is a legal adviser to Rupert Murdoch in the effort to give voting rights to Lachlan, so he has a majority. James says he is uncomfortable with the shift at the networks and that it would hurt them in the long run that the gains in ratings are short term and have led to releasing insidious forces in the US. James's wife Kathryn is a climate change activist. The siblings say the original trust had "an equal governance provision" and want a voice. They also say the move to give Lachlan majority voting rights disenfrachises them. The courts in Nevada will take up this case with the siblings working together in opposition to Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan. ...

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Robert Kaiser, former managing editor of The Washington Post, reviewed this book on Joe McCathy in The Washington Post on August 7, 2020. It shows the link with today of Senator Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn, the then 27 year old lawyer chief counsel of the senate subcommittee on investigation when Joe McCarthy became chairman in Jan. 1953. The book is-  Demagogue The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy by Larry Tye. Roy Cohn passed on some of the methods used at that time to Mr. Trump. Kaiser points out that the senator Joe McCarthy assembled "a coalition of the aggrieved." Tye shows that it started with the junior senator from Wisconsin making a speech in West Virginia for Lincon Day dinner to the Republican ladies of Wheeling, W. Va. The senator used it to talk about threat of communists working in the State Department. He claimed there were 205 Communists. Today we know that this was just made up by McCarthy, at a time when Winston Churchill made the speech about the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and a sense of shock in America at the People's Republic of China being formed in 1949 under CCP chairman Mao tse tung. McCarthy saw this as an opportunity to gain prominence and a Senate career. What is seen from this carefully researched book is that for a while it succeeded in putting many of the Nation's best leaders on the defense. This includes Harry Truman, Eisenhower himself who disdained McCarthy's and Cohn's methods, Gen George Marshall who was a mentor to Dwight EIsenhower, Joe Stilwell, and other military leaders who ran the 1940's war effort under Marshall in Europe against the Nazis and in China against the Japanese imperialists. On the domestic side it included the head of TVA and the new Atomic Agency setup by president Truman. Gallup said at that time of McCarthy's 38% support in the US following his censure in US Senate by 67-22  -even if it was known that McCarthy killed five innocent children they would still go along with him. Tye writes that in that atmosphere similar to the sense of shock at China's rise and America's loss of manufacturing and falling behind in infrastructure by 2016, in that atmosphere if one told a small lie or big lie it made not much difference in public's penalty or censure, then why not tell a whopper of a lie. This became the ethic for a while in 2016-2024 similar to the period till the collapse of McCarthyism in America by 1957 with McCarthy's death in 1957 and in 1960 the election of John F. Kennedy. What is forgotten is that Richard Nixon a young senator from California was part of the group in Congress, so that in some shape or form it existed and remained part of the Reagan efforts to push back against the Soviets that led to wars in Afghanistan and then Iraq sapping the Nation's energies and resources and with faulty economic theory allowed China to dominate key industries and outspend America in infrastructure investment, creating the kind of shock that led to the second McCarthyist decade under Mr. Trump. ...

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The serious problem of the large number of long term unemployed in the U.S. in 2012, strikingly different from any previous recession the U.S. has experienced. This means that if the problem is not addressed or solved these unemployed people will simply fall by the wayside, say experts. U.S. Federal chairman Bernanke, says this is a priority to be taken into account in setting interest rate policy. His fears are that this will be a permanent loss to the productive capacity of the U.S. Evidence of the extent of this problem is that the share of the population that is working has barely budged since late 2009 when the global financial crisis hit. It dropped from above 62% to about 58% in late 2009. It was 58.6% in ealry 2012, based on Labor Department data, even though the unemployment rate edged down to 8.3% by Feb. 2012.

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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) reduced its forecasts for GDP growth in Russia to 3.1% for 2012 and 3.3% for 2013. Moody's Investors Service warned that the Russian economy could contract 5% in the next 10-12 months and the ruble could depreciate by 30% if the eurozone crisis worsens.

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David Luhnow and Jose de Cordoba interview Luis Videgaray, close economic advisor for Mexico's leading presidential candidate, Enrique Pena Nieto. Elections will be held in July, 2012. Videgaray answers question about the policy agenda if Nieto is elected, covering changes in the oil industry, education, social security, the fight against organized crime.

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In remarks published in English on the Bundesbank website, Jens Weidmann, Bundesbank president and member of the ECB governing council said: "The ECB should be aware of its independence. This also requires it to respect, and not to overstep its own mandate." This is seen as a pushback by the Bundesbank to ECB president Draghi's comments on July 23, 2012, about doing all that is necessary to keep the eurozone together. Weidmann referring to the situation in France recollecting his days as a student in France in 1987, said there were "two different worldviews colliding." And that this situation prevailed in all political debates right up to the present day. He says about deflationary tendencies -"If these countries go through adjustment processes which result in decreases in wages and prices, then this constitutes one-off shifts in the wage and price structure and not deflation."