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Pew Research Center analysis of Biden's 2020 victory shows which groups played the big part in Biden's win. First time voters in 2018, 6% of total voters, mostly younger voters gave Biden a 26% margin over Trump. Other parts of the electorate that shifted in 2020 are Independents and Moderates who shifted to Biden. Catholics also shifted to Biden. Substantial leads in these voting blocs made the difference for Biden. In Arizona with Latinos, and Pennsylvania with the black population Biden did better than in the overall US electorate. In 2024 these same blocs are likely to play a key part. President Biden's visit to Ireland was well planned, his appeal to Irish roots genuinely felt and the connection made. His appeal to manufacturing workers is now based on accomplished results in fighting for worker's rights from teachers to railroad workers. Biden launched his campaign in front of a union audience, saying he saw things from the perspective of Scranton, and the working people he grew up with. In 2016 third party candidates got 6% of the vote, in 2020 only 2%. Of these voters Biden gained a 25% margin over Trump. Biden split the men's vote with Trump in 2020, compared to Trump's 11 point lead in 2016. Biden also maintained the share of women's votes of 54%  in the 2020 election. In 2024 the abortion issue is a significant factor for women. ...

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There is a marraige strike in South Korea. Daycare centers and kidergardens are being converted into nursing homes. Hawon Jung, former Agence France-Presse reporter in Seoul, is the author of Flowers of Fire. Here she says feminism is not the problem when it comes to declining birthrates in South Korea with the lowest fertility rate in the world at 0.79. She says feminism that gets women a better deal in raising children and better quality of married life is the solution. Violence against women in South Korea's existing culture, women doing three times the chores for raising children than men, and sexism at work that discriminates against young women who are married, are problems that need to be tackled for women to accept marraige as an attractive option, says Ms. Jung.  There is little realization in South Korea that the UN warning of South Korea's population dropping to half of the 51 million today requires solutions of behavioural change more than money ($210 billion have gone to encouraging marraige and births). She says today's response of the Yoon government leveraging the sentiment against women's activism is not going to reverse the marraige strike in South Korea.  Looking at it from the outside world from Europe and the US, from India, Indonesia and Japan, there is no room for  violent gender based violence in modern society. ...

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Meg Gentle, who helped build the first LNG terminal for Cherniere Inc. in the Gulf Coast of the US for export of natural gas extracted in the US, is now switching to work in green hydrogen production. The first facility goes up in Texas by 202 7after an experimental project in Chile. WSJ shows many former fossil fuel executives are taking this route to green hydrogen. Gentle says the nascent green hydrogen industry is similar to the beginnings of natural gas. She says there are all the same elements in both. And that the new companies can go from one plant to create a new transformation just like that done for LNG. A chief technology officer of Airbus, a head of GE Europe and China, and an Italian from Eni Enel are also working at green hydrogen companies. What has turned an historically uneconomic business into a possibly profitable business are subsidies from president Biden put in place for clean energy. These subsidies now cover 60% of the cost of green hydrogen, says the WSJ. Green hydrogen requires permiting, infrastructure, financing, customer agreements, similar to the fossil fuel industry. Many are joining for the challenge as green hydrogen when converted into a liquid for transport can't carry as much energy as fossil fuels. About 120 startups raised $2.6 billion in 2022, a 50% jump from 2021. The GE executive says no one has done this on scale making the opportunity enormous. ...

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Of NYT's decades old indifference, an almost Churchill like distance and indifference to the aspirations of the people of South Asia it can be said- indifference to the aspirations of 1.4 billion people to modernize the country with the same infrastructure that Europe and the US, Japan, and now China take for granted. Indifference to the problems in creating a nation  with 13 languages and 1.4 billion people that has a freely elected parliament never before done in history, one which also delivers on banking accounts, health care, infrastructure, for all its  people, of all races and religions. This indifference runs counter to everything that Indians admire about America. And a lack of awareness of what Indians admire today about the Biden administration's promise to make the words of Jefferson true in America as the Modi administration does in India- "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, (created equal) and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The NYT's indifference to this inequality both in the US and in India run counter to the founding principles of Jefferson and of India's saint from Wardha, Mohandas Gandhi, who both fought the British empire at the height of its prominence.  ...

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The figures are staggering. $380 billion of $400 billion in Nigerian oil revenues estimated lost to corruption and waste from 1960 to 1999. This is the estimate given by Nigeria's top anticorruption official and quoted in the NYT. Meanwhile life expectancy in Nigeria is about 47 years and little of the oil revenues goes to infrastructure, health, education and investment to improve the lives of Nigeria's people. The oil companies after years of bad publicity, Shell and Exxon, appear to be shrugging their shoulders that there is little they can do beyond their own small investments, $100 million by Shell and $22 million by Exxon each year on roads and other related infrastructure. The western oil companies typically get 7% of the profits from oil sales, with the government keeping 93%, according to the NYT. Mouwad describes life inside a 50 acre area in Port Harcourt which houses Italians working for oil company Eni. A militant movement MEND is fighting in the Delta region to have more resources devoted to this neglected region of Nigeria. The result is that life is becoming difficult for foreign oil workers in the area. About 13% of oil revenues go to the states but corruption and waste eat up the money at the state level too. The River States budget is an example, of about $1.3 billion budget only $22 million goes to health services, helicopter services and catering for the governor's office alone cost $38 million and $10 million. MEND the delta region organization wants more money for the delta states and is organizing disruption of oil production as a method to make itself heard. This has increased the need for security consultants to protect oil company property and personnel. Already a quarter of Nigerian oil production has been shut down....

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Under the Volcker Rule setup during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, banks total investments in private equity, hedge funds and similar higher risk funds cannot exceed 3% of high quality capital. During the financial crisis investment banks were highly leveraged leading to the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, and the precarious financial condition of other banks. Goldman has pared down about 60% of such investments. Remaining are $4.8 billion in private equity investments, $1.2 billion in real estate, and about $1.1 billion in both credit and hedge funds. Regulators have given the bank till July 2017 to comply. As banks recovered from the impact of the crisis, the tearing of the social fabric that happened with high unemployment in some groups especially older white men, has remained six years after the crisis- as evident in the U.S. election campaigns this year. As a result the mood has shifted for tighter regulation and both party platforms, Republican and Democratic, now call for reinstatement of the Glass Steagall Act, which separated commercial banking from investment banking as part of the lessons learned from the Great Depression. Volcker, was chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve during the Carter administration, known for taking a tough line against inflation. He was the principal driver of the move to restrict banks from risky activity, and faced considerable opposition from banks during the 2009-2013 period when the rule was being formulated.  ...

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This Journal editorial points to the low labor participation rate of 63.2% in the U.S. as indication of the high unemployment in September 2013. About 90.6 million men and women over the age of 16 are not working, compared to total employment of 144.3 million, based on Labor Department statistics. Factors contributing to this are the six million baby boomers turning 65 since 2008, more young people staying in school in a poor job market, easier access to government support benefits such as unemployment insurance, disability.

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Anne- Marie Slaughter's new book Unfinished Business is reviewed by Laura Vanderkam. Ms. Slaughter says in her new book that part of the unfinished business for women in the workplace is to give women time for child care duties in a way that does not hurt their careers. Anne Marie makes the case on the grounds that this is a social bias. Yet there are many reasons beyond simple fairness, and the value of parental work. Women can contribute to society in different ways than men. For example reports show women are more interested in using technical skills in ways that will benefit developing countries. Women bring a different perspective than men. Women are also prominent in scientific fields. For this contribution to grow and enrich society it can be enlarged by giving women proper benefit for maternity leave, and preserving the ability to come back and contribute in the same way after the maternity leave period is over. Toshiba did this for a female engineer who had made significant contributions in the technical field. Doing this would also help in other ways. It could make it more attractive for women to have kids knowing it will not hurt their careers or the careers of their partners. This is needed in western societies with falling birthrates and declining number of young people to support larger numbers of older people....

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An hour by hour, day by day account of how Thain and Fuld, two men at the top of Merrill and Lehman, handled the crisis facing their firm. Also an account of how both men acted in the year and the months before the climactic week when Lehman filed for bankruptcy and Merrill Thain arranged for Bank of America to buyout Merrill. How Thain did it and how Fuld failed to save his firm, their background and personalities offer a striking contrast to different approaches to the crisis one facing reality and taking actions one after the other palatable or not, and the other too complacent and missing opportunites to save the firm even after the collapse of Bear Stearns left Lehman exposed to the next crisis of confidence. For example while Lehman failed to raise capital and get rid of undesirable or toxic assets, Thain sold $31.1 billion in toxic assets to a investment company Lone Star for 22 cents on the dollar, even financing 75% of the sale. It raised $8.8 billion in a deal that diluted Merrill's shareholders severely, and announced Merrill would sell its stake in Bloomberg for $4.4 billion. Lehman and Merrill were both heavily leveraged. So are Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs at this time in a financial market that is coming down hard on these highly leveraged investment banks....

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In a effort to improve nutrition for the urban poor in India, the Indira Canteens formed in 2017 have already made substantial progress in Bengaluru (Bangalore). The canteens backed by the state offer subsidized meals, breakfast costing 5 Indian rupees or 7 U.S. cents, lunch and dinner costing 10 rupees or 14 U.S. cents. About 65 million Indians live in urban slums, a highly marginalized group, many migrants from nearby villages who now live in slums that are often near neighborhoods of the affluent and upper middle class. In addition to low income groups, rickshaw cab drivers, and laborers, this program has benefited school and college students who also use the canteens. More than 170 canteens have been set up in Bengaluru in a hub and spoke model with canteens located near colleges and hospitals and supplied from central kitchens nearby. An app gives the menu, nearby locations and takes feedback. It costs the state 16 million euros from a state budget of 26.4 billion euros, and is an imitation of a similar project Amma Canteens in neighboring Tamilnadu state. It reaches 250,000 people a day in Bengaluru. ...

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Obama wins South Carolina Edwards home base by 55% to Clinton's 27%, and Edward's 18%. Obama wins 24% of the white vote. What happens when the white men who voted for Edwards choose between Clinton and Obama ? As many white men voted for Obama as for Clinton. And 70% of white voters in exit poll by Edison/Mitofsky for the National Election Pool of television networks say they would be satisfied if Obama wins the Democratic nomination. When asked if the country was definitely ready for a black President 25% of white voters said yes. Obama's coalition of young people, black people, and white male voters, alienated by the Clintons and working through the internet and other media outside of the establishment, may resemble the one put together in South Korea by young people to put an outsider in the President's position a few years ago.

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The inspiring story of Joan Poh, only the second rower to compete for Singapore in an Olympics. She rises at 5 am to workout as she also works as a nurse in a 10 hour shift at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. She has missed meals as she does her training in the midst of work as a nurse. She returned to working in nursing after a call from Singapore government for frontline medical workers in April of 2020. She sees sport as a dream, a luxury that one has to work for. Puts in 100% as a nurse and when rowing 100% as a rower.  At 5 foot 5 inches, 30 years old,  she is much smaller than other rowers, and uses her technique and training to compete. She is the oldest of 3 children who grew up in a 1 room apartment in Singapore. Without resources she learned to row on a long boat by joining a dragon boat rowing team when she was 17, then learned to scull in 2015 at age 25. In 2019 she took extended leave from her hospital to train for the Olympics in Australia. A Canadian who won Olympic Bronze in 1996 and 2000 coaches her free from Vancouver Island in Canada, using videos and workout programs, and went to Singapore when Poh qualified for the Olympics to train her in person. She looks at competing not just as medal winning, and sees this as one step in building a team in the right direction. She sees creating opportunities for others, and overcoming her childhood situation growing up struggling for resources. She says early on it was for her not wanting her lack of resources to decide what she could do. As she puts it - to always aim for a strong start even though one started with not such a good start. ...

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China and India as rooted today in the original scientific mind of the Buddha and the Rishis are capable modern science based societies that can not only coexist with Christian Europe and Americas but also inspire other societies. About 33% or one third of the 1.2 billion Chinese people believe in Buddhism or a Bodhisattva, and 18% believe in Taoist deities. 47% believe in feng-shui arranging objects in space for environment and harmony. This is shown in a Pew Research survey. Buddhism is a religion that is not practiced officially with hierarchy and churches as in Catholicism. As a result faith and prayer happens in visits to small shrines in the home or in the neighborhood. Only 4% of people will say that they identify with a religion as religious beliefs are seen as close to superstition and backwardness that held China back from adopting science and modern technology from 1400 to 1900. This makes surveys difficult to trust in a Communist society.   A close observation from a Buddhist perspective in Asia would show that the vast majority of Chinese have a faith in Buddha or Taoism. Buddha's writings show a modern mind asking scientific questions about the mind and about life which can be consistent with science and technology and being modern. As in the original Upanishads and Vedic writings of Rishis what is called Hinduism in western language also ask questions with a scientific mind which were obscured by myth and superstition over 1000-1900. Both the original Vedic and Buddhist writings are not only not going to hold India and China back, when correctly presented they are capable of becoming a new force for advancing science and technology in society while retaining the roots of civilization in Four Forms of Mindfulness of the Buddha that give societies hope for the future. This offers hope for the future of China and India as a modern, scientific civilization with roots in the writings of the Buddha. ...

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After a chemical attack by the Assad government in Syria in 2013 Trump urged president Obama not to make air strikes on Syrian government targets, saying jobs, healthcare and other priorities should be remembered. After the use of chemical weapons in April 2017 by the Syrian government and the outrage following media photographs of the men, women and children who suffered from the brutal attack, Trump had changed his mind. The graphic images led to a change of heart. President Trump said that "it was in the vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons." Reports on CNN state the president was offered two options to strike several airfields or one airfield near Homs in Syria, just before meeting China's president Xi Jinping. He chose the latter option and went on to his meeting with China's president. Pictures on the internet show Trump with key advisers, Mcmaster, Tillerson and others huddled together in a room at the Mar Lago resort following the strikes. It may be a decisive moment in the Syrian conflict as it was an expression of disapproval and action with the use of chemical weapons in any conflict. ...

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David Carr writes about the movie "The Company Men," and how it should be a must see for American business. He says the movie uses the plot of a couple of rich guys losing their jobs, to ask one of the big questions for today: How is it that corporate profits and unemployment can be so high at the same time. And companies have a large amount of cash raised in capital markets at the same time that only a fraction of that is being invested to create new jobs.

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As seen in the campaigns of Gretchen Whitmer for Governor western Michigan and Kalamazoo are critical in 2024. Michelle Obama joins Kamala Harris at an event in Kalamazoo in the closing days of the campaign. 

Speaking about women's health and pregnancies Michelle Obama was passionate in her words in Kalamazoo speaking to men and women-

"Consider the harm that is done when a government keeps revoking the basic care from its women."

“I am asking y’all, from the core of my being, to take our lives seriously. If we don’t get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage.”

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Who is this sandwich generation in America? The term refers to young people facing the high cost of raising children and lack of affordability of childcare as well as caring for elderly parents some in their eighties. The problem is acute for these families in 2024 who have already experienced the covid pandemic, loss of jobs, loss of family members. Men and women are squeezed from both sides as they care for children and elderly parents without assistance from the government. Harris's plan in America for childcare assistance of $6000, payment assistance for down payment on buying a home, assistance for starting a small business, increasing supply of housing by building 3 million new homes, has young people with children uppermost in mind.

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Abortion rights amendments passed in 7 states, voters continued to back it. But this did not help Harris as pocketbook issues and cost of living, the economy was the major issue for both women and men. White women have never voted by a majority for any but 2 Southerners fromTexas LBJ 1964, and Bill Clinton from Arkansas in 1996. This shows that it was not realistic for the campaign to depend on abortion as the issue when the economic difficulties following the pandemic were real for Americans across gender and the Democratic party had started on the road to regaining but not yet regained the trust of working class voters. It was too much to accomplish in 4 years of Biden what had eroded over three decades.

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There was some element of reckless behaviour when Britain tossed aside misgivings to let Tories let in private sector investing into companies in the water sector. The WSJ now calls it the world's largest failure in private sector water investment. Today there is eColi in the water in River Thames so much so that in the Oxford Cambridge rowing race rowers were advised not to make contact wih the water. It goes back to Victorian sewers which was a problem not tackled by companies interested in profits in areas that wiser men had decided is best done by public sector investment. These are the hidden failures of the Thatcher/Reagan years that are only now coming to light. The company Thames Water loaded up on debt to pay investors dividends while the company failed to upgrade London's sewer system, which has spilled what amounts to 34,000 Olympic swimming pools of raw sewage into the river since 2020. The US has not been so reckless as most water and sewage systems are still publicly owned. Near central London a matted mountain of wet wipes and sanitary products along with sewage washed into River Thames is called Wet Wipe Island. Thames Water took on so much debt $23 billion that it defaulted on its debt. How could this be in a modern developed nation, and what about all the other infrastructure investments in Britain rusting  from the Industrial Revolution that need investment? Tories have let Britain down. There are lessons for the US and Germany, France, India and China. ...

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Helena Morrissey of the 30% Club has helped increase the representation of women on Board of Directors in Britain to 23%. This is nearly double the figure in 2010. Helena Morrissey uses a non-confrontational approach, getting men to join the organization and having them act as advocates with other men in senior positions. She learned this after using other approaches which were less effective. She focusses on telling chairman of the boards that having women on the board provides different perspectives, and points to studies that show about 30% lets a minority voice be heard. Homogenous boards have been known to provide no new thinking or fresh perspective, a problem at many companies. The opportunity opened up with the finsncial crisis of 2008 and widespread opinion that the boards had failed to understand the crisis that was coming. She and 14 other women got the support of 2 prominent board chairmen in 2010 to start the 30's Club. A Commision by the new government led by Lord Davies provided additional impetus by recommending that 25% of a board be voluntarily set for women. Early in her career Helena was turned down for a promotion because she had a baby. She has nine children, which her husband a journalist helps take care of at home, making her situation even more unique. Helena Morissey is CEO of Newton Asset Management in London's financial district....

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Rick Lyman of the NYT reports on Feb. 8, 2015, from the besieged city of Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine surrounded by separatist rebels. The rebels are supported by advanced weapons from Russia and Russian special forces, according to NATO sources. The fighting is taking a heavy toll on Ukraine and the U.S. is considering arms aid to the Ukrainian government in Kiev. Lt. Gen. Hodges, the U.S. Army Commander in Europe says Russian Special Forces in uniform rip off their badges, pulling off his own insignia, and Russia simply claims it has no men in eastern Ukraine.

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Retired General James Mattis tells officers at the Marines' Club in San Francisco to remember the words of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, a former infantry officer in the Civil War: "As life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived." He points to the need to integrate into civilian life without cynicism, exceeding expectations in civilian and business life like service men and women before them, and remembering to have an impact on other people's lives.

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Though making much noise and controversy the closure of DEI efforts comes also from ineffectiveness says the WSJ. More can be achieved by parents and a culture of reading and math in schools to create larger and larger pools of talented minority workers to take up senior positions.  DEI for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts 2020-2023 for 13 million workers at S&P 500 companies were analyzed by the WSJ in a Jan. 2025 study. For senior manager roles 2020-2023 DEI efforts under Biden have not yielded much- Black and Hispanics each make up about 5% of senior managers, the increase for Blacks 0.35% and for Hispanics and Asians about 1.9%. It shows not much has changed after DEI efforts in companies such as Amazon with a million employees. Active DEI efforts at Amazon 2020-2023 yielded slight changes- 67 to 69% nonwhite out of 1 million workforce. Active DEI efforts at Amazon 2020-2023 yielded 5.5% black of all senior managers from 3.6%, and slightly higher for managers of Asian descent. At farm equipment manufacturer John Deere 83% of the workforce in 2023 was white, 62% senior managers white men and another 19% senior managers white women, even after DEI efforts. Only a small group of 800 technicians saw an increase from 16% to 27% or about additional 80 black technicians hired.  ...

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German elections results in graphics 2025, shown in Deutsche Welle DW.  As in US in Germany 2024 more women and university educated in SPD, Greens more basic education and men in AfD, CDU. People over 60 voted for SPD and CDU, 20-23% voted for AfD in 25-50 year age groups.

The deindustrialization of the US and Germany and France has led to this situation, as jobs were outshored to China under Merkel and Schroeder. Fewer opportunities for people with a basic education and the indifference of governments to these disadvantaged groups under Merkel and Schroeder. The other change is that in Germany in the Eastern parts of the country around Dresden, Jena, Leipzig in Eastern Germany the AfD is now dominant, except for Berlin where the Left and SPD are dominant.

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Young voters 18 years to 29 years, some voting for the first time, including men on college campuses, voted by 14 percentage points in favor of DJT, compared to the same group of young voters giving  Biden a 15 percentage point margin. The total shift this time nearly 30 percentage points in favor of DJT. Young men fight the endless wars and young men are falling behind women in college education and Democrat Biden and Republican Trump were the only presidents fighting to end these wars, Democrats not even sensitive about the crisis facing young men.  For younger women 18-29 years the Harris margin was 18 percentage points down from 32 percentage points for Biden in 2020, a swing of 14 percentage points away from Democrats.  Overall for men and women Harris was only 52% to 46% for DJT a margin of only 6 percentage points.  This bodes well for America to have independent thinking from young people, and the same pattern is observed for Latinos, which also is a good sign for America for the future. ...