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Honda's hydrogen fueled FCV car will go on the market in Japan in March 2016. The car is designed for people who are looking for a zero emissions car that can fuel up in a few minutes for 300 mile range driving and are located near hydrogen fueling stations. About 50 such stations will be up and running in California by 2016. Honda has not given a price for the car. A similiar hydrogen car the Toyota Mirai price is estimated at $60,000.

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Permissive drug use paired with rigorous academics at liberal arts college Reed College in Portland, Oregon. The lack of clear direction from college President Colin Diver who told the Willamette Week newspaper as much, when he said that both brains and drugs come to mind when people think of Reed. Dwight Holton, U.S. Attorney for Oregon and law enforcement officials take strong action after the deaths from drug overdoses of two students, and refer to sending undercover agents on campus.

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Pollution levels at the Ilva steel plant in southern Italy's Mezzogiorno region. The family of Vincenzo Vestita, a 35 year old worker at the plant, his father and uncle who also worked at the plant, and their struggle with the effects of pollution. Higher cancer rates are seen in the region surrounding the plant. The Monti government's efforts to provide state money to clean up the plant and keep it open, because it is a major supplier of steel for Italian industry.

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The new Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda, faces the task of developing a consensus in the board for further monetary easing. In this task he will have an ally in deputy governor Iwata. A look at the stands taken by other seven members, including deputy governor Nakaso, shows only three other members having an open attitude to further quantitative easing. The members who are open to further easing are Miyao, Ishida and Shirai. Other members have to be persuaded by Kuroda.

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A research paper by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows 43% of Americans in 2012 under the age of 25 with student debt, having average debt of $20,326. Compare this with about 25% of young Americans having student debt in 2003, with average debt of $10,649. This is crowding out other borrowing such as buying new homes or cars by younger Americans because of borrower unwillingness to take on more debt and banks unwilling to lend to borrowers who might default.

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Pravin ordhan who won confidence as head of the tax authority takes over Trevor Manuel's post of Finance Ministera, and Trevor is kept in an important position in strategic planning. THe communist party and unions get the Education and Economic Development ministries, but otherwise Zuma indicates a preference for continuity in South African financial and economic affairs. With one third of potential workers are without jobs according to the government so there is considerable pressure for improving these measures of development.

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In an historic event, the young Senator who introduced bills on improving fuel efficiency in the Senate only a few years ago, announces his proposal for a single national fuel efficiency standard of 35.5 miles per gallon in 2016. Mr Obama had the chief executives of 10 global auto companies all gathered together, as he made the announcement. It reverses decades of conflict on this issue, and puts the US at the forefront of developing new technologies for fuel efficiency and emissions control.

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One researcher sees the 2008 election not as a transformational one because just as Reagan's appeared as one it was a referendum on Jummy Carter's administration, and the 2008 election a referendum on George W Bush's administration. Both were hugely unpopular. And was more about the short term past than about the long tem future. What is different here is the economy which may be in a transformational mode if the downturn is long and prolonged, no matter who is in control.

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Keith Bradsher visits Guangzhou, China, just as prime minister Wen Jiabao tells the National People's Congress that China is changing its priorities from high growth to sustainable development. As recently as 2007 GDP growth reached 14%! The minimum wage is expected to rise 13% each year under the five year plan. Even with the increase in wages owning an apartment is unaffordable in Guangzhou- a 1000 square feet apartment costs upward of $300,000, showing the extent to which the bubble in real estate prices affects young people who cannot afford to own an apartment. A new graduate with marketable skills such as computer engineering makes about $6000 a year, putting owning an apartmet beyond reach. Another change he notices today is that during visits to construction sites he does not see flood lit sites at night. This used to be the case because builders were scrambling to build. With government policies discouraging the property bubble there is no longer a need for work at night. The focus now has shifted to build low income housing....

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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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DW.com sees the choice of Timothy Kaine for Democratic vice presidential nominee as a safe choice, with no effort to mobilize the base activated by Bernie Sanders using a choice from that segment of the party. Both Hillary Clinton and Timothy Kaine come from the moderate wing of the party. This is likely to help Hillary Clinton in the swing state of Virginia. Kaine's choice may also be a way to balance the more serious Clinton with the sunnier disposition and campaigning energy of Kaine. To bring a different set of campaigning skills from Kaine- conveying a positive message for Democrats on how they could help the middle and working class, and appeal to independent undecided voters.

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US president Biden proposes to reduce the US deficit by $2 trillion by increasing taxes on American households worth more than $100 million that would apply to their earned income, and their unrealized gains on liquid assets like stocks. Biden also plans quadrupling the tax on stock buybacks by companies, a tax approved in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2021. The deficit in 2023 will be about $1.4 trillion and rise to about $2 trillion, so that Biden's plan is to practically eliminate the  large deficit if the Republicans come on board. Republicans prefer cuts in spending. US companies have engaged in a dramatic increase in stock buybacks in recent years leading to calls for increasing the tax on stock buybacks. Biden says even high income households will not see an increase in their taxes, only the wealthiest households with over $100 million who have benefited vastly through the Reagan type policies of the last two decades. These households with over $100 million in assets will not be affected in the same way as students, workers, and middle income households are affected in shouldering a large part of the burden of these Reagan type policies that did not adequately fund education, healthcare, and manufacturing in communities across America. This was a period when Democrats in Congress awed by Reagan type policies failed to vigorously oppose policy that increased the US deficit and burden on households for health costs by not allowing Medicare to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. A senior AARP official says that when we talk about the Biden Inflation Reduction Act of 2021 the key component is the Medicare price negotiation with companies that is now law. Why Republicans and Democrats before Mr. Biden allowed such a gross distortion for two decades since 2001 that burdened ordinary  working Americans while neglecting American manufacturing, till Mr. Biden assumed the presidency, says much about the policies of the last two decades and how it has affected ordinary working families. Shriveling factory towns and creating much distress in these communities with these distortions that are a legacy of Reagan type laissez faire policies that government should do little. The result of these policies is that manufacturing is concentrated in only one country for the whole supply chain something that would never have happened with a thoughtful policy planning process. India and Vietnam are only today seen as alternatives for the supply chain in 2023 when policies were in place in these countries since 2014 for the supply chain to be distributed in a way that would be a win-win situation for all countries, avoiding the national security threats of today with overconcentration of manufacturing in China. This has not benefited China or the US because of the rancor and tension it has created. It was the fall of the Berlin Wall that created some of this awe for Reagan, when looking at it objectively it was nothing more than a course correction in Europe after the Hungarian revolution suppressed in 1956, Czech in 1968. It had little to do with what policies the US should pursue for workers and families, just as the war in Ukraine today remains another course correction in a different direction in Europe, and does not affect domestic policy in the US to build a better society for workers and families that Mr. Biden is doing. ...

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It took 75 years for a British prime minister to visit Gandhi Ashram on the banks of the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad. George Bernard Shaw, the English writer, in a handwritten note at the Nehru museum in Allahabad after meeting Gandhi says "ask somebody 100 years hence" about Gandhi's contribution to the world. Today it is more clearer than ever. Mohandas Gandhi wrote Hind Swaraj on a ship from South Africa to London in 1910 after negotiating with the British government on behalf of Indians in South Africa. In 1915 Gandhi returned to India and used his savings to buy 110 acres of land for the ashram on the banks of the river Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. By 1923 Gandhi was questioning the expenditures of the British government that did little for the development of the country and a budget that was focused on military expenditures, in his magazine Young India, with nothing for developing the country except for railways and transport. Gandhi launched his non cooperation movement for self-rule or Swaraj from the Ashram. By 1937 elections were held and the first provincial assemblies were set up in an experiment for self-rule. In 1930 the Salt March for noncooperation in the British salt monopoly, salt seen as the common man's right, was launched from the Ashram. In 1942 the Quit India movement was launched in the middle of World War II. In 1945 after Labour party's Clement Atlee won the election in a landslide against Winston Churchill the path opened for Britain to start negotiations with Gandhi for independence. In 1947 India was free. Why 75 years for a British prime minister? Much of the period after 1950's was lost in the recovery from partition, wars on Kashmir, China's entry into Tibet and the invasion of India. The non aligned movement under Nehru and Indira Gandhi and successor governments to 2000 appearing more as voicing a grievance for being left out led to an ambivalence of the US and UK towards India, and reflected a period when India was small in economic terms and lacked the opportunity to find its place in the world as a country with the largest population in the world. Which today with with Bangladesh and Indonesia sharing a common history of Hinduism and Buddhism represents 1.6 billion people. In the Nehru home museum in Allahabad there is a hand written note by British writer George Bernard Shaw who visited India and the Nehru home. It says it would take maybe 100 years before the world realized the significance of what Gandhi had done and only at that time would the world truly understand Mr. Gandhi. Mr. Boris Johnson's effort to make up for 75 years that went by without UK prime minister's visit to Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad is one such moment that George Bernard Shaw had seen coming.  George Bernard Shaw's handwritten not at the Nehru Museum in Allahabad says- "What is the place of Mahatma Gandhi in political philosophy? I do not know. Ask somebody a century hence. I recollect Gandhi as only a very likeable fellow- Mahatma from India. We did not talk Mahatma shop."       G. Bernard Shaw            28/6/1947     ...

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Meet Pvt Hunter 80 years, and Pvt. Patrick 70 years of Canada's Rangers, an army reserve unit that acts as the eyes and ears of Canada's regular army for the vast region in the north, and conducts night rescue missions. Alistair Macdonald provides an exceptional account of an indigenous army reserve unit that sees age as no barrier as it brings together men past 70 years with younger men in their thirties and fifties, and patrols the vast Arctic region as well as northern Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.

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Nate Cohn of the NYT points out that based on the way in which moderate voters shifted to vote for Cruz in Wisconsin, especially in the eastern part of the state, this could be a turning point in the Cruz campaign. Cohn cites exit polls showing 29% of moderate voters went for Cruz in Wisconsin compared to 12% in Michigan and 15% in Illinois. In Madison's Dane County, a moderate area, Cruz had 38% of the vote. If this proves to be resilient then Trump could become the underdog in California, Indiana, Maryland, and Montana, with Pennsylvania becoming competitive, says Cohn. Reasons why this shift of moderate voters to Cruz could be a lasting shift are the results on March 15, 2016, with Cruz getting 40% of the vote in Missouri, and 30 percent in Illinois.

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Prime minister Renzi of Italy resigns after defeat in a referendum to change the constitution. Renzi had said he would resign if there was a "no" vote on constitutional changes to make it possible to pass further reforms. The results show the "yes" vote with about 41% of the vote, and 59% saying "no." About 65% of 47 million registered voters voted. The referendum called for cutting the size of the upper house Senate eliminating some constitutional bodies, and increasing powers at the federal level. Renzi may have made the mistake of making the vote for or against constitutional change a vote for his democratic left party, and not understanding the depth of public skepticism of established parties. Parties such as 5 Star M5S  have appealed to a public skeptical of how economic reforms would help bring more prosperity to the middle class, and a desire to try out new options. Virginia Raggi of M5S was elected mayor of Rome recently and Renzi's referendum move similar to the way prime minister Cameron moved for a referendum on an old issue of euroskeptisim, may have failed to grasp grassroots changes. The irony is that in 2014 elections to the European parliament Renzi's democratic left party won 40% of the vote and was seen at the time as a success, and the same size vote in the referendum is seen as a failure. In a referendum all other parties votes are added together from right to left parties and new parties. In the Brexit vote the Labor party "no" vote including Labor voters who never voted added to the votes of Brexit supporters and the newer UKIP party giving Brexit the slight edge needed. The singular feature of the trend is that working class voters are combining with right leaning voters to upset established parties, in the midwestern U.S., in the north of England, and in the north of France. In the medium to long run this means the left parties are likely to move to realign themselves with their base of support. ...

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The president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce China Center says the White House has a supportive community when it comes to getting China to abide by fair rules relating to intellectual property. Mr. Bolton talking to the CEO Council was frank about the U.S. government's efforts to get China to to implement a broad set of reforms. He even called for a show of hands from executives who think its acceptable to live by the situation today which hurts the U.S. when it comes to intellectual property. No one showed their hand. U.S. executives once skeptical about the tariffs from president Trump on Chinese products are now shifting their views on the confrontational approach taken by president Trump on issues of U.S. technology transferred to companies in China that lead to the U.S. losing its technological advantage.

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Peter Navarro's thinking is genuinely felt and genuinely thought out after 20 years  at Harvard, UC Irvine and other universities, as an economist who abhors sitting in the office with textbook theory that has no relevance to life of working families in the heartland of America. He says of these textbook theory economists and the American companies that have recklessly shifted America's industrial base to China year after year and decade after decade- “The same damn fools who supported NAFTA, China’s entry into the W.T.O., and every other trade deal that was supposed to benefit America but only benefited Wall Street and the foreign nations screwing us. Those mainstream economists need to get out more often — maybe to Ohio or North Carolina or Pennsylvania or Wisconsin or Michigan.”  He says the 70 nations including the big ones Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Britain and the European Union are already neogtiating with the Trump administration. What more proof does one want. The Nation will get a better deal as it is about fairness in world trade, and an even playing field. Navarro calls it "a beautiful thing." The three dimensional unique approach taken by Navarro, Bessent and Lutnick and by Trump is working, says Navarro. Fifteen decades ago A. Lincoln stated- "The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise to the occasion.As our case is new we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and we shall save our country."   ...

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87% of the American people support sending back to their countries illegal entry migrants who have committed crimes or offenses in the US in a Pew Research poll and similar in a NYTimes poll. How many of these countries in Latin America allow illegal entry without visas? None. WSJ reports Colombia turns back 2 C-17 military flights Mexico 1 in midair on Jan 27, 2025. This led to a diplomatic standoff with DJT imposing 25% tariffs on increasing in a week to 50% on imports from Colombia entering the US. Colombia agreed to take back the immigrants after the US tariffs.  In 2024 Colombia accepted 124 deportation flights into the country from the US. Yet president Petro objected to these flights on military aircraft and responded on X. DJT responded on Truth Social: "I was just informed that two repatriation flights from the United States, with a large number of Illegal Criminals, were not allowed to land in Colombia. This order was given by Colombia's Socialist President Gustavo Petro, who is already very unpopular amongst his people." DJT then instructed for 25% tariff on Colombian imports into the US which would be raised to 50% if Colombia did not accept the flights in 1 week. DJT said this is just the beginning and also imposed a travel ban to the US. DJT stated this was a threat to the national security of the US. Colombia then accepted the military flights.  Trade two way is $54 billion and Colombia exports coffee, sugar and oil. Colombia imports about $25 billion and exports about $29 billion to the US. Oil exports from Colombia to US are $6 billion, flowers $1.2 billion and coffee $1.6 billion.  ...

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This look at China and leaders Mao, Chou-en-lai, Deng, Xi Jinping through the lens of the Hoover Institution series on authoritarianism "The Party's Interest Come First," by Hoover research fellow Turgian makes the same errors as is evident from expert at Oxford University/ Kennedy School Rana Shantasil Mitter of Indian descent. Which is to see China as an academic, not by immersing oneself in China of 1890- 1950 into the lives of China's millions of ordinary people. And how is one to immerse oneself into these lives. One can do this through the eyes of General Stilwell who loved and immersed himself in China like it could be said no other American of that period in Barbara Tuchman's well researched account of this China of 1890-1950.  One clue to this is also that Tuchman unlike Torgian or Mitter by a long shot is the only writer who met Mao in Beijing in the 1970's. In 1971 she met Mao and made observations on the lives of the people in "Notes from China- If Mao had met Roosevelt in 1945." As a result of Tuchman's account of Stilwell's personal experience of China since 1900's being lost to most Americans, there is no concept of what China had experienced with the gradual collapse of China's economy and politcal structures, its defense as China, like India, and Asia as a whole failed to experience the opening up to science and technology and modern ways of thought since 1600. The results were catastrophic for the Chinese people and for the people of India leading to economic destruction on a scale unknown in history and lives shortened and reduced by poverty.  ...

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Germany's investment in defense and infrastructure will see major increases under Merz/Kingsbiel CDU/SPD coalition government, borrowing in 2029 are 4 time levels in 2024 to finance a massive wave of investment. These investments were held off under Merkels government of the CDU from 2005 to 2021 and under the four year term of SPD's Scholz. A lot of damage is done by such disinvestment in the German economy from childcare and housing to transportation and internet infrastructure, to defense. It was part of the program of the Greens and Social Democrats under Scholz's government 2021-2024 but was stalled by finance minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats who was not fired until 2024 and who lost his seat and the FDP's presence in parliament in the 2025 elections for his role. Lindner's support of the constitutional debt brake set up by Merkel is seen as depriving Germany of the modernization of its infrastructure and the economy.  Germany's defense budget is set to more than double by 2029, increasing to €152.8 billion ($177 billion). Net borrowing will  significantly increase in the draft budget.  €81.8 billion in 2025, up from €33.3 billion in 2024. €89.3 billion in 2026, €87.5 billion in 2027, €115.7 billion in 2028 and €126.1 billion in 2029 or 4 times the level of 2024. The principal achievement in 2025 by Merz was to remove the constitutional debt brake of Merkel/Lindner and make modernization of infrastructure and defense a top priority of the Merz/Kingbeil CDU/SPD government. ...

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A Kazakh oil project that is $30 billion over budget, with no oil produced years after the project was started in 2005, is an example of what western oil companies can run into when tackling complex projects with many partners. It also shows why oil is becoming more costly to produce, keeping upward pressure on oil prices. The project is already costing western oil companies over $50 billion. This includes Italy's Eni, Shell, Total SA, ConocoPhillips, and Exxon. The project started in 2005 with collaboration between the state oil company LMG and the western companies led first by Exxon, and then as a compromise by Eni. Part of the problem is the requiredment of the Kazakh government to hire local employees who lack the necessary experience. The gas from wells has 17% hydrogen sulfide and it took 2 years to adapt infrastructure to this type of well. Housing for staff delayed the project for a year. In 2008 a target date of 2013 was set. In 2013 the project was stopped because of pipeline leaks which have still not been fixed. Causes relate to defects in pipe and in the way the pipe deteriorates in contact with the hydrogen sulfide. Kazakh government officials have responded to the delays by adding fines for the western oil companies, including a $735 million fine related to the pipe failure and gas burning. This may have reduced the motivation of the oil companies to give priority to tackling the issues. On the Kazakh side the problem is seen as being on the outside and lacking participation in the management of the complex project....

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An overwhelming number of readers who commented on this article by October 27, 2009, were opposed to sending 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Looking at all comments in detail one finds that of the 64 readers commenting only a handful, about 8-9 supported sending these troops. Ninety percent of the comments to this editorial asking Obama to fight this war with conviction seriously questioned the wisdom of doing this. Many readers asked why aren't the Europeans putting thier lives at stake, and two asked how the Economist could with astraight face say that Britain's 500 troop increase was a welcome gesture. Readers questioned the assumptions and statements made by the Economist such as" letting the region "slip into amaelstrom of conflict," or "permanent cross-border instability," and "a terrible betrayal of the Afghan people, " in many of the comments. Readers seem conscious of the fact that its not a precipitate withdrawal that is being discussed, its a war for the long haul that it inevitably becomes as the US forces get deeper into the conflict in the mountains of Afghanistan. The discussion is not about the next 6 months but of next year and the year after that and the year after that. That is also what General Colin Powell advised President Obama. He asked Obama to think clearly about the clear goals of this mission. See the link to Powell. The question arises is whether the Economist sensitive to its readers thoughts on this subject, and it is how does it account for such an absolute majority of sensible readers having serious questions, doubts, and outright opposition to a deeper conflict in Afghanistan?...

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The BW Economics editor Peter Coy loks at what economist have to say and finds Akerloof (Nobel 2001) and Robert Solow (Nobel 1987) in favor of strong stimulus, with Solow saying that it is too small. Prescott of Arizona State (Nobel 2004) favors tax cuts and roll back of regulation for growth. Most economic forecasters who are more concerned about being right rather than some ideological bias say stimulus is necessary. Coy's view from years of watching the markets at work is that the risk of doing too little now are way too great, and this is no time to think in terms of ideological bias of any sort. Misdiagnosing this downturn could have devastating consequences and lead to something like the Great Depression. Its in this context that comments by Prescott that "people are now a little more hungry for jobs, its great I can get some work done on my house," implying that now they would work for less, and show a cavalier disregard of what is happening in the factories, in the streets and neighborhoods, in the workplaces, inthe country, and is too casual for a crisis of this magnitude. Which may be why one fourth of Republicans have more confidence in President Obama's economic plan than in the Republican approach in a CBS/NYTimes poll taken at beginning of April 2009. Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations cites this type of comment by employers in his day, in the Wealth of Nations, and says that this is a shortsighted approach not what would make England as a nation prosper and grow. ...