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This editorial in the WSJ describes the sharp increase in premiums under the Affordable Care Act of president Obama. The average premium increase is about 24.2% according to a Barclay's analysis, and as high as 43.9% in states such as Illinois. Bill Clinton calls it the craziest thing with small business affected, and some premiums doubling. Of the 17 million people in the individual market eight million buy without subsidies. One in five enrollees cannot qualify for subsidies. Democrats say subsidies are too small. Hillary Clinton has proposed to have a Medicare "buy-in" for people ages 55-65, and a "public option" government run plan. Republicans want to rewrite the law. But this depends on which party wins the Senate, with the election in Missouri giving Democrats an opportunity to maintain a Senate majority.

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According to First American CoreLogic, a real estate information company, 10.7 million households had negative equity in their homes. That is they were under water because they owed more on their mortgages than the properties are worth. The proportion is 23% or one in four homeowners. Mark Fleming CoreLogic's chief economist points out that having negative equity lowers labor mobility and in that way makes it harder to sell the house to look for jobs elsewhere. This is happening in Michigan and other states and is a discouraging sign for improving the job numbers. In this way the poor prospects in housing, banking bad loans in commercial real estate with tight bank lending, and the already high 10.2% umnemployment rate intersect to make 2010 pose significant risks for the economy.

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Enrique Pena Nieto of the PRI party wins the presidential election in Mexico with 38% of the vote. Lopez Manuel Obrador came second with 31% of the vote, and the candidate of the ruling PAN party, Ms. Vazquez Mota came in third with 26% of the vote. Voters were eager for change afer 12 years of rule by the PAN party under Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon. Mexico averaged growth of 2% during these years, though growth has increased since the financial crisis. But the benefits of globalization, foreign investment, and trade reached the better educated and skilled workers leaving many behind. This period included negative growth during the 2008 financial crisis. .

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During Singh's term in office 2004-2014 economic changes of a new type and with new leadership were taking place in state of Gujarat in western India under chief minister Narendra Modi similar to that of New York state under Governor Franklin Roosevelt before FDR assumed office as president in 1932. Modi of the same party as Singh's predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the Bharatiya Janata party, added a new set of skills and confidence in industrial development for the state model in Gujarat to be adopted for the whole of India, when he won the national elections in 2014. Vajpayee and Modi were different from the politicians in India in 1947-2000, pushing Modernization, Nationhood, and corruption free effective government. Manmohan Singh was prime minister during a period of transition in India 2005-2014 from the socialist economy to the market economy. As head of the central bank and finance minister he earlier initiated the changes when India's reserves had dropped to record low levels by 1991. His biometric data initiatives and other actions kept the Indian economic initiatives in place that wold provide the base from which another prime minister Modi could launch India on a new trajectory for transforming the country into an industrialized nation. During Singh's term in office 2004-2014 economic changes of a new type and with new leadership were taking place in state of Gujarat in western India under chief minister Narendra Modi. Modi of the same party as Singh's predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the Bharatiya Janata party, added a new set of skills and confidence in industrial development for the state model in Gujarat to be adopted for the whole of India, when he won the elections in 2014. Vajpayee and Modi were different from the politicians in India in 1947-2000, pushing Modernization, Nationhood, and corruption free effective government. ...

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Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah sign a powersharing agreement brokered by the U.S Secretary of State Kerry and president Karzai after Afghanistan elections in 2014. The question is whether the two can set aside their differences and make it work, and can they negotiate some form of peace agreement with the Taliban to give Afghanistan and the region years of peace after so much conflict. Pakistan and India's elites and military need to step up to the plate to set aside differences by looking to the long term future of the region and the aspirations of the people for better infrastructure, services, education and healthcare, so long denied to the region. The Kashmir floods, and the floods in Pakistan before that, recent elections in India and Pakistan showing the clear aspirations for development of the people, are a reminder of so much that remains to be done and so much that was never done.

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The departure of Steven Sinofsky, who headed the development efforts for Windows 7 introduction in 2009 and Windows 8 in 2012. His departure after 23 years at Microsoft comes after hardware companies working with Microsoft and other teams inside Microsoft described difficulties in working with Sinofsky. Microsoft CEO Ballmer referred to this lack of collaboration with other senior executives and polarizing nature, when he called for more "alignment across all Microsoft teams." Sinofsky was made a techncal assistant by Bill Gates in the early years and helped Gates recognize the importance of the world wide web in internet software development.

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With a mere 1% of GDP invested in public healthcare India remains backward in its commitment to the welfare of the rural poor. Prime minister's Modi's plan is laudable says this BBC report, but the record of implementation is spotty at best at the state level for such plans. The new plan announced in the 2018 Indian Budget is for a health plan covering 500 million Indians with 5 lakh rupees coverage, something never tried before but with a cost of a mere $1.7 billion is something that the country woefully lacked or neglected to tackle.

This plan may be better implemented at the national level, and particularly where the reputation of the governing party and its plans for industrialization are at stake in the coming year's national elections. If accomplished and the Modi government is eager to take on these challenges it would be a significant step to balanced and overall development of the Indian economy.

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This WSj editorial says the meeting of president Trump and president Putin in Helsinki on July 16, 2018, projected weakness and was "a personal and national embarrassment." It say Mr Trump could not even support his own intelligence adviser Dan Coats over Mr. Putin. This will bring Democrats and Republicans together and offers ammunition for the president's opponents, says the Journal. 

It also says that on the Nordstream pipeline Mr. Trump was right about Germany having it own favorable dealings with Russia. On NATO the lack of strategy and Mr. Trump's swagger, saying what comes to his head for Mr. Trump, only weakens support for the alliance in the U.S. The NATO alliance with spending above 2% by Germany and France after calls by Mr. Trump for spending 4% strengthens NATO, yet weakens it by weakening the alliance with America's European partners. 

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Corporate concentration with larger companies, each more dominant in its industry, and fewer companies controlling half of U.S. corporate profits, are trends economists say that hurt wages, create income inequality, shrink the middle class and lead to less consumer welfare. About 30 companies control half of U.S. corporate profits in 2018 compared to 109 in 1975, according to economists at the University of Arizona. Fewer companies in each industry mean less competition for workers, and less leverage for workers in setting wages. Apple Computer just reached the trillion dollar size and Amazon is close to doing this with its dominance in online shopping. Amazon is known for lower wages in its industry. Apple has some of the highest profit margins in  industry, and trends show the margins have risen between cost of making a product and price in an unprecedented way. The result is higher corporate profits and labor commanding a declining share of the nation's wealth. ...

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Al-Naimi Saudi Oil Minister talks about OPEC and the current oil supply situation while taking a walk in Vienna, where OPEC headquarters are located. Naimi says OPEC is a business organization, not a political organization. He says OPEC operates more like a de-politicized business organization. Yasser ElGuindi of Global Medley Advisors says OPEC's goal is to get the maximum price it can to meet the budgetary needs and investment plans of the countries and keep their economies growing, while at the same time making certain that demand is growing in the rest of the world. The Saudis believe that price is between $50-60. The Saudis play a critical role in keeping price in the $50-60 range, with less chance of a price decline as demand is steady and not likely to drop.

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Arrests were made in a UK police inquiry including the Treasurer of the SNP, into handling of over 600,000 pounds in donations for a second independence referendum used for running costs instead, say this report in The Guardian. This Guardian report by Libby Brooks shows outwardly successful the Scottish National Party was behind the scenes chaotic, according to members who are frustrated at what has happened since 2014. A big influx of Yes voting members changed the party after 2014, and unable to cope it simply continued to function without modernizing its mechanisms for the last decade. Another problem appeared to be that power was concentrated in the husband and wife couple of Murrell the party's former chief executive who helped the party's electoral prospects, and Sturgeon as deputy leader. For much of the time party insiders say loyalty to Sturgeon after she headed the government, meant there was no effort to modernize the party with the growth in membership, and no serious discussion about this. Stuff got steamrollered. One insider says party leaders were inexperienced in handling a party of this size and did not realize that these problems would build up. It also reflects the support given to challenger Kate Forbes for the leadership election. What it means for Britain is that Labour and the Conservatives can count on Scotland, formerly a base for Labour, to give the leading British parties a decent chance in the next election on cost of living and public services issues. Issues that are uppermost in the minds of people in Scotland, to gain an overall parliamentary majority to tackle the issues of health, education, public services and climate change after the pandemic. ...

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Is Norway endorsing the position of a former president of the US to "Drill, Baby Drill.?" It would cost upwards of 1 trillion dollars to fix US inaction on climate change to 2028. Norway is drilling like crazy to help Germany tackle the cutoff from Russian oil and gas supplies. It is also pursuing climate change action and green energy. The result is some confusion about where it is heading. The Guardian comments on this position taken by Norway. It can only be seen as oil and gas meeting a transition period's needs, yet with the severity of cliamte change events in the form of fires and floods in the world in 2024, is this a tenable position? Norwegians will say their cleaner fossil fuel production takes the place of dirty coal plants in Europe. How could Germany manage without Russian oil and gas without Norwegian supplies they ask. Others say Norway gets a quarter of its GDP from oil and gas. It is at the same time the country that is way ahead in renewables, most of its grid runs on renewables. And yet it has cut greenhouse gas emissions only by 11% since 1990 4 times less than Germany. Norway will come up for more criticism considering that its push on fossil fuels in 2023-24 is reducing investment for shift to a fossil free world. It is not an issue that can be talked away or not confronted head on as it is the harbringer of something worse- doing nothing for 4 years to 2028 that is proposed on the back of stuff that is being done by Norway- a US presidential candidate promising to relegate climate change action to zero by denying it exists and by saying "Drill, Baby Drill," at the RNC Convention in Milwaukee. ...

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Values of St Augustine are to be celebrated with Vance, and of Mohandas Gandhi with Harris. Then why the discord? End wars (Biden ending the war in Afghanistan). End migrant incursions Harris pledge to sign the Lankford-Biden legislation into law that fixes asylum entry and Closes the Border with Mexico. Cost of living that hurts the needy and middle class the most. As Applebaum writes about Housing costs Trump has no plan, Harris is willing to put government resources into it. Republicans have their hands tied by a hands off government that is supposed to do nothing and hope everything will work out. That is without corporate housing company greed in a system that doesn/t work -they set the prices too high. As Kristof writes about in the NYT the Republicans will not support paid marital leave, will not support child care assistance, will not support cuts to high pharmaceutical costs, making healthcare unaffordable even to the middle class not to speak of the lower income working class. And will not support investment in the infrastructure that is crumbling around us even as the infrastructure is crumbling around us, like the bridge in Baltimore that went down in minutes. Trump used infrastructure issue in 2016 and rightly so, and talked about it being Infrastructure Week every week, yet did nothing for infrastructure, nothing serious until Biden in 2016-2020. This a continuing project for Harris. Part of this is to end the wars (Biden's efforts in Afghanistan ending it). And end the migrants incursions, Harris 's pledge to sign the Lankford-Biden immigration bill that fixes asylum entry and closes the US Border with Mexico. ...

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Krugman makes these comments after a visit to Athens, Greece, in 2015. He sees discouragement in Greece with the negotiations between the Syriza government in Greece and the EU. Years of austerity and high unemployment are leading to fraying tempers in Greece, and impatience from Germany and the EU. Krugman says the irony is that the Syriza government was elected at a time when a settlement is possible. Greece has a small budget surplus and this should make it possible for a settlement to be reached, without a bad outcome for Greece and the EU of Greece's exit from the eurozone. The lack of experience of the new government leaders makes the situation more difficult, but Krugman says patience is needed on all sides because there is hope in the midst of pessimism for a way out of the crisis.

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An account of how Sobhi Saleh, former secretary general of the Muslim Brotherhood's parliamentary group, escaped from a prison set on fire during the first week of February, 2011.

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Analysis of 126 public pension plans by the National Association of State Retirement Administrators shows an average target rate of 7.68%. New York State Common Retirement Fund, third largest by assets, says it plans to drop the assumed rate of return to 7% from 7.5%. A drop of 1% boosts pension liabilities by about 12%, accoridng to the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. It means workers are required to contribute more to the pension funds for the same level of benefits, especially as lifespans grow and more Americans retire in an aging population. Other options are for states to cut payrolls and expenses. This is a positive step as it makes the assumptions realistic and improves the fiscal stability of the funds. The largest pension fund, California Public Employees Retirement System is considering dropping its assumption to below the current level of 7.5%. The lower assumed rates of return are not enough say critics, who cite the 3- 3.5% returns assumed in the 1960's for cash and bond based portfolios. The Laura and Arnold Foundation's Josh McGee says it is still not realistic. Retirement systems median actual return was 3.4% for 12 months ending June 30, 2015. Expert panel of actuaries and pension specialists says the right level for assumed returns is about 6.4%. Companies in the Fortune 1000 have already dropped the figure to 7.1%, from 9.2% in 2000, according to Towers Watson survey....

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Amazon reported a 96% drop in second quarter 2012 profit to only $7 million on sales of $12.83 billion. Sales were up in second quarter by 29%.

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RIM's management change with new CEO Thorsten Heins is received positively by analysts as the co-CEO arrangement was not considered responsive enough to losses in market share- RIM's share in the smartphone market dropped below 10% in 2011. However the statement by Heins that there would be no "seismic" change at RIM was received with caution. One analyst pointed to the need for fresh thinking and thought it would have been better to bring in someone from the outside, though Heins only joined in 2007 and worked for 23 years at Siemens. The need for a new Chief Marketing Officer was pointed out.