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How the weaker dollar creates investment and jobs in the USA, with $600 million investment by Canon to increase production of laser print cartridges at its Hampton Roads, Virginia plant.

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Apple CEO Cook and manufacturing base in China deference to China security laws to keep a foothold in China. Under Cook Apple held off on diversifying its manufacturing base in China, leaving a legacy sure to be questioned as concentration of supply chain in China has serious repercussions on the manufacturing base of US, EU and India. No participation from Apple in reversing the dangerous deindustrialization of the US, not even an open discussion at Apple and its partner companies, a legacy that will come more and more in the spotlight long after he is gone.

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Strong growth in Europe and Japan and in the rest of Asia plus the weaker dollar which has energized exports will help the US to handle the housing crisis. Asian countries will be less affected than before because of a surging trade between Asia and Europe, Europe just passed the US as China's leading trade partner this year, as well as trade between Asian countries which is also surging. Still if consumer spending is impacted heavily it will affect big export oriented economies in Asia to some extent. Its interesting how the mortgage securities that were passed on from the US to Europe, show up also in the holdings of the likes of Mizuho bank in Japan.

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Rattner looks with alarm at recent figures showing that of 2.65 million jobs created in the U.S. in 2015, only 30,000 were in manufacturing. He reflects on growth in manufacturing with the recovery in automobile manufacturing between 2009- 2013 - during this period employment in the U.S. auto industry went up by 23 percent to 690,000, and employment in Mexico's auto industry went up by 60 percent to 589,000, showing much faster growth overseas. Manufacturing has also experienced decline in private sector wages of 0.8% since 2009, with auto industry wages down 12.7 percent, says Rattner.

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The US vaccination drive appears to be stalling when it comes to getting younger people vaccinated. On a recent day 1.13 million persons were vaccinated. About 150 million Americans are fully vaccinated or about 47% of the population. About 53% of the population have one dose. This still leaves the rest of the population close to one half unvaccinated as the US is opening up fully and removing the social distancing and mask mandates that existed before. The problem is that the coronavirus delta variant is about twice as transmissible than the original coronavirus of March 2020. Vaccination is uneven across the US. Large parts of the southern states and the western states lag behind. In these areas as well as areas with large urban concentrations of population, the densely populated cities where social distancing and mask mandates are being lifted as if the coronavirus crisis is over, are at risk of seeing a more powerful virus spread quickly before gene sequencing catches up with new variants- making the response lag behind in terms of weeks. That lag in response could lead to another wave in the US. Consider also that tourism is opening up in Europe with removal of mask mandates, that gene sequencing to track variants is tiny in even countries such as Italy and France. A WSJ report on June 22 shows gene sequencing to track variants at 1% of positive tests in Italy, and virologists in Italy saying they feel as if they are flying blind. This report in the Washington Post says surveys show as many as one third of Americans have no immediate plans to get vaccinated. This is showing up in the low numbers for the vaccination drive, of around 1 million a day at this time in June 2021. In April this was 3 million vaccine doses adminstered on a single day on average. India where the new delta variant has had the most serious impact has stepped up its response with the federal government taking complete responsibility for vaccine supplies and vaccination drives. It is now vaccinating aggressively in the range of 6 million to 8 million doses a day during the last 7 days with a plan to ensure enough vaccine supplies for 1.2 billion people to get vaccinated by December 31.  The European Union and the US have  vaccinated just over 50% of their population for a variant that is more than twice as transmissible than the original virus. This leaves the unvaccinated at real risk because all the social distancing and mask mandates that existed earlier are being removed- in the US, in France, in Italy, and other countries. Soccer stadiums are filling up in Europe, the kind of sports events that later hit Bergamo, Italy, in March 2020. Summer tourism is back in Portugal and Greece. The best intentions will not be enough. Are mask and social distancing protocols being lifted too quickly especially in tourist locations reminiscent of last summer in Europe and elsewhere. Germany and Britain are holding on to them a bit longer. Will this be enough to tackle a new variant. ...

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Fears that opinions on both sides of Brexit, the Remain and the Leave sides are so deep rooted that informed thinking and facts won't sway either side- not affected by prediction about the economy that it is and will be making Britons poorer coming from experts and the Bank of England.

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The work of key Ministries in India is tracked by the Hindusthan Times in March 2018 showing the progress of the Modi government. At the Defense Ministry  a major effort is underway to promote the defense sector to reduce the defense imports of $100 billion over the last decade, and to make this a major jobs generating sector. The Foreign Ministry is pursuing the China-India dialogue, and efforts to tackle the trade deficit with China of $51 billion. The Ministry of Education is working on giving universities autonomy from the Universities Grant Commission so that first tier universities can plan their own development, hire faculty and plan for the future without UGC approval. Jawaharlal Nehru University and the University of Hyderabad, first tier institutions have autonomy from UGC under this effort. 

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The head of the CDU party who would become chancellor after Merkel, makes an emotional plea to the British people to change their mind and remain in the European Union. In an affectionate letter to The Times of London many leading figures from politics, industry and the arts in Germany made a plea that Britain remain in the EU "from the bottom of their hearts." A look at dozens of letters in response to this article in The Times shows that many Britons feel that Britain would have voted to remain if Germany and Merkel had given prime minister Cameron a better response during negotiations in 2016. Even chancellor Merkel warned Germans not to take an indifferent or complacent attitude to Britain's staying in the EU. The letter makes amends by saying there is an indissoluble bond between Britain and Germany because of the help given by Britain to rebuild Germany after the war. "Without your great nation this nation would not be what it is today, defined by freedom and prosperity," the letter says. It says "should Britain wish to leave the EU it will always have friends in Germany and Europe. But Britons should equally know that know choice is irreversible. Our door will always remain open: Europe is home."  Katarina Barley, Germany's Justice Minister whose father is British, says she supports a second referendum on Brexit. The letter is signed by Andrea Nahles, head of the Social Democrats, Annalena Baerbock head of the Greens party. Also signing it are the heads of Daimler, Airbus and the German Federation of Industry. Annegret Karrenbauer, head of the CDU says it is looking for constructive proposals from Britain, now that the deal put forward in the British parliament was defeated by a large margin. "We will not block the path to Britain remaining in the EU." The letter is significant in that it changes the whole tone of German leaders across the spectrum towards Britain- as critical to the idea of Europe, and the dawning in German minds that Europe would never be Europe without Britain, would never be Europe simply with France and Germany and the other nations. ...