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Democrat Gretchen Whitmer wins the race for Governor in Michigan with a double digit lead. Democrats also win the state house and Senate. This report in Politico looks at Whitmer and how she has helped change Michigan since the days of Trump's win in 2016. For Whitmer it is about delivering on good roads, infrastructure, investments in electric car production, and protecting women's rights. Michigan is on track to have fixed more than 16,000 lane miles of roads and 1200 bridges, according to her office.  

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Things may not turn out the way polls show is the subject of this editorial in the WSJ. Prospects of some Republican candidates for the Senate in Arizona and Missouri are not what they appeared before. The division among Republicans about the legitimate votes in the 2022 presidential election as an issue in the midterms is leading to a fragmented election effort. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2021 shows Democrats responding to the issue of inflation and climate change, leading to new questions about Republicans in the rest of 2022.

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Modi's meeting with Pope Francis planned for half an hour lasts for an hour. Both leaders discussed climate change, inequality, upward mobility, and recovery from the coronavirus. Mr. Modi gave Pope Francis a silver candelabra and a book, The Climate Climb: India's strategy, action, and achievements. The Pope gave Mr. Modi a collection of his main teaching documents and a bronze medallion featuring a tree and the words in Italian "The desert will become a garden."  Modi invited Pope Francis to visit India.

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In a strange situation at the Russian border with Finland and close to where the Nordstream 1 pipeline starts a Russian LNG plant is burning about 9 million dollars worth of natural gas, according to BBC News. The burning of gas on this scale and in this manner hurts the environment and increases climate change. Russia has cut supplies to Germany on its Nordstream 1 pipeline and the Germans facing a natural gas shortage are scrambling to get LNG supplies from US and Qatar. 

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The Global Green Credit Initiative is launched by the UAE's Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed, with Narendra Modi of India, Ulf Kristersson of Sweden, Charles Michel of the European Union. Green Credits have huge potential to transform the landscape of climate change. Companies and individuals buy green credits to reduce their carbon footprint and corporations do so for meeting climate regulation.  Today as the adjoining WSJ article shows market is about $1 billion for carbon credits expected to grow to $250 billion by 2050.

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Failure of the COP28 summit agreement to call for the phaseout of fossil fuels. Oil producing UAE, Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries are seen as watering down the final agreement in their own interests ignoring the impact of climate change fires and drought, floods in 2023. The COP28 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is unusual in that it is taking place in a country that is a big producer of fossil fuels and has no immediate interest in cutting use of fossil fuels.

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Washington Post's Sarah Kaplan takes us to Greenland where scientists are drilling through the ice to predict the future of climate change. This means drilling thorough 1600 feet of ice to reach the bedrock below. Scientists can analyze the rocks to find when a glacier last melted. The agile subgeological ice drill drills through 500 metres of ice from the US National Science foundation- amazing. If the whole of Greenland ice sheet melted it would raise sea water levels by 24 feet devastating coastlines.

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By letting Evergrande be dismantled without government aid, the Jinping government is signalling an end to construction anfd housing as the engine of the economy. The shift is to electric cars, renewable energy, and advanced technology industries to support growth after decades of construction based growth. This is good for climate change action and for UN sustainable development growth targets which include assistance to rural and other neglected regions. A similar process is taking place in the US as large economies realign their economies after the pandemic showed weaknesses in the frameworks.

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Apple may have peaked in pricing and market share. Apple is not increasing US prices on the new iPhone 15 as it sees a decline in its 19% market share in China. With newer smartphones from competitors Apple wants to avoid an erosion of its share in the US market. One drawback in the 2015 iPhone is the switch to USB ports which means ordering a converter for the lightning cables which Apple prices at $29. New European Union rules have led to the change. 

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With the September jobs report president Biden can now say "we have created 13.9 million jobs." President Biden has allocated resources and capital to the counties in America that need it most, which have suffered from lack of economic growth. He has also invested in American workers and families like never before. Only under the administrations of FDR and Truman was such a large effort made to change the direction of the country, bringing hope to workers and families and improvement in their lives.

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One aspect of climate change is how quickly a storm develops in severity. This happened in Libya recently. It happened again on the Pacific cost of Mexico in Acapulco. Within hours a storm that was seen as Category 1 turned into a Category 5 storm, and the worst ever to hit the Pacific coast. Leaving no time to evacuate. About 80% of hotels in this tourist location were destroyed by winds at 165 mph. 200,000 homes were swept away. Damage estimated at costing $2.8 billion to restore the region.

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The UK is drasticall falling behind in renewable energy and on its meeting its commitment to the Paris Accords after failure to act on the part of Tory prime minister Sunak. It will have to ramp up action under Labour. The Climate Change Committee annual report to parliament shows Sunak approved projects would only meet one third of the emissions cuts Britain promised to cut emissions by 68% by 2030. Labour has approved three giant solar farms. This will not be enough as a five fold increase in installations is needed for solar.

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With the natural disasters following one after the other as hurricanes Milton and Helene have done in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, the dire disaster funding situation at FEMA in 2024 needs to be tackled. The Nation is throwing dollars in wasted spending with capital market misallocation at a time when no provision is made for climate change action in disaster relief. To compound the insult AI billionaires are asking for the equivalent of the GDP of many European nations to fund AI for profit.

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The changes in Saudi Arabia being made by 30 year old Prince Mohammed bin Salman amount to a large cultural change for Saudis. It means Saudi Arabia is now seeing a new generation of Saudis taking over, and making economic and social shifts as the Saudi young population surges and change becomes inevitable. Younger women are entering the workforce and foreign workers are leaving the country. Changes include having retail locations close by 9 pm instead of later so that people can spend time with their families. New jobs are being created in unlikely places such as renovating architectural monuments in Riyadh.

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The median income in the US in 2024 is where it was in 2019 before the pandemic at about $83,000 with the upper 10% of the population making about $200,000 having a 5% increase. Median income means 50% of the US population makes above $83,000 and 50% below that. In 2024 compared to 2023 slight increase of about 4% for men compared to women, no change for white households, a drop of 3% for Black households, gains of 5% for Hispanic and Asian households, Census Bureau Report shows.

Overall cost of living prices at grocery stores, for automobiles, and housing rental, is what is impacting people the most and has left people in the lower half of the population with considerable anxieties about making ends meet. At $100,000-$150,000 incomes in the upper third of the population there is saving for colleges that have costs going through the roof and cost of child care that is causing anxiety.

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This report in Der Spiegel shows how the efforts to act on climate change are stalled in Germany with the failure to agree on how coal fired plants will be closed in the ongoing three party negotiations. The FDP party is pro-business and no agreement is reached with the Greens and the CDU on how to move ahead with the 65% of German power plants that do not rely on renewable energy such as solar and wind. Modern gas facilities are unprofitable making this a major challenge for Germany to cut power emissions under the Paris Climate Change Agreement and German targets of the Merkel government. Spiegel points out that energy companies are not keen on keeping the old coal power plants which are now outdated and an agreement is needed.

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Seib of the WSJ compares the Reagan election in 1980 with Trump's bid in 2016. He finds the idea of an outsider when the public mood was for change favoring Trump, but says the comparison with Reagan falls short because Reagan had behind him 8 years as governor of the largest state in the country, and a bid for the nomination 4 years earlier. He also had personal positive approval ratings of about 70 percent compared to 27 percent for Trump.  Reagan's first trp after the convention in 1980 was to Alabama to win the support of George Wallace people in the Deep South. His focus was on reuniting all parts of the Republican Party something absent in 2016. Seib's comment about Trump being stronger on the economy is not clear. With the economy recovering, and slowing down as the presidential election approaches amid increasing uncertainty, it is possible that voters would not want to risk abrupt and sudden changes with an untested candidate. Working class voters could still see some of their concerns for change addressed by the Bernie Sanders part of the Democratic platform with help in college tution, addressing wage concerns, and opposing export of jobs, when Trump's program gives few specifics. Another difference between Reagan and Trump is that Reagan had put together an economic team under Shultz which was able to win credibility with an actual plan to implement in the first 100 days. ...

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WSJ looks at how investment allocation is severely flawed today and needs major overhaul. Startup founders can walk away with gains even when a company they founded goes into bankruptcy, billions of dollars of capital are lost for investors. And as investments needed in infrastructure and to fight climate change are diverted to ventures that do not add much to economic progress or betterment. In 2019 Softbank committed billions of dollars to save WeWork, after heavy losses. WeWork's founder Adam Neumann surrendered control with one clause providing a$430 loan to Neumann, says this report in WSJ. If Neumann stopped paying Softbank would have to get the amount due from WeWork share held as collateral. They are now worth only $4 million.

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The British Energy Institute shows how countries are doing in fighting climate change by reducing fossil fuel use. 

Poland is poor at 88% fossil fuels in energy mix. Algeria, Singapore, Bangladesh, Oman at 98%.

In Europe Norway leads at 72% for renewqble energy in the mix. Brazil at 50% keads SOuth America, Nw Zealand 43% and Vietnam at 23% in Asia Pacific. 

Of 6525 coal fired power plants China has 3168, India 845 plants and US 408. Older plants are being retired.

Planned construction of new coal power plants 707 in China, 165 in India, 2 in the US, 23 in eastern Europe, 0 in Northern Europe and 4 in Southern Europe, 0 in Western Europe, Latin America is 6.

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Another danger for Labour comes from Rachel Reeves being exactly the wrong attitude person for this time giving too much deference and authority to Office of Budget Responsibility, which was set up for austerity rules under John Osborne. It is not set up to give Britain the public investment in infrastructure that it needs today and its members thinking ios from that era. Labour Good Growth Foundation, Common Wealth and Labour group Progress are advising Labour party to change before it is too late. Langleben of Progress says-“The OBR was created for an era defined by austerity, and while it can clearly count the upfront cost of investment, it too often misses the long-term value, whether that’s a healthier workforce, better housing or modern transport." It now appears that Rachel Reeves is really the wrong person for the job of Finance minister and that Keir Starmer had another problem in addition to McSweeney, where he was stuck with 5 billion pounds cuts to welfare spending losing some of the Labour base to Greens, as seen in byelections and in polls showing a mere 18% approval rate for Starmer. It now appears that Yvette Cooper at Home Ministry stuck on the old asylum rules, Rachel Reeves stuck on the austerity period OBR assessments and making cuts in payments for Labour's base, and McSweeney with his lack of honest conviction to help Labour's base, Mandelson, were all the wrong people appointed to the wrong positions that risk's losing the base of Labour by fracturing it and sending it to Reform UK on immigration, on budget cuts to the Greens, and on a sense of lack of true conviction and sincerity to the Liberal party. ...

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Here self control is about allocating resources between present and future self, between momentary transient stuff of today and long term goals. At work it involves taking a future oriented approach to your day and using this to change behaviours. To do this practicing healthier living away from the workplace is important to get the energy and stamina to thrust future building behaviours forward.

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OPLAN is the German defense plan draft by Lt. Gen. Andre Bodeman which was started after chancellor Schulz's Zeitenwende "epochal change" speech in 2022. After that speech Schulz created a plan for $100 billion euros for defense of Germany.The intent is to prepare to defend Europe in case of clash with Russia. It goes back to a different era the Cold War of the 1960's. To improve infrastructure Gemany now plans to spend 166 billion euros, of which 100 billion euros go to railways, to update essential infrastructure. The new Merz of CDU government with SPD's Pistorius as Defense Minister is a relatively strong coalition government which plans to spend 500 billion euros for defense and upgrade the Bundeswehr for military readiness.

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India's Foreign Minister told a conference that China's forward deployments at Galwan in violation of 1993 and 1996 agreements was an attempt to change the Line of Actual Control. China after years of peaceful development under previous administrations, during which China had gained from the trade relationship with the US and foreign investment from the US business community, sought  to put India at a disadvantage using its larger economy and technological assets obtained through American business assistance. This was done by making forward deployments right at the Indian border to change the Line of Actual Control in progressive steps. Jaishankar made it very clear. "It is hard work, very patient work, but we are very clear on one point, which is we will not allow any unilateral attempt by China to change the status quo or alter the LAC. I do not care how long it takes, how many rounds we do, how hard we have to negotiate- this is something we are very clear of." Going back to the period of independence with Nehru in 1947- China's occupation of Tibet was an occupation of a peaceful country that led to the situation that India faces today of a border stretching from east to west on the Himalayas that faces China. Faced with the partition and refugees from that partition India under Nehru was not in a position to respond effectively to that occupation. Does China gain anything from being at that border through the occupation of Tibet is a serious question? Why? Because it faces a Vedanta and Buddha driven culture and people with population of 1.8 billion stretching to the Indonesian islands that were and still are the fundamental source of  China's own Buddhist culture and tradition.  US business has allied with one country after another Japan, China and now India. The US has faced wars with Japan, and sometimes in a failed attempt to understand the aspirations of  Southern Asia allied with British ideas of the region which were based on the policies of British Empire to divide the region on religious and language, caste based barriers. US business also lacked a true perception of the importance of working class and families in the US as it sent factories and surrendered its own manufacturing to China. The world is now changing following the pandemic and new supply chains and manufacturing policies of the US are being structured. It is in this context where India's pace of economic growth and technological advancement will change its capabilities and its capacity to meet the aspirations of 1.8 billion people in Asia with a common tradition and culture. It is in this context that one can ask the question does China have anything to gain from the occupation of Tibet and being on the border with a country and cultural tradition of 1.8 billion people stretching across South and South east Asia?  ...

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Millets are small seeded grass grown since ancient times in India and Africa that have the advantage during climate change of being resilient to drought, adverse weather patterns, require less water, and provide high nutritional value. In India known as bajri and ragi, in Sri Lanka as Kurakkan, and in America as finger millet, these ancient grains similar to ones in Eastern Europe that also lost popularity, were during the Industrial Revolution replaced by wheat and rice over most of the planet. The return of hope with a path for climate change action, a path out of inflation, also includes a path to better health through a transformation in food habits and in agriculture for Europe, the US, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Here Lyrarc brings to readers the UN Exhibition at the delegates entrance in New York Feb 15-17 that showcased millets. Dr.  Arun Nagpal says we often feel that healthy products involve a compromise in taste- "However millet products carefully crafted and combined with other ingredients can bring taste and value to almost every world cuisine today. From flours to breads, cookies to pizzas, pastas, cakes, breakfast cereals, smoothies and so on." He emphasizes that millets don't have to be forced into our diets but can easily be integrated into an existing style or pattern across ages and cultures, across cuisines and nations, and across the dietary preferences. ...