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UP Chief Minister Adityanath talks about the development work during each of the years of his government during the Budget session of the state assembly. He was reelected in the 2022 election in India's largest state with a population of 250 million. He presented a Rs 6.15 lakh crore Budget for development. This years budget focus was on "Atman Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh" similar to PM Modi's "Atman Nirbhar Bharat." Each of the last 5 years of Budgets had a theme for women, infrastructure, youth, farmers, self-reliance. 

Adityanath said "whether it was ration or housing no beneficiary can say that he did not get the benefits because of caste or religion."

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India is a founding member and lead chair of Global Partnership on AI. At the GPAI Summit at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, December 11, 2023, prime minister Narendra Modi talks about India's potential  for cutting edge research and also about the risks and dangers of AI. "AI is transformative. Yet its transparency is essential, data and algorithms have to be transparent, and free from bias, for its right beginning, to be useful to humanity." Modi describes the useful aspects of AI for India's health sector and for other sectors, and India's UN Sustainability Goals. The safe and ethical use of AI and its democratization with AI for All a focus in India.

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Microsoft leaders for reasons of climate change action and aid to poor African and Latin American nations see the positives in Harris-Walz focus on investment in the future. A similar situation exists with JP Morgan Chase bank leaders. Intel and Ford Motor Company leaders see the Biden administration investment in American companies for stronger competition with Chinese or Taiwanese companies, and for climate change action by investing in EV industry technologies, in the same way. Overall cutting corporate taxes is not as big a priority for American business as government assistance and support to match the hidden subsidies Taiwan and China, South Korean governments give to their companies in Chips and EV's, other advanced technologies industries.

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The Times of London offers this Analysis of Chinese president Xi's visit to Russia for a Victory Day Parade to be attended by 20 countries including Serbia, Venezuela's Maduro, and Brazil's Inacio Lula Da Silva. Soldiers from China will March in the Red Army Parade. Other countries attending are Indonesia, Egypt, Iraq.

XI and Putin have a new common view of the war as aginst the Nazis and Japanese Imperialism. The role of US Gen. Joe Stilwell in uniting Chinese forces to fight the Japanese is not mentioned in history books in China as the focus under Xi has shifted to increase the importance of the common fight in Russia and China aginst Germany and Japan.

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How Athletic Brewing competes with Heineken and Coors with focus on non-alcoholic beer.

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U.S. Federal Reserve policies that focus on bringing down the unemployment rate, with special focus on the long term unemployed. The Fed's view is that unemployment is high across all sectors and industries and not based primarily on structural factors such as mismatch in skills. Structural unemployment cannot be reduced through interest rate or monetary policy.

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With the passage of debt ceiling legislation the focus turns to the super-committee that will have to come up with $1.2 trillion in savings for deficit reduction. Six Republicans and six Democrats will be selected in the next 2 weeks and are required to come up with proposals by November 23, 2011.

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Late Show with Stephen Colbert cancelled by CBS as parent company Paramount merges with Skydance in 2025. The televisions late night comedy show with political overtones was a show that lasted 30 years. It goes the way PBS goes as PBS funding is no longer renewed by the US Congress and PBS seen now as a leftover from the 1960's. PBS covered a better part of the Cold War period from 1960 to 1990 and continued for another 35 years before funding was cutoff under DJT. The situation is different today with the rise of Asian nations, China and India. The Voice of America was also a part of the 1960's period and covered the Cold War, and lost its focus after 1990's. VOA is also being defunded for lack of effectiveness. New media, and new ways to reach the American people with new ideas, and reach the people of the world with new ideas are needed today.

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This op-ed piece in the NYT points out that the vote was not against women but the weakness of Hillary Clinton in appealing to the interests of working and middle class Americans as she gradually became out of touch with ordinary Americans. The urgency of tackling the problems of ordinary Americans was missing and the message muffled and lost in the way the campaign failed to win the trust of Americans hit hard by the recession. Separate reports in the media show Bill Clinton worried about how the campaign had lost its focus on the lives of ordinary Americans and the struggles of working class and middle class since the great recession. Ignoring these lessons and blaming the results on sexism would be wrong, says Naomi Klein.

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US president Biden makes the decision not to run for reelection. He endorses Kama Harris to run as nominee of the Democratic party.

My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this. 

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Enrique Pena Nieto, assumes office as the new president of Mexico in Nov. 2012. His focus is on implementing a 13 point agenda which includes crime prevention, better schooling and employment opportunties, new train lines, expanding internet access, and support for social programs for the poor. He said there were two Mexico's - one that was benefitting from the global economy and modernization, and the other which was falling behind and hurting Mexico's image abroad. Economist Videgaray, close advisor to Nieto, is now the new Finance Minister. Videgaray says there is a common misconception that the PRI which ruled Mexico for so long is back in power. But times have changed. The PRI of today is no longer the PRI of yesterday, and understands that it like any other party can be voted out of power if it does not provide good government, says Videgaray. The focus of the new government will be on efficiency and modernization. Doing this will require the cooperation of the opposition parties, as Nieto won only 38% of the vote in a three way election against Mota and Obrador. He does not control Congress and the PRI opposed the legislation of the Calderon government during its term in office....

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Krugman points out that about 13 million Americans without insurance gained health insurance under the Obama plan. He says if it is turned back 8 million whites without a college degree in that 13 million will lose health insurance. Of these eight million about two out of three voted for Trump, so that 5 million Trump supporters could now lose health insurance even though they are older and have more health conditions. Krugman says this aspect of the election campaign was not covered well in the misinformation and social media information of the 2016 campaign, and the lack of media focus on the important issues in the election. On manufacturing jobs he says most of the jobs lost are not returning, and only token jobs such as at a Carrier plant in the news will take their place.

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With Ukraine unwilling to give up the Donbass and Germany/France/UK wanting to prevent Russian favored deal adverse for Europe, US focus on Monroe Doctrine and western hemisphere, Ukraine Russia war is likely to drag on. This is what one sees in Merz, Zelensky, Rubio speeches at the Munich Security conference. In 2026 Germany+ (that includes France and the UK) does not see it in the interests of Europe to allow a Ukraine capitulation to Russian attacks and Germany has already allocated funds to rebuild its military to prevent this from affecting Germany+ interests in Europe. Even though the winter attacks on Ukraine grid and electricity infrastructure leaves Kviv and other cities in a dire situation it appears that without the 20 year security guarantee or something solid Ukraine is not willing to sign an agreement which it fears Russia could turn around and start the war again. Germany+ which is the position of the major parties in Germany 60-70 % of voters for the SDP, CDU, Greens and others except AfD with 20-30% of voters. (AfD may have reached a ceiling as CDU under Merz is tough on migrants). Which means about 70% of Germans will support a policy of joining UK and France in resisting Russian attacks. Russia may have lost so much in manpower may see the war as a vindication only if it can hold onto the Donbass which may make it harder to reach a deal. Zelensky says Ukrainians live there and is unwilling to leave the Donbas region. The net result is that Germany+ and Ukraine are not likely to concede ground, the US reluctant to commit to 20 year security condition for Ukraine as it focuses energy on the western hemisphere and the fentanyl, drug traffickers in Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, and their support structures in Cuba, in addition to Iran and China's plan on Taiwan sees limits to what it can do beyond limiting oil's funding the Russian attacks. It is amisrepresentation to say that the US is the cause, as everything changed the moment China became an industrial power with the help of US business interests and returned to its own story of being subject to British and Japanese incursions in the 19th and 20th centuries, and sensing that it is an industrial power in its own right by 2020 and insisting on framing its own policy in the world. Europe always had its own narrative since 1600 long before the US became an industrial power under Teddy Roosevelt in 1904. In that narrative which now plays out again different European powers band together to prevent any dominant power in Europe (Russia in 2026) from gaining dominance. ...

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This NYT report by Eric Schmitt describes the efforts of U.S. troops in Europe under Lt. Gen. Frederick Hodges to build  a fast movement capability to counter the threat from Russian forces on the borders of countries in Eastern Europe. Hodges says speed of movement is crucial. American forces are deployed in smaller numbers than the Russian forces. A 10 day exercize under Hodges involved 25,000 American and allied forces across Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Russian forces exercizes involve more than 100,000 troops. The war in Ukraine involved a breakaway region in the east supported by Russian forces.

Commanders and younger officers were trained to address the Cold War threat with the soviets. Then for over a decade the focus shifted to Afghanistan, then Iraq and Syria. Now the focus shifts back to the Eastern European area with a new Russian threat.

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As China shifts from an economy that was built on low cost manufacturing in factories that polluted the skies and water, to an advanced economy with modern factories the nature of industry has changed. More recently the focus is on advanced technologies and increased productivity. As a result the hours worked are declining every year with modernization following the trend in western countries. There is also high unemployment of about 20% for young people. High university enrollment of about 60% means many graduates will have a hard time finding jobs in a slowing economy in 2023. With it comes a shift in attitudes to work.

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Rachel Bernhardt 28 years, is from Drexel University. She started swimming competitively late- at Drexel University and missed a lot of the early training Olympic athletes get. She is now training under longtime Northwestern University swim coach Bob Groseth who is at Queen's University in Charlotte, North Carolina. Part of the training is to focus on the technique that she did not get to develop in the early years. She has persevered through it all including a knee surgery and rehab. She now trains to be part of the US national team for the World Aquatics in Fukuoka, Japan in 2023.

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Krugman points out that the federal tax rate for the top 1% is 34% in 2013, according to the Congressional Budget Office, because president Obama let the high end Bush tax cuts to expire. It is the number to remember says Krugman- 34. In 2008 the figure was 28.2. Under Hillary Clinton the average tax rate for the top 1% would go up by 3.4 percentage points, according to the Tax Policy Center. Some of this would help pay for the tution plan to provide access to the middle class to public universities. Under populist Trump, Krugman points to the elimination of the inheritance tax and tax rates going down substantially, and no such programs to promote the upward mobility that everyone is talking about, and no way to pay for a big infrastructure building effort for growth and jobs- upward mobility that is the focus of every candidate's election campaign including Sanders, Trump in appealing to older white working class families, Clinton, Ryan, Bush, and others in both parties.   ...

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The Vickers commission, has been appointed by the Cameron government to look into the British banking system and the largest banks. Ringfencing to protect retail deposits from the bank's other investment activities has been suggested. The focus is on increasing capital requirements as critical to protecting British taxpayers and the banking system. This means going beyond the Basel 3 requirements to build an extra safety buffer for the types of situations the British government was faced with in HBOS, where losses were even greater than average. Determining this should be coordinated with EU and Basel regulators.

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Mims raises questions about how productive current investments in Silicon Valley are in tackling real problems we face. He points out that advertising represents about $100 billion in an economy of $16 trillion, yet most startups focus on advertising revenues. Is $1.2 billion invested in Uber ride sharing service too much when other startups tackling bigger problems could be funded with some of that money, is a question raised by some in Silicon Valley.

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President Biden visits the Polish town of Rzeszow close to the Polish border with Ukraine. It serves as the headquarters of the 82nd Airborne Division and Us operations to supply weapons and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The Russian offensive met with stiff resistance and incurred high casualties in Ukraine with this WSJ report showing 40,000 casualties in the 150,000 Russian invasion force, making it less effective. 
Russia appears to have scaled down its objectives to focus on the separatist Donbass region in the east. The offensive on Kviv, Odessa and Kharkiv is stalled with stiff resistance. About 10 million people have been uprooted.  3.7 million people fled Ukraine, with 2.2 million crossing into Poland.

The US has warned that it would respond if Russia attempted to use chemical weapons. 

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The difficulties posed by the absence of Xi Jinping at New Delhi G20 Summit are discussed here in the WSJ. Today September 9 the G20 leaders from 20 nations meet, absent will be Mexico's Obrador, China's Xi, and Russia's Putin. China's premier will attend the meeting. China's Xi met with India's Modi at the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg, last month. China's premier is a close associate of Xi's and his chief of staff for decades, so that any suggestion that Xi is reducing contact with other world leaders in 2023 is incorrect. Xi will meet Biden at the APEC meeting US is hosting San Francisco Nov. 12-18 that will focus on Asia Pacific nations.

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Tennis player from Serbia is disqualified for hitting the line umpire with a tennis ball. Djokovic was behind 6-5 to Carren Busta of Spain and lost his serve when this happened. Once before in that match he hit a ball at the stands in frustration. The Organizers of the U.S. Open decided there were clear reasons for him to be disqualified and lose all points he had earned at the U.S. Open. Djokovic had earlier come under criticism for his playing in events where there was no social distancing. Tennis has lost much of the graceful behaviour from the time when players like Althea Gibson, Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver played the game in an earlier era. Too much of the money is focused on prize money, television advertising, star status and number of grand slams won, bringing the game down to a level where the fans enjoying a good game is left behind and focus is all on individual players. The same is true for soccer where so much focus was placed on Barcelona and Messi and the 700 million transfer fee. The message from reality comes from the 7-2 win by Bayern Munich over Barcelona with a traditional approach to the game based on using new players costing far less money, a good dose of common sense and hard work. Coaches at Manchester City and Liverpool, and Real Madrid all attributed their success in the game to hard work and discipline of players, with every player playing for the team and for fans, and not for star status. ...

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Marcel Furstenau in DW.com says the Federal Police (BKA) have done well to foil several terrorist plots, and the failure to arrest Anis Amri is a result of the rule of law that prevents detention without evidence. The investigation of Amri went on for 6 months and the length of the investigation shows that police were alert to the risks, says Furstenau. He points out that it would be irresponsible to say security services are not doing their job, and the focus should be on mistakes or errors on which improvements can be made for tightening security.

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Carrefour CEO Oloffson talks to the WSJ. He discusses whether the hypermarket model is still valid today. Carrefour is still good on kids and baby clothing but in teenage clothing stores like H&M and Zara's are clearly stronger. Carrefour lost its focus in Europe after it responded to new laws in France that discourages price competition. Carrefour shifted to quality he says and lost some of its previous edge in pricing and its focus.