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A 30 year US mortgage rate is 7.57%, it was at this level in 2000. With fewer home on the market and limited inventory, high prices for homes limiting affordability, the sales of existing US homes declined to 4.1 million in 2023 the lowest since 2008. Median home price is about $350,000 today.

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Portland, Oregon's 45,000 school teachers are now on strike asking for wage increases of 8.5% in 2024,  6% and 5% in subsequent years, to meet the cost of living crisis. The average salary for a Portland teacher is $87,000 slightly below the median average for a family of four.

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The pictures of a 4 year Syrian Kurds child Aylani- dead on a Turkish beach after the small boat carrying the parents and 2 children capsized on the way to the Greek island od Kos- made headlines in the media and created anguish in Europe.

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Isaacson tells the story of Musk and paying $44 billion for Twitter, how all these birds have to go. Of Musk seeing the words "psychological safety" at Twitter and being take aback. Mental wellbeing, worklife balance were not his thing, says Isaacson. A failed acquisition, conversion and renaming of Paypal, led Musk to Twitter as a way to create a site that does all things including payments and social media. Contrast Musk with Carlos Tavares, CEO of European EV automaker Stellantis who makes worklife balance part of his way of running the company, and one sees a shocking contrast in a war of ideas of what is the most productive and what makes productive employees.

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In the closing days of the Harris vs Trump election campaign in October 2024, Trump attends a rally in Madison Square Garden in New York city. Harris visits a Baptist church in Philadelphia, and talks to young black men at a barber shop, visits a Puerto Rican restaurant in Philly. The visit to the Puerto Rican restaurant comes as a comedian at the Trump Madison Square Garden rally makes racist remarks about Latinos, Blacks and Jews, and calls Puerto Rico an "island of garbage." About 579,000 Latinos and Puerto Ricans make up the voting public in Pennsylvania. Latino stars put up video clips of the comments on Latinos on social media expressing their disapproval.

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After meeting Zelensky in Paris during the Notre Dame Cathedral reopening DJT says it is time for an immediate end to the war after 600,000 lives lost or injured.

DJT writing on Truth Social media site-

“Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness. They have ridiculously lost 400,000 soldiers, and many more civilians. There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin.”

"Too many lives are being so needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed, and if it keeps going, it can turn into something much bigger, and far worse. I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The World is waiting!”

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The local elections in Turkey with the AKP winning 46% of the vote, the CHP 28%, after 80% of the votes were counted on March 30, 2014. The AKP retained control of the mayors position in Istanbul where Erdogan made his start in politics. With a little less than half the vote going to opposition parties and the suppression of the media by the Erdogan government, Turkey remains as divided as ever. Turkey's economic boom on which Erdogan stakes his claim to govern has depended on a credit boom based on foreign capital inflows and foreign investment. The crisis in emerging markets has reduced foreign capital inflows, the political divisions have reduced inflows even further, creating serious economic risks for Turkey that Erdogan and AKP appear to be oblivious to.

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This editorial in the Hindu- after encouraging news from Moody's and the World Bank on India's economic future- says that the Modi government should not be distracted by the upcoming elections as it focusses on the task ahead. After a gap of 14 years Moody's raises India's credit rating one notch. Moody's cites steps taken by the Modi government as creating a better environment for future growth- the implementation of GST goods and service tax, efforts to clear some of the bad loans in the banking system so that capital can be freed up for infrastructure investment, and reducing bureaucratic hurdles for clearance of projects. Moody's cites the high public debt burden as a constraint for growth. General government debt is at 68% of GDP in 2016, higher than the 44% median for economies in this range. On the plus side the better targeting of welfare measures to help the poor including steps in the banking field, bringing more businesses into the formal sector to improve tax revenues, and the large pool of private savings, are cited by Moody's. Critical is timely implementation in the future. As the discussion in the media on bullet trains and other new infrastructure shows, there is not enough momentum for stretch goals as China has done over the last 2 decades.   ...

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On CBS "Face the Nation" last weekend both Mark Warner and Senator Rubio expressed concern about unknown algorithms targeting 150 million young users in America. The problem extends beyond that into the effects of TikTok and other social media that is harmful to children taking so much of their time that basic civics, reading, sports and exercise, outdoor activities, suffers enormously. No other generation has faced this and the US Congress and the White House have fallen far behind the curve of setting the rules and regulating use of the new information technologies. 

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Andrew Higgins provides this exceptional account of how the political and administrative authorites in Belgium are so divided because of ethnic and poltiical reasons, that they are often paralyzed. It is described as the Belgian disease. Belgium is a country that has French, Dutch and German ethnic groups and languages. Divided along linguistic lines, all centralized authority is resisted, leading to parts of Belgium becoming a haven for terrorist activity. Terrorists from Molenbeek, a part of Brussels, carried out the Paris attacks in November 2015. The German and French media coverage now ridicules the way Belgium is run.

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A new poll from YouGov shows the Conservative Party getting 310 seats and Labor Party at 257 seats. Labor would gain 30 seats and Conservatives lose 20 seats under this prediction. Conservatives would fall short of the majority of 326 seats needed. Support for Theresa May is slipping especially after announcing older people would have to take on more burden for care, dubbed the dementia tax by media. A coalition of Labor party with the Scottish National party (SNP) with 50 seats and the Liberal Democrats with 10 seats is now a possibility.

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NBC News division brings back Andrew Lack 20 years later to run the division. Lack had success at NBC News during the days of Tom Brokaw at the news division. He faces a different situation now with the rise of digital media, the decline in ratings of MSNBC, and other problems including the Brian Williams episode. Lack worked at Sony Music, Bloomberg, and Voice of America, but was never at home the way he was at NBC News. At Bloomberg his goal of increasing viewership was never realized, and Bloomberg remains a small television channel.

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The 65 million Americans called generation X sandwiched between baby boomers and the millenials are one that are also the 401 K experiment generation, and ones that experienced both the 2009 corporate greed and recklessness caused financial crisis and the pandemic. And experience financial anxiety at a different level.  Without the steady pension checks of their parents these Generation X middle aged people with their 401 K's are much worse off. This is the group Biden Harris, and Biden Walz, has to assuage and bring back up. The 2009 financial crisis left many in disarray with loss of jobs or lack of pay increases, or part time work. Many have not recovered after the pandemic delivered another blow to finances and cost of living surprises. Median household wealth of Generation X people 45 years to 54 years old was $250,000 in 2022, 7% lower than that of baby boomers in 2007, the only age group that experienced drop in median wealth. 

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The Trump Accounts for children born 2025-2028 and the Dell $6.5 billion expansion to include earlier born children may be one of the single biggest actions to rebuild the bank accounts of the next generation. It looks at the shrivelled bank accounts of today's older generation with lack of enough savings for a medical crisis and says it has got to be different from now on. The median bank account of Americans over 65 and over is $13400 which means there is little for medical health emergencies and little for needs of older Americans. Median means half have less and half have more than $13400. This is astounding for the wealthiest nation at a time when the total wealth is the highest ever in history. This report by WSJ unfortunately does not mention this at all and dwells on how this is an opportunity for banks and investment companies to get in the door to get your business. DJT as US president with a mandate from lower income Americans has designed this so that it shows the value of careful investments of small seed money. With $1000 to begin with from the government, added amounts from parents and grandparents and invested in a mutual fund that tracks the S&P 500 it will grow with the economy for 18 years, doubling two to three times on the way. It would provide funds for education increasing enrollment in higher education, increase financial literacy by showing how money grows in broad S&P 500 type index funds such as Vanguard type funds. Much of the shriveling of bank accounts for the shocking figure of $13400 median for American 65+ year olds is a result of job losses, high health care costs, wage decline  with factories outshored, hits from 2009 financial crisis caused by bank irresponsible behaviour, drug epidemics and fentanyl allowed to pour into the country, covid pandemic and stock bubbles, decline in higher education enrollment, other. The US president DJT is seeing his mandate as one that reverses these adverse situations one by one to take America back to post war prosperity and rising incomes, rising bank acocunt savings and rising hopes and aspirations for the next generation. ...

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This editorial from the Editorial Board of the WSJ calls on president Trump and the Trump family to adopt an attitude of radical transparency. It points out that a major reason Hillary Clinton lost the election in 2016 was because of the failure to establish a needed level of trust with the American people. It goes over the history of the Clinton administration and finds a failure to reveal all the facts early on that led to a long grueling search for these facts by the media and prosecutors. It says president Trump should learn from this lesson. The meetings of Trump Jr. with a Russian official are cited  as an example of a very badly handled situation with the slow and continuous unraveling of the story in the media because of this lack of transparency. This editorial makes a strong call for a complete U turn of how the Trump administration has handled this type of story. It says the Republican party may not stand with Trump if popularity ratings currently at 36% drop lower and the party sees a danger of losing the House of Representatives in the next election. If this happens a Democratic Party with the House could investigate the matters involved, and a strategy of transparency now is the best strategy, says WSJ. This includes not calling everything to the contrary, leaks and other stories critical of the Trump handling of events as "fake news." It says president Trump is wrong to think that his larger than life personality and social media followers is sufficient to insulate him from all this, to make him in the words of the Journal bigger than the Presidency itself. Realities are realities, it says and its a tough world of Washington politics in which the president finds himself in, which offers little respite, and has humbled many presidents.   ...

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Google antitrust decision in Mehta's Court for over 5 years since lawsuit by DJT in first term. During these 5 years much of the behaviours of monopolies and oligopolies in tech is further entrenched and new technology has created new ripples. The result is an ineffectual ruling that does little to address the original concerns of the Justice Department. Lost in all this commotion is the fact that there are real and present dangers in the situation presented by Google as a gatekeeper for knowledge and information which are a real and present danger to democratic forms of government as Google or social media tech companies can act as arbiters of information, a role that is not given to them under the US Constitution or any of the principles laid down by our founding fathers. Instead of being well informed under such tech monopolies and oligopolies the vast majority of the people will not get the information they need to make decisions to the detriment of the Nation. ...

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Differences between the Free Democrats and the Greens in the 3 party ruling coalition in Germany are the subject of this report from DW.com. The Greens proposed ban on new gas and coal fired heating systems meets stalling efforts from the Free Democrats. The Free Democrats and Mr. Lindner also do not support the EU's effort to ban new cars with combustion engines after 2035. After differences were aired in the media the SPD stepped in and called for the coalition partners to refrain from openly airing differences. 

The Greens are calling on the SPD to support the transformation to clean energy at their meeting in Weimar. The meeting of the Greens parliamentary group in Weimar is intended to refocus the party on climate protection.

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Of these letters mostly all commend the remarkable efforts of Joe Biden. One by Stanley Saulny stands out. He commends president Biden for his remarkable stamina during the Air Force Academy graduation. He says saluting 921 times and shaking hands 921 times as Biden did that day could not be done without considerable arm and shoulder pain, yet Biden did no complain or boast of his feat, as he wanted to do this for every graduating student. Mr Saunlny is a physician and graduated years ago from the same Air Force Academy where he attended this event as father of a graduating student. He tripped and the media distorted reality as there was a sandbag placed in a trippable way that could not be seen.  

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Efforts in Utah by Governor Cox to limit the damage to children's mental health from overuse and addiction to social media outlets including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Utah governor Cox says in answer to the question why now, the better question is why didn't we do this 5 years ago. "If this was child cancer or car accidents we would be losing our minds about this," he says. New laws in Utah would put time restrictions and give parents access to messages and posts. Utah and other states will file lawsuits to make tech companies accountable. The CDC found 3 in 5 American adolescent girls had mental health issues in 2021, this has increased every year since 2011.

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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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Los Angeles Unified School District has voted for a ban on smartphone use in schools starting in January. Governor Newsom is proposing to have a state wide ban in California to support children and parents in school education. Florida and Indiana are Republican led states with state bans on smartphone in schools. New York Governor Kathy Hochul seeks one in 2025. California Governor Newsom says: "When children and teens are in schools they should be focused on studies, not on screens." He has four children in schools. Dr. Murthy says in NYT that children spending more than 3 hours a day on social media were feeling the double the effects of depression and anxiety symptoms. And the actual use is 4.8 hours per day for this age group.

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"What did it do in Green County?" this is the question voters are asking in counties across Wisconsin, and also in Michigan and Pennsylvania. These are states with lower number of minority voters and a higher number of white working class voters without college degrees. Even in rural areas around Madison voters remember their fathers and mothers voted for Kennedy, grandfathers and grandmothers voted for Roosevelt. The Washington Post looks at the white voters without college degrees in Wisconsin . How does one take the visionary actions in the Biden bipartisan Infrastructure laws and show what happens at the micro level? Lyrarc.com shows how the laws are changing America bit by bit every week in the Movement for Renewal of America as covered in NYT, WSJ, Washington Post, and other media.

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Many of the News properties of Rupert Murdoch take positions that negatively affect women, inequality and mobility, cost of living, income and wages fairness, climate change action, government investment in infrastructure, healthcare, and education, childcare. After Rupert the media properties go to the 4 children  Lachlan, James, Elisabeth and Prudence with each getting one vote under a irrevocable trust set up in 1999 in Reno, Nevada. Rupert and James says this story in NYT are making efforts to amend this trust to change governance provisions for the news properties so that Lachlan has majority voting rights. This is now opposed by James, Elisabeth and Prudence with courts in Nevada asked to see if this is in good faith and in the interests of all 4 children.

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Three tankers held off the coast of Mumbai by India's Cost Guard have been sanctioned for carrying Iranian oil. India stopped buying Iranian oil in DJT's first term 2016-2020. In his second term DJT wanted India to stop buying sanctioned Russian oil as a way to reduce funding for Russia's invasion of Ukraine now in its fourth year. India has stopped buying Russian oil as part of the goodwill effort to reach trade agreements with the US, EU, and Germany. The seizing of the oil tankers is part of a new effort by India to support bringing Russia to the negotiating table to end the Ukraine war. Russia has demanded Ukraine turn over Donetsk region to end the war, which is a major stumbling block as Ukraine says there are Ukrainians living in Donetsk region. Germany's increase in its defense budget and investment in its armed forces has led to Germany+ (Germany plus UK and France) acting as the chief supporter of Ukraine, after the US has taken more of a neutral stand. The US basically wanting to end the war in 2026 so that the US can address the situation in the western hemisphere with drug and migrant trafficking gangs in Mexico, Venezuela and Columbia, and rebuild its economy to bring back manufacturing from China. For India the guiding principle of its foreign policy is Gandhiji's thinking and advice for fairness and peaceful coexistence - it does not believe in a British inspired NATO expanding on the borders of Russia, and at the same time does not see how a war on a neighboring Russian speaking region is in Russia's continued interest for a fourth year with bombing of energy infrastructure to leave Kviv in darkness. Non -alignment was Nehru's not Gandhiji's idea- the ideas of respect and fairness are basic to Gandhiji's thinking and India will remain true to his ideas in world relations. One aspect of this change in world affairs is missed by all and the media, that is that with the EU and US+ Japan, and India+ Indonesia there is a population of 1 billion of western peoples, and about 2 billion of Asian peoples, for a total of 3 billion people. This is a region three times the size of China, which with its access to capital and technology, labour and good governance is in a position to industrialize and reindustrialize, and bring manufacturing/science and technology to the core of this economic region by 2035. An industrialized India with 2X-3X the size of its current GDP will still be governed on Gandhiji's ideas for world relations in 2047. ...

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DJT arrives in Beijing China May 13 2026. Topics that will be discussed are - the Iran War and how to resolve it, trade with China, tariffs, and US Taiwan policy. China continues to run trillion dollar surplus in trade with the world with lower trade surplus with the US after DJT tariffs. From $295 billion in 2024 under Biden the new DJT administration with DJT, Bessent and Jamieson has lowered this to $202 billion by 2026. In that same period the world trade surplus of China has increased from $992 to $1.19 billion. It is not clear whether some of the drop in the US figures is from China sending product through channels to Mexico and Vietnam that is then shipped to the US. DJT showed results in his policies by lowering the trade imbalance by 32%, while trade imbalance with the rest of the world has worsened (increase in trade surplus of China) by 20%. What does this show? We can safely assume that excessive trade imbalances are not in either China, EU, or America's interest. China increases trade and political friction by doing so, and it leaves its own policy weak by overdependence on exports, too little effort to increase domestic consumption and living standards.  FOr the US and EU trade imbalances with China of over $1 trillion reflect misguided policy at the top by US and EU decision makers and governments. By exposing their manufacturing base they are losing valuable jobs by the millions and creating a situation where the few with good jobs in select industries live in large cities and the rest of the country in smaller towns and rural areas suffering from lack of amanufacturing base. This weakens the investment base for public services and leads to lack of investment ininfrastructure. This is called deindustrialization which the DJT and Biden administrations both fight hard to reverse for the last 10 years since the disastrous years of the Obama and Bush administrations 2000-2016. For this reason we can say a good Republican is as good as a good Democrat, a bad Republican is as bad as a bad Democrat, political labels are just that labels. The media in US and EU are on a wrong footing and still fail to cover this the way it should be covered to shake off the lethargy in public sentiment in the US so that a rapid drive to reindustrialize and build new new infrastructure on top of the old that was built after World War 1 can take place. In today's world India is stepping up with major infrastructure building just as the US and EU ramp up their rebuilding.  ...