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The two incidents in July 2016 of shootings of police officers on July 7 with five killed in Dallas, and July 17 with 3 killed, have led to deep anguish among the 900,000 state and local law enforcement officers in the U.S. Videos showing shootings of African-American young men have led to protests in cities, and attacks by persons on the fringe. Police officers say they are now worried about their safety because of the ambushes in Dallas and Baton Rouge, and are taking extra precautions.

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A fight in the U.S. Congress with an unusual alliance between the Obama administration, the Judiciary Committee, and Speaker Boehner up against Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell ends with the passage of the USA Freedom Act, which requires court approval for government to look at collected bulk data in phone calls. Republican Rand Paul fought hard against both factions to end the bulk surveillance altogether. The Act was passed in the House earlier. It cleared the Senate June 2nd 2015 with 67 in favor and 32 opposed.

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The home ownership rate for the U.S. in March 2012, is 65.4%, the same rate as in 1997 before the housing bubble, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The irony of this is that the housing bubble was inflated by politicians in Congress and mortgage lenders and purchasers of mortgage securities. Fannie Mae and Countryside worked together ostensibly to promote home ownership while pursuing profits. In the case of politicians they pursued goals of raising employment and growth without understanding the risks of artificially inflating home ownership, and without consideration for incomes of subprime borrowers. A less benign view of the interests and goals of politicians comes from reflections on the impact of political lobbying by Fannie Mae and other housing lenders in the U.S. Congress. The consequences in terms of foreclosures have been devastating for minorities as well as other middle class homeowners. It has also damaged the U.S. banking system, credit growth in the economy and prospects for recovery, which will take years to correct. The federal government is also saddled with large losses at Fannie Mae because of its quasi government agency role. That role led to inflation of the bubble. Most of the consequences will be borne by middle and lower income households in the U.S. The pass-through effects in a global economy affect Europe, and emerging market countries. ...

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Bank lending is recovering in parts of the midwest from Cedar Rapids, Iowa to Madison, Wisconsin not hit hard by the housing crisis, but lags far behind in California and Florida. Between 2006 and 2011, a WSJ survey using data from Moody's Analytics and Equifax shows bank lending declining in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles by 38%, 44%, and 55%. Overall U.S. consumer loan originations declined by 40% from 2006 to 2011.

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Singapore's state investment company, Temasek Holdings, has incurred a paper loss of $2.3 billion on its investment in Merrill Lynch. Temasek bought 9% of Merrill in December 2007 for $5 billion or $48 a share. The effective purchase price was reduced when it received an additional $2.5 billion in shares in July 2008. On the last day of the trade before the deal was sealed on December 31, 2008, Merrill share price was $12.10.

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For the approaching US midterm elections president Biden seeks to draw a sharp contrast with Republican Senator Rick Scott's Plan which he says would worsen inflation and increase taxes on working class families. Mr. Scott's plan is for sunset on all federal legislation and president Biden says this would include Medicare and Social Security. Mr. Scott also wants all Americans to pay some income tax to have skin in the game. At this time about half of all Americans pay no taxes says Mr. Scott. Former US president Trump continues to lead the Republican party in 2022  yet he faces a very different Democratic party under president Biden. Mr. Biden's focus is on his $2 trillion plan for Workers and Families, rebuilding American manufacturing and renewing supply chains, unlike Hillary Clinton whose lacked such a focus. Leading to Mr. Trump's appeal with working class families and disdain for traditional Republican policies that secured him the presidency in 2018 by defeating Hillary Clinton. The changes with president Biden's focus on workers and families are happening also in the European Union. Scholz and the Greens in Germany, Macron in France with potentially Melenchon as prime minister, and similar changes in Denmark and other EU countries suggest that there is a renewed focus on infrastructure, rebuilding manufacturing and supply chain renewal, rebuilding incomes and lives of workers and families, in Europe and the US. ...

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This report in the WSJ says about Evergrande and China's housing boom that it was a risky race against time in which developers took in billions of dollars of borrowed money from buyers in cash to launch project after project in every Chinese province. The 25 year old company founded by 37 year old Hui Ka Yan in Guangzhou was setup in 1996. Its name stands for "constant" and "big" in Chinese and during the rapid expansion of the Chinese economy after 2000 it played a part in meeting dream of home ownership. It did this by taking in full cash payment for apartments that were delivered years later. It is the largest symbol of debt for housing developers in China $89 billion in outstanding debt and millions of unfinished properties, 42% of debt due in less than 1 year. Today Evergrande is collapsing, unable to pay creditors, and paying creditors in construction with unfinished properties, says this WSJ Report. Capital Economics estimates that Evergrande has presold 1.4 million apartments valued at $200 billion that are not yet finished. Typical is a woman in retail sales in Shenzen who invested 1.4 million yuan or about $217,000 in 2018 for one 400 square foot apartment in a high rise building.  The Chinese government is unlikely to stop Evergrande from collapsing. Its only interest is in protecting the people who paid in cash for unfinished apartments. ...

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Over 1 million people have contributed to the Guardian in the last 3 years. Of this 500,000 are paying to support the Guardian on an ongoing basis. This covers its Donate effort and its Memberships program. Katharine Viner, the editor-in-chief of Guardian News and Media called the business model a new way for journalism to "regain its relevance, meaning and trusted place in society." She says many contributors donate specifically because they wanted the Guardian to stay free and outside a paywall. When readers come to know of the challenging commercial reality facing all news organization they express real interest in wanting to support, she said. Guardian is trying to breakeven in 2018 with new revenue streams. The Support appeal appears inside or at the bottom of articles and says "Support the Guardian from as little as $1- and it only takes a minute." The other approach is through $6 a month Supporter memberships. Guardian has two thrusts in its coverage. In an age of filter bubbles and hyper-partisan politics  it says its important to make space for different ides and diverse opinions. It has a Cities section for instance and looks at climate change impact. It also says "our guiding focus is to challenge the economic assumptions of the past three decades, which have extended market values such as competition and self-interest far beyond their natural sphere and seized the public realm." ...

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Claudia Sheinbaum's father was a biology professor at UNAM, her mother a chemical engineer. She studied physics at UNAM (Universidad Autonomo de Mexico) and did her dissertation for doctoral work comparing energy use of the US and Mexico at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in Berkeley, California. She returned to the faculty of engineering at UNAM in 1995. In 2000 she was appointed energy minister in the Mexico City government by the city's Mayor Lopez Obrador.  From 2018 to 2023 she was Mayor of Mexico City and a close associate of Lopez Obrador who supported her for president in 2024. Mexico limits presidents to one six year term. This period was overshadowed by the migration crisis with the US, building of the Border Wall by Trump, the negotiation of the new trade agreement with the US and Canada, the pandemic and its impact on the poorer classes in Mexico. Obrador attacked corruption in Mexico that had become entrenched under previous parties to bring good governance. Under Obrador Mexico brought millions out of poverty. Sheinbaum's sweeping election win shows that Obrador is one of the most popular presidents in the world. Mexico has an opportunity to bring tens of millions more into the mainstream economy under Sheinbaum. As a neighbor of the US Mexico stands to benefit from a diversifying supply chain for the US that includes Mexico and India that will boost Mexico's manufacturing, create jobs and increase economic growth. ...

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The changes that have come over president Obama include a wearing off of the enthusiasm and sense of new beginnings of 2008. From many possibilities to a a sense of limited possibilities during the second term. From the excitement of a new and novel candidate as Ivy law school "community activist" and able story teller of mixed race upbringings originating in Kenya, to the billion dollar fundraising candidate and mixed record of the second term.

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S. Korea and the U.S. propose limiting trade imbalances to 4% of each country's GDP by 2015. S. Korea is the host of the current G-20 meeting. Germany and Japan oppose this move, arguing that their governments cannot engineer such outcomes, as it was determined by economic activity in the private sector. Japan's representative, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, said that while he was dubious about the idea of setting strict numerical goals, it would be acceptable to use them as reference numbers. Germany has traditionally opposed the idea. Germany wants to be counted as part of the European Union, rather than as a single nation, in any such reference goal. China has not commented on the target. S. Korea has presented the idea as a way to use more than currency exchange rates to achieve a global rebalancing. And People's Bank of China Deputy Gov. Yi Gang said Oct 10, that China is planning policies that could result in its surplus falling below 4% of GDP in 3 to 5 years, from about 5.8% in 2009....

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22 famous investors from professors and judges to hedge fund managers and financial experts describe the best advice they received for investing.

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The Italian government's austerity measures and changes to promote economic growth are facing criticism including the threat of a general strike by the CGIL trade union. Italy's business lobby Confindustria, said the government plan for new taxes on incomes above 90,000 euros of 5%, and on incomes above 150,000 euros of 10%, over three years, risks sending Italian management talent overseas. Ferrari chairman told the daily, Corriere della Serra, the government's plan does not address tax evasion and other structural problems in the Italian economy. The head of Italy's largest trade union, CGIL, expressed her opposition to the plan to let companies and unions make their own contracts that opt out of rules that make it illegal to fire an employee without "just cause."

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The German people offer a warm welcome to refugees from Syria and North Africa suffering enormous hardships to make their way across seas and overland through Eastern Europe to Germany's borders. Germany of its own accord waived the right to deport Syrians back to the first European nation entered, and supported Syrian refugees right to stay with an 87% acceptance rate for Syrians seeking asylum. In August 2015 alone 100,000 refugees were accepted. Chancellor Merkel and Germany lead the European Union by example, and what an example it has been. Faiola of the Washington Post tells the story of Abed Almoen Alalie, a civil servant from Syria who fled with his family, and after being roughly treated in Budapest, Hungary, cannot believe his eyes seeing the welcoming crowds as he gets off the train in Munich. Never has a nation in such a short time made its way into the hearts of so many as Germany has done in 2015. The crisis found Germany, or Germany found the crisis, either way Germany embraced it and the people who came with it in a way hard to imagine. With chancellor Merkel leading the way using strong words and courage of her Lutheran convictions- "The fundamental right to asylum does not have a limitation. As a strong, economically healthy country, we have the strength to do what is necessary." Many Germans have responded in a degree and manner that is hard to imagine . They say this was Germany's effort at redemption after the war. In a poll by ARD released September 3, 2015, 88% of Germans said they would donate money or clothes to refugees or have done so, and 67% say they will volunteer to help. ...

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On taxes instead of $100 billion a year increase in the deficit that the 2017 tax cut of Biden's predecessor cost the Treasury -which benefited average Americans only $750 a year studies show, and reduced corporate taxes from 35% to 21% shifting billions to large corporations- Biden proposed $500 billon cut in the deficit by putting a 25% tax on 1000 billionaires in the US. Biden's guarantee that no one making less than $400,000 a year would pay an extra penny in taxes. Everyone would be better off, no one worse off. His predecessor's 2017 tax cut did not increase investment spending by companies which remained same as before. "There are 1,000 billionaires in America.   You know what the average federal tax rate for these billionaires is? 8.2 percent!  That’s far less than the vast majority of Americans pay.   No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a teacher, a sanitation worker, a nurse!  That’s why I’ve proposed a minimum tax of 25% for billionaires. Just 25%.  That would raise $500 Billion over the next 10 years." Only some of it would pay for the following the rest to cut the deficit- "Imagine what that could do for America. Imagine a future with affordable child care so millions of families can get the care they need and still go to work and help grow the economy.  Imagine a future with paid leave because no one should have to choose between working and taking care of yourself or a sick family member.    Imagine a future with home care and elder care so seniors and people living with disabilities can stay in their homes and family caregivers get paid what they deserve!  Tonight, let’s all agree once again to stand up for seniors! "       ...

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The American consumer is becoming frugal since the crisis hit in 2008. But it will take along time to reduce the debt piled up over the years. By 2008 end American households had $13.8 trillion in debt, which is close to the $14.3 trillion output of the entire US economy, not adjsted for inflation in 2008. American households started 2008 with debt at 133% of disposable income. At the end of 2008 this had only dropped 3 percentage points to 130% of disposable income. With unemployment higher, companies reducing hours, and local governments having a certain number of days of furlough, and wage growth slow or nonexistent, the debt will take longer to reduce. WIth this debt overhang, and the lack of easy credit even though the credit markets are working again, its going to be harder to see a consumer driven V shaped recovery. In the 2001 recession consumers took on more debt to provide aconsumer driven V shaped recovery. At that time the debt to disposable income ratio went above 100%. See graph. And its gone up steadily since, with super low interest rates encouraging borrowing, and then as the Fed raised rates consumers went heavily into mortgages and housing in a speculative bubble. This time not only is the credit not there to finance such a recovery, but a number of conditions such as permanent loss of a large number of manufacturing jobs, rising unemployment and use of parttime workers, the need to payoff debt, create definite constraints to consumer spending....

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China's carefully planned stimulus in April 2014. It is designed to balance goals of not letting credit growth lead to a bubble and preserving a high enough growth rate of 7% to create 10 million new jobs each year. The smaller stimulus will be financed by the federal government which has more leeway than local governments burdened with debt. The stimulus is focussed on low income housing and railways. Pension funds, banks and other financial institutions will be encouraged to invest in shantytowns to create low income housing. Railways construction is focussed on southern and western China. Part of the rail construction is designed with the goal of creating export based industry in the interor of the country. IMF reports say this may not work out as planned as businesses may prefer to remain in the coastal or eastern part of the country.