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These numbers are real 11.5 million manufacturing jobs in 2009 vs 19.5 million manufacturing jobs in 1980- 44% of the US supply chain base destroyed and recovery to 12.69 million in 2026. Automation is only a small part of the story, as China's factories are heavily automated, it was first deliberate policy of the administrations of  Bush, Clinton Bush, and Obama. In April 1989 as shown in Labor Department graph on this page there were 18 million jobs a loss of 1.5 million. The major damage was done under the two Bush and Clinton, Obama administrations, that looked the other way having no grasp of the significance of this development and following misguided economic theory, ignoring what was happening in front of their eyes in plain sight. 

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Pogacar breaks 1997 record with climb in 36 minutes for Alpe d'Huez stage of the Tour de France 2026. 

“I don’t know what the time of Pantani was. I don’t take too much into that, but I heard that I broke it, so I’m happy."

“I just wanted to do a good race and to win. A 30-something years record finally broken is good for us.”

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Gordie Howe Bridge opens July 24 2026, after a US disinvite and DJT putting 50% tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian goods exported to the US. Earlier in July sweeping Canadian wildfires sent smoke to American cities from Washington DC and Philadelphia to Washington DC, and parts of Michigan (Detroit).  The Canadian failure to control these fires and invest in fire control to control these fires was a sore point between the 2 countries, causing losses and toxic breathing conditions across large parts of the US for many days.

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Small businesses under the Liberty Center sue the DJT administration over new Tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. This time the issue is put in a different light that of use of forced labor, or having laws but not enforcing them for forced labor, and not meeting the standards set by the administration. Section 301 of the Trade Act 1974 also gives the president authority to conduct investigations on each country with unfair trade practices, and take action on each country. The office of the Trade Representative has worked hard to pull together all these Investigations on each country so that a new Tariffs ruling by the administration on this aspect of Section 301 for unfair manufacturing practices is expected in August. Note that most major countries have already agreed that they will respect the tariffs reached under their individual coutnry agreements with the US. This applies to Japan, S. Korea, China, European Union, UK, India, Indonesia, Germany, France. What was the purpose of tariffs all along- it was to get these countries to negotiate a fair deal in which the US would be given some preference to compensate for the similar deal the US allowed these countries to have for their exports in the last 30 years. Little or none of these aspects of tariffs has been covered in the media including the most important aspect- tariffs are simply a tool in the tool box to return the supply chain the US sent to China under different adminstrations for 30 years back to America, including the manufacturing, the factories that were sent overseas and now brought back to the US, for American workers and American jobs. If stated clearly no small business or state attorney general, or lesser courts up to the US Supreme Court, would take on the authority to prevent this from happening, considering that 8 million jobs were lost over 30 years, and the manufacturing leadership of the US destroyed, in the process taking with it small factory towns across the American landscape. US Department of Labor Statistics reports shown here show factory jobs in the US at 19.4 million in 1980 over the 30 year period  after losses in 2009 there only 11.5 million factory jobs in the US as its whole supply chain was shipped to China. In 2026 there are 12.69 million factory jobs in the US. Automation is only a small part of the story as Chinese factories are heavily automated in 2026, it was a deliberate self inflicted wound by the privileged but incompetent class of economists and politicians in the US who refused to see with their own eyes this Depression in factories and trusted outdated irrelevant economic theories (Bush, Clinton, Obama administrations). In a way that Norman Borlaug (Nobel 1970 for Green Revolution) recalls seeing during the Depression days from his economics class at the University of Minnesota. ...

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IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Interview with Christopher Mims on IBM's mainframe hardware business and its future in quantum computing. IBM sees quantum computing as a trillion dollar business and CEO Krishna thinks it will happen sooner in the next 4-5 years. Siimilar to Nvidia's lead in AI type chips IBM holds lead in quantum computing hardware technologies. IBM's mainframe business generates 20-25% of sales but it also generates software and services sales related to IBM's hardware which is about $4 for every dollar of mainframe sales. IBM was affected by not enough orders closing last quarter yet this has picked up with a lot of the orders closing in the first month of the second quarter. Krishna is optimistic about IBM's future.

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US Tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 announced for July 24 2026 by Office of US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to replace 10% tariffs that expire following a US Supreme court decision. In a few weeks another set of tariffs will be introduced to apply to goods from nations that subsidize excess manufacturing capacity. Was the media attention on the tariffs a good idea considering the main motive for it to be the US effort to get back its supply chain lost to China through the mistakes of previous administrations for 30 years? Not enough attention was paid to this and the importance for the US economy and for jobs in the different states in America of manufacturing jobs lost with the loss of the supply chain to China and from unfair trade practices of Japan, EU, Mexico, Canada and other countries. They are allies but trade matters to the wellbeing and the lives of many Americans particularly in the industries and the small towns across America over the last 30 years. ...

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New 12.5% and 10% tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 on 60 countries starting July 24 2026 when earlier tariffs expire. The earlie tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court as not legally valid because of the statute used. Even though a lot of new media attention was placed on that tariffs move in 2025 and 2026, the same tariffs are back in place. Most if not all of the major trading nations, knew that the best policy was to negotiate an agreement on tariffs with the DJT administration. Countries like Switzerland that were late to negotiate were hit with higher tariffs and opted to sign agreements.  US seeks to get back the supply chain it ceded to China through mistakes made by previous administrations over 30 years. Was the US Supreme Court in a position or inclined to set this back. It simple said use another statute. Congress supported the US president in his action to bring Make in the USA back particularly in the 250th year of the Declaration of Independence. Now Jamieson Greer, head of the Office of the US Trade Representative has reset reestablished the tariffs under a legally valid Section 301. He has also conducted the Investigations on each country required under Section 301 to show that these countries had not met US standards for fighting forced labor. There is likely to be no further media attention to be critical of this move- was all the time attacking a tariffs move without considering the importance of returning supply chains to the US, returning manufacturing to the US? It appears to be when seen at the level of the US economy as a whole. ...

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South Korea not allowed in 1972 agreement that holds in 2026 to enrich uranium while Saudis get to do this in agreement signed in 2026. More questions about the wisdom of the civilian nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia.

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US Saudi civilian nuclear agreement conditional on Saudis joining the Abraham Accords and full recognition of the state of Israel as was done by Bahrain and UAE. Saudis wanted a pathway to a two state solution before recognition and the two sides are far apart on this. A civilian nuclear agreement of this kind was seen as opening up nuclear proliferation and may have led to second thoughts by the DJT administration. South Korea and other nations also see this as not following US and European position on nuclear proliferation. A treaty signed in 1972 says South Korea is not allowed to process enriched uranium on its soil. Renewed in 2015 it held to the same position. Even though South Korea has 23 nuclear reactors it is not allowed to enrich uranium while Saudis are under the terms of the deal signed- before Congress could even look at it- Saudis are allowed to both enrich uranium, and to avoid inspections from International Atomic Agency to ensure nothing is being diverted to a weapons program. ...

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A tale of two cities Oslo and London only 700 miles apart in direct flight but far far distant in their oil and energy policies. Instead of a transition period and working in coordination with China on climate change to take policies that Britain cannot use new oil resources to replace old ones and continue to invest, Britain finds itself constrained for every decision in the budget. Even an item like bus fares capped at 2 pounds in England becomes unaffordable. China is a developed modernized nation and because of its size and population and its use of coal plants decides how much climate change happens. Of 63 gigawats added in 2026 from coal plants China takes up 55 gigawatts with 85 new coal plants coming online in China in 2026. UK's situation is severe in this situation and it needed to make the case for oil production while at the same time getting renewable energy on line in a gradual way that recognized that without China it would be simply creating "budget poverty" in Britain. Industrialized nations such as Britain have failed to make a strong case across parties and a unified position on the fossil energy use transition so that Norway could say to hell with climate change and also be lauded for ensuring European oil security and have a $1.25 trillion fund to invest- when the mother of democracies and the industrial revolution, the modern world was left to simmer, its people suffer from "budget poverty" even when it comes to something like bus fares, not to talk about huge investments in infrastructure. This is a huge mistake and has ended up turning China into a modern economy and industrial power while leaving Britain without the money to invest. New oil exploration capex was neglected over 10 years most of them under the Tories, not just Brexit, Tories (and Labour) handed UK a one two three punch- austerity, Brexit and disinvestment in oil exploration, for a poorer Britain. This is a time to change all three. ...

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John Harris on the Andy Burnham he knew at the 3 Day Glastonbury Festival and the Labour Party conference in 2022. Its mainly hope, his own,  says John Harris that somehow, somehow, Andy Burnham can restore Britain to what it could be and once was-fairer and less broken and doing it in his way with modesty, humility and listening to his fellow citizens. Yet that can be hoping and asking for wayattoo little after so many disappointments. Britain can and will do a lot better. The land that invented much of the science and technology that drives our modern world, the land of the birth of the industrial revolution that has shaped our lives in so many aspiring nations, the land of the birth of the ideas of parliament and democratic forms of government of the people, for the people.

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Norway national oil company profits double to 11.5 billion pounds in 3 months to July 2026, which means Britain could generate 25 billion pounds  a year for investment from North Sea Oil for 4 year $100 billion Reindustrialization and Renewal Plan.

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IRA's were meant for Americans to save for retirement. Accounts over $25 million- there are 1000 accounts. Accounts over $10 million there are 11,600 accounts. When enacted rules for IRA never planned for accounts over $25 million. With investors in companies like Nvidia at 3 cents a share, huge holdings of over $200 million have been accumulated in IRA's. Joint Committee for Taxation shows about $250 billion in IRA and 401 K tax revenue not collected in 2025. Of this 63% goes to households that are in the top 20% of the income distribution- $157 billion from taxes for households that were so well off the IRA's were never meant for them.  Universal health care, NHS system like the UK's, would cost $4 trillion and offset is the current $5.3 trillion in a patchwork system saving $1.3 trillion. Universal health care would increase demand for health care yet by filling American healthcare needs improve health and reduce the cost of healthcare as fewer healthcare services would be needed for a healthier population. A better tax system would add to the US government's resources to provide healthcare and better infrastructure. The $157 billion above, other tax not collected which could be close to $1 trillion, would provide additional revenues for investment in healthcare and infrastructure, greatly improving quality of life for the American people.  ...

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Google's annual profits reach $132 billion in 2026 as AI adds new features to its Search business, increases the ad business, and adds to its You Tube business. It has caught up with other competitors with its Gemini versions AI tool by making large investments in AI. Google has invested $91 billion in 2025 and $200 billion allocated for investment in 2026 for Ai infrastructure and data centers. In addition $40 billion invested in Anthropic for frontier AI models. About $85 billion was raised through equity offerings and in capital markets. Investments of this magnitude were a response to initially being caught off guard in AI models developed by competitors. Microsoft which helped pioneer the field with its investment in OpenAI is not the leading competitor in AI. Apple has decided to let Google forge ahead and use Google's AI for its services. Anthropic's Claude 5 is the frontier model and Google has a large investment in Anthropic. This means Google has a monopoly position in its field even larger than before, and has fenced out most competition in just two years. The race in AI with China and Europe has made this possible, but will raise questions in coming years about such a dominance and the many implications this has for the US. Massive AI investment has clearly taken the place of rebuilding America's dilapidated infrastructure in roads, bridges, buildings, airports, and transportation which will lead to major problems for the US economy. ...

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What readers of The Guardian say they want to see from Burnham under Honesty, Integrity, Courage, and Fairness and on different issues from Cost of Living to Housing, Health and Social Care, Education and Work for Young People. 

One reader says- “Have the courage to do a few big things well. Dismiss the tittle-tattle and day-to-day nonsense. Give your message and back it up with actions." There is a whole range of opinions from all parts of UK, different people, about 50 comments worth reading to know what is on people's minds something Andy Burnham likes to do -to listen keep his ears close to people to each place, and trust his instincts to do the right thing day after day.

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The Bee Network launched in late 2023 is the first integrated transport system outside London. Bus routes are set and franchised by the mayor, Andy Burnham, and fares combined for trams. There is 7% increase in miles, 14% increase in journeys, 740,000 people a fourth of Manchester region population benefitting. Sheffield region, home of Louise Haigh is also planning a similar system in South Yorkshire.

Burnham says “You lower the fares, you improve frequency, you put routes back, people will use it – and they are.”

This report is from before Burnham was made prime minister. On the second day of entering office Burnham announces a cap to bus fares in England of 2 pounds.

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The 2 pound cap was in place between Jan 2023 and December 2024. It was Rachel Reeves and the willing Keir Starmer who said this was unaffordable and reversed it. It showed how indifferent Rachel Reeves was to Labour's constituents and the working class in Britain, and her appointment as chancellor with such actions alienated much of Labour's voters to the Greens and some to Reform UK. It reflected the indifference of McSweeney/Starmer/Reeves to ordinary Britons and their cost of living concerns. At the time Burnham kept it at 2 pounds in Manchester region financing it from the regional budget. To this Burnham says- “Good, affordable transport links are an essential. No one should be priced out of those and left behind. But for too long people have said that cheaper transport isn’t an option. I don’t accept that. “I’ve done it before and I will do it again now: a £2 cap on bus fares for millions across the country. Lower fares will help people get to where they need to – giving them breathing space to help with the cost of living.”   ...