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Chancellor Scholz has a fall while running in Potsdam. The German chancellor's office puts out this picture of Scholz so that people can get used to how he would look for the next couple of days. Scholz has taken up rowing at the age of 50 and he says one of his regrets is that he had not done so earlier. He heads a younger more fitness and health oriented government than the one before him, and one that has put first and foremost the idea of dignity of the German worker and his family, an idea he shares with president Biden in the US for the American worker and family.

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Mike Pence's recent comments show that the US Capitol attacks were a traumatic event for Pence and the country. Former Vice President Pence said- "President Trump was wrong. I had no right to overturn the election and his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable." Pence said it was a disgrace, and it mocked decency to portray it any other way. President Biden's speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia talked about this situation that democracy faced in America, over 150 years after Abraham Lincoln made a similar speech in Independence Hall at the onset of the conflict that led to the emancipation proclamation.  Biden said- "We must never forget: We the people, are the true heirs of the American experiment that began two centuries ago." Speaking of the flame of liberty that was lit at Independence Hall Biden also said- "That sacred flame also burns now in our time, as we build an America that is prosperous, free and just." ...

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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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Gerald Seib, executive editor of of the WSJ, attributes the divisions in America both on the left and the right to a deep skepticism among people about the intentions of the U.S. political and financial establishment to conduct the country's affairs in a way that benefits all people. Both the traditional Democratic and Republican establishments, the Bush-Reagan, Clinton-Obama politicians and the financial community were seen as self-serving and looking after their own interests. The right of center supply side economics and the the tolerance for immigration levels of 30% rise in the last decade were discredited. A much larger recovery program was seen as needed from the deeply bruising effects of the financial crisis of 2008, started by the reckless financial establishment behaviours, than either the Reagan supply siders or the Obama people had understood or planned. This opened the way for Mr. Trump to take up the cause of ordinary Americans with a message of ambitious infrastructure development, confronting China's use of trade adversely affecting American workers, and slowing down immigration. And within the Democratic party the emergence of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders with programs for a wealth tax that would finance Medicare for All and college education supported by the federal government. Both the traditional Republicans under Bush and Democrats under Clinton Obama were seen not upto the task, after the 2008 financial and economic crisis created deeper scars than were imagined possible. The lack of effective policies under Bush or Obama simply aggravating the situation further. The culture wars have split Americans down the middle with a breakdown of the traditional American family and social structures creating deep anxieties in America. Obama's comments unsettled people in the heartland when he said that economic decline in the Rust Belt had made people there to "cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them."   The trillions of dollars spent in wars in Asia and the Middle East were seen by Mr. Trump as an enormous waste when much needed investment was deprived of attention at home. Mr. Trump hammered this point home till today it is well accepted across America.  Even as political divisions persist they are now on how to tackle the redevelopment and growth of the U.S. The new focus of agreement has shifted with agreement across the country that infrastructure development in the U.S. and defending workers rights to jobs and opportunities is the top priority. That trade relations need to be reshaped keeping this priority ever present in negotiations. As a result all parties could agree on infrastructure and the recently concluded agreement for trade with Mexico and Canada and phase 1 of negotiated agreement with China. In overseas affairs the U.S. under Trump seeks cost sharing with a 2% of GDP defense spending by other nations so that money can be diverted to use at home. In this sense the debate has already shifted in the U.S. and the UK to how to address the problems of uneven development and growth across the two countries and better allocation of scarce resources to needs at home. Which is for the U.S. a good thing in the middle of all the perception of divisions.      ...

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The injection of billions of gallons of salt water from shale oil producers in Texas into the ground contaminating ground water. Salt water and other kinds of waste water are byproducts of shale oil production at the rate of 6 wastewater gallons for 1 gallon of shale oil produced. This is becoming a huge problem in west Texas and the Permian Basin. When huge quantities of such water is injected back into the ground it comes back out of the ground in other areas and contaminates groundwater. About half of the US production of oil comes from the Permian Basin. Geologists at the UT Austin say that the pressure in the injection reservoirs in west Texas is now at 0,7 per square foot- at 0.5 per square foot the pressure is enou to have the salty toxic water seep back up to the surface of the ground. This is keeping water management personnel up at night and raising questions about the environmental damage in red hot shale oil production that taxpayers will be in the hook to pay years from now through clearing up the environmental damage. WSJ call it a big mess.  (This is a story not chosen by Apple News as it chose instead a story one on family financial firms in capital markets in WSJ, that is not readily seen on the internet once it is archived, one that Chevron and oil companies prefer not to be discussed, that was selected by Lyrarc.com and Movement for the Renewal of America to keep readers informed to make wise decisions.) Limited and temporary dependence on fossil fuels is both necessary to cut cost of living for people living paycheck to paycheck , yet one should know there are costs with any decision of this kind, and environmental damage is a concern that is postponed only with costs, cost that are passed on to children of this generation and should not be ignored. ...

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Issues of inequality and lack of upward mobility came up in the last presidential election. A Federal Reserve Survey for 2018 shows the financial fragility facing many Americans. One quarter of working individuals say they do not have any retirement savings. About 17% of households say they cannot pay all their monthly bills. About 40% of Americans say they do not have enough cash to cover an unexpected $400 expense, and would have to rely on credit cards balances or loans from family to make the payment. This survey by the Federal Reserve is done each year since 2013, after the financial crisis hit in 2009 it became more important. Still Americans are showing unusual resilience and upbeat spirit. About 75% say they were doing Ok or living comfortably up from 63% in 2013. And two out of three described lovcal economic conditions as "good" or "excellent."  This shows that the financial vulnerability resulting in the loss of jobs in the U.S. both from jobs lost in manufacturing going overseas,  jobs lost through automation or industrial decline in some sectors, and the hit from job loss during the financial crisis and its aftermath years of 2009-2014 is still leaving a lot of families financially vulnerable. Low interest rates and stagnant wages also meant savings growth for ordinary Americans was less than it should be in a healthy economy without booms and busts. This is also the environment in which the U.S. is tackling challenges to its technological leadership in 5G following a decline in sectors such as autos and electronics, with job losses to Japan and South Korea. New trade agreements are focussed on correcting the imbalance, first with Mexico, South Korea, and now with China. Focus is also on fair wages and labour overseas to raise American wages in key sectors. The damage done by a low interest rate to savings of ordinary Americans outside the stock markets is also being seen as a downside in the boom bust cycle, that includes loss of jobs for vulnerable American families. The rise of the tech sectors has diluted the traditional protections of working class Americans with the shifts and realignment of the major parties. ...

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Douglas Wilson was born in Annapolis, Maryland, before his father, a Baptist pastor, moved the family to Idaho in the American West.  Wilson started a Christian revival movement from Christ Church, Idaho, which is based on his views of Calvinism and the original teachings of Christianity dating back to the Mayflower Compact of 1602 set in Geneva, which outlined the vision of the early colonists to America of the relations between the church and the government, setting forth their vision. This is America going back to the earliest days in 1600, of Britain and Northern Europe, and the settlement of a vast continent 185 years before the drafting at a convention for the new Republic, of the United States of America the 13 original colonies in 1787. The original roots of the Nation in the Geneva Compact of 1602 can still be seen in Geneva, Switzerland, near the Calvinist cathedral in the center of the French Swiss town of Geneva, that acted as a crossroads for the prominent ideas on Christian thought at the time. From it's earliest days for the colonists since 1602, the Tynsdale Bible of the 16th century that brought it into the English language from Latin and Greek, and its offshoot the Authorized King James Version of the Bible of 1611 formed the basis of civilized life in the American colonies, and helped the colonists seek a new world in the wilderness that was the North American continent in the years 1600 to 1780. In the early years of the 13 colonies on the Atlantic seaboard, and further west into Ohio and Michigan- vast untamed forests, mountains, lakes and rivers. From 1780 to the 1880 this wilderness extended into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming upto the Pacific. Ideas of Common Prayer in schools and in everyday life informed the society of the time and was integrated in all parts of life. Only after 1780 were the ideas of separation of church and state developed by Madison and Jefferson for the constitutional framework of orderly government and respect for rights of citizens to practice their faith. At no point was it intended to take the Common Prayer out of schools, which is essentially a new idea from the 19th century. There is mention of Asian religions Buddhism and the religion of the Upanishads in India in the argument against prayer in schools,  yet it is a fact that this is only a theory as immigration from China, Japan, and India was actively discouraged, and also banned in many ways, till the Irish Kennedy administration in 1960. And it is also a fact that Mohandas Gandhi the leader of India drew great inspiration from the King James 1611 version of the Bible, and it helped him deepen his religious beliefs in the Upanishads to create the modern Indian state for 1.4 billion people in Asia. Most of the hymns of the Christian faith were known to Gandhi and formed part of his beliefs, when the Common Prayer itself started disappearing from American schools in a post war reaction to colonialism, imperialism and racial discrimination, such that it depleted the very reserves of civilization, of wisdom and thought, of science and technology, that helped create America out of the wilderness. ...

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This Washington Post report shows elder cost where you live in the US. Out of 5.9 million Americans over 85 years 50% live with family, including spouses and adult children, 40% live alone including assisted living facilities, and only 8% live in nursing homes. A quarter live in multigenerational homes, and this is common among Asians, with Filipino families tending to live together. In Florida 57% of seniors over 85 years live with family and spouses, and in Texas 31% live in multigenerational households. Hawaii has the highest number of people over 85 years living with their families- 61%. 16% of seniors over 85 years live in nursing homes in South Dakota, highest in the US, and in Louisiana 44% of women seniors over 85 years live alone, according to Census.

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 Americans in the southern states forget that president Kennedy made the famous statement about "a rising tide lifts all boats" in Arkansas, a poor southern state, saying that America must invest in all regions in people in all parts not just in well off northeastern states. In a handful of southern states expanding Medicaid to about $43,000 or 138% of the federal poverty level for a family of four is now being taken up by Republican leaders who show new openness- in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. Noah Weiland -of NYT looks at one particular battle -between Democrat Governor Laura Kelly in Kansas and Republican Speaker Hawkins- in Topeka, Kansas, where the fight goes on. Hawkins calling it the greatest Ponzi scheme devised and Kelly telling this reporter that she has included a work requirement so there is no excuse for not doing this. Republicans are coming around and so are states in other places. Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, states that lie next to Kansas have approved this through ballot initiatives. The point here is that in the years as America comes out of the pandemic there is and should rightly be a realization that this is different, that the children of low income families deserve as equal a chance as their higher income fellow Americans, that depriving them of good medical care makes America a weaker country. As Jerome Powell of the US Fed said in Stanford today about Kennedy's expression of "lifting all boats," it is just this that is needed today. It will be the No.1 election issue in Kansas in 2024, says Governor Kelly. The Republicans are also having second thoughts and are now just face saving. Consider that the Kansas Health Institute a research group, says 70% of the people becoming eligible for Medicaid expansion are working. Many are restaurant business workers who cannot provide proper medical care to children who form the next generation of America. And hiring in rural hospitals would expand for health workers instead of layoffs in southern states lifting financial strain on rural healthcare with additional Medicaid funds. This helps rural America when it needs it most. ...

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Food costs for eating at home have actually come down by half since 1960. Charts on the US Department of Agriculture site (USDA) show US food costs for family budgets at 13% of personal disposable income for eating at home in the Kennedy years the 1960's. This has come down by half to 5.7% in 2024. In that period eating at restaurants and outside has doubled to 5.7% of personal disposable income. When people complain about food inflation this is an important factor, eating outside also leads to less control of intake and right nutrition, consequently leads to poorer health outcomes, and a growing share of health expenditures in America's national budget. It hits both the family budget and the national budget and then comes back to hit health outcomes.

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What Kamala Harris stands for on behalf of the workers and families of America, on behalf of the American people, for in Carl Sandburg's immortal poem "The People, Yes!" and for people struggling to make a living with food and housing costs, in the words of Tim Walz at the Democratic Convention- "So this is the part — clip and save it, and send it to your undecided relatives so they know: If you’re a middle-class family, or trying to get into the middle class, Kamala Harris is going to cut your taxes. If you’re getting squeezed by prescription drug prices, Kamala Harris is going to take on Big Pharma. If you’re hoping to buy a home, Kamala Harris is going to help make it more affordable. And no matter who you are, Kamala Harris is going to stand up and fight for your freedom to live the life that you want to lead, because that’s what we want for ourselves, and it’s what we want for our neighbors." ...

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Earnings of the typical American man working full-time year round declined in 2010, and is now in inflation adjusted terms below the level in 1978, according to the U.S. Census Department. The income of a typical Ameircan family has declined for three consecutive years and is now at $49,445 for 2010. This is the level reached in inflation adjusted terms in 1996. 15.1% of the American people lived below the poverty line in 2010, and 22% of children lived below the poverty line. The poverty line is set at $22,314 for a family of four in 2010. Statisics from the U.S. Census Department.

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Under Project 2025, a blueprint for the first 100 days of a Trump second term-A middle class family with 100,000 in income a year and two children would pay extra $2600 additional federal income tax, whereas it gives a $325,000 tax cut for a married couple with 2 children making more than $5 million a year in income. On project 2025, the blueprint for the first 100 days in office of a Trump second term, the action items are ones that would jeopardize the safety of American institutions that were set up with so much care by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and nurtured by the first president George Washington with little attention to himself, and protected by president after president through civil war under Abraham Lincoln, through 2 World Wars and The Great Depression under Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt, through recovery under Harry Truman and Ike, only to falter under a series of mediocre presidents Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama and be endangered by a NBC television show and construction business person with support from new social media networks that were unknown throughout America history till 2010 and television networks that had degenerated into recklessly divisive behaviours to win silo audiences.    ...

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Loneliness and isolation increases the risk of disease with higher bodily inflammation, and risk of dying. Monthly visits of family and friends can make a big difference. More frequent than that does not give added benefit. The quality of social connectedness is also important - having someone who cares and one trusts. A Gallup poll in 2023 shows 17% of Americans are lonely and one third of people under 30 years 18-30 years are lonely. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy himself talked about how it feels with lack of social connectedness.

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Steve Bannon is described in this indepth report by Scott Shane as a workaholic, born to working class family with his father a telephone line operator, who went to Virginia Tech and joined the Navy in the hope of advancing a career in politics. At Virginia Tech he won a leadership position of the student organization. He was described by another student who knew him well as passionate but not likely to get much done. The period at Virginia Tech and in the Navy were the Carter years followed by election of Ronald Reagan. The election of Reagan had a huge influence on Bannon- the same overtones of that campaign of Reagan are seen today in the forgotten men and women, white working class families that Conservatives then and Tea Party Conservatives in the Obama years felt ignored. The downward drift of the lower middle class families that saw incomes drop as manufacturing hollowed out in the U.S. with foreign competition, the failure of establishment politicians of both parties to protect American manufacturing and working class families, added to the sense of angst for Bannon. Bannon just like politicians in the Obama camp such as Emmanuel, found the way to politics through finance and gains made as the banking sector and financial institutions made huge financial gains by 2008. This was a stepping stone for their political ambitions. Emmanuel who is also a workaholic and passionate about his views worked to elect a black president, Bannon choosing to do the opposite and push for bringing back the Reagan era. Most on the liberal side see him as part of a racist movement. Reagan was none of those things. How does one reconcile the two? It is possible that seeing the fight against the established politics as an impossible task, Bannon in his passionate temperament did not object to the support of right wing extremists, in the same way that Trump did. As both Trump and Bannon have people of Jewish origin and black people in their circle of friends or family. What incensed Bannon as described here by Scott Shane of the NYT, was that after the financial crisis of 2008, hardly any bank executives who had committed wrongdoing went to jail, his father's line operator retirement savings were devastated by the financial crisis, and working class families struggled harder than ever, that his daughter at West Point was with mostly children of working class families who were the ones fighting America's wars. Many ironies abound in the story. Bannon got his business start in the same financial institutions that were involved in the financial crisis of 2008, Bannon & Co was acquired by Societe Generale. He is from an Irish Catholic working class family in Richmond and attended Benedictine High School, with a mother Doris that worked on the campaign to elect Douglas Wilder, a Democrat, as the first African American governor of Virgina.  The other ironies are in that Bannon sees Trump as "an imperfect vessel" but still good enough, and Trump sees himself as "making all the decisions" when asked about Bannon, as a range of interests struggle to form a coherent movement on the right in American politics- an unlikely combination of a telephone operator's son and real estate magnate's son who built his own real estate business in luxury real estate towers far removed from ordinary men and women they represent. ...

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This special series in the Guardian called Mother Load looks at the situation of mothers in the U.S. who lack the social protections that are taken for granted in England and other European countries. One mother calls it an ever present mental and emotional stress from the lack of social support such as maternity leave and family leave. The constant stress of parenting and motherhood in America is described here in the first person with the stories of many mothers in different parts of the U.S.

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On the occasion of the start of the Indo-Pacific Framework economic alliance setting a path to a new supply chain for the US and European Union, this account of how Mohandas Gandhi was treated as one of their own by the workers of Europe serves as a reminder from the past. The only foundation that is sound in principle and deserves our support for the new supply chain that is to be forged for EU, US and India and the countries of Latin America, Asia and Africa, is one that will support American and European workers and families as well as workers and families of the partners in the Free World such as India and other countries.  The Davies family were Quakers and Socialists, who owned a textile mill in Darwen, Lancashire. In 1931 when Mohandas Gandhi visited England for a Round Table Conference to discuss self-rule he was invited by the Davies family to Darwen. The enthusiasm of the workers in Lancashire for Gandhi can be seen in this report in the BBC about that visit. Gandhi's sympathy for the workers and the common feeling of support can be seen from this account of the visit by Darwen's local historian Mr. Heys. Gustan Green was 10 years old in 1931 when she met Gandhi. She said "My father said I want you to see Gandhi, then in the future you can say that you witnessed that brave man. I stood by this door into the works that was my first sighting of Gandhi. He looked down at me, stroked my hair, grinned and walked away. He never said a single word." Gandhi's sympathies were with the workers. Gandhi said "They treated me as one of their own. I shall never forget that." ...

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Mr. Alter's "His Very Best," shows Jimmy Carter much more than a one term president, a president who brought compassion, decency and transparency to the presidency. Here a critical care physician describes Jimmy Carter's decision for "hospice" care and what it means to spend the last months not just a few days in the company of family at home. Carter had foresight to put solar panels on the White House, and started initiatives in housing and health, and maintained an active healthy lifestyle that is a role model for all Americans.

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New estimates of the coronavirus cases and deaths show Peru having twice as many than estimated before. Peru has the world's highest mortality rate per capita in the world. Most of the jobs were pushed into the informal sector in the last 2 decades. This is also true of Columbia and other Latin American countries. During the first and second wave of the coronavirus these people in informal jobs were the hardest hit having little access to health care. In Colombia the result of the stress from the pandemic and the other problems have led to street demonstrations and violence. The president Ivan Duque lacking public support faces violent street protests. Duque who is from former president Uribe's party won the electon in a runoff with a former leftist guerilla leader Gustav Petro who was Mayor of Bogota. Uribe and Duque had not supported the peace agreement with the rebel left movement in Colombia negotiated by presiddent Santos.  In Peru the election is between Mrs. Fujimori from the Fujimori family and a Marxist politician Castillo. The problems in the informal economy during the pandemic have led to the election of Castillo as the next president. Many of Latin America's problems from Brazil to neighboring countries remain unresolved even as Asian countries have moved forward, with lack of basic access to sanitation, tap water, health care and education, and lacking basic infrastructure. The pandemic has shown the weakness in decades of development in Latin America.   ...

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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack of Iowa is one of the key people pushing for reviving Rural America. He has served as Agricultrue Secretary under a previous Democratic administration but lacked the resources for programs to keep young, aspiring and new would be farmers attracted to rural America and to farming. He sees the loss of 544,000 farms including small family farms in America since 1981 as a loss for rural America. He is now in a position to make a difference with $60 billion in funding in the Inflation Reduction Act. A former two term governor of Iowa 1999-2007 he is familiar with rural conditions in America's heartland and in agricultural states from Wisconsin and Minnesota to Nebraska and Colorado, from North and South Dakota to Missouri. Vilsack who has the ear of president Joe Biden says the loss of small farms has weakened rural America and wants to stop the bleeding. Lydia Phillips of NYT shows how billions of dollars of spending is now targeted at helping small farms plant a variety of crops that have more cash value than soyabeans and getting these to the market. A lot of the $60 billion goes to large farms for conservation and renewable energy. Vilsack is working hard to make it work for small farms and people in rural America, including generating many sources of income that includes money for renewable energy generated on small farms. ...

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We live in a period of anxiety, some anxiety is natural but when facing extended periods of anxiety for over 6 months causing distress and impacting day to day life, do something about it, says this expert. About 18 percent of people in America over the age of 18 will suffer from anxiety disorder each year, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. This increases to 28 percent in the course of a lifetime for Americans. Take a walk, reduce alcohol intake because of the association with anxiety, exercize, deep breathing, and yoga. Meditation is highly recommended and a natural way to combat anxiety and stress in life. As anxiety includes an excessive focus on future that we don't feel we control, it helps to let go. In meditation practice start with 5 minutes and deep breathing called pranayama in yoga. Yoga routine with simple basics can be part of the morning exercize. Any yoga studio can help or it can be done at home. Creating a safe space that is calm and healing helps a lot. Medical experts also recommend spending time with nature and natural surroundings. It takes away some of the stuff that is worrying oneself, and shifts attention to the  to the trees, nature outside. Turn off the phone ringer and put away the iPhone. Reduce other activities that crowd one's schedule to focus on calming activities such as these.  At other times read poetry or a book that relaxes, or a program showing scenery on television. Being with other people in settings such as volunteering to help others, and connecting with friends and family in a comfortable setting are also part of healthy living.   ...

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Concern about the spread of the pandemic in the U.S. with the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and travel to visit family and friends. Seen from Australia and other countries American fatigue with staying at home is cause for concern. Yet this is not entirely American as governments in France plan to have a phased reopening by Christmas, with phase 2 partial lifting of restrictions of the lockdown on December 15. Austria has turned down German requests to close Austrian ski resorts that have cause spread in Europe. The Swiss have also kept ski resorts open. During the summer Croatia and parts of Spain kept open tourist spots to help the economy recover creating the conditions for spread as tourists went back home. 

Beyond this there a complex web of choices. From mental health to hospitals filling up, from jobs and income for service workers to people in nursing homes, all calling for different responses. 

 

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In a sign of the changes roiling the pharmaceutical industry the off patent business of American maker Pfizer is based in Shanghai. The generics business of Mylan Pharmaceutical is incorporated in Netherlands and run from Pittsburgh. Pressure is increasing in the generics industry from manufacturers in India and China. Pfizer announced the merger of its Upjohn off patent pharmaceuticals business with Mylan to fight pricing pressures. Pharmaceutical prices in the U.S. are the  highest in the world and generics offer only small relief compared to the government mandated pricing of the same pharma products in India. Generics drugs are also offered at lower prices by distributors who buy in bulk adding to pricing pressures in the U.S. The government rarely intervenes in the negotiated prices as it does in India or in other countries in Europe including Britain.  In fact many asthma patients young and old alike are forced to do without inhalers because of the exorbitant prices set by American manufacturers with scant help from government under Democratic or Republican administrations in the U.S. In this respect middle class customers in India have better access to asthma inhalers as well as hundreds of other medicines basic to healthy living. This has created a greater level of basic equity/fairness in India as well as in Europe in this regard than in the U.S.  In this sense the pricing of basic care medicines in the U.S. adds to the sense of a lack of fairness. To that is added the manner in which the banking and financial industry operated resulting in the financial crisis of 2009 and damage to the bank savings accounts of ordinary Americans hit by unemployment, underemployment, and lower savings accumulation with interest rates kept low to offset the damage done by the banks through bad lending. This is also why an astonishing percentage of Americans like never before in the last 50 years do not have basic funds for spending to manage a health crisis in the family. Just as in times of the Depression in the U.S. industry operates in a way that is oblivious to what ordinary Americans are experiencing only to be excoriated by FDR. ...

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Jeb Bush opens his election campaign in Florida where he was two term governor, and addresses the crowd in Spanish. Jeb Bush met Columba Garnica de Gallo, a Mexican girl when he studied in a foreign exchange program in Leon, Mexico in 1970, when he was 17 and she was 16. Jeb Bush was assisting in the building of a school in a small village outside Leon, as part of a program at Andover called Man and Society. They were married in 1974 in Austin, Texas. Jeb Bush received his BA in Latin American Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. His earlier schooling was at Andover, Massachusetts. He is the only candidate with deep personal and educational connections to Latin America coming from the traditional political elite. Columba's personal story as the daughter of a migrant worker who left the family when she was three, and her championing of causes related to women and domestic violence add a different aspect to the Bush story, seen as a privileged family. This makes Jeb Bush unique in the Republican Party- unlike Marc Rubio and other candidates of Cuban ancestry from the Miami area- with deep roots on both sides of the American story, and spanning generations from Columbus, Ohio to small towns in Texas and Mexico. Rubio's parents immigrated from Cuba in 1956 under the Batista regime later overthrown by Fidel Castro. The election campaign gives Jeb Bush an opportunity to create a consensus on issues relating to minorities, immigration and the struggling middle class. In a Republican debate in 1980, Reagan said "Rather than put up a fence (between Mexico and the U.S.) why don't we work out a recognition of our mutual problems." To which George Bush Sr. said: "They are good... strong people. Part of my family is Mexican." It is an opportunity to build connections to Latinos in the U.S., and rebuild the Republican party's connections to Hispanic Americans, closing the gap with the Democratic Party. This will be good for the country to move forward....

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The Trump administration is preparing direct aid to Americans and American industries hurt by the coronavirus epidemic. Each check will be based on family size and income, according to a Treasury Department memo seen by WSJ. The direct payments in two rounds will be on April 6 and May 18. This is part of a $1 trillion stimulus program. $50 billion lending facility is being setup for the airlines. Another $150 billion goes to distressed sectors in the economy. $300 billion will go to a small business interruption loan program, which will go to temporarily cover payroll costs for employees. The idea is to put a safety net and support workers who will need help while they are not working. The measures include two weeks of paid emergency leave for a large number of people. Money also goes to additional Medicaid funding, more money for food stamps, and for unemployment insurance program. Congress has passed the bill and president Trump is expected to sign it into law. Other bills will follow in Congress. A third economic package will cover additional needs of agencies of government, with $11.5 billion for Department of Health and Human Services, and Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security. All this is being done in Congress and by the Trump administration at top speed. ...