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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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This Wall Street Journal editorial says the Trump-Lighthizer strategy is to blow up global supply chains and a political strategy to win Democratic votes. It is critical of the reduced protections for American business from expropriation, which it says is intended to keep American jobs at home. It is also critical of the attempt to leave NAFTA by setting up separate trade deals with Mexico, and later with Canada. Business has favored keeping the North American supply chains intact. The editorial praises the 16 year duration of the agreement with Mexico offering more certainty for investors.

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Germany's national broadcaster DW.com looks into the details of the vaccination drive in countries around the world, including Germany, and finds that there is more to the story than meets the eye in headlines about safety in vaccinations. Many headlines do not tell the whole story carefully. DW revewed reports from Italy, Austria, South Korea, Germany, Spain, the USA, Norway, Belgium and Peru, and found that in most cases health authorites have not found causal links between the vaccination and deaths.  As of March 15 it says 360 million people have been vaccinated in 120 countries, or about 9.25 million a day.  DW.com cites the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which states: 'there is no indication that vaccination has caused these conditions, which are not listed as side effects with this vaccine. Information available so far indicates that the number of thromboembolic events in vaccinated people is no higher than that seen in the general population." As of March 10, 2021 30 cases of blood clots are recorded for 5 million people vaccinated with Astra Zeneca vaccine in the European Economic Area.  The Paul Ehrlich Institute which is in charge of vaccination in Germany has looked into 113 reported deaths in 46 years to 100 years old patients in Germany. Of these 113 deaths PEI finds that 20 died of the Covid 19 infection as it takes 14 days after the second dose for full protection, and 43 died of pre-existing conditions or other infections. For the patient population it says "they were seriously ill patients with many underlying diseases." PEI says "based on the data we have we assume they died of their underlying disease- in a coincidental time with the vaccination." A virologist at the Technical University of Munich, says that the deaths after vaccination are below the expected number of deaths without the vaccination.  ...

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The Bavarian government and the CDU party oppose the closing of the last 3 nuclear plants in Germany. This will increase use of fossil fuels till renewable energy supplies are secured. Bavarian prime minister Soder wants the federal government to give the state authority to continue operating the Isar 2 nuclear power station 80 kilometres northeast of Munich.

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Harris pragmatic approach and willingness to try new solutions applies to Michigan- to find ways to protect union jobs and make the transition to clean cars in a way that increases wages and jobs and creates a bright future for the auto industry. Letting other countries manufacture EV's would hand over the manufacturing technologies to say China and lead to a future collapse of the auto industry in Michigan. This is why there is a transition period which is flexible to 2030 or even 2034, and the curve is for more gains in EV sales in the latter years as prices come down and technology improves. At every step of the way business presents unique challenges, and FDR/Harris "persistent bold experimentation" is part of the answer as China's BYD has come up with a better cheaper in house battery that means it can export EV's at lower prices- the US can't as yet. Electric vehicles sales are plateauing in 2024 growing from 7.4% to 7.8%. The former president describes an EV mandate. No EV mandate for all cars to be electric exists. The action taken by president Biden is for all cars to meet greenhouse gas emission targets that would require 50 percent of cars to be electric vehicles by 2030. Michigan as the home of the auto industry is heavily influenced by the auto industry. Biden walked the picket line here last year to support a UAW strike for higher wages after decades of concessions by workers that reduced wages to near the poverty level for families.  Harris pragmatic approach and willingness to try new solutions applies to Michigan- to find ways to protect union jobs and make the transition to clean cars in a way that increases wages and jobs and creates a bright future for the auto industry. Letting other countries manufacture EV's would hand over the manufacturing technologies to say China and lead to a future collapse of the auto industry in Michigan. This is why there is a transition period which is flexible to 2030 or even 2034 an the curve is for more gains in EV sales in the latter years as prices come down and technology improves. At every step of the way business presents unique challenges and innovation is part of the answer as China's BYD has come up with a better in house battery that means it can export EV's- the US can't as yet. ...

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Former Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi (2012 -2022) and its senior official makes these comments at the Munich Security Conference on US shooting down Chinese spy balloons. Yi says it was "absurd and hysterical." He says China is going to put out a paper on Ukraine that would underline the principles of territorial integrity and sovereignty. For China its crucial relations with Germany, trade with Europe are critical for its economy and growth. Germany's coalition government itself is divided on investment by China in the port of Hamburg, with the Greens not supporting that decision by chancellor Scholz. The issue for Biden is not simply the balloons. As The Guardian points out the US is pushing for China to withdraw or at least make conditional its support of Russia in its invasion of Ukraine that is a clear violation of the UN Charter that China says it supports. 

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Greg Ip of the WSJ points to the economic changes in China's economy and the threat of deflation in 2016 with the large debt and slowing economy. For the last decade China was seen as a currency manipulator as it kept the value of its currency lower to increase imports. With the large changes in China's economic situation in 2015-2016 China may face a situation similiar to Japan with deflationary trends. China faces political pressures in 2016 with the U.S. presidential election in 2016 to not intervene with the currency. The goal of making the yuan a global currency adds to these pressures. Other factors are the need to service debt in dollars of Chinese property companies.

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Bloomberg Associates is a firm created by Mayor Bloomberg to help cities all over the world improve city living from Louisville, Kentucky to Mexico City. The focus is on cities using the expertise and experience gained in running New York City, and replicating some of the success in New York elsewhere. Public health, economic development and environment sustainability remain at the forefront. Other ideas include making more room for pedestrian plazas in busy areas, calorie counts in fast-food chains, curbing smoking, a customer-service hotline for city residents. This includes projects such as turning blighted or neglected neighborhoods into attractive public spaces and making subway friendly residential neighborhoods. In places such as New Orleans the Mayor's staff has already produced changes in the crime rate with innovative programs and financing from Bloomberg Philanthropies. Their will be no fees for sharing this expertise and knowledge. Joining the new firm are most of Mayor Bloomberg's top staff, including Amanda Burden, director of city planning. George Fertitta will run the firm....

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UK bank, HSBC Holdings, is in negotiations with a buyer to sell its 15.6% stake in Ping An Insurance Group of China. This stake is valued at $9.17 billion at current prices. The deal could give HSBC an estimated profit of $7.5 billion at a time when it needs to boost performance.

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China's economy expanded at 0.4% growth rate in the second quarter of 2020, according to the Bureau of National Statistics. It is not just the lockdowns that are dampening consumer sentiment.  US and EUropean demand for manufactured goods from Taiwan, South Korea and China is shrinking.

Youth unemployment is high with 20% of people 16 to 24 years without work. Some experts say the youth unemployment is increasing because companies are showing less interest in hiring and training new workers, or in investing in the future.

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Trump DJT efforts to seek discussions and agreement with Russia and China yields results in Israel- Iran war. Biden's single focus on Ukraine that put Russia at a distance, and failure to build dialogue with sincere disagreement with China as DJT has done, can be seen as a failure of US obligations as a world power. The DJT approach gives Russia and China an opportunity to reflect on their obligations as world powers, to their people and the people of the world, so that they pursue national aspirations keeping this always in mind uppermost.

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PM Modi's address to the Law Conference in October 2022. Modi talks about the importance of laws in society playing a constructive role to promote ease of living, ease of justice, and innovation. Laws from the British times are still on our books, says Modi. About 1500 laws that were outdated have been scrapped and 23,000 compliances that were not needed and a burden on people were scrapped by his administration, says Modi. These laws and compliances had become a "loko ka dabai" a burden on society.  In Gujarat delays in justice were lessened by the introduction of evening courts. During Covid virtual hearings have facilitated the work of judges and made it possible to continue the work of the courts during the pandemic. It is imperative, says Modi, that the courts and the law officials keep this idea of ease of justice and ease of living in mind as they tackle the work of implementing the law, so that respect for the law is enhanced. ...

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Douthat of the NYT describes the criticism of the U.S. and Canada for taking so few refugees from Syria, and responds by saying chancellor Merkel may have taken on greater challenges of assimilation of a new wave of Arab migrants than Germany can handle.

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National Guardswoman 20 year old Spec. Sarah Beckstrom shot by Afghan national in Washington DC November 25, 2025.

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China's prime minister Li Keqiang leads the task force tackling the coronavirus outbreak. He visits the city of Wuhan to calm anxiety and frustration about the outbreak. The lunar new year holiday in China which starts now is being extended to Feb 2.  Shanghai and Beijing city officials are advising returning workers not to return till February 9. The rural areas are a weak part of the link in the effort to stop the outbreak. Millions of workers return to cities after visiting homes in rural areas during this holiday period.

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The rate of people quitting their jobs to look for new careers increased in 2021. The rate of teachers quitting in education rose more than in any other industry in 2021, the WSJ reports. Many teachers were exhausted from the teaching under covid-19 protocols. The Great Resignation is then a process of shifting careers that has affected education in a big way. On Linked-In the share of teachers on the site who left for a new career increased by 62% in 2021. Many of them are going into careers in sales, IT services, consulting, hospitals and software development. There is huge potential for increase in pay and career potential. Teacher's ability to absorb and transmit information, to mutitask and manage stress make them attractive for companies.

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THe Fed is pumping new money into the financial system. $800 billion of new money over the past seven months, since September 2008. Last week it said another trillion dollars or more could be added int he months ahead. The way this works is the Fed purchases securities or other assets from securities dealers in exchangefor electronic credits that amount to cash and are deposited in banks. These cash credits known as bank reserves have jumped from $3 billion in August to $776 billion by mid March 2009. This week it said it would buy $1.25 trillion of mortgage backed securtities backed by Faniie and Freddie, and $200 billion in debt issued by these firms. And also buy upto $300 billion of longterm debt issued by the US Treasury. THe idea is to drive down longterm interest rates. All the while the Fed is not printing money in the old fashioned way- Federal Reserve notes also called dollars only increased to $862 billion from $793 billion. Still it is increasing the banks reserves in this way. And these mountains of cash in reserves are sitting in the banks as there is not much lending, and consumers are reluctant to borrow and to spend, and with all that unused production capacity there is little chance of inflation. When the economy recovers the Fed hopes, if all works out as planned, to pull that extra money out of the system and pushing interest rates higher before inflation settles into the system....

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The Inflation Reduction Act has $8.8 billion for heat pump rebates and assistance. Heat pumps are more efficient than existing furnaces or air conditioning units. Only 22% of Americans know about the heat pump rebate compared to 32% who know about the EV vehicle rebate of $7500. Heat pump rebate is for $2000 by the federal government, and $8000 for a rebate from the state beginning in 2024. Heat pump installations surged with new home sales in 2022 and slowed as home sales slowed with higher interest rates.