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Saving for child at 30 years when she is 7 years the situation for young family finances in 2025, with outrageous college tution up 40% in 10 years, and other costs such as child care. Colleges seem to be impervious to increasing college costs so called  "upper tier" college leagues intent on taking advantage of the disproportionate increases in upper class incomes exacerbating class divisions, and trying to perpetuate their brands with the notion that they offer a better education for undergraduates at $50,000 to $100,000 a year at a Northwestern or Brown when state universities in Michigan, California and Arizona among many in the whole Nation at $15,000 a year instate tution offer the same education as long as the student puts in the necessary effort to study hard.

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Shabana Mahmoud as the new Home Secretary would move migrants to barracks from hotels in UK after illegal boat crossings pose a threat and a distraction from issues of housing, economic growth, cost of living important to 70 million British people. Recently The Times of London described the proposals of Farage at Reform UK as worthy of being listened to and the need for action to stop illegal boat crossings through a policy of deterrence that provides no benefits and doesn't invest billions of dollars in housing illegal boat crossing migrants that only keeps the flow going. The US simply through deterrence and action of the military and National Guard supporting Border Police has shown this works cutting the flow to mere hundreds, a policy that has worked also in Germany under chancellor Merz.

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Though she is not popular with Angela Merkel's wing of the CDU as shown in comments here in DW.com, Annalena Baerbock through her experience as Foreign Minister and her unconventional style, her habit of respect for the dignity of the many nation states in the UN, her natural empathy, may actually be a better choice today for the UN than a German career foreign service diplomat. Different issues are faced by the United Nations than the domestic and European centric issues faced in Berlin and in the approach to government in the Federal Republic. She has often been a keen listener and an eager student of international affairs in her interactions with other countries and cultures, and Baerbock may be an underappreciated asset of the Federal Republic of Germany in the early decades of the 21st century.

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This title is a classic example of how to lie with statistics. Specifically the idea of 50% increase. 99 Irish citizens deported in 2025, a 50% jump over 2024, when one hundred thousand Irish citizens live in the US. The title could have read one tenth of one percent of Irish citizens living in the US were deported in 2025. Kennedy, Biden, Reagan were Irish in origins, most Irish are law abiding citizens, most are integrated into American society. The law applies equally to all- it only goes to show that the law applies to the Irish also and that it is fairly implemented consistent with US Supreme Court decisions supporting Congress and the Executive when it comes to immigration to the US, Latin Americans and Irish alike are treated equally under the law.

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Havana a ghost town with little activity, garbage piling up, and population struggling to make a living- pictures as France's Le Monde sees it in Jan 2026. Was it all worth it?  A revolution happened in 1956 against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista that lost its way over 4 decades to 2000, on life support for another 2 decades to 2026. The Cuban experiment caused Venezuela to enter the same realm of disillusionment and many insurgencies in the rest of Latin America that failed with too much rhetoric and little to back it up with in investment and growth through patient effort and inputs of capital, labor and technology, and cooperation with US and EU, the very stuff that changed lives in China and India for 2.5 billion people.

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Tim Kaine's reason for joining Senate vote- to reduce hardship across the US, knowing the key actors and the chances of Republicans approving ACA subsidies were zero. Tim Kaine in his own words says why he joined in meeting with 2 New Hampshire Senators Shaheen and Hassan, and Angus King of Maine, to end the shutdown. He says he got Republicans to agree on support funding for food assistance and for veterans families and for workers in the federal government. Other reports show that over 300,000 workers in the federal government are from Tim Kaine's voter base in Virginia- he is a former governor of Virginia- all affected by job cuts and needing back pay, and he was doing what he though was right for them and for the Nation. 

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Brazil president Lula at COP30 Belem, Brazil- mixing oil drilling plans with plans for climate change for Amazon forests. This is not a contradiction in today's world as many nations including China, India are depending on coal and moving forward with solar and wind energy, and the US is also drilling for oil and it's private sector continues moving forward on renewable energy. In 2025 cost of living action for working class families means getting cheaper sources of energy, and at the same time climate change requires new invention and scientific advances in developing solar, wind, nuclear and other renewable energy. US Biden administration accepted this combination approach and it is also practiced under the current US Republican administration with different degrees of emphasis to meet current and future challenges in the best way possible.

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Three factors make up risk in diversification and risk reduction through bonds in 2025 with the estimated 1.5 -3 trillion in spending planned by 2030 with $400 billion in 2025 alone. AI in corporate bond indexes up to 15% and reach 20% by 2030 vs 40% of stock indexes (JP Morgan),  AI risk in bonds diversification from over issuance and downgrades is something to look at. One cannot assume bonds will reduce risk in the same way as before with overissuance of corporate bonds to power AI spending by Tech companies. There is also the risk to the Nation in the massive capital misallocation of funds that will crowd out essential spending in the crumbling infrastructure of the Nation, in education and healthcare, that degrade American leadership in industry, science and technology.

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Map showing most deprived neighborhoods bordering least deprived neighborhoods in the UK in 2025.  In 2019 there were 65 such neighborhoods with posh-poor side by side, in 2025 this has jumped to 119 such neighborhoods. Shown on this map are the familiar areas around New Castle on Tyne and Leeds/ Nottingham in the North and in the Midlands. With fewer such neighborhoods in the south near London. Years of austerity policies of the Cameron/Osborne conservatives and Conservative administrations since have led to a growing divide in the UK. This is also more reason for the Labour Party to get its work together to take strong action similar to the socialist party in Denmark to cut illegal migrants, so that it can focus its efforts to deliver and build a better stronger economy for all people in Britain

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Lifespan, Healthspan, Wealthspan, how about Mattering Span or Not Losing Purpose in Retirement? It is always on the mind of retirees how to do things to not lose the activity and sense of purpose in life. Much needs to be done to get retirees back into life, into participation in the economic life of the Nation. With so much knowledge and expertise, and the capital in trillions of dollars, this is apart of the population that has so much to offer and so much that can further advance the Nation in fields of education, health, the arts, culture, sports. With a slightly slower pace than youngsters, this group brings so much of value- knowledge and wisdom that can be tapped into at all levels of business activity with new ways and approaches to involvement.

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This report in the Post reminds readers that Mr. Trump is right on the issue of dairy industry tariffs imposed by Canada. The tariffs are 270% on milk, 245% on cheese and 298% on butter, according to the CBC. These tariffs are designed to protect the dairy industry in Quebec. In Canada the tariffs are referred to as "supply management system."  Canadians in the western provinces are used to paying higher prices on dairy products than prices in the U.S. Canadian prime minister Trudeau has declared that he is "100 percent ready" to defend these tariffs. Mr. Trump has brought this up in his talks with Trudeau.

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 State tax shortfalls in the US were expected as consumer purchases dropped sharply in 2020 from the impact of coronavirus lockdowns. Yet this has not happened as total taxes for all states have remained essentially flat, only down less than 1% in 2020 over 2019. Widespread intervention by the US government helped households, businesses and financial markets, helping avoid the pessimistic projections. Stable employment for the more affluent households with steady jobs working from home brought in stronger tax revenues. The situation improved for most states in the second half of 2020, with roughly half the states taking in more revenue in 2020 than in 2019.  Idaho and Utah which attracted workers from the West Coast, had some of the highest tax revenue increases. The pandemic spared the high income jobs which generate most of the revenue helping to create surpluses in Colorado, Vermont, Georgia, Maine, California, Maryland and Virginia. In California a surge in initial public offerings in 2020 helped total tax revenue increase by 2.5%. Even a state like Illinois had personal tax collections higher in 2020 than 2019. This sets aside some of the fears that the pandemic caused about loss of jobs in state and local governments. With assistance from the Biden administration to state and local governments in the  $1.9 trillion aid package for 2021 this job loss could be restored to aid economic recovery. ...

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Walmart has 438 stores in China with over $10 billion in sales. Oracle has smaller operations in China. Walmart is negotiating to take a 12.5% stake in TikTok and Oracle 7.5%. Bytedance owns TikTok. 40% of investors are from the U.S. with investments by Softbank,KKR, Sequoia, General Atlantic, Hillhouse Capital and other funds seeking high returns in internet companies making these investments. The educational value of the content on TikTok is considered to be minimal with mostly entertainment and customers in some countries such as India were reported to be mostly in rural areas. India has since banned TikTok. The huge investments in the internet companies in tens of billions by funds comes as infrastructure needs are not met in Europe, U.S. and India, including education and health, roads and bridges. The entire allocation of capital mechanisms have become out of focus to the needs of the present particularly after the pandemic. Funds sudden interest in using artificial intelligence to promote education would raise much skepticism and the use of TikTok for that purpose even more so. Apart from the concerns for national security that were expressed by the Trump administration, there is the broader issue of the value of children and young adults spending large amounts of time on such media at a time of deteriorating educational levels in all countries of Europe, North America, and in India and China. ...

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Of the $19 billion in aid to farmers for the coronavirus, $16 billion of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, goes in direct payments to farmers and rancher with checks going out end of May. Another $3 billion goes to mass purchases of dairy, meat and produce that will be distributed through food banks. Faced with loss of sales with restaurants and schools closed, and disruptions in deliveries to grocery stores, farmers in the U.S. have stopped or slowed production. As a result huge quantities of food that can't be sold are being destroyed. Plowing under thousands of acres of vegetables, dumping millions of gallons of milk, and destroying eggs. In addition to this aid Agriculture Secretary Perdue says the department is using funds set aside under the larger coronavirus relief aid package of $2 trillion for the U.S., and funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation. Mr. Perdue is himself a farmer from Georgia, who was governor for eight years. These funds are separate from the $28 billion to farmers being distributed by USDA to offset losses from loss of sales to China. USDA plans to make monthly purchases of $100 million each of fresh produce, dairy products and meat, and work with the nation's food distributors to assemble a pre-approved box of food to be given out at food banks and other outlets. ...

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 Frustration has grown with the poor early management response from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, says WSJ.  The president responded at one point with a tweet that "he told me nothing until later." The WSJ looked into Mr. Azar's missteps in a report recently. The president is considering replacing Mr. Azar says WSJ. Ms. Verma the head of Medicaid and Medicare Services is being considered. She has worked closely with vice president Mike Pence throughout this crisis. Mr. Azar served as HHS general counsel and later deputy secretary under president George W. Bush. He then worked as lobbyist for Eli Lilly.  This WSJ report says Mr. Trump called Mr. Azar on his flight from India to Washington, and the next day replaced Mr. Azar as head of the White House coronavirus task force with Mr. Pence. The president says repeatedly that vice president Mike Pence, as head of the White House task force has worked night and day round the clock to guide the effort- including talking to 51 state governors, coordinating the entire effort, and providing the president with reliable advice. In the depths of this crisis never has so much depended on so few- on vice president Pence, a former governor of Indiana, Admiral Polowczyk, Dr. Birx, Dr. Fauci, and the governors of states worst affected by the coronavirus. ...

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Manish Sabharwal writes in the Indian Express that India missed it economic tryst with destiny and economic freedom for its citizens in 1947 and the decades after that. Today with AtmanNirbhar Bharat, he says,  the country is finally making its economic tryst with destiny. It is about self-reliance, yet it is also about opening up to new supply chains set up by allies U.S., France and Japan, South Korea, opening up to trade, investment and technology flows in new and exciting ways. The prime minister's message called for a quantum leap in technology. India was already moving up in GDP terms and set to surpass both Japan and Germany to become the largest after the U.S. and China in GDP. But there was something missing in it for the people. Here he sets out what the huge investment of 10% of GDP and the possible sequel investment to this would mean for people of India, from farmers to workers in different sectors of the economy, including the informal economy. India has fallen behind in per capita GDP and this is now the focus of the people and the government, federal government and the states, to build an economy that provides the best opportunities and growth for all its people. True Gandhian Swa-raj in the best sense of the term.   ...

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Tory MP's rebels in the southern part of England are opposed to prime minister Boris Johnson's second lockdown for the whole of England. This report in The Times of London looks at how Johnson's conservative government might have to get Labor party support to pass the lockdown measures in parliament. Or Labor may decide to abstain from the vote. Mr. Gove says the NHS risks being overwhelmed if the lockdown does not take place. Responding to the statements that southern England does not have high or has falling rates of coronavirus Mr. Johnson says it has been shown that a low rate catches up in one area when it is next to a high rate area for coronavirus so that the result is the spread of the virus to the point where the NHS cannot cope.  The NHS like the French health system and other health systems in the European Union, U.S.  India, and other countries are strained to the limit. Most healt care workers in hospitals have felt severe strain on themselves and their families during the first wave. Most are exhausted and are in a situation of fatigue with the added factor of some healthcare workers on leave from the virus illness. This puts additional burdens on the system. Without the action taken the health system may be overwhelmed in many countries leading to disaster.   ...

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The famous Chilean author of books including: A Long Petal of the Sea, talks to the BBC about her life and travels, about her home country Chile. She left Chile in 1975, spent 13 years in Venezuela and three decades in California. Here she talks about Chile as Pablo Neruda describes it as that long petal on the sea, a country with an insular mentality surrounded by high Andes range, Patagonia, and the Atacama desert. She is not entirely critical of Chile's development under the administrations that came after the dictatorship years. Chile has some upward mobility, the economic conditions have improved compared to the rest of Latin America even though a lot remains to be done. The events in Venezuela show the limits of regimes that have attempted change. Even with administrations from both ends of the spectrum Argentina has turned to the IMF in economic crisis the last in 2018. Brazil has seen a commodities boom followed by a severe bust, and the lack of funding for basic services including sanitation and health. This gives a sobering view of the economic situation in Latin America. Allende says Chile has modernized and created prosperity though at some social cost.  Isabel Allende is still nostalgic about her home country and still calls it home as she reaches 75 years, with a world wide audience for her books in 42 languages, 70 million copies sold. ...

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Some of the coverage such as this report in the WSJ looks at the empty stands and the loss of ticket sales, the strict rules that limited movement and the restrictions, seeing the Tokyo Olympics as a strange sporting event. Yet for the billions of viewers on television around the world the Olympics brought some relief and sense of exhilaration from the daily news of the delta variant and the pandemic. In many countries such as India, Britain, Canada, the US and Japan, viewers followed their favored athletes for 17 days. The Japanese government was able to pull this off precisely because they took the safe and tested route of empty stands and televised viewing around the world. This was also a needed precaution because of concern within Japan and fears of spread of the Delta variant.  The restrictions produced results- as 400 infections were confirmed for 190,000 people working at the games. Few clusters emerged from infection in the Olympic village as daily testing and rules for social distancing and hygiene were enforced for 11,000 events. Nine out of ten Japanese watched Japan win 58 gold medals including 9 in judo alone. In terms of grit and resilience, and keeping a glimmer of hope and revival during the pandemic, yet not letting its guard down even for a bit, accepting moments of doubt at times, Japan has shown the way when things are tough.    ...

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The experience of Pintung county in Taiwan with a coronvirus outbreak is shown in The Guardian. Home quarantining of a couple from Peru leads to an outbreak. Community cooperation, a speedy response from local health authorities, testing and quarantining help to limit and control the outbreak. When it started this county on the coast, one of the poorest in the country, had limited health resources and no one was vaccinated. Most of the control response was through testing and quarantine, with vaccination assistance from the Taiwan government. Local people say strict quarantine is essential as the source of infections was from a couple who visited Peru and were allowed to home isolate. Taiwan government is now enforcing quarantine at hotels for all persons returning from overseas. WHO Emergencies program head, Dr Michael Ryan, says it is important to act quickly. He says "Be fast, have no regrets. You must be the first mover. The virus will always get you if you don't move quickly."  This happened in this Taiwan county as the local health authorites setup a soft lockdown of the two affected villages within 3 days of detecting the first case of Delta variant. This was announced over loudspeaker and food plus daily necessities were delivered to each household. A command centre was setup to take and coordinate the action daily. Taiwan authorites have enforced repeat testing and extended testing. ...

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The Return on Equity (ROE) at China's state owned companies has dropped by half since 2007, according to this analysis in the Asia Nikkei. Swollen capital and asset levels as a result of China's response to the global financial crisis of 2008. A 4 trillion yuan stimulus package was introduced with policy initiatives to have state owned companies to make large investments in China and overseas using credit provided by the government. Recent policy moves under president Jinping have expanded the role of the state in the Chinese economy. President Xi sees the state backed companies as critical to building socialism with Chinese characteristics and critical for the Belt and Road Initiative. In a October 2016 speech he called them "essential forces with strategic importance" for the major programs including Belt and Road Initiative. Leaders of these companies are  told that "their number one role is to work for the Communist Party of China." One example of this drop in return on equity ROE is Petrochina and parent CNPC. During a period of oil prices above $100 a barrel Petrochina made investments in buying assets in oil and gas fields. Some of these assets including over $2 billion in Peruvian oil fields from Petrobras may never pay off. As a result ROE dropped to 1.9% compared to about 6-10% for western oil companies. ...

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After three years o rock star popularity prime minister Trudeau's popularity has dropped so far that his party could lose the October general elections. This is after Canada's Attorney General resisted efforts by Trudeau and senior officials to let a Canadian company SNC-Lavalin avoid trial. Since then recording of a iphone call taken by the Attorney General with a top government official Mr. Wernick has created an uproar on this matter. Ms. Wilson-Raybould, the Attorney General saying in that conversation that this was going to look like nothing but political interference by the prime minister and everybody else involved in this. Nearly two thirds of Canadians now disapprove of the job Trudeau is doing according to a poll by Ipsos Public Affairs and Agnus Reid Institute.  Rock star popularity can fade quickly. In Brazil Ignacio Da Silva was popular till a crisis with state finances and the Car Wash scandal involving illegal payments led to the loss of his Workers Party in the recent elections. Mr. Trudeau had won support by supporting clean governance and giving women a say in governing. Ms. Raybould was transferred to a lower position after her unwillingness to follow government officials on the CNC Lavalin issue. Now the Liberals Party of Trudeau is trailing the rival Conservatives and Ms. Raybauld is a highly respected figure in Canada. ...

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The governor of the Punjab province during the Jallianwala massacre in Amritsar was an Irishman. Ireland was a troubled spot in Britain during the French revolutionary wars and France even attempted landings to liberate Ireland. Forward to 1900 and the Irish Easter rebellion leading to the Irish Free State in 1906. Read this article in the BBC for a nuanced understanding of history. As the writer an Irishman says Irish people following the European project called the European Union are now able to sit on equal terms with the British. Old conflicts are not uppermost even in the IRA that won the recent Irish election with its focus on economic issues.  This is good reading for anyone in Pakistan or India also as old conflicts can only be sustained for so long before economic, social and development issues such as education, healthcare and services take prominence in people's minds. It is also good reading in India as it looks at the British period in India, to realize that India now sits astride the Indian Ocean. What Britain accomplished in the eighteenth and nineteenth century with its  Royal Navy is now the task of the Indian Navy in alliance with the American Navy, and the Australian Navy on the world's seas. Indians like Irishmen can sit with the Americans or British on equal terms. ...

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Fox News and WSJ are taking differing positions on Epstein case with Fox News ignoring it and the WSJ carrying the story. Murdoch and DJT have a complicated relationship in July 2025 following the $10 billion DJT lawsuit against Murdoch filed in late July after a story in the WSJ. WSJ parent company Dow Jones says it stands by the story and will defend the accuracy of its reporting. Both the DJT Republicans and the Fox News network appeal to conservative viewers of television, and people in business. WSJ has carried stories questioning the tariff policies of the president, and is critical. It is also not fully supportive of policies to handle migrants. Fox News another Murdoch news outlet is through programs like "Hannity" supporting the president and DJT supports it. This creates a dichotomy in the support when DJT and Republicans are putting forward an agenda that is moving fast on the economy, migration, crime, and world trade requiring support to keep the conservative groups together in the US. This is not a situation encountered before as the nation is moving to a crossroads in which direction it should take. And this does not even take up the issues of climate protection which will come up, and of pharmaceutical companies overcharging Americans for healthcare, other battles that will take place.   ...

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David Kirkpatrick, former Cairo bureau chief of the New York Times, gives an account of how the Obama  administration was split in its support of Egypt's beginnings in democracy. Chuck Hagel at Defense, and John Kerry at State Department, sent signals to the military that were different from that of some other members of the Obama administration. General Mattis at Central Command blamed president Morsi's failure on his " imperious leadership." General Flynn headed the Defense Intelligence Agency at the time of president Morsi's ouster by the military. Both Mattis and Flynn later joined the Trump administration with Mattis at Defense.  This report says president Obama accepted the military takeover. President Obama aroused hopes for democracy at Cairo University soon after he became president but he was not able to develop a coherent policy and support within his administration for what would be a difficult transition to democracy in countries that for decades have been ruled by the military. President Trump merely continued the policy followed during the last 2 years of the Obama administration.      ...