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Combining public and private credit is the future of fixed income says the CFO of Black Rock. This includes infrastructure and private credit.

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Many of the one million veterans get their care at VA hospitals. Between 2018-2021 Medicare paid insurance companies $44 billion for Medicare Advantage plans that many of the 1 million veterans covered did not use as they went to VA hospitals for care, according to this story in the WSJ. During that time VA paid $46 billion for veterans care.

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Robert Lighthizer was one of the early voices on unfair and imbalanced trade with other nations subsidizing their industry at the expense of American jobs in manufacturing long before DJT took up the issue in 2015-2016. Lighthizer as US Trade Representative negotiated the new USMCA that replaced NAFTA agreement for North American trade with Mexico and Canada. 

Lighthizer was seeking a larger role than USTR, either Commerce or Treasury, yet he was reluctant to campaign for this or go to Mar-a-Lago to make his case. As a result says WSJ, he was passed over as Luttnick and Bessent tried to get DJT's attention. Another reason he was passed over is that DJT is  sees the continuing flow of fentanyl and the migrant flows from Mexico, the sourcing from China, as serious issues that require using trade as part of the solution by 2024 if Mexico, Canada and China do not cooperate and hurt US interests.

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Hundreds of foreign artisans participated in the renovaton and restoration of Notre Dame cathedral. All of the over $700 million for restoration came from donations around the world.

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Efforts to increase electricity costs, healthcare costs, to rein in the deficit from 6% to 5% come at the wrong time in France from the Barnier government which faces a no confidence vote and collapse in Dec. 2024. Macron appears to have made some bad choices.

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The BBC analysis says Yoon is in much controversy with the opposition gaining in recent elections. He is seen as a lame duck president. The governing party and the opposition are locked in debate over the next budget bill. The declaration of martial law is opposed by the governing party and the opposition parties.

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Lael Brainard, head of the National Economic Council, and former Vice Chair at the Federal Reserve answers questions at the Council of Foreign Relations in Dec. 2024. Points she made are- The inflation we experienced was correctly diagnosed by Powell and the Fed as caused by Supply shocks from the pandemic not 1970's style embedded expectations inflation.  The response was to free up the supply by freeing up the clogged Los Angles Ports with labour and logistics coordination, and other actions. It also included redoing the supply chains to reduce dependence on China as only supplier. The 2017 tax cuts mean revenue will be 1.5 percentage points lower than the historically 18% of the GDP. This will increase the deficit. Biden administration had kept the deficit in control and reduced it by making offsetting adjustments when investment in certain areas such as childcare was done. The childcare tax credit is important for American families. Action is needed to increase the supply of housing. These are reminders of what is needed for the new DJT administration to keep the American economy on a strong footing says Brainard.     ...

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The Barnier government's austerity plans, the budget cuts, shows Macron made a poor choice as the vote for National Rally and for the Socialist parties was to exactly the opposite to help the middle and working class in France. Macron's great misunderstanding of Barnier, is the story told here in Le Monde. The majority in the National Assembly does not support eroding the purchasing power of the French people and want to help people struggling to pay their bills.

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Claire Gatinois and Soleyn de Royer's interesting essay on the life and times of Emmanuel Macron who started as one who would bring new life to the Fifth Republic but over 7 years sees that he has made poor choices and comes across as brash and inexperienced. His Movement was formed very quickly during the waning days of the Hollande administration of the Socialist Party. By bringing in Macron Hollande did what Blair and Clinton had done for Labour and Democrats thinking they were somehow moving to the centre in tackling the budget, deficit and the economy. Clinton hired as Treasury Secretary Goldman Sach's Robert Rubin and Harvard's Lawrence Summers, Obama hired Timothy Geithner, who like Macron in the Hollande cabinet lacked all conviction for improving the life of workers and the middle class in the US. Clinton setup China's entry into the World Trading Organization without grasping or understanding the economic framework of American manufacturing and thinking of industry leaders who were in that time in the  mood for outshoring everything made in the US with the inflexibility of American labor. Geithner like Cameron's Osborne had little affinity with the working or middle class, and did little to correct the abuses of banking professionals behind the 2009 financial crisis, which in some ways is still with us today, the pandemic being the second hit to workers and the middle class, the migrant surge an addition of mental unease. ...

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Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina retires. A much loved player he was always gracious. He won the 2009 US Open final with a win over Federer and was runner up to Djokovic in the 2018 US Open final. After wrist injuries and surgeries he had to retire from tennis and is missed in the tennis circuit. In a period of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic dominating world tennis Del Potro had to make a lot of effort to compete and he did this with grace and style of play, adored by the fans.

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Pat Gelsinger, Intel CEO, resigns after difficulties with a 4 year plan to turnaround the US chipmaker with the support of the Biden administration.

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Falling sales of electric vehicles new models leads to the resignation of Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares. Covered in depth in this story in The Times of London.