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Linda McMahon was head of the Small Business Administration during the DJT first term. The president of the American Council of Education says she is a good pick as she has experience in workplace education programs. She aims to encourage apprenticeship training modeled on countries like Switzerland. More money will be funneled to appreniceship training, technical education, as a separate pathway from 4 year college degree to help the middle class. Linda McMahon says- “Our educational system must offer clear and viable pathways to the American Dream aside from four-year degrees.” Linda McMahon is chair of the America First Policy Institute which supports technical education. It also supports more transparency with parents knowing about their child's education in school, and teaching American history in a positive patriotic way. She is a graduate with degree in French from East Carolina State University and ran for the US Senate from Connecticut. She and her husband ran a small business Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment. ...

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The view that DJT's nominees should have been announced at a news conference instead of appearing on Truth Social social media. This would have been more convincing for the public and introduced each nominee to the people.

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Missouri and Alaska pass minimum wage laws to raise he wage from $12 to $15. California- support for minimum wage of $18 dropped from 67% in 2023 to 44% and may not pass.

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Closer scrutiny shows that tech companies that have gradually bought into or expanded into new technologies have market power that works to the detriment of democracy in the US. It also fuels a race of other companies with opposing views such as News Corp to use its market power resulting in rival groups not the people of the US able to form their own judgements about the best policies for the American people and the world. NY Times says of Google's Class B voting shares that have 10 votes per share giving founders Larry page and Sergey Brin control of the company that it is OK given their motto "don't be evil." Yet this advertisement of benevolence may just be a way of preventing close scrutiny of the company. Google through You Tube and Podcasts controls huge parts of the media space in 2024 in streaming services that are replacing cable television in 2024. What effect it is it having on public discourse in the US and is a separate class of voting shares a detriment to democracy? This report says NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchange oppose this and this type of Class B is because it was set up before Google went public. NYTimes takes a casual approach to all this by saying it is Google followers, people who come after Brin and Page, or someone who buys the company,  who might be sloppy or greedy.  Closer scrutiny shows that tech companies that have gradually bought into or expanded into new technologies have market power that works to the detriment of democracy in the US. It also fuels a race of other companies with opposing views such as News Corp to use its market power resulting in rival groups not the people of the US able to form their own judgements about the best policies for the American people and the world. ...

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Is trying to impose one's views on a whole society through Class B voting shares family control consistent with the idea of government by, for and of the people? Apple, Amazon and Microsoft have chosen not to go with dual class shares. Of Apple largest 8.5% of shares owned by Vanguard, 6.7% by Black Rock. Google and Meta have chosen dual class for family control. With 14% of the shares in News Corp. Rupert Murdoch family has 41% of company votes. Starboard Value, activist investor, challenges this ownership structure in a proposal at the company's annual shareholder meeting. There are shares that have voting rights and other shares that have no voting rights. Starboard has 4.9% of voting shares, 3.7% non-voting shares. Dual class shares give families control of a company. Ford family with only 4% of company shares controls 41% of the voting shares. Meta owner Zuckerberg with 14% of shares controls 57% of the company. After 2021 companies going public still had 24% choosing dual class -Class A 10 votes per share, Class B 1 vote per share. Council of Institutional Investors on its site says sunset provisions after 7 years are gaining ground to phase this Class A out.  Institutional Shareholder Services another shareholder of New Corp. says- “Multi-class capital structure with unequal voting rights create a misalignment between economic interest and voting rights, which can disenfranchise shareholders holding stock with inferior voting rights." ...

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Cable TV is in long term decline, replaced by streaming services. Comcast spins off MSNBC, CNBC, Oxygen and Golf Channel keeping the rest of the business NBC and Bravo, TV programs "Top Chef," the Universal Studios, together. Brian Roberts will own one third of the new company. He has followed the strategy of his father Ralph who founded Comcast.

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Ruben Gallego newly elected senator from Arizona says-

“They don’t understand, ‘Wait a minute, how can you want those people deported, but not those people deported?’”

 “Well, it’s very simple: We don’t identify with those people that are coming over right now.”

He says what many Northeasterners do not get is that Latinos who support a pathway to citizenship do not identify with illegal migrants crossing the border through smuggling from Central America and South America. And see the need for strong action to close the border to illegal entry for a safe and secure border and for law and order to ensure security of all.

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Scholz of Germany and Xi of China meet for private talks at the G-20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2024. Efforts are made to avoid tit for tat tariffs on EV's and settle Ukraine war.

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Spirit Airlines, a no frills airline in the US, files for bankruptcy. It lost $2.2 billion since 2020, almost all the profit made since 2006. It was the result of a lot of things happening at once, problems with Pratt and Whitney engines grounding planes, failed $2.9 billion merger with Frontier another no frill airline, when Jet Blue made a $3.9 billion offer that had less chance to get by antitrust concerns. The 2020-2024 period was one in which people scrambled to travel and the bigger airlines Delta, United, Southwest were in a better position with their international networks, frequent flyer program and credit cards, and more routes and planes to capitalize on this leaving Spirit behind.