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Spain's economic recovery is creating jobs and growth has returned after the financial crisis yet Spain's middle class has suffered a decline. Today across Europe only 60% can call themselves middle class, compared to 50%, and this decline can be seen in Spain where the middle class remains vulnerable and the quality of jobs created is nowhere near what it used to be.

Just like in the U.S. this reverses two decades of expansion and growth.

Europe's safety nets have offered protection in the past but this is also affected by deficit reduction policies required by the European Union. The loss of middle income jobs, weakened social protections, and skill mismatches have reduced economic mobility and widened economic inequality. Automation and globalization have made things worse.

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Germany, the UK and Canada offer additional models for health care insurance that vastly improve results for dollar spent over the dysfunctional U.S. model. Here Jamie Daw take a look at the German social health insurance system which dates back to hte period of Bismarck in 1884. The German system is funded through progressive taxation which charges for healthcare based on incomes not on health needs.

About 100 nonprofit health insurers provide insurance and all Germans are required to have health insurance. Contributions to sickness funds are centrally pooled and allocated using a formula to insurers. Insurers can only charge small out of pocket fees limited to 2% of income annually. Sickness funds combine market power to negotiate lower prices.

Administrative and governance costs are 3% in Canadian system and 5% in the German system. 

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A strong advocate of women's rights and gender equality, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau now faces questions from women who say feminist leadership cannot stoop down to backroom politics but must remain principled leadership. This follows Trudeau's non-apology for putting a female minister in his cabinet in a difficult situation including demotion to a lower position.

The minister was not willing to negotiate a settlement on corruption charges against a Quebec based company, but says she was was pressured to do so. 

Trudeau benefitted from his strategy winning the 2015 election with a large vote from women. With an election 7 months away the support from women is now eroding. One comment was referred to him as some feminist prime minister, with too much mansplaining. 

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Care home care or nursing home in Germany goes from $1700 a month in 2018 to $3760 in 2025 doubling in 7 years. Most of it is from increase in nurses pay and training that has gonu up after years of stagnant pay levels.

In Germany 85% of older citizens elder care is in their own homes with help of relatives and outpatient care assistance is covered from a nursing care insurance fund that pays $330 to $990 a month depending on level of care required. The average pension is $1100 a month.

Statutory long term care insurance is part of German Social Security System with long term care insurance compulsory paid for by employers and employees and 3.6% of pay income going to contributions for this long term care.

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Krugman points out the gains on three fronts evident from the Census Bureau report of 5.2% gain in median income of households in the U.S. He says the first is the growth in incomes of ordinary working class and middle class families, second the large decline in the poverty rate, and third the further rise in insurance coverage in 2015 for people without health insurance. He points to the steady efforts of the Obama administration to improve lives of ordinary families as working based on the Census report though results have taken time, and could have been better. The Stimulus, says Krugman could have been larger following the blow of the 2009 financial crisis and increased unemployment at the time. Janet Yellen at the inequality conference of the Boston Fed in 2014 pointed out the problems of 62 million households having net worth of about $10,000, and why this was running against the American idea of a better life for all Americans. In that sense the Census report is a movement in the right direction but a lot remains to be done.   ...

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Koch Industries which is built on oil is investing heavily in electric batteries. The company has made 10 investments of over 750 million dollars in the US battery supply chain and electric vehicles in 2021-2022. This money is coming at a critical time for many new battery company startups.

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Hidden debt is a problem for Evergrande, says this report in the WSJ.  The Chinese housing developer faced action by banks seizing over $2 billion in cash held by its property service unit as security for third party pledge guarantees. The hidden debt problem also affects other Chinese housing developers.

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As the River Po dries out in Italy's long drought, Tobias Jones takes a look at its fascinating history. He travels the length of the River Po for 400 miles by canoe, bike, foot and car and gives this story of the river and what he found. 

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Caught in the crossfire  between trading giants U.S. and China South Korea is feeling the impact in stock markets slumping, and downgrading of growth and inflation forecasts. Korean Won has fallen 7% in 2019 and the Kospi stock exchange 4%. Relations are frosty with its trading partner Japan.

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Streets in Marseille with tons of rubbish piling up as garbage bin workers seeking a 21 hour week go on strike in Marseille, France. Much has changed in European countries as countries such as India work on a Clean India effort to clear up rubbish through Swacch Bharat campaign.

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The Quillay tree, a rare evergreen native of central Chile provides a key ingredient for new vaccines, including the Novavax vaccine for coronavirus and the new vaccine for malaria. FR24 provides a glimpse of this rare evergreen tree in this video. It was used by indigenous people for soap and medicine.

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The worst floods since 1929 put much of New South Wales and Sydney under water. This report in The Guardian looks at scientific data about weather and rainfall, rivers and climate, to reveal that many factors have combined to produce so much rain at one time over a vast region.

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After severe losses Hertz, Avis and Enterprise sold much of their fleet of rental cars. Today they are having to meet rising demand with fleet of cars about 40% below normal levels. A chip shortage is reducing the supply of new cars having an impact on travel and on airlines.

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In a remarkable first Indian Air Force will airlift 23 oxygen generating plants from Germany to Indian armed forces hospitals. Oxygen Express trains will run from Vizag to Mumbai and from Bokaro to Lucknow as India takes action to tackle oxygen shortage at hospitals with covid patients in April 2021.

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South Korea has imposed an inheritance tax on the heirs of Samsung conglomerate of 7.8 billion pounds. This was in response to public dissatisfaction with Samsung about its involvement in a corruption scandal. That corruption scandal sent the head of Samsung, founder Lee Kun-hee's son to prison.

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How best to take social security benefits in retirement in 2021 when situations facing a majority of people have changed. Only 6% of people taking retirement are taking it at age 70. Benefits can be as much as 76% higher at age 70 than if taken earlier says this WSJ report.

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The increase in surveillance capabilities over LAC in Ladakh and other areas on the Chinese border with the use of new Heron drones leased from Israel. The improvement in defense capabilities with purchases using a new 500 crore emergency financial fund for the Indian armed forces in the confrontation with China.

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Italy marked the 75th anniversary of its liberation by Allied Forces with a singalong of Bella Ciao, a protest song from the period of the war. Italy has lost 26,000 lives in the coronavirus outbreak, and this has been compared to Italy's fight against fascism during the war.

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In parts of Africa including Kenya and Ghana a simple step like washing hands required for preventing coronavirus is not easy to do without running tap water. Lack of safe clean water is a problem in many areas making it that much more difficult to wash hands.

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New information in the case of Gen. Flynn that shows the Obama administration and president Obama in a different light is covered in this report in the Times. The Justice Department recently dropped the charges against Gen. Flynn. The appearance of collusion between president Trump and Russia is now being reexamined.

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The Crown Season 4 in the latest series of Netflix The Crown shows Diana, Prince Charles in a different light, and Margaret Thatcher, covering that period, the Falklands war and ending with Thatcher's resignation in 1990. Morgan gives a critical eye to Thatcherism and 1980's unemployment.

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The U.S. continues to record over 100,000 cases a day on November 30. Experts say the Thanksgiving travel that was widespread in the U.S. could lead to a further surge in cases. Hospitalizations doubled from 48,000 in the beginning of November to 93,000 at the end of November, almost doubling.

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Boris Johnson has set up a unit in !0 Downing Street to coordinate a response  in the event of a "nightmare scenario" of spike in Coronavirus and a no deal Brexit added together with extreme flooding during the winter. Michael Gove, Cabinet Office minister is overseeing this effort.

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Neil Irwin in the NYT says the price increases for many products may not be a sign of lasting inflation as the changes in pricing are a result of temporary changes in the global supply chain. The global supply chain is adjusting to these changes to moderate these price increases.