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China, Japan and South Korea routinely provide assistance to their companies and through this to the workforce.  Economists who lacked understanding of business stuck to an ideological idea that the capitalist system of Adam Smith was built on fair competition. What they did not understand was what was meant by fair and what capitalism prevailed since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 1750's and Adam Smith's days. Much of the British business was based on its own version of fairness and trade which meant whatever worked for British domination of trade, the oceans, and markets. These economists missed this completely. Now the US shows it is able to do what Britain of Smith's days and Japan, China in the post 1950's and 1990's have done to dominate world trade and world shipping and logistics, and has the funds to provide assistance to American companies for world markets. $550 Billion from standard 10-15% tariffs charge for all nations to access US market as a fund to finance US Manufacturing.  ...

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Can Beijing walk the talk on free trade and protectionism. Giving contracts in the $585 billion stimulus like the 3G infrastructure contracts on an open competitive basis and not favoring home firms, allowing acquisitions like Coca Cola's acquisition of China Huiyuan Juice Group to proceed, and moving on the yuan currency issues with free trade in mind and not concentrating on an export push.

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U.S. President Obama's 2013 State of the Union address focussed on the problems facing the U.S. middle class, calling it "our generation's task" to tackle this problem. Economic changes have changed the patterns of economic growth and jobs, growth, income growth, that prevailed from the end of the Second World War to about 1989. But he offered few solutions beyond increasing the minimum wage to $9.00 from $7.25 to reduce poverty.

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Prime minister Modi addressed the 44th foundation day of the BJP party by video conference, with the speech screened at 100,000 points across India for party leaders and social workers. "BJP is working with the mantra of Sabka Saath-Sabka VIkas-Sabka Viswas- Sabka Prayas ( which means 'with everyone, for the development of all, with the confidence of all, with the efforts of all). we have always given topmost priority to social justice and empowerment in our hearts and working style. Social justice is not a part of political sloganeering for us but an article of faith for us." "The BJP lives social justice, follows it in letter and spirit. Getting 800 million people free ration (food) is a reflection of social justice. The facility of free treatment up to Rs 500,000 offered to 500 million people without discrimination is a strong expression of social justice." On Lord Hanuman, whose anniversary is today, Modi said India was realising its potential and strength like Lord Hanuman did after eliminating self doubt. "If we see the whole life of Lord Hanuman, he had a 'can-do' attitude that helped him achieve big successes." ...

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NYT looks at the struggle for daily water supplies in Mexico City one of the largest cities in North America.

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Indian prime minister Modi tells RE Invest 2020, that India has almost tripled renewable energy production including solar and wind energy in 6 years, and is now the 4th largest renewable energy producer in the world. India is also now the fastest growing renewable energy producer in the world. He says India made investments in renewable energy early even when it was not the most cost effective source of energy. Through its scale and new technology, manufacturing advances, India is now in a position to show that renewable energy is sound economics. Since 2017 renewables exceed coal as a source of energy, making up 36% of energy production today.

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In the first week of the his administration DJT plans to end birthright citizenship by executive order. He will work with Democrats to protect Dreamers who he says are middle aged people by now and do not even speak the language of their country, as children brought to the US by their parents. He will pardon Jan. 6 defendents in the attack on the Capitol on the first day.

DJT says he will not act to replace the head of the US Federal Reserve Bank, though he plans to replace FBI Director Wray, who he says "invaded my home." 

DJT says-

“I’m really looking to make our country successful. I’m not looking to go back into the past. I’m looking to make our country successful. Retribution will be through success.”

 

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At the G-7 in Italy Biden says- "he (Putin) cannot wait us out." A ten year pact on defense is signed with Ukraine by the US. A $50 billion loan is made to Ukraine with interest from frozen Russian assets in the EU.

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The French British collaboration effort will bring a new vaccine to the global effort against coronavirus. This vaccine was expected in February 21. It will be ready by the third quarter of 2021 just as vaccine supplies are being ramped up. The Sanofi Pasteur unit and GSK Glaxo SmithKline are the two companies in this vaccine venture. This vaccine will address the problem of new mutations of the virus in the British and South African versions and can be stored at normal temperatures. 
 

The new vaccines will boost supplies just when the situation is bleak for vaccine supplies in Latin America and Africa, South East Asia, places left out in the vaccine race in advanced countries and in India. Britain has ordered 60 million doses. 

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Glaxo's Dr Garnier talks with Jeane Whalen of the WSJ about his work, a lot about his committment to running a company not just for rich countries, that access is a very important word for him and his efforts to make drugs affordable or even free or close to free depending on the country's standard of living, his 24-7 day handling the Avandia issues, and the innovative drug pipeline he has put together over the years.

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Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, leads the EuroFuture Project. Here he offers his ideas of the dilemmas facing German leaders in agreeing to letting the European Central Bank take a larger role of supporting the bonds of Italy, Portugal and Spain. He says Germans are seeing a contradiction between European demands for German leadership and not wanting to be led by Germany or perceiving Germany as a hegemon. Brockhoff says Germans have never in the postwar period wanted to or learned to exercize continental leadership. He recounts the postwar period when Germans were content with the deutsche mark, and limited their expression of national pride to the deutsche mark. Giving up the deutsche mark was part of the deal for reunification of the two Germanys, a surrender of economic sovereignty for the sake of a larger integration into Europe. He says that even though the arguments are framed in terms of orthodox economics, economic nationalists who never really wanted to give up the deutsche mark are the core of the opposition to the common issue of eurozone bonds. The German position is to go back to the framework of principles for economic and monetary union and tighten the rules for spending and taxes, something that is good in the long run, but does not work in the short run with shrinking economies from austerity programs and nervous markets. The Merkel government's resolution of this crisis is to set new fiscal rules for the eurozone, and either move in the direction of letting the ECB play a larger role, or support such a move. What is not clear is whether the government will survive the next election taking on this leadership role in Europe, or a revolt in the Christian Democratic party....

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Dana Milbank of the WP says the views of some Democrats on Trump as a good Republican nominee based on the notion that he has high negative perception with voters is fraught with dangers for U.S. democracy. Milbank points out that this ignores what is good for the country. Having Trump as the nominee of one of the two main parties would create a divisive atmosphere and is not good for the country, says Milbank. In comparing Trump with Cruz, he says Trump is likely to follow his instincts to operate outside the U.S. constitutional system. Cruz as a person believes in the U.S. constitution and would never endorse violence or action against minorities. Cruz has not done enough to come across as a likable person with his persistent focus on conservative or Reagan values to the exclusion of everything else. This is changing in mid-April 2016 following a CNN interview with the Cruz family, a MSNBC town hall answering questions from undecided voters, and NYT coverage of Cruz at a Brooklyn bakery, that shows a different human face that people have never seen about Cruz. Cruz's self-deprecating humor in a NYT article where he talks about voters not liking "a hectoring scold," is part of this needed change that could have happened earlier in the campaign. About Trump Milbank cites Conservative party prime minister Cameron who says Trump would unite all Britons against him if he ever came to Britain....

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weeks before the trump Kim Jong-Un summit talks in Hanoi, Vietnam, it was evident to the team of U.S. diplomats, sanctions specialists, nuclear experts, that there was a major stumbling block. North Korea wanted much more relief from sanctions than the U.S. was prepared to give in return for a limited denuclearization in North Korea. Still the talks went ahead on the basis of the personal chemistry between Trump and Kim Jong-Un. But former U.S. officials say that in this situation the differences were too big to be solved on the basis of personal rapport alone. For some time ahad of the summit talks in Hnoi the U.S. had already eased its position reports the WSJ, so that the U.S. was no longer insisting that North Korea largely denuclearize during Mr. Trump's current term in office. a full accounting of North Korea's nuclear programs was not required at the start of negotiations. North Koreans also came up with options to close the Yongbyon nuclesr complex. The sticking point was that major sanctions relief was expected without other nuclear facilities being listed for inspection and denuclearization. ...

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This WSJ report looks at the U.S. unemployment report showing unemployment rate dropping from 14.7% to 13.3%. The hardest hit leisure and hospitality industry is rebounding first with the largest gains in jobs as the economy recovers. 1.4 million jobs were added in this sector. Construction is lso coming back with 464,0000 jobs added, Unemployment for Hispanics and Blacks is higher than for whites. Black unemployment rate is steady at 16.8%, Hispanic unemployment at 17.6% down from about 19%. Women are showing higher unemployment rate than men, partly reflecting their higher numbers in the leisure and hospitality, education sectors where social distancing measures are needed becauseof social contact.

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An exceptional look at burnout and stress at work in the Guardian newspaper. In the UK 526,000 workers were affected by the burnout epidemic, suffering from stress, depression or anxiety, in 2016-2017, according to Health and Safety Executive. More women are affected than men, and more in professions in healthcare, social care and education. Longer work hours are part of it till pressures at work became intolerable for people shown in this report. Problems remain masked at the beginning and act in a kind of mission creep. Experts say it is important to see this as the result not of sick individuals unable to cope but of ailing organizations that have created workplaces where burnout can occur, where blame takes the place of collaboration, and support is limited or non existent.

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Prepackaged bankruptcy has to be very carefully and meticulously arranged to work. With this creditors have to agree to retstructure debts before a company seeks court protection. In the case of GM complex union and dealership contracts and a number of creditors means someone in the government has to use governmental powers and authority, and with the leadership of the President, and help from Congress with new legislation, to get the job done in a short period of time. Something that would put the company on recovery track and its customers warranties and other incentives to buy protected.

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Goldfarb says everyone is focussed on the "fiscal cliff," yet there are other issues which when put together could lead to a drop of 1 percentage point in growth and add a million people to the jobless. The temporary payroll tax cut for 160 million workers was setup in Dec. 2010. The payroll tax which funds Social Security is 4.2% since then, down from 6.2%, adding about $1000 for the average family to spend. The unemployment insurance benefits which expire for millions of people will also have an impact. As will the $60 billion in spending cuts on domestic and defense spending under an agreement made in the summer of 2012.

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The new cabinet of ministers of prime minister Modi following the second wave of the pandemic brings in 36 new faces to the Ministries, many in important new roles such as Health, Education, IT, Information and Broadcasting, Social Empowerment, Law. Railways. The Council of Ministers goes up to 78, three short of a statutory limit of 81. By bringing in new and younger faces as well as some experienced IAS and other persons in certain states, this new group. An experienced IAS officer was put in charge of the important Railways ministry, as the railways take on modernization and technological progress. Where ministers were lacking in performance the prime minister has made the needed changes. 

The large number of new faces gives the government an opportunity to train new people before the next parliamentary elections three years from now.

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The Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho has been shaking up soccer for along time now. He is still shaking up soccer today as he puts Tottenham at the top of the Premier League, after knocking out Manchester City and drawing with Chelsea.

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President Trump has taken a careful response to events in Hong Kong so that the situation does not affect U.S. China trade talks and tariffs negotiations. For the first time he tweeted that China's restraint would be reciprocated by the U.S.

Mr. Trump has described the Hong situation as "a tricky situation," and has called for the protests to be handled "humanely." He tweeted- "I know President Xi of China very well. He is a great leader who very much has the respect of his people. He is also a good man in a 'tough business.' I have ZERO doublt that if President Xi wants to quickly and humanely solve the Hong Kong problem he can do it." Concluding "Personal meeting?"

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Quentin Hardy of the NYT provides this exceptional account of life in the Mid-Market area of San Francisco, close to the Financial District and a few blocks from the offices of Twitter, and of Spotify, Zendesk and other startup companies. Moving just a few blocks from the tech startups offices can take you into a different world with dilapidated housing, drug dealers, and housing for homeless people. Expensive resaurants and markets rub shoulders with poorer shops.