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In Madison, Wisconsin, autistic children are absorbed in regular classes and the Madison community has been especially supportive of inclusion. Garner Moss moved from Tennessee to Madison for the advantages of living a normal life. Students in his class say he brought a new twist in their lives and are fully supportive, even making a video of Moss to help middle school students in his new class.

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The U.S. Senate voted 51 to 49 on a Democratic party measure for further reductions in 2012 Social Security payroll taxes for workers and employers, including a surtax on incomes over $1 million. A measure supported by the Republican party to pay for the payroll tax cut by reducing the Federal payrolls was defeated, with half the Republicans voting against it. Democrats hope to use this issue to show Republicans favor the rich over the middle class, as the payroll tax cut benefits most Americans. Polls show Americans by a large majority see Republican policies favoring the rich. A New York Times/CBS poll in October showed 7 of 10 Americans feel this way. Pollster Geoff Garin says the income inequality issue is beginning to override other issues including antigovernment feeling. This is one way in which the Occupy Wall Street Movement's slogan of "the 99 percent" has resonated with U.S. public opinion. The Democratic party sees this as an opportunity to define the campaign issues for 2012, with Republicans running for reelection cautious about being seen this way....

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NYT reporter Neuman takes a17 hour road trip across the island of Cuba in a 1956 Ford Fairlane. He heads west from Havana near the west end of the island to Guantanamo on the east end. He sees a changing Cuba with houses for sale, little sign of ideological signs in the countryside, old cars, oxcarts, horsecarts, a Cuba that looked like it was stuck in the past. In the five years that Raul Castro took over from Fidel Castro, money and business have gradually taken the place of politics. The average salary of $20 a month is not enough for most workers even with free healthcare and education, and most people dream of making more money to enjoy a better life. Many rely on relatives abroad for additional funds, or buying and selling on the black market, or a second job.

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This New York Times editorial points to the poll showing Americans oppose ending bargaining rights for public unions by a margin of nearly two to one. Twice as many people said they prefer increases in taxes to cutting benefits of public employees or cutting spending on roads. This New York Times/CBS poll was published at the end of February 2011.

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Hannes Swoboda of Austria, a member of the European parliament, and president of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European parliament, makes the case for investment in growth and employment as the only way forward for Europe. Tax revenues generated from growth and employment would help reduce deficits, in addition to taxes such as a financial transactions tax.

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Andy Jassy joined Amazon in 1997, three years after it was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos. He is credited with the rapid growth of cloud computing into a $51 billion business for Amazon with market share of 28%. He now takes over the role of CEO of Amazon with day to day responsibilities just as Bezos shifts his attention to other opportunities. Jassy shares the traits of inventive spirit and investing heavily in growth opportunities one finds in Jeff Bezos. Careful planning and a long term plan in entering a business and achieving one goal after another as the business accelerates.

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As the period of transition between administrations is a period when no action can be taken on the stimulus plan and 533,0000 jobs were lost in November, with the uncertainties facing the auto industry and more unemplyment expected as that industry donwsizes, and consumers overstretched, the Fed takes aggresssive steps. It reduces the target interest rate, an overnight bank lending rate called the federal funds rate, to between zero and one quarter percentage point. And it added that theat the Fed's policy will be to keep interest rates "exceptionally low " for some time. The 3 month Treasury bill rate, another borrowing rate has gone down to zero.

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As Delhi sees a decline in cases of coronavirus around July 16, it is not clear whether this is a result of more use of less reliable antigen tests where results are produced immediately. From 3000 cases in last week of June cases per day dropped to 1200 to 1600. Mumbai is also seeing a slow decline with other parts of Maharashtra state seeing spikes. Tamilnadu is seeing a gradual decline. Andhra Pradesh and Telengana, Karnataka see a climb in cases.

The federal government requires antigen tests showing negative to be followed up with the more reliable RT-PCR direct test, which takes hours to give results.

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Ownership of stocks is more evenly spread out in the US population by 2023. During the pandemic younger people invested in stocks. WSJ graph of percentile of income and stock ownership shows  20-40th percentile of income households moving from 30% of households owning stocks to 40%, and 40-50th percentile of income households moving from 50% of households owning stocks to 60%. This means people in the middle incomes have built more household wealth  sharing in US stock gains of 16% in 2020, 27% in 2021, dropped 19% in 2022 and gained 24% in 2023. Recovery from the effects of free market policy experiments after Reagan that led to the 2009 financial crisis and shipping of factories overseas were met with a reverse response bringing factories home under Trump and Biden. Wage gains happened under Biden 2020-2024, and a Biden $1 trillion dollar infrastructure renovation adds to jobs and demand. Wealth in homes for US households increased on average from a low of 225,000 6 years after the financial crisis of 2009 to about $325,000 by 2022. This is part of a general recovery for the American people after the shocks of free market experiments with inadequate regulation and oversight by the government, and the neglect of manufacturing and communities dependent on manufacturing for employment and income with its uplifting of services sector that comes with it, the taxes that pay for public services also enhances community wellbeing through libraries, wellbeing, transport and other public services. ...

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Americans Save Early and set aside for savings 10% of your pre-tax income, is the advice to ensure a safe and healthy savings retirement. This is absolutely critical. What the government can do is to ensure that incomes keep uo with inflation with fair wages in industry. It also can and should protect Americans from unexpected medical costs by ensuring that all Americans are covered by health care and for catastrophic situations. Then it is the task of Americans to build a culture of careful saving that their ancestors had and considered a essential part of virtue. For this to help build savings for retirement the government and the Federal Reserve together- as Biden and Powell have shown one with capital investments to build a strong economy and the other by protecting savings and cost of living action- must ensure that no financial crises take interest rates to zero or 1-2%. At interest rates of 5-6% for returns this helps build savings for retirement. For this to happen banks have to go back to their traditional work in the economy and no speculation risk, and Silicon Valley go back to inventing and not a culture of capturing capital allocation in capital markets and paying little in taxes. A new culture would put government in its right place to ensure that it plays a significant role in building manufacturing and science and technology in the US as president Biden has done through government investing in infrastructure and renewable energy, chips and science, and in education, healthcare.  ...

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Eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels give Spain one more year to meet deficit targets because of a slumping economy and lower tax receipts after raising taxes. Spain now has till 2014 instead of 2013 to meet the EU's 3% deficit target. Spain can now run a deficit of 6.3% in 2012, down from 8.9% in 2011, without risking EU penalties. The 2013 deficit target is 4.5% of GDP and the 2014 target is 2.8%. Spain can also have $30 billion by the end of July in the event that a Spanish bank needs to be recapitalized quickly.

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The social media site Twitter frequently loses money and took on $13 billion in debt says this report in the NYT. Musk faces financial challenges a he takes over the company, and this report says the company would be unlikely to invest and simply be paying the bills. Twitter it says, has not made a profit for 8 of its past 10 years. 

Twitter's interest expense alone would grow from $50 million to $1 billion with the new debt. Company operations generated about $630 million in cash flow to fund operations. Twitter had $6 billion in cash before the buyout and a large part of this would have gone to close the acquisition. All the financial resources of the company will now go to service the debt. About $1.2 billion in marketing expenses mostly salaries are likely to be cut. And layoffs of a significant fraction of the total employees may be a way to conserve capital to service the added debt, this report shows.

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Laura Marshall-Andrews is a GP, a General Practitioner doctor, in Brighton, England, with a different approach to patients and health care. She takes into account the whole patient, the patient's mental condition, putting back some of the things that reduce isolation, increasing feelings of self-worth, bringing more community and nature interactions of a positive nature that can affect the patient's health. In some situations having a doctor who listens and is willing to take the time to talk to and know the patient, and being aware of the patient's whole condition as opposed to fragmented areas based on fields of medicine can make a huge difference. Don't look for a diagnosis, treat the whole person,  says Laura Marshall Andrews in her new book- What Seems To Be The Problem? She believes social prescribing takes a whole load off the National Health Service in Britain. This includes art, photography classes, dance classes, singing classes. A study by the University of Westminster shows the GP visits go down by 30% and emergency A&E visits by 25% with social activity prescribing. Yoga, meditation, gardening, nature walks, are also part of the same activities that can help people improve how they feel and think and bring the sense of peace in their lives that brings better health with it. In the loneliness and isolation, community dislocations and pressures of life in today's cities, all these activities are immensely important to the idea of whole health of the whole person. Dr Andrews says that if you keep a community happy and creative, then you are not going to need a lot of expensive hospital treatments." "Cum Scientia Caritas" the motto of the Royal College of General Practitioners means Science with Caring. ...

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US president Biden's $2 trillion Families and Workers plan, for early childhood education, paid leave, healthcare and climate change investment, is coming up for a vote in Congress. Paid leave that also includes maternity leave and leave that would help women return to the workforce, has been added back to the bill. Community college aid was earlier removed from the package with resistance from private colleges that expect to lose tuition paying students, even though male students are falling dangerously behind in attending college without government support. The Biden administration is facing resistance from just a couple of Democratic Congressmen- about five led by a Congressman from New Jersey, and 2 Senators from Arizona and West Virginia- on community college government aid that helps young American men and women from the working class and on paid leave that helps women. Many Republicans have supported taking this action for renewal of America on serious issues that face the country, making it likely that these issues will only become more pressing in the next three years. Sometimes as is happening today some isolated or eccentric situations can block major legislation for the good of the country such as the makeup of a Congressional seat in New Jersey with large pockets of conservative Republicans who oppose spending, and conservative instincts of two Democratic senators from Arizona and West Virginia. This WSJ report looks at Biden's position that deterrence when filing tax returns will generate close to $400 billion and not $150 billion that the Congressional Budget Office says is its estimate. To accomplish this Biden plans to spend $80 billon in large investments to increase the resources of America's tax collecting agency. Much of this was never done and policies geared to where large corporations never paid their fair share of taxes. The first step was to prevent outshoring of headquarters to reduce taxes- and this was achieved in the first year of the Biden Administration with over 100 countries agreeing on a corporate minimium tax. In the same way president Biden now seeks to correct other flaws in the tax system so that much needed investments can be made by generating new revenue not just in infrastructure, but for renewal of America through renewal of support for women, children, and America's working classes. Much of that was badly neglected by different  administrations over the last three decades.     ...

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When you compare the US to the European Union or India one can see how America is failing its people in offering basic public services that other countries do routinely. Jennifer Pahlka is the author of- Recoding America: How America is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better. Pahlka points out the problem in the US where private companies obstruct the delivery of basic services that the government can provide, just for their own profit. They throw in a carrot so that there is an excuse for not doing anything about this. For example tax preparation companies tell the IRS not to develop a simple tool available to all taxpayers to file their own taxes easily which is already filled with basic details. The carrot so that no one complains is that they will offer free tax preparation services to low income people. In the EU and many other countries tax preparation is done using tools offered by the tax agencies for easy preparation. In India it was possible to make it through the pandemic for large parts of a population of 1.4 billion because checks could be deposited directly into people's bank accounts. Digitization is used in India to make certain there is delivery of public services directly to each person. ...

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Joe Biden's efforts to rebuild the American economy are getting so little mention in either the NYT or WSJ or elsewhere that Biden writes this article in the WSJ to share what he has done for the American economy, workers and families in the US since 2020. It comes at a time when the US is being challenged in not only chips, science, defense, but also at amore basic level as education and healthcare, public services. Only one third of American children in 8th grade can pass NAEP test reading comprehension yet much of $346 billion going into ventures in 2021 is being wasted as America's capital allocation system and capital markets fail to serve the American people is shown in today's WSJ pages. The scale of what can be done with the right amount of capital going into the right places and not the wrong places and with determination to rebuild can only be imagined- Mr. Biden says here that additional $2.5 trillion can be reduced in the deficit by "cutting the wasteful spending on special interests and ensuring the wealthiest Americans and corporations pay their fair share of taxes." It also means vital investments can then be made in education, in infrastructure, science and technologies, and other areas where it is missing today through planned misallocation. ...

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Institute of Fiscal Studies, IFS, shows where the money is going in Labour's first Budget. See graphs of the household income over the 75 years under Conservative and Labour governments, which shows slower growth in household income over the next 5 years. Healthcsare and Education are growing at 4%. The growth of 6-10% is for local government spending, housing, communities and local government, work and pensions, Justice, HM Revenue. The slow rise in household incomes to 2030 is the result of trickle down economics which is sold vigorously by some groups as economic orthodoxy including the largest corporations paying little in taxes. This is true also of the US. FDR called it Tory policies and policies that say trickle down economics works when it doesn't. FDR said at DNC in 1932- "And we thought the Tories left in 1776." Today this is why UK household incomes show slight growth to 2030, and even this Labour Government is hesitant to boldly question this economic orthodoxy.  For Britain the debacle of Brexit turning some legitimate questions of immigration into isolation from economies of mainland Europe adds to the problem.     ...

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The new Chancellor of the Exchequer in Britain, George Osborne, put forward a new budget that marks a big change from the past. In an effort to cut the budget deficit by $180 billon over 5 years, Osborne announced a cut in spending for the public sector and welfare spending. There will be cuts in the budgets of government departments of 25% by 2015 except for health and international aid. Reduced spending on public housing benefits, disability benefits and other costs in the $285 billion welfare budget is part of this budget. He announced a 2 year wage freeze for public employees, and new medical screeing for persons claiming disability benefits. On the tax side the value added tax on many goods and services goes up from 17.5% to 20%. Capital gains tax goes up to 28%. And overall the proportion of tax increases to spending cuts is 1 : 4. Osborne referred to rich people in Britain "paying less than the people who clean for them" in instituting higher taxes, and he removed entirely 900,000 of the poorest people in Britain from the income tax system. Corporate taxes will be reduced from 28% to 24% over a 5 year period....

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Verizon Communications takes a $4.5 billion charge in the 4th quarter of 2018 for its acquisition of AOL. Tim Armstrong, former head of AOL departs Verizon with incentive package of $60 million. The business headed by Armstrong at AOL was combined with Yahoo properties and called Verizon Media Group which failed to meet revenue projections. Verizon spent $9 billion from 2015-2017 to buy AOL and Yahoo, in an investment that has half its value written off.