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What will the first days of Keir Starme be like after July 4, election day in Britain? On July 5 he will go to meet King Charles and address the British nation.  On July 5 and 6 he will appoint  top ranking ministers. On July 9  Tuesday he will go to the new parliament. This will be followed by meetings of NATO and in Europe. Rachel Reeves the first female chancellor, or minister of finance. 

Angela Raynor  as Deputy Prime Minister        David Lammy as Foreign Secretary.                   Wes Streeting  Health and Social Care.          Bridget Phillipson  Education

 

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"What did it do in Green County?" this is the question voters are asking in counties across Wisconsin, and also in Michigan and Pennsylvania. These are states with lower number of minority voters and a higher number of white working class voters without college degrees. Even in rural areas around Madison voters remember their fathers and mothers voted for Kennedy, grandfathers and grandmothers voted for Roosevelt. The Washington Post looks at the white voters without college degrees in Wisconsin . How does one take the visionary actions in the Biden bipartisan Infrastructure laws and show what happens at the micro level? Lyrarc.com shows how the laws are changing America bit by bit every week in the Movement for Renewal of America as covered in NYT, WSJ, Washington Post, and other media.

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US president Biden makes the decision not to run for reelection. He endorses Kama Harris to run as nominee of the Democratic party.

My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this. 

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It shows the need for government and the need for regulation if we are to have safety in food. Just look at China's experience with inadequate regulation and the dangers to the health safety of the Chinese people with so many chemicals in the air and water that contaminate food supplies. The chemical DCPA or dacthal regulated here is described in this report as used on broccoli, cabbage and onions.

 “DCPA is so dangerous that it needs to be removed from the market immediately.”  

“In this case, pregnant women who may never even know they were exposed could give birth to babies that experience irreversible lifelong health problems.” -Michal Freedhoff, the E.P.A. assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety

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People in Kalamazoo county Michigan star struck with the presence of Michelle Obama with Kamala Harris on one stage.

Michelle Obama says-

"The race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is too close for my liking. I am deeply concerned … that too many of us are still confused and buying into the lies and distortions from people who do not have our best interest at heart.”

Kamala Harris embraces Michelle Obama on stage to huge applause and says-

"She is an inspiration...And she motivates us to get to work, especially when the stakes are high.”

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"Humphrey's Executor" is a precedent that bars firing by the president of FTC NLRB etc officials. "Humphrey's Executor" precedent is  being challenged by president DJT before the US Supreme Court and with it the independence of the Fed in 2025. Humphrey was an FTC official who was fired by FDR in the 1930's but died before his case went to the courts. It set the precedent that the president cannot simply fire officials he does not like. DJT challenged this by firing offfical at the National Labor Relations Board. When the US Supreme Court takes up this case it will look sceptically at this precedent, yet will find some way to protect the Fed's independence, says WSJ.

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The nuclear deal reached in the 2013 Geneva negotiations between Iran and the EU, U.S., Russia, France, Germany, UK and China, a diplomatic bloc named the P5+1. Iran gets sanctions relief that would bring in an additional $6-7 billion dollars. In return Iran agrees to increased International Atomic Energy Agency inspections of the heavy water reactor in Arak, to not start the facility or lead it with nuclear fuel. Earlier France had pushed for a complete dismantling of that reactor. Iran will cap its uranium enrichment to levels needed only for fuel in a reactor, of 3.5%-5%, and maintain its total low enriched nuclear fuel at the current level of about 6 tons for the six month period in which further negotiations will take place. As the EU representative put it, this provides the time and space to reach a serious deal. It does not ship out and destroy the estimated 19,000 centrifuge machines in Iran to produce nuclear fuel. A sticking point was Iran's insistence that it has a right to develop and use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, which Iran says is part of the UN Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty....

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The NYT raises questions about the stress tests. It asks whether the modest economic bounce that may or may not occur, and amix of policy actions- such as the capital infusions into banks, fiscal stimulus, and other government interventions- will revive the banks? And says its not sure at all. Questioning whether the lack of stronger government action was a wise move by the Obama administration, in the same manner as three experts Hubbard, Scott, and Zingales did in an oped piece in the WSJ last week, the NYT editorial says, "what is known is that buying time, rather than forcefully intervening to restructure weak banks, can be a dicey gambit." See the link to Hubbard. Hubbard and his colleagues say that President Obama has the wrong Roosevelt in mind, its not Franklin but Theodore he should be looking to, and his admonition to talk softly but carry a big stick. It also raises the question about the regulatory reform, and the government oversight, that as Krugman noted in a piece last week, is receiving only a weak response from the Obama administration, and the dangers of going back to "business as usual."...

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The pharmaceutical companies are reducing the size of their sales forces, but increasing the number of MSL's or Medical Science Liaisons. The drug companies are using the MSL's to discus the science behind a particular drug, and how the drug can have increased applications. Pharmaceutical companies are barred by the FDA from promoting unapproved drug uses, or "off-label" use.

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The difficult relationship between Obama and Netanyahu and how the two leaders could find common ground in 2013 out of necessity.

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Li Keqiang, China's new premier, entered Peking University in 1978 by excelling in merit exams. Li and a fellow student, Yang Baikui, translated the English book "The Due Process of Law" by British jurist Lord Denning. Professor Gong Xiangrui, brought the book to China and educated his students in the ideas of constitutional law and western liberalism. Yang says Li learned English on his own and meticulously carried a stack of notecards with English on one side and Chinese translation on the other. Li would study the cards while waiting for a bus or in the line at the school cafeteria. Li has political discusions with students from that time, some of whom joined the pro-democracy demonstrations of 1989. He is the son of a mid level county official from Anhui province and moved in the party ranks through diligent effort. Li's doctoral thesis is in economcs and he is expected to focus on economic changes, with Xi Jinping, the new president, taking the lead in making changes to the political system. Fellow students from Li's days at Peking University say the difference between them and Li is the pace of democratization, with Li looking at it as a longer process. Recent articles by Li Keqiang on economic change show his emphasis on urbanization as a way to improve agricultural conditions with a smaller number of farmers improving producitvity in agriculture, and the importance of creating a better social safety net for people in China....

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Robert Reilly, an assistant to President Reagan, former director of Voice of America, says don't underestimate the importance of what the younger Bush as president called "the vision thing." Efficiency experts like Hoover, and Republican candidates who had business and other professional experience but could not grasp the moral imperative in politics such as Alf Landon (1936), Wendell Wilkie (1940), Thomas Dewey (1944 and 1948) failed to convince voters. Democrats presented ideas like the Fair Deal, New Deal (FDR), New Frontier (Kennedy), Great Society (Johnson) and captured this "vision thing" to win. This is why he is skeptical about Romney as business and management consultant coming in and bringing change with a number of management consultants. Reagan also presented the choice in moral terms which were then translated into how the government would function to fulfill the moral imperative, says Reilly.

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The UK's effort to protect its pharmaceutical exports of $8 billion and auto exports of $7 billion in trade talks with the US. Reeves will meet Scott Bessent in Washington DC.

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Mortimer Zuckerman, publisher of U.S. News and World Report, looks behind the unemployment numbers and points to U-6 the real measure of under utilized labor and of workers working part time because of a lack of full time work, and says this is at about 15%. Add the eight million who quit looking and it is 19%, says Zuckerman The unemployment rate of 8.1% does not reflect the eight million workers who have quit looking. The long term unemployed, workers unemployed for more than 27 weeks is at 40.7%, or 5.2 million workers. Fewer Americans work today than in 2000, even though the population has increased by 31 million. Only 96,000 jobs were generated in August 2012. Something is seriously wrong and the right steps have not been taken.

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General Electric, GE, experienced a steep decline in the last decade. The worst news came in 2018 with the loss of half its share price and market value. One story tells about an employee who was forced out of retirement back to work seeing the loss of value in GE shares in 2018. Rarely has a company of this size seen a fall in stock price this steep, for a stock that was once seen as safe for widows. About 60% of GE business comes from jet engines, electric power generators and wind turbines. GE now plans to sell its health care business and other business that do not relate to core infrastructure in energy, aerospace, and other markets. Under Jack Welch a faulty model of adding diverse businesses that had nothing to do with its core business and expertise in infrastructure were added. A home mortgage lending business was added and GE Capital expanded. NBC Universal was added with little justification in a period when CEO's acted without much consultation. The home mortgage lending unit collapsed with large losses during the 2008 financial crisis and GE's share price dropped drastically to $6.00. Under Welch's successor Mr. Immelt the GE Capital unit was shrunk in size, but losses continued to mount. An oil field service unit was added which also sustained losses.  Immelt's successor Flannery faced a loss of $15 billion from the financial lending unit. Sale of some businesses was not sufficient to meet the loss. Flannery is now taking GE out of all the businesses which were not core business. The NBC Universal television business was sold to Comcast in 2013. GE Healthcare is next. This closes a bad chapter in GE's story under Welch and Immelt. GE's dividend was cut for the second time since the Great Depression. The story of GE is also the story of American business during the last two decades, with icons such as GM, Ford and GE suffering decline, businesses that operated like little fiefdoms of old nobility in Europe, with CEO's operating in a CEO centric culture, not tolerating contrary opinion for informed debate on issues facing the business. Alfred Sloan founder of Genral Motors called constructive debate central to good management. Later Intel CEO Andy Grove coined the phrase constructive confrontation as a way of constructive debate, and the CEO was shown as the first of equals. The CEO centric management ignored these warnings and admonitions in running their fiefdoms.   ...

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Brazil held the Olympics and the World Soccer Cup, building new stadiums and living off the boom in oil and metals prices under previous governments. Today not only is there a lack of funding for infrastructure, healthcare, education and transportation.   This is now leading to lack of investment in healthcare services in a shocking way. The first full blown epidemic of yellow fever is hitting Brazil's cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Officials fear that it will spread in an area that has 23 million people if it hits the slums where A.aegyoti mosquitoes are to be found in swarms. Rio and Sao Paulo are trying to tackle it by vaccinating 23 million people. Yellow fever kills about 3-8% of people affected. The economic crisis with lack of funds, and the political crisis that has affected Brazil with corruption scandals has led to a delayed response, according to experts at UCLA infectious disease center.  The disease is traced to loggers and monkeys in the Amazon region which usually remains contained in that region. SInce 2016 the lack of a strong official response has led to the crisis where monkeys carry it a mile a day all the way south to the Rio and Sao Paulo region. A effective government response would have included the use of media to educate people on the need for vaccination for all except newborns and pregnant mothers. Instead social media Facebook and You Tube spread the idea that the vaccination was dangerous, anti vaccine persons who normally got no audience trashed the vaccine. So that today public health authorites have to deal with this problem. The vaccination is highly effective and invented in the 1930's, was not started till November 2016, even though the spread southward from the Amazon region started in 2016. In fact says Dr Marquez, an expert at the University of Pittsburgh, only one in 100,000 gets a reaction and one in a million dies. He says compared to this 6% of 30 million people in the region affected could lose their lives, or  2 million deaths. ...

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Theresa May becomes the only candidate for leadership of the Conservative Party after Ms Leadsom withdraws from the race. No leadership vote will no take place with Conservative Party members and no early general election is planned. May is expected to become prime minister of Britain by July 12, replacing David Cameron. Her theme is for "one Britain" and to do away with the rising inequality and gap between London and the rest of the country, which was part of the anxiety of voters who voted 52% for Brexit on issues of immigration burden on social and health services, national sovereignty, and a sense of ordinary people being neglected by elites in both parties. May will invoke Article 50 to leave the European Union and begin a 2 year period of negotiations only after she has developed a clear negotiating strategy. Kenneth Clarke, a Conservative Party cabinet minister called May a "bloody difficult woman," but this did not affect May, who said Mr Juncker of the EU was the one who would find this out in negotiations.  What is significant for Britain is May's moderate position coupled with a clear goal for removing some of the causes of the inequity in British society, which is needed for Britain to remain united. She called on companies like Amazon, Google and others to pay their fair share of taxes, and made clear her intent to strengthen the mechanisms for controlling executive pay. Also part of this strategy will be a more effective immigration control policy, which she did not implement vigorously as Home Secretary in the Cameron government, partly because of constraints set by EU membership. May made clear her agenda going forward by saying: "There is a growing divide between a more prosperous older generation and a struggling younger generation. And there is a gaping chasm between wealthy London and the rest of the country."  Changes May is supporting are to make executive pay rules to become binding not just advisory, and for employees and consumers to gain seats on company boards.  ...

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Simple changes in style-“I’m not planning on wearing a suit, and I don’t expect you to wear one.” Patel on Week 1, Feb 27 2025. Raises fitness requirements for FBI agents and gets his personal fitness trainer a pass into FBI. Oath of office taken on the Indian Bible the Bhagavad Gita held by Attorney General Pam Bondi. Also oath for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives. Addressing crime in cities including Detroit, Cleveland, Minneapolis. Action to move 1500 FBI agents to these cities in a regionalization plan out of Washington DC. Regionalize the FBI throughout the Nation to make it serve the safety of cities and neighborhoods throughout these United States. It reflects the illegal fentanyl flows into the United States from foreign countries that led to 490,000 deaths in the US over 12 years on which previous action of administrations has clearly been a colossal failure. Following the people's mandate to make America's neighborhoods safe for children and families, protecting the social compact with its people of the elected government. The unwritten aspects of the US Constitution or of any sensible Constitution of any civilized nation. To focus the FBI on internal threats in America's cities and neighborhoods from drugs, gangs and fentanyl flows that illegally enter the country. And not on foreign threats during this period when this social compact in the US is threatened by fentanyl flows and 490,000 deaths over the last 12 years. ...

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India's 267 million farmers 44% of the workforce that make it difficult to reduce 39% tariff on imported dairy and grain. Older Americans have lost the memories of famines in India including one in Bihar in the 1960's, not to mention the Bengal famine during the British rule in 1944 in which Britannica says 3 million people lost their lives. By 1965 India depended on US grain. Dhume reminds readers that in as recent as 1966 9 million tons, a quarter of US wheat crop, was sent to India to prevent famine. China had a similar situation of famine and starvation in the 20th century. This is why India and China have focused effort on achieving self sufficiency in food, and  agricultural productivity is one of the great achievements of the 20th century ranking with electricity and other inventions. When it comes to other upscale agricultural products such as walnuts, blueberrries, and almonds, and other, India's middle class would benefit from nutritional benefits of US agriculture in these fields at low or no tariffs. This suggests there is room for opening some sectors other than dairy and grain that are staple to the Indian diet of the vast population. US 50% tariff is motivated by India going from 2% Russian oil imports in 2019, to shifting importing from Saudis and UAE to Russia so that Russia now makes up a third of it's oil imports by 2024. In May it reached 4 million barrels a day dropping to 2 million barrels a day by July 2024.   ...

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China's changing trade strategy- closing up or opening some sectors such as pharmaceuticals in a change of mind.

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Richard Posner, who teaches at the University of Chicago, and is federal appellate judge, takes an incisive look at the economic crisis. Posner says this was not a failure in the sense of irresponsibility alone of people involved, but a failure of capitalism, and that capitalism is prone to failure unless properly governed. Markets left to their own devices can fail, monetary policy is not enough to counteract other deep seated problems. Under capitalist system people can make individually rational decisions like continuing to invest in mortgage securtite if they were financial institutions, or losing the profits to be made, and collectively make irrational and in time enormously costly decisions, with no less consequences on an individual basis when things collapse. "We are learning," he says "that we need a more active and intelligent government to keep our model of a capitalist economy from running off the rails." But that may be nothing more than returning to common sense, or a healthy dose of skepticism for overblown claims for any system or form of economics or politics. ...