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Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut and Hawaii are the four leading states with the most millionaires in the U.S. since 2006. 7.7% of the households in Maryland are millionaires compared to about 1 in 20 in the U.S. or 6.15 million households. North Dakota has moved up with the natural gas Bakken field production and many affluent workers with new pickups. Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Florida moved down the list after the economic slump. These figures are from Phoenix based on Census and Fed Reserve data. It does not include real estate, only assets that can be invested.

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Krugman points out that the federal tax rate for the top 1% is 34% in 2013, according to the Congressional Budget Office, because president Obama let the high end Bush tax cuts to expire. It is the number to remember says Krugman- 34. In 2008 the figure was 28.2. Under Hillary Clinton the average tax rate for the top 1% would go up by 3.4 percentage points, according to the Tax Policy Center. Some of this would help pay for the tution plan to provide access to the middle class to public universities. Under populist Trump, Krugman points to the elimination of the inheritance tax and tax rates going down substantially, and no such programs to promote the upward mobility that everyone is talking about, and no way to pay for a big infrastructure building effort for growth and jobs- upward mobility that is the focus of every candidate's election campaign including Sanders, Trump in appealing to older white working class families, Clinton, Ryan, Bush, and others in both parties.   ...

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The unexplainable situation of Peter Murrell's embezzlement of 400,000 pounds, when he was chief executive of the Scottish National party while wife Nicola Sturgeon was head of Scottish government. The loss of reputation and honor in Britain as Scotland struggled with 14 years of austerity, Brexit policies, and from the failed leaders from Labour that brought deindustrialization and the 2009 financial crisis. The loss of credibility that Scotland could better manage its own affairs as an independent state than it could as an autonomous part of Britain that it has been for centuries, in an arrangement that made Scotland and integral part of the idea of Britain in the world from the British Empire to the Brtish Commonwealth. Scotland's population of 5 million people with main industrial hubs of Glasgow and Edinburgh is relatively small compared to the population of England with 59 million people and industrial hubs in Leeds, Birmingham, Manchester and London. Since the Act of Union tht brought Scotland into union with England as Great Britain in 1707, Scotland has depended on the industrial strength of England and its significantly larger financial and people resources. The autonomous arrangement preserves Scottish culture and identity inside the region, yet gives Scotland a better relationship, more access to benefits with the world as part of Great Britain's much larger presence.  ...

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June unemployment numbers will jump say experts at IHS Insight as GM and Chrysler downsize even more to become smaller companies with even less market share. This will reflect closing Pontiac and sale or closing of the other GM brands Saturn, Saab, and Hummer. It will reflect closing of more dealerships of GM and Chrysler. THis might be offset by a pickup in sales if something like the European trading clunkers for new cars program takes off in the USA. But with the US customers more in debt and with rising job losses, the pattern may be different in the US. It may only offer a small boost in sales. Manufacturing still matters in a recovery. In 1980 manufacturing was 20% of America's output, now it is 11.5% says Mark Zandl of Moody's Economy.com. Manufacturing, he says, has a bigger impact than its size suggests, because it responds quickly. As sales resume workers are called back to their jobs. The sharp V shaped recoveries in the early 80's reflected the rapid response of manufacturing. After the 1980's both the declines and the recoveries were shallow in 1990-1991 and 2001. Now with GM and Chrysler shrinking further under the government plan to fix these companies, and taking the supplier impact, the rebound leg of the V is missing. The kick from the Big Three and their suppliers is missing, says Nigel Gault of IHS Insight. Of the 5.7 million jobs lost from Jan 2008 to June 2009, 1.6 million were in manufacturing and 289,000 were in motor vehicles, split almost evenly between assemblers and supplier networks....

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Neil Irwin in the NYT why the U.S. China Phase 1 Trade Agreement is more than a hill of soyabeans as he puts it, more than about all the soyabeans that the U.S. farmers can sell to China. China's economy was seeing the effect of U.S. tariffs. Additional tariffs to cover all imports from China to the U.S. would have worsened this. China avoided this by agreeing to Phase 1. The U.S. had looked for some enforcement mechanism based on China putting this down in a written agreement particularly for avoiding subsidies to state enterprises and improper access to U.S. advanced technologies. China's reluctance to do this led to Mr. Trump saying that China had reversed its position and Trump expanding the tariffs stage by stage. These issues are now set aside for Phase 2 still to be negotiated. Both sides taking what they could get. China relief from the threat of tariffs on all exports. The U.S. under Mr. Lighthizer's negotiating leadership retaining the enforcement idea through the tariffs that are still in place of 25% on half of China's exports to the U.S. The bonus for Mr. Trump is the goodwill China generates by agreeing to buy all the U.S. farmers can produce, farmers having not only stood behind Mr. Trump but also forming a key part of his support base. China will continue to compete in technological areas with the U.S., and the state enterprise model which worked for China as Mr. Xi tells visitors will continue. Phase 2 is just that Phase 2, when and if it can be negotiated between Trump with his negotiator Lighthizer and Xi with his negotiator Liu He. On key points neither side is budging. A key goal for Mr. Trump is to put the trade surplus China enjoys of $300 plus billion a year with the U.S. on a serious downward path, and bring so many of the jobs and manufacturing back home. On this trade data for 2019 and the plan for 2020 of both countries is clear. It should be down each year by 10-20% for the next few years, a major achievement of Mr. Lighthizer, who did the same with  Japan under president Reagan. ...

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Mossberg says look for 500 gigabytes of storage, 4 gigabytes of memory, an i3 to i5 or i7 Intel processor, in buying a PC or laptop. He suggests waiting till fall 2012 for the new Windows 8, and summer 2012 for the newer PC's designed to use Windows 8. This will be a big change from before, because Windows 8 is designed to use the touch feature of tablets. Ultrabooks are a bit pricier, making PC's and laptops the lower cost option. Laptop makers are trying to increase margins on the machines. Mac's also will get a newer operating system called Mountain Lion by the fall.

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This Dw.com report shows how 4 countries, Bangladesh, Egypt, Senegal and the US re building sustainable food ecosystems in response to the Ukraine food supply crisis.

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Both the EU and US see another wake up call from China's position of on again off again diplomacy using rare earth as a bargaining chip. US and China separately and in coordination work to develop policy and actions to secure access to rare earth and technologies that is independent of China. China sees it's action on rare earth diplomacy as robust diplomacy in response to DJT tariffs, yet this is getting the US to move quickly to develop its own rare earth access including working with Australia, and taking action to support US industry. The European Union is not far behind in doing the same. This and the action taken by the US to restructure world trade for a level playing field, and getting Asian partners to acknowledge their abuse of the international trading system for two decades and accept some level of temporary tariffs is changing world trade. The US can regain the position it has held for the better part of the period 1900-2000, overcoming periods that included the rise of Russia and Japan after 1945. ...

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WSJ's Chief Editor Emma Tucker comments on its choices in writing Style in its pages. It is appropriate we comment here on our own choices in Lyrarc.com. We respect the old forms such as Cornell English Professor William Strunk's Elements of Style for its basic emphasis on simplicity. We take from the new to always keep in mind how it sounds as is suggested by Ben Yagoda in Sound on the Page. In actual practice it goes back to our mix of reading influences and the style in each- from Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Conrad, Whitman, Lincoln. We strive for the simplicity and directness of a Walt Whitman or a Abraham Lincoln, while developing a directness of our own drawing from these influences. Inside this are all the other influences- Gandhi's amazing candour adding to directness. There is also in the background individually for this writer the energy of Prof. Kuruvila who helped transform some of the writings in English just described into living spoken words with ideas that held one's imagination.   ...

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Wisdom shared by students on picking a place to study. Ten people look back to reflect on how their college was chosen, their experience at that college, the cost of tuition. Some changed to other schools where they fit in better, others struggled with large tuition bills when the same education could be obtained at state universities with lower tuition fees. You are never stuck says one of them as you can change schools if it is not the right one. Others point out the risk of relying on "the best school", the most "rigorous program," and one engineering student points out that one can get a good engineering education at many less costly or famous schools. The general feeling is find what will be good for you without being overawed by big names, consider cost carefully, one can get a good education at most universities and colleges just find the place where you feel valued as a person and which fits in with your sentiments and mental makeup. The rest is effort studying and concentration which is entirely upto you.  ...

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Binyamin Applebaum of the NYT Editorial Board says the gap from 1972 to 2021 of 21% of GDP in spending and 17% of GDP in taxes taken in is a serious problem because it creates $31 trillion in debt and over 475 billion in interest payments each year. And much of the spending is wildly popular 63% that goes to Social Security and Medicare, and vital spending on health care and education, social services that takes up 15%. The rest is defense and interest payments. The rest of the G7 spend about 50% more on average he says. This is why he says Republicans holding up raising the debt ceiling is not the issue that needs to be faced each year there are better more direct and sensible solutions that also address the need for the Renewal of America after years of underinvestment in everything from infrastructure to health and education. And capital markets that overcrowded essential government spending to finance massive capital misallocation by tech companies, the costs of which are only now being understood in America. ...

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Prime minister Modi's address in Hindi to the nation on May 12 on "Atman Nirbhar Bharat" (self reliant India) as India looks ahead to a situation beyond the coronavirus. What would the economy look like as India moves forward? He says the emphasis will be on planning for the need for land, labor, liquidity, and laws to develop the Indian economy. A bold package of economic action for an investment of 20 lakh crore rupees or $280 billion was announced with details to be provided later. The basic philosophy of the next move forward was what the prime minister concentrated his speech on. Modi says there are 5 pillars for the Atman Nirbhar Bharat, or Self Reliant India. The first action not to go for incremental change- go instead for a quantum leap, be bold. This applies to both technology and investment and creating an environment where results can be achieved. Second action to make the kind of infrastructure that would set a new standard in the world. Third a "sabhi ke sapno ke aadhar," taking everyone along, be technology driven. Third action celebrate and build on India's vibrant demography, once seen as a weakness this will be turned into a strength. Fifth action be Demand driven - "demand or supply chain puri samtha ke saman karne ki jaruat che." The demand and supply chain  should be taken good care of. That also means be local and local manufacturing. Be vocal for local is the new message said Modi, because this is what worked and is saving us in the pandemic. As external supply chains failed countries in Europe and North America, it is the local supply chain for medicine, health care equipment, and food supplies, local technology for citizen id and bank accounts for direct deposit, agricultural supplies, strong and large national postal and rail networks and millions of employees spanning the country in all directions, that have proved of amazing value in this crisis. "Is local ne bhi bachaya, ham sabki jinnadari hai," - the local saved us and is everyone's responsibility.   ...

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Problems with the old 4% rule for withdrawal from savings for retirees in 2013 include- the decreasing income from bonds, the high P/E 10 ratio of 23 for the stock market in the U.S. in 2013, the timing of entry into retirement and the economic conditions, inflation and unforeseen expenses. The 4% rule needs to be modified in today's conditions.

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Fentanyl is a danger. There is also a bigger danger in the form of synthetic drugs that are the new and greatest danger in 2026 and beyond, which all countries need to be aware of and for which prepare an effective response.

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Biden's record on taking America through the pandemic, and getting the largest vaccination program in history like that of prime minister Modi has been forgotten to some extent by the Nation and more by the media than the Nation. Decisions on supply chain concentration in China were made long before Biden for decades since Clinton and Bush, Obama and Trump, which caused the spurt of inflation and cost of living to 9% that has so disconcerted Americans on incomes below $100,000. Biden and Fed chairman Powell brought this down to 3% in 2023. Yet the cost of living in housing and transport has lingering effects that lead to people describing Biden's record in a disparaging way as this title suggest, when it has through investments of trillions in aging dilapidated  infrastructure and in renewable energy, chips, science given America a pathway to a bright vision for the future. It is left to Kamal Harris to communicate this vision and what it offers for America's future. ...

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California Governor Jerry Brown reflects on what the Democrats missed in the last 4 years- the crisis of affordability of housing, for groceries. And with the border issues the unease about flow of fentanyl across the border that with transgender and culture that adds to unease is the silent issue Democrats failed to face up to for working class Americans. Orange County going for Democrats,  Imperial County going the opposite way, that says a lot about things today.  "When you see Imperial County going for Trump and Orange County going for Harris,” Jerry Brown reflected says this Politico report, a party that was winning wealthier, coastal Californians, but that had “lost a percentage of the working families.” "Democrats need to get their act together, focusing on the basic stuff — the economy, the environment.” ...

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Where EU gets LNG in 2024- Qatar 12% US 43% Russia 21% other 24%. EU's gas pipeline supplies increased in 2025 from Norway by 6% to 52.6%. Norway is also increasing its LNG supplies from Hammerfest. US under the Trade Agreement with EU US plans to send $750 billion in LNG exports to the EU. A Sustainability directive by EU for climate goals puts Qatar at risk of penalty of 2.43 billion euros according to DW.com. Qatar has said it may discontinue exports of LNG to EU in response and shift to Asian buyers. Since the Ukraine war and shift away from Russian gas pipeline supplies German economy Minister Habeck negotiated the deal with Qatar for LNG.