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This article by Lithuanian president Dalia Grysbauskaite, on the 75th anniversary of the Welles declaration points to a path for other Eastern European countries seeking membership in the new Europe. The declaration by Sumner Welles, acting Secretary of State, on July 23, 1940, stated that the U.S. did not recognize the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia. It says the other Eastern European states such as Ukraine need to follow Lithuania's example to fight corruption, transform their economies, and create a foundation for the future, for integration into the European Union.

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US retail sales rebounded in January 2023 increasing by 3% after sales declines in the last 2 months of 2023. Shoppers spent more on vehicles, furniture, clothing and dining out. Employers added half a million jobs in January, according to the Labor Department. This shows a resilient US economy in the middle of high inflation and higher interest rates by the Fed to fight inflation.

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Cash holdings at pension funds including the California State Teachers Retirement System hit new lows. Pension fund managers balancing the need to generate returns in a fluctuating market and need for cash on hand to meet needs.

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After a good start the vaccination drive is slowing both in India and the US. Vaccine supplies need to be boosted in India and the government has given approval to the Pfizer, Moderna and J&J vaccines to boost supplies. The Sputnik vaccine from Russia has also gained approval with new supplies of that vaccine expected in India. Vaccine skepticism is a problem in the US and Europe. Supplies of the Pfizer vaccine will be boosted in Europe with the EU contract for 1.8 billion doses signed recently. This should give the slow vaccination drives in France and Germany a boost.

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Anthony Blinken says on his visit to New Delhi that shared values and democracy bind India and the US. Blinken also discussed ideas of providing Indian made vaccines in the Indo-Pacific region, and promised to strengthen vaccine supply chains to increase production.

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Britain is on track to deliver the first dose to the entire population of 60 million by the end of June. This report shows a graph showing the timeline.

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The hybrid Toyota Land Cruiser is an iconic brand that will be brought back in the US in 2024 in the $50,000 price range as a raw and utilitarian vehicle for off road adventure. By 2023 11.3 million were sold globally. It was discontinued in the US in 2021 with few design changes and lack of sales in the $80,000 price range.

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As the British parliament prepares to vote on Brexit deal put forward by prime minister Theresa May, Joanna Sugden summarizes what is expected as the next step if parliament rejects it.  Why are a faction Conservative members opposed to it? There is the Irish backstop which they oppose. Keeping open the border between the two Irelands- Northern Ireland as part of Britain and Ireland as a EU country is important to preserve peace achieved through the Good Friday Agreement between the Catholic and Protestant communities.May wants to keep the border open. Far right Conservatives see this as keeping Britain connected to the EU in some way which they oppose. They stubbornly hold onto this view. Add to this the opposition from the Remain campaign which sees leaving the EU as bad for Britain's economic future. Some Leave supporters now see the dangers of Brexit, especially leaving with no deal made with the EU. Most of the Labour Party members fall into this group. What happens if parliament rejects May's deal by a small margin? The deal would be renegotiated with the EU to tweak it for more support. What happens if parliament rejects it with a huge margin? This would result in several options. May could call a general election. Britain could have a second referendum on Brexit. Or in a chaotic situation Britain could leave the European Union without a deal altogether, something everyone wants to avoid because of the disruptions it would cause. May is using this risk as  a way to persuade reluctant MP's but it may not work.     ...

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James Hagerty of WSJ provides this exceptional account of a company that proves it can be done if only you learn from setbacks, and innovate, even in a declining industry. In rural Arcadia in western Wisconsin, an unlikely person trained for farming in an unlikely location, Ron Wynek has built the largest furniture maker in America, growing at 10% a year! This story tells how it started, the setbacks, the resonse and how it is done. Speed in decision making comes from Ashley Industries being a family owned operation with Ron and his son Todd very attuned to the manufacturing process for keeping costs down, and attuned to the opportunities in providing value to customers in America. As furniture makers in the South withered under the impact of Asian manufacturers, Ashley thrives with 60% of manufacturing done in highly efficient American midwest factories with costs kept down, and an efficient delivery system of its own that helps retailers keep low inventory. The imports come from three factories in Vietnam to Prince Rupert in B.C., Canada and are shipped by rail containers to Wisconsin, with grain and hide shipped back in the same containers. Ron Wynek was destined to be a farmer, but his wife preferred to stay in town, where he decided to go into the furniture business. The business faced Asian imports with half the cost of manufacturing, and Wynek took the advice of his Congressman not to look for government protection but find new ways to compete. He started importing from Taiwan, moved into furniture products such as bedroom furniture that faced less intense competition in the early days. He invested heavily in logistics, technology and manufacturing efficiency, to come up with a model that could withstand and grow in the face of Asian competition. Ashley is now larger than Lazy Boy and Ethan Allen combined, with sales close to $4 billion, and is expanding with a large store opened in Shanghai, China. ...

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The Commerce Department reports U.S. annualized growth was a low of 0.7% in the 4th quarter of 2015. Growth in the U.S. economy was 2.4% for 2015, growth was 2.4% in 2014, and 1.5% in 2013.

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Donald Trump proposes a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. until U.S. authorites have figured out what is happening following the San Bernardino terrorist attack. A poll by PPP polling firm cited in The Washington Post, shows 30% of Republicans thinking Islam should not be legal in the U.S. and 21% not sure, showing how Trump is appealing to white working class Americans and their fears. Experts say this is similiar to a movement in the 1850's which was anti-Catholic, except that at the time there was not the media attention and the presidential elections season running for a year, so that this was happening more at the local level.

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Suspicions of Chinese government connections have dogged Huawei, China's big telecom maker, as it was founded by an army officer. Huawei has shown interest in Motorola's network equipment unit, but bidding for this will wait till 2011. The U.S. represents only $319 million in sales out of a total global sales of $21.5 billion for Huawei. To change the image and to get deals done Huawei has hired Sullivan and Cromwell, Skadden Arps, and Arnold & Porter law firms.

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Interracial marraiges are increasing since the Supreme Court made antimiscegenation laws unconstituional in 1967. According to a new report by the Pew Research Center- based on historical data and Census Bureau information of the annual American Community Survey- 15% of all new marraiges in 2010 were between people of different race, ethnicity or color. This is double what it was in 1980. Of the total people married in 2010, 9% of whites, 17% of blacks, 26% of Hispanics and 28% of Asians were married outside of the ethnic and racial group. Interracial marraiges were more common in western states and in the northeastern U.S. compared to the southern and midwestern states. In the western states 22% of all marraiges were between people of different ethnic or racial groups or color. College educated people under 30 were the most open to interracial marraige.

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BUSH AND E85- ITS UPTO MARKET ECONOMICS, NO DIRECT ACTION AS IN BRAZIL. U.S. oil companies are skeptical about E85 and are not investing in pumps and filling stations. Only 800 of 17,000 gasoline filling stations in the U.S. have ethanol. Unless required to do so station owners are not likely to invest thousands of dollars in ethanol pumps. In Brazil the government took direct action to promote ethanol use, giving sugar cane companies cut rate loans and guaranteed prices for the product, and it required state run Petrobras to make ethanol available at filling stations. The cost auto companies say in this article is only about $100 extra per vehicle for extra anticorrosive materials and computer sensors for ethanol capable cars. With market economics and no direct government action the picture is fuzzy how the whole E85 project is going to come out.

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The strategies of the U.S. Justice Department in the probe into VW emissions cheating includes novel use of the civil financial fraud law Firrea. A multi front investigation is taking place, with each agency including the EPA and Justice Department, German prosecutors, all expanding their action to demonstrate effectiveness in enforcing the law. VW has set aside $7.3 billion for legal settlements and now admits to a "chain of mistakes," and a "culture of tolerance" for breaking rules leading to the cheating.

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U.S. Secretary of State Kerry visits Tunisia in Nov. 2015 and offers economic aid with $500 million in loan guarantees.

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The US Justice Department has its case against Google- US et al v. Google. 

Ms. Wood said in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

“Google is not here because they are big, they are here because they used that size to crush competition.”

US says Google rigged the rules to profit immensely from the arrangements it made after acquisition of Double Click in 2008, so that it controls every link in the chain for the software that sells adspace online, Ms. Wood for the US told Judge Leonie Brinkema on September 9, 2024.

Tech monopolies have acted in ways that have hurt the interests of the American people, in a way that Big Pharma, Big Oil, and other industries have acted to focus on profit at the expense of The People of America.

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The Federal Trade Commission says food companies in the U.S. spent $2.3 billion in 2006 for advertising to children. With the epidemic in childhood obesity in the U.S., this raises serious questions about how product packaging, images and themes affect the eating behaviour of children. New guidelines have now been written at the request of Congress. They were written by the F.T.C., the Food and Drug Administration, the Agriculture Department, and the Centers for Disease Control. The regulatory agencies say they will take comments and consider changes before submitting a report to Congress. The guidelines call for foods advertised to children to include healthy ingredients such as whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, or low fat milk. The foods cannot contain unhealthy amounts of sugar, saturated fat, trans fat and salt. The sugar requirement would have cereals contain no more than 8 grams of added sugar per serving. Fruit Loops for example contains 12 grams of sugar per serving. The guidelines apply to both children and teenagers. However these guidelines are voluntary. At this time an industry led effort has not produced results. The Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, which is operated by the industry, lets each company set its own nutritional criteria. The regulatory agencies see the need for the food industry to follow a uniform set of standards. Without serious action on this issue the U.S. healthcare system will continue to be burdened with high rates of obesity related illnesses in the general population, and out of control costs. And the U.S. will continue to face the urgent problem of a lack of healthy eating habits of children teenagers, and adults....

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Since mid-2014 the dollar has strengthened by 19% against the euro and 17% against the Japanese yen. This is putting new pressure on American manufacturers to come up with efficiency improvements to cut costs and move into markets with better pricing power. This will increase in importance in 2015-2016 as the euro moves towards parity with the U.S. dollar increasing the competitiveness of German and other European manufacturers. The Japanese yen at 116 to the dollar in Jan 2015 gives Japanese manufacturers an edge in pricing competitiveness.