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Tim Kaine tells the audience at the Democratic National Convention that Hillary Clinton was in Spanish "lista" which means ready, the biggest compliment he said in Latin American life from his days in Honduras. He used Spanish frequently during his speech at the convention.  Kaine wins good marks for his knowledge of Spanish. Other politicians have used Spanish in an awkward way, failing to sound authentic, including president George W. Bush and Mayor De Blasio of New York.

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The Medicare for All movement in the U.S. gathers momentum after the U.S. midterm elections with states. Governor Newsom of California says he will seek federal authority to setup a state single payer plan for health insurance. An expert at Georgetown University says there is a new burst of energy for broader coverage or universal health coverage. States with new governors or seeing this momentum are California, Washington, New Mexico, Maine, Nevada, Delaware, Oregon, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois. Polls show a large majority of Americans now support Medicare for All as a form of universal health coverage for all Americans, a system that prevalent in Canada for the last 50 years. Two hearings will be held in Congress on Medicare for All in 2019.

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Ted Cruz is seen as the most pro-Israel of the Republican candidates for president. Pro-Israel groups are joining to fund his campaign for president after his win in the Wisconsin primary. Sheldon Adelson is one of the donors sought by the Cruz campaign. Paul Singer and the Ricketts family have funded super PACs that have financed the anti-Trump movement's advertising efforts, but not directly supported Cruz. Cruz is trying to change this following the win in the Wisconsin primary seen as the turning point in the election campaign. Cruz added to the bit of humor about the Cruz campaign on the late night show "Jimmy Kimmel Live," with this exchange: Kimmel saying that Cruz simply held out till these donors found someone they liked less than Cruz. "There you go. its a powerful strategy," said Cruz. Even backers trying to recruit new donors are aware of Cruz's ideologue reputation, saying he is still the "good designated driver" after the party. Cruz has put forward the economic message of Jobs, Growth and Opportunity, as he broadens his appeal outside the conservative values base following the Wisconsin primary....

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Andrew Ross Sorkin describes the role of Carly Fiorina at Hewlett Packard (HP) as more of a liability for the company than an asset. The aggressive acquisition strategy, with the acquisition of Compaq, failed, says Sorkin.

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This exceptional report in the New York Times shows the results of a NYT investigation into Trump's taxes. Trump used a $916 million loss on his tax return for 1995. This was at a time when casino losses had mounted in Atlantic City and Trump was having financial difficulties. Trump used a tax avoidance maneuvre that was considered stretching the law by tax experts. Under tax law when debt is cancelled it has to be reported as taxable income. When Trump had some of this debt cancelled for his casinos, he would normally have had to show it as taxable income. He used a tax maneuvre to not show this taxable income- to be able to show a loss of the magnitude of $916 million for 1995 tax returns. The cancelled debt would make it possible to wipe out $50 million in taxable income for 18 years, says the NYT report. Trump used the losses of $916 million to offset other income from branding, television. Trump's debate comments to Hillary Clinton was why she had not closed the loopholes he had used. Hillary Clinton was one of the senators who had this loophole closed when legislation was passed in 2004. According to Mr. Buckley, the former chief of staff for Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation, this violated a key principle of American tax law, that you cannot deduct someone else's losses. Only the bondholders for the casinos who cancelled some of Trump's debt should be allowed to use these losses according to that principle. So Buckley says of Trump's tax return maneuvring- that "he was double dipping big time." What does it mean for the average citizen- it simply increases his tax burden. ...

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World leaders including president Obama attend the funeral of Israel's former president Shimon Peres. He is known for negotiating the Oslo Peace Accords in 1994. He was a protege of prime minister Ben Gurion, and has served as prime minister, defense minister and foreign minister, and been part of the Israel's key events since independence in 1948. President Obama  said the work of Shimon Peres remains unfinished. "Now this work is in the hands of Israel's next generation, in the hands of Israel's next generation and its friends." In the years following the 1994 accords the peace process went astray, and trust has not been restored.

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White drives a Chrysler 300 sedan diesel powered and made for European use, fast enough to go past speed limit but still gives an average of 28 miles in city and highway driving. The EPA rating for this car is 22 miles per gallon in its US V-6 model, so the Chrysler CRD 300 made for Europe has a 27% fuel efficiency advantage over its American counterpart. White borrowed it from a friend who was showing European diesel technology in the U.S. Cleaner diesel technology is spotlighted in this test drive. Also attention is drawn to fuel availability. This fall oil companies will be required to supply Americans at the gas pump with low sulfur diesel fuels on which the diesel cars with the clean diesel technology run, for cars like the Chrysler CRD 300. Automakers from Japan, Europe and the US are looking to transfer this technology developed for Europe to the US, with some improvements to meet American environmental standards, especially in lare sedans, SUV's and pickups. The statistics for US diesel use on the road are as follows: 1. About 3-4% of light vehicles in the US run on diesel. White quotes industry executives as comfortable with a JD Power estimate of diesel use by 2010-2012, or about 6-8 year horizon of 10% of all passenger vehicles. 2. John Moulton, president of the powertrain division of Robert Bosch Gmbh, forecast diesel use by 15% of the passenger vehicles in the U.S. by 2015. Use in Europe is about 50% by comparison. 3. Usage of diesel will be highest in the bigger cars and vehicles . This is where the 20-30% savings in fuel cost would be substantial enough to cover the $2000-$6000 additional cost for the diesel powered vehicles using the latest clean diesel technology. DaimlerChrysler is already moving forward with coming up with versions of the diesel models used in Europe for the American market. VW currently is the leader in the American market. About 20% of VW's sold in April 2006 use diesel. This is going up every year 12% in 2004, 14% in 2005. In 2008 VW will have all its mainstream models available in all 50 states in diesel versions. ...

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Clements provides an exceptionally useful reasoning for the average investor to give an important role to high dividend paying stocks in retirement planning. This applies to today's low interest environment with stock market volatility. The higher dividends help reduce the need to sell stocks in a volatile stock market and limit this to occasional selling. Using estimates from Yale Prof. Shiller's website for past 100 years data diversified U.S. stocks with high dividends pay about 4.4% in annual dividends outpacing the inflation average of 3.2%, and 5.6% appreciation in value of the stock each year. This helps preserve retirement capital. As many high dividend large cap stocks are also value stocks there is an additional value effect in holding these stocks.

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The sixth Republican television debate showed Ted Cruz and Donald Trump debating each other vigorously, and New Jersey governor Christie also making effective points. Topics discussed included whether birth would be an issue for Cruz, and "New York values." Candidates focussed attention on Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front runner.

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Dan Balz describes the resilience of Donald Trump's candidacy, and the contest between Cruz and Trump, both tapping into anger at the grassroots. He points to the little headway made by the other candidates, Rubio, Kasich, Bush and Carson. Trump's high moment was when he described the way New Yorkers handled the 9/11 collapse of the World Trade Center and other buildings. Cruz passionately handled questions on the birth issue- being born of an American mother in Canada- and the loan from Goldman Sachs, coming out stronger than before.