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Orlik cites a 2011 survey from China's South Western University of Finance and Economics, which surveyed 8000 households and found that 55% of Chinese households had little or no savings for that year. 10% of households control 86% of wealth and 56% of household income. Surveys in 1995 and 2002 showed 10% of households controlled 31% and 41% of wealth. In the U.S. top 10% of households control 74% of the wealth, according to the Federal Reserve figures. What this means, says Orlik, is that before China can shift to consumption based growth the low incomes of the majority of households have to go up, requiring a major policy shift. Under current policies and even with movement in the direction of the DRC/World Bank policy report for China for a gradual shift away from state owned enterprises, there is little prospect for rebalancing the world economy.

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Krugman points out that the inflation adjusted wages of non-supervisory workers in the retail field in America has declined by 30% since 1973. He says there are no adverse effects on unemployment because workers in retail are not competing with workers in other countries as happens in manufacturing. They are also some of the lowest paid workers to begin with, and the numbers are not small. One estimate is that here are 30 million workers who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage from the current level of $7.25 to $10.10. State by state comparisons provide proof of this as no evidence of losses in employment are to be seen when one state has raised the minimum wage and another neighboring state has not. Germany is facing a similiar problem of low paid temporary workers and a new coalition government is planning an increase in the minimum wage in 2014 as a response to increasing inequality and disparity in incomes developing in the last two decades.

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Ajaz Patel comes from a humble background in Mumbai before moving to New Zealand as a child. Here he recalls the excitement of getting his first cricket spikes. His father worked at his brother's automotive shop in the new country and his mother was a schoolteacher.

Ajaz did the incredible feat of getting all 10 wickets with spin bowling at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai in his first innings bowling for New Zealand. Like Jim Laker 10 for 53 against Australia in 1956, and Anil Kumble with 10 wickets against Pakistan, Ajaz's effort is a result of hard work, patience, and knowhow, says this report in The Times. And in Azaz's situation he had less experience as his first Test match was played at age 30 years. 

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The amazing and unbelievable story of Oakland situated on San Francisco Bay with some of the worst illegal dumping of trash in the nation, 18 million pounds of illegally dumped trash dumped each year is the City of Oakland estimate. This NYT report says two thirds of it comes from local residents and businesses. The problem spiked in 2020 and has not improved much says this NYT report on this city in Northern California, where to the east of it there are hiking trails through redwood forests and natural beauty.

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Jens Weidmann becomes the new president of the German central bank, taking over from Axel Weber. Weber was critical of the ECB's bond buying program for Greece and other countries facing a deficit crisis, to which he alluded when he said at the handover ceremony- "at times we struggled with one another in light of difficult and far reaching decisions- not over the common goal, but how to reach it." Weidmann was an advisor to Chancellor Merkel. He is a student of Weber and the youngest President of the Bundesbank. He brings a measure of flexibility and trust for Merkel, as he was part of her inner circle of advisors.

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Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post cites the Pew poll of September 3-7, 2015, on the Iran nuclear deal of July 2015, showing increase in skepticism about the deal's provisions by people who are informed to some extent (a little or a lot) about its details- 57% opposing to 27% supporting. The strongly partisan opinion on the issue, and the lobbying on both sides, including bringing Iraq WMD into the picture as noted by Dana Milbank in another column in the Washington Post, overstates each case. This draws attention away from the actual provisions. About 30% have no opinion it appears because the issue of this magnitude involving nuclear weapons proliferation has become politicized when it should be examined only on its merits, where public opinion would be shaped by the details of the deal itself, not who has negotiated it. The Pew Research Center poll shows 21% support the agreement negotiated with Iran, 49% disapprove, 30% offer no opinion. This compares with a poll taken 6 weeks before in July 2015 showing 33% supporting it and 45% opposing it. ...

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The BBC looks at the mental health challenges in the workplace and the stigma around it. The pandemic has created its own set of new challenges. Getting more people to talk about wellness struggles is  a critical part of these challenges. 

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Putin's reaction to the falling ruble with declining oil prices adding to the impact of sanctions on the Russian economy is to blame the Western countries for a "civilizational" conflict against Russia that is centuries old. President Obama speaking about the same time to a Business Roundtable meeting says Putin was taken by surprise during the changes in Ukraine and has improvised his way since then, using Russian nationalism in a way that is taking the country backwards in history. Merkel makes the same point and says the Federal Republic of Germany has taken a new positive direction, learning from past history. This has led to a loss of credibility for Putin as seen at the G-20 meeting in Australia in 2014, as the opening of the Russian economy and the efforts to improve Russia's standard of living in an atmosphere of trust and international cooperation is replaced with distrust and misgivings by these policy improvisations.

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The new iX3 will run 497 miles on a single charge and shows BMW's effort to reinvent the car from the ground up says it's CEO. Mercedes electric GLC will run for 457 miles on a single charge, competing at $80,000 with the Model Y of Tesla which does 387 miles at over $60,000. Mercedes GLC price is still to be decided. Tesla has lost a third of it's market volume in the European market. The newer versions of Mercedes and BMW join VW's own models that compete at the lower end of the price range which today is close to $30,000-$40,000. Earlier reports in WSJ show the German models are competing for dominant share in Europe.

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Under the current bankruptcy settlement plan of Judge Rhodes bondholders would get $1 for every $5 and pension cuts for ununiformed workers would be about 30%. A library clerk for example could see a pension cut of $400 in a $1400 pension. Retired Detroit firefighters and police would see smaller cuts of 10%. The Detroit bankruptcy is being closely watched as other cities an local governments are facing similiar problems. As part of the plan $1.5 billion would be spent on reducing blight and improvements in the city. About 40% of Detroit streetlights are broken and police response time is about 1 hour. One reader says the unions sent companies to low cost regions and stuck Detroit with the bill. After the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler the city shaw a sharp decline and many people left the city reducing its tax base and worsening urban blight. The events in Detroit are being watched around the country and had an impact in the vote at the VW plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where former mayor Corker cited the situation in Detroit as an issue....

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Lt. Gen Zahir ul-Islam takes over as director general of the ISI, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, a key part of Pakstan's Army. The role of Army chief Kayani and ul-Islam now become critical in forging a U.S. peace settlement in Afghanistan.

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China's economic growth has slowed further to 6.1% for 2019 following trade tensions and tariff war with the U.S. Further decline in economic growth is expected.

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Stephen Friedman's positions at Goldman Sachs and the New York Federal Reserve.

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Problems facing Saudi Arabia in 2015 as King Salman, 79, takes over are an aging leadership, and lack of new solutions to problems facing the economy overly dependent on oil revenues and social spending. Like other Persian Gulf economies the oil sector makes up a large part of GDP- 44% for Saudi Arabia, and 59% for Kuwait. Under King Salman policies will remain the same as under King Abdullah. Social spending was boosted after the protests and political change in the Middle East in 2012-2013. Even with a drop in oil prices to below $50 a barrel high social spending and reliance on public sector jobs to meet the employment needs of young Saudis will continue. Young people under 25 years make up 47% of the Saudi population of 29 million. No new income streams are being pursued and taxation is not even considered as an option. The private sector is led by non-Saudis and is under financed with most employment generated in the public sector. Growing oil consumption inside the kingdom with its growing population is also likely to reduce the quantity of oil available for export in the long term. Reserves of $750 billion provide a buffer for now, but long term Saudi Arabia faces a structural deficit, says Steffen Hertog, an expert on Persian Gulf political economics, at the London School of Economics. ...

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Boris Johnson resigns as Foreign Secretary, following the resignation of David Davis on July 9, 2018. Rebel Tory MP's who reject the soft Brexit plan of prime minister Theresa May will force a vote of no confidence in her government.

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VW opens a new plant in Russia to manufacture 150,000 cars in 2009. Russian sales of foreign brands went up by 65% in 2008. The sales there are 2.4 million vehicles. With the number of cars at 180 per 1000 people, compared to 552 in Germany, most cars on the road already 10 years old, and with a population 1.7 times the size of Germany's, the potential for sales in Russia are significant. VW plans to produce the Octavia and Passat models , later adding Polo and Skoda Fabia models. VW hopes to increase sales in Russia from 3.2% to 10% by 2010, to catchup wth Toyota which also opened a new factory near St Petersburg. In 2008 Toyota sold more than twice the number of cars sold by VW. See VW's progress in other areas in the link to Skoda. The Octavia which it will bring to the Russian market is a success story from VW's Skoda operations in Czech Republic.This is a lower cost vehicle compared with VW's other models. VW is one of the fastest growing brands in Europe, ahead of Toyota, and it does very well in Poland and in Eastern Europe. It is the leading brand in China, ahead of GM. ...

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IMF is taking on a new role as the staff of the G-20 nations. As the G-20 has no staff, no headquarters, no offices, the IMF is being asked to tke on this role.

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This report in the NYT looks at the support for the AfD stalled at about 11% nationwide but closer to twice that in East Germany where years of neglect have led to voters shifting to far right parties. The view is presented that there is a core hard right of 10%. Yet it ignores or prefers to overlook what happened in the east which provides the real clues to what happened, so that future policy could be designed to address social goals in a way that never happened in Germany. This is in line with developments in China where president Xi is addressing social goals after years of tech and infrastructure expansion that neglected rural areas and urban poor. It is in line also with the same action taken to address social goals in US president Biden's $3.5 trillion workers and families plan. Social Democrats under Mr. Scholz and a younger generation represented by the Greens have the same challenges facing them to come up with the plans to correct these problems in Germany and with a plan designed for the neglected eastern part of the country. Helmut Kohl pushed for reunification of Germany. With the collapse of the Berlin Wall the momentum was set for this to happen. Yet looking back over that period since 1990, German chancellors and administrations for three decades from both CDU and SPD have failed to invest and create opportunities in eastern part of Germany. It makes German reunification an empty concept looked at from outside. The previous administrations including Kohl and Merkel relied too much on market capitalism to do what it has been shown not capable of doing- tackling social goals and economic crises, much less  political storms such as creation of GDR following Soviet army entering Berlinin 1945. Much commentary on the issues in east Germany show people there left to themselves after mass migration out of the east to the west leaving older people and pensioners in the east, and a sense of being ignored or forgotten. US president Biden said today in ther UN General Assembly- "Our shared grief is a poignant reminder that our collective future will hinge on our ability to recognize our common humanity and to act together." And he went on to say the next ten years to 2030 "will quite literally determine our futures."  The Social Democrats under Scholz and the Greens under Baerbock and Habeck have to come up with plans and programs that will increase ease of living and opportunities for a thriving eastern part of Germany, after the failures of market capitalism in its unregulated form during the Merkel years and predecessor administrations. ...

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This report in the WSJ says the Artemis test launch on Monday  for the Space Launch System developed by Boeing gives the company a new chance to regain credibility in the space field. This rocket is supposed to launch the Orion spacecraft towards the Moon without crew and by 2025 with astronauts in Artemis missions.

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NBC News division brings back Andrew Lack 20 years later to run the division. Lack had success at NBC News during the days of Tom Brokaw at the news division. He faces a different situation now with the rise of digital media, the decline in ratings of MSNBC, and other problems including the Brian Williams episode. Lack worked at Sony Music, Bloomberg, and Voice of America, but was never at home the way he was at NBC News. At Bloomberg his goal of increasing viewership was never realized, and Bloomberg remains a small television channel.

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The title is misplaced- does India have an edge with development in Uttar Pradesh after many administrations since Jawaharlal Nehru's time in his home city of Allahabad. Can water and electricity, Jal Jeevan and Swacch Bharat (Clean India) make a difference in India's largest state. Is development for all impartially given, funds impartially allocated indifference shown to caste and religious lines for delivery of services by the state and federal governments? India and China were at about the same place in 1990 as both countries opened up- can India close the gap. Can Indians stretch the imagination to set stretch goals like China has done. Most of the Indians who fail to stretch the imagination fail to remember that Beijing was mostly filled with bicycles for transport during 1990. China remained undaunted in 1990, she persevered against all the odds. So must India. In the US and European Union competition with China it looks to India for restructuring the supply chain. Is Uttar Pradesh a good place for domestic and foreign investment? Water and electricity goals are being achieved in Uttar Pradesh. Fundamental to development is the rule of law, as this sets the basis for development. Adequate infrastructure, a clean India, is what creates a good climate for investment from outside the state and from other countries such as Japan, the US and Germany. Uttar Pradesh now has the potential to lead the way.    ...