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Walker of the WSJ describes how the new issues of immigration and identity are changing the way people vote in European Union countries. In the Dutch election there were other surprises. The Dutch Labor Party which won 25% of the vote in the 2012 elections fared badly and got only 6% of the vote. Much of this vote was picked up by antipopulist parties such as the Greens. Mr. Rutte, the prime minister under the current government, and his party centre right VVD won 21% of the vote. Social Democrats and Labor parties in Netherlands, France and Britain are doing badly, and even Martin Schulz's SPD's higher popularity is said to be reaching a peak and may not last till September, says Walker. Labor Party in Netherlands failed because of its participation as a junior party in a centre right government following austerity policies, say analysts. Overall as shown in Netherlands the tensions and loss of credibility of social democrats is playing out differently in each country. The Netherlands election shows that there is also an anti-populist shift that moves some of the vote from social democrats to parties such as Greens, or other parties or movements that have gained credibility as the social democrats faded.  ...

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India has done well with low cost, scalable, low tech solutions in the past. This is also being done now to tackle the coronavirus. This is being used to support what may be the largest lockdown in history. Everyone is expected to remain at home. Only shops selling essential items such as food and pharmaceuticals are allowed to remain open. All but essential offices are closed, with workers told to stay home. Indelible ink that takes two weeks to wash away was widely available following the election. It is being widely used with high numbers of infections having the back of their hand stamped "Home Quarantined." After India announced a nationwide lockdown all wireless carriers were asked by the government to  insert a taped coronavirus health advisory that comes on after callers dial and before the call connects.Th recorded message talks about how to protect against the coronavirus. Prime time news shows are interrupted three times a day for back to back news conferences from the prime minister, and local officials.   ...

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About one third of people in America are living in areas where there is a critical shortage of ICU beds. Deaths in America are averaging 2200 a day on December 8, 2020.

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A lot of little details such as writing emails that are specific and leave out uncertainty, and trusting workers on many day to day details,  can improve the quality of the work environment. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares has a recent interview with the WSJ which is good reading for managers and heads of companies. Search for  the keyword- Tavares or Stellantis. 

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Simo Romero describes the serious self-reflection among Brazilians, as protests against the games and a climate of indifference replaces the euphoria in 2009 of getting to host the Summer Olympics in 2016. About 63 percent of Brazilians believe hosting the Olympics will hurt the country, 51 percent say they are not interested and only 16 percent are enthusiastic about the games, according to polling company Datafolha. The problems Brazil faces now stem from corruption scandals at Petrobras, impeachment proceedings against president Rousseff, and appointment of an interim president Temer, both extremely unpopular. Rio de Janeiro state's finances are in severe condition, and Brazil appears to have wasted the boom years by running up too much debt and not investing in public infrastructure, education, healthcare, and public services. As a result during the Olympics the sailing competition in Guanabara Bay near Rio is faced with the unpleasant problem of raw sewage that has not been cleaned up. Security needs in the Olympics area has led to reduced security in the northeast where prison run gangs operate in some areas against public property. Former president Lula da Silva who was once popular as Brazil experienced the commodities boom is now under investigation related to the corruption at Petrobras.  ...

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Coronavirus testing is being ramped up in the U.S. as the Food and Drug Administration new regulations allow commercial labs to manufacture and distribute  coronavirus tests. Now many players can now acquire and conduct tests including state and local governments, hospitals, universities, and private companies. so that tracking nationwide distribution is still difficult. Deborah Brx the response coordinator of the White House task force on coronavirus says U.S. has completed 220,000 tests in last 8 days.  In New York the scaled up efforts in a region with over half the coronavirus cases in the U.S., 13,000 were tested on Monday, March 23. Some hospitals in New York such as Mount Sinai expect to do double or triple the tests a day in a scaling up effort by March 30. In Los Angeles a city councilman negotiated with a South Korean company for delivery of 100,000 tests a week, having already secured 20,000 new tests. Additionally swabs and protective equipment are also needed to conduct tests and labs need to process results with speed. ...

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The really small cars like the HOnda FIt and the Toyota Yaris and the GM Aveo are piling up on dealer lots as the price of gasoline drops to $2 a gallon from last summer's $4 a gallon. At February end 2009 Honda had 22191 Fits on dealer lots enough to last 125 days at the current sales rate, and Toyota had enough Yaris subcompacts to last 175 days at the current sales rate, according to Autodata Corp. Chrysler has a 205 day supply of the Dodge Caliber, and GM 427 days of Aveo cars. Honda Civics are also piling up. Price shifts and shifts in consumer attention and buying behaviour makes it difficult to plan ahead. The American carmakers have shifted plants to smaller and midsize cars after seeing the disastrous drop in the sales of larger vehicles in the third and fourth quarters of 2008. Now government policy is to mandate fuel efficiency standards, there is talk of agasoline tax, and even the current numbers shows ashift away from the SUV's and larger vehicles of the past. Ford's sales analyst Pipas says that over the 5 months ending February 2009 sales of small cars totaled 718,000. This was down 28% over the same period in 2008, but small cars grew to 18.4% of the total market, up 2.1 points from the year earlier period. Part of this is that overall the market has declined much more than 28%. This also shows that policy in an industry-government partnership will have to show the way that is best for the US, to ensure that oil prices don't go up the way they did, when consumption at the pump was excesssive and fuel standards lax. This should also be done in a partnership with other countries like China and India to ensure that technologies are available worldwide to reduce fuel consumption and promote fuel efficiency, as keeping consumption per passenger for each mile travelled as low as possible will take pressure off the oil price. It would make automobile transportation feasible for a rapidly urbanizing Asia, and by reducing the pressure on price that urbanization and motorization in Asia would bring, help moderate oil prices for western countries. ...

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This exceptional and detailed WPost report by Rosenwald, Boorstein and Clement on Pope Francis's popularity, also shows that on other aspects of the Catholic community's openness in the pews change is slow and gradual. In the parishes and on the pews for practicing Catholics there are not many signs of change. And Catholics who do not go to church are not coming back to the pews in increasing numbers. A slight surge under Pope John Paul II after his visit in 1993 for World Youth Day faded out, and this time the situation with Pope Francis's visit looks to be no different. About 1 in 8 Americans consider themselves former Catholics, according to the 2014 Pew Religious Landscape Survey. The Post-ABC poll of September 7-10, 2015 shows 45% of self-identified Catholics saying they attend Mass about once a week or more frequently, 19% attending monthly, and 35% saying they attend less frequently or never. There is a large gap between Pope Francis's popularity among Catholics with about 75% holding strongly favorable views, compared to 47% strongly favorable for the Catholic Church. Kathleen Cummings of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame, says the difference is because Pope Francis has accentuated the positive. The Pope's own roots in Argentina and his practice of a more humble Catholicism as a bishop, his intermingling with people in the subways in Buenos Aires and in poorer neigborhoods of the city, not only affirms the original teachings of the Church, but also affirms this at a time when the bishops and the Church have drifted away from the original message, in a period of increasing social disparities in the Western World, Latin America and Asia. The Pope has called for helping immigrants, migrants, refugees, the poor, and the environment. Most people in the U.S. are comfortable with the Pope's activism on social issues and saying this before a joint session of Congress in the U.S. on September 25, 2015. To shake up the lethargy in the Church hierarchy Pope Francis described the bishops of the church in the Christmas 2014 message as "lords of the manor, superior to everyone and everything," and having "spiritual Alzheimer's." The extent of support for the Pope's activism shows how the public now views the need for someone of the Pope's stature to speak out on issues of social, economic and environmental change. Only 14% of Americans in the September 2015 Post/ABC poll say Pope Francis should be less active. 30% of Catholics say more active is better, and 50% say continue the way he is. And over half of non-Catholics want him to continue to speak out. Issues of the role of women in the church, abortion and same-sex marraige continue to create differences. By focussing on the original teachings of the church for humility, a humble church, and serving the poor and less fortunate, the Pope has reached the hearts of most Americans and people around the world, in a way unimaginable only a few years before....

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Experts say solar energy costs are going down by 30-40% every time the deployment of solar energy doubles in a country. The Modi administration plans to triple solar energy production in the next 5 years. This investment in solar energy should drive down costs from the $35 per megawatt hour in 2020. Experts say that costs are going down at a rate that was never expected.  For India the courage in making these investments in solar energy since 2010 and accelerated in 2016, are path breaking. This could be a world changing event for India as cost of energy can bring up living standards throughout the country. Gone will be the days when children lacked electric bulb light to read and study in villages in India. It also shows the need to heed Vivekananda's words: "This I have seen in my life- he who is overcautious  about himself falls into dangers at every step; he who is afraid of losing honor and respect, gets only disgrace; he who is always afraid of loss always loses." The pioneers in India pushing forward these new initiatives have listened to these words. ...

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NPR showed this report on December 2, 2022, which pertains to the debt ceiling vote. About a third of Republican pickups in the Congressional elections came from an unexpected place New York state. These moderates 4 from Long Island alone, come from districts where Democrats are a majority and they risk being defeated if they are not careful to let extreme Republicans get their way in a way that offends New York's voters. This has relevance today because 213 Democrats in the House have signed a petition to force a vote in the House. Five moderate Republicans are all it would take to get the 218 votes to pass lifting the debt ceiling.

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Consumer buying habits at Walmart in the last 6 months since the sharp downturn in the economy hit in October 2008. Executives in merchandising at Walmart, Target and other stores discuss trends with the WSJ. There is adisciplined shopper with less browsing on the aisles. FOod is up on the list. Private label groceries at lower cost are selling well. At Walmart sales are up for refrigerated pizza,lower grades of meat. Ground beef and chicken sell way better than steak and beef. And carbohydrates are doing better than protein foods, so that pasta is doing well. Staying at home and entertaining at home is the trend says Fleming of Walmart, from the take and bake pizza at $5 to the movie and popcorn. Which is why the luggage section and trvel is slow, and flat screen tv's are selling well. Vitamins, herbs and plants for vegetable gardens are up as customers try to plant their own vegetable gardens. Car maintenance and repair is big, sales of motor oil, filters and tires. are some of Walmarts big sellers. Whatever makes the car last longer is considered attractive by customers. And home repair items are selling well at Home Depot....

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GM's decision to close the NUMMI plant, a joint venture with Toyota that makes the Pontiac Vibe which is being discontinued, the Corolla, and the Tacoma truck. Its a way to reduce excess capacity for Toyota but also is a sensitive point as Toyoa has pledged to keep plants open. Toyota may decide to make the Prius at NUMMI. About 4600 workerts are employed in the San Francisco Bay area at the NUMMI plant.

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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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The Democratic Party's progressive wing and Mr. Biden support the effort by president Trump for $2000 checks to go to American families as direct payment instead of the paltry $600 approved by McConnell in the Senate and Pelosi in the House. The delay in providing relief has hurt Americans working in retail and restaurants, hotels, and travel, tourism, sectors hard hit by the pandemic lockdowns. To make up for the delay and because the pandemic after the second wave looks to be not just for 2020 but for at least the first half of 2021 $2000 is essential for American  families to support themselves. Food insecurity unknown to Americans for most of the twentieth century has returned in ways that are unimaginable. The same is true for southern Europe as pictures of Barcelona in DW,com show. It is high time both the European Commission and the U.S. Congress get their act together. Partisan press is one thing, and debate is the oxygen of society in a democracy, and making ends meet on a day to day basis is another thing.  Working from home remotely one half of society the professionals may not see the other half, yet they are there as the pictures from Barcelona of people collecting metal and other scrap  on streets for sale to buy food in the El Raval neighborhood show, and the pictures of Americans in long lines at food banks show.  ...

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How yoga, meditation, subtle core stabilisation, pilates and rewiring oneself mentally can support good spinal health. Shown in the picture is the Bridge pose in yoga, a classic that when done regularly is good for spine health, and good for regulating a work day filled with hours using a laptop.

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As in the US with Harris investment in America vs Trump cuts there is a distinct difference between the Tory spending plans that allowed capital spending investment in the economic future of Britain to decline from 2.5% to 1.7% of GDP over 5 years to 2030. Rachel Reeves, Britain's finance minister, says the government will adopt a new rule that changes the way it measures debt- public sector net liabilities as a percentage of GDP is the new fiscal rule. What it does is free up 50 billion pounds Britain badly needs to invest in things like climate change action, education, and other needs of the economy that will brighten Britain's prospects in the future.  “If we continued on that path, we would be embracing a path of decline. The real debate now in British politics is whether you are on the side of investment or on the side of decline. I don’t want to see public sector net investment as a share of our economy decline in a way that is currently set out. Under our current fiscal rules, we would not be able to reverse that path.” The stability rule goes with this that says strictly this money will not be used for tax giveaways, and not for public sector pay deals or the day to day functioning of government. In addition th government will borrow 25 billion pounds to  keep 30 billion pounds of headroom so that debt will keep falling over the first term of this Labour government.   ...

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Chancellor Merkel's now widely quoted words were made in Munich on May 27, 2017, after a NATO summit meeting in Brussels and a Group of 7 meeting in Italy, in which she was disconcerted by U.S. president Trump's positions on NATO, Russia, climate change, and trade. These words "the times in which we could rely fully on others - they are somewhat over." Merkel added "This is what I experienced in the last few days." After the election of Emmanuel Macron in France, Merkel expressed great relief at the outcome of the French election with Macron winning about two thirds of the vote, setting the stage for the election in Germany after several months of difficult watching and waiting. Now there is new confidence in Germany shaping its own future, with France and the rest of the European Union without Britain. Merkel says she "experienced this" meaning that she had undergone a transformation in these few months, and visibly in the last few days. She was also sending a message to Germans and people of the European Union - "we have to know that we must fight for our future on our own, for our destiny as Europeans." This also complements tactically to form the approach of Germany and France at the leadership of the EU, as French president Macron said at the end of the Group of 7 conference that multilateralism was intact, and the U.S. and EU shared many common goals.   ...

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The first rally for Harris in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The road to the presidency goes through Wisconsin and Harris received enthusiastic support with Governor Tony Evers putting it this way-On the Tony Evers excitement scale that goes from ‘holy mackerel’ and maxes out at ‘heck yes,’ I am jazzed as hell to be welcoming our next presidential nominee to Wisconsin: Vice President Kamala Harris.” Harris used the same lines she used in Wilmington at her first rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In her legal career, Harris said, she “took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.” “So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type”  On project 2025, the blueprint for the first 100 days in office of a Trump second term, the action items are ones that would jeopardize the safety of American institutions that were set up with so much care by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and nurtured by the first president George Washington with little attention to himself, and protected by president after president through civil war under Abraham Lincoln, through 2 World Wars and The Great Depression under Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt, through recovery under Harry Truman and Ike, only to falter under a series of mediocre presidents Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama and be endangered by a NBC television show and construction business person with support from new social media networks that were unknown throughout America history till 2010 and television networks that had degenerated into recklessly divisive behaviours to win silo audiences. ...

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On taxes instead of $100 billion a year increase in the deficit that the 2017 tax cut of Biden's predecessor cost the Treasury -which benefited average Americans only $750 a year studies show, and reduced corporate taxes from 35% to 21% shifting billions to large corporations- Biden proposed $500 billon cut in the deficit by putting a 25% tax on 1000 billionaires in the US. Biden's guarantee that no one making less than $400,000 a year would pay an extra penny in taxes. Everyone would be better off, no one worse off. His predecessor's 2017 tax cut did not increase investment spending by companies which remained same as before. "There are 1,000 billionaires in America.   You know what the average federal tax rate for these billionaires is? 8.2 percent!  That’s far less than the vast majority of Americans pay.   No billionaire should pay a lower tax rate than a teacher, a sanitation worker, a nurse!  That’s why I’ve proposed a minimum tax of 25% for billionaires. Just 25%.  That would raise $500 Billion over the next 10 years." Only some of it would pay for the following the rest to cut the deficit- "Imagine what that could do for America. Imagine a future with affordable child care so millions of families can get the care they need and still go to work and help grow the economy.  Imagine a future with paid leave because no one should have to choose between working and taking care of yourself or a sick family member.    Imagine a future with home care and elder care so seniors and people living with disabilities can stay in their homes and family caregivers get paid what they deserve!  Tonight, let’s all agree once again to stand up for seniors! "       ...

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As the first day of talks happens in Brussels between Barnier of the EU and Davis of Britain, EU officials say Britain must meet spending pledges it made of 60 billion euros. Britain says there are different legal views on what is owed. Experts see little chance the two sides can reach an agreement by the deadline of March 2019. With the fragile coalition government in Britain talks appear to be very precarious with no clear view what Brexit means.

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Hundreds of professors in UC university system in math, science and engineering protest removal of the standardized testing for college in California by Governor Newsom. After social justice movements misread what promotes and what doesnt the removal of standardized testing ACT/SAT tests by Governor Newsom is leading to a major disaster- as the number of unprepared students who need remedial help has increased 30 fold. The consequences are dire for the future of science and technology in America says the protest letter by hundreds of UC faculty-  “longer pathways through prerequisite material, reduced readiness for advanced coursework, and growing pressure to dilute quantitative rigor," for University of California system with 200,000 students — educating a huge section of the engineers in America’s universities.  "We now observe preparation gaps so severe that instructors must reteach middle-school mathematics.” “The SAT/ACT mathematics requirement is not an obstacle to equity; rather, it is a prerequisite for it. Failing to measure preparation gaps does not remove barriers; it moves them into the classroom, where they become harder to overcome.” Other points are that stanrdized tests are even more important in the severe grade inflation in 2026, and add AI-assisted application essays. The Washington Post says these are crusades for equity done the wrong way hurting the very students they are designed to help because the time to fix the problem is in the middle and high schools, after that it is impossible and leaves students no path forward. This experiment has failed and is a warning for other crusades for equity on "false pretenses," says The Washington Post. ...

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Mark your calendar for May 29 when You Tube will host screenings  of the virtual film festival from multiple locations- Cannes France, Venice Italy, Berlin Germany, Toronto Canada, and New York. This is the "We Are One- Global Film Festival," with virtual cinema program for 10 days with feature films, documentaries, shorts and round tables. Films can can inspire and bring people in different countries together in a useful virtual format combining many of the best film festivals worldwide.

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The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence in the UK is urging adults to use a tape measure to check that their waist circumference does not exceed half their height. Other BMI guidelines do not provide an accurate measure of body fat and other ways are needed. Waist and height measure are "simple and effective" way to know if someone is overweight, says NICE. Today a majority of people in UK between 45 and 74 years are overweight. This is true in many parts of the world.

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Fed's Bernanke sees cuts and higher taxes by state and local governments combining with higher oil prices slowing the U.S. economy. He told the Citizen's Budget commisson in New York, that in the long run the most important issue in fiscal matters will be whether the composition of the federal budget serves the public interest. And in saying this he emphasized the benefits of early childhood education, preschool programs and lifelong acquisition of skills. He advised states to take anticyclical steps to avoid the impact of boom and bust spending. One way to do this is to build rainy day funds that are then used for capital investment when times are bad.

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The severe impact of sanctions on availability of car parts in Russia is shown here in this Guardian report. Few industries are impacted by Russia's total isolation as the car industry says this report. Car sales in Russia have dropped by 84% according to the Association for European Business and car prices are up 50%. Import substitution is not working for the car industry say experts. The owner of a car repair firm in Moscow says speculation for car parts is rampant with parts cost up by 800% and original oil up 1000%. Reports show counterfeit or stolen parts flooding the market. The airline industry is also impacted by the severe shortage of aircraft parts. One Russian pilot says there are enough aircraft wheels and pads for one month maximum. A manager of Sukhoi Superjet says he gives the Russian airline industry one year if nothing changes. Safety concerns of pilots are being ignored says one pilot. Parts are being cannibalized from older planes for new ones to keep them running. With the nation's automobile and airline industries affected in this way the quality of living is affected in Russia only 3 months into this war. Having a large inflow of revenues from oil and gas for the 6-12 month period that it takes Europe to respond, and a large reserve fund of about $610 billion is not a real reflection of the strength of a country. In today's interconnected system of supply chain no degree of industrial strength would allow a nation to wage war through invasion with impunity without finding itself in severe difficulties for the quality of life in the country as the world community responds. The response is to prevent the wrong lessons being drawn by one nation using full scale war to occupy another nation and getting away with it.    ...