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With surplus talent, lower longevity rates and a small industrial base economy China could work for decades with a 1950's policy of men's retirement age set at 60 years and women at 50 years. This is changing as society ages rapidly, people living longer and a large industrial base economy.

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Cases in Germany rise exponentially in a third wave of coronavirus. The Times shows the old square in Prague with thousands of crosses painted on it to commemorate the first anniversary of the first death from coronavirus. A woman and a girl arrive with flowers to the Old Town Square in Prague. France Germany and other parts of the EU all face a surge in cases.

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Dan Balz of the WP points out the effect of the bruising campaign with Bernie Sanders on Hillary Clinton's negative perceptions by April 2016- with the references to her fund raising speeches on Wall Street and on other issues. The NBC/WSJ poll in April 2016 shows her with minus 40 negative ratings among men, mimus 72 among white men, among women minus 9 points and minus 25 points among white women. With minorities her net poitive with Latinos has dropped from 21 points positive in the first quarter to 2 points positive, and for African Americans dropped from 64 points positive plus to 51 points positive.

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This WSJ report looks at the U.S. unemployment report showing unemployment rate dropping from 14.7% to 13.3%. The hardest hit leisure and hospitality industry is rebounding first with the largest gains in jobs as the economy recovers. 1.4 million jobs were added in this sector. Construction is lso coming back with 464,0000 jobs added, Unemployment for Hispanics and Blacks is higher than for whites. Black unemployment rate is steady at 16.8%, Hispanic unemployment at 17.6% down from about 19%. Women are showing higher unemployment rate than men, partly reflecting their higher numbers in the leisure and hospitality, education sectors where social distancing measures are needed becauseof social contact.

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Russia's economic growth is estimated by the Finance Ministry at 2.1% for 2017, the first year of growth after the recession of 2014. Putin is up for re-election in March 2018, after the elections in 2012 were marred by protests. Consumer demand is up and the main reason for sustained growth that is expected. This is a favorable environment for the election. Though incomes are hit, Putin remains a favored candidate by two thirds of voters, according to polling by Levada Center. The changes needed include moving up the retirement age from today's 55 years for women,and 60 for men.

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WSJ investigations of Facebook and Instagram showed how these social media companies business activity was damaging to young women's health in the US, Europe and other countries. Because of the reach of social media companies into the lives of millions of young people the damage was serious and extensive. This report in the WSJ describes the activities of management at Facebook and the resignation of one of the key executives from burnout herself. This WSJ report says that during the WSJ series on the investigations this and other key executives remained silent on the issues facing young women for mental health in the use of Facebook products.  One WSJ report in 2021 said that company documents showed Facebook knew that the company's products were toxic for teenage girls. Other issues emerged in the WSJ investigations such as the Outrage Algorithm which the WSJ says was made by tweaking some aspects of the company's algorithm as a way to counter dropping user engagement. This led to much angrier discourse on Facebook according to WSJ and other reports. The experiences at Facebook reflect the general experience of this period in 2000-2015 when business management shifted to an entirely different conception of business that ignored the importance of human values in the blind pursuit of rapid growth, profits to make acquisitions of smaller companies for further growth creating monopolistic firms. This extended to disruptions of democratic process with the Cambridge Analytica access to records of data of 87 million Facebook users as reported in WSJ, that were used to target social media users in the period leading to the 2018 election. With such activities the risks could be seen to the democratic process itself in addition to mental health by the emergence of social media in the short period of a dangerous decade 2010-2020, when there was little or no regulation of this medium.   ...

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This editorial in the WSJ in April 2016 points to Donald Trump's negative perceptions among women at above 75% that make him a bad choice as Republican nominee in 2016.

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Jack Draper of Britain joins the ranks of inspiring British sports athletes such as Brayshaw of the British women's Olympic rowing team who had suffered injuries in an accident to come back for the gold medal. Draper after suffering hip pain flareup and much preparation, hard work, gets to the finals of the Indian Wells Open to bean Rune of Denmark. Draper had no sign of nerves throughout his game. He had struggled in pre-season with flareups of hip pain. “I felt like I deserve it, in all honesty. The amount of adversity I’ve been through, the amount of sacrifices and time all the people around me have put in and the hard work, it’s an emotional feeling to know how much you’ve gone through and put in. To be here now and say I’m going to be No 7 in the world, honestly I can’t tell you how much that means to me.” Draper acknowledged the efforts of his team in a picture shown here in The Times. About his own effort Draper says- “I wasn’t expecting this. I put in a lot of work over time. I am just so grateful and so happy to be out there and able to play with my body feeling healthy and my mind feeling great. Just all the work I have done in the last few years, it feels like it is coming together on the big stage." In 2022 a new player 19 year old Carlos Alacaraz of Spain burst into the top ten by winning the US Open over 23 year old Casper Ruud of Norway. In 2025  23 year old Jack Draper of Britain beat Alcaraz and 21 year old Rune of Denmark to win the finals 6-2, 6-2 of the Indian Wells US tennis championship. There is now a generational shift in tennis. And not just men's tennis. The women's tennis final was won by 17 year old Mira Andreeva of Russia after losing the first set to Sabalenka 6-1, she maintained composure after a toilet break to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. ...

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When Ruth Bader Ginsburg started law school in 1956 women represented 3% of the legal profession in the U.S. It is about one third today.

A piece of advice from her mother in law has served Ginsburg well all these years. She told Ginsburg "in every good marraige it helps sometimes to be a little deaf." Meaning that if an unkind word or thoughtless word is spoken to you best to tune it out and go on anyway. This helps in the workplace. Reacting to someone's unkind words will not advance one's ability to persuade. This is why people of all kinds of persuasion and opinions liked Ginsburg including at the court her complete opposite Justice Scalia. Something we can all learn from Ginsburg.

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Eighteen year old Bianca Andreescu, part Romanian, playing for Canada in the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, a teenager with poise and creativity, wins against veteran player Serena Williams 6-3, 7-5. Martina Navratilova, who with Margaret Court is one of the women's tennis great players, describes Andreescu's game as so refreshing and old fashioned because it is the creative game that was played by fellow Romanian Ilie Nastase and players like Rod Laver and John Newcombe from another era. In a highly creative game with poise and variety of shots Andrescu is bringing back the game to what it once was. In today's game, says Navratilova, players stay on the baseline and play similar shots till something happens. Andrescu intelligently and creatively used a variety of shots, making it fun to watch her play.

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James Q. Wilson points to the link between educational levels and inequality. He says the poor face too few skills and too few opportunities. The link with education is critical. He cites information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which show that between 1979 and 2010, hourly wages for those with a college degree went up 33% for men and 20% for women. For those without a high school diploma wages declined 31% for men and 9% for women. It appears that men have been more adversely affected than women. Minorities have done poorly especially Hispanics and Blacks. Social factors such as unwed mothers aggravate conditions for the bottom fifth in incomes. As the demographics of America shift to higher population of Hispanic immigrants, the situation worsens. High schools in Hispanic areas of New York city with high dropout rates, to take one example, can affect income inequality as more immigrants take jobs at the minimum wage level. The 2008 financial crisis has also taken a higher toll on minorities and people with modest incomes by reducing their savings and through the large number of home foreclosures....

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China bans smoking in public places in June 2015. The authorites say unlike previous bans before the Olympics this one will be enforced. The damage to public health is immense, with about one third of smokers in the world in China. Public spaces include restaurants, offices, bars, nightclubs, airports and trains. Included also are areas around schools and hospitals. There are 301 million smokers in China, according to the World Health Organization. About 53% of men and 2.4% of women smoke regularly, and this contributes to 1 million deaths from heart disease, cancer and other diseases. WHO estimates about 100,000 deaths from second hand smoke. About 28.1% of the population are smokers, based on the 2010 survey. The survey was organized by the WHO and China's Center for Disease Prevention and Control. The figure of 2.4% shows women are less affected than men by the damage done to public health. Women also are leading the way to fight smoking and effects of second hand smoke. People in Beijing already have to deal with the effects of pollution in the air they breathe, and are keen on eliminating the additional harmful effects of secondhand smoke added to this....

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More than 6.7 million persons are displaced inside Ukraine most of them from the war torn eastern part of Ukraine, and most of them women and children. In addition over 3 million are refugees in neighboring countries such as Slovakia and Poland. 

The war is now extending to the Donetsk region with about half of the population of the population in eastern Ukraine having left that region for safety in central and western Ukraine. The rolling farmland and old coal mines of the region, the destroyed infrastructure and industrial facilities, make the area of no use to Russian forces. A fraction of the Russian population in the area has also left says this report in the NYT. 

The scale of the damage and the refugee situation is hard to imagine and can be seen in the pictures in this NYT report. Boarding trains and buses civilians have poured out of cities in eastern Ukraine where the war has intensified.
 

 

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Derek Blasberg gives this interview with Lauren Sanchez, partner of Jeff Bezos, and a helicopter pilot with an exuberant personality. She talks about her career in media with Barbara Walters and in LA morning shows on television. She took up flying and is now part of a team preparing for a trip into space in a team of five women. Both Bezos and Sanchez are from New Mexico and were born in the same hospital six years apart, says Sanchez. After a helicopter accident Bezos recovered and gained the confidence to fly again with the help of Sanchez. He is currently in the process of getting his own pilot's license. She is an exuberant and active parent who calls gatherings of her kids and Bezos's kids The Brady Bunch. Both are fervent about climate change prevention and plan $10 billion in donations to help climate change prevention. The interview suggests that people with personalities that are opposite one exuberant (Lauren Sanchez) and one introverted (Jeff Bezos) can find something that brings them together. ...

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PM Modi tells parliament in a reply to the president's address yesterday laying out the government's program, that if India operated at the speed of previous governments before 2014 it would take three decades to get to No.3 in the world's economies. Instead India plans to move from the 5th largest economy in the world to No.3 by 2030. He pointed to the investments that the government had made in providing housing, income support, water, on a scale uparalleled in history to bring 250 million people out of poverty. The four pillars of the programs are Nari Shakti women's progress, Yuva Shakti youth progress, Anna Data farmers progress, and strengthening the industrial infrastructure of the country. The prime minister pointed to previous prime ministers having doubts about what India could achieve in the community of nations and compared it to the convictions, the hard work and the single minded determination of the people driving progress today who have no such doubts. ...

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How the expression "owning the libs" found its way into the current vocabulary and its meaning today. Seen as it relates to the Republican party and choices of some sections of the party to overemphasize the importance of so called culture wars on the difference of opinion about abortion and women, immigration, diversity. This happens in the context of the larger issues of national importance of national character, America's leadership in the world, America's position in science and technology in the world, American education, fighting climate change and rebuilding the nation's infrastructure. After the Ukraine war, differences with China, and the reorganization of America's supply chain in the world reducing concentration in China, creating new opportunities for America in science and technology leadership, a new attitude is taking hold. One that deemphasizes this type of "owning the libs" discourse that leads nowhere in rebuilding America to rebuilding America and also its European and Asian allies to prepare for a better, hope filled future. ...

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Jeannie Rice runs Marathons at 77 years and has amazing physiology. Aerobic fitness and endurance capacity of a 25 year old. Her inspiration is Joan Benoit Samuelson who won gold at the inaugural Olympic women's marathon in 1984. Joan Benoit who is 67 says now it is she who is inspired by Rice. When exercise is done at a good level over the adult lifespan it results in cardiovascular and physical endurance and capacity to perform at a high level.  Jeannie Benoit's diet- avoid sweets and fried foods and eat lots of salads, fresh vegetables, rice, fish and nuts., some cheese. Her passion: loves running and wants to inspire young people. She also goes out socially to have fun and relax. Her personal goal - to inspire older runners. She says- “I feel as young as when I was 50, and I’d like to be doing this well into my 80s. That’s my personal goal." ...

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Since ancient times the Japanese have believed a life force exists in all creations. Nakahara learned to value all things from an early age, says this NHK Japan video of a woman who settled in a mountain region of Japan thirty years ago after living in the city. In her weaving of cloth, dyeing, and making clothing she practices a zero waste lifestyle that inspires all around her. She uses pampas grass in her backyard for making dyes and makes the cloth using traditional handicraft weaving equipment. Click on Original Article for the NHK video.

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Mr Biden's bold vision for the US in infrastructure, in health and education, in competing in the world is outlined in this video in the NYT of his address to the joint session of the US Congress in April 2021. Biden is determined to move quickly and this comes across in the first 100 days. He says he "has never been more optimistic and confident about America."

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In this address to Congress in April 2021 US president Biden offers his plan to invest in American families and people. He calls it "a blue collar blueprint to build America." It also comes from a blue collar family to which Biden belongs with generations of American workers in the Biden family in the last hundred years who built America in the past.