LyrArc Article Gist
The Blinken Wang Yi meeting at the G-2- in Indonesia is the first high level meeting between US and China since March when the Ukraine war started. In the press briefing after the meeting Blinken said "more than four months into this brutal invasion the PRC stands by Russia." He pointed to Beijing support of Russia at the United Nations, dissemination of Russian talking points through Chinese state media and joint military exercizes with Moscow. One aspect of the relations that is beyond the control or good intentions of the two countries top diplomats is the tit for tat response that began with the presidency of Donald Trump. Trump may have seen this as a way to talk to the voter base fed up with two decades of one sided trade with China with manufacturing shipped out to China and local communities of families and workers in regions across the US losing jobs and in decline. Much of this shift was done by US companies during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations over two decades. The strident tone adopted by Trump was met by tit for tat responses in Chinese media till the pandemic when it assumed a new aspect of Chinese origins of the coronavirus. The result is that Sinophobia in the US is met by a response in Chinese media and in the thinking of the Chinese leadership under Jinping that now sees the relationship as having already shifted during the pandemic. The paradox in this is that the US in its effort to get other countries on its side is only beginning to make an effort of get America's own companies and large business investors on its side. Most American companies are still continuing trade and business with China as before.  The same situation exists with the shift of manufacturing from Japan and the European Union to China, with the loss of jobs and decline of local communities that depended on manufacturing. Japanese and European companies are acting in ways that are similar to American companies. Having managed the shift of manufacturing from European Union and Japan to China these companies have done little to change this business situation in 2022 carrying on as before. This is the paradox of the current situation that business both in the US and EU, and Japan is not on the side of their governments, even as their governments attitude to China, particularly now after the pandemic and the Ukraine war has shifted drastically. Alongside this is the popular opinion that has shifted gradually over the last 10 years in the US and EU, first in these very local communities that lost manufacturing to China, and then across broader sections of the public, and now across whole regions of America, Britain, the EU and Japan. This shift in popular opinion has little interest in the way business conducts business overseas or governments conduct diplomacy in nuanced statements. As a result neither the governments of the US, EU and Japan or the business of the US, EU and Japan are in control of this shifting situation that has its momentum and pace operating quite independently of governments and business. And public opinion across America, Europe, Japan, and also in India is moving in an entirely new direction.     ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Billie Jean King whose effort and persistence created the game of Women's Tennis, is alive and well with some words of encouragement, advice. Billie Jean King Commencement address at California State University Los Angeles, where she graduates in history in 2026, sixty two years after letting go college to play tennis. She grew up in Long Beach, with her brother, her parents a fireman who played basketball and a mother who was a teacher. For those who remember she comes from the period of Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith and in Australia Rod Laver, in the seventies. Stadiums are named after her at the US Open Tennis championships, and it was Billie Jean who helped create women's tennis. Some of her advice- "We can never understand inclusion unless we have been excluded." (the first African American player Althea Gibsen is celebrated in a postage stamp yet African Americans barely made it into the sport during her time. Billie Jean asked why it was all white dress, white people, white clubs.) "I like completing things. Finish what I started." (Sixty two years after postponing college in 1962 Bille Jean completes her history degree at Cal State LA in 1986). Billie Jean in another interview says history is so important and the only way to effect change that is good is to know what happened before and why. This is true for another pioneer for women a law student at Stanford named Sandra Day O'Connor of Arizona ranch territory that in those days stretched endlessly on all sides. Gandhi would agree. Hind Swaraj could not be written in 1909 by Gandhiji on a steamship to South Africa from London without asking about history and what had happened to create the Empire in India for the British East India Company traders, with warehouses and private armies, one that extended to Shanghai and Hong Kong in China. Gandhi says in 1909 "English merchants were able to get a footing in India because we encouraged them. When our princes fought among themselves they sought the assistance of Company Bahadur. That corporation was versed alike in commerce and war. We created the circumstances that gave the company control over India." Billie Jean gives some perspective on life and its lessons-"Wherever we are in life we can connect and we can impact change." "At 82 I have learnt about perspective and a few life's lessons- Champions practice their strengths. Concentrate on what you are strong and practice it." "Anything you do winning or losing, good or bad, its feedback not failure. Don't take things personally." "Don't let others define you. You define yourself." "Pressure is a privilege and champions adjust or adapt." "Just remember legacy is what others think about you, what is important is the value of the contributions you make." "Three principles for inner and outer success. Relationships are everything. Relationships with yourself, your family, your loved ones, your faith, and your friends. No. 2- Keep learning and keep learning how to learn. Be a problem solver and a innovator. Our decisions, our actions, our voices will shape what comes next. Have fun. Be fearless and make history." ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Mr. Trump's conflict with the Justice Department in the last weeks of his presidency to appoint a new Attorney General with intent to contest the results of the presidential election of 2020, is shown in this report in NYT. This created risks for American democracy. The cracks in social cohesion following four decades of foreign wars 1980-2021, irresponsible behavior of financial institutions leading to financial crises and impoverishment of America, incompetent elites, neglect of rural America, ceding of technology and competitive position to China, failure to fund education, healthcare and infrastructure, under presidents Reagan, elder Bush, Clinton,  Bush, Obama, led to a situation of revolt against the status quo by a maverick politician using a new and proven dangerous form of communication social media. Ultimately this put democracy at risk. Lessons from this are only now being learned as people in the Biden administration and outside of it reflect on what happened. In this WSJ report Mr. Trump is seen pressuring officials of the Justice Department to agree to appointment of a new Attorney General shortly after the election. This was seen as an effort to question the results of the 2020 presidential election. A leading senator on the Judiciary Committee says this would lead to "shredding the US Constitution to stay in power." Of this and also of four decades of neglect in America Washington has this to say in his first Inaugural Address on April 30, 1789- "The blessed religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best institutions may be abused by human depravity; and that they may even in some instances be made subservient to the vilest of purposes. Should, hereafter, those entrusted with the management of this government, incited by the lust of power and prompted by the supineness or venality of their Constituents, overleap the known barriers of this Constitution, and violate the inalienable rights of humanity: it will only serve to shew, that no compact among men (however provident in its construction and sacred in its ratification) can be pronounced everlasting and inviolable- and if I may so express myself, that no wall of words, that no mound of parchment can be so formed as to stand against the sweeping torrent of boundless ambition on the one side, aided by the sapping current of corrupted morals on the other." ...

LyrArc Article Gist
As China shifts from an economy that was built on low cost manufacturing in factories that polluted the skies and water, to an advanced economy with modern factories the nature of industry has changed. More recently the focus is on advanced technologies and increased productivity. As a result the hours worked are declining every year with modernization following the trend in western countries. There is also high unemployment of about 20% for young people. High university enrollment of about 60% means many graduates will have a hard time finding jobs in a slowing economy in 2023. With it comes a shift in attitudes to work.

LyrArc Article Gist
A Hyundai shipyard can build a military ship for $600 million that would cost the US about three times that number -$1.6 billion. South Korea can control costs with its marine shipyard capacity to build 40 ships a year in shorter time frame by 20 months. Note that the US had 17 shipyards in 1970, by 2020 it had dropped to 5 ships. Why is this a problem? China has this type of advantage in cost and expertise so that it would be even with the US current capacity by 2030.  Naval power made it possible for first Britain and then the US to provide the structure for the Modern World based on science and technology to grow and improve living standards. Unlike in the colonial era the US has helped raise living standards in China, India, South Korea, Indonesia, all parts of the world.  An administration that has focus and concentration in its leadership and is based on a concept of the Modern World based on science and technology is best suited for the task of renewing America for its role for the next generation of Americans. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Eminent climate ecologist Nicholas Stern says India's commitment by 2070 demonstrates real leadership from Mr. Modi of India.The Guardian says India's commitment to net zero emissions by 2070 is realistic considering that it is decades away from its peak in economic growth and energy consumption compared to US or even China. Energy consumption is expected to grow faster than any other country in the next few years. India's population is also expected to pass that of China as the largest in the world. The Guardian says climate experts who did the modeling have said this was the most realistic scenario for India - to achieve net zero emissions by 2070. This also means India's peak energy emissions will be reached by 2030. Eminent climate ecologist Nicholas Stern says - "This was a very significant moment for the summit. This action might mean India's annual natural greenhouse gas emissions could peak by 2030. This demonstrates real leadership from a country whose emissions per capita are about one third of the global average."  Also significant is Mr. Modi's pledge to deliver on 5 commitments 1. 50% of India's power to be generated by renewable energy by 2030. 2. Increase of 500 gigawatts of renewable energy including solar by 2030. 3. Reducing carbon emissions by 1 billion tons by 2030. 4. Reduce carbon intensity of the economy by 45% by 2030. This relates to how efficiently energy is used to generate 1 unit of economic GDP. With 1.3 billion people India is the third largest emitter of carbon dioxide- at about 3 billion tons- after the US and China. In growth terms this means India is going to grow very differently from the way China did in 2000-2020 with its many highly polluting industrial plants. The head of the US Renewable Energy Agency Mr.Birol says in a BBC intervew that the cement and steel plants alone of China have more emissions than the whole of the European Union's total emissions. Much of this comes from old plants and old technologies with surplus production of steel from what is now a bygone era of excess, inefficiency and chaotic growth. India plans to bring climate change emissions and energy efficiency through renewables into its Gat Shakti master plan for the country's economic.development. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Indian Finance Minister Sitharaman gives the following remarks in parliament on the White Paper presented to the 18th Lok Sabha in January 2024, describing the dire condition of the Indian economy by 2013 with mismanagement and "big ticket" corruption. India's Finance Minister Sitharaman describes the situation in three key areas by 2013 that left the economy of India in a fragile state, with projects stalled, development delayed, and capital investment not taking place. She gives as 3 main points of focus- the state of affairs at Defense Ministry, at the Environment Ministry, and for Energy supplies. At the outset she says PM Modi had suggested the need for such White Paper by 2015 so that future generations would know what had happened in India that failed the country at a time when China had already joined the community of developed nations. The issues go back to the coal scandal when coal auctions had to be cancelled by the Supreme Court for irregularities, the misuse of state owned banks leading to a large increase in non performing loans, and the mismanaged Commonwealth Games under government before 2014.  Sitharaman told parliament this had the effect of national security being compromised, Environment as a Ministry becoming a bottleneck, and the leadership failing the country. In the military there was a critical shortage of ammunition and equipment. She cites the Defense Minister at the time having the attitude that independent India has had a policy for many years not to develop the border areas, as an undeveloped border was better than a developed border. She also says Ministry stated that 92% of the Defense Budget was used up and major acquisitions have to wait for the military. Following this Sitharaman cited the scandals of that period and leakages of funds that weakend the country and failed its people. She compared capital expenditures today of 6.22 lakh crores in 2024 thre times the number in 2013 of 2.53 crores. HAL now makes Tejas jets and helicopters in Made in India production. At the Environment Ministry the delays that were 86 days reached a high of 316 days by 2013 for approval of development projects, with 355 projects pending, the nation brought to a standstill with the effects of the coal supplies to thermal power plants being wholly inadequate and Coal India in poor shape. The root of this was said Sitharaman- what everyone in Indian business knew, the term "genteel facts," as the cost of business going up. She cites the changes since then of aiming for Balance and Development- Transparency, Online Green Clearance, Standardized Environment Impact Studies, A new Department of Climate change, International Solar Alliance 2015, Mission Life 2022, Green Hydrogen, Namami Gange, Rooftop Solar. India set ambitious goals at the last Climate change Conference.    ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Greg Ip tells India's story, piped water for hundreds of millions of Indians, massive increases in road and rail, rapid development of infrastructure, aviation, ports logistics. WSJ graph shows country growth of economies for Japan, China, India, Germany in 2000 and 2020. By 2000 Japan had grown its economy to become about half the size of the US economy with two decades of rapid growth since 1980. China repeated this process with two decades of hyper growth since 2000 to become about 75% of the US economy by 2020. The graphs also show Japanese growth tailing off so rapidly after 2000 in relation to the US economy that it is now only about 25% of the US economy. China is likely to follow the same path as growth slows and with an aging population to become about 35-40% of the US economy by 2040 from 75%. India following the process that happened in Japan and in China is likely to become close to 35-40% of the US economy by 2040 from about 18% today, with the fastest growth over the next two decades for the most populous country in the world. Greg Ip points out what has been achieved since 2014 with the Modi government. Good governance without leakages of public funds dedicated to infrastructure, ease of living, GST one India one tax so that growing pool of funds from taxes fund rapid development with no leakages to corrupt officials,  Swacch Bharat or Clean India, clean water from taps, electricity and cooking gas for the whole population of India with dates for completion. All this Ip calls removal of the shackles that existed for far too long even past 2000 and 2010 when China had vastly surpassed India from its low point in 1980 after Mao and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. India today is in as much a pace of development as China in the 1990's and Japan in the 1960's, except that it now has the benefit of grasping how development can be done in a way that does not affect climate and health in adverse ways as happened with China's hyper growth -which also led to the tragic loss of manufacturing for workers and communities in the US and Europe due to the economic theories of laissez faire of the Reagan era. Reagan theory for governments not working with industry that were applied indiscriminately during the Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump presidencies for three decades led to shipping manufacturing overseas with no regard for the risks and dangers. What Greg Ip fails to mention is the uniqueness of India that is united by Vedanta, Hinduism and Buddhism for thousands of years, and which keeps the fabric of society together when it is divided by 13 language groups. These 13 language groups are: Hindi 43% of the population, Bengali 8%, Marathi 7%, Telugu 7%, Tamil 6%, Gujarati 5%, Urdu 4%, Kannada 4%, Odia 3%, Malayalam 3%, Punjabi 3%, Assamese 1%, English 1%. It was the vision of the early leaders Vivekananda, Gokhale, Mohandas Gandhi, Nehru, Sardar Patel, that united a diverse country with many languages and cultural variation. And it is this vision of Vivekananda that is creating the Good Governance under Sab ka Vikas, Sab ka Viswas, Sab ke Saath, Sab ka Prayas of today- development for all, with the confidence of all, with the support of all, the efforts of all. Without a disciplined direction based on hard work India could not make it this far or fulfill the aspirations of its youthful population by 2040. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
In novels and short stories Mo Yan writes about Chinese life in the villages and rural areas using animal narrators and fairy tales His novel "Red Sorghum," tackles the issues of the Japanese occupation, bandits and the difficult conditions in rural China. This novel was made into a movie by Zhang Yimou. In its citation for the award of the Nobel literature prize for 2012, the Swedish Academy says: "Through a mixture of fantasy and reality, historical and social perspectives Mo Yan has created a world reminiscent in its complexity of those in the writings of William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, at the same time finding a departure point in old Chinese literature and in oral tradition."

LyrArc Article Gist
India under the leadership of prime minister Modi hosting the G20 meeting of world leaders may have for the world passed the test of the ages on November 16, 2023. On that day the G20 with China, India, (and Russia's Lavrov), and the US issued the statement saying-  "The use of threat of using nuclear weapons is inadmissible. The peaceful resolution of conflicts, efforts to address crises, as well as diplomacy and dialogue, are vital. Today's era must not be of war." The words "Today's era must not be of war," were words Modi had stated repeatedly to the Russian president.  In dire situations that it can be conceived that small nuclear weapons with half the destructive capacity as Hiroshima bomb that could be put on a small missile could be used is a new threat. Hennigan in the NYT reports that as Ukrainian forces moved towards Kharkiv and other Russian held territory and were seen as a threat to Russian held Crimea, on October 23, 2023 the Russian minister of defense Sergei Shoigu, contacted the Defense ministers of US, Britain, France and Turkey about Ukrainian fighters it believed planning to launch a dirty bomb -a conventional explosive wrapped in radioactive material- on their own territory to frame Moscow. Hennigan in this NYT report says US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin and Jt. Chief of Staff General Mark Milley, held 3 phone calls in 4 days during this time around October 23, 2023, with their Russian counterparts. By November 16 Indian prime minister Modi and Chinese president Xi had their discussions with the Russian president to prevent accidental nuclear escalation. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Robert Kaiser, former managing editor of The Washington Post, reviewed this book on Joe McCathy in The Washington Post on August 7, 2020. It shows the link with today of Senator Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn, the then 27 year old lawyer chief counsel of the senate subcommittee on investigation when Joe McCarthy became chairman in Jan. 1953. The book is-  Demagogue The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy by Larry Tye. Roy Cohn passed on some of the methods used at that time to Mr. Trump. Kaiser points out that the senator Joe McCarthy assembled "a coalition of the aggrieved." Tye shows that it started with the junior senator from Wisconsin making a speech in West Virginia for Lincon Day dinner to the Republican ladies of Wheeling, W. Va. The senator used it to talk about threat of communists working in the State Department. He claimed there were 205 Communists. Today we know that this was just made up by McCarthy, at a time when Winston Churchill made the speech about the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and a sense of shock in America at the People's Republic of China being formed in 1949 under CCP chairman Mao tse tung. McCarthy saw this as an opportunity to gain prominence and a Senate career. What is seen from this carefully researched book is that for a while it succeeded in putting many of the Nation's best leaders on the defense. This includes Harry Truman, Eisenhower himself who disdained McCarthy's and Cohn's methods, Gen George Marshall who was a mentor to Dwight EIsenhower, Joe Stilwell, and other military leaders who ran the 1940's war effort under Marshall in Europe against the Nazis and in China against the Japanese imperialists. On the domestic side it included the head of TVA and the new Atomic Agency setup by president Truman. Gallup said at that time of McCarthy's 38% support in the US following his censure in US Senate by 67-22  -even if it was known that McCarthy killed five innocent children they would still go along with him. Tye writes that in that atmosphere similar to the sense of shock at China's rise and America's loss of manufacturing and falling behind in infrastructure by 2016, in that atmosphere if one told a small lie or big lie it made not much difference in public's penalty or censure, then why not tell a whopper of a lie. This became the ethic for a while in 2016-2024 similar to the period till the collapse of McCarthyism in America by 1957 with McCarthy's death in 1957 and in 1960 the election of John F. Kennedy. What is forgotten is that Richard Nixon a young senator from California was part of the group in Congress, so that in some shape or form it existed and remained part of the Reagan efforts to push back against the Soviets that led to wars in Afghanistan and then Iraq sapping the Nation's energies and resources and with faulty economic theory allowed China to dominate key industries and outspend America in infrastructure investment, creating the kind of shock that led to the second McCarthyist decade under Mr. Trump. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
China's population drops and fertility rates drop for a decade now- the median age is 40 years for China compared to 30 for India. Those who think India can never catch up to China lose sight of these factors- a 10 year gap is huge provided India can take it and run. India is moving from a corruption prone, governance deficit, investment deficit, engineers deficit, technology access deficit country to a country that is able to score well in governance, capital, labor and technology eliminating deficits in each sector the way China did.. The younger age China enjoyed in 1990 of 25 years median age when it started industrialization is now being transferred to India in 2026. Why is this important? A younger population with abundant capital, abundant labor, abundant technology access is the ticket to industrialization on a massive scale. India today is on the cusp of massive changes. What happens now is that the computerization and software is also getting more advanced that will accelerate India's Vikshit Bharat effort. This is why Chancellor Merz joining Modi at the Kite festival and committing Germany to a partnership with India, with it the European Union, is so significant today, as it will deliver for both India and Germany, Europe. China births drop from about 10 million to about 8 million and birth rate drops from 6.77 to 5.63 births per thousand people. China population now drops to 1,405 from 1,408 million people. Deaths rose from 10.93 million to 11.31 million.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
After 5 years of construction the new Daxing international airport opens in Beijing. It cost 61 billion dollars. It has 4 runways, and is likely to handle 72 million passengers a year by 2025. The new airport is twice the distance from the city centre than the earlier airport. China's aviation sector has a reputation for delays from overcapacity and from military use of airspace. The new airport is expected to provide an improvement in travel.

LyrArc Article Gist
The LDP's landslide victory in the Dec. 2012 elections is not seen as a mandate for Shinzo Abe, the new LDP prime minister. Abe acknowledged this when he said: "We recognize that this was not a restoration of confidence in the Liberal Democratic Party, but a rejection of three years of incompetent rule by the Democratic Party." The LDP won 294 seats compared to the 308 seats won in the landslide win by the Democratic Party of Japan three years ago. Abe campaigned on a stronger stance in Japan's disputes with China. Yet he is committed to maintaining relations with China, a key trading partner. On China Abe says: "Our goal is to stop China from making these challenges, but we do not intend to allow an overall worsening in relations." Osaka Mayor Hashimoto's Japan Restoration Party was expected to do well but his campaign lost momentum after joining with Shintaro Ishihara, a nationalist politician. The Tomorrow Party which campaigned on the nuclear issue and anti-nuclear sentiment petered out after voters sensed the impact of electrical shortages and prices. The LDP is pro-nuclear and plans to reverse some of the anti-nuclear steps taken by the DPJ. The Democratic Party of Japan gained only 57 seats, and the former DPJ prime minister during the earthquake and tsunami, Naoto Kan, lost his parliamentary seat. Just as the PRI, a party that held a long monopoly of power was returned to power in Mexico in 2012, the LDP is returning to power, but very dependent on voters aspirations for good governance and its performance in office....

LyrArc Article Gist
China faces risk of a surge inthe coronavirus in June 2021. The area in and around Guangzhou appears to be seriously affected. The city tested almost its entire population of 18.7 million between June 6 Sunday and June 8 Tuesday. This report shows pictures of a deserted Beijing airport, strict restrictions on foreign travel. The SinoPharm vaccine effectiveness against the Delta variant in India and UK is unknown. The government is locking down entire neighborhoods rather than entire cities or provinces.  As the risks of the Delta variant and other new variants increases most of the population even in the US and Europe have either no dose or one dose. Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia show the Astra Zeneca vaccine effectiveness with one dose at only 30%, only after two weeks following the second dose does the vaccine effectiveness reach about 70%. The population of China and India are so large that much larger parts of the population remain unvaccinated. In China with 1.3 billion people and even if the figure of 800 million doses stated by the government is accepted- it could be an overestimate as the US has only managed 300 million doses with many vaccines- most of the population is unprotected. Vaccine skepticism is high in China making vaccination an uphill task. SinoPharmvaccine is not as effective as Pfizer, Moderna, Astra Zeneca, or Covaxin vaccines, making the task even more of an uphill kind. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The great university of ancient Buddhist India is located at Rajgir, Bihar. Nalanda University was built in 5th century AD and was the largest center of Buddhist learning for all of Asia from India, China, Vietnam to Korea and Japan. It's new campus was opened by PM Modi on June 19, 2024. Near it is the Mahavihara Budhhist temple renovated from ruins at a UNESCO heritage site. Excavations were done in the British period by the 1860's bringing to light the ruins of Nalanda, the wonder that was Buddhist India. Buddha attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in Bihar and his last years were spent at Kusinagar in Bihar, all in the vicinity of Nalanda University, a center of ancient learning that is older than all European Universities, and is only now becoming known throughout the world.

LyrArc Article Gist
Full transcript of Kamala Harris Interview on MSNBC with Stephanie Ruhle on September 25, 2024, the same day when she outlined her Economic Plan for the next 4 years at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh is where the US steel industry was built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Harris outlined a plan that would help rebuild American industry including the steel industry and other key industries of the future, in Chips and Science, in a partnership of the government with the private sector to compete with China and the European Union. 

She looked back to the ambition and vision of another era and to bring it back today-the Transcontinental Railroad under Lincoln, the Interstate Highway System under Eisenhower, the Space Endeavor under John F. Kennedy.

LyrArc Article Gist
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will lead US negotiating team in US- Japan  talks for Liberation Day Tariffs April 2, 2025 Negotiations.

"Japan remains among America’s closest allies, and I look forward to our upcoming productive engagement regarding tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers, currency issues, and government subsidies.” 

DJT says

"Countries from all over the world are talking to us. Tough but fair parameters are being set. Spoke to the Japanese prime minister this morning. He is sending a top team to negotiate. They have treated US very poorly on trade. The don't take our cars but we take MILLIONS of them. It all has to change but especially with CHINA.

LyrArc Article Gist
Scholz of Germany and Xi of China meet for private talks at the G-20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2024. Efforts are made to avoid tit for tat tariffs on EV's and settle Ukraine war.

LyrArc Article Gist
These are key provisions in the biggest climate change bill in history- Tax credits that last for over a decade for zero carbon plants- these tax credits go to companies that build new sources of emissions free electricity, for wind turbines, solar panels, battery storage, geo thermal plants. Tax credits also for new technologies that capture and bury carbon dioxide from natural gas plants and industrial facilities before it escapes into the atmosphere and heats the planet. This technology is rarely used because of high costs. Incentives for electric vehicles- It extends a tax credit of $7500 for new electric vehicles. It adds a $4000 tax credit for used electric vehicles. Tax credit goes only to people earning $150,000 a year (300,000 for joint filers) for new EV's and $75,000 (150,000 for joint filers) for used EV's. Help for people to lower energy costs - $9 billion in rebates for Americans installing energy efficient electrical appliances. And a decade of tax credits for Americans installing rooftop solar, heat pumps, water heaters and electric HVAC, or electric heating, air conditioning and ventilation technologies. Investments in Domestic Manufacturing- $60 billion for investments in clean energy manufacturing in the US. This includes $30 billion for production tax credits for solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and critical minerals processing. $10 billion in investment tax credits to build manufacturing facilities for electric cars and renewable energy technologies. This action is to halt the shifting of clean energy manufacturing overseas to China. $27 billion towards a green bank that would finance clean energy projects in disadvantaged communities. Cracking down on Methane- the bill places a fine on methane gas emissions from oil and gas wells and pipelines and other infrastructure. Fees of $900 per metric ton in 2024 and $1500 a metric ton in 2026 when it exceeds federally set limits.    ...

LyrArc Article Gist
At the end of the 2012 Communist Party Congress in Beijing, Xi Jinping assumes the post of chief of the Communist Party of China. He also assumes the post of head of the Central Military Commission, which makes him head of the armed forces of China. Li Keqiang, the incoming prime minister, is the only member of the party Politburo Standing Committee selected by current president Hu Jintao. Jinping is supported by Jiang Zemin, former president. Four of the other five members are older party leaders placed in these positions by former president Jiang Zemin, who succeeded Deng Xiaoping and started China's three decade long modernization. The seven member Standing Committee governs China by consensus. This will limit the room for change, especially as the other five members are in their mid 60-s and favor the status quo. Xi Jinping is 59, Li Keqiang is 57. Xi becomes president in the spring of 2013, and Li becomes prime minister to run the government ministries. The optimism for Li who is the best educated of China's leaders, holding a doctorate in economics from Peking University, and an early interest in constitutional law, is restrained by the institutional arrrangements that favor the status quo. Some experts in China see the new leaders likely to make major changes only if confronted by a crisis. In his live television acceptance speech Xi focussed on China's "rejuvenation," with improvements in the party bureaucracy, tackling corruption, and improving the lives of ordinary people, for better schooling, jobs, incomes, health care, better housing conditions, social security and the environment. From the rush to modernize and build infrastructure attention is now shifting to creating better conditions for the Chinese people....

LyrArc Article Gist
Bradsher, Tankersley and Cohen say in this NYT report- US industrial policy under president Biden corrects the failures of the past. Chinese experts in Hong Kong say the US and Europe deindustrialized their economies with pursuing of policies called "neo-liberal" but basically Reagan era policies that Democratic presidents Clinton-Obama imitated. As they deindustrialized it created disaffection among the struggling lower and middle income classes making $35,000-$106,000 that were big losers in the process, creating threats to democracy as financial and tech, plus pharmaceutical sectors took control of the economy. China's success comes from three decades of mastering the ways of practicing industrial policy that it can support private companies with low cost land, additional subsidies that reduce the cost of production and provide a buffer to absorb losses so that it could dominate key industries. Policies where textbooks and economists trained in the US failed utterly and completely leading to dangers to US democracy that we see as opportunities for good paying jobs in manufacturing disappeared for middle and lower income households from 1980 to 2020. These economists trained in the US always said see lower cost Chinese made goods means lower and middle income people pay less, never saying that this means all opportunities for better paying jobs in manufacturing will be lost for these classes in society. The tech and financial sectors had close ties to the new arrangement that turned manufacturing over to China from the Reagan era to the Obama and Trump era. Apple and Tesla and many industries benefitted from manufacturing mostly outsourced to China. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
“I would advise none of the countries to panic. I wouldn’t try to retaliate because as long as you don’t retaliate, this is the high end of the number.” This is the ceiling number Bessent told countries around the world about the Rose Garden Tariffs chart of April 2, 2025. Just don't retaliate and negotiations would work things out. Bessent said some countries say they would work with China. I have this to say to Spain about China, he said, it is like someone with brooms and a bucket of water, it keeps on going, production never stops, that is the Chinese model. What Bessent is saying is that the Chinese model is to keep doing what they have always done non stop with no intention to change- build capacity, overcapacity, and ship production overseas to saturate markets with production and destroy industrial base of other countries- from computers to solar panels to electric cars. China is also looking at it's very recent history just the last 15 years as proof of its superiority in cost and quality and efficiency in production as evidence that US and EU is in decline. Forgetting that this was possible with US assistance and desire to lift the Chinese people out of centuries of poverty. For the 19th and 20th century Britain, the US and Europe were leaders in cost, quality and efficiency. US , India and the EU are coming back using their ingenuity, creativity and talented workers and engineers. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Every year India Youth Day is observed on the 12th of January on the birthday of Swami Vivekananda. Vivekananda 1863-1902 preceded Mohandas Gandhi in the first period of the Indian struggle for Independence from the British Empire. The book Hind Swaraj by Gandhiji which set the blueprint for India's independence struggle was inspired by and followed in 1909 only a few years after Vivekananda's death in 1902. Vivekananda also inspired Indonesia's Sukarno in the struggle for independence from the Dutch Empire during the 1930's and 1940's. The population of India and Indonesia which represent the height of the ancient Vedic civilization of South Asia is in 2025 1722 million. It also encompasses China Japan Korea and Vietnam with a population of 1750 million when we consider India as the centre of Buddhist civilization. About 3.5 billion people with a common heritage in ancient Vedic and Buddhist civilization. Matched only by Christian civilization with 1.0 billion people in the Americas and 750 million in Europe. Combined this is two thirds of the world population. Under the British, Dutch and French Empires India was kept separate from cultural and religious contact with Indonesia, Vietnam, China and Japan. There is a convergence of culture and religion in Asia in the 21st century first between India and Indonesia and Vietnam, and second between India and Japan, Korea. That convergence will grow between India and China in the rest of the 21st century as ancient but modern civilizations with a common history. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The White House is considering steps to limit access of graduate students from China to highly sensitive technologies being developed at American Universities.  About 1 million foreign students study in the U.S. and about one third are from China. An incident at Duke University involving technology that was being developed for radar detection of jets is cited in this report. Under measures being considered are restrictions on private research facilities in the U.S. and putting a large range of export goods under the existing restrictions. The main focus is the "Made in China 2025" program which forms the basis of a loss of technological advantage for the U.S. as seen by the White House. This is part of the trade negotiations with China and adds an additional aspect to the negotiations make them even harder.