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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. ...

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What is behind Pew Research Report finding showing an unacceptable concentration of wealth that endangers democracy. Higher income groups making $244,000 a year in 2024 gained 19 percentage points of the total US Household Income moving from 29% in 1970 to 48% in 2024. About 50% of the nation's income going to 20% of its people and most of that to 2%-5% of the people of the US. The gains meant loss of 17 of these percentage points for middle income households making $106,000 a year that went from 62% in 1970 to 43% in 2024. Another 2 percentage points was suffered by vulnerable Lower Income groups making $35,000 a year who owned 10% of US wealth in 1970 went down to 8%.  The problems of divisiveness in the Nation come from three distinct areas. First money for state financed education for all being put into wars in the Middle East from Reagan through Obama and Trump and some wasted through capital misallocation to low priority investment by faulty capital market allocation. Second the high cost of pharmaceuticals and healthcare putting a heavy burden on low income and middle income households making $35,000 or 106,000 a year. Third the neglect of manufacturing that cutoff the opportunities for middle and lower income households and their one chance to move up the ladder. And the parallel shift of resources to technology and financial sectors that created opportunities for a smaller group of immigrant and higher middle income households with these skills.  These are the sources of America's distress and each problem is being attacked at its source by president Biden- exit from Afghanistan, canceling student loans that are egregious and prevent the investment in education America needs, large sustained investment in manufacturing and new supply chains, antitrust action on tech monopolistic behaviour, redrawing the shape of America's pharmaceutical sector to provide access to medicine to all parts of the population.    ...

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The ANC loses the 2024 elections in South Africa barely getting 40% of the vote. Jacob Zuma's party MK won 15% of the vote. South Africa faces high unemployment, crime, corruption and mismanagement of the economy.

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South Korea's divisive politics and investigations of every presidential administration are covered in this WSJ report. The story of prosecutor Yoon, the Moon administration and Justice Minister in the Moon administration Cho Kuk is told here. Cho Kuk was investigated by the prosecutor he hired in the Moon administration Mr. Yoon. The investigation led to the 80% ratings of the Moon adminstration dropping to 40% and Yoon winning a presidential election. Cho responded by forming his own political party and calling for the removal of president Yoon in parliamentary elections held recently in which Yoon's party lost its majority in parliament.

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The WSJ first reported just days before the 2016 presidential election about National Enquirer suppressing a story relating to Karen McDougall and the former president. That story did not get much media coverage. In 2018 WSJ reported a similar story relating to Stormy Daniels and the former president. At the time not much attention was paid to these stories says WSJ and the legal consequences were not anticipated. Last week a NY jury made a conviction on 34 counts of the former president Trump on the Stormy Daniels hush money payment with testimony by the former president's lawyer David Cohen. During the history of the US since its founding in 1776 under men of courage and leadership qualities of George Washington, John Adams and Jefferson, to the recent presidents from Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy-LBJ, never faced a situation of this kind. 

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Nate Cohn looks at Biden and support he could draw from young, non-white and "irregular" voters in 2024. Many of them were uncertain even though they were Democrats. Irregular voters are young voters who are disengaged and do not follow events and who are low turnout, mostly from Democratic constituencies who have supported Republicans and Mr. Trump but lack any specific loyalty.

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This report in the WSJ on the Indian economy says the impact of growth in India's largest state of Uttar Pradesh with 240 million people will play a big part in the growth rate of the Indian economy. It fails to say why. The answer is good governance, investment in infrastructure, logistics and manufacturing, a huge pool of tens of millions of engineers and hundreds of millions of factory workers. The lack of a large enough investment pool of investment funds and  failure to eliminate leakages from corruption, the lack of a plan such as the current Master Plan Gati Shakti for the whole Indian economy, lack of governments at the state and federal level combining setting targets and delivery dates for infrastructure roads, bridges, airports, logistical hubs, factory for advanced industry, lack of governance entirely focussed on delivery and timelines, were the missing pieces in development in India for 5 decades since the 1960's, a period in which as Mr. Modi says repeatedly Japan, Korea, China moved ahead and India fell behind. Does this potential exist only for Uttar Pradesh? India's industrialization model started in Gujarat, population of 72 million under Modi as head of the state government from 2001-2014. It now covers the western region of Gujarat, Maharashtra population 128 million and Rajasthan population 82 million  the region around Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Jaipur of about 282 million people. This will be the fastest growing region and the engine that will propel the Indian economy in the years ahead. Uttar Pradesh in the north is integrated into this development. So is another region Bihar population 104 million and Orissa 46 million, Assam 35 million states in the northeast of the country with a total of 185 million people. What do all 3 regions of over 700 million people have in common? The answer is state and federal government working using the Gujarat tested and proven model for development, rapid delivery, good governance, government working with industry, large investments in infrastructure and modernization, Make in India hubs for manufacturing, digitization. ...

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Colorado is shifting attention from highways which have reached their limits to transit in 2024. It is the way infrastructure investment is evolving in 2024.

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Is too much attention being placed on spelling bees in contrast to reading and understanding, developing an appreciation of different countries, languages, and cultures? And attention to curiosity about science and technology advances?

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As the US and EU find other ways to act on cost of living action to reduce the impact of higher oil and gas prices, curb pharmacy and health costs, and grocery bills, tackle housing costs, the role that lower retail prices of goods from China play a diminished role. More important are jobs and wages in this economic structure and perceptions are being followed and shaped by policy of Biden, Scholz and other leaders of Democratic and Socialist parties. Biden and Yellen have raised the alarm over China's export based manufacturing strategies being revived one more time, there is also a new perception of the advantage of such lower retail goods from China coming at the expense of jobs and wages, loss of manufacturing technologies as in chips in the US, which is seen as clearly unacceptable. WSJ shows that recent data shows that this strategy in China is not delivering the growth China expected. The diversification of supply chain to India and Vietnam is also a response to earlier concentration of supply chain in China. ...