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Penelope Fitzgerald in her book Human Voices  says about BBC Calling- During the second World War the BBC was about "scattering human voices in the darkness of Europe." The BBC gets 137 million pounds from the Foreign Office.There is no provision for 2026, the BBC is entirely dependent onthe license fee. How will it be financed for its role in bringing Britain to the world as it did since its founding in 1932. Many parts of the world depend on radio, and on BBC broadcasts for information, more so as propaganda and disinformation fill the airwaves and print as the BBC and VOA make program cuts and management changes. In March 2025 most of VOA's staff was placed on administrative leave and $153 million was allocated for shutting down VOA. The US Congress opposed the idea and allocated $200 million a reduction from about $260 million in 2024 for VOA, and $644 million for USAGM US Agency for Global Media. BBC World Service operates in 134 countries with budget of $400 million pounds of which 221 million pounds comes from the UK Foreign Office. ...

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UK Denton (Manchester region) by-election gives Greens 40% Reform 29% and Labour 24%- as Greens replace Labour in UK in 2026 with disapproval of Starmer's leadership. Starmer appeared to be not thinking for himself and letting his campaign manager Morgan McSweeney run the government's strategies in serving working class voters a key Labour constituency. McSweeney at every turn pushed Starmer in a direction of diluting policies that were intended to serve working class voters to chase the Reform vote. That strategy has failed and won Starmer 18% approval among the British public. It just appeared to work in the last 2024 election but it may have been an understanding of that vote that was completely wrong as Labour won by small margins in many constituencies. A key opportunity has been lost for Labour by both Corbyn's dogmatic behaviours and Starmer's lack of authenticity and personla leadership for Britain, following the failures of the Cameron-Johnson years under the Tories, and before that with Blair, three decades lost for Britain to build a brighter future. ...

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“The world needs more energy. The world needs more resources, and U.A.E. wanted to be unconstrained by any groups” says UAE energy minister, Suhail Al Mazrouei. On May 1, 2026 UAE with 12% of OPEC cartel production (3.6 million barrels a day) will leave OPEC. It is a change in strategy of where and how to sell oil production in the future. UAE including Abu Dhabhi oil company says it is time for it to pursue its own national interests. As its economy is diversified including tourism and other sourcesd of revenue, UAE puts volume before price support. Saudis are not diversified and seek to maintain price support and keep fossil fuels way into the future. Qatar and Ecuador have already left the cartel. Since the old days of OPEC US has emerged as the largest producer, Venezuela is coming back as a major producer, changing the situaiton now that UAE is  also not betting on and supporting efforts for keeping prices high. This is good news for India and China, Japan, major buyers of oil and with large populations increasing demand. It also helps the US because of its diversified economy. ...

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Iran's economy following the naval blockade- WSJ cites assessment by Miad Maleki who led Treasury's sanctions campaign on Iran in 2025. Loss of $435 million of economic activity per day and oil shut ins in 2 weeks. As the Europeans sit out this naval blockade and US rethinks its participation in NATO, as the poorer countries in the world are affected by the shortages including Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and others around the world, the one baffling aspect is how far a nation (Iran)could let its economic prospects be affected to continue uranium enrichment. It is about the failure of another Middle Eastern nation to modernize and improve the living standards of its people, (after Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria and Iraq),  wasting a once in a centuries opportunity to do this wasting an oil dividend that will only last to 2035 when renewable energy may replace fossil fuels. Instead leaving the region with intermittent wars and destruction from the wars since 1950, falling behind in a world that is rapidly modernizing in China and India with about 3 billion people committed to modernization. ...

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Of the people asked the question "what issue do you see as the most important for health care" 44% in a NBC/WSJ poll said they considered Cost as the biggest issue, and 37% said that they considered the Uninsured as the biggest issue, 11% said quality of care was the biggest issue. The President is focussing on cost as he develops the health care plan. He is also saying that to provide health care for all and cover the uninsured without controlling costs would break the bank. Another thing that the White House shows it has learned from previous failed attempts, is that it is doing this with an open Health Care Forum with participation of different sides in the health care discussion. Clinton's effort in 1993 ran into problems because it was developed secretively, and without much discussion, and little effort to get different people's views. The previous attempt also waited too long after the election, and this time the President is moving quickly when he enjoys large popular support. Its also true now that there is serious concern especially in this downturn of what a threat spiralling costs of health care are becoming to the future prosperity of the American people. This time the leaders in Congress are setting an aggressive schedule to get health care palns legislation on the floor by June and get a floor vote in August 2009....

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This report in the WSJ points to Democrats having won consistently 18 states plus District of Columbia adding upto 242 Electoral College votes in every election since 1992. Democrats need 28 more to cross the needed 270 votes. Republicans consistently having 13 states with 102 electoral College votes. Demographic changes in recent years have shifted to where Hillary Clinton may not need to devote resources to Colorado and Virginia because of a more favorable position there.  Carrying Pennsylvania with these 2 states would put Clinton over the 270 required. Vice Presidential candidate for Clinton, Senator Keane is from Virginia and is popular in the state.  Pennsylvania has a long history favoring Democrats. North Carolina has also seen demographic changes favoring Democrats. The Clinton campaign is focussing ads on these states as well as the swing states of Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as Georgia, Arizona and Utah which are becoming competitive for Democrats. By keeping up the effort in Georgia, Arizona and Utah, Clinton hopes to make Trump divert resources there. Other two swing states are Ohio and Florida, but this WSJ report says Clinton has to win only one of the four swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, and North Carolina to go over 270 and Trump needs all four. Of the 20 media markets Clinton or her super PACs have focussed their ads on 16 are in these 4 states. The Clinton campaign is looking at several alternative routes to 270 Electoral College votes, which gives it more flexibility to plan the campaign.  ...

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A four month extension till the end of June was agreed to in negotiations between the EU, IMF, ECB, and the government of Greece. Under the agreement Greece will have to present a list of budget cuts and economic changes to the EU, ECB and IMF on Feb. 23, 2015. This will be reviewed by EU finance ministers on Feb 24. The economic measures will have to be implemented for Greece to get its 7.2 billion euro instalment pot pf a 240 billion euro bailout.

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Venezuelan president Chavez says his cancer has returned and he will need more surgery in Cuba. This comes shortly after winning the presidential election. He asks Venzuelans to support vice president Nicholas Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader, for president if new elections are held. Venezuela's constitution requires new elections in 1 month if Chavez dies or resigns. Higher spending in the election year has widened the gap between revenues and spending from 5% to 20%, with expectations Venezuela's currency, the Bolivar, will be devalued.

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Neel Kashkari Paulson's assistant, the assistant secretary of state for international economics, and one of the key people whom Paulson used as an assistant in the recent financial crises in September and now into October. He is expected to work on implementing the $700 billion purchase of mortgage assets from banks. He also comes from Goldman Sachs but is only six years out of business school and is very young for this kind of job that would be daunting for someone with years and years of experience.

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As Huawei's young engineers go through a learning curve, the company faces challenges of giving them additional business experience. Huawei is working to instill western practices and culture in its enginers by expanding overseas, and hiring seasoned engineers in Europe to mentor the younger Chinese engineers. Of the 23 Huawei R&D centers, 13 are located outside China. Huawei adds engineers right out of college- 50,000 employees were added in the last 5 years right out of college. Of the 149,000 employees, half work in R&D. Average age at Huawei is 29 years. In this sense Huawei is unusual for a high tech company compared to western companies. It is a plus for Huawei in the long run, but it means a lot of training is needed. Lars Bondelind, the Swedish head of wireless marketing at Huawei, describes these challenges at the 2012 Barcelona Mobile World Congress. Bondelind says the Chinese engineers he works with have higher knowledge and expertise than newly graduating Swedish engineers, the challenge is training them in western engineering and business practices....

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Older homeowners like Carol Couts of Yuba City, California, who were persuaded to take on mortgages they could not afford on their social security checks which is all they had, often fradulently, are in a position to lose their homes and have nowhere to go. There are say home loan counselors, hundreds of thousands of people like this in places like the Central Valley of California. They do not qualify for the mortgage relief programs of the Obama administration which typically reduce the interest rate and stretch the payments over longer periods to lower the payments substantially. These are people on social security checks, which may be their entire source of earnings, and this is low enough so that the only way they can get relief is to rescind the fradulent loan entirely or cut the principal, things lenders are unwilling to take. These elderly people in such a precarious situation could end up being a blight on the nation, as something like this has not been allowed to happen in the entire post war period....

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U.S. Fed Governor Stein says he is is concerned about the costs of the accomodative stance taken by the Fed under Bernanke, even though he understands the reasons for the accomodative policies.

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Mexico's newly elected president Lopez Obrador says spending for a new airport was not in the interest of a country with Mexico's social needs. He voted to cancel the project in favor of using a military airbase north of Mexico City and building new runways to complement the existing airport. The aiport project was a key effort by the outgoing administration of Pena Nieto. About $5 billion spent on the airport would be written off, and bondholders holding $6 billion in bonds could ask for payment.

The airport cost originally estimated at $10 billion is now expected to cost $13.3 billion. Mexico City airport handled 44 million passengers last year and the new airport was intended to handle future congestion.

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The Medicare for All movement in the U.S. gathers momentum after the U.S. midterm elections with states. Governor Newsom of California says he will seek federal authority to setup a state single payer plan for health insurance. An expert at Georgetown University says there is a new burst of energy for broader coverage or universal health coverage. States with new governors or seeing this momentum are California, Washington, New Mexico, Maine, Nevada, Delaware, Oregon, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois. Polls show a large majority of Americans now support Medicare for All as a form of universal health coverage for all Americans, a system that prevalent in Canada for the last 50 years. Two hearings will be held in Congress on Medicare for All in 2019.

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Ivan Rogers, Britain's former ambassador to the European Union says ideas about liberation are fantasies, just fantasies. There would be endless negotiation on every issue. After 2 years of negotiations most of the tough questions about Britain's future trading relations with the European Union remain unanswered.

Some just want to get on with the job, including Mrs. May. But the tough questions are not going away as a cross party group in parliament seeks to take control of the process and call for an extension under Article 50 for the March 29 deadline. In addition to the intra party divisions and lack of cooperation from the Labor party, there are doubts in Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland about future relations.

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How the Simpson-Bowles Commission recommendations on reducting tax expenditures and the Romney, Feldstein proposals to limit tax deductions and loopholes to make the rich pay more- at the same time as the tax code is simplified with lower rates- offer a basis for moving towards a deficit reduction plan that has support on both sides of the aisle in Congress, of Democrats and Republicans. Jeb Hensarling and Pat Toomey are the Republican members on the Supercommittee to address deficit reduction, who support a balanced approach to raise revenue from taxes and spending. Obama advisor, Chrisitina Romer sees the Simpson-Bowles approach to limting tax deductions as a good starting point for building an agreement. Romer goes so far as to say let the Republicans in Congress decide on infrastructure project selection as there so many worthy infrastructure improvement projects that getting started would be the main objective.

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The new trend of work and wellness hotels is becoming popular so that busy workers in office jobs can get a chance to relax, do yoga and exercize, eat healthy, and get renergized for work. Employees working on projects who are getting burned out with endless hours get a break with a week continuing work but also having a few hours to devote to mental and physical health each day. Hotels are adapting to meet this demand with mindfulness and yoga-pilates classes, and healthy food. 

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Germany's goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2045 will be achieved by the city of Freiburg in 2038. Freiburg's new city hall has 800 solar panels on the facade and the new soccer stadium has a solar installation on the stadium roof.  Green Party and Economy minister Habeck's motto is "Ready- because you are," well suited to Freiburg. Baden-Wurttemberg's requirement for all commercial buildings to be fitted with solar panels could soon be a requirement in Germany.

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Mohamed El-Erian is cohead at Pimco with Bill Gross. He was with the IMF for 15 years before joining Pimco which he left in 2005 to go to Harvard. He left Haarvard in december and rejoined Pimco. Pimco or the Pacific Investment Mangement Company oversees $810 billion in assets. Every spring employees of Pimco get together to paint a big picture view of what secular trends will drive markets. El-Erian says he missed this at Harvard. Very few of the investment managers marketing products to Harvard Investment Mnagement were anchored by secular or long term views. He appreciates the disciplined hardwired thinking that Bill Gross goes through on such issues as the end of the Cold War, the spread of capitalism in emerging markes, the USA productivity surge, and the rise of China's influence on the global economy. El-Erian thinks these secular long term views are anchors that help you from getting caught up in bad trades. In his view the last decade saw the balance sheet of emerging markets get recapitalized, the after Enron and Worldcom the US corporate and industrial sector recapitalized its balance sheet. Now its the US financial system that is recapitalizing its balance sheet, once this period is over it will be seen as very positive. He sees the USA about three quarters of the way through a major dislocation that has repriced the financial system. He sees risk for the small and midsized USA banks that are heaavily tied to commercial real estate and the consumer. The pressure is great for consumers. And unemployment is absolutely the key for the next 6 months, El-Erian emphasizes, because if too many people lose their jobs income and consumption will be thrown off balance. He says Pimco is focussing on senior parts of the capital structure with very high quality bonds....

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DJT puts a 50% tariff on Brazil on JUly 9, 2025 following the trial of former president Bolsonaro's. In a long letter DJT says the trial of Bolsonaro was similar to the trial he Trump faced in the US in 2024 by zealous prosecutors. Da Silva is president of Brazil and says Brazil is a sovereign country. He was briefly jailed during the Bolsonaro government but won the election in Brazil in 2022.

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U.S. Federal Reserve vice chairman, Janet Yellen and Laurence Meyer, a former Fed governor call for consideration of downside risks emerging from the eurozone crisis and from the approaching fiscal cliff of government spending cuts, as the Fed debates policies in July 2012.

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By dropping most coronavirus restrictions including masks, social distancing and size of gatherings, and opening night clubs, England is risking the same sudden rise in new cases from variants that hit the Netherlands last week. Analysis of what happened in the Netherlands shows nightclubs and bars as the origins of 40% of the new cases in the Netherlands. Prime minister Rutte of the Netherlands apologized for this kind of reopening after a big jump in cases in Netherlands.Seven day average in the UK is at 46,000 for the last week. With 40% of the UK population not fully vaccinated, the new variants can spread faster and mutate in the unvaccinated population.  There is a basic difference in priority- getting to work and doing essential shopping compared to going to nightclubs. The Dutch government shut its nightclubs after reopening them in June. At this point England is split in how to reopen. The Mayor of London says masks will be compulsory in all public transit in London. And 55% of the UK public in a recent survey from YouGov think reopening in this way is the wrong thing to do. Another poll by Ipsos shows 70% of people surveyed saying they wanted mask wearing to be compulsory indoors for another month. One bar club owner says that he thinks what they are doing is wrong. Some students think that this is a recipe for transmission to happen quickly. ...

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Erfurt is a very German city in the heart of Germany with its many churches and medieval past, the home town of Martin Luther. Katrin Bennhold provides this exceptional report of how Erfurt is coping with new refugees from talking to town officials and observing the process of resettlement. Erfurt has a population of 208,000 with only about 500 Muslims, and few people from Africa. The town's mayor sees it as the biggest challenge since World War II, larger than reunification with the east, as 300 migrants arrive every week and 4000 have to be resettled by Christmas 2015. Under Germany's quota system the state of Thuringia gets 2.5% of refugees, and Erfurt gets 10% of this. When the Soviet bloc expelled 14 million Germans from the eastern territories in the bloc, 670,000 passed through camps in Erfurt. The difference now is the language barrier, and the anxiety among some Germans of how this could change their lives, which is visible from the questions asked at a town hall meeting in Erfurt. Because of the suddenness with which Germany was confronted with the refugee problem it will take time to get organized- in September 2015 there is a shortage of housing space, cots, temporary shelters, translators, social workers, and some of the infrastructure has to be put in on an improvised basis. Rarely has a people come under the spotlight of world attention in modern communications media, in the way small cities and towns throughout Germany are now facing, and providing a glimpse into the hearts and souls of so many....

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It is not clear why the British furlough scheme already cost about 35 million pounds when the German furlough scheme for 12 months cost is 9 million pounds. The British scheme set the amount at 80% of earnings up to 2500 pounds per month, higher than the German furlough scheme which started at 60% and went up to 70-80% if 50% of working hours were lost.  As a result of the cost difference of the two schemes Germany is able to extend its scheme to 24 months while the British scheme ends in October having cost more in a short period 35 million pounds than the 2 year German furlough scheme's cost of 18 million pounds. This means German workers are better protected than British workers. Schemes for furlough in Anglo-Saxon countries Britain and the U.S. have traditionally lagged behind ones in other countries in Europe with resulting job losses and hardships for workers. Could the schemes in Britain and the U.S. be better designed to get more done at similar cost as in Germany with joint worker, company and government cooperation? France is extending its furlough scheme to 24 months. The National Institute for Economic and Social Research says extending the British furlough scheme till July 2021 would cost 10 billion pounds and could pay for itself. A estimated loss of 2 million jobs in Britain from the ending of the furlough scheme in October 2020 maybe be too high a price to pay. ...