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The unemployment rate declines to 7.8% from 8.1% based on the Labor Department's survey of households. The larger and more reliable survey of businesses of the Labor Department shows 104,000 jobs added in the private sector and a revision of July and August jobs estimates to show 86,000 additional jobs created. About 150,000 jobs a month are needed just to keep up with population growth. Most of the 104,000 jobs added by the private sector in the larger survey of businesses were in health care, fewer public sector jobs were lost. However the survey shows 16,000 jobs lost in manufacturing which means there are problems in manufacturing which creates higher wage jobs and benefits relative to other sectors and which is a vitally important sector.

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The $1.3 billion organic milk industry is hit hard in this downturn. Consumers drop organic milk first, as something they can do without.

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EU measure that seeks to curb imports of coffee, cocoa, soy, beef, palm oil and wood when it is determined that it drives deforestation in the source country. To qualify as "deforestation-free" the land on which these food and other products were grown cannot have been deforested or degraded since Dec. 31, 2020. Demand from European Union countries for commodities such as beef and cocoa are strong drivers of deforestation, says Frans Timmermans, vice president of the EU. This comes after COP26 Glasgow conference where over 100 countries signed an agreement to end deforestation. The EU commissioner for the environment says "we can't ask for ambitious policies on the environment from partner countries on the one hand and support deforestation on the other."

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Ford's ability under Mullaly to shrink its losses to $45 million in North America in the first quarter compared to $613 million same quarter 2007, build best quality into its cars, and shift its product line dependence from SUV's and light trucks to cars, and shift to a globalized way of doing business in global markets that include the USA, at the same time as it brought an innovative approach to union participation by letting the union own part of Ford Motor, all in a relatively short period of time is certainly remarkable. To take a demoralized company and get it back on its feet with all the spunk and spirit it needs to compete takes a leader like Mulally.

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DJT arrives in Beijing China May 13 2026. Topics that will be discussed are - the Iran War and how to resolve it, trade with China, tariffs, and US Taiwan policy. China continues to run trillion dollar surplus in trade with the world with lower trade surplus with the US after DJT tariffs. From $295 billion in 2024 under Biden the new DJT administration with DJT, Bessent and Jamieson has lowered this to $202 billion by 2026. In that same period the world trade surplus of China has increased from $992 to $1.19 billion. It is not clear whether some of the drop in the US figures is from China sending product through channels to Mexico and Vietnam that is then shipped to the US. DJT showed results in his policies by lowering the trade imbalance by 32%, while trade imbalance with the rest of the world has worsened (increase in trade surplus of China) by 20%. What does this show? We can safely assume that excessive trade imbalances are not in either China, EU, or America's interest. China increases trade and political friction by doing so, and it leaves its own policy weak by overdependence on exports, too little effort to increase domestic consumption and living standards.  FOr the US and EU trade imbalances with China of over $1 trillion reflect misguided policy at the top by US and EU decision makers and governments. By exposing their manufacturing base they are losing valuable jobs by the millions and creating a situation where the few with good jobs in select industries live in large cities and the rest of the country in smaller towns and rural areas suffering from lack of amanufacturing base. This weakens the investment base for public services and leads to lack of investment ininfrastructure. This is called deindustrialization which the DJT and Biden administrations both fight hard to reverse for the last 10 years since the disastrous years of the Obama and Bush administrations 2000-2016. For this reason we can say a good Republican is as good as a good Democrat, a bad Republican is as bad as a bad Democrat, political labels are just that labels. The media in US and EU are on a wrong footing and still fail to cover this the way it should be covered to shake off the lethargy in public sentiment in the US so that a rapid drive to reindustrialize and build new new infrastructure on top of the old that was built after World War 1 can take place. In today's world India is stepping up with major infrastructure building just as the US and EU ramp up their rebuilding.  ...

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Ron Pinnelli of AutoData says the main difference between automakers doing well and ones that are struggling is a few big successes and a solid product line. The Detroit automakers need a good hit, a home run like the Honda Civic and some solid sellers. This is what Ford, GM need, one or two good hits and a the rest of the line pretty solid. Note auto sales increase 0.6 % overall for Feb. 2006 and the market is holding up. Note also 1) GM is deemphasizing fleet sales- "taking our medicine and going on." - Good thing in the long run. 2) Toyota sales not up by that much 2.6% in Feb. 2006. 3) Honda's success is a result of new Honda Civic sales which went up by 37% in Feb 2006, and helped increase Honda's market share from 7.8% in the prior year to 8.5%, according to Autodata.

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Panera casual food restaurant chain plans to cut 150 artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors and preservatives from the menu items by the end of 2016. Panera has 1600 restaurants for sandwiches, salads and soups in the U.S. and Canada. This includes fat substitutes and propylene glycol. It has cut sucralose artificial sweeetener and titanium dioxide used to whiten mozzarella cheese.

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India will allow automobile imports at 10% duty instead of 110%, allowing 250,000 EU automobiles into the Indian market, as part of the deal that benefits Germany. Tariff on European wines will go down from 150% to 20-40%. Duties on olive oil and processed food such as pasta and chocolates will go down to zero, which will benefit Italy, and Switzerland. A labor mobility agreement will let professional workers and seasonal workers from India into EU and EU to India. New talks will bring India into the EU's Horizon Research Programme.

It will double EU exports to India by 2032 over 6 years when it is implemented starting in 2027. An astonishing 97% of traded goods are included for cutting or eliminating tariffs. It will save EU 4 billion euros in duties, says the EU. Tariffs are cut on a vast arrayof industrial products- iron and steel (India benefits) chemicals, plastics, pharmaceuticals (India benefits) and machinery (Germany benefits).

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Cordoba and Perez in WSJ on the desperation of the people of Cuba looking for a better life. It covers not just Havana, but also the interior Santiago de Cuba and Camarguey different regions of Cuba all desolate and in complete disarray with lack of running water, electricity and inadequate food supplies. Cuba is clearly a failed experiment and a warning to all Latin American nations that capitalist system as the US itself knows quite well has serious drawbacks that need the likes of Jefferson, Lincoln, TR and FDR, JFK and LBJ to correct but the rhetoric of Castro is not the answer, itself quite dangerous. And the answer has to come by developing new alternatives, studying what works and what doesnt, the need for inputs of capital, labor and technologies, the need for hard work, the need for scientific and technological cooperation and goodwill of the successul nations, as China has proven and India is proving today for upwards of 3 billion people in Asia.

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Treasury Secretary Yellen says on her second trip to China that she will make this the top issue in discussions, the danger that Chinese overproduction in green energy products will lead to the kind of overspill that happened for steel and aluminium where subsidized products drove American companies out of the market. Speaking at a solar energy factory in Norcross, Georgia, that was itself closed in 2017 and is back up again with the assistance in the Inflation Reduction Act for promoting American green energy manufacturing, Yellen said: "It is important to me and the president that American firms and workers can compete on a level playing field." Yellen's remarks on supply chain resilience- "China's overcapacity distorts global prices and production patterns and hurts American firms and workers, as well as firms and workers around the world. Challenges for individual firms can lead to concentrated supply chains, negatively impacting global economic resilience.”   ...

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Small farmowners hate to see good fruit and vegetables go to waste just because of odd shape and appearance, even if it is just as nutritious. EU standards across Europe for fruits and vegetables made it difficult to get this farm produce to consumers. EU standards are now being revised, but supermarkets set their own standards and continue to accept fruit and vegetables only with "a slight defect in shape and development." A study by the Dutch and Swedish governments show Europe wastes 89 million tons of food a year and the two governments called on the EU "to reduce the amount of food waste caused by its labeling system." In Portugal as much as a fourth of the fruits and vegetables are at risk of waste because of such rules, according to small farm owners. Ugly Fruit, is a company trying to get this produce to consumers at lower prices in Lisbon. Farmowners say the idea that quality can be measured only by appearance is a mistake, as nutrition levels and flavor can be the same.

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DW.com provides this video about being poor and food in one of the richest countries. Inflation and higher food prices are affecting millions in Europe and the US.