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Reducing income inequality and increasing farm incomes would increase consumption spending and investment for further growth in the Indian economy. Investment in infrastructure development is another source of growth. Higher oil prices and the bad loans in the banking system are barriers to increasing growth of the Indian economy. The problems during the last 2 years of the Congress led UPA government, including the bad loans in the banking system and the uncertainty after corruption cases including the telecom auctions, required that the Modi government take strong action in the first year. 

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This editorial in the Hindu and the related article in the NYT point out the impressive record of the Awami League party government of prime minister Sheikh Hasina in growth- tripling electricity in a decade, and in social indicators, such as gender parity and education, improvements in infrastructure. A related report from Germany also showed the positive sense of the changes in Bangladesh including the first long bridge over the Ganges river near Dhaka connecting different parts of the country.

This sense of progress is marred by what is seen as increasing authoritarianism of the government. 

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About 40% of Americans are obese with BMI, body mass index of over 30. About 71% of Americans are overweight or obese with BMI over 25. This is a finding in a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This report does not mention a separate finding covered in the Guardian online newspaper showing less than 15% of Americans get the daily recommended intake of fruits and vegetables, crucial in preventing major diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes. The cost to America for obesity related or weight related medical bills is estimated at $190 billion a year, in three years this would help renovate the aging U.S. infrastructure if people changed their habits and education was designed to help change the way Americans live. Even harder to understand is that only 2% of America's farmland grows fruits and vegetables, according to the Guardian report which says this would need to be 4% to meet the needs of the people in the U.S.. These are alarming facts and need more public awareness by this being getting widespread attention on the internet. ...

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Eric Cantor, a House member from the Richmond area, who is the face behind the zero Republican votes in the House for the Stimulus Plan. He says Democrats should not take the message from this that they should not mess with the Republicans anymore in discussing the plans for the economy. Is this good policy though, when the bill has given some middle ground between tax cuts and spending, and the spending is on areas neglected for years such as roads and bridges, classrooms and energy infrastructure? And is there an element of lack of comprehension by Republicans stuck on ideological grounds, of the seriously deteriorating nature of this crisis which is likely not to come back with recovery in several years, and is a global crisis? When Prime Minister Thatcher, UK Prime Minister, left office, the British infrastructure rail, rapid transit, hospitals and schools, had been neglected for many years and voters were looking for ways to rebuild the dilapidated infrastructure. The economy was weakening under her Conservative party successor, giving the Labor Party its chance to make a come back on the grounds of rebuilding infrastructure and services, and improving the economy. In which case there are just as many risks in this approach of being left out entirely and losing credibility across the country. Sometimes a feel good position may not be the best, or the wisest option, and may be shortsighted. ...

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The Washington Post cites researchers at the University of Chicago about the kind of economy Biden achieved by Jan 2025-

“Under the Biden administration, real GDP rose 12.6 percent, rightly cheered ... as ‘a historically robust expansion’ that repeatedly defied forecasts. Since the pandemic, economic growth in the US has far outpaced that of our peer nations. Business investment is up; unemployment is low.”

As a new DJT administration takes over in the US it has the potential of carrying on the task of rebuilding infrastructure, and strengthening the economy,  tackling cost of living, income indisparities, with greater involvement of the private sector, in the same way that some of the priorities of the first DJT administration such as infrastructure and bringing jobs home in manufacturing were taken up by the Biden administration with participation of the US government in rebuilding the economy.

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The drop in oil prices in 2014-2015 leads to a decline in the value of Nigeria's currency, the Naira, by over 10% in 2014. The Naira dropped to 186.9 to the dollar by Dec. 2, 2014. The foreign exchange reserves drop to $2 billion in Dec. 2014 from $20 billion in 2008. Investment in infrastructure and the electricity grid is badly needed. Imports of arms for the military add to budgetary strain as the government tackles the Boko Haram terrorist threat in the Kano region. The central bank puts out a revised budget based on an oil price of $73, as Brent crude dropped to $68. Like Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone dependent on iron ore exports, Angola and Mozambique on oil revenues, Zambia on copper, and South Africa on mining exports, much of Africa's economy is dependent on commodity exports. About 80% of Nigeria's government revenue is from oil exports, according to the IMF. And the entire budget for the nation with the largest population in Africa is only $30 billion.

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Rightly seen the reality in China, says Li Yuan in NYT is not about the tallest bridge at Guizhou, or the acceleration of an AGI race with China, but that enormous debt finances that bridge, pensioners live on $20 a month in that Chinese province. Doctors, lawyers and accountants provide the $1.50 ride share in that province suggesting that all is not right when it comes to the living standards of the people the ultimate test. When it comes to AGI and AI China is simply integrating it into processes and work for general efficiency, nothing strategic about it, merely routinely integrating a technology. There are deep structural flaws in China's development says Li Yuan, when there are enduring strengths in the US. It may be that Silicon Valley is more of a problem in the US as it seeks to divert more of the resources that should go into people benefitting infrastructure in the US. Ultimately the US must seeks its own path built on the expansion of frontiers in the US since 1787, followed by industrialization in the 1870's and again in 1940's and 1960's in a government of the people, for the people and by the people. ...

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Germany's Merz is bringing historic change to Germany that it has not seen since reunification in 1990. Understated and underestimated Merz is different from the career politician chancellors of the past. Merz is a businessperson who headed the German branch of the investment fund Black Rock and from this experience has a keen understanding of the economy, of American and European business, and a direct commonsense approach to issues from defense to modernization. In short he is direct, speaks clearly, and action oriented. Within 5 months DJT has acted on tariffs and a level playing field in world trade and on a new budget with priorities for defense and tax cuts. Merz has in 2 months removed the constitutional debt brake of Merkel, corrected policy errors on illegal migration, passed 5% of GDP on defense and gained approval of added borrowing for 129 billion dollars in 2030, 4 times the 33 billion in 2024 to invest in modernization of Germany's failing infrastructure. Together Merz and DJT have stood up for the principle of no nuclear weapons in Iran, and the refocus of South and Southwest Asia on economic development from tragic and senseless wars. ...

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Narendra Modi is now the choice of the BJP party in India to lead it against the ruling Congress party of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. The corruption in government and the slowing growth have improved the chances of Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat state in northwestern India, near Mumbai. Modi has done well in Gujarat state in a number of areas- from foreign investment in manufacturing, infrastructure development, and better governance. His plan is to replicate this at the national level. His slogan is minimum government and maximum governance.

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Increased bank lending in China with lending going up by 20% in January 2009, suggest that state owned banks are following instructions to increase lending from the government. As bank and household balance sheets are healthy and domestic debt has fallen relative to GDP in recent years, the bank lending situation appears healthy. Medium and long term lending has increased strongly. The central bank plans to finance only 30% of the stimulus spending of $585 billion infrastructure package, banks will provide much of the rest. According to ING analyst Condon, transport infrastructure spending was up 61% over ayear earlier in December.

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WSJ reporters McDowell, Otto and Murray's interview with Indonesia's president Joko Widodo in December 2014, focusses on Indonesia's need for foreign investment for badly needed infrastructure development. Widodo says Indonesia will compete with Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries to attract foreign investors and offer better terms to attract projects. Widodo plans to take up reform of state electricity company PLN, open a limited, national one-stop investment center, and tackle land acquisition for the Adaro power project in central Java to be built with Japanese investment, in coming months, always following a deadline. His goal is to streamline processing and approval of foreign investment projects so that the time is cut from about a year to a few weeks. Investors such as Samsung have preferred to invest in Vietnam, and other investors have preferred to invest in Malaysia, because of a deteriorating foreign investment climate under the previous administration. Indonesia remains dependent on coal and commodity exports to China. The goal says Widodo is to increase the growth rate from 5% to 7% by 2016. This includes revising the old structure of contracts with oil companies to encourage oil exploration investments by foreign oil companies, according to Economics Minister Sofyan Djalil. Indonesia's oil production has declined in the last decade and it is now a net importer, a situation similiar to that in Mexico....

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Gujarat has a mortality rate of 6.2% compared to 2.8% for India. In total number of confirmed cases Gujarat comes fourth after Maharashtra, Tamilnadu and Delhi, with 21,500 cases. Most of the deaths are in the city of Ahmedabad and mostly at the city's large Civil Hospital. This report in the BBC says the deaths can be attributed to the reluctance of people in the city to go to the Government Civil Hospital because the quality of care is not good. Many patients come to the Civil Hospital only after failing to find a bed at other private hospitals. This means the patients condition is getting worse as he is not admitted rightaway but days afterwards when his condition has deteriorated. The weak health infrastructure of the state and the lack of quality care at the Ahmedabad Government Civil Hospital say experts has led to increasing number of deaths in Gujarat from coronavirus. Gujarat has been known for its improvements in transportation and roads infrastructure. This has not happened with health infrastructure. This situation is being seen also in China where not enough money is being invested for quality health care. Ahmedabad's Government Civil Hospital is one of the largest in Asia providing low cost care to a large population. ...

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Fact checking Apple CEO Tim Cook's statements on the EU Commission ruling for $13 billion in back taxes, shows that CEO Tim Cook's statement that "we never asked for, nor did we receive any special deals," is not true. Ireland let Apple determine what it would pay in tax, and Apple had the benefit of loopholes in Irish tax laws, the fact check by experts shows here. Apple's Cook also says it would hurt investment and jobs in Ireland. Another NYT article showed that the entire healthcare budget of Ireland would be covered by the $13 billion, and 66% of its budget for social support services to the public. Apple has 22,000 employees in Europe and 6000 in Ireland in 2016. Based on the $13 billion owed in taxes, for every job in Ireland the cost to Ireland is 2.17 million euros, and for every job in the EU the cost is 590,000 euros. Apple could turn around and locate in some other place, other than Ireland, in which case Ireland does not get the 6000 jobs. This is Ireland's incentive to give Apple tax benefits. Only if all EU countries had common tax laws would it be possible to avoid this situation, and generate much needed tax revenues at a time of cuts in public spending in healthcare, education, and social services, and invest in infrastructure, worker retraining. The alternative is for the EU to look at other remedies. This is what the EU Commissioner Vestager did when she announced that this was a state subsidy and illegal under EU rules. Because the appeal by Apple goes to the EU Courts the appeal is difficult say legal experts. The EU courts look at the legal aspects of the ruling, was it justified, not at the overall aspect of the ruling by Vestager, as EU Competition Commissioner. This may be why there is so much outcry from Apple, and other digital companies.  ...

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WSJ Lingling Wei's interview with Ding Xuedong, chairman of China Investment Corporation on its plans and strategies for 2015-2016, and future years. China's government formed CIC in 2007 to improve the returns on its foreign exchange reserves, estimated at $3.8 trillion in 2015. China Investment Corporation had largely stayed with low yields on U.S. Treasury debt till 2007. CIC has about $650 billion in assets in 2015. Its strategies provide insights into how China sees the outlook for the global economy. Ding sees opportunities in real estate and infrastructure, with a focus on the U.S. and Europe for steady cash flows. He singles out the U.S. as of particular interest as its economy rebounds. Strategies also include paring down of energy holdings. Foreign holdings are now $220 billion and have increased by 16.6% since 2009. A special unit CIC Capital was formed recently to more directly participate in managing foreign holdings with a long term view. Earlier focus of CIC on natural resources and commodities is now shifting as the commodities crisis has reduced long term prospects in that sector. The plan for the future is to shift to an allocation where financial products such as stocks and bonds are about 50%, and long term assets such as infrastructure investments, real estate and other investment take up the other 50%. At the end of 2013 equities and fixed income represented 57.4% of CIC global assets, and 28.2% were in long term assets. Ding wants to see China as the No. 2 engine for the global economy after the U.S. as No. 1. He sees the prospects for Brazil, Russia and South Africa as poor, and is optimistic about good performance from India, Mexico and Nigeria. On Japan Ding is skeptical of prime minister Abe's plans because he sees the lack of structural reforms in the efforts leading to a kind of lazy effort in his view. CIC is learning from the experience of other national investment funds and improving its in-house investment and management capabilities. Ding has many years of experience with China's Finance Ministry, the Cabinet, and the State Council. ...

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Patti Pope, CEO of Consumers Energy, a Michigan power company serving 7 million consumers, is moving to greener sources for energy. Consumers Energy retired 7 coal fired power plants and is shifting to solar farms, wind farms for energy, smart thermostats and meters, new infrastructure, taking advantage of the lower costs of renewable energy.

It plans to invest $25 billion over the next 10 years, including to add 6 gigawatts of solar power requiring 59 square miles of solar panels in its service area. Included are plans to help customers to produce and manage their own power as more users install solar panels in homes.

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Mexico's GDP decreased slightly in each of the 4 quarters in 2019. GDP growth was 2.1% in 2018. Cancellation of some infrastructure projects and policy changes lead to lower private and public investment and decline in industrial production of 1.8% for 2019.  Foreign investment held steady at $33 billion and the passage of the new North American trade agreement signed by president Trump is expected to lead to better growth in 2020.

Under Mr. Obrador revision of energy contracts, and cancellation of some projects due to budget constraints, led to decline in public and private investment of 5.1% through November 2019. 

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$5 Billion for Highway EV chargers under 2021 Infrastructure Act paused in Feb 2025. More than half of the funds were awarded to highway truck stops and travel stops. 940 locations had awards for building the EV charging stations and 56 have completed work.

It was designed to overcome "range anxiety" of EV car drivers.

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Voter fatigue with the Conservatives under prime minister Harper is showing up in the province of Ontario. The area around London, Ontario, and Toronto is critical in the 2015 general election. A large loss of manufacturing jobs has left this key manufacturing region of Canada so weakened that the recent 20% decline in the Canadian currency is not leading to a rebound in the manufacturing sector. The Liberals under Justin Trudeau have promised to run a slight deficit to invest in infrastructure that would help the manufacturing sector, while Harper's Conservatives plan to keep the status quo. The vigorous campaign run by Trudeau, the son of a former prime minister, is also helping the Liberals, who are moving ahead in the polls.

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The tech boom bust since 2000 that has hurt America and Europe and which also laid the foundations for the loss of manufacturing and technology to China, ceding American leadership and critical advantage, is shown here in the WSJ. The role of the finance sector  is explained here. That has added one more factor to the factor of endless wars in the Middle East, where American and European investment in healthcare, education and new infrastructure was somehow diverted away, and much of America's and Europe's resources wasted- or not turned to the benefit of the people of America or Europe.  One financial firm that rode the tech boom to the hilt finds itself with unacceptable losses except in a severe recession. Tiger Global Management was using tens of billions of dollars from pensions, endowments and rich clients riding on some of Silicon Valley's hottest stocks.  With the plunge in tech stock values including startups in which Tiger pushed into aggressively now facing large losses after hyper valuations, Tiger's hedge fund which managed $23 billion at the end of 2021 was down 52% in 2022. Another of its funds that managed $11 billion has lost 62%. WSJ says this wiped out two thirds of the gains Tiger has made in the tech stocks since its founding. In addition large writedowns are expected on its venture funds valued at $64 billion at the end of 2021, says WSJ.  WSJ says cheap money (money somehow diverted from infrastructure and funding manufacturing in China instead of the US now goes by the misnomer cheap money) reshaped Silicon Valley in the last decade, as pension funds, rich investors and celebrities turned to well connected money managers such as Tiger to put money in tech stocks and startups. This WSJ report says compared to Sequoia Capital and an earlier generation of venture companies Tiger Global is simply not interested in management of companies it invests in, taking a broad brush approach, using Bain Capital for research, and trying to haul in a large load of fish like trawlers at sea hoping for some companies to make big gains. Many pension funds such as Calpers California's public pension fund invest in Tiger with a $400 million investment. WSJ also reports that Tiger Global's venture funds do not reflect the realities of the tech business as venture stocks will reflect the drop over 2022 and 2023, including its ByteDance Chinese tech investment which will need larger writedowns. Tiger has also not hesitated to get into cryptocurrency which has loss of about $1.5 trillion dollars. It is of interest to note that Julian Robertson, hedge fund manager of the 2000 period (when Clinton-Bush were US presidents) who ran Tiger Management provided the impetus for Mr. Coleman, then 25 years old, for the start of Tiger Global. Julian Robertson closed his fund in 2000 during the dot com bust. Coleman hired a Blackstone analyst and started on the next cycle of tech with social media platform Facebook now Meta, followed by China's JD.com as investments in a new China boom were started. The end result is that during a period of Middle East wars under Bush and Obama, and building dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies under Schroeder and Merkel, China was the gainer as the US and EU lost much of its manufacturing and technology to China. During this period US and Europe neglected investment in infrastructure that would benefit the people of America in ease of living and quality of life. Just as money was wasted in wars much of the tech investment was wasted. The companies that added value over time were started long before and relied on sales growth and new products that revolutionized their field such as Apple with smartphones that started well before the nineteen eighties, Amazon with logistics and its own style of management, Microsoft from an even earlier era. Tech monopolies Facebook, Google, and others would not be missed much in terms of real progress for the people of America. The cost is many decades of ceding manufacturing and technology advantage to China by US and the EU led by Germany. China 2030 and the war in Ukraine with China's support have shown how fragile the foundations have been with weak political leadership and a finance sector running backwards in terms of America's and Europe's strengths in new infrastructure, better healthcare, services and education for the people of America and Europe. Leaving it to the Biden administration and a new coalition of Greens and Scholz in Germany to begin the task of rebuilding America and Europe on strong foundations, including the dignity of the workers and families, that makes who we are and what we believe in, and why the free world believes in us. ...

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The auction of the Libra ultra-deep water oil field in the waters off Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Shell, Total and two Chinese companies took part in the auction. Libra is estimated to hold about 12 billion barrels of oil and combined with the other fields in the newly discovered area has about 50 billion barrels of oil. Brazil's laws passed after the discoveries offshore were made in 2006 give Petrobras a critical role in development of the oil fields. A new company Petrasal was created to oversee the new oil fields. The winning bidder in this auction is required to pay the government $7 billion in an upfront payment and source much of the equipment inside Brazil. New investments are required in education, infrastructure and supporting public services after nationwide street protests, making oil field development and new revenues a priority for the government of Dilma Rousseff and the Workers Party that runs the government.

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Citigroup's CEO Pandit sees growth in its Asian and Latin American businesses in 2012-2013. He cited growing investment in infrastructure and the needs of middle class customers in these countries.

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In this report WSJ looks at US Treasury Secretary's warning to China about its role in the free world and its position in the international trading system and the obligations to human values that come with it. Janet Yellen is so well known as head of the Federal Reserve and as US Treasury Secretary that it is easy to forget her experience at Yale studying under James Tobin who supported meeting social goals, whom she calls a life long mentor. Tobin set the foundations for economic policy in the Kennedy administration in the early post war period, after working in the Franklin Roosevelt administration during the war. Social goals, business paying its fair share of taxes, building infrastructure, were all a part of the FDR and Kennedy-Johnson administration.  It is also easy to forget that Yellen set the foundations for economic policy under Clinton and then under Obama administration the period when social goals were not met, infrastructure was neglected, globalization meant shipping jobs and factories overseas to China, and lack of financial oversight over banks that led to the 2009 financial crisis. The contradiction made Yellen realize only late during the Obama administration how much of a diversion she had taken from the social goals of the FDR-Truman-Kennedy post war period.  As one of the architects of the economic policy underpinning the emergence of China's role as the factory of the world, that destroyed many working class communities in the US, Yellen is in the economic role that Merkel shares in world of political economy with her integration of the German economy with that of China. Today as she calls for a retreat to the values shared by her mentor James T, Tobin and of FDR and Truman as they responded to the Berlin Crisis in the aftermath of 1945, and the Korean War with large scale invasion of South Korea and the kind of refugee crisis that we see today in Ukraine, there is much room for reflection. Reflection on what was lost in the intervening years of the Bush-Clinton and Obama years that led to the situation that the free world faces with totalitarianism today.   ...

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This WSJ report shows how retirement looks in America from the financial and lifestyle aspects. The median net worth for people 65-74 years is about $266,000 compared to an average net worth of 5 times that of $1.2 million for this group. This means wealth is highly skewed in America today with a small percentage of high wealth group pushing the average up this much- a result of neglect of American manufacturing that sharply reduced income and savings security of working families, and the impact of laissez faire policies of the administrations since the 1970's with financial crises hurting workers and families. The impact of wars was also borne heavily by workers and families with the neglect of infrastructure and public services in a misallocation of the nation's wealth.  Other points of note are the way time is spent today in retirement with less educational activity or volunteer work than one would imagine, and not enough time for exercize. Only a miniscule amount of time goes to volunteer work (.17 hours) or reading (.57 hours) compared to watching television (4.50 hours) for retirees. Exercize that keeps people healthy one would expect it to go up in retirement only shows .29 hours. Arts and entertainment or cultural activities only 0.05 hours, people are lonelier spending less time with each other with 0.57 hours for socializing and communicating. All showing how Americans in retirement can do better and live better lives by increasing the amount of time they spend in these healthy activities and less on television. Television which is also a sedentary activity takes up 3 times all the other activities essential for healthy living just mentioned combined. Little or no time is spent in meditation, mindfulness or mental wellness, as this grouped under prayer shows only .07 hours or just a few minutes a day.  Small changes that are made in the right direction would do much good for the quality of living for all Americans. Combined with an effort for the renewal of infrastructure and public services this would be an effort in the right direction, contributing to the well being of America.   ...

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German chancellor Merkel is interviewed by DW.com's Max Hofmann as her 16 year period as Germany's leader comes to a close. She discusses immigration to Germany, climate change and other issues. Not discussed are the issues of neglect of infrastructure and failure in preserving upward mobility in Germany society during that period. She is described as a "compromise machine," which she refutes by saying "I'm not a machine, of course, but... a human being." Through compromise she was able to extend the Christian Democrats hold on power for this long. Yet for much of the time she kept the Social Democrats, who were lacking in conviction at the time for real upward mobility, out of power; by compromises that meant she would do just so much not enough on social values. In the end her party the CDU fell to a low of about 22% support of Germans in the 2021 election. The Greens with more conviction and the Social Democrats surpassed the CDU under Baerbock and vice chancellor Scholz. Her achievements came reluctantly in the end in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. This time she put all her convictions and support behind the German and European Union financial package for trillions of euros of support that would enable Europe to get back on its feet after the pandemic's devastation. This may be her singular achievement, long after everything else is forgotten. Yet not one word of this interview talks about this achievement made with the full conviction of both Scholz and Merkel. Scholz and Baerbock will lead a new Social Democrat+ Greens coalition that will finally rebuild Germany along new lines on pillars of social mobility, infrastructure building, and climate change action for the New Germany. Baerbock is just 40 years, and Germany now moves to be run by a new generation so unlike the last in conviction and vision, and more in line with the vision and aspirations after World War II. With both Willy Brandt's vision of the Social Democrats, and the vision of Konrad Adenauer of the Christian Democrats, now carried forward with the help of the Greens Baerbock and the young generation of Germans. ...

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Because India is still largely rural with about 65% of the population in the countryside rural poverty is a matter of huge importance. In a country of a billion people this is easily about 600-650 million people the vast majority of the world's poor. Though low inflation in agricultural produce and in agricultural wages have increased concern for rural poverty in India there are changes in multiple dimensions that have raised the quality of living in a big way. There is a major thrust in government programs directed at multiple levels for clean India, housing healthcare, cooking gas, electricity, banking, in the rural villages. About 4 million homes are built annually with government assistance and investment in rural programs has more than doubled in the last 7 years.  The National Food Security programs NFGSA guarantees purchases of rice and wheat at very low prices -set at 2 rupees per kilogram of wheat and  3 rupees per kilogram of rice or about $0.03 per kilogram.  This reduces the pressure on migration to cities making cities less inhabitable and finding it hard to cope as in countries like Indonesia, Philippines and in Africa. It gives more time for urbanization to take place in a better way as more resources and infrastructure is created for urbanization. Some states in India are about 50% urbanized with Tamilnadu (Madras or Chennai),  and Kerala (Cochin, Thiruvanathapuram) in the south and Maharashtra (Bombay or Mumbai) and Gujarat (Ahmedbad) in the north west, are at about 50% urbanization rate. The low inflation rate for agricultural wages affecting farm incomes combined with contributions by rural people to complement government contributions for housing, healthcare,  reduces the mount of money available for consumer spending in rural areas, affecting the economy. A problem in the short run, but with synergistic changes across multiple dimensions pushing the country forward across urban and rural areas. With the huge urban infrastructure spending increases creating more space for economic growth across the country. There is a general sense that for development a multi dimensional approach is needed, and a rising tide lift all boats as India urbanizes like China has done in the last 20 years. ...