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Cook and Olson look at how U.S. shale oil firms have handled the slump in oil prices. Their report in WSJ says the shale firms have weathered the oil slump well, with production declines in 2016 of only 535,000 barrels a day compared to 2015. The Saudi decision to not cut production and let oil prices drop has affected mostly higher cost less flexible production for mega projects such as deep water projects and oil sands in Canada. Oil shale firms are expected to snap back, according to experts, as demand increases. U.S. production is expected to increase by about 700,000 barrels a day by end of of 2017, say experts.

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Geetanjali Shree win the International Booker prize for the best fiction novel translated from other languages into English. Her book Reti Samadhi is about an older woman coping with the effects of the 1947 partition of India and has what Geetanjali Shree calls the meandering mind of women spanning 725 pages in Hindi. "Woman are stories in themselves, full of stirrings and whisperings that float in the wind, that bend with each blade of grass," says Shree in the opening pages of the novel. Shree writes about a teenager who goes through the traumatic experience of partition as a teenager and experiencing depression at an older age decides to confront the experience by going to the place where it happened a second time. Shree is from Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh (UP).  UP a Hindi speaking state is getting into the international field as the experiences of the region are being shared in other languages. It is now at the forefront of rapid development in India under the Modi administration and a state administration that sees India's largest state in an international context. Bringing Hindi, its tone and rhythm, and the style and exuberance of the author to a English reader, is a challenge that was handled well by Daisy Rockwell of the US. ...

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Alexander Kudascheff of DW.com, says the Berlin Christmas market attack on the Kurfstendamm, is likely to change the way Germany looks at the terrorist threats in the world. Smaller attacks had hit Germany earlier in 2016. This one resembling the attack in Nice on Bastille Day is likely to touch a nerve with Germans who did not see something like this possible for a Christmas tradition of Christmas markets in Germany, and right in Berlin's centre.  This means stormy waters for chancellor Merkel's refugee policies. The comments to this opinion in the DW.com show the public dissatisfaction with current policy. Many of the comments focus on too open an approach of liberal media, what is perceived as a spin on stories for refugees, and on the use of words "suspected terrrorist attack" even when it had become clear to most people that it was a terrorist incident. In other ways this incident is different as it puts Germans in the same situation as Americans, Spaniards, Turks, French, and other people in the way terrorism has made people less safe or unsafe in 2015-2016. Most of this is a result of the situation in Syria and Iraq, as is the refugee situation that has divided European opinion, and American opinion.  ...

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Next five year plan for China calls for more concentration on industry, dominance in key sectors identified by China such as rare earths, and more exports- not less in each of these areas. Chinese Communist Party is very conservative and once this has worked for China it is not going to change its reliance on exports even at the risk of leaving goods unsold in China or oversupply. The result is that the US effort to reduce the trade deficit, trying every tool in the book does not work, leading to an effort to resort to tariffs as a last resort to cut the unhealthy and risky $1 trillion trade deficit China has with the world. Has it worked? WSJ and other reports show that large companies are diversifying their supply channels, only smaller companies without the resources are sticking with China dependence for supplies. The tariffs themselves make headlines yet the US has made careful calculations not to upset relationships with key partners Britain, European Union, and Japan, keeping tariffs low at 10% with EU, and 15% with Japan which exports automobiles to the US to recover some of the years US made concessions to Japan. There are also loopholes on certain products where it is in the US interest to do so. As a result the effective tariff is 10-12.5% not 17-20% shown in reports. Of this 10% what is passed on to consumers is small- as in autos 80% of tariffs are not passed on by auto importers such as Toyota and Subaru because of the higher margins postpandemic. In retail only 30% is passed on again because of the post pandemic higher margins. The administration of DJT has also carefully worked with world oil suppliers to keep oil prices low, lower than in 2023-2024. The result is that inflation is at about 3% in September 2025. The idea that a capricious DJT is doing the tariffs is a myth as careful economic planners including Bessent, Jamieson, Lighthizer, and Luttnick, economic advisors in the Republican party, are carefully articulating the policy with room for DJT's political talk and appeal to public sentiment. ...

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Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer launched a series of acquisitions after becoming CEO in 2012. Tumblr was acquired for $1 billion. Yahoo has disclosed in a regulatory filing that it plans to write down the entire value of that acquisition. A number of other acquisitions have also failed to deliver value as Yahoo struggles in ad revenues- mobile ad revenues for Yahoo in the 1st quarter of 2016 were $250 million compared to $4.5 billion or 17 times that for Facebook. Yahoo has 200 million visitors each month, but its display ads are not strong on mobile and its mobile apps have not done well with users. As advertising shifted to mobile Yahoo stumbled badly. The failed acquisitions investment could have been better utilized in retaining talented mobile engineers, but Yahoo's CEO resorted to cost cutting when the strategy of looking at consumer trends for news content through digital magazine investments failed. As a result Yahoo suffered from slumping morale and a brain drain.

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Paul Peterson, a professor who heads the Program on Education Policy at Harvard, says that public school education has not done as well as private or charter school education. In two areas character or values, and school discipline, public schools lag far behind private schools or charter schools. Private schools score 59% and 46% in these two areas, public schools lag far behind at 21% and 17%, in the 2016 Education Next Survey, says Peterson. He says by appointing Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, the Trump administration sees the need to think how public schools can benefit from improvement in these areas.

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Germany's biggest bank Deutsche Bank is described here in WSJ as one of the banking industry's biggest basket cases, having suffered legal investigations, management turnover and legal fines over many years. This time the German government is working on merging the bank with Commerzbank AG in a last effort to straighten out the huge mess and losses at the bank, says WSJ. A former JP Morgan manager, Mr. Zames, 48 years old, who joined the bank at the time of the London whale scandal is now working for Cerberus Capital which is acting in a multilayered relationship with Deutsche Bank  as adviser to management as well as having complex financial dealings with Deutsche Bank. In the process says WSJ he would be rescuing a soured bet on Deutsche Bank by Cerberus which owns 3% of Deutsche Bank as well as 5% fo Commerzbank. The investment made in 2017 was shown as $1.1 billion but is worth half that today. The arrangement is unusual for Deutsche Bank and shows how far the bank has changed from its early years as Germany's leading bank. It was founded in 1870 and in 1998 acquired Bankers Trust for a presence on Wall Street. This turned out to be a bad investment as $4 billion premium paid for Bankers Trust was later written off. Deutsche Bank never really recovered from these moves into Wall Street banking. The SDP in the German coalition government sees the merger with Commerzbank as one more move to get out of the mess, though no one really knows considering the complex dealings of the bank and its problems with legal authorites in Germany. ...

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Ben Bernanke former Fed chairman gets a Nobel Prize for an economic paper written in 1983 that showed the role central bankers need to adopt to prevent a banking crisis from transforming into an economic depression. Banks could feel the effects of a crisis but also could cause an economic crisis as happened in 2009 with catastrophic mortgage lending practices. Other economists with similar research including Douglas Diamond of the University of Chicago, and Philip Dybvig at Washington University also received the Nobel Prize.

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This excellent article by Peta Bee looks at how we can do anti-ageing efforts to keep our immune systems strong as we become older. She looks at work by an expert in immune cell biology, Janet Lord, who is head of the Institute for Inflammation and Ageing at Birmingham University. It is now proven that the link between ageing and immune systems can be guided in constructive ways. At sixty and seventy years age one can have the immune system of a 30 year old by doing a couple of simple things which are covered here from taking 10,000 steps a day, high intensity interval training on some days each month, occasional fasting on some days, high fibre diet and vitamin D. Walking, running or other forms of exercize affect a particular form of immune function called neutrophil movement in positive ways. Neutrophil movement because these cells are the main defense against the forms of bacteria that cause pneumonia. Neutrophils in older adults behaved in ways similar to that found in 30 year olds when doing 10,000 steps a day of exercize. Dr. Lord and other researchers have found. Dr. Jenna Macciochi, a lecturer in immunology at the University of Sussex, says about 70% of our immune system resides in our gut, making gut health very important for our immunity. Macciochi is the author of Immunity: The Science of Staying Well. Important for gut or gastrointestinal health is the eating of food that has prebiotic and probiotic effect. This helps reverse the decline of immunity coming with ageing.When we chew down on fibre in vegetables, fruit, beans or lentils we have beneficial byproducts called postbiotics that act as an interface between diet and immunity, that change the personalities of cells and circulate in our blood for regulation of immune system, says Dr. Macciochi. Postbiotics from eating dietary fibre tune up specific virus fighting cells that help us fight infections from flu and viruses, studies show says this report in The Times. Women in the UK get only 17g per day, men 20 mg per day of fibre. We need 30 mg per day of fibre and to do this we need to increase our intake of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds and pulses. Also important is avoiding the inflammation that comes with ageing called inflammageing, says Dr. Macciochi. To do this do resistance training, weights, or using body weight such as lunges, push ups, squats. When our muscles move we produce hormones called myokines that help our immune cells function and keep inflammation down. She believes strength work is an absolute essential to rejuvenate our immune age. ...

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Sebarros of the WSJ takes a closer look at the key words used by U.S. president Trump in rallies in city after city during the 2016 election campaign and in the months before the Congressional elections in 2018. Analysis by the WSJ counted the unique two word phrases, how often Trump highlighted topics, the content of audience respones in 48 post election rally speeches through Oct 27.  In 2018 the words "tax cuts,"fake news," and "health care," appeared more often than in 2017 after the Republican party's win in passing a tax cut. Other phrases used frequently were "law enforcement," "North Korea," and "Supreme Court" after the win in nominating Judge Kavanaugh. The use of the 2 word phrases are carefully done. The words "fake news" were not used during sensitive periods such as when pipe bombs were mailed to government offices, yet resumed few weeks later. His own name is the seventh most used word, even for someone such as Mr. Trump, showing that behind the impromptu remarks there is a carefully worded effort to steer voters in a particular direction with carefully developed appeals. Another example is when the Dow Jones averages were reaching new highs in September and October Mr. Trump highlighted the stock market growth, and then when volatility increased by November said much less on this topic. Graphs by Jessica Wang provide a good look at how frequently and in what manner Mr. Trump has continued his unique campaigning style before the 2018 Congressional elections, with two word appeals to already receptive audiences. The audience participation is a singular feature and the words "U.S.A." were used in 85% of the rallies with "Build that Wall" at 65% as the next most frequent.  Much of it is repetitive in city after city and the WSJ analysis shows that the major television networks including Fox News are not covering the speeches from beginning to end as they did before, only C-Span public network does. To receptive audiences in carefully scripted surroundings, including larger ones such as the Toyota Center Houston, where larger numbers of supporters worried about immigration, health care, trade, and other issues can come together, president Trump has rallied core supporters with this kind of appeal. ...

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Yale endowment grows by $4.5 billion to $44.1 billion at 11% return in 2025. For 1000 students  offered no cost tution for undergrads this was about a $72 million cost in 2025 when tution is set at Yale at $72,000 a year for undergrads. Of 6800 undergrad students about 15% of students offered no cost tution at the cutoff income level of $75,000. This year the cutoff is set at $200,000. Even if this adds 1000 more students this will in 2026 cost Yale a mere $72 million, a tiny fraction of  1.6% of the total endowment gain of $4.5 billion in 2025. What this shows is that these top tier schools are still wanting to look good but are not really changing a highly flawed system. It is only in 2026 that a new law the Big Beautiful Bill of DJT increased tax on university endowments from 1.4% to 8%. Better that government can address the flawed education system with tax money than let the universities in the higher tiers make education less and less affordable, destroying a pillar of the democratic system of government by giving education to only a privileged few. ...

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This article in The Lancet published in February 2018 throws much light on how the ban on gain of function research on virus was lifted -research that carries with it the danger of increasing transmission of virus if something unexpected happens in the manipulation of a virus. It was lifted in 2018 in the US by officials in the US Health Ministry, NIH and HHS. The Cambridge group of scientists and experts opposed lifting the ban on such dangerous research that could make the virus more contagious through manipulation. Epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch of Harvard School of Public Health wrote at the time that the lab research to create a more lethal strain of virus could lead to "an accidental pandemic" yet he was ignored. The public in America and in the world is unaware of how this created serious risks for public health in the world through the coronavirus.  Did US health officials lift the ban on such research without consulting other countries such as India, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, and the EU on its ramifications. Were public health experts and the publics themselves in the US and around the world not drawn into the discussion of public health and the dangers that existed. Not only did officials in HHS and NIH restart the research by lifting the ban but also sent funds overseas for such research- was this a proper or thoughtful action considering the risks involved.  Is enhanced surveillance of virus- a dubious benefit from manipulation of a virus- something a few health officials can decide for the whole world in addition to the US. How are health officials in one or two countries responsible to the people in India, Brazil, Europe and the poorest populations in the world in the world in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, people who have suffered devastating consequences from transmissibility of the virus, including children and older people with health problems. India, Brazil, Italy, Spain, France, UK, and other countries worst hit by the coronavirus must ask serious questions about how they can protect their people if institutions in the US and international institutions are seen as failing to protect world public health. ...

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A survey of 2000 workers by Prudential shows about 25% of workers plan to look for a better job after the pandemic, and 38% say challenges with work-life balance are a reason for them to change jobs. This is a trend seen also in labor statistics as there is a mismatch between jobs offered and jobs people are seeking in the job market in US and other countries, with job seekers looking for stability and work-life balance, and making physical and mental health a priority. This WSJ report shows how women are handling this challenge. It says it is not enough to go by a company's online policies one has to look deeper. Look for people in the know, look for clues in the interview, have a clear idea of what is important to you- flexible schedule, family friendly benefits. WSJ gives names of sites that can help provide more information- Mom's Project, InHerSight, Glassdoor, List Your Leave, Working Mother. Look for onsite child care center, fitness facilities, does company do followup emails at night, do employees appear frazzled, stressed or disorganized? Connect into alumni and other professional networks for clues and patterns at companies. Also says WSJ experts cited here employers will appreciate your asking the question early rather than later. Questions such as "does a firm promote associates with alternative work schedules" are normal questions to ask. ...

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Of Amazon's third quarter profit of $15.3 billion profit $5.7 billion was from the retail delivery business, 60% of it or $9.2 billion was from its cloud services and AI business. The retail business held up with more efficient delivery and logistics growing at 9% for the quarter. 

Amazon had 1.55 million employees up 3%. It's investing capital expenses were $21.8 billion up 88% as it invests heavily in data centers to power AI and will soon launch low orbit earth satellites to provide internet services to areas off the grid.

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Besides car sales the data in December 2009-Jan 2010 for a strong recovery in 2010 is ambiguous.

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Harris told an audience in Pittsburgh-

"I remember being there for my mother when she was diagnosed with cancer. Cooking meals for her, taking her to her appointments. I know caregiving is about dignity.”

Harris will propose help for seniors for homecare, living at home, funding it with Medicare cost improvements in cost of pharmaceuticals it pays out. The benefit will cover cost of home health care services including home health aides.

About 105 million Americans or 40% of Americans currently provide unpaid childcare. Harris proposed $6000 child tax credit for parents of newborns. And 25% of Americans are also caring for aging parents as well and bearing this cost as well when they have children.