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Declining U.S. birthrate with 63.2 births per 1000 women of childbearing age in 2011, according to the Pew Research Center. The rate declines by 23% for Mexican immigrants to the U.S. from 2007-2010 as a result of the severe economic effects of the financial crisis of 2008 on Hispanic immigrants.

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The Global Summit  2024 organized by the UAE under Mohamed Bin Zayed. The PM of India opening the Summit says- After 13 years leading a state government and ten years leading the federal government, I am convinced that  there is a need for Clean government distancing itself from corruption, that is transparent. Governments that are sober in the international crises, that are green, providing ease of living, ease of justice, ease of innovation, ease of doing business to their people. The confidence won during the pandemic was gained by giving attention to the needs and aspirations of the people through Inclusiveness that is the mark of good governance. Minimum government, maximum governance, is the way that was the approach taken in India, taking the whole of society, and putting people's participation at the heart of all activity. This is true for sanitation drive, digital innovation, women's empowerment, social finance inclusion. We attached 500 million people to their own bank accounts where they had none. As a result we have advanced in digital payments. We have made laws for participation of women in government. We have focused on skills development for young people. Third in startups. Last Mile Delivery is the goal of the government that the government reaches people and does not differentiate between people. Differentiating among people of diverse origin disappears under Sab Ka Vikas, Sab Ka Saath, that is Development for All, With All Involved. We have in this given 250 million a way out of poverty. 1.3 billion people have a digital identity. With the use of technology we have a system of Direct Benefit Transfer and in 10 years have transferred $400 billion to people's individual bank accounts, and prevented $33 billion into falling into the wrong hands. This has eliminated leakages of funds. Our culture is that our efforts should match the opportunities before us. Mission Life is a new road we take for the climate. When we look at the future every government faces many questions by international interdependence and national sovereignty, the international rule of law, and how to contribute to the global good, and bring the wisdom of our culture to this good. As we transform our countries should we not transform global financial and governance institutions? For this we require future planning, that brings cohesive, collaborative effort. This means Global South voices must be heard. And its priorities moved up front. And that we share our technologies and resources with them who lack the basics of life. In doing this we will give Vishwa Banduthwa, World Unity and Harmony, in line with India as Vishwa Bandhu, a Friend to the World.   ...

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Of 161 million people employed in 2024 about 40-50 million in vulnerable groups living from paycheck to paycheck and without savings to support them in a medical emergency is a real problem in the US economy. It is why even as unemployment looks good at 4% and inflation down to 3% there is a lot of angst for Americans for cost of living. Fifteen million baby boomers who will turn 65 years for retirement between now 2024 and 2030 face a situation where they have less than 250,000 in savings. Many who were born between 1945 and 1962 called baby boomers are in this group with diminished savings. In the prime of their careers they were hit by the 2009 financial crisis caused by bank speculation risk taking. They also were hit by the pandemic in the peak years of income growth. Other such vulnerable groups are young people with high student who are being helped by president Biden. There are also the low income groups that have been hit by medical costs and a family emergency that were pushed into poverty. Other groups in the millions are the people at the low income levels who are working paycheck to paycheck because of housing costs. About one fourth or 25% of apartment renters are people whose households budget shows 50% or more going to housing costs which have increased 20% in the last 2-3 years, which includes the pandemic years 2022 and 2023. President Biden seeks to limit apartment rent price increases to 5% and Kamala Harris has proposed help for families for the portion above 30% of household income going to rent. The jump in cost of living from automobiles, automobile repair and housing, cost of groceries have affected other groups with large credit card debt. This is a result of the supply chain concentration in China which comes from American business overconcentrating production in China and previous administrations doing little about this. Biden's answer is to bring jobs and manufacturing knowhow and investment back to America. During the pandemic some people resisted getting vaccinated and lost their jobs, a million people lost their lives, others took early retirement seeing the stress ful lives during the pandemic, others including women quit to take care of children. This has reduced the labor supply to business leading to tight supply higher prices.The result is that there are about 5 such vulnerable groups each with about 5-10 million people for a total of about 40-50 million people at risk. For these people the cost of living presents huge challenges, including childcare. It includes young people and retirees, single women and families on low income hourly wages that have not kept up with inflation.  ...

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Does it take a unique person or a vison thats all your own to go out and market at both ends of the price spectrum. Vera Wang best known for a high end bridal clothing is now introducing a line of clothing at Kohls with her name on it. The Kohl's line is not about age she says its about comfort, ease and being able to make it part of your own wardrobe with your own flair to it so it could be herself or her daughters or a working mother. She likes to reach out to more women and do something for women's clothing in that area. She also believes that young women have a better sense of clothing today than their mothers and have a better sense of fashion and casual fashion. For the kind of woman she has in mind confident and independent, active enjoys life, but not showy, abit or art, element of surprise, some unique detail, something she finds in a Scottish model Stella tenant. This description also tells you something about today's younger women. Some of this can apply to marketing other products for younger people and younger women, such as the insides of cars, or the aesthetics of household and other products?...

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Republican candidate Trump wins 51% of the vote in Iowa to De Santis 21% and Nikki Haley 19%. Trump won among evangelical voters with 58% support. In cities his vote declined. In Story County home to Iowa State University in Ames, it was 34%, and in Johnson County where University of Iowa is located 36% supported Trump. In 2024 18percentage points separate Mr. Trump's support in low levels of college or post secondary education to higher levels of college or post secondary education. In 2016 Mr. Trump received 29% of the vote in low college education areas to 22% of the vote in high college education areas- a spread of 7 percentage points. Iowa is a state with a large farm and agriculture sector. Other states with manufacturing in the midwest tended to move away from Democrats in 2016. Some of this momentum has reversed with union support for Mr. Biden who has taken a pro-union stance in a way that is not matched by any Democrat since FDR and Harry Truman in the 1930's to 1950's. The shift of Clinton to globalism and Obama to tech companies cost Democrats heavily in 2016 with workers in manufacturing- something that is reversed in drastic ways since 2020 with Mr. Biden on the picket line at UAW union auto strikes in Michigan. ...

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The Hindu provides this look at the life and career of European Union president Ursula von der Leyen. Today Leyen is one of the prominent leaders in the European Union, and leads the fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Leyen has visited places destroyed in the Russian invasion such as Bucha and talked to refugees, mostly women and children She has stated on Twitter after proposing a complete ban on Russian crude oil to Europe- "we want Ukraine to win this war." After a mediocre performance as Minister of Defense Leyen took the position at the EU headquarters in Brussels, where her father had served as a civil servant. Her father was  elected as Minister President of Lower Saxony province after working at EU in Brussels. Leyen went to secondary school in Brussels. Studying economics at London School of Economics before shifting to medicine, getting her degree in 1991. She followed her husband to Stanford University, and after her return to Hanover in 1996 was elected to the state parliament in Lower Saxony in 2003. She joined Merkel's cabinet as Minister of Youth and Family Affairs in 2005, deputy leader of CDU in 2010 and Defense Minister in 2013. ...

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Compared to 1971 Bangladesh has come a long, long way, on its 50th anniversary. From 80% of the population struggling with extreme poverty in 1971, Bangladesh now produces enough food for its 167 million population. The economy is only 13% agriculture with most of GDP coming from industrial production and services. Girls education is remarkable. 98% of children have attended primary school and there are more girls in secondary schools than boys. Norwegians and other European observers who visited Bangladesh in 1970's compare the situation with today and are astonished says this report in DW.com. By 2030 the GDP of $409 billion is expected to double, bringing the country close to 1 trillion dollar economy. The garment industry is the second largest after China, with $35 billion a year in exports. It has changed life of women in Bangladesh, employing 4 million people. Remittances from overseas bring in $24.7 billion for 2021. Overall target for exports is $51 billion for 2022. Problems include the rural urban divide with development concentrated in Dhaka and Chittagong, and increased urban poverty. And despite rise in number of children and girls in school the quality of education for a skilled workforce remains poor, says this report in DW.com ...

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The point at which pensions begin and retirement begins is thought of normally as 65 years. This is changing. Experts on ageing at Britain's ONS, Office of National Statistics say 70 years is replacing 65 years as the age at which people can work and contribute to society, working later in their careers and doing voluntary work. This would help ease pressure on pension system financing and cost of social service to elders. Because of rising longevity and improvements in healthcare, diet and lifestyles people age 70 had characteristics of people age 65 in 1997, say ONS experts. ONS looks at a new way to measure ageing. Do not use chronological years from birth, work backwards from remaining life expectancy and operate on the basis of 15 years as the marker for old age. Under this method start of old age is 70 for men and 72 for women. As people over 65 years is approaching a fourth of the population this fresh thinking gives more room for pension system sustainability, and helping engage people at work for longer more productive lives. Both for the economy and personally for the individual. ...

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China's plan to lift all birth restrictions by 2025. The one child policy was replaced with a two child policy, and now with a three child policy in 2021, as China's birth rate declined below the level needed for a stable population. The plan now is to lift all restrictions as the decline in population is expected to be very steep. Not enough young people to support a growing elderly population is a major problem for the economy. A mindset has developed over 70 years for one or two children that is seen as hard to change. Women now work and pursue careers, their expectations in life have changed. Couples are also finding it hard to get access to schools and afford the costs of education and home space needed for larger families. Housing in most cities is costly, making it harder to raise families. Attitudes are hard to change. Experts see little impact of the new policies. The three northeastern provinces suffered most in the shift to a market economy. This is where the drop in birthrates is very steep. The government will remove all birth restrictions in the northeast before applying it to the whole of China. ...

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The Jal Jeevan Mission (tap water for all), Swacch Bharat Mission (Clean India), cooking gas for rural women, digital bank accounts for all, and other projects pushed forward by Mr. Modi are changing life for India's 1.3 billion people. Gati Shakti is a master plan for integrated development of infrastructure by bringing in all ministries of federal and local governments together to work together in an overall plan. Because of the new digital capabilities in 2021, and large technical capabilities India is witnessing development in a way that is unprecedented. Uttar Pradesh, India's largest state in the north with a population of 230 million, is the focus of a major development transformation through infrastructure building with determined effort at the state and federal levels. For the first time Mr. Modi is ensuring projects are part of a master plan for transforming the country making certain projects get done on time, efficiently and without leakage of funds. The best evidence of this delivery of services is the vaccination drive with nearly 1.4 billion people vaccinated. And projects to complete new vaccine development including mRNA vaccine that does not require cold storage, and is easier to provide. ...

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You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?”  Harris mother told her when she was growing up. Vice President Kamala Harris said last year with a sense of humor and even a folksy philosophical sense. “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” The way Kamala said or its deeper meaning has set this off for a thousand memes on the internet for Kamala fans. KHive refers to 2 groups of fans the earlier ones many of them women  when she was senator, and the later ones who learned about her passion for the issues relating to a better life for workers and families across these 51 states. Now there is a Kamala fervor on the internet. Harris campaign is also working itself into this fervor instinctively. Though no one may realize this not even Kamala herself there is a sense of Gandhi in this. Her grandfather and mentor was a civil servant who was raised in the Gandhian tradition of public service unmatched anywhere in the world for its dedication and determination for knowledge and for freedom. ...

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At a time of online retailing one retailer, Irish retailer Primark in Europe, has stuck to analog and retailing with bargain clothing in stores. It has avoided the online trend since its founding in 1969. It has about $10 billion in sales in Europe and plans to open 26 stores in the US.  Clothing for men and women and children that costs $10-$20 can be found in these stores. It is useful at a time when Europe and the US are facing a cost of living crisis. And when Bangladesh clothing factories are suffering from a one third drop in sales bringing the country's foreign exchange dollar reserves crisis levels of $26 billion.

It is Dublin based and owned by ABF Foods a British company, that is in turn owned by a Weston Canada family. Like Inditex based in Galicia it is based in a smaller European location. It has one third the sales of Inditex's Zara and half of Sweden's H&M. 

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The large 11 point margin for State Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz, a Democrat, shows the effect of the issues of women's rights to abortion and of democracy are having in the state. She promised to use the new 4-3 majority in the Wisconsin State Supreme Court to nullify Wisconsin's 1849 abortion ban and overturn the state's gerrymandered Republican friendly legislative maps. It also shows the changes in the midwestern states. In Chicago Brandon Johnson came from behind to win the Mayoral election calling for new taxes and a vast program of social programs, in addition to a community involvement effort to fight crime over a candidate that focussed on the crime issue and policing. Happening in the same week these two elections give president Biden  more confidence going into the 2024 campaign that people in the midwestern states understand Mr. Biden's approach of investing in people and infrastructure with higher taxes, and rebuilding American manufacturing and technology, protecting worker rights and incomes. ...

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The choice of new Federal Trade commission chairperson shows that president Biden is making a complete break from the Obama era White House and the favor Tech in Silicon Valley had under Obama, says this report in the WSJ. Antitrust probes by Justice Department and FTC are expected to limit power of tech companies. Ms. Lina Khan is new head of the FTC. Biden says "its just wrong" that Amazon pays little in federal taxes. This report says Mr. Obama feted Silicon Valley at a White House festival called "South by South Lawn."  And that 80% of the 334 people registered to lobby for Apple, Amazon, Google last year previously worked on Capitol Hill or the White House. 

Mr. Biden's Families plan and Jill Biden's commitment to education are more in line with the heritage of FDR and Harry Truman, even Eisenhower, presidents who fought on behalf of the working men and women of America.

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Google will take part in the Digital India project of the Indian government with a $10 billion investment over five years. This is about leveraging the power of digital technologies for transforming lives of farmers, young people and for creating new businesses. Google Search and You Tube reaches 245 million Indians. Local language content is popular for 66% of the content online. For Google CEO Pichai this as he says is deeply personal as the investments in early computers and digital use in the first 20 years after independence in 1947 provided the opportunities for Pichai and Microsoft CEO Nadella and countless others to learn about these technologies in schools and universities in India. These investments will lay the ground for opportunities to be created for new generations. Earlier Google partnered with Tata Trusts to launch Saathi so that the internet could reach India's villages. About 23 million women in 300,0000 villages have gained through Saathi the first use of internet. ...

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The austerity plan that prime minister Belusconi of Italy set before parliament on August 29th was quite different to the plan he agreed to in negotiations with the European central bank. The negotiations led to support by the ECB with purchase of $30 billion of Italian bonds. Berlusconi left out a surtax on top incomes in the private sector. It also left out savings to be made at the local government level by mayors and governors. Berlusconi proposed a new pension calculation which would postpone the retirement of Italians by excluding military and university service. Also being prosposed by Berlusconi and opposed by unions is the extension of the retirement age for women. Unions say this will make it harder for Italian women to care for their grandchildren in a country without an adequate system of daycare. Slowly the whole package of austerity measures seems to be coming apart and this alarms ECB President Claude Trichet and his successor Mario Draghi.

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President Obama widens his lead over Romney in a WSJ-NBC poll of Sept. 2012, 7 weeks before the U.S. presidential election- 50% to 44%. He also pulls even with Romney on who can better handle the U.S. economy. Obama continues to hold his coalition of support from minorities, women, and young people intact.

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Germans are afraid to move in public spaces after dark, especially young women. DW.com confirms this in its investigation in September 2025. It includes discussion with criminologist Susanne Karstedt that is cited here. The area around the main Frankfurt train station is a site for prostitution says this report, and this attracts crime and drug crime. This was unknown during our previous visits to Frankfurt over 15 years ago and is a result of changes in the Merkel years when infrastructure was neglected allowed to deteriorate ,and migrant populations were allowed into the country. It is astonishing for a visitor to see the Frankfurt station in such a dilapidated state as it is the commercial and banking city of Europe and Germany, where the European Central Bank is located. Chancellor Merz says Germans are "afraid to move around in public spaces due to migrants who do not have permanent residence status, do not work, and do not abide by our rules." A recent poll shows only one third of the poll participants think the chancellor is incorrect. Many people want to avoid the label of racism when asked about it,  but still know that public safety is clearly not what it was in the past in the 1980's and 1990's. The chancellor is only stating what he sees- "I don't know whether you have children. If you do, and there are daughters among them, ask your daughters what I might have meant. I suspect you'll get a pretty clear and unambiguous answer. There's nothing I need to retract." "There are a lot of people who say, see, and judge it this way. Once again: Ask your children, ask your daughters, ask your friends and relatives. They will all confirm that this is a problem — once it gets dark, if not before." For a visitor to Frankfurt this is clear to see as plain as daylight and reflects the decline of the Schroeder-Merkel years  similar to the decline in the US over the last two decades under Clinton-Bush and Obama. To see this in Frankfurt and other German cities near urban hubs and train stations is astonishing, sad and very disconcerting. ...

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BKA German Federal Investigative Police data showing about 2 million crime suspects in 2024- of which 172,000 temporary migrants asylum seekers which 8.8%. There are about 3.06 temporary migrants in Germany out of a population of 83.6 million people, which is about 3.7% of the population, according to BKA figures cited by DW.com. The population of migrants living in Germany including Syria, Ukraine and other countries is about 3.5 million which is about 4.2% of the population. In terms of crime it is more about the anxiety and sense of disquiet this has created in the population, the money invested in benefits when much of German infrastructure has dire needs for investment with the rail and transport systems breaking down, and the wide disparities in living standards eroded in the last two decades in society. All this has to be considered in grasping why it has been so unsettling in some areas of Germany, Europe and the US. There are other factors such as women's safety, a sense of disquiet that was created in English towns where asylum seekers were put up in hotels as in Bedford. Many crimes get wide publicity and this further intensifies the sense of anxiety in the neighborhoods where young migrants from Africa and the Middle East, Asia are staying. The differences in culture and behaviours increases the sense of discomfort in neighborhoods. It is unlikely that this will go away because of incidents of attack by migrants in the towns and cities of Europe and the US every month, increasing homeless situations and deterioration in local neighborhoods.   ...

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The largest and most diverse parliament in German history will now convene. The 736 members of German parliament are much younger, with one 23 year old. 47 members are younger than 30 years. Michael is the most common name. 80 years is the oldest member from AfD. 83 members are from migrant families. 11% are from immigrant families. 

There are children of guest workers from Turkey. There are few doctors or healthcare workers, and not enough small business owners, and still too many lawyers. 34% are women. The Bundestag president is a woman from Social Democrats, Barbel Bas, a health policy specialist, she won 576 votes to 90.

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The Wisconsin Republican primary turns out to be the turning point for the Cruz campaign. Following his landslide win in Utah, Cruz wins in Wisconsin by about 14 percentage points, and begins the long journey to close a signficant part of the gap with Donald Trump. Cruz's organization, and the anti-Trump groups efforts, ad spending, helped Cruz in his win. Trump was handicapped by a series of gaffes including one on abortion- saying he would penalize women having abortions- alienating women. Cruz's margin for voters making up their mind on the day of voting, excluding early voting, was higher at about 17 percentage points. Closer media scrutiny of statements by Trump and policy implications, including foreign affairs, European policy, the nuclear issues, happened in the week before the Wisconsin primary. This happens late in the campaign. The weak media vetting of the main candidates Trump and Cruz being lost in the coverage of Trump's sensational statements and twitter comments about wives, for which the media has come under criticsim. ...

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Some useful comments from this discussion of Reti Samadhi by the author, the translator and the interviewer in BBC Sounds. Daisy Rockwell's translation- Reading a translation is like eavesdropping on conversations happening. On the topic of partition and how the book has no heaviness because it comes from the buried memory of the older woman, and her effort to visit the terrain she has gone through a second time. Now with some playfulness as she is trying to come out a different person with a positive frame of mind from having gone through it again differently. Sort of reinventing herself. The experience is universal though the culture and specifics are unique to where it happened.  For India and the regions of US and Europe eavesdropping on India and an Indian author in Hindi with stories to tell, the experience is a universal one of coming back a new person after getting tired of life. As Geetanjali Shree asks is the older woman in the novel tired of life and the past seen as a burden of some sort, or tired of the life she is living now so that reinventing herself is possible. It comes as India itself is looking at buried memories in new ways and nowhere more than today in Uttar Pradesh, where Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a poet and leader, set a new tone in his poetry and in "Kadam Milake Chalna Hoga." For the British, or American reader it is way to look at the language and culture of India in a new way that buries the distance the British kept from the local language and culture during the days of the Empire. Humanity and the stream of consciousness in Reti Samadhi provides a way of doing this. ...

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Thomas Piketty is France's and Europe's best trained economist today with highly popular books, one on Capital, and one on Capital and Ideology. Piketty was trained at the London School of Economics, where Greens leader Annalena Baerbock of Germany was also a student, and today he is professor at LSE. His research has shown that for economic growth to happen after the pandemic European societies need to take the lead and build fairer societies where everyone has a decent living and a fair share of the pool of resources in each country. Piketty is respected by leaders that range from Biden and Scholz in US and Germany to president Xi in China. Biden's Families and Workers plan and Scholz's plan for dignity of workers and working class, and the Common Prosperity campaign of president Xi for greater investments in education, healthcare and housing are all inspired by Piketty and by the socially conscious background of these leaders. Prime minister Modi's plans for Jal Jeevan, cooking gas, to ease the burden on hundreds of millions of Indian women, for farmers with small land holdings in agriculture to improve output and use less chemicals, and for investments in infrastructure projects, housing, are also coming from similar concerns for growth and fairness. ...