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The Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Republican House health Care bill shows 24 million Americans would lose health insurance over 10 years. In terms of budget savings the bill saves $337 billion over 10 years. The increase in uninsured comes from the roll back of expansion of Medicaid under the House plan, the reduction of tax credits, plus the removing of income based credits replacing it with tax credits based on age. President Trump is promoting the bill saying it will reduce the premiums that have gone up since Affordable Care Act was passed and increase competition. House Speaker Ryan in promoting his plan says he is not in "some coverage beauty contest." The House Plan says Ryan, does not mandate that all be covered, but simply says coverage is in a free market giving people the option to buy insurance that they want, so that the numbers of insured would not be as many as under a mandate.

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It might not all make sense that the Pakistan/China mediated ceasefire conditions (including US and Israeli condition of no nuclear weapons development and ballistic missile development) are really not known even in the media today, only known to the Iranian government and the US government. In these conditions Iran's government gets to show that it had achieved its goals, even with enormous reconstruction costs of the damage done during the war. DJT had pointed to a sort of regime change in Iran after most of the earlier leadership has been removed, and new leaders in place who are keen on setting up conditions for their own administration replacing the old one.  Over the period 2027-2030 the prospect is real that China, India and Japan may shift their oil supplies sources to other regions, increase conservation per unit of GDP, and increase supplies of renewable energy, steps already taken by Germany over the last decade. Most media looks only what happens today and in 2026. This may be the last of the Middle East Wars before Europe and the US, and India, China, Japan shift away from the Middle East to get supplies of fossil fuels, and it may bring new renewables technologies that reduce the dependence on fossil fuels to the point of making a true transition to renewable energy. It may also be the last of the Middle East Wars in the sense that people of European nations and the US insist on no involvement in MIddle East as a sort of quagmire for squandering American, European and Asian vital resources of people and capital, ample example being given over the last 40 years. Considering the costs of the war and the moral cost of destroying infrastructure such as power plants that hurt the local population more than the regime in power, China, Japan, the US, and EU, India may find it is easier to race each other in coming up with alternative supplies and shifting to renewable energy faster than planned, making Middle Eastern oil supplies  and volatility in prices redundant, which would be a good thing after the hugely negative and costly experience of the last 50 years of dependence.     ...

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Instead of a car czar Obama will have aPresidential panel oversee the restructuring of GM and Chrysler. This panel will be overseen by Geithner and Lawrence Summers.Ron Bloom, arestructuring expert, who advised the airlines and the steel industries unions in their restructuring will be named asenior adviser to Treasury on the auto restructuring. And the President will remain involved reserving for himself any decisionon the viability of GM and Chrysler.

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Gettelfinger discloses that he is discussing more possible cuts at Chrysler as Chrysler faces a big restructuring. This will be the most difficult of the Big Three because Chrysler faces a financial crunch. Chrysler did not anticipate the new fuel economy standards mandated by Congress and will fall behind if it does not take action in this area. It lacks the resources to develop these new technologies.

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Americans are using diesel in only about 3% of cars. Diesel is now available at many pump stations. About 50% of cars in Europe run on diesel, cleaner better diesel engines are now made by the Germans, and new diesel models are being introduced in the USA by foreign automakers. This could lead to a jump in the use of diesel in the USA. Diesel may be 15-20 cents more expensive per gallon than gasoline but gives much better mileage

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Dealers who sold Japanese and Korean cars when they first launched in Europe and are familiar with selling unfamiliar names and models at lower prices are now launching the sales of Chinese cars in Europe. They pay in US $ and are paid by customers in euros and so have the advantage of higher profits because of the exchange difference. Global Insight's director of light vehicle forecasting is quoted her that the Chinese will master in 5 years what it took the Japanese and Koreans 15 years and ten years respectively. This shows that European makers will have less time to respond to more Asian competition and companies like Fiat have to have strategies to prepare for more competition at the lower price end.

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Over 60% of GM revenues in North America come from larger vehicles and SUV's. This is the situation as oil prices are rising and change is sweeping across the Middle East. Another problem is overcapacity in the auto industry. The overinvestment is highlighted by the recent decision of Geely to invest $10 billion in Volvo to double production to 800,000 units over 5 years. The car industry can produce 94 million cars the Economist magazine estimates, and demand worldwide is only 64 million. One estimate shows production capacity could reach 40 million in China by 2015!

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BYD and Brilliance Auto display their cars on the main floor of the Detroit Auto Show. BYD plans to sell an electric crossover vehicle with a 250 mile range and a plug in hybrid vehicle by 2011. See the link to its electric car development ahead of rivals Toyota and GM. It introduced an electric car in China recently, and is the first to bring one out.

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482,000 VW owners in the U.S. and 11 million worldwide face the uncertainty of waiting for VW to find a technical solution to these cars on the road with highly polluting diesel engines. Resale prices of VW are declining.

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According to analysts about 3.1 million workers across the USA work in auto manufacturers or related businesses. And every direct job at an automaker in the USA creates 5 other jobs according to the Center for Automotive Research, 2 of the 5 are related to suppliers or dealers and three are related to jobs a businesses where industry workers spend their paychecks. About 355,000 workers are directly employed by automakers, and the USA has 783,000 who make parts for automakers or the aftermarket including repair parts, says Debbie Menk project manager for CAR. Each of those supplier jobs has its own substantial trickle down effect. Another 1.97 million workers produce the steel, rubber and other materials to make the parts, or provide engineering, distribution and other support services, bringing the total to 2.78 million employees with jobs tied to suppliers. The spinoff effects spills into stores and restaurants relying on the incomes of those workers. Menk says that there are 1.7 million people who owe their jobs to the fact that the 2.7 million have jobs, getting the figure up to 4.4 million just on the supplier side. Factoring in some overlap in the retail spinoff from each supplier and automaker job, she estimates total employment in the auto industry at a minimum of 5 million jobs. She describes CAR's figures which are based on a study from earlier this year that used 2006 data, the most recent available, as conservative. Other experts like Anderson Economic Group using 2006 data come up with a higher figure of 8.7 million jobs. The auto industry spends spends more on R&D than any other industry except the government, $18.5 billlion a year says McAlinden, chief economist for CAR, with 85% of this done in Michigan. They also spend $15 billion in advertising. So why is this not registering in the minds of leaders around the country and in the minds of the public? Its possible that most people see only the 355,000 jobs at the automakers and not realize that the 355,000 direct jobs are assembly jobs which is what the automakers do and design and R&D, but there thousands of parts that go into this assembly, and the steel, rubber and aluminium that goes into the metal. And then there are the jobs to feed, clothe, and provide services to these workers. And its possible the arrogance and mismanagement at Detroit automakers, and failure to come up with innovative fuel efficient technologies at a time when the country was sending hundreds of billlions of dollars to the volatile middle east, and failure to come up with really appealing passenger cars, have soured the public mind and image of the Detroit automakers. Resulting in a public perception that the Japanese, Korean and other automakers could pickup where Detroit failed. In the process what is being missed is that the Detroit portion of the USA auto industry is a very significant part of the jobs and economy of certain states, and a big part of the economy of the midwestern states. And as CAR mentions most people do not realize that in the financial services industry one Wall Street job creates only 2.5 jobs elsewhere including spinoff jobs. Only high-tech comes close with 4 jobs including spinoffs for every direct job in Silicon Valley. ...

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By June 7 US stocks were up 11.5% in the first half of 2026, showing a resilient stock market whatever economists say about tariffs and other policies. There is a lot of misinformation on the changes in trade policy. Sure the deficits over $1 trillion had become so excessive to be a burden for the US ( this is not even to address the 20:5:2  the 20 trillion transfer in US wealth to foreign countries, 5 million jobs lost and the 2% low growth since 2000 that USTR Lighthizer and Jamieson point out in Foreign Affairs magazine in 2026).  Greg Ip comments on this in today's WSJ that betting against DJT trade and economic policy is not working. Here we have another flashback to Brexit and why a similar situation of misinformation had the opposite result. The value of the pound dropped from $1.55 to $1.35 to the US dollar in June 2016 the day Brexit referendum was won by Reform UK and the Conservatives. Today it is $1.33 in June 2026. Here is some history of Britain's tussle with the European Union. When did it start? In 1961 Britain applied to join. The French never too eager to have the British inside rejected in 1967 under nationalist De Gaulle. It took 12 years  not till 1973 did Britain get in with Denmark and both kept their currencies. As soon as Britishers complained about the bureaucracy in European Union Brussels headquarters conservatives like Boris Johnson drove this to a high pitch. He even said only way it would affect Britain was in the price of a Mars chocolate bar. Well in 2026 it is much more than that. Labour's Wes Streeting calls it a disastrous step for the UK economy to isolate it from Europe.  As usual the French don't care and the Germans showed little interest, so Britain was left to its own devices not being careful would mean bearing the costs. Manchester's mayor Burnham in Labour says he grasps this but there are other priorities that are pressing and shelves this for another time. It took 12 years to get UK into the European Union- it took just a few years under shortsighted Cameron, May and Johnson to get out when after austerity policies imposed by Cameron a lot of anger had shifted to Labourites and Blair's policies like the shortsighted policies of Bush and Obama, for the 20 trillion US lost to foreigners in their watch. Will it take another 12 years again for UK to get it right and get France and Germany to enthusiastically support Britain in the EU? ...

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Sales of packaged coconut water increased to $400 million in the U.S. for 2011. Revenue has doubled every year since 2005. With less than 50 calories per 8 ounce package, this is a low calorie drink with good hydration properties.

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The defensive nature of invesments in healthcare sector with increasing uncertainty in the 4th quarter of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015. The S&P 500 Healthcare Index trades at 17.3 times earnings for the next 12 months, up from 16.7 at the beginning of 2014, according to FactSet. By comparison the S&P 500 trades at 16 times earnings. A major factor pushing earnings is the development of new drugs for cancer, and other diseases. FDA approved 41 new drugs in 2014, up from 27 in 2013, and 39 in 2012.