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Macron started out in the Socialist Party in Amiens, France. After going to elite schooling he joins the Socialist Party ministry of Francois Hollande. As Minister of the Economy he rises rapidly to replace Hollande with his own party called the Movement that he sets up and within a year wins presidential elections. The rapid rise, the lack of his Movement party having much experience and put together quickly with new younger people, his aloof presidency, and a lack of connection with the problems brought on by the deindustrialisation of France as production shifts to China, the problems of lack of work and cost of living in smaller towns in France, lead to Macron's loss of popularity. His party won only 10% of the vote in EU elections and 20% in the first round of Assembly elections in 2024. He is now allied with Sarkozy's Les Republicains, the very party he sought to replace by calling it old school and no longer relevant.  A small faction of the Les Republicains shifts out to ally with the National Rally of Le Pen and together the 2 parties seek a majority or near majority in the Assembly to take the prime minister position under Macron. The result would be a too young at 28 years Bardella as PM and the Socialist Alliance a close second in the National Assembly. Macron would have to come to terms with the Socialists he had abandoned to run the country and appoint Oliver Faure as prime minister if a second round gives his Movement and the Socialists over 50% of the vote. ...

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Poor administration and failure in public services, turning over public services to private operators as the system nears collapse is the situation presented here of Johannesburg in 2025. It is hosting the G-20 Summit this year in South Africa. It is also the major commercial capital of South Africa. There is much that could be learned from good administration from other countries in Asia.

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The unemployment rate for young people 16-24 years old is 18% in the USA in 2009, up from 13% in 2008. This has serious consequences, creating a lost generation as happened in Japan in the last decade.

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Ukraine leader Zelensky is expected to be in Washington to meet president Biden and to address the US Congress on December 21, 2022. A bill in Congress includes $44 billion for aid to Ukraine.

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Coronavirus cases reach a daily high of 53,000 in the UK, December 28, 2020. London has twice the rate as England. There are calls for a nationwide lockdown as the NHS faces a crisis.

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Dholera Gujarat is the location for a 355 acre site where Foxconn is building a $20 billion semiconductor factory. Production is expected to start in 2025. Foreign direct investment passed $80 billion in 2021.

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Starting in 2023 the penalty on missed RMD drops to 25% from 50%, and down to 10% if corrected in 2 years. The statute of limitations for missed RMD's is three years.

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About 21% of Independent voters are less likely to vote for the former president Trump after the conviction of the former president in New York trial in a Ipsos survey in June 2024.

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More evidence of climate change this time in Spain with eastern and southern parts of Spain, the Valencia and Catalonia regions getting about a year's worth of rain in 8-24 hours.

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David Albright, a former weapons inspector in Iraq, says 24 days is enough time for Iran to wipe out traces of nuclear work, such as working with explosives to trigger a weapon or construction of a small plant to make centrifuges. A situation actually happened in 2003 when the atomic energy agency wanted to inspect the Kalaye Electric Company site in Iran in 2003, where Iran was using centrifuges received from Pakistan. Iranians removed all traces of illicit work at the time while delaying inspectors. This case was cited by Olli Heinonen, a former deputy director of the agency. Heinonen says smaller scale activity such as manufacturing uranium components for a nuclear weapon can be carried out and the traces deleted in 24 days. Senator Corker points out that the time allowed would be more than 24 days when all the time is added up correctly.

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Average land prices in China in October 2011 are down 40% from the peak in Sept. 2009, when real estate companies purchased large amounts of land. This means large losses for companies that bought when prices peaked. When this happened in 2008 companies were rescued by the large Stimulus by the Chinese government. It is uncertain what will happen this time as a similiar Stimulus effort is not expected. Prices nationwide for residential land were down 8% in October from the prior year, and transaction volumes were down 37%, according to property firm Soufun. In October and November 2011, land auctions at a number of major cities in China failed, with either no bidders or low bids. According to CLSA property analysts, China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. and Longfor Group have reduced prices of homes by 20% -25% for projects in Shanghai.

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In the end only concerted pressure from the U.S. including the personal intervention of president Trump, calls from Republican senators to Prince Abdulaziz, Saudi energy minister, salvaged a deal for OPEC+ oil cuts. The Saudis insisted Mexico cut production by 300,000 barrels a day, Mexico stood firm at 100,000 barrels a day. As the Mexican energy negotiator Ms Nahle withdrew to call Mexican president Lopez Obrador, the Saudi energy minister called this "disrespectful." Then president Trump intervened with calls and offered to make up with additional 300,000 barrels a day of cuts from the U.S. North Dakota senator called Prince Abdulaziz and stated that it could affect the U.S.-Saudi relationship if the Saudis did not come to an agreement. The agreement is for 23 countries to in total withdraw 9.7 billion barrels a day from the market, or 13% of world production. Oil production is expected to fall by as much as 30 million barrels a day in April 2020 as a result of the pandemic so it is not clear how much this will raise oil prices, yet it averts a complete collapse of oil prices from the $22 today when markets open on Monday April 13, 2020.  The U.S. Canada, Brazil and G20 countries outside OPEC will make a combined 3.7 million barrels a day in cuts. Saudis, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates combined will cut 2 million barrels a day above their quota.  In addition to warning both sides Saudis and Russia to come to an agreement, president Trump threatened to retaliate to protect U.S. producers from very low oil prices sending many into bankruptcy. Prince Abdulaziz took a tough stand with Mexico and other OPEC countries to present a unified stand. He is the son of the Saudi king and took the energy ministry in fall 2019. He has had difficulty in managing OPEC plus Russia called OPEC+ as its new chief with divergent views from small producers such as Angola and large producers such as Russia. At a conference in February he continued the standoff with Russia saying Russia would regret not making the production cuts he was calling for. The split with Russia after a 3 year collaboration for cuts ended in an all out price war right in the middle of a pandemic.  The Russians underestimated the size and impact of the pandemic. The Saudis took a firm position. Only president Trump's swift and active intervention and offering to make up Mexico's share of cuts saved the day for all oil producing countries, who would all be severely hurt by sinking oil prices below $20 a barrel.     ...

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A recovery in Intel's business of making microprocessors for PC's. Computer demand from corporate customers, medium and small businesses is increasing. Intel showed a 40% increase in profit for the 2nd quarter of 2014. Demand for tablets is softening and buyers are using large smartphones instead of the smaller tablets. Intel CEO Krzanich, says the installed base of PC's that is about 4 years old is about 600 million strong, and is refreshing for these business customers. Intel is also shipping chips for tablets with plans to ship chips for 40 million tablets in 2014. The Internet of Things group, making chips for non-computer devices, showed an increase of 24% in revenue. So far Intel shares are up 20% in the first half of 2014. Intel plans to add $20 billion to its stock buyback plan and plans to repurchase about $4 billion of its shares in the 3rd quarter of 2014.

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THe GM restructuring that leaves the US and Canadian governments with control of 72.5% of the company, and unsecured bondholders with 10% of the company. The unsecured bondholders were offered warrants that could bring up their share of ownership to 20%, in return for forgiving $27 billion in GM debt. The UAW has the rest, 17.5% of the company, plus $6.5 billion in preferred equity and $2.5 billion in GM debt. The US government will commit $30 billion to GM in addition to the $20 billion already given to GM. ANd the Canadian government will give $9 billion. By taking a large share of the ownership of GM- at a time when the market for automobiles in the US is at 9.5 million vehicles and GM needs a 10 million automobile market to breakeven according to the restructuring plan- the government is implicitly taking on the responsibility for additional loans to GM till the market recovers.

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The gradual end of pro-democracy protests as courts allow a taxi unions lawsuit for clearing streets and police clear barricades by Nov. 26, 2014. The government in Beijing makes no concessions to student protesters and adoped a waiting strategy till public opinion shifts away from protestors blocking streets.

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According to the General Accountability Office inquiry, 28 drug products had price increases over 100% in 2000, in 2008 71 drug products had such large increases. Medicines like Adderall for attention deficit disorder, Inderal for chest pain, Sumycin for infections were in the list of 416 brand name drug products where makers or distributors raised prices at least once by 100% or more for period 2000-2008. As large pharmaceutical companies sold their marginally profitable drug products or small selling products to smaller companies, these smaller companies would immediately increase prices to recover the money they paid to the large pharmaceutical companies. 26 of the brand name products saw prices raised 10 fold. A third of the drugs with large price increases treat depression and disorders of the central nervous system.

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A nuclear plant in a war zone with repeated shelling? This is taken up in this debate video of 44 minutes in FR24 which you can click on. The world has not seen this since the start of nuclear energy from plants in the 1950's. Calder Hall the first UK nuclear power station and the first in western Europe started in 1956. Eisenhower opened the first US nuclear power station Shippingport on the Ohio river in Pennsylvania, 50 kilometres from Pittsburgh in 1958 as part of the Atoms for Peace Program. The US built 54 nuclear plants that are operating today in 2022 generating 50% of the renewable energy in use today in the US. The question is what does the unthinkable conducted by the Russians and Ukrainians, by weaponizing a nuclear plant do to public perception of the safety of the Atoms for Peace Program initiated by president Eisenhower in 1954? What does this damaging of public safety perceptions after Fukushima do to the Atoms for Peace type of programs in China India, and European Union that are part of the emissions cutting programs in the world? These are serious questions at a time when climate change is not simply a word but means floods, fires, drought, and declining food production all over the world from Spain to Pakistan, from Germany to China. China and India are affected. China has 53 nuclear plants in 2021 with 50 GW and plans to double this by 2030. India has 22 nuclear plants  with 8 GW in 2021 and plans to triple this to 22 GW by 2030. How will climate change be tackled with public safety perceptions affected with another nuclear accident like that in Fukushima arising from shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. As the president of the UN Security Council Zhang Jun of China clearly stated at the UN SC meeting last week that China opposed use of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant by Russia (or Ukraine) in any way that could lead to damaging nuclear safety leading to an unintended accident. China only gets about 5% of its energy from nuclear, India about 3%, and this will need to increase multiple times to tackle climate change. France gets 70% of its energy from nuclear, the US 20%, by comparison. Nuclear energy safety and clear rules to prevent weaponizing of nuclear plant zones is essential and a solution like that developed for the food grain shipments from Odessa through Black Sea to the Mediterranean has to be arranged quickly. ...

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Based on this Washington Post sample of reader views on the presidential Debate, 4 of 5 readers in the sample are critical of the way the Post, NYT, WSJ are acting against the elected and popular transformative president of the US. What do Washington Post readers think of the way media magnates running Post, NYT, WSJ are trying to run the country in the face of a elected president who remains popular for the action he has taken on cost of living, climate change, manufacturing jobs, factories and supply chains, and is investing trillions of dollar in renewing America's manufacturing, Chips and science, and Infrastructure? Their campaigns are there for all to see against the president, even as the British election shows Keir Starmer of Labour saying "from 20 points behind to 20 points ahead," achieving a landslide even with only 2% increase in votes since 2019. Starmer too was written off just twelve months ago. The first letter is from Little Rock stating the Post, NYT, WSJ position. The second is from Linda Barnes of Ashland, New Hampshire, who faults the Post for not having the headline about "Disastrous debate performance by Trump who failed to answer most questions and lied relentlessly." Lauri Costello of Las Cruces, New Mexico, says every American would have benefitted from an in depth analysis of the debate rather than a focus on how each debater looked and spoke. Diana Hasuly of Ashburn, Virginia, says the debate was an opportunity to see two men's perspectives about the future of America, and the Post had done a great disservice to America, as have the NYT, WSJ and the Media in general, by not spelling what each man was offering America for the future. To take just three Climate change, manufacturing investment and jobs, infrastructure spending, Biden is getting so much done and has the plan for 2030, the former president has none, simply none and did not talk about this. Mark Parkhurst of Silver Spring, Maryland, says of the June 28 front page in the Post that the Post uses "falshoods" not "lies" when a lie needs to be called a lie from the former president. And says to be fair the Media needs to point out the actual achievements of president Biden not dwell on MAGA rhetoric. Is the Post or the Media in general overreaching, is it listening? What would Washington, Lincoln or FDR say?   ...

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Trump wins 32% of the vote in the South Carolina primary, to 22% for Cruz, 22% for Rubio, with Bush, Kasich and Carson winning over 7% each. Jeb Bush ended his campaign after the disastrous result in South Carolina. Trump showed support among independents and evangelical Christians. Undecided voters at the last minute voted for Rubio and Cruz.

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The Romney plan calls for putting a cap on federal spending at 20% of GDP. It is now over 23% of GDP. The Huntsman plan calls for lowering taxes for corporations and individuals, and eliminating taxes on capital gains and dividends. This would be offset in the Huntsman plan by closing the mortgage deduction for loans over $500,000, and ending the child tax credit and other tax expenditures as recommended by the Bowles-Simpson Commission. Rep Bachmann and Governor Perry call for eliminating the taxes on American companies repatriating revenues from overseas back to the U.S.

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The minimum wage was raised in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. Wage increases are for 28 to 37 cents an hour, and raises the minimum wage in these states to $7.64 to $9.04 an hour, with Washington as the only state with a minimum wage above $9.00. The federal wage level for most workers is $7.25 a hour. Labor Department data show most of the minimum wage workers in these states are women, over 20 and white. The added income is not expected to put these workers above the povety line because of higher inflation.

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BP reports a deal with the Plaintiffs Steering Committee in March 2012 to settle the lawsuit over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by paying an estimated $7.8 billion. BP will pay the settlement from the money remaining in the $20 billion escrow account setup for this purpose. This includes $2.3 billion for losses suffered by the Gulf seafood industry. The rest of the money will go for economic claims and medical claims. Money will be provided for next 21 years for health related claims, and $105 million will go to healthcare in Gulf areas.

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Josh Gotbaum, head of the U.S. Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation and the reorganization of American Airlines (AMR). Gotbaum's strong response made AMR reverse its decision to shift $9 billon in pension liabilities to PBGC, which would have increased PBGC's current deficit by one-third. PBGC is funded by insurance premiums paid by companies sponsoring private sector retirement plans. It has handled 10 pension defaults since 2002- nine in the airline and steel industries. It deficit stood at $26 billion in Sept. 2011, up from $23 billion the prior year. PBGC funds retirement benefits for 1.5 million people, and sends out 800,000 checks.

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Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and some large banks agreed to a $6 billion settlement for a lawsuit that alleges price fixing. It provides an additional $1.2 billion fee relief for retailers. Visa will pay 67% of the settlement, MasterCard 12%, and the large banks 21%. Merchants pay about $25 billion each year to card issuing banks in interchange fees charged for each credit card transaction. Large retailers filed the lawsuits in 2005, including Kroger, Safeway, Walgreen. Other merchants including doctors and small business owners joined the lawsuits, which were later combined in the U.S. District Court of Brooklyn.