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Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and other countries are using locally developed technology to produce ventilators, vaccine delivery mechanisms, and 3D printed face shields. This local product is made at a tenth or less of the cost of it when imported from Europe or the U.S.

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A slow and erratic response from the European Union and Britain following the lockdown in Italy on March 10. France went into lockdown on March 16, Germany and Britain on March 20. Over a week was lost when officials in the EU and governments in Europe did not take the situation unfolding in Italy as seriously as needed. The situation in South Korea was unfolding at the same time, and China was still facing the crisis at the time.

The response was coordinated quickly by March 20 and in the days before that.

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The crisis came after finance minister FDP's Lindner wrote a paper calling for slashing corporate taxes, reducing welfare benefits, and reducing climate related regulations. It was seen as a provocation by the other partners Green's Habeck and SPD's Scholz leading to the firing of Lindner by Scholz. From the beginning of this coalition over its 4 years FDP has prevented major investments in the German economy the Social Democrats and Greens had promised in the last election. By contrast Biden invested over a trillion dollars in infrastructure and manufacturing leading to strong growth in the US and weak or no growth in the German economy. The Free Democrats are very conservative in spending, even though the Western economies need added investment in infrastructure. FDP's popularity is less than 4 percent. Social Democrats have lost trust with workers as a result of not keeping their promises for investment and growth. 

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Decades of investment in infrastructure and manufacturing have given China a strong grip on manufacturing. China's economy depends on exports with sluggish domestic demand. One economist in Hong Kong says Vietnam is the key, if tariffs are placed on Vietnam it will be tough he says, because Chinese goods enter the US from third countries.

In 2025 China's world trade is imbalanced to an extraordinarily large degree, hurting thriving manufacturing communities around the world, and depends on a concentration of port logistics, manufacturing and lack of fair trade practices, that allow $3.5 trillion in exports while taking in only $2.5 trillion in imports. By 2008 America was waking up to this, DJT actually flagged it a decade later, Biden realized this, in the second term what appears like a whirlwind 100 days is really action on many fronts that is coming one to two decades late. 

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Women feel overwhelmed with housework during the pandemic. About 80% of women feel responsible for house work compared to 28% of men, according to a NYU and U Penn study. On average women do one and half times the house chores compared to men. This difference is wider when looking at households where men do very little of the housework. The author of "Fair Play" a book about dividing housework says women are burned out, stressed and full of rage about the way household chores are handled. The pandemic has seen a further deterioration in the amount of time men spend doing household chores, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, creating a situation of tension. As men have worked from home during the pandemic the once invisible labor of women is now in plain sight. For women who have quit their jobs and looking for a way to get back to work there is an additional element of frustration. WSJ looks at ways in which men can make the changes to create a healthier situation at home, and reduce the tension. ...

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Anthropic's settlement for $1.5 billion at $3000 a book, and it's efforts in Education that conflict with the Nation's need to get 4th graders to Read and Learn. Anthropic's website shows it trying to get into Education and to measure the Economic Index from effects of AI. Yet the pretensions to goodwill for the public cause is not supported by facts, facts that the AI companies have nothing to show for the dismal situation for Global Literacy that is the case today. Literacy in the US that is dismal with about two thirds of 4th graders not able to read and comprehend the English language at a level of proficiency in American schools. These AI purveyors care only for the money they can make using vast amounts of electricity for these servers, and pretensions for public purpose are intended to smooth their access to public resources not some genuine interest in whether kids can read, which requires the hard work of the teachers in the public and private schools of this Nation and others in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa. The Movement for Global Literacy is Lyrarc's effort to support reading and learning and Lyrarc serves this purpose without such massive funding and without charging for the public service to the Nation and to other Nations in the world community. Anthropic settlement of $1.5 billion at $3000 a book for its AI bots use of copyrighted books, can lead to future litigation for OpenAI model that consumes vast amounts of data. Anthropic was founded by siblings Daniela and Dario Amodei after leaving OpenAI in 2021 in San Francisco. It hired Google Books Turvey to scan books for its large language models on a massive scale to train Claude its version of OpenAI's ChatGPT.  An investment of $4 billion by Amazon and additional $2 billion by Google provided funding. In this way it is a competitor to Microsoft funded OpenAI which made early advances in AI.  This article in WSJ says by making the settlement for $1.5 billion Anthropic is trying to make it harder for Open AI to scan material easily without paying for the access and thus blocking it's rival.   ...

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German Foreign Ministry is to take up question of dependence on China in 2026, and a commission will look into it. Yet this comes 2, 3 or 4 years too late. Germany is scrambling to develop it's foreign policy. German Defense officials in the military say they no longer have 24 contact with their US counterparts. Germany is pulling Britain and France with it to counter any signs of weakness in Europe, so that the three countries can act as a counter weight to the US, and to Russia allied with China. Merz is now called the foreign policy chancellor. So much has changed from the Merkel days which are years that were wasted in infrastructure, digital, foreign policy, and migration policies that make sense for people's ease of living. Germans may have underestimated Merz in the way they overestimated Merkel, lacking the clear view of what the future requires from Germany in a world filled with China, India, Brazil and the other nations of Europe, and the US, a world which requires confidence and investment. ...

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Strident tone of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defending tariffs, the economy, and affordability. Bessent defends the DJT administration's tariffs plan, its effort to bring back jobs, its policies on gas prices that have cut inflation, and the president's Big Bold Beautiful Bill with it's provisions for Businesses to expand investment in the economy using a rapid depreciation provision. He has called the critics as having "Trump Derangement Syndrome." Part of this is based on his economic experience and understanding of how tariffs can be used to level the playing field where the EU, Japan, China, Mexico and other countries have taken advantage of trade policy for their own gains to the detriment of the US and communities in the Nation that lose jobs and factories. One of the assets to the current administration of DJT is Bessent's grasp of financial markets, his extensive experience in the field as a business person. He was able to convince the president to withdraw tariffs or mitigate tariffs to adjust for the effects on financial markets in the US and worldwide.  ...

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One result of the rapprochement of the US and Russia is that Russia has now   agreed to Ukraine joining the European Union. This is part of the Ukraine/EU Peace Plan put forward by Ukraine, with Ukraine calling for aset date to join the EU. Ukraine has proposed a demilitarized zone in the eastern region that would put eastern Donetsk in the demilitarized zone including also parts of Russian occupied eastern Ukraine. This is a major step in the right direction so that the Ukraine issue can be settled. Germany meantime is leading the effort to build its arms industry to counter Russia and Germany, France, Britain are joining together to counter Russia as the US pulls back under the DJT administration to asserting itself in the Western Hemisphere with the Monroe Doctrine to fight the drug trafficking gangs in Venezuela and Mexico and pother parts of the western hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine was possible in 1823 till 1960 with the full support of Britain. It is now possible with the cooperation of Russia as Russia is accepted as a dominant power in Northern Europe, a goal set by Russia under Putin.  ...

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Chris Wormald to be replaced by Antonia Romeo as Cabinet Secretary in Feb 2026. The only way Keir Starmer can get a new start is to be himself and follow his convictions about what is right for the nation. It means getting a new team that will help him implement a plan of action. Antonia Romeo top civil servant in Britain's Home Ministry, is given the job of Cabinet Secretary replacing Chris Wormald. This means the PM will be getting better advice on making choices for the future compared to McSweeney and Wormald, political and civil servant members from the previous team that were overawed by people in powerful positions, and did not respect people of conviction and honesty regardless of where in Labour that they came from. The future of Britain and the US, and of Europe will be build by people of honesty and conviction, common sense, and willingness to learn, not by false notions of centrist and left or right that for too long have determined the nature and sway of politics. For this to happen Starmer must look deep within himself. ...

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Chris Klomp, 45 years, takes over at 65,000 person $2.6 trillion government agency, Department of Health and Human Services, as Counselor, as Robert Kennedy Jr. heads for the campaign trail in addition to HHS duties March 12 2026. He impressed DJT with his negotiating ability against the drug companies in the government's efforts on Affordability of medicines. DJT calls him "my favorite Mormon." Susie Wiles was looking for a stabilizing force at HHS after vaccine controversies and wants the message to focus on improving health and cutting costs. Robert Kennedy Jr says about Klomp- "He is moving quickly to impose operational discipline, sharpen our strategic direction, and fortify a renewed sense of mission and accountability.” Klomp is pulling together all the agencies under HHS including FDA and others. Klomp takes his role seriously to cut costs and improve Health- .“In health care in particular, I do believe that I’m my brother’s keeper, and our job is to do the very best that we can for the people that we serve — the American people.” ...

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After years of suffering from some of the worst polluted air in the world Beijing residents can now breathe a sigh of relief. Fine particulate pollution is cut by 63% over 2013 levels and 13% over last year, according to Beijing environmental bureau. The average for Beijing can now be improved further as it is still 4 times the level of London, England. This offers hope for New Delhi that where there is a will to do and take advantage of the technology improvements can be made. 

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A CNN poll shows 62% of Independents support the indictment of Donald Trump. John McCormick of the WSJ talks to Republicans in different states to understand how they feel about Mr. Trump after the indictment. The party is split -with some Republicans seeing that Trump has too much baggage to win in 2024. They feel the party should try another candidate. Mr. Trump is seen as having some positives but as having an abrasive personality, causing tension, and being too divisive to be a good president. There is a sense that it is time to move on to someone else.

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Literacy in America matters. The American people can think this thing through. White Americans can think this thing through in 2024. What is the best path- what is the Way Forward that will bring America and Americans to a better place in the world? 

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Late career layoff have affected savings of middle and professional class of Americans since 2009. Recent data show 25% of those laid off in years when kids college tution and other exorbitantly growing expenses can strain budgets and savings, are not able to find jobs. Others end up in lower paying work. Fewer job protections under Anglo Saxon capitalist economies of US and Britain compared to Germany and France lead to his type of job loss being more prevalent in these societies. Sometimes US can offer more job opportunities but this also comes with more job loss for many reasons.