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Scott Bessent Treasury Secretary told the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday evening that the founders knew something more enduring than what we have come up with in the last couple of decades with chips and other technologies- " "The founders understood something far more enduring: that the fortunes of a nation are shaped by the energies of its people. Those energies transformed a small republic on the edge of a continent into the most prosperous nation in the long sweep of human civilization." We should never forget this, and we should make the energies of the American people and how it affects them the core of everything we do.  America's strengths lie not just in its natural resources and the depth of its capital markets it lies in the conditions, the character, capacity of its people- "It resides most of all in the character and the capacity of our people: the entrepreneur with an idea, the worker who can master new trades and technologies, institutions with the freedom and confidence to flourish." We must remember Bessent says what Alexander Hamilton as one of the founders in the 1780's taught us about possessing within us all the essentials of national supply, so that we produce what we need- "Alexander Hamilton taught us: that every nation “ought to endeavor to possess within itself all the essentials of national supply.” Our strength is derived from what we can build, for the nation that can’t produce what it needs isn’t truly secure. The nation that depends on its adversaries for critical inputs isn’t truly sovereign. And the nation that reduces its economics to consumption isn’t truly prosperous." Access to cheap supplies of goods is not what the American Dream was and is about from the beginning of the settlement of this continent in 1620's and throughout the period before and after independence for 400 years.  "Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American Dream. The American Dream is rooted in the concept that any citizen can achieve prosperity, upward mobility, and economic security. For too long, the designers of multilateral trade deals have lost sight of this. International economic relations that do not work for the American people must be re-examined." ...

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Gramer and Kubota of WSJ report on Lindsey Graham's last days- visiting Kviv, and getting the US president's support for a new sanctions bill on Russia, meeting colleagues McCaul and Coons in Ankara at NATO Summit. On Iran, on Ukraine, on contentious issues Lindsey Graham persisted when he saw what he perceived as the US interest and what action the US should take. As the president shifted back and forth on Ukraine Graham held on to get Ukraine the help it needed to end the war, to take action to get Putin to end the war. It is now believed that both Russia and Ukraine are looking for an opportunity to end this war. On Iran Graham had expressed concern about the Memorandum negotiated by J.D. Vance and the power struggle between the IRGC military and the elected president, with the IRGC not interested in reopening Hormuz or discontinuing its nuclear weapons program, its ballistic missiles development. It was a bipartisan effort with Graham having dinner with Senator Coons of Delaware in Ankara, and Graham working with Democrat Blumenthal in the US Senate on the new sanctions bill. ...

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Ticks cases are increasing rapidly in 2026 throughout different parts of the US.

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Fresh fruit and vegetables contaminated cyclosporiasis outbreak in the US including Michigan in July 2026.

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First month of 2026 shows upturn for Britain's economy and $31 billion monthly budget surplus at Treasury. This is good news for Reeves and Keir Starmer as they face Manchester by election on Feb 24, 2026, first of local elections after the Mandelson episode. Unemployment is at 5.3% and inflation has fallen to 3% for the British economy in January 2026.

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Balogun gets a red card after scoring the first US goal. He will the round of 16 game with Belgium in World Cup soccer 2026.

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See CSPAN's video of the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt presidential Library, an inspiration for the nation. It is not about Teddy Roosevelt but what Teddy Roosevelt tells us of who we are, say most of the representatives of the two Dakota states. And what we must remember to become what we should be to carry forward the legacy handed to us from Washington and Jefferson, from Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. A life of public service like no other in the history of the Nation.

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With Ukraine unwilling to give up the Donbass and Germany/France/UK wanting to prevent Russian favored deal adverse for Europe, US focus on Monroe Doctrine and western hemisphere, Ukraine Russia war is likely to drag on. This is what one sees in Merz, Zelensky, Rubio speeches at the Munich Security conference. In 2026 Germany+ (that includes France and the UK) does not see it in the interests of Europe to allow a Ukraine capitulation to Russian attacks and Germany has already allocated funds to rebuild its military to prevent this from affecting Germany+ interests in Europe. Even though the winter attacks on Ukraine grid and electricity infrastructure leaves Kviv and other cities in a dire situation it appears that without the 20 year security guarantee or something solid Ukraine is not willing to sign an agreement which it fears Russia could turn around and start the war again. Germany+ which is the position of the major parties in Germany 60-70 % of voters for the SDP, CDU, Greens and others except AfD with 20-30% of voters. (AfD may have reached a ceiling as CDU under Merz is tough on migrants). Which means about 70% of Germans will support a policy of joining UK and France in resisting Russian attacks. Russia may have lost so much in manpower may see the war as a vindication only if it can hold onto the Donbass which may make it harder to reach a deal. Zelensky says Ukrainians live there and is unwilling to leave the Donbas region. The net result is that Germany+ and Ukraine are not likely to concede ground, the US reluctant to commit to 20 year security condition for Ukraine as it focuses energy on the western hemisphere and the fentanyl, drug traffickers in Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, and their support structures in Cuba, in addition to Iran and China's plan on Taiwan sees limits to what it can do beyond limiting oil's funding the Russian attacks. It is amisrepresentation to say that the US is the cause, as everything changed the moment China became an industrial power with the help of US business interests and returned to its own story of being subject to British and Japanese incursions in the 19th and 20th centuries, and sensing that it is an industrial power in its own right by 2020 and insisting on framing its own policy in the world. Europe always had its own narrative since 1600 long before the US became an industrial power under Teddy Roosevelt in 1904. In that narrative which now plays out again different European powers band together to prevent any dominant power in Europe (Russia in 2026) from gaining dominance. ...

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Bill Frauenhofer the chips Czar in DJT administration, Commerce Secretary Luttnick and Intel CEO Tan, his Finance VP, all work together to put Intel back on top- shares quadrupled in price in 2026 . US gets Apple and Space X other companies to buy from Intel. Intel gets AI orders from Nvidia as CPU demand rises. The US has converted $5 billion in federal grants into stock for a 10% stake in Intel. This is state capitalism in many ways,  imitates China as it rapidly modernized, and this helped  China get a large foothold in chips and EV's.

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Clause 5 paragraph of the US Iran Memorandum clearly says international laws of freedom of navigation shall be respected by all parties, and the Hormuz demined opened for traffic by Iran. IRGC would not come to the agreement without its inserting that it would work with Omani authorites  to open the Hormuz straits shipping. The WSJ sees the additions made by IRGC in the Memorandum to show the interpretation by Iran IRGC, yet freedom of navigation under international law is unequivocal and clear that no country can block a shipping channel. The US knowing that possibility existed Iran would not be opening the channel, or would disrupt the Omani route, has plan to make Hormuz not a factor in oil prices by using alternative supplies as its backup plan in coordination with China, India, Japan and other coutnries. Here is paragraph 5 of the Memorandum with Iran- "The traffic of commercial vessels will immediately start, and considering the need for removing the technical and military obstacles, and demining by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will be instated within 30 days." "The Islamic Republic of Iran will conduct dialog with the Sultanate of Oman, to define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz, in discussion with other Persian Gulf Littoral States, in line with applicable international law and the sovereign rights of coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz." This is not a careless error or overlooked by the US, it clearly states "international law and the sovereign rights of coastal states." Hormuz is significant only in the way oil supplies through the channel are supplied to China, India, Japan, and other countries, and in the way it sets oil prices based on supply and demand. The US goal is to create enough alternative supplies for India and Japan, and China for its part in cooperation with the US agreeing to do without the 4 million barrels a day it got through Hormuz. UAE has not used about .7 mbd and Saudis not used about 5 mbd in the past of their pipelines that are outside of Hormuz. This gives a total of of China's 4 mbd and on the demand side Saudi UAE combined 5.7 mbd for a total of 9 million mbd or 9 million barrels a day that reduces dependence on Hormuz. Even if 80% of Hormuz oil of 20 mbd is blocked again, this will mean the offset from China doing without Hormuz and the pipelines providing about half of the Hormuz supplies. Of the remaining 6 million barrels a day needed half could come from increased drilling for oil production (in Venezuela and other places) and half from conservation in the world outside of China- the US, EU, India, Africa, Latin America. With this covering 16 million barrels a day the world could still cope without 80% or most of the Hormuz supplies in the event Iran threatens to shut off Hormuz again. Even the trickle coming out of Hormuz of 4  mbd could be replaced from the petroleum reserves of the US, EU, Japan, India and other countries. In this way the US policy is to bypass Hormuz completely and use the period of the ceasefire to plan accordingly, knowing the IRGC never wanted to honor the Memorandum for opening Hormuz, it was only pressured to do so and would go back to its original intent. UAE plans new pipelines and overland routes. It would also bring down oil prices after a small surge from $70 a barrel to $80- $85 a barrel, before coming down again as additional supplies are created and demand side addressed through renewable energy and EV's. ...

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How the grandiose visions of Saudi new cities in the desert are being reset after the war, and the people in the poorest countries are being faced with higher prices for food, fuel and fertilizer when they can least afford it in 2026. The media focus has been on the Hormuz without saying, A. -that now with the Omani route added to the Iranian route in Hormuz a new defacto 2 route Hormuz is setup by the US Iran agreement. B.- that China has already reset its energy policy to do without the 3 million barrels a day it got through Hormuz, India has already setup new oil supplies from Venezuela, Japan is working out new arrangements, US is creating incentives for oil companies to produce in other regions of the world. And C.- the renewable energy policies, how much energy to use per unit of GDP under effcient use, is being accelerated in EU, India, China and Japan, and indirectly also in the US as cost of renewables comes down compared to fossil fuels. These will be constructive aspects of the situation. The world also shifts away from the Middle East a source of decades of wars that brought down the Soviet Union, destroyed some economies in South Asia (Afghanistan, Pakistan), created the distraction for the US that led to letting its infrastructure and economy to weaken, and destroyed the economic and social fabric in many parts of the Arab world and North Africa (Libya, Iran, Iraq, Syria). It closes a chapter of the Middle East from which lessons can be drawn for a focus on economic development and using science and technology to improve living standards of the people of the world, to tackle climate change, and for peaceful cooperation of major nations. ...

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German economic growth drops in 2026 to below 1%. What is happening?Germany manufacturing jobs drop to 6.6 million lowest in 10 years in 2026 as China makes same products for less and better. China is shipping more of its products to the German market and displacing German products in world markets. The same problems affecting the US in loss of manufacturing jobs is affecting Germany. This is happening as China uses long range plans coordinated with industry and state owned companies to deliver superior results in world markets to American and German companies competing on their own without coordination with the government in a long range plan and effort. The American and German companies face greater uncertainty in markets and are slow to invest in critical areas and technologies as a result leaving them exposed to Chinese competition. China has used the Japanese style subsidizing its industries and has another advantage in doing this in that many are state owned companies or heavily subsidized and supported by the state. After 1990 the fall of the Soviet system led to a sense that free markets in their purest form were better. This was not really true as the soviet system of state planning failed because it did not use the best features of the market economy that work. Japan adapted the market system to its needs and used state partnership with private industry to produce good results. The US did not learn from Japan's example. China learned from both the failure of soviet style planning and the success of the Japanese system to adapt its state plannning system by including aspects of the market economy. The US and Germany can only learn from these examples and adapt US market economy by including aspects of what worked for China and Japan of state plannning and long range plans of industry and government. Look back to how FDR won the war- within 5 years 1940-1945 he combined the best aspects of the planning and coordination of government and industry to achieve goals not thought possible. Britain did the same which shows such planning and coordination is not only a part of the US system of business and industry, it is just that these lessons and the lessons of other nations like Japan and China after 1950 were forgotten. India is now adapting its system for business and industry, and government for five year plans borrowing and learning from the examples of the US, Japan, China and the EU. ...

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America's Steel industry is a success story for Tariffs. It is recovering because of Tariffs. It is now third largest in the world bringing a crucial supply chain back to the US.

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Loss of legitimacy of European Convention on Human Rights as issues of mass migration affect policy in the EU and Britain. The need to completely rewrite this convention to reflect the real life issues in European countries including Britain, issues that are leading to major discontent in society. Missed opportunity to do this over many years.

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Reform gets 26% of the vote for 30% of the seats, Greens 16% of the vote in 2026 Local elections in Britain. Labor losses and Conservative party losses were significant. The Liberal party lost slightly in seats.

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President Trump says the terms set in the deal Boris Johnson negotiated with the European Union preclude any deal with the U.S. He says after looking at the agreement that "we can't make a trade deal with the UK."  Trump made similar comments for prime minister Theresa May when he said that May's strategy for Brexit would "kill" any chance of a trade deal with the U.S. Mr. Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, has promised to negotiate a free trade agreement with the U.S. after delivering Brexit. A separate report in DW.com showed that countries with large potential in trade for Britain such as India are also less likely to sign a deal with Britain because the EU is a much larger trading partner with India. This could have an effect on Mr. Johnson's election campaign.

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The mood for migration and for illegal migration has soured in Denmark, Netherlands, France and Germany. A series of attacks by migrants in UK, France, Germany has soured the mood for migration. A recent attack this week killing 2 National Guardsmen in Washington DC continues this trend in the US and has soured mood in the US and Europe for migrants.  The UK Home Office says-110,000 sought asylum in the UK Jan to Sept 2025, and  36,000 are temporarily housed in hotels up 2% from 2025. This is a big issue in the UK tying up state funding for illegal migrants in hotels and creating a climate of uncertainty in UK neighborhoods where such hotels are located. Nor is this an issue in which the Conservatives Party acted firmly as there were 56,000 migrants housed in hotels in September 2023. Labour Party entered government in July 2024 and has adopted the policy of Denmark under Shabana Mohamed as UK Home Secretary to stop and remove migrants from the UK. ...

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SCOTUS to decide on birthright citizenship in July 2026. Not since the days of FDR in the 1930's a century ago has there been so much tension between the government and the US Supreme Court.

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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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Gas prices at pump drop by 4% on June 24, 2026 in the US, even as oil prices drop by a third from over $100 a barrel to less than $70 as ships make it though Hormuz channel.

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The European Union is about to ban social media platforms from accessing children under age 13. This is how Ursula Van Leyen puts it - it is not about children accessing social media, it is about social media platforms accessing our children, says Leyen. She will announce this in her address to the European Union in September. A new report by a psychologist Fegert and an epidemiologist Melchior comes to the conclusion that social media is harmful for children, not just under 13 years, restrictions should be placed on 13 to 18 year olds also to prevent infinite scrolling and other addictive features. Australia has announced a ban setting the age at 16 years. Britain is tightening its ban. France is planning to ban setting the age at 16. The following countries are about to do this- Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, India, Indonesia and Malaysia. When the EU announces a ban it will apply to all of Europe. In the US Florida passed a ban setting age at 14 years. Across Europe children spend 4 to 6 hours on social media a day and for 60% of children it is having harmful effects on emotional health and creating psychosocial problems for children. It also affects the education, the reading comprehension of children as less books are read, and a whole new generation of children is growing up in a way that was never before seen in the Modern period where books and reading were a key aspect of modern society for the last 200 years. ...

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It would take 60 days for Iran to generate $10 billion in revenues. It seeks to charge tolls for the Hormuz channel to generate $40 billon a year. The US strategy- now that US knows there is a power struggle between the- elected president Pezeshkian and the militay IRGC- is to restrict Iran from gaining the funds to fund a nuclear weapons program. The most likely and low cost option is to reinstate the naval blockade. The next action is to work with China, Japan, India and the European Union to find other sources of oil to replace the 20 million barrels lost from Homruz- by using the unused capacity of 5 million barrels a day in UAE, Saudi pipelines. China learning to do without the 4 million barrels a day it got through Hormuz, supplying India through added oil supplies from Venezuela and the US, accelerating renewable energy and EV's hybrids could generate about a third of the 20 billion barrels lost from Hormuz or 6 million barrels a day. The better management of supplies in inventories could generate the additional energy to replace 4 million barrels a day. The result would be to reduce or eliminate the need for Hormuz and reduce its impact on the world's need for oil and energy use. ...

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Rodrigo - what he does is "indefinable" being in the right places at the right time- winner of best player in World Cup Soccer 2026. He is tall but not imposing. He is not the super athlete. In a World Cup that is dominated by television advertising pushing celebrities every minute, and tickets that few can afford, Rodrigo is the ultimate irony says this report in The Guardian by Jonathan Wilson. Not Haaland, not Mbappe, not Messi, the star celebrities and goal scorers, but Rodrigo or Rodri who is a cerebral player in the Spanish tradition of Busquets. Wilson rightly cites Mauricio Pochettino, the US coach, when he says that the US cannot produce a Rodrigo because of the way it manages soccer expecting parents to pay thousands of dollar for their child to join a club, which leaves out large parts of the US people. And what they get in return is physical prowess. What matters in soccer is tactical awareness and technical ability which are difficult to measure and intuitive. There is another aspect to Rodrigo he struggled for the last 2 seasons after an injury, recovering in time for the World Cup. The results are plain to see. Messi says this report could not play his style of game because of Rodrigo and players like Rodrigo in the Spanish team. ...