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The Interior Minister of Lower Saxony, Boris Pistorius, takes over from Christine Lambrecht as the new Defense Minister of Germany. His first priority will be to resolve the issue of German tanks for Ukraine. Chancellor Scholz is under pressure to approve the sending of German tanks after the British decision to do so. Lambrecht was one of three female defense ministers in Germany, after Von der Leyen and Karrenbrauer in the Merkel years. She came under much criticism for not making the decisions for reinforcing German armed forces in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

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Reliance Jio makes the highest bid and takes most of the 5G spectrum in India with a bid for $11.4 billion or over half of the 5G spectrum. The government had eased the size of investment by firms by allowing 20 equal instalments in payment and other measures. This prepares India and Jio to build the 5G network in India as it had done earlier for the 4G network and become the dominant low cost provider in the world. The experience gained in building 4G gives Jio the advantage in building the new 5G network in India on its own.

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This BBC report looks back at the Solomon Islands which were part of the Guadalcanal campaign in World War II and the importance of the Pacific. In 1943 a Japanese destroyer sank an American ship under John Kennedy in these Pacific ocean waters. About  80 years later his daughter Caroline Kennedy, ambassador to Australia in the Biden administration, takes a trip to this Pacific region and islands of Samoa and Tonga, with Wendy Sherman. China is seen as planning a base in the Solomon Islands which is on the southern sea route near Australia.

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Runners have turned to cycling and rowing as low impact exercize after injuries. Here a cardiologist, 55 years old,  takes up rowing after taking a lesson. He calls rowing a technical sport which requires technique as you push through the legs to start the power in the stroke. He says rowing is a rare full body exercize that one can do without impact on the joints for older people. Kayaking, or rowing can be outdoors, and works well indoors on a machine. Dr Zarate from Pensacola, Florida, also does cycling, yoga and other exercise for fitness.

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The economy slows and China's central banks cuts two interest rates. No major stimulus is planned as in Europe and the US after record debt levels that have accumulated over the last decade of hyper growth. Youth unemployment reaches 19%. The drop in demand for oil from China with the slowdown leads to a drop in the price of oil to about $93 for Brent Crude in August 2022, providing some relief for oil price to the EU and US. China is the largest importer of oil and it takes in 15% of the world's oil supply.

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One bright spot even as the war in Ukraine continues is the recovery in Ukraine food exports. Ukraine's Food ministry says the exports of foodgrains from Ukraine reached 6.9 million metric tons in September 2022 compared to 7.1 million metric tons in September 2021 before the war. This shows how vital are the shipping lanes and agreements to keep shipping safe on the Black Sea ports as they are a lifeline for Turkey, Egypt and many countries in Africa. It also takes out some of the pressure on food prices all over the world.

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Lael Brainard, formerly Fed Governor and president Biden's key economic policy adviser, takes leadership in protecting the $779 billion of 401K's that in 2023 were rolled over for retirement savings into IRA's. Brainard says- "When a retirement saver pays for trusted economic advice that is not actually in their best interest and comes at a hidden cost in their lifetime savings, that's a junk fee." When the courts failed to introduce regulatory oversight of IRA's the Biden administration has introduced the protection under junk fee protection. 

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Daniel Camacho reminds us that being spiritual increases life's satisfaction. It is about being constantly amazed at life and the world outside, and looking at it in new ways fired by spirituality and imagination. It is about the spirit, and it takes in everyday life and what we see in new ways. One can be non-religious and have spirituality, and be somewhat religious yet skeptical of some things in religion without being cynical and have spirituality. One in five Americans are spiritual, and many of these people feel inspired while reading a book or listening to music.

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Jurgen Klopp takes Liverpool to a 4-0 win over Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final of 2019. With 2 key players out from injuries, for Liverpool it was all about the mind and its approach to the game with a mentality to go out there and do whatever was needed. It strained credulity. In 7 minutes it was 1-0. In less than an hour it was 3-0. Without Firmino and Salah, two of their best players, it was disbelief at Anfield. Messi and Suarez tried for Barcelona, but it made no difference.

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The idea of "two tier policing" in Britian has been spread by Tommy Robinson and other figures and by social media actors yet it does not pass scrutiny says this report in The Guardian. It is in situations such as these that social media cannot be considered a technological advance but one that takes society back many steps. The lack of regulatory scrutiny and regulation of social media through Tech industry acting on its agenda may be one of the serious threats facing Democracy in the US, Europe and the World.

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Matt Rudd gives this excellent story on what it is like for dads in today's hectic ever busy work and business environment that takes little account of the needs of family and children. As work consumes most of dad's time, work-life balance is seriously affected, leading to stress and inability to cope with family, wife and children. Rudd gives examples and a quiz as food for thought.

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BBC News on the Los Angeles protests as Immigration enforcement takes place against illegal immigrants in the US. ICE enforcement took place with arrests resulting in protests in Paramount a town 20 miles south of Los Angeles which is 82% Hispanic. Much of the protest activity took place in the city of Los Angeles itself near the Federal Building resulting in the president calling in the California National Guard.

 

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Carmen Reinhart formerly at the Federal Reserve, says after a severe banking crisis it takes about 4 years to see a return to normal growth. With the current crisis having other facets like the overextended consumer intertwined with banking crisis, it is likely that it would take this long. He cautions business not to be overoptimistic.

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China's EV market is very competitive and price cuts by Tesla have led to falling prices. BYD sold 900,000 electric vehicles in the first 5 months of 2023, Tesla 200,000, and Li Motors 100,000. NIO is struggling and some companies have closed operations. Ford failed in this market and VW is still to make a dent in the market. Most of the top ten companies are local. With the slowing economy, consumers resisting purchases, price drops are needed to keep up sales of EV's.

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France's public finances and how this affects the strength of the euro-zone package of 750 billon euros to support eurozone countries facing financial crisis. France has a ratio of government debt to GDP of 80%, with BNP Paribas forecasting it to go up to 90%. France's budget deficit is forecast at 8% for 2010. And with high taxes it is risky for President Sakozy to raise taxes. The government's target is to cut the deficit to 3% by 2013. Part of the plan is to close tax loopholes, unwind stimulus spending, and to address the social security deficit. Weakened by poor midterm election results and facing strong unions, Sarkozy's options are limited.

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Medtronic's former CEO, Bill George, says Medtronic's plan to reincorporate in Ireland as part of the merger with Covidien is intended to make it possible to use cash piled up overseas. The cash overseas if repatriated to the U.S. would incur corporate taxes of 35%. Medtronic can use its overseas cash resources to finance the acquisition of Covidien. The combination of the two companies will enhance cash flow, says Medtronic's CEO, Omar Ishak. Covidien's overseas cash and future earning from its businesses is not subject to U.S. repatriation taxes. As a result the combined company following merger will have only 40% of total cash "trapped" overseas, compared to 60% before a merger.

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The German Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Heinrich Driftmann told reporters in Berlin that the new government should overhaul the tax code and improve credit access for companies. The German chamber wants to see changes to the corporate and inheritance taxes. He said that even if it was considered taboo companies needed more flexibility in the labor market. Merkel has promised labor unions that keeping social protections will be a priority in her administration. Economists say it will be difficult to cut taxes because unemployment will rise to 11% in 2011 as Germany's economy contracts 5% this year, and this will mean less tax revenues and increasing costs for social spending.

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Ford profit for 2025 expected at $7- 8.5 billion. Ford estimate for Tariffs cost in 2025 on profit before interest and taxes is about $1.5 billion. As Ford makes most of its cars and trucks in the US it is less impacted by the Tariffs on foreign cars entering the US. GM estimate of cost of Tariffs is at $4 -5 billion.

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Volkswagen restructuring in Western Europe. Note the price pressures in global markets and high import taxes in growth markets like Russia, China and India. This puts more pressure for restructuring Western European auto manufacturing.

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The Conservative Party led government has taken credit for raising the level of income on which workers start paying taxes to 10,000 British pounds. The Liberal Democrats are pushing to raise this to 10,500 British pounds in 2014. This would remove an additional half a million people from the total taxpayers. The Liberal Democrats, a junior partner in the current coalition government, favor a mansion tax on houses valued above 2 million pounds which would generate an additional 2 billion pounds a year. The Conservative Party opposes this tax.

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  Tennis player Roger Federer's speech at Dartmouth College is useful advice - "its only one point" when you lose it, how to move on to the next one free of thought no negative energy, “When you lose every second point, on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot. You teach yourself to think, ‘OK, I double-faulted. It’s only a point.’ When you’re playing a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world, and it is. But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you. This mindset is really crucial, because it frees you to fully commit to the next point and the next point after that, with intensity, clarity and focus.” And how often does this happen? Every second point almost. Because he says he won at Wimbledon and US Open with only 54% of the points. He lost about half of the points and still made it, and this message is real life, it matters to most of us. When we focus, when we concentrate on the task at hand it is one minute at a time.  Mikaela Shiffrin is the ultimate example of concentration skill going downhill fast between poles requires utmost concentration and she did this for the US in the Olympics after many disappointments in previous Olympics, none of it mattered to her, as she practices and focused. And that takes one to Federer's next point it wasn't effortless. It was repeated practice, it was girt with practice that made a difference. Only today this was evident as Sanju Samson talked about talking with Sachin Tendulkar last night before today's World Cup cricket game Final with New Zealand in which he hit 89 runs and the third time he has done it in the last 2 weeks, in Ahmedabad's Modi Stadium, to become the Player of the Match, watched by nearly 1 billion fans around the world. And Federer's last message is to do this by having some fun, enjoying the experience, learning something new, exploring, and getting to one's potential. ...

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Healthcare, climate change, pensions and social benefits, are three issues uppermost in the minds of German voters. Three million new young voters most of them only about 2 years old when Merkel started 16 years in office, look for change. They are well informed and for these young voters climate change is the most important issue. DW.com shows three voters and how they plan to vote. One voter has cast a mail in ballot for The Greens party. The second voter will vote for the Greens. Both because of climate change concerns. The third voter Thurid says her mother is a geriatric nurse and is not vaccinated. She is vaccinated but had talks with her mother and understands her worries about vaccination. She will vote for the Free Democrats because they oppose compulsory vaccination. The three leading parties for young voters are the Greens party, the Free Democrats, followed by the Social Democrats all in the range of 16-18% of support. The Greens have sent out 2 million brochures to voters. Out of 60 million voters in a German population of 80  million, 3 million is only 5% of the vote. What makes a difference is that it is consistent with the general direction of voters young and old, all looking for change in Germany as the CDU party attracts only about 20% or one fifth of German voters. Social Democrats Scholz is way ahead of Christian Democrats Laschet in how voters view each candidate. Will German voters be well informed enough to make a decision based on their desire for change after 16 years of Merkel or will the CDU bringing back in the last days of the campaign the old fears that the communist Left party would somehow find its way into the government using the Greens as a way in- this is a question for German voters. In1994 during the Cold War with Soviets Kohl used this to keep the Social Democrats out and Greens out and formed a coalition with the FDP. Yet today Merkel has grown close to both Russia and China and away from the Western alliance in a way that was unimaginable under Adenauer who helped build the new Federal Republic of Germany after the war. Merkel refuses to even immediately accept a call from a new US president Biden, American president who is closest in style and temperament to Harry Truman who faced off the Soviets in Berlin in 1948.  The FDP opposes a wealth tax or any form of taxes in which the wealthier pay a fair share of what is needed to build crumbling infrastructure in Germany neglected in the Merkel years. In Germany social and economic disparities have grown during the pandemic with poverty increasing during the pandemic as has happened throughout Europe and the world. The US is already committing to increase taxes for the upper incomes. This is where voters have a choice- do nothing with infrastructure, health or climate change or do something by increasing taxes. The choice is now before the German people.  With this question comes a choice for western civilization, with the recent election in the US, and two elections in Germany and then France. Will it look with optimism to the future or will it huddle up in a deeply cautious and slightly pessimistic view of the world that is embedded in Angela Merkel's cautious vision that ended up only responding to crises- some self inflicted as in migration policy, and even self inflicted in tackling euro problems created in the euro currency's faulty design. In fiscal policy as in migration policy Merkel has reversed her position- by supporting European solidarity. Will Germans vote for optimism or never ending caution? Are lessons learned?     ...

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CEO's of more than 80 large U.S. companies have come together behind a plan that would reduce the U.S. federal deficit with tax revenue increases and reduced spending. The CEO statement was organized by the Fix the Debt campaign, a bipartisan effort inspired by Republican Alan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles of the 2010 Simpson-Bowles Deficit Commission. The CEO statement calls for an overhaul of the U.S. tax code to eliminate or reduce deductions, credits and loopholes (reduction of tax expenditures also referred to as "broadening the base"). The CEO statement says any fiscal plan to succeed has to control increases in health care spending, make Social Security solvent, and include "comprehensive and pro-growth tax reform, which broadens the base, lowers rates, raises revenues and reduces the deficit." This is the first time a large group of business leaders have supported raising taxes as part of an overall solution. This puts together elements of the Bowles-Simpson plan, reduces deductions and loopholes, lowers rates as part of overall tax reform and cutting spending. The CEO statement says the Simpson Bowles recommendations for $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases was an "effective framework" for tackling a problem that affects the economic well being and security of the U.S....

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Alan Meltzer would like to see the Fed reverse its quantitative easing, and lower excess reserves gradually starting now. By this he hopes to see the Fed avoid the mistake of making a big shift from excessive ease to severe contraction further down the road. He also warns agains excessive deficit spending. He says a weak economy is not the time to cut spending or raise taxes, and he is not talking of draconian immediate steps. He would like to see a multiyear program to increase fiscal probity and reduce deficits size and frequency. As it stands now he takes both parties to task for lack of fiscal discipline and honest accounting. About $1 trillion in deficits each year on average for next 10 years is in the works, and is an underestimate because the savings of $200-$300 billion in medicare spending have still to be realized, and states do not have funds for increased Medicaid spending, and payments to doctors have still to go down by 25%. Chinese government purchases of half our debt will postpone the day of reckoning says Meltzer, but far better for us to strike at the problem now, before we blow a hole in the dollar and start a downturn. See the separate report on the shrinking UK economy....

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WSJ Analysis of $1 trillion Medicaid Cuts in the One Big Beautiful Act-who it impacts most. It means less money for insurers, hospitals, and 9 million able bodied Medicaid recipients being moved to being covered by new employers. Under extension of Obamacare able bodied Americans were added to Medicaid in some of the states. Some states such as Texas and Florida and other southern states decided not to do this. The One Big Beautiful Act removes this extension of Obama care and the funding to states and adds the able bodied requirement to cut funding by about $1 trillion. Insurance companies who covered the insured and got payments from the federal government will lose these payments. Hospitals will also lose these payments from the federal government that sent money to the states for funding Medicaid. Overall Medicaid funding is proportionally cut more in Republican states. In Arizona, Kentucky and Virginia Medicaid cuts will be 18%, compared to 9% in New York and 13% in California. 93% of the cuts are in states that have expanded Medicaid to include able bodied adults. The Big Beautiful Act also cuts down on provider taxes which hospitals used to get more funding. Rural hospitals are given access to a $50 billion fund in the Act  so they can be kept open. ...