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The growing number of women in their 40's who are childless, one person homes, "child-free" adults, higher rates of divorce, are not limited just to Western Europe, the U.S. and Japan. This is spreading rapidly in lower income countries in the Arab world and Asia also. In Europe the progress is relentless. With divorce rates higher and fewer women marrying, the probability of a women of reproductive age getting married in Belgium is about 40%, and divorce at about 50%, according to Eurostat. So that the probability of women getting married and staying married is about 20%. This is true of other European countries also. There is a huge increase in "child-free' adults, men and women choosing voluntarily to not have children. The proportion of childless women in their 40's is highest in Berlin and Hamburg, nearly 33%, about 25% in Italy, and 20% in Sweden. One person homes are increasing in Western Europe, with about 32% in Europe and 45% in Denmark, not from aging alone as in Denmark as many as twice the number of one person homes are under age 65 than over 65. The UN population Division's "World Marraige Data 2012," shows that places like Morocco, Libya, and other parts of the Arab world are also experiencing these trends, with income and schooling levels much lower than in Europe and the U.S. These trends are now worldwide and affecting traditionally conservative societies like China....

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Lt. Gen John Allen will succeed Gen Petraeus in leading the war effort in Afghanistan. Allen was the deputy commander in Anbar province, Iraq, from 2006-2008. He backed Colonel Sean MacFarland's efforts to get Sunni tribal leaders to join the U.S. against Al Quaeda militants- which came to be called the Sunni Awakening. Allen is close to Gen. Petraeus and has the skills and diplomacy that Petraeus is known for. He is described as someone who understands that the war in Afghanistan involves policy, politics, perceptions and diplomacy.

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The resignation of nuclear advisor Toshiso Kosako. He criticized the government of Naoto Kan for a government decision allowing children living near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to receive doses of radiation equal to the international standard for nuclear plant workers. He also criticized the government for an overly high level limit on radiation exposure for workers at the Fukushima plant.

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Lower amounts for financial aid available offset the lower rise in tution costs to leave students just as worse off as before with large amount of student debt in 2013-2014.

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President Obama in an interview with Steve Inskeep of National Public Radio says that blue collar men, the white working class, have suffered in the last decade, and Trump is exploiting their fears and anxieties. Yet he made no mention of the large parts of the middle class with low levels of assets, and the extreme inequality discussed by Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen at a Boston Fed conference on inequality in October 2014. Obama addresses the war in Syria and Iraq in a similiar manner by not mentioning the millions of refugees in that region and the million that have created a refugee crisis in Europe. He attributes the problem more to media pursuing ratings than any errors of the administration in this interview with NPR, including some of it directed by pockets in the Republican Party. This ignores the many editorials and op-ed pieces on the subject from both sides of the spectrum, the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

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As German chancellor Merkel pointed out at the EU summit, all central European states and Eastern European staes are not doing the same. Czech Republic and Poland are doing relatively better, Hungary, Romania and the Baltic Countries are in serious crisis. And smaller Slovenia and Slovakia are part of the core countries in the EU which use the euro. The Baltic countries are looking to Sweden to help and the Swedish Finance Minister has said it is the political responsibility of Sweden to help the Baltic countries, which Sweden should consider as part of the home region. Romania is looking to a reluctant Germany for help. And voices in Europe are asking if it isn't the political responsiility of Western European countries like Germany to help, and if not what does it mean to be part of the European Union? The Eastern European countries caught up in this crisis with their currencies losing value and large loan repayments to western European banks, feel they embraced the liberal capitalist model without any knowledge or experience with its fluctuations and crisis prone nature, as part of the integration into a united Europe. Now they are left they feel, to drift on their own. The recent emergency European summit meeting in Brussels saw the Czech prime minister Topolanek, who holds the rotating presidency of the EU, say that no member would be left in the lurch, and the need to avoid a dividing line in Europe that North-South or East-West. The Hungarian prime minister insisted on a special European Union fund of upto $241 billion to protect the weakest members, and circulated a paper saying that Central Europe's refinancing needs for 2009 were $380 billion. So far the governments of the EU have already spent $380 billion in bank recapitalizations and put up $3.17 trillion to guarantee bank's loans and to get credit moving again. And the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and the World Bank have promised $31.1 billion to Eastern European countries....

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Samuelson warns that turning seniors into a protected class making no sacrifices whatsoever, will mean shrinking all other social programs, defense and investments in education and infrastructure. This is the reality of the budget deficits facing the U.S. He cites the Congressional Budget Office projections that even with cutting defense and non defense discretionary spending by a third, the U.S. risks a deficit in 2023 of about 6.75% of the economy or gross domestic product (GDP). To cover this would require $1 trillion in higher taxes, an increase of a third above the 1970-2011 average. He says Democrats are using demagoguery and intimidation on this issue, and ironically even Paul Ryan's proposal reflects a desire not to touch seniors benefits and willingness to pass on the costs to the young to pay for these programs. Social Security and Medicare are a critical part of the American fabric, and no one wants to dismantle them, it is about modernizing them to reflect higher life expectancy and larger wealth accumulated by the elderly compared to previous generations, and to reduce the burden on the young. ...

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A dispute in Brazil between the government committing part of the oil royalties from new oil discoveries in coastal oil producing states such as Rio de Janeiro to improving education in Brazil. Coastal producing states fear the loss of an estimated 3 billion dollars under this plan. Some of the money goes to states in the interior of Brazil such a Goias lacking educational facilities and funding for teachers.

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Ali Sethi, a novelist, questions the simple minded theory that all that matters in South Asia is the Hindu-Muslim divide and with it the idea of a separate Muslim state. He points to this as far from the daily reality of caste, landholding classes, education and the lack of it, sectarianism within the religion, and other differences. And in many ways these outweigh the overly simplified idea of two religions and different states.

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New rules in 2016 for U.S. bonus pay require banks and other financial institutions to defer at least half of executive bonus pay for 4 years, one year longer than industry practice. The rule also sets a period of 7 years for the largest firms to be able to "claw back" bonuses if the executive's actions have led to the financial institution having to restate financial results or hurt the institution. The Obama administration is making up for lack of earlier stronger action in this area during the last year it is in office. Excessive risks were taken during the financial crisis of 2008 because of executive compensation structures that incentivized this. The definition of "risk taker" is also widened to include high earners at banks who are not in senior management- to include the 5% of employees at banks that are highest paid and get a third of compensation from incentives.