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A former mayor of Mexico City wins the election for president in 2018 with 53% of the vote. Obrador's margin was over 30% over Ricardo Analya of PAN party who had 22.5%, and ruling PRI's Antionio Meade with 16%, with 72% of votes counted according to Mexico's election agency. Issues in this election were corruption, with many corruption scandals for ruling PRI under president Nieto, and failure to maintain rule of law. The last time that a president won this size margin of victory was in 1982. Morena as Obrador's party is called, won 306 of 500 seats in the lower house of parliament and 70 of 128 seats in the Senate, winning majorities in both houses of parliament. It also won 4 of 8 state governor races and the Mayor's office in Mexico City. FOr the first time since 1997 one party will control both houses and Mexico City. Obrador formed his own party after leaving the PRD party, calling it The Movement for National Regeneration. Most Mexicans were highly disturbed by the violence and corruption that prevailed in local administration under president Nieto's PRI government. The PRI's dominance in Mexican politics is now broken. Obrador says he will work to put more emphasis on helping the poor in Mexico in framing his policies, distancing himself from the politics of the PRI which had distanced itself more and more from grassroots and ordinary workers in Mexico. This means adapting the free market economic model to suit Mexico's own conditions, the differences between northern and southern Mexico, and pushing for more worker friendly policies. It also creates more room for agreement with the U.S. as both Mr. Trump and Mr. Obrador agree on raising labor standards and wages for factory workers in Mexico ...

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 A 4.30 or 5.30 wakeup routine where one goes to sleep between 9.00 and 9.30 pm is one that gives time for fitness, a chance to so something for oneself before daylight and before the world wakes up. This report is in Style in WSJ when it should be in the Health and Wellbeing section. Rising early is part of yoga tradition for meditation in India where it is called Brahmamurta (time of Brahma) generally between 3.30 am and 5.30 am in the early morning. It is the time of the Creator of the universe, Brahma.

It is the best time for meditation on Ram, Brahman, on Christ or the Buddha. It can also be used for creative activity and for work that require concentration and clarity of mind. When the whole world sleeps the sage is awake, says the Bhagavad Gita. In Christian churches this is also the time for early morning prayer.

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Gongloff points out that the word exemption occurs on 100 of the 200 pages of the final draft of the Volcker Rule published for comments in September 2011, for a total of 426 times. The banks have 2 years after its introduction in July 2012 to comply with its provisions and are allowed to petition the board for 3 one year extensions taking the process to July 2014 or July 2017. And this whole exercizes resembles some form of kabuki theater as the title of this piece suggests, and makes going through its detail meaningless. Especially since the probability of a new administration in 2014 or in 2017 are high. At that time new rules would be written.

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The WSJ editorial pages which have for years warned of the situation at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac where government guarantees for these two companies are provided without adequate and appropriate oversight resulting in huge risks if these companies go under in this mortgage crisis. WSJ opinion thinks its a bad idea to let these companies borrow from the Fed's discount window as Senator Dodd has suggested and is wary of the collusion between politicians who get campaign cash from these companies and the companies, and argues for government help given in condition of overhaul and strong supervision and gradually a winding down of these companies because of the risks they pose.

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Comments from readers of WSJ about the interview with Rubin at Citigroup (Ken Brown, David Enrich, NYT, Nov. 29, 2008), and his defense of $115 million in compensation since 1999 on its pages. Readers expressed strong sentiment after the housing foreclosures, bank bailouts, and the shock to the nation's financial system. One reader says history will find Rubin, Greenspan and Barney Frank in the financial scrap heap, another says he is incredulous at the way Rubin condescendingly points to his opportunities to do better elewhere, another says Rubin uses a lot of B school mumbo jumbo like risk book and inflection points and laments the failure of Wall Street executives to take responsibility for errors of judgement.

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Seib of the WSJ compares the Reagan election in 1980 with Trump's bid in 2016. He finds the idea of an outsider when the public mood was for change favoring Trump, but says the comparison with Reagan falls short because Reagan had behind him 8 years as governor of the largest state in the country, and a bid for the nomination 4 years earlier. He also had personal positive approval ratings of about 70 percent compared to 27 percent for Trump.  Reagan's first trp after the convention in 1980 was to Alabama to win the support of George Wallace people in the Deep South. His focus was on reuniting all parts of the Republican Party something absent in 2016. Seib's comment about Trump being stronger on the economy is not clear. With the economy recovering, and slowing down as the presidential election approaches amid increasing uncertainty, it is possible that voters would not want to risk abrupt and sudden changes with an untested candidate. Working class voters could still see some of their concerns for change addressed by the Bernie Sanders part of the Democratic platform with help in college tution, addressing wage concerns, and opposing export of jobs, when Trump's program gives few specifics. Another difference between Reagan and Trump is that Reagan had put together an economic team under Shultz which was able to win credibility with an actual plan to implement in the first 100 days. ...

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Missourians get it they supported raising minimum wage to $15, and said no to Harris. Nebraska approved minimum wage increase and sick leave by 75% , and said no to Harris. Harris did not mention both in her closing messaging or make it a major part of her message. Harris muddled economic message is attributed to influence of Tony West, her brother in law, legal counsel for Uber, and by her efforts to avoid the label placed on her by Wall Street interests that she was "communist" by moving closer to corporate interests. President Biden ran his campaign and presidency entirely with a single theme- against trickle down economics, saying it did not put much on his father's table, and "the middle class built America, not Wall Street, winning 82 million votes more than the 74.3 million for DJT in 2024, 12 million more than Harris, 8 million more than DJT.  This simple Harry Truman like message carried the day in 1948 against Republican Dewey's increasing popularity after weariness over FDR long run in office, and got Biden 12 million more votes than Harris in 2024 or 8 million more than Trump in 2024- 82.3 million votes for Biden 2020. DJT was elected in 2024 with a fewer number of votes than he got in 2020- 74.3 million votes in 2024 and 75 million in 2020. Bernie Sanders, Congressman from Vermont says- "People want to understand what’s going on in their lives. Trump gave them an explanation,” “He attributed all of our problems to undocumented immigrants. What is the Democratic explanation for why the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and working-class people are struggling? You tell me.”   ...

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High unemployment and sluggish growth in hiring-only 1.1 milllion jobs added in 2010 and only 103,000 in December 2010, according to the Labor Department- will restrict profit growth. Industries such as airlines, food, construction and telecom that lagged the recovery, will continue to face difficulties. Airlines face higher fuel prices and labor wage pressures. Standard and Poor's expects profits for the S&P 500 Index companies to reach a 3 year peak in the ist quarter 2011, then move lower for the next 5 quarters. Earnings reached $22.62 a share for these companies, up 29% from one year ago.

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The U.S. "quit rate" reflecting job churn in the economy with workers leaving for better job opportunities increased to 1.8% in Nov. 2013, increasing from 1.2% low in Sept. 2009, according to the Labor Department. 2.4 million workers resigned in Nov. 2013. This includes workers retiring and choosing not to work. The quit rate was about 2.1% betwen 2000 and 2006. About 20% of the churn is from the lower paying hotel and restaurant sector. As the U.S. population ages and workers look for more stable jobs the number of workers leaving jobs is declining since the 1990's.

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In this interview with Varoufakis, the Greece finance minister in the negotiations with the European Union and the IMF in 2015, Suzy Hansen provides a detailed account of Varoufakis's view on the Greece bailouts and a sense of looming failure in the negotiations. Varoufakis says he was willing to make concessions by holding off on action on the minimum wage, but cannot make concessions on paying out pensions to the elderly. Varoufakis concedes he is not a good negotiator or a politician, and negotiating skills were critical for Greece to tap into the goodwill in the eurozone's southern region to win a package that would give the Greek economy a chance to grow. Additional handicaps may be his outlook which was shaped in his younger years by the "junta years" when Greece was ruled by a military dictatorship, and a family history relating to Greece's civil war between royalists and communists. In this interview he compares himself to Margaret Thatcher, who he says should not be held responsible for the state corporatism following the war, remarks that may show a finance minister out of touch with the present situation. There is no lack of criticism of the way some of the bailout actions took place to protect French and German banks in 2011 and 2012- in fact some of the strongest criticism, well formulated, was on the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal. Yet Varoufakis had a special responsibility to build on the goodwill generated after years of austerity, and the efforts of the Samaras administration to work with the EU. On both counts he appears to have failed as he realizes that the 4 months of uncertainty ending in a total lack of communication between both sides, has cost Greece by worsening the economy. Posturing and personality, compounded by inexperience, may have distracted from the real work of serious negotiations. The IMF chief Christine Lagarde had emphasized at the outset the need for Greece to fix its tax system with high degree of tax evasion, an issue on which Syriza could have acted quickly. Some of the period before the elections was used to prepare the EU for negotiations with Syriza, and Syriza needed to be prepared on this issue. Yet no action was taken on a plan to tackle this issue- on the grounds, says Varoufakis, of lack of time. He only rationalizes this when he says it is only a short term cost for the long term future of young people. ...

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Leo Beranek's book Riding the Waves tells about how he got started in communications engineering, back in Solon Iowa in 1924 with his fathers new one vacuum radio receiver, his start at Harvard by coincidence, repairing a flat tire of a Harvard instructor driving through Iowa, and his research in electronic transmission of sound at Harvard and MIT, and work on electronic transmission of information which was the early work on the internet, to the founding of BBN Technologies.

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UN projections show median age of Chinese citizens will overtake that of Americans in 2020. Yet China's median income is only a quarter of that in the U.S. Life expectancy in China today is 76, very close to that in America. In 1960 a Chinese person born that year had life expectancy of 44 years.  China is aging at the pace of Japan, and a bit slower than South Korea, but wealth per capita was three times higher in South Korea and Japan than China when the aging accelerated. A Chinese woman fertility rate today is 1.6 compared to 4.6 in 1973. A prominent Chinese economist says in a recent report that median age in China in 2050 will be nearly 50 compared to 42 in America and 38 in India. WSJ cites figures showing China will have gone from 9 working age adults per retired person in 2000 to just two by 2050. So how to pay for retirement of all these workers today? Government spending on retirement is a tenth of GDP, about half the level in older wealthier countries, and increase in spending will impact growth. Today this is about 6.2% potential growth rate. It also pushes wages up with a shortage of workers in cities such as Shenzen and X'ian even with the use of new technology and robots in factories.  Solutions are to raise retirement age currently set at 60 years, increasing labor force participation of women as Japan has done, and increasing productivity. China has transferred 10% equity stakes in four state owned financial firms to the national pension fund to shore up its finances as estimates from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences show it running out of money in 2035. Traditionally children supported families in old age but the one child policy leads to situations where the child is working or in another city. In Suzhou near Shanghai, a retirement business sends 1800 helpers to private homes and 130,000 retired people, in a new trend. The city administration of Shanghai plans 400 neighborhood care centres for elderly by 2022, with health clinics, drop in facilities, and homes. 12,000 elderly people use one centrre in central Shanghai area of Changning. ...

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Samsung to build a $670 million plant in northern Vietnam to build mobile handsets. Samsung officials cite lower costs as a key attraction. This shows the trend for manufacturing to shift to lower cost regions as wages rise in China.

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France's Foreign Minister Ayrault says of Boris Johnson: "He lied a lot to the British. Now, he is the one with his back against the wall." He sees missing in Johnson the "clear, credible and reliable" person with whom he can negotiate. Ray Stegner, deputy chairman of Germay's Social Democrat Party says "May looks weaker after such a choice of personnel. Now he is negotiating Brexit. Enjoy the trip." In China he is seen as a celebrity not a serious person. Bildt, ZDF, see in this a part of British humor. Jurgen Hardt, foreign policy spokesman for Christian Democrats Party in Germany had a different take on Johnson- seeing this as an astute move because if the government one day comes to conclude that Brexit should not be completed then having Johnson on board to explain it to the people would guarantee support in her party and with the people of England. In her first speech May emphasized that she was a "Unionist." Her first important meeting was with Nicola Sturgeon of Scotland and made Scotland's agreement necessary before invoking Article 50. Her talk of "burning injustices" for the poor and the underprivileged also goes to address the root of the problems behind the Leave vote. By having Johnson on board she can focus on the issues that really matter and which were on the minds of people in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland- to ensure that the economic system works for all.   ...

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Growth is back in the eurozone. The OECD estimates 2.1% growth in 2017 and 1.9% growth in 2018 for the eurozone countries. Business investment is up significantly- up 5.7% in the first half of 2017. Worldwide business investment in 2016 was at 1.3 trillion euros, up 7.2% from the prior year, according to Eurostat.

New investment for electric vehicles in the auto industry is also up significantly in an industry that provides 10% of all jobs in manufacturing. Yet business investment is only half of what it needs to be- to makeup 5% of GDP- to spur good job creation, says this report in the WSJ. Use of automation is also limiting the number of jobs created. Real wage growth is also lacking.

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Serious concern about lower consumer spending in the U.K that would reduce growth and reduce government tax receipts. The unemployment rate has remained at 7.6% for 22 months. Wage levels are not keeping up with inflation of about 4.5%. The increase in the sales tax from 17.5% to 20% has added three quarters of one percent to the inflation rate, according to the National Statistics Office. VocaLink says annual wage growth in the three months through May 2011 was 1.8%, much lower than the inflation rate. Deep spending cuts are going into effect in 2011-2012, and about 300,000 jobs would be lost in the public sector with spending cuts by 2015. The IMF has reduced its estimate for growth in the U.K. to 1.5% from 1.7%. At the same time the Bank of England is under pressure to increase the interest rate of 0.5% (which is a record low), to control inflation. Britain under prime minister Cameron plans to cut government spending from 47% of GDP to 40% of GDP over six years. This will take 6 years of spending cuts, something even a previous prime minister Margaret Thatcher was not able to do. The government's Office of Budget Responsibility predicts a drop in the deficit from 11% of GDP to 7.9% by March 2012. Yet a lot depends on government tax receipts which in turn depend on economic growth. Britain showed a large deficit of 10 billion pounds in April 2011, and the situation is fraught with a high degree of uncertainty....

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Professors Cole and Ohanian of the University of Pennsylvania and UCLA, provide a new interpretation of FDR's economic policies during the period 1932-1934 and the period 1937-1941, based on their research. This suggests conclusions different from that of Obama advisor, Christina Romer, and Fed chairman, Bernanke about that period. Changes in economic policies under the Roosevelt administration that helped bring wages in line with productivity, reduced strikes, and gradual elimination of the undistributed profits tax, improved incentives for business investment during 1938-1939. Cole and Ohanian, say that by 1941, before the U.S. entered the war, close to half of the increase in nonmilitary hours worked in the U.S. between 1939 and the peak of the war, had already been achieved. And this was primarily the result of the changes in FDR's policies in 1938. They say a similiar opportunity is presented by the proposals of the Bowles-Simpson commission on deficit reduction, by lowering the corporate income tax through simplification of the tax code and reducing or eliminating most tax expenditures. Improving the incentives for business to hire and invest through this and other steps is likely to do more for the economy than the steps tried so far since 2009....

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This Buttonwood column in the Economist after the British 2015 general election says the election results show serious dissatisfaction with the political class. Labor was never forgiven for the 2007-2009 financial and economic crisis, and the "lost decade" in terms of decline in real wages and no improvements in the standard of living since then. The SNP because it is not tainted by these actions did better as a fresh face and authentic voice in Scotland. The Liberal Democrats suffered from their participation in the coalition government and the austerity years. The Conservatives benefitted from the problems and the crisis of confidence faced by the other major parties. The column asks the question about whether austerity can ever be a vote winning strategy. And it points out that the Conservative party won 37% of the vote compared to 36% in 2010. Labor went from 29% in one of the worst results ever in 2010 to 31%. UK Independence Party gained 13% vote share with increase in English nationalism. Behind all this it says is the general disillusion with the political class in Europe. And the Conservatives should take care lest the dissensions in the party with the EU referendum lead to a divided party. ...

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Joe Biden was about 78 when he entered the presidency. Reagan ended his presidency at age 79 in 1989. It is about 35 years since Reagan, and advances of medicine are making it possible for people to work longer with retirement ages extended to age 65 in many countries. Mr. Biden looks healthy and brings much experience from his decades in the Senate of the US. His 36 years in the Senate are the longest for any president. Turning 80 should not be a hurdle in that sense if one is healthy and the country needs this experience. During a foreign affairs crisis with China and Russia this experience of 12 years as ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is invaluable. More so as Biden reflects America's values. During his 36 years in the Senate he put forward the Violence Against Women's legislation in Congress. As Vice President he continued to advocate for working class and middle class and for families. One has to go back to Harry Truman to sense this kind of fervent and resolute action for workers and families, and for the American people. As president he passed the $1 trillion legislation for Workers and Families and to fight Climate Change. Building America Back Better is one of its goals and further investment in America and its people is being pushed forward.  Mr. Biden is living at a time when there is a struggle for the soul of the nation and he believes in his role in this struggle which gives him the energy he needs for his role in 2024 for continuing the work he has begun. ...