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With temperatures reaching 118 degrees on the Acropolis in Athens on its rocky location union organizers say work will stop at 12 noon and the Acropolis will reopen in the evening for tourists.

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The WSJ provides a fact check of Trump statements on crime, debt, and taxes. Trump says he is looking at a new plan for taxes not the $10 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years reducing tax collection by 22%, but something about a third of the size. No details are available on the plan. WSJ disputes Trump's statement that the U.S. is "one of the highest taxed nations in the world." WSJ points out that the U.S. in 2014 for federal, state and local government taxes collected 26% of gross domestic product in taxes, compared to average of 34% for about 30 countries, according to OECD. Debt to GDP ratio is about 75% that is high, but because of low interest rates the budget deficit is less than 3% of GDP, which is close to the long run average. For this reason economists say the government should invest in infrastructure and R&D that supports long run economic growth. On crime the record is mixed with increase in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City, but decreases in Washington D.C. and Baltimore. Police shootings were 67 in 2016 compared to 62 in July 2015, and the high being 280 officers in 1974 when Nixon was President. Crime was an issue in the 1968 Republican National Convention during the Vietnam era protests, police shootings and terror incidents attracted attention in July 2016, yet the situation today is very different from the war protests of the Vietnam era. On terrorism fact checks by the NYT and in Lyrarc shows Clinton at State Department and Panetta at Defense Department taking hawkish stands only to hit a barrier from President Obama for taking action needed in Syria, Iraq and Libya. Panetta's new book calls for robust action where needed. A Clinton administration would take action with allies in the Middle East. Even Hollande and Obama who pulled the U.S. and France out of following up in the French-British Sarkozy-Cameron led intervention in Libya, have changed policy, with Obama calling it his biggest mistake. France under Hollande with the U.S. is now actively engaged in the Middle East, having changed policy. It is highly unlikely that a Trump led policy which alienates most allies in the Middle East- Iran, Iraq and Saudis- is likely to work better than a determined Clinton-Panetta led effort which has support of the local countries on the ground actually currently on both sides because of complexities of Middle Eastern politics.  On trade a new administration will still have to work with China, India, the European Union, and other countries, as global trade supply chains are not likely to evolve overnight. Lessons will have been learned by Clinton about the need to bring back jobs and ensure the strength of U.S. manufacturing. Economic and jobs growth will require prudence in strengthening U.S. manufacturing coupled with global cooperation, which a Trump administration that alienates trading partners without the possibility of making any serious immediate gains in jobs, is highly unlikely to do better.      ...

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With childcare and part time jobs, age discrimination that makes it harder to get jobs after age 50 years, French women work longer for smaller pensions than men, says this report in The Guardian.

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AI stakes are big enough to expect the US Congress "the most underachieving branch of the US government ," to be jolted into action says The Editorial Board of the Washington Post. Illinois wants to set the national standard after California and New York set rules for AI. Senator Bill Cunningham of Illinois says the 3 states could together cover 40% of the AI market in the US. Illinois laws would have the following rules-

1. Chatbots would remind users they are not human every 3 hours.

2. companies using Ai for customer service would disclose they are not areal person.

3. Teachers cannot use AI to set grades in schools and colleges.

4. Landlords would not be allowed to set monthly rent using AI. 

5. BanAI companions for minors.

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Bidenomics and how it works for America- you don't have to have a college degree and two thirds of the workforce doesn't have one, you don't have to move and most people can't move to costly housing locations like California or New York. America can build here at home in chips, aviation and advanced technologies in scale and discovery that it has in its heritage. And you don't have to move when factories can go up in all parts of America, rural areas, small towns, and in neglected factory towns from a different era of the 50's and 60's. This is what Biden is doing with trillions of dollars in spending with the help of some Republicans sharing his vision for American Renewal. Not just talk- just substance, results. And cost of living- inflation cut in half from 2022 to 4%.

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New offices, making them less awful, (NO-LA) this is the trend says this report in WSJ. Reopened offices are opening on a voluntary basis. How will they attract employees back?  Try sweeping views, new yoga and wellness areas, "tech-free reflection zones,"  more conference rooms. This report looks at spaces by Accenture and other companies. Accenture adds sweeping views of the Hudson river, access to an outdoor terrace. The idea is to act as a pull, rather than a push. Unilever is changing offices into destination spaces where employees will come and work in 40% of the time. Salesforce is moving out desks to add more couches, TV's and whiteboards for teams. More offices are building spaces for 60% collaboration, up from 40% previously. Sanofi in Paris is adding options for breakfast, early dinner.  Other ideas are engagement days if workers are coming in only a few days a month. At Hightower this means one set day in the office a week, two engagement days a month for collaborative work. And workers are allowed to not coming one month a year and work from anywhere they choose.  ...

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The large response triggered on the internet by Anne-Marie Slaughter's article in the July/August 2012 issue of the Atlantic on women and work, how it is difficult for women to work and raise children without making changes in today's American society so that a healthy balance can be achieved.

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An opportunity for cities to grasp today for healthier living in cities with less traffic, fewer automobiles and more bicycle lanes. Cleaner cities with less air pollution and calmer cities to live and work in.

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Remote work has fueled demand for PC's from HP and other manufacturers during 2020.

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This report in the WSj shows the work of 477 on the ground workers and economists at government agency Bureau of Labor Statistics. These workers track changing prices on hundreds of thousands of goods and services every month. This work adds up to form the Consumer Price Index which shapes policy of central banks on inflation and cost of living increases for Social Security, government policy on inflation. Thus report looks at one day in the life of Ms. Mascitis, 50, as a price BLS price checker, visiting an auto mechanic shop for the cost of a rear brake job, full brake replacement, and a visit to grocery stores where she sees problems of shrinkage in packaging that affect price. 

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Astonishing distortion of a concept that is basically about better designing cities to reflect lessons learned from the pandemic and the importance of quality of life, worklife balance, healthy lifestyles. It involves bicycling to work popular in countries such as Netherlands and other parts of Europe. Utrecht in the Netherlands is a model city for this concept of working closer to where one lives and being able access sports, exercize activities, and community social meeting places within short distances. Because this is in line with climate change action where it is important to reduce huge carbon footprint of transportation and use of fossil fuels to get to and from work, and also promotes healthy lifestyles, community living, it is an idea that makes sense.

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Missing workers in direct contact service industries with the Great Resignation in the US and Europe. The US is missing 4.3 million workers. This also includes many women who have not returned to work as the pandemic drags on. The share of the population in the US 16 years or older either working or looking for work is at 63.3%. Workers are quitting at the highest rates in manufacturing, retail and trade, transportation and utilities, and in professional or business services. Quitting is high for women, workers without college degree and in low paying service industries such as hotels, restaurants, and child care. It appears now that these trends will stay and not be reversed easily.

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Two professors from the University of Nebraska offer ideas on spouses connecting with each other during retirement. Recognition of the new situation where old roles at work are behind and new relationships have to be cultivated is part of the answer. Building on the good emotional parts that went before is one way to build a connection. Recognizing that taking away work and children makes this different. That one has to build something new and exciting to replace that, to create new pathways to each other and to relearn some things, and build joy in a relationship by talking to each other and recognizing one's frailties openly, creating new meaning from old memories of doing things together.

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Drop in immigration reduces labor supply keeping the unemployment rate steady even as hiring cools off. Compared to the roughly 1 million in 2019 net migration was about 3 million in 2022 and 2 million in 2024. In 2025 this is now about a negative 250,000 or quarter of million negative migration. Out migration is expected at about 1 million. This means that about 35,000 non farm jobs created between May and July 2025 haven't increased the unemployment rate as fewer new workers join the workforce from illegal migrants. This has to have an effect for wages for the workers in construction and farm work as employers compete for a smaller number of existing workers though economists and the financial media rarely talk about this. This was needed following decades in which the labor supply increases from illegal migrants meant no pressures on employers to pay more than the minimum wage kept artificially low. This means that even well meaning Democrats who clamored for increasing minimum wage were doing exactly the opposite of what was needed for the existing worker base wages in construction, farm work, and household help, because of their sentiments or because of the immigrant wing in their party. Note that about a third of maids, a third of construction workers, and 25% of landscaping workers are not legal migrants. Agriculture Department estimates are for about 40% of farm workers to be without legal work authorization. ...

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This WSJ Editorial Board article says Republicans should work with Democrats to seize this opportunity to reform asylum and parole laws that affect migrant entry along the US Mexico border so that the border is secured.

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Shiller says policy is captured and communicated by metaphors, the most effective being belt tightening for a family. However what works for a family does not work for a country in the same way, especially if not accompanied by other measures and implemented in a strict manner without looking at the real situation. Better suggests Shiller, and more real is the metaphor of "winter on the family farm," where people work to do other chores than planting and harvesting, because a lot of other things need to be done and this is a good time to do it. This would include cleaning up the place, fixing the farm and the barn, fixing machinery, building fences. The farm's members pay a tax in terms of donated labor which goes to do all the work needed and helps the farm's productiveness as the weather changes. Similiarly the Salant-Paul Samuelson balanced budget theorem from the FDR days shows an increase in national output by the amount of a tax, such as the one proposed in France by president Hollande; that would then be invested in hiring more teachers (the labor) and investing in education infrastructure....

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As a BBC reporter O'Connell interviewed Adam Neumann during the its highflying days when its share value today at $1.22 was $400. The company was about to do in office space rental what Amazon had done to retail and Neumann talked the talk, yet only a few years later the company is filing for bankruptcy.  Money went into valuation at $47 billion it is now $64 million. Billions of dollars wasted. Another example of how capital allocation in the American economy is failing and billions of dollars that are wasted could have been used to rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure and public needs in health and education, fighting climate change.

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A playwright and novelist who says there is a silent voice speaking in his work, one that readers say radiates peace and spirituality. Jon Fosse of Bergen, Norway, wins the 2023 Nobel Prize for Literature.

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Following a $3.1 billion bid a European consortium led by construction firm Sacyr of Spain, 5 years of work and cost overruns over 50%, an agreement is reached with Panama for resumption of work on the Panama Canal expansion.