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American companies, Google, Alcoa, Amazon and others are supporting the European Union's push towards reductions of carbon emissions for combating climate change. They are doing this by buying renewable energy through long term contracts that help reduce costs by about 10%. Google is doing this to support its data centers. Amazon is doing this with investments in wind farms in Ireland, and renewable projects in Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

The European Union plans to increase the proportion of renewable energy to 32% by 2030 at a cost of 260 billion euros.

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The unconventional style of Ford CEO Jim Hackett, who comes from a furniture maker in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is confounding some of the Ford management team. Mr. Hackett frequently alludes to a theoretical physicist Geoffrey West in his memos and uses terms such as "think phase" and "clock speed" that require some translation in Ford's management ranks. Ford's profits in 2018 are expected to lag Chrysler and GM in 2018. In one of his moves Hackett recently announced he was pulling Ford out of car manufacturing to focus on SUV's.

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In this WSJ op-ed essay William Galston says U.S. prestige and influence in the world has suffered under the presidency of Mr. Trump. The special relationship with Britain and Europe is at risk. Neighborly relations with Mexico are a thing of the past. Embracing questionable regimes is seen as failing America's respect for democracy. Squandering the moral authority and prestige of the U.S. will have long term consequences as China and Russia have increased their influence, says Galston. He points to Trump's attitude of indifference, he probably does not care, says Galston.

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This editorial in the Hindu and the related article in the NYT point out the impressive record of the Awami League party government of prime minister Sheikh Hasina in growth- tripling electricity in a decade, and in social indicators, such as gender parity and education, improvements in infrastructure. A related report from Germany also showed the positive sense of the changes in Bangladesh including the first long bridge over the Ganges river near Dhaka connecting different parts of the country.

This sense of progress is marred by what is seen as increasing authoritarianism of the government. 

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Krugman says China's inflation is raising labor costs in China, and in this way gradually reducing the undervaluation of the yuan vs the dollar. But he cautions this would take a long time, 4-5 years. The U.S. faces the costs of high unemployment close to 10% today, and this requires serious efforts now to reduce the undervaluation. It alone will not solve America's problems. It is one of a number of actions that need to be taken and not put off again.

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This WSJ editorial says the IMF must help Ukraine with emergency financing, and the U.S. and Germany need to offer long term economic assistance.

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Aeroflot is listed on the London stock exchange. It is going through a makeover by ordering Boeing and Airbus planes to become profitable, because the older Russian made Tu-154 planes were costly to operate with higher fuel consumption. The Sukhoi Superjets are being built in partnership with Boeing. Kramer says the aircraft industry operates on long timelines so that the lack of local aircraft comparable to Embraer of Brazil and Bombardier of Canada is more a reflection of the situation in the 1990's than of today. Newer aircraft are planned for the next decade for smaller midrange planes. In the meantime Aeroflot is selling all of its Tupolev aircraft and plans to layoff 6000 workers during the transition to profitability. Till 2009 Aeroflot was run by Yeltsin's son-in-law, as were many other companies managed by Yeltsin's inner circle during that period. Following changes made by Putin in 2009, a new CEO was appointed to better manage the transition of the airline into a national and global carrier....

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A chance to look at the birth of the universe 3.5 billion years ago. What was there before Brahma's thousand yugas and farther back in time to creation of the universe.  How are such images taken by the Webb telescope? What is a light year and what does it mean to say that the images shown here are 13 billion light years away. Hint: A light year is how long it takes for light to reach us from the vaccuum of space far out in the skies. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. In one year it has travelled 6 trillion miles through the vacuum of space. For these most distant objects detected by the Webb telescope, the particles of light have traveled some 13 billion light years, traveling across space for 13 billion years. It tells what the distant objects were like 13 billion years ago.  The light of a thousand suns mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita is not just a metaphor. When on sees the immensity of space everything down here on earth looks insignificant before the Creator. ...

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See the BBC show geography of the Straits Hormuz of Iran and Saudi/Oman. Would Iran block the Straits of Hormuz, the narrow waters in the Persian Gulf where Oman, Saudi Arabia on one side and Iran on the other meet. At some points the corridor in the sea which is 20 miles wide at narrowest point, is 108 miles long, is only 6 miles wide for oceangoing tankers carrying a fifth of world oil supplies. The reason Iran woul be hesitant to do this are- Iran supplies China with discounted oil through these Straits. Iran central bank says $67 billion of its total oil exports go through the Straits Hormuz, 90% of it to China. China gets a third of its oil supplies from the Saudis/Iran through these Straits. India gets 40% of its oil supplies, Japan 75% and South Korea 60% of crude oil supplies through tankers plying this waterway. It would put China and  all industrialized countries in opposition to Iran. It would also cut Iranian oil exports and leave it's oil based economy unfunded.   ...

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Long drawn out bombing campaigns such as the US bombing of North Vietnam did not by itself provide results. However there is a difference when it comes to nuclear proliferation, which is a completely different proposition.  Which is also why DJT however he words it has got it right that the US as a world power has responsibilities. In fact being a world power means first and foremost responsibility, not some swaggering walk. It means that whose side you are on in regional conflicts stops when it comes to nuclear proliferation. There is also a deeper understanding of "western powers" as we argue here. The US has to be wary of "western powers" because it is a colonial era concept of the French and the British. Western civilization is the right concept and this includes Russia. What about China and India? China and India owe little to colonial powers, and everything to western civilization, the Enlightenment, the Renaissance and the scientific and Industrial Revolutions that have brought both into the modern world.  ...

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Floyd Norris says the announcement by the ECB on Dec. 20, 2011, that 523 banks borrowed 489 billion euros under the newly created Long Term Financing Operation goes a long way towards giving Europe time to address the debt crisis. A major problem is recapitalization of European banks and the ECB's action helps address this problem. This is one of the achievements of the December summit of European leaders, though it was not the way markets had expected. Markets were focussed on large scale bond buying by the European Central Bank or issuance of euro bonds. ECB head, Mario Draghi, aware of widespread opposition in Germany to such proposals made it clear this was not going to happen. The Long Term Financing Operation of the ECB provides unlimited amounts of loans to European banks at 1% for 3 years, and accepts sovereign government debt as well as other types of securities as collateral. The result of this action was to lower the yield on a recent Spanish bond auction to 1.7% for three month bills from 5.1% the prior month. Spanish and Italian banks can now buy government debt of their countries and use the bonds as collateral at the ECB for three year loans at 1%. This Norris estimates will generate profits of about 37 billion euros for European banks from the difference between the ECB rate of 1% and the rate on two year bonds of Spain and Italy of 3.6% and 5.1% respectively for the bond purchases of 489 billion euros- calculated on a spread of 2.5 percentage points over three years. Another infusion of funds from the ECB will occur in February 2012. The new capital infusion gives European banks less reason to reduce lending in the eurozone as they work to meet the higher capital reserve requirements set under new Basel III rules. This is especially important given the austerity measures being implemented across the eurozone countries and Britain to reduce government deficits, and in light of the lower growth expected as a result....

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In this WSJ post Musk is shown as having regrets on his posts in social media X. It only underscores the volatile nature of the activities of the Tesla founder which do a disservice to the genuine work of cutting costs- something that we have shown was taken up by Harry Truman during the spending in World War II with much grace and by walking in the shipyards and factories of the US without the constant chatter of social media posts. This is what made a mark for Truman in the US Congress leading to the vice presidency, and then in 1944 the presidency, and again in 1952 barnstorming the country by railcar to win over Wendell Wilkie in 1948.  President Jimmy Carter started Planning Programming Budgeting systems which is a truly effective way to budget by simply asking that all budget items be prepared from scratch from zero each year so that spending from past years does not simply getting carried over.  As Susie Wiles and other Republicans around DJT know it is important to keep the long term in mind and act responsibly, speak responsibly to the American people, in the manner Lincoln would have done today. ...

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Russian proposals for settlement in Ukraine including giving up the whole eastern Donbass region, recognizing Crimea as part of Russia, and limiting its army and long range weapons. These are the same conditions set in 2022. There is a new situation developing in Europe as Germany, France, Britain and most of Eastern Europe looks to be firm in support of Ukraine. Germany is stepping up its military preparedness under chancellor Merz of the CDU led coalition government. The US under DJT is working under two pathways seeking engagement with Russia and at the same time seeking a way to settle the Ukraine conflict. With German, British and EU support it appears unlikely that Ukraine would agree to all the Russian terms as Russia is using some gains on the war front to gain a clear win in 2025. By 2026 with European support Ukraine may look for a settlement that offers better terms than currently offered by Russia. For the US DJT faces pressures from within the Republican party that would oppose giving Russia a win after its role as the aggressor in the Ukraine conflict, and after the bombing destruction of Ukraine's cities.   ...

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Elelven of twelve Fed Governors support the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to keep rates low till unemployment falls below 6.5%, as long as inflation remains subdued at 2-2.5% and inflation expectations are low. Only the Fed governor of Richmond expressed a dissenting vote. The Fed in its policy statement said it was addressing the problems of the last three years in housing and joblessness. Charles Evans of the Chicago Fed put it this way in a Sept 2011 speech- suppose the inflation rate was 5% when the target was 2%, then central banksers at the Fed would have acted as if their hair was on fire to tackle inflation, then why shouldn't the Fed do the same for unemployment. He succeeded in convincing Bernanke, Yellen and other Fed governors. Bernanke emphasized the enormous cost in human potential and productive capacity of the U.S. economy from high unemployment and people dropping out of the labor force.

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Glenn Hubbard describes how the difference in approach between Romney and Obama matters, as it did between Carter and Reagan. The basic difference being the importance of getting long term policy on the right track. See the Reagan memo in Groups for the importance of setting the right tone and emphasis on a consistent long term direction, which was advice given in the memo by Shultz and other advisors to Ronald Reagan. The belief in growth from private sector investment and job creation and putting the right policies in place is a distinct difference between the Romney and Obama plans.

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This story in the WSJ is about pregnant Emergency Room doctors still working. These three doctors are in the University of Maryland Medical System. They have leave but are working because if all three were to take leave it would pose significant strain on their group and their colleagues.

They have to reuse their respirator masks for a week till they are soiled and visibly damaged says this report in WSJ, which should be unacceptable in America. The risks they take are also unacceptable in the face of so much happening at hospitals. How long will this go on in hospitals across America with shortages of basic protection equipment for healthcare workers putting their lives at risk is what everyone is asking.

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A coordinated release of petroleum reserves from the International Energy Agency and 30 participating countries is planned in the event something like the attack on Saudi oil facilities happens. About 5% of the worlds oil supplies were put out in the attack. If 7% are lost then the IEA would step in to call for release of petroleum reserves of individual countries. As of July 2019 1.5 billion barrels of oil are in storage in emergency reserves. U.S. SPR reserves are estimated at 644 million barrels and the figures are 100 million barrels for each of Germany, Japan and France, and China at 344 million barrels. These man made caverns are as long as 2000 feet.

The last time this release happened was in 2011 after the Libyan war disruptions. 

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The sentiment index for businesses and households from the European Commission stands at 90 in March 2013, well below its long term average of around 100.

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Power Point presentations are banned at Amazon. Founder and CEO Bezos thinks this encourages lazy thinking and prefers narratives about 6 pages long, which he sees as making people think clearly and focus. Titles are not important and people are encouraged to work outside their strict job description to do work that will help Amazon. What excites the buyer is kept uppermost in the minds of employees. New ideas are tested by writing mock releases of the new product or product improvement. Smaller teams, called "two-pizza teams" are preferred for getting things done. Wage structure is skewed towards stock options and modest salaries to provide incentives for improving company performance. Bezos is seen as being a patient long term investor. His management style makes this possible by keeping the buyer in mind and making the retail experience exciting and friendly, new products innovative and exciting, and the process of execution of ideas efficient. The management style and the long term investments help to retain the confidence of investors in the company's future prospects....

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In 2010 Chicago Federal Reserve president Charles Evans sugggested the Fed adopt a "7-3 rule"- the Fed would keep interest rates low and credit flowing till unemployment dropped below 7%, and inflation was below 2.5% and not taking off. He modified this to keeping rates low till unemployment reaches 6.5%, as long as inflation remained below 2.5%, on Nov. 27, 2012. In Fed meetings Evans was supported by vice chairman Janet Yellen, with Minneapolis Fed president Kocherlakota and Boston Fed president Rosengren offering similiar proposals. On Dec. 12, 2012, Fed chairman Bernanke announced a position very close to what Evans has suggested. Charles Evans, worked on the staff of the Chicago Fed for 20 years before being appointed president of the Chicago Fed in 2007, at the beginning of the financial crisis.

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Starmer said- "You have every right to be angry about the state of our NHS. We need courage to achieve long-term reform — major surgery not sticking plaster solutions. My government will work with NHS staff, experts and patients to deliver the biggest reimagining of the NHS since its birth."

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10% estimated increase in US tomato prices- from Mexico imports  hit by tariffs 2025. Tomatoes could be grown in the local regions as an alternative to importing over long distances encouraging the use of local produce for vegetables and fruits. Transport alone could make up for the 10% and for the labor costs.

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Avraham Burg, a former speaker of the Knesset, and son of a founder of the state of Israel, asks all Israelis and Jews all over the world to ask what it means to be "a Jewish and democratic state." Burg says think back to the days of the founding of Israel, of builders who wished to make a world free of prejudice, racism and discrimination, that this will be good for Israel in the long run, that a true basis of the relationship with the U.S. and Europe is founded on shared ideas and core values.

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Indications that the German mortgage securities mess may take longer to fix as long as 3-5 years and will affect the German economy to some undetermined extent.