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US - EU Trade Agreement with 15% tariff on EU imports to the US and $750 billion in US exports over 3 years of LNG, oil and gas, semiconductors etc. Including military purchases. EU would invest $650 billion in the US.  Aircraft and their components, particular chemicals, semiconductor equipment, some agricultural products looked set to be exempted from the new tariffs placed by the US on EU imports into US. To even the playing field where German and Japanese cars had a free ride into the American market since 1980, 15% tariffs lower than the 24-25% proposed tariff will be place on German cars. Business in the US sees this as a least bad outcome says WSJ. Yet this ignores that the US gave special privileges to Japanese and American car makers to export into the US since 1980 with no corresponding benefit to the US in other industries or to the US auto industry. This gives the US industries and the US science and technologies opportunities to get back into the game of exporting, opportunities that the US gave to Europe and Japan since 1960. It also strengthens the US economy by helping restore the US as the industrial power it was from 1920-1980.  ...

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As the Nation faces discord over the right Path Forward it is important to remember- the pandemic's costs for a once in a century event are still being added up. Not just 1 million dead. 1 million with struggles over Long Covid. The toll on the elderly affecting tens of millions of caregivers. 10 million affected by decision not to vaccinate- with adverse symptoms and at work, 20-50 million affected by the financial losses stemming from the pandemic hit to jobs and work in 2019-2020. As the Nation discusses its future there is a sense that many have been left behind even with the best intentions of government. With huge wins in infrastructure now and ahead of us,  the wins are not enough in cutting pharmaceutical and other day to day living costs. Harris has a plan and Trump has no plan for Cost of Living Action. Yet a lot more could have been done for cost of living action given a president with a single focus determination to fix problems, make the large investments needed and full support of both houses of Congress. It is this lack of full Congressional support of a determined president for taking action that has led to insufficient effort to fix cost of living, wages and public services- something that needs to change to bring help to the middle class and lower income working people of America. ...

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Referring to a mountain Orange Hill he once climbed and took his 2 children Kamala Harris's father, Donald Harris, a professor at Stanford from Jamaica, says Kamala bounded forward and ran through shrubs and over branches "like a gazelle in the Serengetti, with utter joy and unleashed curiosity" to explore that terrain. There are aspects of the Democratic nominee that remain from her father's encouragement of Kamala as a young girl. She reminded listeners at the Convention in Chicago how she remembered and did so to her father's words to go outside and explore- "Run, Kamala, Run."

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Jack Ma of Alibaba is a very different person in 2023. This WSJ report looks at his activities in 2022 which included a stay in Hakone, Japan, visits within Japan, visit to Netherlands, Fiji. His current interest is in food production and meeting the agricultural needs in China over the next 20 years. Most of the time he is anonymous and people in the vicinity have no idea that this is Jack Ma.

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Many German hospitals depend on supply of doctors from other parts of Eastern Europe such as Poland and Hungary to address a shortage of medical staff. German hospitals have increased supply of equipment but are still facing serious shortages of medical staff as the second wave of the pandemic hits Germany. By December 8 there were daily over 590 deaths, and ICU capacity was being strained beyond a critical point.

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NHK Proportional representation exit polls for Japan's  2025 elections for parliament show twice the number of people in 20's 30's and 40's voted for Sanseito over voted for the LDP. The LDP is the party that has run Japan's government for mostly all of the past 75 post war years. It is losing its touch with the common man as issues of cost of living, migration, and income mobility affect the Japanese people as they have done in Europe and the US. The two opposition parties are the Sanseito and the Democratic Party of the People formed in the last ten years to fight the entrenched LDP governments, and the Constitutional Party of Japan that has acted till now as the main Opposition Party. Not just LDP, the Constitutional Party of Japan also draws most of its support from the 50's, 60's and 70's people age groups and are being trounced by Sanseito and Democratic Party of the People with younger age groups. This is a significant observation on the direction Japan is taking with resistance to too much tourism, too much migration, and not enough attention to Japan's national interests. The LDP under Ishiba is now navigating a new environment as it looks to running the government taking credit for the US Japan Trade Agreement and working with the new parties. ...

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Jake Sullivan cites JFK and what this means for the vision that "the Biden Administration must and will fight to achieve." Here at the Brookings Institution Jake Sullivan articulates Biden's vision for America and the Way Forward. "Let me close with this. President Kennedy was fond of saying that a rising tide lifts all boats. Over the years, advocates of trickle-down economics appropriated this phrase for their own uses. But President Kennedy wasn't saying what's good for the wealthy is good for the working class. He was saying, we're all in this together. And look at what he said next. If one section of the country is standing still, then sooner or later, a dropping tide drops all boats. That's true for our country. That's true for our world. Economically, over time, we are going to rise or fall together. And that goes for the strength of our democracies, as well as for the strength of our economies. As we pursue this strategy at home and abroad, there will be reasonable debate. And this is going to take time. The international order that emerged after the end of the Second World War and then the Cold War were not built overnight. Neither will this one. But together, we can work to lift up all of America's people, communities, and industries. And we can do the same with our friends and partners everywhere around the globe as well. This is a vision the Biden administration must and will fight to achieve." "This is what is guiding us as we make our policy decisions at the intersection of economics, national security, and democracy. And this is the work that we will do, not just as a government, but with every element of the United States and with the support and help of partners, both in government and out of government around the world." ...

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How Elizabeth Warren, a Professor at Harvard Law School, influenced economic advisor Summers and President Obama in their decision to form a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. She met with Summers recently and they have known each other for a long time at Harvard University. Warren has spoken up for consumers, and written several books and articles on the subject of protecting consumers, credit and economic stress. She was the chief advisor to the National Bankruptcy Review Commission and chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel which acted as a watchdog over the TARP program. Ms. Warren says she first got the idea of a financial products agency while researching a 2003 book about middle class families who did well on one income, but now were having a difficult time coping with two incomes. She made the point that it wasn't overspending by many families that was to blame but poorly designed financial products. In 2007 she wrote an article in the journal Democracy about this idea of an agency to protect consumers of financial products. She says overhauling the regulation of financial products is necessary not only to help consumers make good decisions, but also help "make the market work." And she adds that the market "has been badly regulated" through a system of seven federal agencies, each of which has jurisdiction over some aspect of consumer financial products. See the other link in the WSJ of June 20, 2009, by Jason Zweig, which talks about the influence of a friend of Obama at University of Chicago Law School, Prof Sunstein, on the formation of a Consumer Protection Agency. Sunstein, and Thaler, a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, wrote a book "Nudge" which shows the impact of psychology and the behavioural element in decisions made by consumers. Sunstein and Thaler express the idea that there are advantages in having standard products that cannot lie to consumers, and are based on the "fair-dealing, openness and transparency" the President emphasized. They act as an anchor for all other products, which are compared to these products. ...

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Happiness in Finland may be more about expectations for contentment being more reasonable, says this report on Finland. Colston and Michaels talk to Finns in different parts of the country to get a sense of how Finns look at life and why the country is rated so highly on a happiness index put out by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. For one thing Finland has a small homogenous population of 5 million people spread out over a vast densely forested region with a strong sense of identity and mutual help. It is also a technologically advanced country. This has enable Finland to maintain a state that provides an extraordinary amount of public services in education, health care, culture, that promote a sense of well being. Its participation in winter and other sports and sports facilities open to all also factor into this. This is true also of Denmark with 5 million people another country in the same region. Consider that the greater Mumbai region alone has over 20 million people, Shanghai 29 million and Tokyo 37 million. Just the pressure on space in homes is different. The long dark winters have an impact for Finns yet the people have adapted with a persevering quality that helps them deal with it. And having a peculiar Nordic version of mindfulness, a Buddhist quality, that brings contentment by understanding the nature of happiness which is mixed with tinge of sadness. Qualities that are shared throughout the Nordic region including Sweden.   ...

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This report in BBC on climate change issues in Australia with bushfires and floods and the hottest decade in history, was written four days before the election. It says even with the extreme weather disasters phasing out fossil fuels was a politically toxic issue in Australia and no party wanted to talk about it except the Greens. The election has changed this decisively with the Greens and other smaller parties getting one third of the vote. No party has proposed cutting carbon emissions by over 50%- Labour at 43% and Morrison coalition at 26%. Labour won by taking up climate change as an issue.

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The internet is flooded with coconut emojis this day July 22, 2024, as Kamala Harris gets the support of hundreds of thousands of donors and raises $81 million over 24 hours, and gets the support of most of the members of Congress, Senators and Governors in her party. The coconut emojis relate to a story about what her mother used to tell her when she was young and what Kamala laughed about in a speech-  : “You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.”

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The Laken Riley Act has as its sponsor Katie Britt of Alabama, and cosponsors Democrats Ruben Gallego of Arizona and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. It is expected to get over 60 votes 61-35 to overcome Senate rules and be on the presidents desk. No amendments were made.  It will require the Department of Homeland Security to arrest undocumented immigrants for theft related offenses and increase the power of states to challenge immigration decisions.

Kristi Noem at Homeland Security and Tom Homan Border Chief will lead the push on the Border with DJT declaring a national emergency that will generate funds from the Defense Department.

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Italy starts its first gradual reopening on May 4. Parks will reopen, and people will be allowed to visit relatives with masks. Schools will remain closed till September. Prime minister Conte said in outlining the plan "if you love Italy, keep your distance." Italy has over 26,000 deaths from coronavirus. Mr. Conte said social distancing measures will be needed for months to come. 

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After forming 2 governments, a majority government in 2015 and a minority government in 2019, Trudeau faces problems with his decision calling a snap election in 2021. This was based on the idea that voters were happy with the vaccination drive. Yet Trudeau's Liberals lead in the polls over the Conservative party has vanished. Voters are asking whether a new election was needed at this time.

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The losses for soccer clubs in Europe could reach 4 billion euros from the coronavirus for the soccer seasons ending in 2021. The big ten leagues including Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Englan d,  would lose 3.6 billion euros, with lost ticket sales of 1.5 billion over 2 seasons. The stadium in Leipzig could host 21,000 people in one of the first soccer games in front of fans.

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Nikki Haley managed to get 20 to 30% of the vote in the 14 states that she lost in 2024 Super Tuesday contest- mostly moderate, higher income and better educated voters. This report says over half of voters for Nikki Haley will support candidate Trump in 2024. Of the remaining voters some may still support the Republican candidate others may support Biden or not vote. 

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The idea here of promoting biodioversity by turning backyard lawns into places of biodiversity. Bringing back natural backyards where biodiversity takes root. A movement to encourage private owners of backyard plots and lawns to corporate campuses to create homegrown national parks. It envisions turning over 40 million acres of lawns in the US to imperiled native plants and trees. The idea is that of a land ethic- we abuse land because we think of it as something we own, not something we share with the rest of humanity just for a while. This way we treat it with the love and respect the land deserves. One way to do this is to design native landscapes as formal gardens so that they do not look so biodiversity plots not look messy. Intentionaly designed elements delineate larger messy wilderness in such biodiversity inclined garden spaces. Do this one small patch of land at a time.

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Daily coronavirus cases dropped to the lowest level since March 30, 2021. Cases on June 19 were at 58,000 and deaths at 1154 for India's population of 1.2 billion people. The only state with cases over 10,000 was Kerala, and close to 9000 was Tamilnadu. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were at over 5000. All these states are in southern India. Only Maharashtra with about 9000 cases was in northern India. The positivity rate in Maharashtra state was 3% and in Mumbai 2%.  The Indian government has a clear vaccine policy and it is for vaccine supplies and vaccination drive to be under the federal government. This puts responsibility in one place and makes it possible to achieve the target of vaccinating 1.2 billion people by December 31, 2021, with the federal government putting all the resources it can muster into the effort. The economy is also linked to how the vaccination supply effort and vaccination drive progresses in the next 6 months, so that the goal of vaccination is closely linked to economic recovery and progress for India as a whole. A good monsoon rainy season would also help the rural economy recovery. ...

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DJT 50% tariff on Brazil called Moraes tariff after Brazil Supreme Court  judge Moraes who put restrictions on social media to clear hate speech on the internet. DJT says the tariff is intended to stop the trial of former president Bolsanaro who lost the election to Lula da Silva a trade unionist, in an extremely close runoff election 50.9% to 49.1% margin of 1.8 percentage points. DJT's margin over Kamala Harris in 2024 was 49.9% to 48.4%-margin of 1.5 percentage points. DJT compares Democratic prosecutors who prosecuted him in the US after his election loss to prosecutors in Brazil who are prosecuting Bolsonaro.

Brazil imports about $50 billion from the states and exports $42 billion with a trade deficit of about $8 billion with the US.

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A tenuous peace on the LAC  Line of Control border, with India and China having no agreement on what the border is from British times to this day. International developments today determine the tensions at the border. China still a middle income country with trade and technology tensions in its relationship with the free world, and India seeking to build its manufacturing economy over the next two decades, both countries focused on development.

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"Trees not Warehouses" read signs protesting the building of more warehouse space in the US as residents protest the bringing of more noise, pollution and heavy duty trucks to their neighborhoods.Companies added over 1.5 billion square feet of new industrial space across the US from 2017, says this report in WSJ. A similar wave of building industrial space is taking place in Europe for warehouses. Communities from Pittsburgh to Madison, Wisconsin and neighborhoods in expanding logistics regions in Southern California and eastern Pennsylvania. Many say their communities are under siege. To get goods to people faster companies are still planning but have not made the shift to bringing construction back home or closer to home so that this kind of huge warehousing space is no longer needed. Much of this warehousing space may no longer be needed as more sustainable, more reliable,  shorter supply chains take the place of current ones that have concentrated all manufacturing in one country, China, at the hidden costs to local communities and companies. Through many hidden costs that have not been fully quantified in terms of quality of living in communities, loss of jobs and infrastructure through loss of tax revenues, carbon footprint of products shipped over thousands of miles, hidden logistics costs, rampant inflation in logistics costs, and significant loss of manufacturing knowhow that cannot be easily replaced. This is a result of decades of building such supply chains that no longer fit the needs of today. ...

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A lot that is wrong at Apple and Tim Cook's responsibility for putting profits over national interest in not preserving but destroying American manufacturing. All the talk about design is a smokescreen for dismally letting down American communities that relied on American industrial ingenuity. Tim Cook started the process of sending America's industrial manufacturing base to China in 1998 with an elaborate plan that has been put into effect over 2 decades. Some of this I saw with my own eyes in the period just before Jobs returned in 1997, on a trip as Japanese manufacturing methods consultant at Apple's Colorado Springs Plant. Apple's failure since 2016 to correct this overconcentration of manufacturing in one place is one of the major failures for America in the first decades of the 21st century. Apple's success in profit margins was bought at a price that is too high for the communities and towns that depended on manufacturing across America during the 20th century- it has a spiralling effect as other companies followed Apple leading to the shipping out of America's entire industrial base. Creating risks of international conflict as this entire process was allowed to happen by administrations of Bush and Obama that have failed America in unimaginable ways with foreign wars, and neglect of American workers. DJT, Biden who retained DJT policy, and DJT second term are only now correcting these serious mistakes and American business shortsightedness. ...

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Changes proposed by Labour's Gordon Brown and Keir Starmer of Labour for the UK now strive for-

"The goal of an irreversible transfer of wealth, income and opportunity to working families across the UK is dependent on the irreversible transfer of political power closer to the people, the two go together."

"This Commission is demanding a new economic and political settlement to ditch a century of centralization, the over concentration of power in Westminster, and call time on the era of "the man in Whitehall knows best."

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The NYT provides a good look at the situation in India in September where cases are over 4.5 million, the world's second largest after U.S. During the lockdown in April and May India had successfully stemmed the coronavirus. After reopening in June a lot has changed as can be seen in this look at the steep curve in June, July, August and September. Cases are now at the rate of 95,000 daily and deaths at 1172 daily as of September 9. The deaths are up 16% and cases up 29% over 2 weeks. Maps show the situation in the states with Maharashtra, Andhra, Tamilnadu, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh showing the highest cases. Maharashtra has about 1 million cases and the two states in the south east Andhra and Tamilnadu have about 1 million combined with Uttar Pradesh at about 250,000 cases. Delhi has about 200,000 cases. So that about half of the 4.5 million cases are in three states in the southeast and the western state where Mumbai (Bombay) is located. The increase was seen after increased testing from 200,000 a day to 1 million a day by the end of August, a steep jump being seen in late August and September. At the end of July the coronavirus recovery rate of 70% in India and 90% in Delhi were the favorable signs, until things changed in August with increased testing and the spread to rural areas. India is doing over 1 million tests daily. On September 3, 1.1 million people were tested, taking the total to 45 million tested throughout India.  As in Europe and America the reopening which is essential for the economy and jobs has resulted in a big jump in cases. The laws for lockdown were carefully obeyed without many of the problems seen in America and Europe, the early complete lockdown was implemented with success, and Indian pharmaceutical companies are some of the largest in the world giving the public wide access to essential medicines and drugs. The postal service has functioned remarkably well during the lockdown for delivery of essentials throughout the country, and earlier action to establish bank accounts for each and every individual in the country, has enabled rural Indians to get through this most difficult period. This has given the government some breathing room as it faces the cases from reopening in a vast country of 1380 million people.   ...

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For the first time the U.S. focuses on the huge trade deficit with China in a serious way. The trade negotiating team led by Robert Lighthizer has set forth its negotiating terms.  1. China must reduce its trade deficit with the U.S. by $100 billion in the first 12 months. In the next 12 months it must reduce its deficit by another $100 billion. In 2 years the trade deficit the U.S. has with China must come down by $200 billion. The issue is no longer just the tariffs on steel, it is about the core issue of balance in  trade. 2. The U.S. says subsidies to state industries in the "Made in China 2025" program must stop. Here the focus is on gaining an unfair technological advantage with a combination of U.S. technology imports and subsidies to state advanced manufacturing industries to erode over time the U.S. technological lead.  3.  China is expected to cut its tariffs by about two thirds on imported products so that the tariffs match that of the U.S. This is the first serious negotiation the U.S. has conducted with China on the core issue of the trade surplus which is growing with a stronger dollar not declining. The surplus approaches $1 billion each day for about $365 billion a year, unsustainable from any perspective. The vital issue of the erosion of the U.S. technological advantage under the Made in China 2025 has turned this issue into one in which the U.S. is unlikely to back down. Especially now that Mr. Lighthizer is leading the  negotiations and has the confidence of the president of the U.S. Lighthizer is a veteran of negotiations from an earlier period -under the Reagan administration in a similar situation with another national competitor- then it was the Japanese. A relentless negotiator as the U.S. seeks to reverse a trade imbalance of stupendous proportions neglected by previous administrations.           ...