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A 900 mile long frontline from Kherson on the Black Sea north to Luhansk stretches Ukraine's forces along a long line in June 2023. A Ukraine effort to retake areas lost to Russia in eastern Ukraine and near Crimea as part of the counter offensive is only making slow progress because of land mines and lack of airpower. The successful Ukraine effort in 2022 to retake Kherson happened in an area which had two rivers and where Russia faced logistical issues of supplying its troops. In 2023 both sides have prepared for some time and it is very difficult for both.

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Ten California resident talk about the cost of living including the high cost of housing that is affecting the quality of life, and for some lower income households making it a struggle from one day to the next. 

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Studies in college in diverse disciplines gives a broader outlook and is useful for resilient careers. 1.4 million students were studied for 2009-2019 in the US showing that a wider funnel means broader opportunities. A diverse set of skills helps find more stable jobs. The most resilient were people who studied different disciplines say economics and biology. This kind of diverse knowledge also brings better capabilities to solve problems and find solutions in a creative way. This means companies with people having diverse skills will also do better in the long run.

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About half of private equity investors have money tied up in zombie funds in 2024 according to JP Morgan Chase. US state and local governments manage about $5 trillion in pension money. Large public pension funds have 14% of their money in private equity. And large corporate pension funds have 13% in private equity. California's worker pension fund will have put more money into its private equity part of its investments than it gets out 8 years in a row. CALPERS and California Teachers Pension funds are funds which have take out loans of 5% to 10% of fund holdings to deal with problems of private equity investment. Pension funds are selling private equity funds takin a hit. At a time when retirees such as teachers and public sector employees are facing cost of living and high healthcare costs they can ill afford such losses showing how widespread capital misallocation is today. 

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On Gandhi Jayanti a look at American president FDR's contribution for Hind Swaraj. It could be said that Cordell Hull's speech (full text here) on July 23, 1942 on Roosevelt's clear direction was a form of declaration of independence for India by the US in 1943. This is also why there was nothing different Clement Attlee could do after winning the British election in 1945 except send Mountbatten to India to prepare for a Free India. 

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GM share price plunged to a 55 year low of $11.43. It dropped 11% in one day June 26, 2008. This is te lowest price since the days of Eisenhower as President. GM according to anlaysts will end the year with $20 billion in cash, and will go through at least $10 billion this year. And the market is changing dramitcally towards smaller fuel efficient cars with GM not taking the initiative to move towards these types of cars which makes going forward into 2008 just as risky with the economic downturn making things worse in 2009.

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Peugeot plans to raise 1 billion euros ($1.34 billion) in a share rights issue. GM plans to take a 7% stake in Peugeot, with an investment of $335 million.

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Jaiswal after his superb knock of 214 unbeaten in 236 balls, with 14 fours and 12 sixes makes him the third youngest player to do this after Vinod Kambli and Donald Bradman. Bradman takes us to the pre war period before 1945. Jaiswal says his hunger for scoring runs comes from catching buses, rickshaws and trains, working so hard for everything as he was growing up. Even getting to the bus you had to work really hard to get to the bus or the train.

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This WSJ editorial says president Obama's second inaugural address missed the opportunity to bind old wounds with a reference to King on Martin Luther King day. The president chose to set forth a broader liberal agenda including climate change. The editorial points to the tone of the inaugural as setting the tone for the rest of the term and the possibility of return to the rancor that characterized the first term. "We the People" from the Consititution was mentioned several times in the sense of "collective action" that defined this text as government action. The programs of Medicare Medicaid and Social Security as "committments we make to each other." And the programs "do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great," which are seen by the Journal as not appropriate for an Inaugural address that rises above the fray of politics.

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It is not such a far fetched idea after all- this town in Finland pays for people in their sixties to get fitness lessons because this will save on social care costs in the future. More cities can do this or provide more fitness facilities and park areas which help create better environments for living as well as reduce the cost of social care and medicine. Stockholm is doing this.

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The need for adequate disagreement for the right decision to emerge. That was one of the tenets of Alfred Sloan. Not letting dissent appear or having precooked decision is arecipe for disaster as GM discovered recently.But it was the Sloan Gm that set the rule on this and it is the ultimate irony that it disappeared at GM years and decades later.

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In Manguinhos one of the poorest neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, people are adding hope and a new future for the community by cultivating a garden the size of 3 football fields to produce fruits and vegetables. The gardens offer food and employment to a variety of deprived neighborhoods. This brings together 50 community gardens in a city initiative.

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After 14 years carrying 1 billion passengers the Dreamliner 787 crash in Ahmedabad 2025 is the first major incident. The flaps not unfolding is a suspected cause of the incident, in addition to the engines losing thrust, with the possibility of birds in the vicinity crashing into the plane. Ahmedabad area is known for the huge number of birds.

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Questions raised about the government's committment to serious health care reform. New leaders of China who took power in 2002 and 2003 with concern for the poor, did not put discuss reform till 2006 and during this crisis there isn't the urgency that is needed. Recent documents, says the Economist, that were circulated secretly within the bureaucracy for 3 weeks before being made public, provide no clear target about how much people would be reimbursed for medical treatment. The other concern is that the central government provides only 40% of the 850 billion yuan allocated for additional spending on health care in the years 2009-2011. This is about $125 billion. Burt local governments may not be keen on spending on health care as officials are still judged by how much they can boost employment and GDP growth. Over three years the central government's annual share of the additional spending on health care of 850 billion yuan is 111 billion yuan, according to Caijing, a business magazine.But the 2009 budget on health care is 118 billion yuan, so its not clear that things add up. The central government's additional spending in each of the 3 years is only $16 billion. How this can provide help to the 200 million uninsured, the insured who still pay a large amount for health care, and pay for essential pharmaceuticals on a list prepared by the government, and pay a portion of the expensive diagnostic tests that hospitals like to make money from, is not clear. The whole system will have to be overhauled so that hospitals do not have the incentive to prescribe these expensive tests and pills that cost more. The government says it will be 2020 when 90% of Chinese are covered by agovernment financed health insurance system- 11 years away. This only means that domestic consumption may remain depressed for a decade or so. With export markets collapsing, this leaves China dependent on infrastructure spending for growth for a long time, and lower growth rates with higher unemployment. ...

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Stalled peace process for Ukraine after Alaska meetings September 2025. Europe is looking ahead to no quick end in the war in 2025. Russia seeks better relations with US but wants to end the war in Ukraine on its own terms. Congress supports Ukraine, as DJT looks for ways to improve relations with Russia as a nuclear superpower, and find ways to bring both sides closer to end the war without success. Following the Alaska meetings a few signs of progress but not enough to reach a settlement of the war as Russia seeks to keep territory in the east and Ukraine looks for security guarantees that Russia has not yet agreed to. Germany under Merz ramps up its defense forces as the US seeks to avoid involvement in a conflict in northern Europe.