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This article in The Guardian looks at the role of British authorites in the Empire in the 19th and 20th century that led to famines. Under Lord Lytton in the 1870's and in 1943-44 in Bengal there were famines that were worsened by British policy. Throughout the 19th and the first half of the 20th century India's energies were sapped and its poverty deepened by the British effort to extract wealth from India through commercial policy and taxation. During the Napoleonic Wars Britain used its Empire in India to finance the war in a way Napoleon lacked.  .As can be seen in the British Residency park in Lucknow  British authorites focused their efforts on the Treasury of the collapsing Empires in India whom they replaced. The people seeing tax territories shifted from one foreign authority to another stretching over four hundred years with little difference in development needs being met. After a period of self-rule which struggled with development after Independence in 1947, India's largest state Uttar Pradesh with a population of about 300 million, is finally bringing sanitation, water, roads, housing and medicine to all parts of the state. ...

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Coronavirus will add $2.5 billion to the cost of the Tokyo Olympics mostly for rebooking facilities, and paying additional wages for staff, as well as virus testing and cost for preventing spread of the virus. As is typical of these games going back to the disaster in spending at the Montreal Olympics that took the city years to recover, costs can double or more than double earlier estimates. Someone has to bear the extra costs and the national government will take on $1 billion of these extra costs.  The official budget estimate was $12.6 billion. An estimate from Japan Board of Audit in 2019 came up with figure of $20 billion. The pandemic would bring this closer to $22.5 billion or close to double. This cost to the Japanese taxpayer is leading one third of people to sour on the games saying they should be canceled in mid-Nov. TV Ashai poll, with one third saying delay it, only one third for it to go ahead. Except for $5.6 billion from a privately organized committee its all coming from the City of Tokyo with some help from the Japanese government. When it comes to financing it the IOC is not taking part. ...

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The astonishing fact about America in 2023 is that 90% of people in retirement are insecure in retirement with less than $100,000 in savings, and 50% have no savings at all.  A situation like this would be impossible when America led the world in manufacturing in the 1960's and savings of a majority of Americans in today's dollars were higher multiple times. A tiny one tenths of one percent have around $5 million and 4% have over $1 million savings in retirement. This report in WSJ by Dagher and Tergesen shows that only 3% of Americans have saved $1-5 million and one tenth of one percent have saved $5 million plus in retirement. People shown here are  software salesperson, pilot, surgeon, veterinary practice specialist. About 4% have savings of $500,000 to $1 million. 18% have savings of $100,000 to $500,000 of which the greater part of this number are closer to $100,000. This reveals the shocking fact that in today's America in 2023 only 10% are income secure, the rest 90% are income insecure, of which a shocking 50% have zero savings. ...

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Lost decade term has generally referred to a lost decade from austerity policies in UK or the EU, or after the 2009 financial crisis from bad banking practices. Here the term is being used in error as investments in China have not benefitted all classes equally in China leaving the hinterland and rural areas behind, and worse has decimated America's and Europe's industrial manufacturing base destroying in its course the financial livelihoods of communities everywhere in the western world. Biden in US and Xi in China are well aware of this and their policies are intended to change the direction of the US and China towards reducing disparities in income and ensuring fairness, new goals after the pandemic. The American people and the US economy has little to gain from increased investment in China when the homeland can easily absorb investment of trillions of dollars after decades of missteps, mistaken wars and adventures overseas, neglect of infrastructure needing to be rebuilt. The damage of the environment in China and in North America and the world alone shows that the hyper growth in China was a bad idea for the American and Chinese people and the people of Europe and of the world. ...

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Mexico's former president Enrique Pena Nieto, 54 years, is being investigated for corruption. The former head of the oil company Pemex  Emilio Lozoya, 45 years, was arrested in February in Spain and is said to be cooperating fully with the authorites. A wide ranging inquiry was ordered by president Lopez Obrador.  Mexico's Attorney General says that Mr. Lozoya testified that he was asked to give two bribes of over 3 million dollars each to Pena's election campaign and to bribe politicians to pass legislation to open up the state sector to private investment. The money was sourced from Odebrecht a Brazilian construction company that paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to build ports, bridges and stadiums all over Latin America. This shows how quickly the reputations of leaders in Latin America have changed from Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Peru. In every case it is corruption or mismanagement of the economy or both. The failure to consider the needs of people in Latin America, the hype and the pretense, show how much good sense, wisdom, hard work and honest leadership is needed.   ...

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Wind and solar finally overtake coal in power generation for the European Union. 30% of EU electricity is now generated by wind and solar. Power generation from coal and gas dropped by 17% in first 6 months of 2024, resulting in one third drop in sector emissions, according to climate think tank Ember. In 13 member states power generation from solar and wind was higher than coal and gas with Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Hungary achieving this for the first time. This makes US commitment to climate change all the more critical for 2024-2028. EU is a big contributor to emissions for climate change. It is also setting aggressive goals. This progress brings into view zero power from coal and gas.  Andrea Hahmann , scientist at Denmark technical University, author of one chapter in the IPCC report on energy systems says “The ‘crossing of the lines’ demonstrates that the EU’s electricity transition is possible, and we should not give in to pessimism. The renewable energy targets that must be met are substantial but achievable with the proper policy measures.” ...

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A Hyundai shipyard can build a military ship for $600 million that would cost the US about three times that number -$1.6 billion. South Korea can control costs with its marine shipyard capacity to build 40 ships a year in shorter time frame by 20 months. Note that the US had 17 shipyards in 1970, by 2020 it had dropped to 5 ships. Why is this a problem? China has this type of advantage in cost and expertise so that it would be even with the US current capacity by 2030.  Naval power made it possible for first Britain and then the US to provide the structure for the Modern World based on science and technology to grow and improve living standards. Unlike in the colonial era the US has helped raise living standards in China, India, South Korea, Indonesia, all parts of the world.  An administration that has focus and concentration in its leadership and is based on a concept of the Modern World based on science and technology is best suited for the task of renewing America for its role for the next generation of Americans. ...

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"In the spring of 1971, I met a girl," with that beginning Bill Clinton gave one of the most memorable speeches at a Democratic Convention in history, to introduce the very human, Hillary- sometimes frail, but always looking for new mountains to climb, new barriers to break, new injustices to be righted. Of the long courtship at Yale and the years at Arkansas, buying that house in Little Rock Hillary liked before proposing marraige,  the time when they cried while leaving their daughter Chelsea at college dorm in Stanford; and all the private moments of a political couple one gregarious and outward looking, the other serious and inward looking. An introduction to someone you have heard too much about but you never knew. Never saw too close because of her intense longing for privacy- possibly coming from her own mother- Methodist upbringing that you were never the one to focus on, and family experience. Bill had seen this Methodist up close, and shared his experience with his countrymen who had not known her so well as he had.  ...

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One way to tackle procrastination that works is to clear all distractions, focus on the positive effects of getting tasks perceived as difficult done first, and enabling this by breaking up a difficult perceived task into a couple of smaller tasks. 

Other things to do to get work done is to set specific times such as 9 to 11 am for perceived difficult work, simple rewards are set such as having a cup of coffee afterwards or taking a walk after two hours of work, time cleared by distractions pushed out of the way. People usually find out that it wasn't that bad anyway to tackle that perceived difficult work, and it helps to have tackled it and the couple of other tasks that are sitting on your desk remaining to be done. Pretty soon your list clears up, increasing satisfaction, rewarding yourself along the way,  and you have a new burst of motivation to tackle more.

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Ruffenach gives an excellent account of how many people describe their expectations and how it actually turned out in retirement, the good and the bad. He cites numerous examples to give as broad based a picture as possible. Health and active life, passions and interests, loss of self esteem in work for some and finding substitute interests, taking risks to try something new and the rewards. More people describe positive experiences in those surveyed. Health is the main concern for 41% in actual retirement, children and other things are all less than 10%. Travel should be planned early as it becomes harder as the years go by and one gets older. It is not as difficult as people think to make new friends in retirement, and this active social life with new friends can play a positive part in spending time. In addition there is the opportunity in retirement to take things slowly and leisurely, and spend time more on oneself and one's own interests.

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The firing of Tata CEO Cyrus Mistry by Ratan Tata, former chairman of the Tata Group, leads to a prolonged crisis at the companies of the Tata Group. A vote is needed at Tata Motors and Tata Steel for Mistry to be ousted from these companies following a vote to oust him at TCS. The parent company's board of directors have voted to oust Mistry. The expert view is that the crisis will not last much longer as all Tata companies need the Tata name and will eventually fall in line with the wishes of Ratan Tata. Ratan Tata followed J.R.D. Tata, and Jamsetji Tata, both legendary leaders of the company. Though Mr. Mistry's family owns 18% of the company, much of the reputation of the company lies in the Tata name and the work of JRD and Jamsetji, so that the 660,000 employees of India's largest company are likely to see this as a temporary setback in the long term.

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This article in Zeit Online tries to provide the facts behind Merkel's decision made in a period of 24-48 hours to let refugees marching towards Austria from Keleti station in Budapest, Hungary, September 5, 2015, to enter Germany. Other reports pointed out that too little time was given to make the decision and that it was purely done on humanitarian terms. And made during that short window of time, in which a decision had to be made to turn away the refugees going on foot for hundreds of miles or to turn them away. Given Germany's earlier history the choice was a difficult one but erred on the side of being humanitarian. Though Merkel's selfie with a refugee at a hostel on Sept 10, would seem to suggest otherwise, Merkel has said her decision was made with so little time and little opportunity to understand all the ramifications of this. It was not an open invitation to refugees to come to Germany. 

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Russian president Medvedev offers his view of the protests in Russia, that Russia is entering a new stage in the development of its political system. Medvedev told his United Russia party: "We are entering a new stage in the development of our political system and we should not close our eyes to that. It has already begun... It began because the old model- which faithfully and truly served our state in recent years, and did'nt serve it badly, and which we all defended- it has exhausted itself." He wanted to see United Russia take a leading role in reform. He warned that "it is categorically inadmissible that the political system be delegitimized." And warned Russians that the consequences of this were disastrous after the last time this happened in 1917. He was also critical of the U.S. government for its criticism of the elections.

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Executives are outspoken in their frustration with having to develop plans to operate in the event Britain leaves the European Union on March 29 without a deal. Ties in logistics bind Britain with the single customs market of the EU. 

The British plans of a German toolmaker Heller are shown here to continue operating. Questions are raised whether Heller will close it Brexit goes the wrong way. Across Britain plants have closely timed cross border supply chain. Airbus Chief Enders calls the Brexit failures a "disgrace."

All the uncertainty means new investments will be postponed, and the cost of contingency planning will increase. Some say they have difficulty believing this crash culture and say its not British way of doing things.

 

 

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Senator Kent Conrad, chairmanof the Budget Committee says "the next President will inherit a fiscal and economic mess of historic proportions. It will take years to dig our way out." This as the cost of war in Afghanistan is enlarging, the stimulus package is to be added to the $700 billion bailout plan and the help to homeowners facing foreclosure will come as the next President takes office in January. All of which in the consensus now in Congress and among the Presidential candidates will not come by raising taxes except in Obama's case on the highly paid over $200,000 a year and that too to pay for spending programs that will be additional for health care and infrastructure and education. So most if not all will come as deficit spending by other countries buying American Treasury's at 4% which for a $1 trillion borrowing costs $40 billion a year because of America's role as a safe haven.

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Michael Spence, Professor emeritus at Stanford, and Nobel prize winner in economics in 2001, says the recession is global with growth globally approaching zero, and the economy in high speed descent. So he doesn't see recovery even if all the actions are appropriate and clear till 2011. And if not it will be much worse.

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The different strategies of Apple and Samsung in getting to the point where the two companies now dominate the smartphone market. Whereas Apple makes only one phone, its iPhone, Samsung's strategy is to have multiple phones in each price segment. It has five levels of Android based phones, with 2-3 models in each price segment. Samsung also benefits from doing its own maufacturing. When faced with a number of technologies Samsung's strategy is to bet on all of the technologies until one of them emerges as a winner, and then concentrate resources on that technology. It uses a similiar strategy for televisions. Apple by contrast places more emphasis on original design and profit margins over sales, gaining sales without eroding margins by being the first innovator in the market. It also has its own unique arrangement for manufacturing at lowcost with Foxconn in China that supports its high margins. Apple is secretive about its designs and promotes its brand heavily with its own retail stores. Apple also uses its innovative edge as leverage to steer profits away from carriers. Analyst estimates are that carriers such as AT&T and Verizon pay about $400 per iPhone to subsidize its cost because this is the only way to get customers into their retail stores. IDC estimates are that the smartphone market is $219 billon in 2012. Both companies are very close in volume- IDC estimates Apple shipped 93.2 million smartphones in 2011, compared to Samsung's 94 million units. Apple has market share of 23.5% in the fourth quarter 2012, up from 16% in 2010. Samsung has 22.8%, up from 9.4% in 2010. Apple and Samsung have together taken 91% of operating profits of all cellphone companies in the fourth quarter, an increase of 30% from 2011, according to Strategy Analytics....

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How bankruptcy courts can offer a solution to the foreclosure crisis or at least mitigate its effects on the economy and on people. Senator Durbin of Illinois is expected to introduce legislation to put this into effect. It was adopted as a Chapter 12 provision to save farmowners in distress in Iowa in the 1980's, and helped keep many farming families on the farm in that situation. Not all families would be helped as some will not be able to make even the reduced payments given by a bankruptcy judge. But it gives bankruptcy courts the authority to cut through all the red tape and reluctance of bankers and mortgage securities owners to take the initiative and reduce payments, and in the end may actually generate more money for lenders than foreclosure, which has high costs on several dimensions. One cost and one dimension that is not considered is the cost to the economy and to all businesses, from retail to other products, as foreclosures lead to declines in housing prices. This leads in a downward spiral to more homeowners going under water with their homes being worth less than the mortgage, and this in turn leading to foreclosures that lead to further house price declines. The decline in housing prices adds to the incentive to save and reduce spending, which leads to inventory buildup and layoffs. This is why the situation cannot be seen in isolation, and becomes an area where interests of individual parties like lenders and securities holders tend not to be maximized when they follow their personal interest. And there is no party that can take the collective interest in this case except the federal government. ...

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About 14 million people are in poverty or slipping below the poverty line according to Paritatische Wohlfahrtsverband, umbrella organization for welfare organizations. German per capita wealth is about 52,000 euros but there is growing inequality in wealth and incomes.  A household with 2 parents and 2 children is at the poverty line at 2410 euros a month or about 29000 euros a year. Social safety net under Hartz IV does little to help because it is set at 449 euros a month with 285 to 376 euros for each child. This is expected to go up to 503 euros a month per person in 2023. Even though experts say at least 650 euros are needed per month to live  with dignity. Under this system only 5 euros per day is set by Hartz IV for food, says DW.com, which is shocking. It means food of lesser quality or less food goes to the less well off. About 2 million people use food banks. Prices are up 12% in 2022 for basics such as bread, vegetables, milk and cheese. One study shows old age poverty is likely to affect 20% of Germans by 2036. The situation is bad for elderly, students and women. Women have worked part time reducing their income.  A student with federal funding gets 934 euros a month which is well below the poverty line. A new program for 200 billion euros is planned by German government to protect against inflation for households. Minimum wage is 12 euros per hour so that someone who works 40 hours a week makes 1480 per month in net income. After inflation this is close to the poverty line. Such is the situation for Germans today even after decades of growth and being seen as an export powerhouse. Compare this to the situation in India where the food program of the Modi administration continues to support food supplies that are adequate for feeding a family right through the pandemic for 800 million people and one sees that the idea of what is a rich or poor country is turned on its head. It is simply the will of the culture of a people and a country and its leadership that makes its limited or larger national wealth available to all its citizens, for the basics to fulfill the idea that "all men are created equal and they are endowed by their Creator with some inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," enshrined in the minds of Asia borrowed from America. ...

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This editorial in the WSJ responds to Donald Trump's comments about the system being "corrupt" and "crooked" and saying there could be violence at the convention. It says the rules are transparent and long standing in Wyoming, Colorado and other states where Trump has not campaigned or sought support. It calls on the Republican National Committee not to be intimidated by Trump's statements, especially as it says the the Republican party should not nominate a candidate who has the highest negative perceptions rating of a shocking 65% with national voters in a general election. Trump never complained when he won 99 delegates in Florida with 45% of the vote and 50 delegates in South Carolina with 32% of the votes cast- securing the most delegates because of a winner take all or winner take most system. It says Trump has so far won only 37% of all votes cast and won about 45% of the delegates, a process that can be seen as disproportionately favoring Trump because of the rules. This is particularly true because Trump's core support has remained at about 35%, and the fragmentation of the remaining vote has hurt the other candidates. About 83% of eligible voters have not voted in the primaries, making the process less representative than it should be. ...

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The Air Force Secretary during the Biden administration Frank Kendall thinks using a donated Qatari jet as Ai Force One is a bad idea.

“It is basically going to take that airplane as is with the modest modifications achievable in a few months. He is getting something far less than Air Force One and the country is only going to get it for two years’ time. He can do it, but it is a bad idea for a lot of reasons.”

Others think it can never be made fully secure.

Boeing has taken too long to build a new Air Force One to replace current one built in 1990. The new contract given to Boeing during the last Trump administration is years behind schedule leaving the president frustrated.

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Chuck Hagel on the need to bring in more countries to handle difficult situations such as the one the US faces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He says thats why the world now has a G20 and not a G8. No country can face these situations alone especially when there is a mutual interest of many countries in these situations. He calls it a 20th century reaction to 21st century realities. He says the 2 wars cost more than a trillion dollars. One sees a new respect for international institutions such as the UN, World Bank, IMF, and GATT renamed WTO, even with Republicans. Chuck Hagel's point makes a lot of sense and is generally accepted in people's understanding of the situation from the Defence Department to the Administration, and among respected politicians. It is putting it onto practice that is the hard part. As Hagel puts it, it is important to remember what Lyndon Johnson told Senatior Russell, that he knew the Vietnam war could not be won, and yet he did not want to pull out and be the first American President to lose a war. This is a contradiction because if it can't be won its going to be lost under the next President or the one after that, in this case Gerald Ford. Hagel says it not ours to win and lose. Here he points to the interconnectedness and shared interests of all nations. Every great threat to the U.S., whether it is economic, terrorism, nuclear weapons proliferation, health pandemics, environmental degradation, energy or water and food shortages, is also a threat to global partners ansd rivals. So its wrong to view engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan through the lens that says its about winning or losing. And he asks win what? Too many cultural, ethnic and religious dynamics are involved for any one nation to control. Hagel concludes by saying that the US, the Defense Department, the Obama administration, must get this right, as it affects the global architecture for the next generation. Fresh thinking is needed. Single issue engagement is obsolete in the 21st century in dealing with global partners or rivals, or countries with aspects of both....

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Says El-Erian, CEO of PIMCO, the future, which he and his colleagues at PIMCO like to call the "new normal," will be quite unfamiliar. Most people had become conditioned by the experience of what is normal under a finance driven economy, deregulation and globalization. Now he says things will not revert back to their previous states in spite of all the government's efforts to restore the normality. With all the flexibility and regenrative forces at work, these will not be sufficient to offset the disruptions that have taken place. For one thing the growth rate will slow. Annual trend growth rate won't look like the previous number. He says forget the 3% annual growth rate of the last 15 years. The number will be more like 2% or less when the economy recovers. See the link to lower USA growth rates in the future. He sees unemployment high in the next 3-5 years, with a floor of 6%. The financial system in the US will be carefully regulated, and look more like a utility. And the anglo-saxon model of capitalism, which gives finance a central role will be seen worldwide as too crisis prone and risky. With global growth shifting to India, China and Brazil, the shift of wealth and economic dynamism to these countries will accelerate, in a context of lower worldwide growth....

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More games are being played in stadiums behind closed doors as in Japanese baseball or canceled altogether as in Italy. The coronavirus is leading to restrictions on mass gatherings, both in live entertainment and in sports.  Japan has changed its sports calendar postponing most events. Switzerland banned gatherings of over 1000 people, and France suspended events with gatherings of over 5000 people.  There is an acceptance of the fact that social distancing reduces the speed and extent of the spread of the virus, with countries that acted with quarantines and restrictions having a slower spread. This is now the case in China. In South Korea the lack of effective quarantine has led to spread of the virus. The extra time gained from slowing down the spread is important to let hospitals and medical systems cope. Things can be less intense for the medical community which is important for all countries.  Players and performers also are reluctant to be exposed to the virus in the current situation, particularly in locker rooms and other locations in stadiums. ...