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Like the rest of the restaurant industry British pubs are affected by staffing shortages, inflation, higher energy bills, and supply chain problems. The UK lost around 3250 pubs and bars between March 2020 and September of this year. During lockdowns most were closed, as they reopen they face higher costs and are struggling to survive. New hires that earned 27,000 pounds now are offered 32,000 pounds, with few applications as people look for better work and working conditions than offered in the restaurant industry.

Fewer people are going to pubs for lunch as they work from home more. Older people are staying at home from virus related hesitancy. Pubs are passing on price increases of food of 20%. Once seen as part of Britain's cultural fabric this also is changing as people look for other sensible options.

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Prime minister Johnson of Britain blames his coronavirus on being overweight. He can now be seen playing tennis at Winfield House, the residence of the American Ambassador. He can also be seen in the Queen's Lambeth Gardens taking a run. Both have been offered to him for use after the prime minister ran into someone at St. James Park. Boris Johnson now says as  word of advice to many middle aged people "Don't be a fatty in your fifties." Take up exercize he says to a generation of men that have just become lazy when it comes to exercize. Other things to be stronger with the virus are healthy eating habits, lots of ancient grains, lentils, fruits and vegetables. Add  yoga, meditation, call it mindfulness if you like, it works, and it is never too late. 

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Take a nice break at any time of the day or at night with this wonderful view of the autumn leaves and tents at 2100 metres in the northern Alps of Japan, in Nagano Prefecture. It will do you a world of good during the long days of fatigue in the pandemic. Among campers are coworkers, and a man who wanted to sleep in a tent with his small daugher age 5. For each day, during 72 hours in the northern Alps of Japan, NHK Television online spent time with campers with their little lights for the colored tents under amazing starry skies. The spirit of the little girl age 5 cannot fail to make us fell young and spirited again. The autumn leaves and sky give a sense of life outdoors reviving spirits at this time of being stuck indoors for long periods during the coronavirus.

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The European Union governments are finding it increasingly difficult to salvage the Iran nuclear deal and lifting of sanctions. European governments rejected Iran's 60 day ultimatum to help circumvent U.S. Trump administration sanctions. The U.S. sanctions have already led to Iran's oil export to drop from 2.5 million barrels a day to 1 million. Lost shipments have cost Iran $10 billion hurting its economy. Initially European nations France and Germany hoped to keep the 2015 Iran nuclear deal by working with Iran, but this has become increasingly difficult with the Trump administration increasing sanctions including limiting access to U.S. markets for nations that do not cooperate with U.S. policy. The U.S. pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and now it looks like the Europeans are faced with a difficult choice in continuing to work with Iran.

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Lopez Obrador agrees to commit 6000 National guard troops to police Mexico's border with Guatemala in a deal with president Trump. Trump uses tariffs on Mexican imports as tool to change Mexico's position that allowed the flow of increasing numbers of migrants fleeing Guatemala through Mexican territory. Trump insisted that Mexico should change its laws to accept these migrants as lawful residents in Mexico saying in effect that a developing country is just as responsible to take in migrants on a humanitarian basis as a developed country like the U.S. with its own issues of poverty and lack of funding for social services.

Mexico then accepted a compromise solution with vigorous border policing to reduce the flow of migrants. This reversed the earlier policy of Mr. Obrador that welcomed migrants without giving these migrants residence in Mexico.

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New rules for foreign direct investment in India will allow foreign multibrand retailers to own upto 51% of joint ventures in India. Rules set earlier allowed foreign retailers like Wal-Mart to only setup wholesale joint ventures. The move by the Indian government lets Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Metro Group and other retailers open supermarkets. The rules were also changed to allow 100% ownership for single brand retailers such as Nike stores. Prior rules limited single brand retailers to 51% ownership. This is a major step because of the growth in the Indian retail market, and the small portion of the overall market that is occupied by large retail chains with well developed supply chain management. Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd, a consulting firm in New Delhi, estimates that the Indian retail market has sales of about $470 billion a year, with only about 5% of this or $27 billion in modern organized retail operations. In the five year period 2012-2016 sales are expected to grow to $675 billion, with $85 billion coming from organized retail. Companies with operations in India that are expected to expand operations include Bharti Wal-Mart, Tesco which has a agreement with Tata Group's Star Bazaar stores, Germany's Metro Group AG. according to these numbers, even with competition from the organized large stores, smaller stores will still occupy 88% compared to 95% of the retail space in 2016. And the growth in the overall market means that the smaller mom and pop type stores will still have growth from $443 billion today to $590 billion in 2016. A government backed study by ICRIER shows that smaller stores lose about 23% of sales in the first year, but recover quickly in following years because of growth in the overall market. The introduction of modern supply chain management, modern refrigeration methods, and large investments by leading global retailers is likely to change the way food and other products are stored and marketed, a revolutionary change for India where these methods and investments lag far behind the developed world. For this reason this may give major impetus to modernizing the Indian economy....

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How Renault- Nissan execute plan to build low cost cars for markets in Eastern Europe, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, North Africa and India, China. A new plant with initial capacity of 200,000 Logan type small cars to open in Tangiers, Morocco. Plants already operate in Brazil, Columbia, Mexico and Russia for Logan type vehicles. The Logan small car at $7500 is still a middle class car in countries like India so Renault is talking to Bajaj Auto of India,a maker of motorbikes and scooters, about making a $3000 car. The scenario that large automakers are looking at is one in which makers of small cars in India like Tata and Cherry in China master the art of making small cars with lower cost components and good quality and then move upscale using this expertise to underprice them in their segments like Toyota and Honda have done. Renault moved into the low cost segment in Sept 2004 with the Logan made in Romania, so its moving quickly in this segment and it is becomin a key part of Renault-nissan's global strategy. Note that Logan sales are about 400,000 but only 50,000 of these sold in France and Germany relatively small sales in Western Europe. ...

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According to recent Center for Disease Control numbers, about two-thirds of American women are obese or overweight. Retail stores like Target are trying to appeal to women in the 14 plus sizes where demand is growing.

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Focus of questions in the U.S. Senate in July 2014 on why GM General Counsel Mike Milliken still runs GM's legal operations following the GM recall and the issues raised about the legal handling of customer complaints.

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How the Brazilian culture of InBev took over Interbrew and absorbed it ,and the future if Anheuser Busch is acquired looks like it would be similiar, as this Brazilian compay has a unique culture all its own.

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The record shows that like other industrial states such as Illinois, Michigan and Ohio, Massachusetts lost many manufacturing jobs during the period 2003-2007, when Romney was Governor of Massachusetts. At the end of 2002 there were 338,000 manufacturing jobs in Massachusetts, by 2007 this had declined by 12% to 298,000, according to Andrew Sum, an economist at Northeastern University. Romney cites a drop in the unemployment rate from 5.6% to 4.7%. Prof. Sum who heads the University's Centre for Labor Market Studies, says this was people left the workforce during this period in large numbers. He says only Louisiana of all U.S. states had a bigger decline in the labor force when it was hit by Hurricane Katrina. The dot com bubble burst during the period before Romney took office. Massachusetts had already lost 158,000 jobs in 2001-2002 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Romney was unable to do much to reverse the job losses that continued during his term in office.

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Because technology spending has been more disciplined and focused on productivity and efficiency gains, the investment has been lower but more effective than in the 3 years leading to the last recession in 2001. At that time it was increasing 12.9% a year leading into the recesson and faced sharp cutbacks leading to a drop of 11% over the next 2 years 2001-2003. By contrast this time the tech spending went up by about 2.8% a year in the last 3 years, according to Gartner, and has delivered solid results at places like American Airlines. Technology spending is likely to hold up and continue moderate increase this year and next as the US enters a recession. At American a fuel efficiency drive starting 2005 including software to come up with best routes, flight paths and baggage loading has saved 96 million gallons a year. Note that spending on computer hardware and software is about half of all capital spending by business.

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Getting a bipartisan bill designed by Senator Lindsay Graham, Republican from South Carolina and a bipartisan group of Senators  through Congress is now a priority for the Biden administration. President Biden promises to close the Border the day this is passed into law. It faces hurdles in the House with Speaker Mike Johnson not supporting it. This also stalls progress in aid to Ukraine and other priorities.

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George Papandreou's approach and demeanor has helped rather than hindered finding solutions to the debt crisis in Greece. He has emphasized keeping a modest profile and doing the things that matter most- getting straight down to what Greece needs to do to address its problems when talking to European leaders, putting economic experts like Stiglitz in his inner circle so that he is well aware of how others see Greece's problems, setting a role model for his ministers in cutting down on expensive spending habits. Taking out the BMW and driving a Prius may be just for appearance, but actions like these combined with quiet but decisive steps, are needed to set the right tone as Greece shifts to austerity measures and reduces state spending.

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As the two leaders Cameron and Merkel visit the exhibition on Germany at the British Museum, efforts are made to improve ties and keep Britain in the European Union. Merkel says about one of the contentious issues that she supports freedom of movement in the EU, but no abuse of that right by claiming unemployment benefits. Immigration is emerging as an issue in the upcoming British general election. Cameron and Merkel share similiar views on economic policy and a conservative philosophy. Merkel tells a joint news conference: "Ofcourse British citizens will decide, but I don't want to hide from you that I very much like having the UK in a strong and successful European Union and like working with them for a better future."

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The Pilbara iron ore region in western Australia in red desert 675 miles north of Perth, is where China gets a lot of its iron ore, mainly from mines run by BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue. With the Chinese economy slowing Australia's growth rate dependent on commodities exports like iron ore is declining. Australia's central bank has lowered growth forecasts to 1.5% for 2008-2009, and this is considered optimistic by economists. With prices of iron ore jumping Australia's terms of trade had improved by a leap but now it looks like the terms of trade have peaked. The budget surplus of A$22 will be cut by two thirds by this and also from the A$10.4 stimulus package announced by prime minister Kevin Rudd.

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Google's Schmidt on the future for Android phones and the competition with Apple. He sees the future in open Web applications and open applications like the Android, compared to the the Apple model, which he describes as closed.

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China's slowdownand how it is affecting Asian neighbors like S. Korea and Japanfor whom China is a major export market. Demand for raw materials will be slowing and Australia a big exporter of raw materials will be affected.

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The shift to finding new drugs for cancer. Pfizer has a development team of 10000 researchers in one location near San Diego, California, to develop new drugs for cancer even though some experts say the search for cancer drugs is devilishly complicated. The causes of cancer at the molecular level are complicated and vary even from person to person for the same cancer. Says one expert this also raises questions about the benefit to people as a large amount of resources are shifted to areas like cancer that affect fewer people than other diseases, and where the existing drugs have only prolonged life marginally, in some cases even as low as a few months at a huge cost of thousands of dollars. Tarceva for pancreatic cancer for example only prolongs life by 12 days at a cost of $3500 per month. 860 cancer drugs are being tested in clinical trials according to the trade group of the pharmaceutical industry. This is more than twice the number for heart disease and stroke, and nearly twice the number for AIDS and all other infdectious diseases combined, and nearly twice the number for Alzheimier's and all neurological dieases combined....

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Ms. Annegret Kramp-Krarrenbauer, elected leader of the CDU party in 2018 with the support of Angela Merkel, will not run for chancellor in next years election and will resign from her position by the end of the year. She will continue as Germany's defense minister. After losses for the CDU in recent elections and the embarrassment of local CDU leaders in Thuringia supporting the far right AfD, AKK as she is known decided to step down. Angela Merkel has decided not to run for chancellor again. Germany is set to chair the EU in the second half of 2020, and Merkel is no longer seen as a leader of influence. The Nationalist Alternative for Germany AfD has gained votes in recent elections following the 2015-2016 migrant crisis, with large numbers of refugees from North Africa and Arab world landing in Greece and Turkey and walking to Hungary, Austria and Germany. Merkel's handling of the crisis with acceptance of a million refugees in 2015-2016 unsettled European and German politics. Why? One way of looking at it is that in the same way that the U.S. took in Chinese imported goods ending in the Trump tariffs war, at some point it just becomes too big to handle. That ended up at $1 billion a day in imports from China when president Trump called it off and accused Obama Democrats, Bush Republicans, of betraying the country. Putting it into perspective Germany with one fourth of the population of the U.S. took in about twice the number of refugees in just one year 2015-2016 that the U.S. took in 10 years 2005-2015. The U.S. took in 675,000 immigrants between 2005-2015. This is as if the U.S. took in something like 20 million immigrants in a short period of 1 year on an equivalent basis- though the cultural impact is even greater in a nation like Germany that is like Japan an historically immigrant averse nation. All this happened too quickly for Germany to handle for its fragile cultural fabric. Much of the initial outpouring of support and positive sentiment came from the sense of having gone through World War II and the refugees in that and the early post war period, the need to return in the same spirit support Germany had received. Over time it eroded support for the Christian Democratic Union and Merkel. That Merkel could have done this is itself a small miracle. Now the rebuilding has to begin. Adenauer's CDU and the socialist SPD party of Willy Brandt now have less than 50% support, only with the Greens Party do they make up 50%. The question now is can the CDU, and the SPD which has fallen to 14% in elections, make it back and what kind of future makeup political parties will have in Germany, how the social fabric can be restored. AKK's achievement is to mend relations between the liberal Merkel wing of the CDU and conservatives from Bavaria (CSU) over immigration.  Candidates for CDU leadership are Armin Laschet, Jens Spahn, and Friedrich Merz. Laschet premier of North Rhine-Westphalia has Merkel's support. Looking back too much attention was taken up by the euro crisis, and too little was done in the areas of infrastructure, inequality gaps, education, child care, under Merkel's leadership and of the preceding SPD years, much like what happened under Bush and Obama administrations in the U.S. where wars, economic crises led to neglect on issues that affect lives of ordinary working families. ...

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Rich calls Obama's speech for all its apparent thoughfulness and logic, a failure in its mission of coming up with a way to tackle Afghanistan and Pakistan. It did not grapple with the real issue and complexity of these places. He says the rigorous analysis failed and what Obama is ending up with is a too clever by half holding action which lacks credibility becuase the Karzai regime lacks credibility, and the American people have serious doubts of the wisdom of increased involvement. Worse it lacks acredible exit strategy for all the emphasis on early withdrawal. Making some calculations with Petraeus's field manual Rich comes up with a force of 586,000 that would be needed for a proper counterinsurgency in Afghnistan for its population of 28.4 million. But America still would have only less than one fourth of this number in the vast mountainous terrain of Afghnistan, especially when the government it is backing has seriously alienated its own people. So isn't it just as possible that McChrystal and Gates have made a serious error, that the surge that worked in Iraq was based on apeculiar topography that is absent here, which means even more troops not awithdrawal is likely a year from now? He points out that, as Fred Kaplan had pointed out in Slate, that the idea that the coaltiion partners are increasing their share of the burden is an illusion, as America's new share of allied troops with the surge will be 70% compared to 50% when the Bush administration left office. But what he finds most disingenuous is the idea that there will be no sacrifices in economic terms for America, that life can just go on like before, even as the cost of the war will shortchange urgent economic priorities at home and even gut alot of the domestic needs. This was missing in the Obama presentation....

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Consumer spending boom is over and when you look at the detail in the government numbers on spending consumer spending is already declining. So the idea that consumer stocks like P&G, J&J and Coca Cola and Kimberly Clark will hold up better than other stocks is a mirage. Just this week the idea that stocks of companies doing a lot of business overseas and in infrastructure will hold up better turned out to be an illusion as GE fell by 12% in one day, April 11, 2008, because of earnings shortfalls in its finance units as a result of the new climate in the credit and financial markets. Consumers spent heavily. If consumer spending had continued the trends from the 1990's then it would have gone up $3 trillion less today. It would have been 70% ratio of household debt to GDP, right now its close to 97% of GDP. Some of this $3 trillion estimate of Business Week economist Mandel using Fed data will be what the American consumer will be dealing with as he reduces spending in the years ahead. According to OECD data the ratio of household liabilities to disposable income (charts P11 of BW, April 21, 2008) is close to 1.0 in France and Germany which is contrary to what one would expect considering the more conservative spending there especially Germany, exceeds 1.0 in Japan, and far exceeds 1.0 in the US, and in Canada aabout 1.3, with the highest ratio in Britain at a whopping 1.7, using a ballpark view of the charts. This suggests that Britain is way off the charts in spending, see the link to this so expect spending to be hit hardest in Britain and with financial services being a bigger part of the GDP and the economy in Britain expect higher unemployment in Britain than the rest of Europe....

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By taking action in Venezuela in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people (and similar action in the long run interests of the Iranian people to dedicate most of the resources for development and increase share of oil revenues without discounting and removing sanctions ill effects on economy and quality of life) major new changes can improve quality of life in the world.  Venezuelan production which was 3 million barrels a day has declined to 900,000 without US investment and technological upgrades. With US investment this can be increased to put additional oil supplies on the market lost in the war with Iran and smaller traffic through the Straits of Hormuz. Venezuelan crude is best suited to US refineries which frees up shale oil for export to meet needs of India and Europe. China which had hyper growth through massive oil consumption would reduce its growth rate and its impact on climate change as it adjusts to the loss of 3 million barrels a day it no longer gets from Iran. Slower growth rate in China is good for the climate as it is the hyper growth of China that put the most pressure on climate even as Europe and the US had cut  fossil fuels consumption over the last decade. China made 2 coal plants a week and 95% of all new global coal construction in 2023. India needs additional oil supplies as it increases its growth rate from a much lower point of development (and electricity poverty) than China. By simply settling for normal development compared to hyper development targets( China has reached a point of Oil Fairness Percentage where each country gets to use the same percentage of oil as its population is as a percentage of world population- the number being about 17% for China for both, with the number being 18% for India and it having a shortfall of 12% based on its oil consumption being only 6% of the world total). China can reduce oil and coal consumption reducing pressure on oil prices and absorbing most of the impact from the loss of Iranian oil. China and Russia + (old Soviet territory) Canada, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, make up about 40% of the world's territorial landmass, would be large beneficiaries with improved climatic conditions from burning less coal. They are now highly developed countries and do not need hyper growth which requires China to build 2 coal plants a week and consume excessive amounts of crude oil and coal based on artificially set targets that make no sense by destroying the climate when no child in China lacks electricity to read. Marathon Philipps Valero with over half a million barrels of refining capacity for heavy Venezuelan crude can now put this to use using the imports by US of lower priced (by $9 to Brent crude) Venezuelan crude oil. In a few months of 2025 US has imported 280,000 barrels a day of Venezuelan crude in February 2026 alone some of it going to the large Valero refinery in Port Arthur, Texas. American oil refiners make larger margins using the Venezuelan crude than they make on light crude from shale oil producers in the US. What this does is to increase the supply of crude and refined oil products on the market as the light crude get shipped overseas to India and Europe- including countries like Spain which took in 100,000 barrels a day of shale crude from US in February 2026. ...

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Weiner calls Franklin the "Least Dead" of the Founding Fathers of America. "Least Dead" for whom? Of pop cultures, TikTok, Facebook, social media and the rest? Benjamin Franklin is one of the founding fathers who was most revered, and who with his diplomatic activity secured French support for George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the American cause in 1776. It was the French cannon, and the French Navy that made it possible for Washington to move his armies north and surround the British at Yorktown, Virginia ending the War of Independence. Weiner writes that Franklin is the most approachable one of the founding fathers, one you can talk with, one you would most likely want to have a beer with. Franklin is also the most interesting. Franklin's experiments with electricity are the earliest pioneering efforts of the scientific revolution of the 19th century that set Europe apart from Asia, and the scientific revolution of the 20th century that set America apart from the rest of the world. Franklin is not just a founding father, he is the founder of the US Post Office which was the radio and internet of its period making communication possible over long distances. Franklin was the first Postmaster General in 1775 and set up the US postal system. Franklin set up the first circulating library in 1731 and the University of Pennsylvania- the first fire department in Philadelphia. He was president of the state of Pennsylvania after Independence. There is a great deal of ignorance about the founding fathers no less in places like the entrance to the Smithsonian institution in Washington DC of all places, where no mention is made of Franklin as an Abolitionist, quite the reverse- Franklin's scientific mind and his modern thinking had no place for the European institution of slavery in the 1500-1800 period. Franklin was the president of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery. Eric Weiner, is author of  "Ben and Me- In Search of a Founder's Formula for a Long and Useful Life." This is the second article in a series by NYT on America's 250th Anniversary for the Declaration of Independence. Weiner travels from Boston to London, and from Philadelphia to Paris along the sea route taken by Franklin to the Brittany coast in December 1776 with his 2 grandchildren, one of 7 voyages crossing the Atlantic. By 1781 Franklin had his first meeting with French King Louis XVI at Versailles. The US Mission and Franklin's home was located in the hillside village of Passy a few hours from Paris, where the clean country air and water helped revive him. He crosses the Atlantic again in 1783 when the Peace Treaty is signed by Franklin. Weiner is 70 in 2026 and writes that Franklin grew more serene with age even with some ailments, was loved in France, and returned to America for his final voyage home with his 2 grand children in 1785. A life well lived something for all Americans to aspire and emulate, and loved by his country. ...