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Britain recorded the most deaths in Europe. Brazil and Russia have over 10,000 cases of coronavirus each, and the U.S. records cases close to that in the peak in April. Cases were up worldwide for May 6 to 92,000 with a quarter of these cases or about 24,000 in the U.S. The jump in cases takes the total to 3.77 million with a third of them in the U.S., according to John Hopkins database. Russia and Brazil had a slow start but are now registering large numbers of cases showing that India and other countries with limited testing could face the same situation. Russia has ramped up testing, and so have the U.S. and the UK. Moscow's mayor Sergei Sobyanin says for example that about 300,000 of the 12 million people in Moscow have the virus based on sampling surveys, more than 3 times the confirmed cases. Restrictions remain in place in Moscow beyond May 11.  Countries that were hit earlier by the virus such as Spain and France are reopening gradually after May 11. France will use red and green zones to handle restrictions so that the restrictions are customized to each place in the country. ...

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The Ethics Commission appointed by Chancellor Merkel following the nuclear disaster in Japan has recommended that the German government close all of its nuclear plants by 2021. Merkel said that Germany will end its dependence on nuclear energy and use nuclear as a bridge technology till other sorces are developed. Germany gets 22.6% of its electricity from nuclear energy, according to the Energy Ministry. It has 17 reactors, six of the boiling water type, a design used at Fukushima, and 11 using pressurized water. A former Environment minister, Klaus Topfer, heads the panel, with the other 22 panel members draw from the energy industry and nongovernmental organizations. While recommending closing the plants "to eliminate risks," the panel said it would also boost the German economy. It said "a withdrawal from nuclear power will spur growth, offer enormous technical, economic and social opportunities to position Germany even further as an exporter of sustainable products and services." Germany has already moved ahead in developing wind and solar energy sources, and is developing leading edge technologies and capabilities in the area of environment friendly alternative energies. Wind and solar energy and renewable sources already meet 16.5% of Germany's needs. Italy and Switzerland said they would not develop new reactors after the Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown. Only Germany with its strong environmental consciousness across all parties is making a decisive break with nuclear energy. ...

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The difficulties Microsoft is having in integrating Skype into its products even as the use of Skype increases by 26%. This is similiar to the situation EBay faced when Microsoft acquired Skype from EBay in 2011. Skype users are now estimated at 250 million Microsoft has given Skype management special autonomy with its head offices and president Bates located in Silicon Valley. Microsoft CEO Ballmer say it is importaant that Skype work well on all platforms and devices.

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Providing health insurance to the roughly 50 million people that are uninsured costs some $120 billion ayear. This will hae to be paid for through limiting the tax deduction on employer provided health insurance (something Obama campaigned against), or cost reduction in the bloated cost structure for health care in the country. But the same health care providers who committed to cost reduction in arecent conference at the White House are lobbying against some measures that reduce cost.

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Southwest started flights to New York's La Guardia and Boston's Logan airports in 2009 but has cut service on other routes. It is cutting capital expenditures in half 2009 and recently cut flight capacity by 4%. It has locked in 40% of ts fuel needs in secon half 2009 capped at $71 a barrel, and 30% of its fuel needs for 2010 at $77 a barrel. The new contracts allow it to use planes as collateral withcounterparties.

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A year from now at this time in February 2026 we will have the Winter Olympics in the Italian Alps in Milan-Cortina. In the Alps in Italy stretching all the way to the Swiss and Austrian borders. This is a large mountainous region. The Washington Post takes a look at this region. The trip between venues can take 12 hours by train and bus. The 2026 Winter Olympis to reduce cost is being done by instead of building facilities to use 7 mountain villages in Italy reached only by narrow winding roads and need trips that will take many hours. This is a huge logistics effort moving athletes and people around.

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The transition for forming Great Britain Railways after three decades of privatization and failed results is now taking shape under Labour. 

The aim is stated in the transition team's messsage-“make the railway simpler and better for everyone”. The GBR website reads: “We are focused on supporting organisations across track and train to work better together to start creating a railway that is easier and better to use; lower cost to taxpayers; better at supporting local and national ambitions; and a simpler sector to work in and do business with.”

The privatization was a mess with failed franchises, delays, and industrial disputes.

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As the USA and Europe move into a deep and prolonged recession China loses some of its biggest export markets and faces a significant slowing down of its economy. China's leaders are pondering how to respond to the crisis which will affect China, and meet the challenges of lower living standards of a neglected rural countryside and farmers compared to the urban coastal areas. This is still where some 800 million of the Chinese people live by official count, so something needs to be done to improve prospects and help generate higher incomes and opportunities for people in the farming countryside. Making land use rights of farmers able to be bought or sold for the first time would generate additional income for farmers, and help consolidate farmland into larger plots, which can use technology and improvements for better yields to keep China self sufficient in agricultural production. Keeping the situation the way it has remained for the last two decades, where local party officials and local leaders controlled the land and where farmers rights were ignored leading to suppression of farmer's protests for illegal land seizures and corruption, may have made it easier for plants to be setup across China and attracted foreign investors. But it has not been good for China's farmers. Chinese party officials at the local level who realized the advantages to them by controlling land and making it easier to set up manufacturing plants with foreign investors may have steered state policy in this direction from the early days after Deng's opening to capitalism and trade. Now with a success in the urban coastal areas and in building infrastructure Chinese leaders in the central government must be faced with a difficult issue of how to move on from here with the loss of China's export markets for its heavily export dependent economy. The need to generate a domestic consumer driven economy must not be lost on the Chinese leadership in Beijing. Something that will keep China's economy moving in the new situation. This is the context in which land use rights may be extended from 30 to 70 years and able to be bought and sold to improve farm incomes and generate internal momentum in the rural areas where most of China's people live. It also offers a contrast to the situation India faces where even the Nano plant of Tata Motors had to be moved from W. Bengal state to Gujarat state over farmers rights to land which in that case was also used as an issue for political agitation. The move by China accelerated industrialization and setting up manufacturing plants as land was taken over by local officials for use with foreign investors but also ended up neglecting the countryside, and created too big a dependence on exports....

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President Obama and President Maliki of Iraq meet at the White House in 2013- both in an awkward position. Maliki having to ask for American assistance in fighting Al Quaeda in western Iraq after insisting on America's complete withdrawal two years earlier. Obama having to face uncomfortable questions on the withdrawal and the current situation after American sacrifices in Iraq during the Bush period. The situation in 2011-2013 involved use of Iraqi airspace for the government of the previous Iranian president Ahmadinejad to supply the Assad regime. Maliki also opposed sanctions against the Assad regime. The visit by Maliki and requests for aid and increasing investment in the oil industry, comes as Iran under president Rouhani improves relations with Turkey in late 2013 to head off increasing Sunni-Shiite sectarianism and conflict in Syria, Iraq and other parts of the Middle East.

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Microsft acquires Skype for $8.5 billion. EBay bought Skype in 2005 for about $3.1 billion, then took a charge of $1.4 billion for the acquisition in 2007, after failing to make a fit for it in EBay. Only 18 months ago EBay sold a 70% stake in Skype to a group of investors led by private equity firm Silver Lake Partners. That deal valued Skype at $2.75 billion. This suggests that Microsoft's Steve Ballmer is paying a steep price for Skype. This is especially true because Skype has failed to bring in many paying customers. Losses were $7 million last year. Skype has 170 million users but most of the calls are made free between computers. Increasingly its use is as an app on smartphones so that users do not have to pay higher fees to wireless carriers for calls. How Microsoft integrates Skype into its own products and how it makes the acquisition work is a challenge for Microsoft. Because of Microsoft's purchase, EBay will end up making $1.4 billion profit on Skype. Skype is based in Luxembourg, and Microsoft will use cash it holds overseas for the acquisition, money that could not be repatriated to the U.S. without paying taxes of more than 30%....

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The problems for Chrysler may not be as much the culture gap between nationalities, as Daniel Howe of the Detroit News points out, as in other areas. It is not going to be in the union area as the President's auto task force has studied the other risks facing Chrysler, and is aware of the failed effort of United airlines unions to run that airline. In the agreements by which 55% ownership of Chrysler is given to the UAW union, the government leaves the union entirely out of the management of the company, which is left to Fiat. And the UAW seeks to sell off its ownership share at the earliest favorable opportunity. The risk lies in the fact that the new models such as the 40 miles per gallon car Fiat is required to build as one of 3 milestones, each worth an additional 5% stake above the inital 20% stake, will not be built till 2012. Meantime as the President said, Chrysler will have to find ways of staying afloat in a market where it is seeing a 40-50% drop in sales each month this year over 2008, with cars that are "less reliable, less popular, and less fuel efficient than foreign competitors." ...

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Pearlstein says in the WPost that the analysts at Goldman Sachs who says companies are undervalued in October 2009, are acting the part of Goldman's marketing machine so that Goldman can use its M&A activity, its trading desk and other financial stock and bond issues to make higher profits. But this risks creating another bubble as there has been a50% runup in stock prices with the DJ average close to 10,000 in October 2009. He says GOldman analysts are talking about how the cash that is on the balance sheets of companies can now be used for acquisitions instead of product development or productive investments. This is dangerous because finance ended up in shaky products like mortgage securities in the last decade instead of being put to productive use in investments for the nation's future. See the links to groups on US National Debt and UK national debt, articles by Kandish on the debt and the risks the US is facing. All the liquidity run up by the Fed can create another bubble if not mopped up. If the Fed moves too quickly at some point when it sees the bubble get out of hand, unemployment and credit tightening could throw the economy into a downward spiral....

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The government's rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has so far cost $145.9 billon. According to the Congressional Budget Office its eventual cost could reach $389 billion. The federal government has put the companies on conservatorship and has a 79.9% stake in the companies. The federal governmet also provides a guarantee that investors will be repaid. By buying loans from banks and other companies that originate loans, Fannie and Freddie were ostensibly in the business of promoting home ownership. The implicit governmet guarantee of Fannie and Freddie's activities in the housing market had the potential to create a huge government liability if the activities are not run well, and this is exactly what happened. By pushing hard for increasing home ownership to unsustainable levels - setting a target in 2001 of creating six million homeowners by 2014 for instance way beyond what was sustainable for the finances of prospective homeowners- it only fueled speculation, easy money and a bubble in housing in the U.S. As investors get paid with the government guarantee, it is Fannie and Freddie that is ending up with ownership of foreclosed homes- one every 90 seconds in the the first quarter of 2010, according to an estimate. The two companies owned 168,000 homes in March 2010....

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Andy Kessler looks at the prospects for China's effort to dominate the market for advanced chips used in everyday devices, just as it did in solar panels and electric vehicle batteries.  He says Apple leaves US manufacturing technologies at a disadvantage by securing its M1 processor chip from Taiwan's TSMC. Intel has fallen behind in 10 nanometer chips and will need a few years says Kessler.  Kessler says Chinese threat to invade Taiwan which has made the US and the EU take a firmer stand on Ukraine poses a danger to TSMC which has 5 fabs or factories in just 1 science Park- Hsinchu Science Park. This poses a question is it safe to concentrate about 92% of the world's semiconductor production in one place Taiwan so close to the mainland of China? And knowing sit tight taking no action? Google's last chairman Eric Schmidt asks this question in the WSJ and calls for a new investments in the US to manufacture advanced semiconductors and other semiconductors for everyday use so that the US national security is protected. Even the $50 billion that is in Congressional legislation has yet to be approved by the US Congress, says Schmidt, showing that US Congress is not moving quickly to address this problem. South Korea and Taiwan including TSMC need to be told to make a large part of the semiconductors in the US and other locations such as India to diversify production. 92% of world semiconductors made in Taiwan that could be taken out with a few missiles, is no way to diversify manufacturing, when manufacturing can be done in India or other parts of the world with lower costs and with needed engineering manpower. ...

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This podcast in WSJ tells the amazing story of the development of a vaccine for malaria by a British scientist that took forty years. In a world of short run startups this tells the story of medical and indirectly other research include research on renewable energy to tackle climate change that takes years to develop and makes a lasting change in our lives. This is also true of the mRNA vaccine developed by two German scientists of Turkish descent who developed the Pfizer vaccine. The Novavax vaccine in the US also has a story of resilience in the face of many challenges. Mr Scholz of the SDP, currently vice chancellor of Germany and winner of the German election said recently he wanted to expose the myth that was created of the self-made man that has penetrated our culture over the last 2 decades. One cannot even conceive of self made people at a time when the whole world depends on vaccines developed such as mRNA vaccine by these 2 German scientists at university labs that are the first line of defense against the coronavirus. Both scientists took only half a day off when they got married. Both are children of immigrants to Germany from Turkey. They both cycle to work. Mr. Shin says "I don't have a car. I am not going to get a plane. What's life changing is to be able to impact something in the medical field." The electric batteries used in today's electric cars use technology developed by a Japanese scientist and professor who also worked at Toshiba in the face of many challenges. ...

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This essay from the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center which puts focus on preventive medicine looks at the food we eat in a different way. In order to have a real conversation on food it says ignore the latest fads on nutrition on keto, paleo or other diets, and think about how our ancestors ate in a healthy way that both prevented disease and provided the right nutrition. It was mostly plants as meat was not freely and easily available. So much so that the consumption of meat and animal protein may have gone up by as much as 90% today. Processed foods did not exist, and unprocessed plant foods were there in abundance. They were not called low fat low carb or vegan then. It is during the beginning of the 19th and in the 20th century that the production and marketing of shelf stable, nutrient poor, high calorie, high sugar and salt processed foods replaced the normal way our ancestors had their food leading to the public health crisis of today, both in health quality, outcomes and cost.  It says replace meat and where appropriate dairy healthier plant based beans, lentils, whole grains, and vegetables, fruits so that animal protein gets back to the levels of the centuries before the 20th century shift to processed foods. It says use common sense beans including soyabeans and lentil beans replace meat wherever possible and oats with berries and nuts replace eggs. Vegetable and garbanzo beans salad replaces cheese and yogurt reducing the cheese or yogurt to very moderate levels. Focus on wholesome food and eat like our ancestors did and exercize then everything else will fall into place. ...

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As a Sunday school teacher Jimmy Carter brought evangelical Christians in the South into the political process. And it encouraged the emergence of other southerners such as Bill Clinton of Arkansas from small towns into Democratic politics. In doing so it distanced the Democratic party from it's roots as a party of the working man, of the working class and labor, of farmers and small business owners, that it had been from 1902 with TR taking up this stance and followed by FDR, Truman, Kennedy-Johnson. Leading to the situation today after Clinton brought China into the WTO and changed world trade, exchanging places with China as a leader in manufacturing, integrating Silicon Valley into the Democratic party under Obama and distancing from working class concerns. Gerald Seib in his tribute to Cater says in WSJ that he was a good man who was president at a bad time. The problems of inflation and cost of living at 10.4% and mortgage rates at 13%, oil prices with the Iran crisis under Carter were problems that were a result of actions taken by the US in the period going back to the 1950's for Iran and embargoes on oil from lack of conservation in oil use in the US. What Carter accomplished is to open the door to new faces out of nowhere- a small town in Georgia was not a place where a presidential hopeful cold be found in previous eras. Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Adams, TR, Wilson, Harding, Hoover, FDR were all from well known families in the East Coast and Northeast. Only Abraham Lincoln emerged from a small town in Illinois. It opened the door for other southerners Clinton from Arkansas and new faces Reagan and Trump.   ...

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The strategies of the U.S. Justice Department in the probe into VW emissions cheating includes novel use of the civil financial fraud law Firrea. A multi front investigation is taking place, with each agency including the EPA and Justice Department, German prosecutors, all expanding their action to demonstrate effectiveness in enforcing the law. VW has set aside $7.3 billion for legal settlements and now admits to a "chain of mistakes," and a "culture of tolerance" for breaking rules leading to the cheating.

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Friedman made a similiar point before the presidential election in the US about Obama's inexperience and using the Afghan war to burnish his credentials. See the link to Friedman. Here Congressman Wilson is shown as using Tip O'Neill's and Democrats opposition to the Reagan support for the contras in Nicaragua as the good fight and the use of the support of the "good" war against the soviets in Afghanistan to ward off accusations from Republican right of weakness against the Soviet Union's expansion.

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Kagan argues that the U.S should hold Iraq responsible for continuing free elections and democratic process after the American withdrawal, and efforts to prevent sectarian strife and promote reconciliation between the different religious groups and factions. He cites Iraq's lack of aircraft to maintain air sovereignty, and the challenges facing Iraq in preventing use of its territory by terrorist groups and countering Iranian influence. Similiar concerns are expressed by Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, deputy commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.

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Apple released a report on working conditions at factories used by suppliers in China. Of these factories 108 facilities did not pay overtime wages. In 93 of the facilities records show over half of the workers worked for more than 60 hours per week. In 5 facilities there was use of underage workers. 112 facilities were not following proper practice in storing, moving and handling of hazardous chemicals. Apple CEO Cook says he will need to monitor these factories very, very carefully.

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Gerson says Obama failed to use democratic processes in Congress in his first and second terms, no matter how difficult, working through the difficulties to reach some sort of comprehensive reforms on immigration. Problem with the approach taken says Gerson is that those who want legalization get temporary work permits, those who are looking for a temporary worker program as in agricuture are left without any solution, workplace enforcement becomes difficult, and this leaves Republicans out of the discussion on immigration.

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Americans are using diesel in only about 3% of cars. Diesel is now available at many pump stations. About 50% of cars in Europe run on diesel, cleaner better diesel engines are now made by the Germans, and new diesel models are being introduced in the USA by foreign automakers. This could lead to a jump in the use of diesel in the USA. Diesel may be 15-20 cents more expensive per gallon than gasoline but gives much better mileage

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Russia's smoking rates for men and women some of the highest in the world, and also bad rates of alcohol use. And this is showing up in health and mortality rates for the Russian people. This is a serious problem for Russia, something like the serious problem that obesity rates presents for the United States. One thing is sure quality of life matters, health quality matters and GNP growth is a very inadequate measure of progress and the quality of life.