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The election in Catalonia leaves the region as divided as before. The pro independence parties won 47.5% of the vote and the parties opposed to independence won 43.5% of the vote, so that only 4 percentage points separates the pro and anti independence parties. By seats in the Catalan parliament the vote showed pro independence parties with 70 seats, a loss of 2 seats from the previous parliament. The party of Mr. Puigdemont won most votes by a small margin within the pro- independence parties. On the other side the Ciudadanos party which is strongly opposed to independence won about 25% of the vote. About 80% of 5.3 million voters cast ballots. Prime minister Rajoy hoped for a better result to preserve Spanish unity. Most Spaniards support a unified Spain. Pro union Spaniards are strongly opposed because they see the efforts of Mr Puigdemont for independence coming at a time when Spain was just recovering from a deep recession with millions unemployed. This is affecting the economy of Barcelona and the Catalan region. Unemployment is higher and tourist flow has slowed. Because the pro independence parties are themselves divided on how to proceed, and with the anti independence parties also winning a significant share of the vote, the negotiations between the Catalan regional government and Madrid will be protracted. ...

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Following the Nuclear Security Summit in March 2016, U.S. president Obama says world leaders had expressed concern about Mr. Trump's comments in private conversations with him. Obama said- "even those countries that are used to a carnival atmosphere in their own politics want sobriety and clarity when it comes to U.S. elections because they understand that the president of the United States needs to know what's going on around the world." Obama said that comments by Mr. Trump showed a person "who doesn't know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally. Mr. Trump said in a NYT interview that "Now, wouldn't you in a certain sense have Japan have nuclear weapons when North Korea has nuclear weapons?" Trump has defended these comments in a televised townhall meeting held by CNN in Milwaukee. Obama was critical of these comments as upsetting the situation in Asia where the U.S. has made great sacrifices in World War II, and today "underwrites the peace and prosperity of that region." Adding that "you don't mess with that."...

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NT looks at the Florida Advanced Courses and Tests which provide an alternative to the approach taken by the Advanced Placement AP Courses. AP in American History of the College Board differs from FACTS AP history Course in many ways. College Boards AP History gives the history of America as a flawed nation, not the nation we know from the Declaration of Independence that has inspired people around the world with its bold statement "all men are created equal" by Thomas Jefferson that set forth the ideal to reach for. The problem the world feels with the flawed nation idea is that it does not make America the beacon of democracy, the rule of law, of scientific and industrial progress that offer a path to progress for the emerging nations of Africa, Latin America and Asia, that they can emulate. AP History of the College Board does not accept the idea that the Bible was the source of inspiration for the Pilgrims that came to the US on the Mayflower, and not reading the Bible is to not be able top see life as seen by the early settlers of the US, even when there were flaws. ...

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Boeing makes the decision to make the next version of the Dreamliner, the 787-10, exclusively at its plant in the North Charleston area of S. Carolina. This is a non-union facility. Larry Loftis, Boeing's vice president and general manager of the 787 program, says the decision was made because it is not practical to ship by air the midbody section of the new plane which is 114 feet long, 10 feet longer than the 787-9. It would not fit into the modified 747 aircraft used to ship jet parts from one manufacturing facility to another. Currently this midbodysection is assembled in S. Carolina from pieces shipped by air from Italian and Japanese plants. Then flown to Everett, Washington or a S. Carolina assembly line for the final steps in the manufacturing process. Reliability and quality issues for the Dreamliner, and cost, are also better addressed by reducing shipment from one manufacturing facility to another. The decision to build this non-union plant in 2009 created strains with the labor unions. The 787-10 is 224 feet long, carries 320 passengers, one third more than the 787-8 and 15% more than the 787-9. It has a list price of 289 million. Boeing has 132 orders from airlines and lessors for this new version....

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Washington Post Analysis and details of Census Bureau trade information in September 2025 -showing the country by country and product tariffs by US and which tariffs are waiting for final trade agreements. China, India and Switzerland, Mexico face high tariffs. UK, EU, South Korea, Japan have made trade agreements with the US, China, India Swiss are still to finalize trade agreements leading to the uncertainty. The North American Trade Agreement is being renegotiated leading to uncertainty for Mexico and Canada which have both benefitted from trade with the US to detriment of US manufacturers.  China has huge surpluses that keep growing over time to $1 trillion ($992 billion) a year in 2024.  DJT Tariffs are designed as a bold step to remake the international trading system so that it does not work to the benefit of other nations gaming the system over decades as US administrations Clinton, Bush, Obama, paid no attention. Trade Deficits and the National Debt are a problem not just the National Debt. On the National Debt Republicans have pushed through cuts in parts of the budget where costs had escalated tremendously. ...

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The German company Bayer faces an unusual situation trying to settle all lawsuits for Roundup weed killer that claim it causes cancer. It is settling lawsuits even while the product remains on the shelves at retailers. Bayer is not allowed to put warning labels by the EPA and regulators on Roundup that is on the shelves, because the EPA says glyphosate is not a chemical that causes cancer.  Bayer has already lost in three jury trials and faces the unusual predicament of not being able to remove the ingredient or put a warning label to avert future litigation. Bayer had lost a third of its stock value as the legal situation worsened. Investors are very critical of the acquisition of Monsanto for $63 billion by CEO Mr. Baumann in June 2018. Monsanto sold Roundup and this is how it ended up in Bayer's products with sales of $200 million. The legal settlements plan is 50 times this. $8 billion for current lawsuits and $2 billion for future lawsuits. And future lawsuits are unpredictable creating uncertainty for Bayer. Investors question whether such an acquisition was a good idea in the first place. ...

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The Fed announced that it will review compensation policies of 28 of the large complex banking organizations in the USA. The review will be an horizontal one that compares them to each other. The other significant move is that the Fed wants to see employees who take greater risks and use large amounts of borrowed money, to receive negative points in evaluating how well they have done, and consequently to be compensated less than other employees who earn money for banking firms while controlling the risks associated with transactions. This ties in with the discussions at the G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, where the Europeans pushed for tighter regulation on bonuses and pay, to control the excessive risktaking of banking firms. This is because the prevailing culture in global financial institutions is a high risk high return culture, which ignores the social consequences of bad decisions. There is no cost to individuals taking the risks on other people's money, and regulations discouraging risk are not in place. The question remains, is this an adequate response to prevent future crises, or too little too late? If the banking community does not see it this way, and financial regulation is watered down in Congress- see the links to this- then it will much like Don Quixote swinging at windmills. In this sense the title of this piece is a misnomer, as the Fed has not hit banks with sweeping pay limits. It only said it would review pay practices. It is jawboning of the mild kind to show the public something is done. See Paul Volcker's point that pay practices would adjust and desirable goal of less risktaking and reasonable salaries would be achieved by separating deposit taking banks from banks engaged in trading activities. Similiarly, the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, made the point recently that the biggest banks should be broken up. That is supported by the intuitive sense of experts that banks engaged with depositors should be engaged in the social functions of society, lending and supporting economic activity, and the trading desks of investment banks should operate entirely separately from this. One should be insulated from the other. In this sense there is a bit of evasion in these actions. A Wall Street capture of regulatory activity continues, of regulators and senior economic advisors in the administration, as the coziness between the two lingers on from a previous era of deregulation. This has the potential to cost the country and the global economy dearly in another crisis, and the jobless and young jobless people especially. In this economy both in Europe and the USA, the jobless young have been left with the least hope. ...

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Angela Merkel left Germany dangerously dependent on Russia for energy supplies that may simply be shut off after maintenance on the Nordstream pipeline. She did even worse on China says this report in The Times that says that it leaves Germany on the hook for billions. There are $200 billion of German investments in China and German business concern is snowballing with new restrictions on operations in China and the deteriorating business sentiment. Worse the entire supply chain for solar energy and other renewable energy products to tackle climate change is dependent on Chinese components. Another failure to prepare for the future under different scenarios. And 46% of German business have supply lines that include components made in China. By grossly underestimating the risks of such dangerous dependence on Russia and on China, and ignoring warnings from the US, Merkel has hit Germany's new elected government of Scholz, Baerbock and Habeck with very serious problems that may take the next five to ten years to sort out. On energy and how to build a whole new supply chain in Asia with the US and its allies Japan, India and other countries. The ultimate irony was that Merkel felt that she was the leader of the free world, and a free world that excluded the US and India. Such is folly. And how she was presented as a good leader in the media is today hard to comprehend. ...

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US China agreement on TikTok sale to American ownership as required by Congress, Scott Bessent announces that an agreement has been reached with China in negotiations for the transfer of ownership. China is concentrating its energies in negotiating tariffs that were kept at 30% by the US and 10% by China which hurt Chinese industry in industries where it has overcapacity.

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Ewen Macaskill of the Guardian travels on the bus with Jeremy Corbyn through the east Midlands region of the UK. He describes how Corbyn is handling the negative media coverage from the Daily Telegraph and the tabloids. Corbyn's response to the demonization by the tabloids underway for the last two years is that he does not let it get to him. He does not respond to personal attacks, including ones made by Theresa May, because he says it means he would have to descend to that level. "It actually devalues yourself and the process," says Corbyn. He is not stressed, says Corbyn because it would do him no good, and no good to the people around him who are putting in their best to support Labor in this election. Calm, composed, is how this reporter sees Corbyn on the trail. This means not following the latest polls but staying focussed on the goal and the day ahead. As a result the people who had only seen him through the negative image projected in the media are now becoming endeared to him. Little things count, whether the campaign workers are getting their tea and coffee, and looking for a knife to cut a chocolate brownie cake given at a prior event. Calm, composed, not letting comments or the pessimism affect him, as he is in his words "there for the long haul." This is true for the way he is careful not to allow intrusions into his family life, that would affect his wife Laura Alvarez and three sons. This is the way he has come across during his first day as Leader of the Opposition in parliament, and during the event where he launched the Labor manifesto. Preferring simplicity and ordinary life he prefers public transport, simple layout in the campaign bus, and if elected he says he would prefer to remain where he is instead of the house at 10 Downing Street. Corbyn is 68, but after the way he has tackled the challenge facing Labor, the graceful attitude and dignity needed especially today, he is likely to be around for much longer. ...

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Shown here and in the adjoining WSJ interview by Ben Cohen of Morris Chang, 1985 founder of Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC), is the story of how as textile and other lower technology industries were shipped to China in the 1990's the advanced technology manufacturing industries that were to replace them for the American workers and their families were also taken away through the back door by companies such as TSMC- leading to the dislocation of the American worker and poorer manufacturing communities across the US. Hille and Sevastopulo in the Financial Times take an inside look at the situation of TSMC as an advanced chip manufacturer that has taken 92% of the world market for advanced chips by using Taiwan's manufacturing advantages in chip yield that was in 1985 about twice that in the US when Morris Chang founded the company. Morris Chang was an immigrant who came to the US after 1949 with the founding of the People's Republic of China. After gaining decades experience at Texas Instruments by age 52 in 1982 he felt he had reached the glass ceiling at the company. See the adjoining WSJ Ben Cohen interview with Chang on this part of his life. He was recruited  by Ki Li, a technology planner for Taiwan to  build Taiwan's first semiconductor company. Chang founded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in 1985 and based on his work in the US and seeing the cost advantage in engineering talent coming out of Taiwan and Chinese universities, and the willingness to work long hours in the zealous drive for modernization, he made the bet on Make in China (Taiwan + People's Republic of China.) It succeeded, and succeeded, and succeeded, just as it took advanced manufacturing away from the US, and deprived the US by replacing the cotton mills and textile factories, the less advanced industries that were being shipped to China by being replaced with modern more advanced manufacturing in new technology products, as it was how it was supposed to work. Economists and politicians and business failed to see this for two decades. It left America without both the old industrial manufacturing base and at the same time took away from the American worker the new manufacturing in advanced technology base that was supposed to give him new opportunities to replace the old. It has left America poorer in ways no economist, politician or business person could see when through the benevolent hand of friendship the US advanced a helping hand to China through WTO negotiation, WTO membership and foreign investment in China following the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of the 1970's that dislocated China's industry. ...

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A Japanese scientist at Princeton University has done work since the 1960's to show that increased level of carbon dioxide lead to increased temperatures on the surface of the earth. Syukuro Manabe at Princeton was honored for this work with the Nobel Prize in Physics. Also honored is a German scientist Hasselmann who showed the connection between weather and climate with his own model. His research shows methods for attributing various impacts on climate of human activity and natural phenomena. Also honored is Italian scientist Parisi for his work on complex systems uncovering patterns in disordered complex materials.

Today's understanding of how the use of coal and other fossil fuels at the scale done in China, Europe, US and India is affecting the climate comes from the work of these three scientists.

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Lego A/S CEO, Jorgen Vig Knudstrop, talks to the WSJ's Jens Hansegard. Lego is based in a small town in central Denmark. Lego's sales revenue has tripled since 2007, and net profit increased by 35% to about $1 billion for 2012. The building block segment in the toy business is growing rapidly with growth of about 20% in the last year. The overall global toy business is stagnant, with declining prices, difficult economic conditions and competition from the consumer electronics products. Lego is not affected by this because it is able to price products for sets of bricks and figures at a premium, and stays ahead by coming up with innovative products. Lego has 85% share of the U.S. building-block market. Lego is a family owned company started in 1947 which faced difficulty in 2004 with a fall in sales. Under Knudstrop's direction it has recovered and shown strong sales growth, especially in the U.S. with 26% growth in 2012. His approach was to focus on nostalgia themes, Hollywood themes, and come up with innovative products for girls. This includes the Lego City, Lego Star Wars, Lego Friends themes. Lego invests heavily on R&D and plants. About 60% of revenue in 2012 was from launches of new products. The new Lego Friends theme for girls tripled sales to girls, creating a remarkable sales opportunity. Knudstrop's philosophy is to remain humble and aggressvely pursue new opportunities....

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The chain is a southern theme restaurant built around interstate highway system starting with the first one in Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1969. It mainly serves Southern comfort food and has an open store layout built on nostalgia of the fifties period when Americans gathered around soda cracker barrels for conversation. It has become ubiquitous on US highways with 660 locations. 

Forty of these stores are being updated with clean white decor and some nostalgia from American homes in old South. The update transformation was badly needed and provides a new look that would add to the looks of the Interstate Highways and gas stations in the US.

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Walt Mossberg, who writes the Wall Street Journal's consumer technology review section, watched Steve Jobs up-close over the years since 1997. They met one-on-one for product introductions, long discussions about the industry, and recently after Jobs illness, at his home in Palo Alto. Mossberg describes a long walk to a nearby park after Jobs had undergone a liver transplant. It provided an insight into the man Steve Jobs was. Persistent- he called Mossberg for 4-5 straight weekends during the dark days of 1997-1998 to convey his vision of Apple products or discuss aspects of reviews. Patience and optimism about the future- Jobs always maintained a positive tone and a vision of what could be in the digital revolution, and Apple's role in it in these discussions. There is the opening of the first retail store in the Washington D.C. area, and Jobs patiently handles Mossberg's incredulity about Apple and its inexperience with retail stores. And Jobs saying that he had taken a serious interest in the details- down to the translucency of the glass. There is the meeting with Bill Gates at the fifth All Things Digital Conference, when both made their appearance together for the first time and Jobs hands a cold bottle of water to Gates. By this time Jobs had already come to the conclusion- as he once said after accepting a $150 millon investment from Gates in 1997-1998- that it was no longer true that Microsoft had to lose for Apple to succeed....

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The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) says in a new report that the cost of renewable energy production in India in 2020 is the lowest of 8 countries, including China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, U.S. It also points out that India has lowered the cost of solar energy faster than any other country since 2017- by 80% for the period 2010-2018. Solar energy for India in 2018 cost 27% lower than in 2017. Major achievements have been made in solar energy and are continuing with bold targets. In 2020 solar makes up 36% of total energy capacity, with production at 136 gigawatts. In India the conditions with high degree of sunlight in most parts of the country, and the technology cost reductions, lower cost of land and labor, help bring down the cost of solar energy every year. The bold targets and action taken are symbolic of the new efforts in India. The early efforts in India are described as overcoming the hurdle of preconceived notions that electricity shortages had to be accepted as a way of life. In Gujarat the first efforts over 15 years ago were taken by rejecting the idea that electricity could not be made widely and freely available. To do this policy had to be set by starting with first a clean slate and then with a clean heart say pioneers in India's early gains. A clean heart because of how desperately people needed electricity. And a clean slate because how desperately people needed to start from scratch with a new structure and new way of doing things set in place. As Vivekananda put it over 100 years ago "This I have seen in life. One who is overcautious about himself falls into dangers at every step. he who is afraid of losing honor and respect gets only disgrace. He who is always afraid of loss always loses." By taking bold action, making small experiments then setting bold targets and setting structures in place to execute manned with resources, India has achieved 4G in all parts of the country, and is doing the same for renewable energy to make electricity widely available in all parts of the country. ...

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U.S. Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, has balanced the rhetoric of president Trump on trade in the NAFTA debate by saying the U.S. is looking for win-win solutions in trade relations with Mexico. At the WSJ CFO network Ross says the trade regime from the post war years is now an anachronism and does not work well especially for the U.S. Many experts agree that the trade framework from that period is problematic. It does not take into account, for instance say experts, the situation where a command economy such as China could help manufacturing industries with state policies, including currency policies. The rapid growth in China was different from the rapid growth in an earlier period of Japan, in terms of its impact say experts. The U.S was the dominant economy during the sixties, and the growth in Japan was not at the accelerated pace and of the magnitude that happened in China. As a result the impact on  some communities in the U.S. was much more intense in the last two decades, as documented by prominent trade studies, leading to the sense that trade did not work for these communities. ...

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This editorial in the DW.com says the proposal to impose a 20% border tax on goods from countries with which the U.S. has a trade deficit is bad for Germany and for the U.S.. It is a double edged sword because 1.6 million German jobs would be affected, according to Ifo Institute.  Yet also true is that German companies generate 672,000 jobs in the U.S., and about 600,000 of the 1.6 million jobs affected in Germany are by American companies in Germany, according to industry body BDI. Many of these American companies would be severely affected. So large is the bilateral trade relationship that no one would come out a winner, all would be big losers. Once the process starts it becomes tit for tat, as Germany and the European Union is faced with a dilemma on how to react, says this editorial. Which is why Merkel and Germany, are coming all out to get the trade talks on the right footing with the Trump administration. Economy minister Zypries warned about taking the case to the WTO if the Trump administration follows through on higher tariffs. Merkel has focussed on trade, and other issues have become secondary at this time. Before this meeting Germany's Gabriel met with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to set the right tone for German- U.S. relations. And the first meeting appears to have been tightly planned so that it goes off with a good start considering what is at stake. Even then this editorial reminds readers that the tone of the tariffs rhetoric from the Trump administration could affect perceptions over the next 4 years. ...

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What an amazing recovery Rishabh Pant has made after his Mercedes SUV crashed on the Delhi-Roorkee expressway, hitting a divider and went into flames. It was in January 2023 that surgery was done on Pant. After rehab work at the National Cricket Academy, water aerobic work and training, he is back to play Test cricket as wicketkeeper for the Indian side at Headingley and now at Edgbaston. He scored a century at Headingley.

Here he talks about his near death experience and his first question will he be able to play again, his mother's was will he be able to walk again. Dr Pardiwala, his orthopedic surgeon, was uncertain if Pant could ever play again. It shows miracles happen.

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China is exceptional in the speed with which it is moving on infrastructure projects. And this bodes well for American exporters like Caterpillar which is seein g big jump in excavator sales, and for China which may see thre fourths of the 6.5% increase in GDP in 2009 coming from infrastructure building. Fortunately there is still a need for alot of infrastructure development in China. Typical is the approval and start of work on the $930 million Xiangshan Island Bridge which will extend over the East China Sea and through mountain tunnels. Caterpillar CEO James Owen says of approval and start of construction as fast, "its something like nine months in the USA versus 9 weeks " in China. China has agood pipeline of projects and alot of planning work has been done for many years. For Xiangshan Island Bridge this goes back to1994. Liu Cijun completed a PhD dissertation in 1999 on bridge wind resistance, and the Ningbo native is now Chief Engineer for the project. Preparatory work on the bridge goes back to 2004 and the stone cutting ceremony in 2006. In August the bridge's feasibility report won approval from aplanning agency in Beijing, and in December approval by the Ministry of Transportation. Construction started in just 11 days after the Chinese government approved the project. China's investment in infrastructure has jumped by 102% in the 1st quarter of 2009 from a year earlier, according tho the National Bureau of Statistics. By comparison Washington has distributed $69 billion of its $787 billion in stimulus fundsto states and localities, which have spent $14 billion according to the WSJ....

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The president tells a Wisconsin rally that he is not going to let one 60 minute debate obscure three and a half years of hard work. In the ABC interview tonight he says he was sick and feeling terrible that night of the debate, that it was a bad cold not a serious condition. That he should have listened to his instincts while preparing. This episode will be remembered in history as one which showed  an irresponsible media owned by television magnates trying to assert their power on a president who remains popular with the American people, and has the vast store of experience, wisdom and the character to get America through an inflection point, through the challenges of climate change, loss of manufacturing and overconcentration of supply chains in China that previous administrations since Reagan including Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump had done little about. 

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This BBC report shows how much has changed with Germany's erstwhile leaders. From 1998 to 2005 Mr. Gerhard Schroeder was head of the German government. His ties with Russian leaders and Gazprom have led to severe criticism in Germany. He survived an effort this week to remove him from the local chapter of the Social Democrat Party. He now faces a loss of his office and staff and other privileges in the German parliament. The Budget committee of parliament says "he no longer upholds the continuing obligations of his office," says this report. Mr. Schroeder has filed a suit against the German parliament in the Berlin Administrative Court. This BBC report shows how things are changed in 2022- Merkel, Schroeder, Steinmeier and other politicians of the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats face intense public skepticism of their role in a situation where Germany faces a cold winter with gas rationing. It is the Greens with Robert Habeck who are faced with the hard work of finding the energy to meet the shortfall and to build back on renewable energy to fight climate change. Very little was done under the previous administrations it now appears, as the public looks back with regret. ...

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Another danger for Labour comes from Rachel Reeves being exactly the wrong attitude person for this time giving too much deference and authority to Office of Budget Responsibility, which was set up for austerity rules under John Osborne. It is not set up to give Britain the public investment in infrastructure that it needs today and its members thinking ios from that era. Labour Good Growth Foundation, Common Wealth and Labour group Progress are advising Labour party to change before it is too late. Langleben of Progress says-“The OBR was created for an era defined by austerity, and while it can clearly count the upfront cost of investment, it too often misses the long-term value, whether that’s a healthier workforce, better housing or modern transport." It now appears that Rachel Reeves is really the wrong person for the job of Finance minister and that Keir Starmer had another problem in addition to McSweeney, where he was stuck with 5 billion pounds cuts to welfare spending losing some of the Labour base to Greens, as seen in byelections and in polls showing a mere 18% approval rate for Starmer. It now appears that Yvette Cooper at Home Ministry stuck on the old asylum rules, Rachel Reeves stuck on the austerity period OBR assessments and making cuts in payments for Labour's base, and McSweeney with his lack of honest conviction to help Labour's base, Mandelson, were all the wrong people appointed to the wrong positions that risk's losing the base of Labour by fracturing it and sending it to Reform UK on immigration, on budget cuts to the Greens, and on a sense of lack of true conviction and sincerity to the Liberal party. ...

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Ghosn of Renault-Nissan used to be a skeptic about electric cars. Now he is on board. Nissan plans to sell an electric car in the US and Japn by 2010. It will be only hundreds of vehicles at first so it will take more time to take it to mass market, but the goal is to go for mass market. By 2012 Nissan will plan for a lineup of electric vehicles, so it will extend beyond small cars to small minivans and small commercial vehicles and small crossovers. 100% electric cars also are described as zero emission vehicles. But Nissan won't be the only company doing this. Mercedes is moving "very fast" in the direction of emission free vehicles, see the the interview with Daimler's Zetsche. Mitsubishi Motors and Fuji Heavy Industries are testing versions of electric cars. And GM plans to introduce the Chevy Volt in 2010. Toyota plans to have a plug in hybrid about this time. Mercedes will be the first to bring a lithium oin battery in its S400 coming out later this year which will be a hybrid. It is the cooling of lithium ion batteries that has been a major hurdle to development of electric cars and Daimler's Zetsche says they have solved this problem, have 24 patents, and developed a cooling system that works inside the car. Nissan has an electric car project that it is working on with California based Project better Place to produce electric cars for the Israeli and Danish markets. Ghosn has grasped the idea that the market is signalling a major and irreversible change towards smaller emissions and regulators are way behind on this curve. He says that if one is to sensibly participate in the growth of emerging markets which Nissan is doing in North Africa and India and Eastern Europe then one has to think in terms of sustainability and lower emissions, as putting tens of millions of more cars on the road around the world can damage the environment. And the only way this can be done to meet the aspirations of people in emerging markets is to lower emissions and to set this as the overriding goal. One gets the same sense from the Germans, see Zetsche, Daimler....

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This speech by chancellor Merz to the German parliament the Bundestag, marks a major turning point for Germany since reunification in 1990. This is where chancellor Merz took up the task of Germany shouldering responsibilities in the world for its economic role and for it's role in defence of Europe. Hardly 2 months in office the Merz coalition with finance minister Kingbeil and defense minister Pistorius both of the SPD, and foreign minister Wadephul of the CDU, is setting a new direction for Germany, in a historic moment. Merz says Germany needs to be strong and reliable from now on. Huge new investment for the first time since 1990 sets the path to modernization of the Germany economy and German infrastructure, German defense. Not surprisingly Merz comes not from the professional class of politicians but from business as head of German investment fund for Black Rock. He brings a clear headed common sense approach and has the support of the Social Democrats and the Green Party in its investment program to rebuild the German economy. The media focuses on AfD yet it misses the point that fully 57% of voters back Merz and Kingbeil, that the AfD reached its high point at 20.8 percent of vote with the offset of the Left parties at 16 percent of voters and with Merz's policy on stopping all illegal migration. Merz moved quickly to remove the constitutional debt brake set by Merkel and had parliament pass a budget that supports modernization of infrastructure on a big scale. ...