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The Labor Department reports 321,000 seasonally adjusted nonfarm employment jobs were added in November 2014. The unemployment rate in the U.S. now is at 5.8%. Average hourly earnings showed an increase of 0.4% over the prior month, and up 2.1% from the prior year. At the same time not much improvement is seen in parttime workers looking for full time work with 6.9 million in part time work. About 2.8 million people were out of work for more than 6 months, 30.7% of the unemployed workers, in Nov. 2014.

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The pace of fundraising for the Sanders campaign picks up pace in the 48 hours after the virtual tie with Hillary Clinton in Iowa- raising $3 million in small donations most well below $2700 maximum, and 40% from new donors. The Sanders campaign gains momentum with about 80% of the vote from young people going to Sanders in Iowa.

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Bias on NBC News with opinion of Chris Matthews more commentator than unbiased anchor in Brokaw's view and the reluctance of the McCain campaign to trust NBC News,. Brokaw's efforts to sooth feelings at the McCain campaign. Brokaw's hosting of Meet the Press and the effects of age, he is 68, in the rigors of hosting and commenting in a hectic campaign season. "My daughters will say that I look a bit tired," said Brokaw recently. He is filling in for Tim Russert at this time.

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The ancient city of Antakya in Hatay province in Turkey is wiped out, says this report in The New York Times. People are sleeping outside in a city in rubble, in the freezing cold. NYT gives pictures of the devastating earthquake.

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A heart warming story of aging well of a world class Masters swimmer who stays fit at 89, Gail Roper can be an inspiration for people wanting to live healthy into an advanced age. She was a national champion by the time of the 1952 Olympic games in Helsinki, FInland. At 44 she started swimming in Masters competitions. She thinks one should not need a walker when one is growing old, provided one has plenty of exercize. She says she could be competing even now except for her driving. She lives in a senior community and swims 2000 yards everyday in an outdoor pool. Her daily routine includes, 20 sit-ups while watching the news, 20 push-ups against her kitchen sink between washing dishes, 200 revolutions on her stationary bike, 100 steps on her stair stepper, resistance bands to stretch. Want to stay straight up and down, and not crouched or humped over, then you must work at it says Gail Roper. Its that simple. It means working lives don't end when you retire, just take different shapes and adopt new routines. She speaks to 5 people everyday as a rule to keep up social skills. And she reads as well to keep her brain active. Gail starts the day with a cup of Nespresso coffee, granola and fruit, and adds yogurt. Snacks on walnuts, almonds and dried fruit throughout the day. Her main meal is lunch which includes a salad and beverage where she spends time with other people at the seniors center. Dinners are small portions. On Sundays its pizza and wine. Thats it! Secret to healthy living for the retired and older people.   ...

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This article in the NYT after German chancellor Merkel's visit to the U.S. reminds readers that Merkel's relationship with Obama took some time to develop and that following Merkel's turning down of Obama's request to speak at the Brandenburg Gate in 2008 relations during a Merkel visit in 2009 were not as friendly. It says the relationships evolve over time. Even then the relationship between Merkel and Obama had ups and downs including the period when it was revealed that the Obama administration had tapped Merkel's phone and Obama failed to offer an apology, ending with a positive note in 2016 when the two met in Krun, Germany, with Obama as lameduck president. Experts from the German Council of Foreign Relations say that Trump adopted his usual double speak saying the right things about NATO and relations with Germany in the joint appearance, and later at a question and answer session saying Germany owed a lot of money to the U.S. for defense. Germany pays 1.2% of GDP for defense and promised to take this up to 2% by 2024. By now viewers may have adjusted to Trump's style to keep certain issues alive for negotiation stance, as a distraction, to keep his base's enthusiasm, or in some situations to vent out grievances such as with media coverage he receives. ...

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Former federal prosecutors say proving a second crime exists that converts a misdeameanor into a felony under New York law is important for the prosecution's case in the indictment of Mr. Trump. This they say depends on whether the hush money payments made to a porn actress were personal or political for the campaign to protect the candidate. The specifics of the case and obvious intent matters a lot in the case, say experts. NYT says the groping issue that came up in the Trump campaign's early days- and which could have tanked the Trump campaign- was at about the time that this story may have come out if it was not stopped with hush money payments.  

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The great persistence shown by president Biden in negotiating with Hamas through Qatar's emir and with Israel's Netanyahu to get both to come to an agreement for release of hostages. This was delayed twice, once with Israel's takeover of the Al Shifa hospital complex in Gaza and then with recalcitrance shown by both sides to agree over which hostages would be released. Each time Biden persisted till he got the deal for both hostage release and a temporary ceasefire that could be the basis for future settlement of decades of conflict. Biden has expresssed his determination to end this conflict. In this he has the support of the world community of nations.

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A survey of 10,000 knowledge workers by Future Forum cited in WSJ shows 78% of workers care about and want location flexibility. And 95% of workers want flexible hours. This survey also found that 72% of workers in knowledge industries who are not happy with their level of flexibility are likely to seek out new opportunities in the next year. 

This happens as employers are finding it hard to get workers. The new hybrid arrangements during the pandemic have created a new workplace culture with hybrid arrangements, flexible work, going into the office only some of the time. More than two thirds of employees say they the hybrid setup was their preferred way of working.

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During the latter period of the pandemic midsized companies encouraged workers to take minivacations to avoid burnout from excessive hours of work in the pandemic environment. These companies found that happier workers were more productive workers. In 2024 workers are continuing to protect their mental health following the pandemic by adding mini vacations using the opportunities to work remotely. Workers are doing this across the workplace for all ages because this saves their official vacation days and because vacation days are scarce. Only 15 days after working 5 years and 18 days after working 10 years, these vacation days are precious for mental health and for medical situations in the family, and for essential time off work to rejuvenate.

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Amy Chozick of the NYT describes the puzzling idea of a Methodist do-gooder, with serious concern for injustices in the South, making an effort to accumulate money. Especially considering that Hillary Clinton must have known that speechmaking fees would come up in a presidential election campaign. Chozick describes in some detail the two years Hillary tried to shore up the family's finances after Bill Clinton's defeat in the 1980 election for Governor. Following the defeat Bill Clinton went back all over the state to voters to hear their complaints, sometimes for hours at a time. It was upto Hillary to shore up the family's finances. Hillary had to stretch to buy a $112,000 home in a better residential neighborhood. Family friends say Bill was never that interested in money, and never worried about the family's finances. Things were so bleak according to this account that Hillary worried about how they would pay for daughter Chelsea's college tution, as her own mother's experience has always remained with her of being denied a college education because of lack of money. During the Democratic Convention this comes up in the video introduction, something that most people are unaware of, which must have been difficult for an intensely private person like Hillary. Her mother is described in that video as having to go to the corner grocery store as a child with coupons for food. The income of the Clintons as professors in the years around 1975 was $18,000 each. As governor Mr. Clinton earned $33,519 in 1978 with combined income at $51,173 adding Hillary's work at the Rose law firm. A one time deal in the commodities market made 100,000, and an investment in land in the Ozarks led to losses- all at a time when other highly educated people in Arkansas were doing extremely well, including the Walton family. It wasn't until 1992 when Bill Clinton was running for president did the couple make higher income of $297,177 reported in 1992 tax returns. At this time entering the White House, of recent presidents only Harry Truman had lower net worth. Hillary donated her book proceeds for "It Takes a Village," to charity, and turned down an advance. By the time they left office the couple were faced with legal debts, owing $5 million in legal fees- Hillary Clinton saying they were "Dead broke." The former president now sought help to buy a Dutch Colonial in Chappaqua, New York, for $1.7 million. President Jimmy Carter was also facing large losses in his peanut business in Georgia when he left office, only to turn to writing books to salvage his finances. Hoover, FDR, Kennedy, George Bush, George W. Bush, were from families with great wealth or built their fortunes, including candidate Trump, sometimes using influence or connections or in the case of Kennedy's family gaining from the end of Prohibition. Eisenhower, Reagan, Carter were of more modest wealth. Only Harry Truman remains the awesome exception of dignity with extremely modest wealth, a small house in Independence, Missouri, no presidential pension, only an army pension of $112.56 a month in 1953. Truman's story also offers another aspect of public service of an exceptional kind and its value to the country for people to reflect on. A presidential pension of $25,000 was set up one year after Truman left office.  Experts say Truman's Senate Committee over 8 years 1941-1948, helped save billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and in faulty airplane as well as munitions development during the war effort, including saving thousands of lives.  In his farewell address in January 1953, Truman said he had spent 17 hours a day for eight years with no payment for overtime. In the address he correctly predicts that the Cold War would be won and he set the course. It also happened as predicted in that address with changes in the Kremlin and failure in the satellite states. Hillary Clinton put in these 17 hours and gained unmatched experience as Secretary of State, and is in a positon to set the course ahead in a manner that Truman once did in a complex world where careful policy, good judgement and in some situations strong action is needed. Such invaluable public service has never really been rewarded in the way business leaders are, not by a small fraction - too long simply taken for granted.  Considering her life story Hillary Clinton appears to have struggled with this all her life, to create a safety net that too often cracked, sometimes suddenly and unexpectedly. Has this concern sometimes gone too far, could better judgement be exercized. Perhaps or probably. Should it be seen in the context that Truman's situation reminds us. Probably.         ...

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The German government under Chancellor Merkel and the German public's preference for continuity and continuing the course Germany is in at this time. This is to continue the export emphasis for as long as possible to countries like China and India, which neede the machinery Germany makes. Exports makeup 47% of German GDP, the highest of large industrialized countries. German industries are being assisted by the government to keep employees and tide over the transition period as markets in Aisa and emerging countries stuggle to recover form the economic crisis. GErman industries in chemicals, automobiles, and machinery are feeling the change and are scaling down and moving to other countries where its advantageous to manufacture. The alternative of promoting entrpreneurial sectors such as software and computers has not met the same degree of success as building a large solar energy industry, in which Germany is taking a leadership role.

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Amy Hood growing up in a small town in Kentucky, then a move to Nashvile, Duke and HBS. She joined Microsoft in 2002 on its investor relations team. She moved into management the same time as Nadella who is CEO. Before the pandemic Microsoft's capital expenditures and investments cost about $16 billion. It is now 4 times that at $64 billion. It is Amy Hood's job as Chief Finanacial Officer to see that all that money is well spent for products with demand. AI services bring in about $10 billion annually.  Yet this may just be deflecting by Wall Street of the real question about the funding needs that are being neglected in education, health care and child care, when huge amounts of capital are being diverted by capital markets in ways reminiscent of the warnings of Franklin Roosevelt at the Democratic Convention of 1932. Warnings that the whole capital markets system was not working right, was only defunding the vital needs of the American people. ...

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One of Britain's largest infrastructure projects HS2 gets the go ahead from prime minister Johnson. The project was estimated at 66 billion pounds in 2015, is now at 88 billion pounds. It cuts intercity time by rail significantly between London, Birmingham, Leeds and the West Midlands, to boost the economy. Infrastructure is a key part of the program of Mr. Boris Johnson.

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US naval blockade of Iran in Arabian Sea starts April 13 2026. US destroyed Iran's larger ships 158 of them, yet Iran also has a fleet of smaller attack boats which it plans to use in Hormuz. These are harder to detect and can be hidden in coves along the Iranian coast and used against ships. The US with its naval blockade is now prepared to do what it has done also in Venezuela, stop and interdict fast drug boats on the Venezuelan side in the Atlantic ocean. By blockading Venezuela in the ocean US is using its strengths, and stopping drug boats its ability to pinpoint traffic on the ocean. Similar capabilities are well suited to Arabian Sea and Red Sea on the open oceans and away from narrow Hormuz playing to US strengths and capabilities. Aircraft carriers and destroyers and the US Air Force is in a position to do what it does best control open seas like the British did in their heyday of the Royal Navy for most of 1750-1920. This avoids options of Hormuz itself with its narrow 15 mile gap of water between Oman and Iran too close to mountainous terrain on either side, and of the Kharg Island option which would require special forces to be backed up with more ground forces. This is the most viable option and the interlude of couple of weeks has given the president an opportunity to make a better choice for positioning the US forces where the US has its strongest points. What is lacking is the individual powers of Britain and France whose leaders Starmer and Macron have popularity below 20%. Yet the US is better off making good choices and not having these nations alongside. The posturing by European nations is limited to France and UK, as Germany and Italy are in sync with the US position. Much of the media operates as if the goal of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to the Middle East is not important for long term peace for nations such as China and India with about 3 billion people and the billions of people of Asia, Latin America and Africa. For the first time in 400 years since 1600 as Asian civilizations began a long decline China and India have emerged in 2000-2030 into the kind of modern economies and societies that exist in Europe and the US. The last thing they need is the risk of destroying the Modern World with nuclear proliferation when it took centuries to get to the right opportunity after 1950 to modernize China and India. Xi's and Modi's generation are the first to experience modernization in Asia after Japan's experience. ...

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Stories of children in New York City overcoming adversity to go to college with the help of the New York Times College Scholarship Fund. Children with poor or sick parents in the city, from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, and other countries.

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The Social Democrats leader Sigmar Gabriel is Economics Minister in the coalition government of Angela Merkel in Germany. He is sympathetic to French premier Manuel Valls effort to reduce austerity in the 2015 French budget now being reviewed by Brussels. Here he takes the initiative to call for discussion on the issue of growth and austerity facing the European Union, by joining French Economics minister Emmanuel Macron in asking two economists Pisani-Ferry and Enderlein at the Berlin Institute of Governance for advice on generating growth. The process started in late summer with the defeat of the centre right government in Sweden which supported Merkel's strict austerity policies for balanced budgets. The elections to the European parliament showed the dire situation facing Cameron in Britain and Hollande in France with the unpopularity of austerity policies, higher taxes and cutbacks. The Socialist Hollande government has the lowest public opinion ratings of any postwar government in France, at 18%, and it is unwilling to go further down the road with austerity. At the same time Valls has found a partner in Italy with the growing popularity of Matteo Renzi in Italy who won 40% of the vote in Italy for the EU parliamentary elections of 2014. ECB president Mario Draghi, has generated the debate by saying at a October 2014 Brookings Institution conference in Washington D.C. that countries that have fiscal space (referring to Germany) should use it. He added that governments that did not take action in the economic crisis facing the eurozone of no growth will be swept away by public opinion. IMF president Lagarde, a former French Finance Minister under Sarkozy, has also questioned policy of strict austerity. For the first time since the start of the eurozone crisis in 2010 there is an opportunity for open discussion on future policies for renewal in the eurozone....

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Suddenly, says Friedman, the Arab world has a truly free space, a space that Egyptians themselves created, and the truth keeps gushing out like a torrent from a broken hydrant. The hopes and aspirations bottled up for 50 years keep gushing out, like this bearded man Friedman sees in Tahrir Square, going back and forth screaming all the time that he feels free, that he feels free.

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The cost will increase the longer the effort for cleanup of PFAS chemicals used in military bases is delayed and could also lead to increased contamination of water in surrounding areas. In 2025 the cost is about $31 billion for 50 US military installations says The Guardian.  The Environmental Working Group policy analysis group senior analyst Jared Hayes is cited in The Guardian- "The DoD is facing a ticking cleanup time bomb as funding falls dramatically behind cleanup costs.” “The DoD has an obligation to its service members, the families living on bases, and the surrounding communities that have already been contaminated, so they need to clean up their mess." The adjoining article in Le Monde shows the awareness being created by Le Monde and its partners and The Forever Pollution Project in Europe about PFAS cleanup in France, and in Europe. ...

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Disney world faces tough time operating in Florida and other countries as the pandemic throws up many hurdles. The coronavirus surge in Florida takes place just as Disney operations restart in Florida July 11 complicating life for the company. The entire Disney business model is up for huge uncertainty and will never be the same. Disney reopening is being questioned by the public, and the sight of people entering the theme parks are jarring when one sees the huge surge in cases in Florida and numbers of cases per day of 10,000 to 15,000.

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French president Emmanuel Macron selects Gabriel Attal, 34 years, as the youngest prime minister of France, to succeed Elisabeth Borne. Attal has served as city councillor in Paris, party spokesman, budget minister, education minister before taking on the job of prime minister. Macron is completing his second term as president. Macron has struggled with low approval ratings for most of his presidency. At one time before 2017 his popularity was about 60%. Since then it has fallen steadily. After being reelected his attempt to pass the law for raising retirement age led to large protests. Macron's ratings are in their twenties after avoiding parliament to pass the law on retirement age by executive authority of the president.

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Trump's Attorney General William Barr was Attorney General of George Bush in 1992-1994 and brings extensive experience, which may have helped him stand his ground on December 1, 2020 rejecting claims of presidential election fraud at a meeting on Dec. 1 with Mr. Trump. In his book 'One Damn Thing After Another," Barr describes what happened on December 1, when he had lunch with Mike Balsamo of the Associated Press. Mike asked him what Barr was finding about election fraud claims. Barr's answer was that to date he had not found fraud on a scale that would have affected the outcome of the election. Within a short time this information was all over the country.

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Paletta, Hilsenrath and Solomon give an exceptional journalism report on the silence and tension in the room at the meeting on Monday, October 13, 2008, at 3.00 pm in the Treasury building. It was an historic meeting between Treasury Secretary Paulson, Fed chairman Bernanke, and FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair on one side, and the head of America's leading banks on the other side. The situation was explained, the bankers asked questions, bankers were not allowed to negotiate, and at one point Bernanke had to intervene saying there was no need for this meeting to have a confrontational tone. Wells Fargo's Kovacevich asked why banks had to accept a capital injection. Kenneth Lewis of Bank of America softened the tone of the meeting by saying that "any one of us who doesn't have a healthy fear of the unknown isn't paying attention." Even before the meeting an anxious John Mack of Morgan Stanley asked Paulson for the reason for the meeting and Paulson told him, "come on down, you will be pleased." John Mack who had fought so many rumors of the firm's demise, was surely pleased with the $10 billon injection of capital in Morgan Stanley by the government in return for preferred share and a dividend of 5%, which helped assure markets about Morgan Stanley's future. Goldman Sach's also received $10 billion. The meeting was ended at 4.30pm. Before this Timothy Geithner, head of the New York Fed, acting as the point man went around handing each CEO a term sheet with a place to sign. Another meeting was setup for 6.30 pm and at that time all the term sheets were returned - and all were signed. There was no meeting. Treasury officials and Fed officials and others had hoped that the intervening time would give CEO's a time to talk to their boards, to think things over, and clear their heads. In a few hours the government took preferred shares in the nation's leading banks and injected $125 billion into the largest banks. Treasury injected $25 billlion in Bank of America, Citigroup, and JP Morgan Chase, And between $20 and $25 billion in Wells Fargo, and $3 billion in Bank of New York Mellon, and $3 billion in State Street. Another $125 billon would be injected into other smaller banks in coming days. Officials at Treasury, Fed and FDIC and other government officials hoped this would give a "confidence shock" to the nation's banking system. ...

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Bob Knoll of the NY Times reviews the Buick Lucerne at the time of New York Auto Show 2006. He says the Buick Lucerne has gone a long way in giving GM a fresh modern look. It is based on the upscale architecture of the Cadillac DTS. Quality ratings by J.D. Powers and Consumer Reports are a strong point for Buick. 1. What did GM fix that Toyota had? Precision down to the little details, with manufacturing clearances of just 0.5 millimeters between adjacent surfaces, and tightly fitting body panels. 2. Sportier contemporary look to appeal to younger demographics. 3. Bringing in new technology thats handy. Wipers that come on automatically when it rains, heated washer fluid, remote-start feature for winter mornings, and so on. 4. Compared to its main competitor, the Toyota Avalon, it stands up well, though with a slightly lower fuel economy.

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The NHS Nightingale hospital was built in 9 days by converting the ExCel convention center in east London. This is the largest hospital of this kind ever built with 4000 beds. Prince Charles opening it by video link from his home in Scotland said it was " a spectacular and almost unbelievable feat of work." The hospital is named after the founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale. The British government drafted hundreds of army engineers to help contractors build the hospital in record time. It will need 16,000 staff and hundreds of volunteers.