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Argentina's win in a penalty shootout with Netherlands will be remembered for the intensity and the exchange of words between the teams, the red card to Dumfries of the Netherlands. It was not football like as Messi later pointed out. "We suffered more than we should have done," says Messi after the game. After the penalty shootout the Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez sent a defiant look at the Dutch. A fracas ensued and Dumfries of the Nertherlands was given a red card. Both teams are being sanctioned by FIFA.

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The German government's committee on the future of transport has proposals that call for fuel price hikes and electric vehicle quotas as Germany faces heavy European fines for not reducing transport emissions since 1990. This means the stretches of unlimited speed on the Autobahn roadways in Germany may now have speed limits. The proposals include limits of 80 mph on roadways and fuel tax rises from 2023, abolition of tax breaks for diesel cars, quotas for electric and hybrid cars that could get half of the emission cuts needed.

A series of diesel emissions cheating scandals have damaged confidence in diesel, and the lack of progress in climate change through less coal use has damaged confidence in Germany's climate change efforts. A new climate change law is planned.

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Krauthammer cites Congressional Budget Office numbers that show the Obama U.S. health care law continues the spiralling costs of health care with new government mandates at a time of severe budget cuts in education and other areas- for 2013-2022 the costs come to $1.76 trillion. The initial Obama administration figures of 10 year costs of $938 billion announced in 2010 reflected the fact that the new U.S. health care law would take 4 years to fully go into effect. Costs after 2021 are shown to be $250 billion each year in the CBO figures. The law is now before the Supreme Court in 2012, which has to decide on the basis of the limits of the Commerce Clause.

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This report in WSJ by Mike Colias about personal politics exaggerates the impact of political party Republican vs Democrat in the switch to electric cars as most of the resistance comes from the lack of charging facilities and not enough technological breakthrough in cost and efficiency to make the switch. And much of the political resistance by a third of the population comes more from the idea that it supports China sourced materials. This comes from misinformation and old data as Biden has imposed 100 percent duty tariff on imports of China made electric cars and 50% on solar panels just last week. Americans including Republicans are realizing that the only way to compete with China's subsidized push for key industries is for America to do the same. This gives the American manufacturers the time and the support from the US government to compete with EV's made in China supported by Chinese government large not so visible subsidies over long periods. WSJ reports recently showed how China's prime minister supported building Tesla plants in China to observe American manufacturing methods and technology, in the process advancing its own technologies in EV's at a faster pace. Making Tesla's role contradict the idea that politics not misinformation and technological lag is causing resistance to EV's both of which will fade over time. ...

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Suzuki is not going to give up its dominant position in the Indian market easily. It has about 25 years of experience in India and owns 54% of Maruti Udyog which makes about 750,000 cars a year and plans to make 1 million cars in India annually by 2010. In JD Powers surveys Suzuki ranks first then Hond and Hyundai and Toyota fourth. Tata Motors is ninth. Competitiion is sure to heat up and Hyundai also has considerable experience being the second foreign company after Suzuki to come into India earlyon. The newcomers from Euope USA and Japan like Toyota and GM don't have anywhere near the experience and distribution netwrks and years of experience of Suzuki and Hyundai. So Suzuki may lose market share but will continue to be one of the top companies in India for some time. This is made possible by Suzuki investments in India. Suzuki plans a one billion yen research center in India to develop cars for the Indian market and is building a new plant in India.In the nextfew years Suzuki plans to double the number of service centers and showrooms to 1000 to reach every part of India. Suzuki is seeing considerable demand for its Swift car and has higher end versions in the Grand Vitara and the SX4. The head of Suzuki, Mr. Suzuki, has run the company since 1977 and is determined to respond to competition from newcomers with moves of his own to keep Suzuki as one of the leaders in India. ...

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With a loss of $8.7 billion in the second quarter of 2008 Ford now moves to transform its production operations to make small carslike the Focus, and the Fiesta and to smaller cars in general converting existing truck and SUV plants to make cars. It will not be till early 2010 that therse new cars some of them from Europe where Ford has success with making a decent profit on smaller cars and has a number of models that are popular there.

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2012 car sales in France declined by 13.9%. This was higher than the 8.2% decline in the European market, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. Analysts point to low new demand in the developed world- only 2% for U.S. and Europe compared to 70% in emerging markets. Replacement demand is also declining as younger people in urban areas increasingly use subway transportation and bicycles. Better made automobiles last longer and car owners drive less with an aging population reducing replacement demand. This reporter found few customers at auto dealerships in the centre of Paris.

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The Affordable Care Act subsidies are basically a band aid approach to a fundamentally broken health care system in the US, says Washington Post Editorial Board on Nov. 1, 2025. The 22 million ACA subsidies will cost $350 billion over 10 years. Democrats have the government shutdown over this issue of extending Obama ACA subsidies where enrolment increased in the covid and Biden years with generous subsidies. The Washington Post looks at how we got here since 1945, decisions made about employer insurance plans that created a patchwork of plans from private sector and other plans outside it with perverse incentives and inefficient subsidies. It calls the system stupid, and politicians looking to the next 2 year midterm elections wary of addressing the whole problem in the proper way for a system that will benefit all the people of the US.

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US Senator Lisa Murkowski gets $25 billion for rural hospitals and assistance for Alaska in One Big Beautiful Act 2025. She was the 50th vote for the Tax Cuts Bill in the US Senate, without her vote the bill would not pass. Senator John Thune worked hard to get her on board. At about 1.30 am in the wee hours she agreed to support it only after getting $25 billion for rural hospitals and special allocations for Alaska healthcare needs, and other benefits for Alaskans including $25 billion for the Coast Guard. Places are spread far out in Alaska and patients have to be flown in to Anchorage for care. Alaska is a different place for health care including needs of native tribes. Lisa Murkowski is a rare senator with a passion to serve Alaska, and her concerns for disadvantaged people.

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Violation of international law or tacit approval of drug states and suppression of the election results in Venezuela- position taken by Oxford's Dill and Germany's Steinmeier is itself controversial. Merz's is realistic. For those concerned about international law is it restricted to any particular period? Then the British policy in China supported by the other powers Japan, Russia, Germany and France to suppress the Boxer rebellion in 1901 and expand Treaty ports that forced opium on China in the period 1850 to the 1930's was not just a egregious violation, horrendous violation of basic human rights on a scale unimaginable in modern times. Much of the prosperity of the Netherlands and Britain, France was achieved through such policy in Asia. Yet Oxford's Dill and Steinmeier have chosen not to look at European history and the Empires of Europe in Asia and Africa for 300 years since 1700. By comparison Venezuelan action comes after the great patience of well meaning people, and the silence of elites in the US and Europe about massive migration encouraged by the regime in Venezuela of one third of its population about 9 million people to neighboring countries including the US, and suppression of free elections, complete mismanagement leading to 150% inflation destroying its economy.  It was not only these elites in the US and Europe that were responsible through their silence, but also the Bush and Obama wars in the Middle East which sapped the resources of the United States. Why is this happening when the Venezuelan people are the main benificiaries of the action taken by the US president to send in its military. All oil sales revenue will no longer go to a corrupt "drugs" state but be used to directly help the Venezuelan people achieve a better standard of living, bring down inflation  and invest in modernization, in these unusual circumstance a program run by Bessent at US Treasury. Those who dislike the unconventional but well meaning style of the US president and his occasional poor choice of words, find every opportunity for criticism even ignoring facts and common sense. Under Chavez and Maduro the Venezuelan economy was simply mismanaged to the point of being destroyed and an affluent country reduced to poverty and inflation so bad that one third or 9 milllion people left for neighboring countries. On this Dill at Oxford and Steinmeier have only this to say- it is somebody's else's problem. we will remain silent. Similarly on introducing nuclear weapons in the Middle East -where most nation states have intermittent wars and economic mismanagement for the last 50 years the artificial states from the Ottoman Empire of Syria and Iraq, Libya, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan every state impoverished by war and economic mismanagement - Dill at Oxford and Steinmeier in Germany also have only this to say- it is somebody else's problem not ours, we will remain silent. ...

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Carlos Slim's America Movil has expanded quickly throughout Latin America in the last decade. It now has 225 million customers. It offers innovative solutions in a region where credit cards are not as widespread and incomes are lower. Prepaid cards let customers of America Movil use its service in large numbers. It started with 10 million customers in Mexico, about ten years ago. A new strategy is to expand data streaming and internet services in the same way, by offering low cost prepaid cards that let people in Brazil use the service for 2 weeks, and similar pricing elsewhere in Latin America. America Movil has 60 million internet customers at this time. The target is to get 400 million people online using mobile phone devices iin the Latin American region.

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GM's joint venture with Luizhou Wuling Motors has produced a win-win situation for both companies. Wuling was a small, regional manufacturer when the joint venture started. Now Wuling has more than 1 million in unit sales. And GM has benefitted from the rapidly growing sales. Year over year sales were 29% in 2010, and were slowing to 10% in 2011, with the end of government incentives. Wuling vans can now be sold under the GM brand in India, using lower cost manufacturing in China. Looking back this was good for GM. The future however has some twists and turns and could turn out to be different. Wuling joint venture will produce cars at a lower price point under the Baojun brand. These cars were shown at the Shanghai Auto Show, and will be marketed to customers who are looking for affordable cars in the second and third tier cities in China. The Baojun brand joint venture will have one difference. This brand involves intellectual property being held in common with Wuling Motors. This is part of China's new plan for American and European manufacturers in China- the price of access to the Chinese market is greater technology sharing with Chinese partners. In the long run this should enable Chinese manufacturers to be dominant inside China. This process is already underway. According to J.D. Powers, Chinese brands had 32% of the domestic passenger vehicles market in 2010, up from 18% in 2000. Something similiar happened with Japan, where Nissan was making Britain's Austin A40 series in the mid-1950's. By the 1960's the foreign tieups were replaced by Japanese manufacturers dominant in the home market and exporting their own models. ...

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Landler and Barry say in this report in the NYT that the situation of government paralysis in the U.S. parallels the one in the UK with no-deal Brexit around the corner. President Trump wants a border wall (steel or other kind) on the border with Mexico as a campaign pledge. In the UK Conservative party faction supporting Leave from the European Union, including supporters of Boris Johnson, seek Leave at all cost. Johnson called the shortage of Mars bars a small inconvenience, as the Theresa May government prepares to push its own Brexit deal through Britain's parliament. In a separate report the NYT tries to show that over 80% of the drugs come in through entry ports and the border crossings are largely families or unaccompanied children. For the first time -since the 1950's and the segregation struggles in the U.S. -populists battle the elites in the large cities, say Barry and Landler. The rural urban divide, is seen in both sides of the Atlantic, in Europe and the U.S. ...

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What the French take for granted today- 99% of the French people are covered by national health care- started when Charles De Gaulle faced rising scial discontent in the postwar period, and accepted a demand for worker protections. During the postwar period Frenchmen are paying higher taxes, but in the first 30 years because French salaries were growing fast this was not noticeable. With slow growth and rising healthcare costs its getting harder to increase these tax deductions for overall social security, which have reached one third of apaycheck at the low end, say for ataxi driver in Marseilles. So you have the government running deficits of $15 billion in 2004, even after increasing co-payments for routine care and doctors visits. Experts say this could reach $40 billion in 2010 and $90 billion in 2020. In 2007 health care cost the government $300 billion, or 11 % of GDP, (OECD numbers) and the bureaucracy and rules are getting more complicated. This 11% is well below what Americans pay for asystem that leaves out about 50 million people. France ranked 8th on the OECD list in cost per capita, the US at the top. And the French life expectancy is higher at 80.98 vs. 78.11 for the USA, higher by about 3 years. For this cost the system is cost effective according to the OECD. And the French find the American debate abouthealthcare public option "altogether surreal", as the newspaper Le Monde put it. To keep the system in viable form the government is increasing copayments, such as the decrease in reimbursements from 80% to 65% for routine care and doctors visits in 2004. As aresult the deficit dropped to $6 billion in 2008. ut the global economic crisis and rising unemployment has made this grow to estimated $13 billion for 2009. Measures under consideration: increasing hospitalization copayments to $28 a day from $22. To fill this substantial gap for routine care and other costs the French system has private insurance companies called mutuals that offer different policies. Which is where the Fench notion for equal treatment in health care gets distorted because different people can have different coverage. The French though compare their system to the British system and say theirs is not as nationalized as it appears and the Brisih one is much more so. The French system though supervised by the government is different from government run health care as in Britain. French people are free to choose their own doctor who is often a private practitioner. ...

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Electricians union and dockworkers unions say they will support a strike for collective bargaining agreement of the mechanics working at Tesla in Sweden. The IF Metall Union representing 300,000 workers in Sweden is negotiating for a collective bargaining agreement with Tesla. Unless an agreement is reached in which workers participate to set working hours and wages, benefits, the transport workers says they will not unload Tesla cars from any Swedish ports. The idea is to support the current situation for 90% of workers in Sweden to participate in reaching a consensus for wages, benefits and working conditions.

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Total household debt, including mortgages and credit cards, as a percentage of disposable income, has declined from 130% in 2007 to 116% in 2010. The Federal Reserve reported this data recently. Much of the reduction in debt was done through defaulting or walking away from mortgage loans, and some of it by reducing expenses. Commercial banks wrote off $118 billion in mortgage, credit card and other consumer debt in 2010, according to the Fed data. This amounts to half of the total $209 billion in debt reduction for household debt, which includes new mortgages and credit card debt. Economists say the level of household debt is still high because household debt at a level lower than 100% of disposable income is where it should be. Many consumers are still in a weak condition because of the weak job market, which has resulted in their using up some of their retirement savings till a job at a lower pay is found. Job cuts at the state and local level are still looming as state governors reduce their deficits. Total U.S. nonfinancial debt went up by 4.8% to $36.3 trillion, with a 20% increase in federal debt. Higher gasoline and food prices also act as a tax on households in 2011....

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Manufacturing and building plants related to Green energy is a better path for Nevada to meet the needs of the people of the state. Dependence on casinos and the hospitality industry has hurt Nevada. The Redwood Materials plant near Reno, Nevada, is an example of this effort. It is a sprawling 300 acre facility that recycles old smartphones and other discarded items into materials for electric cars and other products.

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Issues facing Israeli response to the Hamas attack from readers of the NYT include humanitarian issues and finding solutions beyond repeated wars.

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Merz popularity dips slightly as he brings up tough issues such as 4 days work weeks in Germany, Many working part time and CDU calling for restricting part time to workers giving care to elderly, childcare, and for education. The German welfare payments close to minimum wage was an issue in Germany but is declining in significance. Most significant today at 35% is the issue of social inequality. Taxes unfairly distributed at 13%, and the asylum seekers issue at 9% lower today by 2%. On the economy Merz pointed out that- "Prosperity cannot be maintained with a four-day work week and an exaggerated work-life balance." He also criticized the high number of sick leave days at 14.5 average days sick leave per employee per year. Polls in February 2026 show CDU at 26%, SPD at 15%, Greens at 12%, Left at 10%, AfD at 24%, FDP 3% BSW 3%. Popularity in Germany is highest for defense minister Pistorius and next comes foreign minister Wadephul. Merz is less popular but he is raising the tough issues and taking strong action compared to Merkel who was more interested in her personal popularity than what was good for Germany. Also not given credit for action is Merz removing constitutional brake on spending for investing in Germany's infrastructure and defense, and fixing problems left behind by Merkel who neglected infrastructure, digital economy, and defense. ...

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This Guardian report alongside the Carter Center report plus independent tallies by The Washington post and the Associated Press, shows the 2024 election in Venezuela was won by Opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez. Notably it happened in the light of 8 million people, about a third of Venezuela's population leaving the country as refugees. And inflation at  300 percent in the worst mismanagement of the economy in that region in a century. As the US asserts the Monroe Doctrine in the western hemisphere the US acts to see that the needs and rights of the people of Latin America are preserved free from interference by European colonial powers.  By colonial European powers as was intended by president Monroe in 1823, and by any foreign powers under its version in 2026. The rapprochement with Russia was also achieved so that the Venezuelan people can finally see the light of a free country that respects the aspirations of all the people. The US involvement comes from the drug trafficking by gangs and other groups in Venezuela and Mexico that has destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives in the US over two decades- more than the Korean and Vietnam wars combined. Making US action imperative, essential for preserving the way of life of the American people and the rights of people all over the Western hemisphere. ...

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DJT on Canada "lives because of the US," and Carney's referencing the relationship and saying "Canada does not live because of the US." Rupture in relations started earlier but was mended. This time Carney takes the first step after visiting Beijing to clearly distance Canada from the US in speeches at Davos, by being openly critical of US policies. This does not bode well for negotiations onthe USMCA agreement that is being rewritten. Disputes with Mexico continues over US preference to strike on land against drug cartels in Mexico that are trafficking drugs to the US with loss of hundreds of thousands of lives more than the Korean and Vietnam wars, and World War 1 combined over the last decade. The USMCA involves negotiations with Mexico and Canada. The Border has been secured but like Eisenhower in 1954 DJT faces the problem of how to send back the surge in migrants that entered the border illegally through Mexico with the Mexican government not intervening and the Biden/Harris/Mayorkas government failing to secure it -asking for legislation as late as 2024 when most of the illegal entry had already happened. In 1954 Eisenhower organized Operation Wetback to do this, which is now underway in the US in a different way by DJT in 2026 with the clear focus on getting criminal activity out. ...

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Issues of cost of living and higher taxes in states in the northeastern US and California vs the lower taxes and lower cost of living in the Southern States of the US. Whose side each of the two main parties are on in the US has switched in the period since Harry Truman and FDR in the 1940's. The Republicans represent small business and the less educated in society, the Democrats represent the more educated, affluent sections, and women, the black minority, with Hispanics divided between the two parties. Unions are now neutral and workers in factories lean more towards Republicans. On health care there is a failure for both parties. Both parties have failed miserably with all the lobbying creating obstacles-- to provide cost of living in healthcare. In comparing healthcare and the wealth of societies, it can now be noted that a well funded healthcare system with medicine within reach of the entire population of 1.4 billion people in a poor country like India does better than that of a rich society like the US with 350 million people. This makes a huge difference in the quality of life. Infrastructure investments in relatively far less affluent countries like China and now India make it possible to have better conditions of living relative to the US with infrastructure and transportation from the 19th century still awaiting rebuilding. ...