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Poland's collapsing birth rate at 1.0 compared 1.62 in France another Catholic country, and Spain's 1.1, Germany's 1.3- 2.1 is the replacement rate per woman. This has profound consequences for Poland. The future workforce will be 20% smaller compared to 4% smaller in France in 2 decades. Many schools will close in rural areas which are hit hard. There are more deaths than births in many small towns. At this rate 1.7 million homes will become vacant in 2 decades.This report looks at Warsaw as well as rural areas near Belarus where the war has created much anxiety. The population of Poland will shrink from 36 million to 31 million over three decades if these trends continue. By 2000 the birhtrate dropped from 2.1 to 1.3 and the government introduced payments of 190 euros per child per month and expanded the childcare system. But this has not helped as the rate dropped to 1.03 in 2025. Under the Communist system industries were located in small towns and men stayed there while women moved to cities leading to a mismathch for men and women. The economic boom that doubled per capita income led to less interest in having children. The economy was supported by long hours of work which led to less interest in bearing children for women. Other reasons are a lack of interest in sharing and making the effort, the cost of raising children in a hyper competitive society like South Korea where births are at 0.7. ...

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Jessie Diggins US Cross Country skier at Olympics in Italy 2026. She is known for her endurance in long distance cross country skiing.

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David Brooks says one of the good things about the ugly election campaign of 2016 and its depletion of moral capital, is the way people are responding to it by finding their voice for something better and uplifting. He cites Michelle Obama as one example of someone who acts not as a politician but as a mother in her behaviour and talk. He praises Hillary Clinton for adopting this Michelle tone and giving 3 answers he calls great in the final debate with Trump. The answers came on the questions about Trump and denigration of women,  on the contrast between the experience gained on a television show "Apprentice," and the experience of Clinton as senator and secretary of state. Brooks says they were given in a gradual understated manner, showing moral sentiment and a quiet contempt, similar to how a mother or parent would respond and not a politician. Another way to look at it is that the contrast was so great between her and her opponent's experience and respect for parenthood, and the campaign so long with so many people who had shown indifference when they should have known and done better, that Hillary Clinton simply stood her own ground based on her own Protestant Methodist faith and conviction.  ...

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Attitudes one can take to be happy as aging occurs- even into the eighties and nineties. The difference is in the attitude- being thankful for the things you have and not complaining about the things you do not have. This means surviving as things change around you, being resilient in the face of challenges and taking a positive attitude. Bringing cheerfulness to conversation and daily living.

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Senator Rubio, Republican nominee for Secretary of State, is given good points by the Wash. Post for helping negotiate a 2013 bipartisan deal on immigration that passed the Senate but could not pass in the US House of Representatives. And for his willingness to compromise.

On Ukraine and Eastern Europe after the invasion of Ukraine Rubio with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) inserted an amendment into 2023 defense authorization bill that prevents any president from withdrawing from NATO unless two thirds of the Senate agrees.

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Apple to ship 25 million iphones made in India to the US for the June quarter 2025, meeting 50% of US demand. This will reduce iphone tariff from 20% for China to 10% for India. Apple will take $900 million in added costs for the tariffs for the June quarter and higher costs for future quarters. Apple made 24.8 billion on $95 billion in sales for the 1st quarter of 2025.  Apple will not get the $20 billion payment it gets from Google for making Google search the default search engine on Safari web browser. This is 25% of Apple profit. A federal judge declared this payment illegal on antitrust grounds. Another federal judge has referred Apple's App policies for criminal contempt investigation. Apple has been late to recognize the dangers of concentrating production in one country. Eight years after the 2016 election won by DJT Apple has not corrected this concentration in one country. Apple has focused on proift alone ignoring the potential for education for it's products such as the iPad. The public perception of Tech companies is that Tech is all about profit alone without regard for the Nation, education, investment in American communities and jobs, and other needs. ...

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The U.S. contingency plans for taking control of chemical weapons stockpiles in Syria in the event of a chaotic situation and terrorists taking control of some of these stockpiles.

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Losses at Kabul Bank approaching $900 million in January 2011. According to the New York Times report investigators and Afghan businessmen believe that much of the money has gone into the pockets of a small group of privileged and politically connected Afghans, who prevented earlier inquiry into the bank's dealings. This threatens Afghanistan's nascent banking system. The bank is also used to pay Afghan security forces, which puts the American military in the position of having to look for new banks to process the $1.5 billion payroll.

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Wei points out the limited impact of the cut in rates in China in Nov. 2014, because banks are not likely to lower loan rates to protect profits.

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Paulson says in his new book that debt as a percentage of GDP is up in China from 130% in 2008 to 204% in 2014. He sees the borrowing surge in China as certain to cause trouble, and describes a scenario where the real estate market runs into trouble. He is particularly concerned about the trust companies in China. The Economist has decribed this in similiar terms in its recent issues. And experts including Krugman have warned about this for some time.

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Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations and political science at Istanbul's Kadir Has University and columnist for Haberturk, Turkish daily newspaper, says the street protests in Turkey resemble the "Green Movement" in Iran of four years ago. Iranian protests were predominantly educated and middle class urbanites, and the same is true in Turkey. The AKP party is likely to continue its control but its legitimacy inside Turkey and in the world is being questioned. The recent elections in Iran resulted in a moderate being elected as Iranian voters rejected the politics of the Ahmadinejad period. Turkey is different in one respect in that it is a democracy with liberal democraic values and the rule of law. He gives credit to the AKP party for making housing, health care and education more accessible to the rural areas of Turkey and broadening its middle class. Voters are likely to reject the authoritarian tendencies of the Erdogan government and its sense that the majority simply prevails without a respect for the views of the opposition and other opinion essential for the functioning of democracy. Economic conditions have hurt the middle class and all segments of society in Iran after international sanctions. In Turkey changing economic conditions after an unsustainable credit boom based economic expansion could also play a part. Ultimately says Ozel this is about the Turkish identity as a modern state based on liberal democratic values....

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The Eli Lilly settlement for drug Zyprexa for $1.2 billion to Zyprexa patients.