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The White House Council of Economic Advisors lists the accomplishments of president Trump for the First 10 Days in cost of living, in job creation, costly regulation, and the economy. Costly regulation cuts $935 billion of costs or $11,000 per family of 4 over the next decade. Lower interest rates improve access to housing saving households $1080 per year. Cost of pharmaceuticals down by 2% and energy prices down by 2%. Used motor vehicles and auto insurance price decreasing. DJT creating 345,000 jobs in the First 100 Days. 

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The British parliament's petitions website crashed because of the high volume of petitions calling for revoking Article 50 and remaining in the European Union. In December the European Court of Justice ruled that UK can unilaterally revoke Article 50 the basis of leaving the UK, and decide to remain in the European Union. 

The petition currently has 700,000 signatures. Off to a slow start in first week, once it picked up the dam burst as frustrated Britons added their support. In January the petition calling for EU to revoke Article 50 got 371,000 signatures.

Liberal Democrat and Labour MP's joined in support till parliament's site crashed with overload on the system.

 

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China trade pause deadline of Aug 12 and its renewal. US negotiators Bessent and Greer in Stockholm report back to DJT for a final decision on whether to extend the trade truce with China by 3 months. China wants to remove the duty related to fentanyl entering the US from origins of the chemicals in China of 20% imposed by DJT, yet trade negotiators say no significant improvements on cracking down on the chemicals used to make fentanyl are seen. Currently duties are at 50-55% and would go up to 80% without a truce. The UK, Japan and European Union, Indonesia, Vietnam have come up with trade agreements with the US by July 28, 2025.

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Obama deal simply pushed back till 2030 Iran's development of nuclear weapons but even that was not achieved as Iran quickly moved to nuclear weapons capabilities by 2026. The basic problem and it does not go away with wishful thinking as the Obama administration had done or not taking responsibility as the EU, China have done. The basic problem is that Iran wants a nuclear weapon. When it seeks the elimination of the Jewish state, and a Shia state that competes with the Arab states this become a problem not just for Israel but for the entire Middle East and for western civilization that the Obama administration never was able to recognize and accept. After the experience of the 1930-1945 period in Germany a traumatic period for western civilization itself-  the German nation and Europe, the US, western civilization itself is committed to a safe society and nation for the Jewish people. This includes India's 1.4 billion people and in many ways China and Russia. Which also recognizes the need for the Arab nations to live in peaceful coexistence with Israel, Christian minorities in Arab countries and with Iran, Palestinian people to be protected, and respected, as well as peaceful co-existence between the urban areas of Iran with the influence since 1800 of Russia, France and Britain and the rural religious areas of Iran that form the core of the IRGC. This is the basic problem- EU, US see a civilization issue and would never allow a nuclear weapon. Arab states are also against a rival religious Shia sectarian IRGC run Middle East, and the Iranian state is itself divided between its modern one in the major cities that do not see a nuclear weapon as essential and the rural one of the IRGC in the rural areas and the countryside that seeks a nuclear weapon. It is this situation the US, not just DJT or Republicans face today, it is one that all Americans, Europe, India, China, Japan and Russia, which have modernized and adopted western civilization's ideas of the Renaissance and Enlightenment as their own have to face up to. One that does not overlook the vital fact that the nuclear proliferation in dangerous parts of the world like the Middle East with more recent conflicts for 50 years than any other part of the world including the Balkans and Ukraine, is simply unacceptable for the people of the world. A world in Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe, NorthAmerica which seek better standards of living and modernization in infrastructure, industry, and a better life using the ideas of the Modern World. ...

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The recovery effort in Japan following the tsunami has increased to $300 billion with the cost of construction doubling over 10 years. Half a million people were displaced and the Fukushima nuclear reactor in meltdown. Many people have not returned. At the time of the disaster half of the people affected by tsunami in the northeastern Tohoku region were over 65. Population is now down by 6% as people move to large cities. The effort was meant to rebuild homes, damaged infrastructure, and to revive agriculture, fishing and tourism. It has cost $2400 for every person living in Japan.

The tsunami crashed into 1000 miles of northern coastline, putting entire communities 6 miles inland under water.

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The slow pace of business travel is increasing the divergence between fall and summer fares to 25% for domestic travel in the US, says this report in WSJ.

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DJT puts a 50% tariff on Brazil on JUly 9, 2025 following the trial of former president Bolsonaro's. In a long letter DJT says the trial of Bolsonaro was similar to the trial he Trump faced in the US in 2024 by zealous prosecutors. Da Silva is president of Brazil and says Brazil is a sovereign country. He was briefly jailed during the Bolsonaro government but won the election in Brazil in 2022.

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About 86% of the total value of cash in circulation was affected by the withdrawal of 1000 and 500 rupee notes by the Modi government on Nov. 8, 2016. This is about 22 billion bills. The effect on the economy will take about a year to work its way through. The government has removed restrictions effect a March date for withdrawals from ATM machines previously limited to Rs 2500, as it says it has enough new bills printed in Rs 2000 denomination.

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CBS ends CBS Radio network and NYT looks back with nostalgia. Old black and white pictures of CBS Radio and correspondents Edward Morrow from London, FDR fireside chats broadcast in 1933 over radio, Adm. Byrd Antartica expedition coverage. The CBS president calls it the "the foundation of everything we built since 1927," a CBS producer calls it one more step in the end of a 100 year old tradition. CBS has 700 affiliates radio stations across America that feed CBS News on radio to reach 93% of Americans. Many of them hear CBS on their commute to and from work. Now these stations will have to look elsewhere as the service is closing.

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A report from Roubini Global Economics says state and local government financial problems are not of a systemic nature and should not affect the U.S. financial system. The report sees defaults as isolated events. Still it says reforms will be needed only some of which have been made, and preventing a crisis will require real austerity. The report predicts $100 billion in muni-bond defaults over 5 years.

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Guerrero Jr from the Dominican Republic who hit home runs to get Toronto Blue Jays to the baseball World Series finals in 2025. They now face the LA Dodgers.

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What happens now that Sanae Takaichi is prime minister of Japan to the deal negotiated with the US for trade? Akazawa who negotiated it under the previous prime minister is the  Economy minister in the new Sanae Takaichi government.

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The stimulus agreement in the u.S. Congress will provide direct checks of $600 to many Americans and $300 a week in enhanced federal unemployment benefits, aid for schools, vaccine distribution, and small businesses. The package is for about $900 billion in aid.

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This title is a classic example of how to lie with statistics. Specifically the idea of 50% increase. 99 Irish citizens deported in 2025, a 50% jump over 2024, when one hundred thousand Irish citizens live in the US. The title could have read one tenth of one percent of Irish citizens living in the US were deported in 2025. Kennedy, Biden, Reagan were Irish in origins, most Irish are law abiding citizens, most are integrated into American society. The law applies equally to all- it only goes to show that the law applies to the Irish also and that it is fairly implemented consistent with US Supreme Court decisions supporting Congress and the Executive when it comes to immigration to the US, Latin Americans and Irish alike are treated equally under the law.

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This graphical presentation, a fascinating look in the NYT shows how the different epidemics, natural disasters and other events compare over the world over the last century. It shows that using a normal mortality rate for a city the worst was Philadelphia in the 1918 spanish flu epidemic. How does this one compare with today's coronavirus pandemic would be a reader question. New York is shown at 5.8 X, Bergamo in Italy at 6.7 X and Philadelphia at 7.3 X. This means New York suffered about 6 times the deaths compared to a normal year. Fifteen thousand people lost their lives in Philadelphia in 1918. As one can see New York went through a lot. The race riots and curfews added to the difficulties the city has faced. When you get past 5.0 X it is only when there is famine or war that one sees this level of deaths. Bergamo in Italy suffered the worst in Europe. Madrid was hit hard at 4.6 X. 14,000 people died in Madrid in the month between mid March to mid April, with a normal deaths in the city at 3000 for a month. In Latin America Lima, Peru, did worse in the coronavirus at 3.99 X, that exceeded New York city in the Spanish flu virus of 1918 at 3.97 X. For New York city this means the coronavirus was at 5.8 X a bigger impact on the city for the mid March to mid April period compared to October 1918. More than 8000 people died in Lima compared to a normal 3000.  Guayaquil, Ecuador is at 5.50 X hit very hard. In Europe Paris is at 2.6 X, and London at 3.0 X, Barcelona at 3.0 X.  By comparison Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and it is at 2.4 X showing that what these cities in Europe went through was like a hurricane going through the cities.  ...

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EIA says half of the benefit of higher fuel efficiency standards for Automobiles 2010-2020 in US was lost because of SUV's and the incentivizing of SUV's in the 2006 CAFE standards have made things worse. The first SUV's came in the 1980's. By 2004 SUV's made up half of car sales and by 2025 outsold cars 2 to 1. What if we took all SUV's and large cars off the roads, or even some of these SUV's by deincentivizing of SUV's in the US CAFE corporate fuel efficiency standards? What would be the savings in crude oil and in carbon footprint? Would it be about the same as releasing an additional 400 million barrels of oil into the markets in addition to the 400 million barrels that are now released through EIA and member countries? This New Yorker essay touches on this idea. During the Iran war the volatile Middle East as a source of oil supplies is a major problem for countries. Some are rationing supplies and in one country 40 million children are not going to school for 2 weeks starting this week because of the sources of oil are so precarious, government offices will only have half of the employees, the rest working from home (almost like Covid pandemic). Many other countries face that situation. The International Energy Agency recently reported that, if “SUVs were an individual country, they would rank sixth in the world for absolute emissions in 2021, emitting over 900 million tonnes of CO2.” The agency says governments must redesign their CAFE standards and their policies so that it would reduce S.U.V. sales, tax gas guzzling vehicles. EIA cites governments in the EU doing this- “Some governments have already started introducing relevant measures, such as France and Germany, which have put a tax on large and high-emissions cars.” Within SUV's also there is an opportunity to reduce the size and make more efficient space utilization designs. Small savings also add up. One has to realize that the current freedom to use energy freely in places like the US with self sufficiency in oil comes with a sense of responsibility for using it wisely so that it can be exported to cut the trade deficit, precisely what the president is doing with India, to cut a trade deficit of $58 billion before it gets to $100 billion. Section 301 is already in place for investigations by the US of 18 countries for a new basis to use tariffs after the Supreme Court decision. A similar approach is taken with EU for hundreds of billions of reductions in trade deficit that will only strengthen the US dollar and the US economy in the long run , and be good for stock markets and jobs as it reduces oil prices and increases the manufacturing capacity/cost for the Nation. Europe, India and China can do the same. Remember that in 2010 SUV's made up 17% of total world sales, and by 2025 SUV's made up 46% of world vehicle sales. This would create another 400 million barrels for the oil markets, which would triple what was released through EIA  this week to 1.2 billion barrels and this would create 120 days of supply replacement for the 10 million b/d lost from Straits of Hormuz, and effectively end the Iran War as it would be clear that prices can be kept low even in the $50's. Essentially buying time till the SU can get more production in Venezuela and other parts of the world to replace much of the Middle Eastern oil that is ending up in a quagmire. This is the best way for the US and Europe, India, China to ensure jobs growth, economic growth with low cost crude oil in the $50 range and ensure much of the poorer countries like Egypt and Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, have access to oil at prices they can afford and eliminate poverty. ...

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Disproportionate influence of tech company shares on the stock indexes. The effect of Softbank group's buying options tied to billions of dollars of individual tech stocks such as Google, Apple, Netflix, Microsoft.

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The British Council in Colombo, Ceylon, as far back as the 1960's, has shaped the founder of Lyrarc.com's knowledge of Britain in shaping the ideas of the Modern World we know today, knowledge of its parliament and democracy, that are vital in shaping society in China, India, and other nations in Asia, Latin America and Africa to this day. For this reason the closing of the British Council facilities around the world to pay a loan it had taken years ago under the Conservatives during Covid, is to be seen as a major blow. This report in The Guardian is about fears the world's leading soft power agency, which is more than that a transmitter of ideas that shape the Modern World and all our democracies in Europe and America, Asia, other parts of the world, will disappear in a decade. The Madrid building which houses the British Council in Madrid at 13 Paseo del Martinez Campos in Madrid's Chamberi district, has been put up for sale to pay Covid era debt. About 5000 Spanish students attend classes in English and prepare for exams in 35 classrooms. Over the years hundreds of thousands of Spanish people passed through this building. 320 jobs will be lost, employees with passionate dedication who it will be difficult to replace. Another center in Barcelona also is expected to close. This comes at the wrong time when Britain needs to make its voice heard in the world, when a mediocre level of British parliamentarians and leaders since Blair and David Cameron have allowed this to happen. English language classes in Italy at the British Council are also being shut down. Paris building may also be sold, and shrinking operations in the Baltic Republics, Croatia and Austria. This will be a major blow to helping spread knowledge of British parliamentary traditions, its history and participation in shaping the Modern World we know today.  It is now hoped and this is a message to Labour's Andy Burnham who studied English at Cambridge, to restore Britain's image and the value of its parliamentary and other lasting contributions to the Modern World, to the benefit of all nations, to cancel this debt and give the British Council new leadership for the next 2 decades. Neil Kinnock, a Labour leader, and a chair of the British Council says- “The British Council does not want to make these cuts. They are being forced into it by the conditions required by the Treasury." “I sympathise very much with the staff, so does the leadership,” he said. The British Council had “camped out” in the Foreign Office for last three or four years and put up a “hell of a fight”. Kinnock said: “What the government should do is either find a way of cancelling the debt, or even rescheduling the debt. Because it’s to absolutely nobody’s advantage to lose the British Council.” A desperate effort to pay an outstanding £197m debt from a Covid-era Conservative government emergency loan on commercial terms, with interest to be repaid by September, is what is causing this massive destruction of a century old institution that belongs to Europeans, to Asians, and to the world at large for better societies through knowledge. Who runs Treasury in Britain? Rachel Reeves, who has no concept of the role constructive Britons have played for two hundred years from the time the British agent at Rajkot encouraged Mohandas Gandhi (Gandhiji) to study in London in 1888, a role that the British Council has played since its founding. His name Sir Frederick Souter, who wrote the letter of recommendation for Gandhi to enter the University College, London. Sir Dingle Foot, Solicitor General of the UK, another Labour leader, played that role for a youngster of 22 years at the University of Baroda in India, for Law School at the University of London in 1969, after years of educational experience at the British Council in Colombo, Ceylon. Now the founder of Lyrarc.com. We call upon Andy Burnham to make this one of is first priorities to put Britain First, and India, other European nations, the US, to assist in this effort, to preserve one of Britain's brightest contributions in throwing light on the brave scientific, educational and industrial endeavors that built the Modern World. ...