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Biden's ultimate faith in the fairness of the American cause and the American people gets him two big wins with the $280 billion semiconductor bill, and the $369 billion climate change action bill. Biden says about this when many had given up hope- "The work of government can be slow and frustrating, and sometimes even infuriating. Then the hard work of hours, days and months from people who refuse to give up pays off. History is made. Lives are changed." With Europe at war and struggling to get through the winter with gas rationing it was up to America to lead the way as the world faces ever increasing floods, fires and heat waves that affect food supply and environment. And Schumer? The New York Democrat asked about the effort quoted his father who passed away last year. "As my late father said: you need to persist. God will reward you." For months Mr. Manchin a critical vote in the US Senate had opposed the Democrats proposed bills. Then Senators Mark Warner of Virginia, Chris Coons of Delaware, John Hickenlooper of Colorado took a different approach. They did not openly criticize Mr. Manchin, and appealed to his sense of history, his zeal for playing a leading role in a high stakes legislative deal. Schumer and Biden were willing to make some concessions for fossil energy now that with the war in Ukraine the US needed to export LNG to Europe to replace Russian supplies. China and India were still going to be using fossil fuels after COP26 and after the pandemic induced lower growth. The US had to find a different approach some fossil fuel concessions would make it possible to use it as abridge towards the larger goal of getting ahead on renewable energy in a big way. This opened the way for a deal that centrists could support.  ...

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The WSJ provides an excellent summary of the positions of the candidates in the U.S. presidential election of 2016 on key issues, education, healthcare, immigration, taxes, national debt, infrastructure spending, and economic growth. Clinton is clear on specifics, Trump has not made clear the details of policies and talks in general terms. On immigration the 2 candidates are far apart, on issues of infrastructure Clinton plans a $275 billion effort to repair the country's infrastructure and Trump says he would make a big effort. On taxes Clinton plans to pay for spending with higher taxes on the rich. Trump says he would provide huge tax cuts, yet make large infrastructure spending without clarifying how this would be done with sharply lower taxes. Both candidates oppose the TPP and oppose trade agreements that lead to loss of U.S. jobs.

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will lead US negotiating team in US- Japan  talks for Liberation Day Tariffs April 2, 2025 Negotiations.

"Japan remains among America’s closest allies, and I look forward to our upcoming productive engagement regarding tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers, currency issues, and government subsidies.” 

DJT says

"Countries from all over the world are talking to us. Tough but fair parameters are being set. Spoke to the Japanese prime minister this morning. He is sending a top team to negotiate. They have treated US very poorly on trade. The don't take our cars but we take MILLIONS of them. It all has to change but especially with CHINA.

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Laurent Berger, head of the French Confederation of Labor, C.F.D.T., is a moderating force in France as president Macron leads an effort to make a revision to France's labor code. With a large parliamentary majority president Macron is expected to push for a shift to a Scandinavian version of "flexible security," that allows companies and the economy to adjust the work force, introduce retraining and create flexibility so that new jobs can be created. His union is now the largest, after surpassing the militant General Confederation of Labor. Issues in labor changes proposed by president Macron are- direct negotiations between management and employees bypassing unions, and a cap to compensation in unfair dismissal cases. Berger's view is that though the interests of labor and management conflict, there has to be dialogue instead of constant confrontation. He is willing to see some jobs lost if business creates new jobs with improvement in the economy. Macron has summoned labor leaders for marathon talks. ...

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Criticism of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the WSJ for some overreaching actions. Yet also the failure of politicians including previous presidents Bush and Obama, that lead to a situation where huge burdens are placed on law enforcement lacking resources and numbers for missions that have placed on their shoulders the accumulated problems of decades. DJT says president Biden was not one to support the scale of illegal migration in 2020-2024 and open borders that happened, and seemed both unaware of the real situation and losing control of the situation. DJT's repeated reference to Biden using the robo-pen also refers to delegation to Biden's Homeland Security head Alejandro Mayorkas, who immigrated from Cuba in 1960 as a child and grew up in Los Angeles, and both Biden and Mayorkas failing to take strong action as the gravity of the situation became apparent in 2022-2023. The record 2.2 million encounters at the Mexican border in fiscal 2022 were the highest in history under Mayorkas, the first Latin American to head US Immigration Service and Deputy head of Homeland Security appointed by Obama. ...

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Pusing aggressive bank lending with a steep rise in bank lending of 34% in 2009 can lead to an asset price bubble in China. Factors the Economist cites mitigating this are the follwing: only about 25% of middle class Chinese have mortgages and loan to value is less than 50%. Also Chinese regulators are more alert to the dangers than were American regulators. At the same time the pegging of theyuan to the dollar means the instrument of raising rates to cool the bubble is not existent. And the US is likely to keep rates low for alonger period which may be adverse for China and prop up a bubble there. These dangers mean China had better take firm action in letting the yuan rise now rather than later because heavy inflows from currrency appreciation can only make the bubble worse later on. This will need to be watched carefully as so much of the global economy is dependent on China maintaining growth, Germany in particular. And with the US consumer cutting back China has to manage this carefully....

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A Chinese diplomatic envoy goes to France, Germany and Russia to discuss ways to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. The US also looks for ways to bring a settlement to the war. Avril Haines, US Intelligence head, tells Congress she does not see Russia making concessions as it sees an advantage in a war of attrition in Ukraine. Ukraine gets continued support to use a counteroffensive to make some gains in the Kherson and other regions that could give it and Russia a chance to come to the negotiating table.

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Civility and civic responsibilities to get work done for constituents that motivates California Republican Doug LaMalfa  is shown here in his three minute conversation with Biden after the State of the Union address late Thursday night. La Malfa is head of the House Agriculture forestry subcommittee. His task to get the US Frrest Service to speed up permits for harvesting timber. "We gotta cut some trees," he told Biden says this report in the Washington Post. Soon Interior Department officials were reaching out to La Malfa's aides. And another American tradition was set to work.

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Banks in the US are moving away from cryptocurrency and shunning connections with the cryptocurrency business after a regulatory crackdown by the SEC and public warnings about its future. Banks are reevaluating exposure to the crypto sector no matter how small, says this WSJ report. In early 2020 the regulatory agencies were not vigilant enough about this sector which is now seen as highly risky and not for the private sector- digital currencies being the province of central banks just like the US dollar which is issued with the backing of the US government. The Federal Reserve website says about CBDC, Central Bank Digital Currency in highlighted language.- "Like existing forms of money the CBDC would enable the general public to make digital payments. As a liability of the Federal Reserve, a CBDC would be the safest digital asset available to the general public, with no associated credit or liquidity risk." It is because the US Congress failed to act and a prevailing culture of laissez faire, failure of regulatory agencies to act quickly that allows this to happen, that the private sector was allowed to dabble in what is clearly the province of central banks. Laissez faire is originally a French word meaning "allow to do" which has been taken to extremes such as letting private sector issue digital currencies in the prevailing culture. The Fed's Lael Brainard, Jay Powell, Treasury's Janet Yellen did not come out saying what the Fed's website now says and highlights that the only safe digital asset is the central bank's digital currency. Compare this with the caution taken from the beginning about crypto sector by India's finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the head of the central bank of India the RBI Mr. Shantikanta Das. ...

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Mogan McSweeney of Cork Ireland, son of an IRA courier with a politics and marketing degree from Middlesex University, joined the Labour Party in London fighting off Corbyn supporters during the Corbyn leadership till 2019. The Guardian says McSweeney settled on Keir Starmer as the candidate to replace Corbyn as a centrist on the right. It was says the Guardian McSweeney as an organizer against the Corbyn left that installed Keir Starmer in 10 Downing Street. And then by getting Starmer to appoint his mentor Mandelson led to Starmer becoming "the most unpopular prime minister in history." It says May local elections may sound the end of Starmer. McSweeney is blamed for some of Starmer's failure to project a image of firmness as he backtracked on issues on the advice of McSweeney, to the point that many in Labour party thought McSweeney made Labour driverless. As McSweeney ejected all Corbynites from the Labour Party he weakened the party and led to Labour bleeding its vote to the Greens and the Liberals. Labour's got a landslide with many Labour MP's winning by thin margins- its vote was slim only 34% of the vote, itself a warning that something was not right. On immigration the root causes were not addressed till early 2026- the ECHR human rights that needed to be put aside as written with serious flaws and which allowed asylum hotels. This led to a shift to Nigel Farage, called back from retirement to lead Reform UK in 2026 and way ahead of Labour and Conservatives in the polls. Worse 50% of Labour's vote disappeared in 2026 polls by February hardly 2 years after the win in 2024, as the support McSweeney helped organize had no depth of conviction- most of it to Liberals and Greens under Polanski. The result is that even the Guardian is disappointed and says McSweeney installed Starmer as PM and then made him "the most unpopular PM in history." Net favorability in Feb 2026 -57 similar to Sunak of Conservatives in June 2024. A 75% unfavorable rating in Jan 2026. And 14 points below the Labour party in "like" ratings. Only 18% are favorable for Starmer. It shows how a series of British prime ministers with mediocre backgrounds have failed in the country. ...

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A group of neurological expeorts in the UK help us with advice. Includes things like avoid hearing and vision loss that lead to not driving or isolating. Social interaction and learning are key so take up a hobby, find new interests , learn a new language, travel, and link this up with other people, new people you can meet. Get plenty of exercise, core building. Nature walks, hiking in the mountains, swimming, outdoor activity. Good sleep begins in the morning so that by the time it is 9.00- 9.30 pm one is ready to go to bed. It helps not to stay up late. Eating healthy, olive oil and Mediterranean diet instead of butter, and eating fruits and vegetables, nuts.  Mindfulness helps. There are four forms of mindfulness. On the leftside Menu for Lyrarc there is under Lyrarc Insights the section Mental Well-Being which gives a translation from the original Pali text of the Buddha describing the Four Forms of Mindfulness in the Sattipana Sutta. This spiritual training, a reading of the Bhagavad Gita or the Bible, nourishes brain health and gives clarity of mind. ...

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German authorites are looking into the possibility that higher up management knew about the emissions cheating and whether management had permitted it to take place. A search warrant was issued by a judge in Munich in March 2017 that makes it possible for investigators to take documents and other evidence on mobile phones of senior management, including Mr. Muller and Mr. Stadler, two very senior executives who head VW and Audi. Almost 2 years after the story first came to light the investigation continues and the probe deepens into who knew what at the highest levels of management.

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The need for earth friendly diets is shown in this editorial in The Guardian. Animal based products account for 57% of greenhouse gas emissions compared to 29% for food from plants. An outsize meat and dairy industry accounts for about 15% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions according to UN message in 2021. Mr. Dimpleby is Britain's food minister. He says a 30% reduction in meat eating would make it possible to have sustainable land use in Britain. The Guardian says high income countries are eating double the meat, poultry and fish products that they should be eating for living within the planetary sustainable living boundaries- that is to have no net environmental damage. Go back to the periods before 1600 and European, American, high income countries consumption of animal based foods was a fraction of what it is today.  A new legal regime is seen as a fair, just and sustainable living oriented solution. The Netherlands is doing just this to reduce the size of its large animal and dairy industry as a step towards more sustainable living and planet. It is not easy to convince farmers yet the public supports such a move. With the fires, floods and drought in Europe there is increasing awareness that action needs to be taken even where it is difficult.  ...

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Banks like the staus quo, streamlining regulation will be hard for the new DJT American administration, says Sheila Bair, former head of the US FDIC, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Deposit insurance is important for peace of mind of bank customers and the proper functioning of the banking system, particularly in a crisis. The recent Silicon Valley banking crisis required deposit insurance for the stability of the banking system. Bair who acted to protect the banking system in the 2009 financial crisis in the US, says banks prefer having multiple agencies so that they can choose which one works best for them.  Bair said recently- “Banks may complain, but at the end of the day, they like to have their own regulator they have a relationship with,” Bair said. “They like the status quo.” The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is one of the agencies that DJT administration and Republicans oppose. With only 2-3 vote margin for its majority in the House it will be difficult to get Congress to agree on changes to the staus quo. ...

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Two Slovenians were in the lead for the Tour de France as new talent has emerged. Roglic was leading as he entered the last two stages of the cycling event. He represented a Dutch team Jumbo Visma which failed to make it after Roglic simply failed to find his true form in the stage before the last stage. What was astonishing to see on French television was the gradual collapse of Roglic's lead during the climb and Pogacar building a comfortable lead of about 2 minutes at the end of the stage before the last. Roglic seemed exhausted shocked and ruffled at the end and Pogacar appeared to be calm and assured as he finished the race. Before the stage the sports director of the Dutch Jumbo- Visma team had strong disagreement and altercation with the organizers when a routine check of Roglic's bike was made to see if it was within regulations. He was cited for poor behaviour and barred from further attendance of the remaining stages which could have affected the team's overall composure. ...

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When Whitmer in Michigan said "FIx the Damn Roads" that is exactly the kind of language people wanted to hear. Harris and Walz should do the same. They should take up Border Security in a big way face the issue head on. President Biden has already used executive action to cut migrant flow at the border. The next step is take up the issue and defuse it for good. It was evident in Arizona today when Harris said she would sign into law the legislation negotiated by Republican Senator Lankford that passed the Senate and was held up by Trump for making it an election issue. Lankford says in today's NYT August 10 interview shown in this page that the bill would have passed in December 2023, once Trump became the nominee in February 2024 he realized it had no chance. Harris needs to repeat that at every rally "We will Pass the Lankford -Biden Immigration Bill" "Smash the Gangs" that is the message Starmer took from Labour Together think tank paper "Migration and Insecurity." Keir Starmer studied the issue of immigration carefully and told the public he was different - he would tackle illegal immigration head-on. He said he would "Smash the Gangs" benefitting from illegal migrants. In his first week the setup the Border Security Command. That week it was shown that Tories wasted time and money on Rwanda scheme that had deported hardly a couple of migrants. ...

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The new faces in the Biden administration on economic policy are Janet Yellen, as head of the central bank, the Federal Reserve, and Cecilia Rouse, a Princeton labor economist, as head of the Council of Economic Advisors. In this report WSJ looks at the economic policies of the new administration after Mr. Trump rejected globalization and international trade agreements that were not in America's interest or that hurt American workers.  Informal conversations with experts suggest WSJ says, that globalization is now suspect as a way that benefitted China and other countries including Germany, and hurt the U.S. France, Britain and other countries in Europe that were not strong exporters. This hurt their industries which were eroded by imports resulting in the three decades long destruction of communities across these countries that depended on manufacturing. It has also hurt countries like India that let their markets be dominated by Chinese imports, with a reversal of policy in 2020 with self reliant economy under "Atman Nirbhar" policy as the new goal. Mr. Trump's tactic in this trade war was to fight back to regain America's position in manufacturing with tariffs on imports. The trade deficit had to come down with China just as it had done with Japan decades earlier. This was starting to happen. One problem in bringing down the imports was the increase in the value of the dollar, as Janet Yellen has noted. The new policies will look at what the effective policy will be while keeping this goal in mind.  Both Yellen and Ms. Rouse have spent years studying labor markets and Ms. Rouse is quoted here as saying: " With open trade there are winners and losers. The losers are really losing, and we need to take care of them and take on more nuanced models of international trade as a result." Other experts from the earlier Democratic administrations such as Prof. Frankel at Harvard say that there needs to be increased focus on American workers left behind by trade, technology and unequal education, with more spending on preschool, infrastructure and health. All this suggests that there will be a continuation of U.S. policy in challenging Chinese use of globalization to advance its interests, chastening Americans on the use of the very word globalization which can mean different things to different people based on how they can gain advantage. The word may even be entirely dropped in favor of what the policies are and what they do for the American worker, American communities including small towns, and the American people, spelling each of these out every time supply chains and the global economy is mentioned. The new administration will get an opportunity to show that it too can come up with new ideas and action plan to strengthen American manufacturing and jobs. It will also have to show substantial results as people have lost patience with Democrats and Republicans on the lack of progress in rebuilding America's leadership role in the world economy, and in defending American workers and factories. Clinton, Obama and Bush all offered false promises on trade with China ignoring the damage this had done to American leadership in the world economy. Clinton with support for China's entry into the World Trade Organization, Bush with foreign wars and costly diversions and regulatory failures with banks that led to the 2009 deep recession hurting Americans, and Obama with the lack of will and interest in America's leadership role in the world as the dominant nation in manufacturing,   ...

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The Laken Riley Act has as its sponsor Katie Britt of Alabama, and cosponsors Democrats Ruben Gallego of Arizona and John Fetterman of Pennsylvania. It is expected to get over 60 votes 61-35 to overcome Senate rules and be on the presidents desk. No amendments were made.  It will require the Department of Homeland Security to arrest undocumented immigrants for theft related offenses and increase the power of states to challenge immigration decisions.

Kristi Noem at Homeland Security and Tom Homan Border Chief will lead the push on the Border with DJT declaring a national emergency that will generate funds from the Defense Department.

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As the August 1 deadline approached first the Japanese and then the Europeans who held out till the end sometimes treating the US with disdain and ridicule, realized that the US was dead serious about tariffs. Even the US business community tended to treat DJT tariffs with disdain not realizing that the tariff battles were first fought against Japan by Deputy USTR Robert Lighthizer under Reagan in the 1980's always to get a fair deal for the US. The recalcitrance of the Europeans and the Japanese can be understood by the non tariff barriers Japan placed on US products and the 10% tariff on US autos the European Union had in place for decades when the US only had a 2.5% tariff on German car imports.  The media in the US and Europe has utterly failed to tell the US side of the story. Here at Lyrarc we remain committed to bring out all the facts so that readers can better understand both sides. Initially the EU adopted an adversarial approach as shown in this report in WSJ by Kim Mackrael and Brian Schwartz. How is it that the Europeans and the Japanese took such a position when since 1980 there was no level playing field for the US on world trade clear for all to see? Not till late May as negotiations dragged on did Japan and the EU take stock of their own positions, DJT having to say US would impose a 50% tariff to get the EU to understand, saying "our discussions with them are going nowhere." In the end in Scotland Leyen and Sefovic for the EU accepted 15% tariff on EU imports to US. Akazawa of Japan had accepted this the week before. ...

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This article by Michael Shifter, who heads the Inter American Dialogue, says it is important there be an amnesty for the military officers so that Venezuela can make a peaceful transition with an interim government that meets the international community's call for new credible elections. He says the head of the National Assembly who heads the interim government has taken the right steps to ask for an amnesty for the military from the National Assembly.

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US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says this is not chaos in tariff policy because you don't change 70 years of policy overnight. He says China's is highest because it has the highest trade deficit, then EU, Japan, South Korea at 15% because of the smaller deficits with these nations, Vietnam because it is used  by China to send products to the US, India because of geopolitical reasons buying Russian oil. See Dasha Burns, Politico White House Bureau Chief's  interview with USTR Jamieson Greer.  He says about India- Jamieson USTR calls India "an outlier" and says "I'm confident we will get a deal with India in the near future." India he says has largely corrected its imports of Russian oil and negotiations are underway for a deal.  ON USMCA Greer says of the $31 trillion in trade with Canada and Mexico $29 trillion is us right. trade between Canda and Mexico is small. So he says it makes sense to negotiate separately with Canada and separately with Mexico. This suggests that there doesnt need to be a USMCA- separate deals are just fine says Greer. Mexico has gained much in automobiles under USMCA- US wants to make more in the US including auto parts which it can do by negotiating this with Mexico. It does not make a ton of economic sense to marry the three economies together, says Greer, as the import export profiles, lab,or situations are all different. Are Tariffs good for the economy and do they lead to higher prices? Greer says inflation was down in the first DJT term in trade with China and tariffs. Greer says there is never a 1 to 1 with tariffs. It tariffs become a kind of leveage in getting agreements. That is the style of these tariffs. You tell Ecuador or Brazil we don't make these here so there will be no tariffs on bananas and on coffee. Says Greer- we have seen inflation in check, imported goods relatively low priced. We have seen that we can have growth and higher wages with tariffs at the same time. The growth in 2025 third quarter at 3.8% annual growth, and Atlanta Fed predicting 4.2% growth in 2026. And tariff money can be used for paying down the debt and financing America's reindustrialization, Greer says members of Congress are asking about this.When a new administration comes tariffs will still be part of the playbook. ...

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Boeing's goal is to make 10 Dreamliners a month by late 2013. The current rate is 2 per month, which Boeing hopes to move up to 2.5 a month by November 2011, and 3.5 a month by early Spring. Boeing CEO, McInerney, says it will take a few years before each Dreamliner turns a profit. He expects this will happen before 2020. The large investment during this decade should see returns in terms of an annuity for 25-35 years, said McInerney. The Dreamliner is the first jetliner to be made largely of plastic-composite materials, in place of aluminium. To build the Dreamliner Boeing had to accomplish what McInerney calls "game-changing innovation," and at the same time achieve improvements in production techniques. Jim Albaugh, head of Boeing's Commercial Airplanes division, says the next step is to take what takes an hour and half to assemble and bring this down to 15 minutes. This will help meet a long backlog of orders. Boeing has 820 orders for the Dreamliner as of Sept. 2011. The first Dreamliner was delivered on Sept. 26, 2011, to All Nippon Airways....

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A more fundamental difference comes from health, mental health, worklife, wellbeing that are essential to healthy living. Taking care of one's health comes before everything because there is no quality of life without good health and well being. One can see this in the contrast of the styles of Carlos Tavares who is current CEO of Stellantis which includes Fiat Chrysler and the CEO of Fiat Chrysler Sergio Marchionne. Carlos Tavares comes across as an example of healthy living and healthy living practices at Stellantis, Marchionne and Elon Musk are a big contrast and appear not to care about practices essential for healthy living and healthy worklife. Proven over and over again and over time humility and respect for the dignity of others matters,Tavares and others like him leaders who have humility, respect the dignity of workers, listen to their managers, and support healthy worklife practices that enhance productivity, are the real role models for young people in business, in America and in the World. Media loves hype, yet for ordinary managers and workers in factories health and healthy living is what matters uppermost. It is also true for their children in how they choose their role models and for America as a Nation, the values the World respects America for and is willing for America take the lead. After the pandemic this is more true than ever.  ...

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Brian Deese and other economists remind us that the government is still not able to negotiate the prices of drugs with pharmaceutical companies something that government was instructed not to do under a Republican administration with a George W. Bush administration rule that has hurt millions of Americans since 2003. In fact December 3, 2003 may be a day of ignominy for Americans who face high cost of pharmaceutical drugs, and actions that send money from the pockets of government that would go into fixing aging infrastructure, and from pockets of ordinary Americans that would go into meeting the cost of living to improve ease of living. President Biden without the needed majorities in Congress was able to only specify certain drugs on which negotiation could take place. There is a need to cut pharmaceutical costs for the American public, there is a need to be like everybody else in the community of nations in Europe and Asia that pay only so much for pharmaceuticals not many times more. Making the US worse off than Indians and Chinese who can access these drugs and find it affordable for most of the people of 3 billion in these countries. The contrast makes one question what is a developed and a developing country as what has happened in the last 3 decades in America has turned this  question on its head- with irresponsible presidents and irresponsible Congress. ...