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  A new German party called BSW,  Bundnis (Association) Sarah Wagenknecht, means Germany nationally could see a smaller Social Democrats party in parliament making way for the socialists who want to keep out migrants. Across East Germany a new party is challenging the AfD from the socialist side getting the protest vote against pro-migrant policies.The socialist BSW party is taking votes from the SPD and DIe Linke Left, from Free Democrats and Greens in the state parliamentary elections in East German states of Thuringia, Saxony, Brandenburg. Nationally SPD may be 15-20%, BSW 10%, and CDU 30%, AfD 10-15%, FDP 10%, Greens 10% in a new shape for German parliamentary representation. The AfD and far right in Germany is challenged by the BSW with both parties opposing policies that led to large scale migrant flows into Germany of Angela Merkel.  BSW is the socialist party of Sarah Wagenknecht which is opposed to migrants entering the country as it distracts from tackling the problems of the working class in Germany and burdens public services when needs are greater among the local communities.  It sees the ruling Christian Democrats, Social Democrat and Free Demcorats, Greens, as out of touch with the problems of working class Germans struggling to make a living. BSW also opposes the wars in Ukraine and Gaza for the same reasons as it takes away resources that are better used to tackle problems at home. The AfD party also opposes migrants but is seen as feeding on the grievances of people of old east German communist state who feel left behind by the reunification of Germany. As a socialist party BSW is for addressing problems of inequality and poverty, childcare, cost of living action, housing, and many of the problems of the working class. Mette Frederiksen Danish prime minister has combined socialist ideas with anti-migrant position in Denmark. A similar position is being taken in the US by the Biden Harris administration in the US by closing the Border with Mexico.  Who is Sahra Wagenknecht and the BSW? Bundnis Sarah Wagenknecht or Association of Sarah Wagenknecht is a socialist party that grew out of Sarah Wagenknecht's own experience growing up in the socialist state of the German Democratic Republic during her formative years in East Berlin.  Born to a Iranian father who disappeared in Iran, and a German mother she was raised by her grandparents. She was active in the socialist parties Die Linke group in parliament since 2000. She received her bachelors degree in philosophy and New German Literature at East Berlin Humboldt University. Followed by MA at Groningen University in philosophy of Marx-Hegel and a doctoral degree from TU Chemnitz in Economics. She was member of parliament in the Bundestag and leader of the Die Linke group. The twin 2009 financial crisis by banks pursuing excessive leverage profits and unethical dealings, the euro crisis that followed of state actors misrepresenting their finances, the rent seeking attitudes of finance, pharma, tech monopolies and other industries has led her along with Italian economist Mazzucato to question the existing system. ...

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The S&P speculative grade composite index shows that for the first time sine the crisis hit in October of 2009, high yield debt traded June 5, 2009 at 9.66 percentage point premium over comparable Treasurys. This is below the distressed debt benchmark of 10%, and shows how the credit markets are coming back to normal. High yield issuers, who pay a big premium over Treasurys to sell debt have had to pay at spreads which reached apeak of 17.54% in December according to S&P data. The retailing and auto sectors were the hardest hit in 2008. Merril Lynch has its own index which has not dropped below 10%, and which peaked at 22 percentage points in December. On June 4, Merrill's index was at 11.01 percentage points. The last time Merrill's index went above 10% was in 2002, and in 2006 before the crisis the index was at 2.41 percentage points.

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Better balance sheets, higher resale values, the trend away from subprime financing, and a lineup of vehicles that give better mileage (even with trucks acounting for 50% of sales) with the shift to lighter crossover vehicles, will help Detroit automakers face higher gas prices. These factors should help prevent a replay of the very serious problems of 2008, when gas prices exceeded $4.00 a gallon and the U.S. faced a financial crisis. At that time in 2008 vehicle sales declined by 18% and truck sales were down by 25%, according to Credit Suisse.

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The grace and good sense of railway announcement person Zende at Victoria Terminus in Mumbai that saved many lives during the Mumbai attacks on 11/26/2008.

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Apple, Caterpillar, and Microsoft, Amex pushed the Dow higher to get to 50,000 from 25,000 in 2018 in just 9 years when it took decades to get to 25,000. Sales Force, because of AI threat, Boeing because of its engineering and quality issues acted as laggard. Exxon was removed, Chevron stayed on. Intel was taken out and Nvidia took its place. The PE ratio in 2026 for Dow is 22 times earnings. Companies with higher stock price Goldman $929 a share as an example have a bigger impact in moves of the Dow just because of the higher price per share. Compared to Apple at $249 a share. The calculation is to take the price s of 30 stocks add them together and divide by a factor that adds effect of stock splits and new index entrants. That factor was 0.162 in 2025. Note that it took 76 years to 1972 to get to 1000 for the Dow Jones Average in 1972.

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It took 12 hours after Maduro's capture for Berlin to respond. Chancellor Merz of the CDU and Lars Klingbeil of the SPD Deputy Chancellor are in a coalition government, with the SPD taking a different and cautious view than the CDU. Both agree that the Maduro government was illegitimate and about human rights abuses.The final statement said the Maduro government was illegitimate and had human rights abuses, and welcomed the change. It also was cautious in its wording as it was concerned about implications for international law. No mention was made of drug trafficking to the European Union from Venezuela and its impact on European society as a concern, but this must be a concern that European leaders have. European leaders have failed to bring this up which can be mystifying for people outside Europe knowing the increasing damage drug trafficking is doing to European society, including France, Italy and Germany.

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VW's Scout Motors plans in 2026 to sell direct to buyers. A Scout Motors VP says of VW's plans- “We have heard over and over again, ‘Please give me an alternative. You see that there is very little trust in auto dealers today.”  Dealers have lobbied to have the laws in US set so that no one else but dealers can sell cars. Yet this may be becoming an outdated way to sell cars if car makers can provide good service over 10 years to buyers and make the whole process of buying and owning a car a pleasant experience for owners. It is far from that today and the experience is not one that is consistent in quality and have ease of use as the experience varies with each dealer and can change with a single dealer over time, quality is not assured.

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Canada's Carney gives up on USMCA renegotiated deal with US as he makes deal with China Jan 2026. No date is set for USMCA renegotiation. Carney stepped up the criticism of the US and suggested middle powers find their way by makiing deals of their own. This has drawn criticism from DJT, Luttnick and Scott Bessent, the Commerce Secretary and Treasury Secretary. Canada's economy has some fragile points in its dependence on the US and this may not be the wise course of action for Canada at this time. Germany, Italy, are meeting on February 12 and Europe may follow a different course of action of working with the US, India is close to a trade deal, so that Carney's and other remarks about going to partner with China at a gathering as isolated as Davos is from the real world may be very counterproductive.

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India received $135 billion in remittances in 2024-25 from the 18.5 million Indian diaspora, of which 10 million live in the Middle East region sending $51 billion a year. This finances the merchandise trade deficit.  In UAE alone there are 247,000 Indian students and immigrant labor is the main labor supply in the Gulf kingdoms.  Crude oil of 25-30 million barrels is on the seas as inventory to which India has access making crude oil supplies not an issue for the short term. Indian refinery production for export can also be adjusted if needed. India has received a 100 day exemption to import Russian oil from the US since the Gulf war began easing concerns for crude oil supplies. Situation for LPG is more complicated. India has used the Chabahar port to ship supplies of aid to Afghanistan on an overland route which will not operate till the tensions ease. 

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British MP raises issue of Arab Gulf countries providing 37% of China's oil imports, excluding Iraq 27%, vs 11% from Iran and 20% from Russia- 2024 US EIA. Tom Tugendhat says China has to balance its interests in the region after the closure of the Straits of Hormuz, between Iran, Gulf monarchies, and Russia. China also faces a more credible choice of accelerating the development of renewable energy in the same way that India and the European Union face. US will act as a supplier of last resort  adding Venezuelan and other supplies but temporarily as the entire Middle East region poses quandaries for China, the US, and India, European Union. The quandary stems from the irreconciliable differences between religious sects in the region, post 1950 ideological and religious militancy,  in which neither China, India, the US, Russia or the European Union wants to get drawn into after 5 decades of bitter experience in the Middle East.

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David Autor, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says he is quite worried about the steadily declining participation of men 16-64 in the labor force from 85% in the decade after World War II to less than 65% today. This is a blow to the men, their families , government revenues and the economy.

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The Socialist party is likely to win the most seats in the Dutch parliament in the Sept 12, 2012 elections. Research firms TNS NIPO and Peil.nl polls show the Socialist Party winning 37 seats up from 15 currently, in a 150 member Dutch parliament. The Liberal party in the ruling coalition is expected to win 30 seats down from 31 currently. The right wing Freedom party that withdrew from the ruling coalition is shown as winning 18 seats down from 24 seats currently. The Socialist party will need to form a coalition with the Labor party which is expected to win 17 seats down from 30 seats currently. Because of the fragmentation of seats between parties, a Socialist-Labor coalition will still need the support of other parties. The current coalition government's austerity drive is not popular with voters leading to a shift. The EC estimate is for a 0.9% decline in GDP in 2012, with 0.7% growth in 2013, but with the global slowdown underway this recovery is in doubt. Offical government estimates show a slowing economy for years, and the need for 20 billion in euros in budget savings for 2013-2017. The Socialist party leader Emile Roemer, wants more time to reduce the budget deficit to 3% of GDP, to do this by 2015 instead of the 2013 target set by Mr. Rutte in the current ruling coalition. Roemer also supports a broadening of the ECB's mandate from price stability to stimulating the economy for creating jobs....

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Much of China's strong GDP growth year after year of 9-12% was generated through large fixed investments in manufacturing. More than 40% of GDP is from factory construction or fixed asset investment in housing and infrastructure. And this spawned suddenly on its own a whole generation of new small business bootstrap entrepreneurs, as if from nowhere, who were good at adapting and seeking out new opportunities as new factories and exports shot upwards. GDP multiplied 14 fold from 1980's. And created 5 million businesses of over 8 employees each, according to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. In the processs creating 75 million jobs for university graduates, workers from state companies and fro migrants from the rural areas. These private companies and their investment spending make up half of the 2008 GDP of $4.42 trillion. But with the export model heavily dependent on overseas markets especially the USA, the collapsing export markets is shrinking production and investment. Industrial production which went up by 16% annually for 5 years, dropped to 3.8% for Jan-Feb 2009. Mr Yu and his company GenTech, profiled here, was an engineer who studied engineering in Beijing, then at Newcastle University in the UK, worked for Cargill in Iowa, and looked for opportunities away from agricultural engineering. Adapting to China's needs in first semiconductors and then solar equipment assembly lines, he provided the high tech tubing for the gases and chemicals used in manufacturing assembly lines, competing with the likes of Air Products and Chemicals of the USA....

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The knowledge that the virus  caused human to human transmission and that it spreads to wide parts of the population very quickly were critical pieces of information that remained with Chinese epidemiologists, doctors and medical researchers, and were suppressed by local authorites in Wuhan.  Yet China's version of the U.S. CDC, China's Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, modeled on the U.S. control efforts worked effectively to identify the problem. Virologist Gao Fu, heads China's CDC. This report in Germany's Der Spiegel says Mr. Fu made it a habit to scan China's internet before bedtime for any signs of possible disease outbreaks. On the night of December 30 he came across rumors of an internal memo from the Wuhan Health Commission of an outbreak of a vaguely worded lung disease. When he called the Wuhan health authority he found their answers to be evasive which alarmed him. The next morning December 31 Mr. Fu sent the first of three teams to Wuhan which is how China was able to identify the problem, in the sense that Chinese authorites in Beijing were to rely on Dr Gao Fu to overcome the problem of Wuhan provincial authorites. He informed the World Health Organization Beijing office on that day. The Der Spiegel report says "shortly afterward," the Seattle Times in its report says this was about New Years Day 2020- Mr Fu made a call to Dr. Redfield, head of the U.S. Centre for Disease Control, who was on vacation. Redfield is deeply disturbed on hearing this from Fu and they have conversations over the next few days to the point that Dr. Gao Fu is in tears about what has happened. On January 1 Taiwanese public health authorites shared the information with WHO that the cornonavirus was a human to human transmission, would the Taiwanese authorites not have shared it with the U.S. the same week during calls from the U.S. CDC or other public health authorites alarmed about the situation. (The WHO was proving useless by Jan 14 when it contradicted Taiwan's more reliable assessment  on Jan 14 going by the letter from president Trump to WHO). On January 6 a few days later Dr Redfield and Dr. Azar head of Health and Human Services ask China for permission to send a team of CDC U.S. experts to China. This is cited in the U.S. letter to the World Health organization- the lack of human to human transmission information being given to the U.S. officially early by China. A risk that could have been a topic of conversation between the U.S. and China heads of CDC. That letter from president Trump also points out that the team of experts the U.S. planned to send was not accepted by China till Feb 16, one and half months after that series of conversations between Dr. Gao Fu of China CDC and Dr. Redfield of U.S. CDC in an alert message.  In effect removing one of the key defences for the U.S. and Europe in making their own defensive actions and plans, laying the basis of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic affecting millions of people. Dr Redfield is a AIDS researcher at the University of Maryland who spent most of his life trying to control spread of HIV and was appointed by president Trump to head CDC agency in 2018. He set a goal of eliminating AIDS by 2030 and is more comfortable with aids patients and research than the bureaucratic nature of agencies- CDC has about 11,000 employees. Once it was clear that a team of U.S. experts was not given permission to make its own assessment in Wuhan in the few days after January 6 offer to sent the team to China by Redfield of U.S. CDC and Dr. Azar, would it have alerted the U.S. that something was seriously heading the wrong way for a epidemic risk. That letter of president Trump cites how the head of WHO during the first SARS crisis in 2003, Dr. Harlem Brundtland acted when she faced China's lack of cooperation during that crisis by saying openly that this was a danger to world public health and millions. Could CDC in the U.S. and the other connected health authorites have taken the responsibility and filled Dr Brundtland's role in this crisis, that the WHO failed to perform?    ...

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Is trying to impose one's views on a whole society through Class B voting shares family control consistent with the idea of government by, for and of the people? Apple, Amazon and Microsoft have chosen not to go with dual class shares. Of Apple largest 8.5% of shares owned by Vanguard, 6.7% by Black Rock. Google and Meta have chosen dual class for family control. With 14% of the shares in News Corp. Rupert Murdoch family has 41% of company votes. Starboard Value, activist investor, challenges this ownership structure in a proposal at the company's annual shareholder meeting. There are shares that have voting rights and other shares that have no voting rights. Starboard has 4.9% of voting shares, 3.7% non-voting shares. Dual class shares give families control of a company. Ford family with only 4% of company shares controls 41% of the voting shares. Meta owner Zuckerberg with 14% of shares controls 57% of the company. After 2021 companies going public still had 24% choosing dual class -Class A 10 votes per share, Class B 1 vote per share. Council of Institutional Investors on its site says sunset provisions after 7 years are gaining ground to phase this Class A out.  Institutional Shareholder Services another shareholder of New Corp. says- “Multi-class capital structure with unequal voting rights create a misalignment between economic interest and voting rights, which can disenfranchise shareholders holding stock with inferior voting rights." ...

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China's population drops and fertility rates drop for a decade now- the median age is 40 years for China compared to 30 for India. Those who think India can never catch up to China lose sight of these factors- a 10 year gap is huge provided India can take it and run. India is moving from a corruption prone, governance deficit, investment deficit, engineers deficit, technology access deficit country to a country that is able to score well in governance, capital, labor and technology eliminating deficits in each sector the way China did.. The younger age China enjoyed in 1990 of 25 years median age when it started industrialization is now being transferred to India in 2026. Why is this important? A younger population with abundant capital, abundant labor, abundant technology access is the ticket to industrialization on a massive scale. India today is on the cusp of massive changes. What happens now is that the computerization and software is also getting more advanced that will accelerate India's Vikshit Bharat effort. This is why Chancellor Merz joining Modi at the Kite festival and committing Germany to a partnership with India, with it the European Union, is so significant today, as it will deliver for both India and Germany, Europe. China births drop from about 10 million to about 8 million and birth rate drops from 6.77 to 5.63 births per thousand people. China population now drops to 1,405 from 1,408 million people. Deaths rose from 10.93 million to 11.31 million.   ...

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Young voters 18 years to 29 years, some voting for the first time, including men on college campuses, voted by 14 percentage points in favor of DJT, compared to the same group of young voters giving  Biden a 15 percentage point margin. The total shift this time nearly 30 percentage points in favor of DJT. Young men fight the endless wars and young men are falling behind women in college education and Democrat Biden and Republican Trump were the only presidents fighting to end these wars, Democrats not even sensitive about the crisis facing young men.  For younger women 18-29 years the Harris margin was 18 percentage points down from 32 percentage points for Biden in 2020, a swing of 14 percentage points away from Democrats.  Overall for men and women Harris was only 52% to 46% for DJT a margin of only 6 percentage points.  This bodes well for America to have independent thinking from young people, and the same pattern is observed for Latinos, which also is a good sign for America for the future. ...

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482,000 VW owners in the U.S. and 11 million worldwide face the uncertainty of waiting for VW to find a technical solution to these cars on the road with highly polluting diesel engines. Resale prices of VW are declining.

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Questions are being raised about the lack of fairness in the cuts imposed in Greece - and the IMF acknowledges this- where the minimum wage was cut by 22%, but the most highly paid civil servants had their salaries cut by 10%. Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schauble told the German daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel: "I really feel for the people of Greece. The vast majority now hard-hit by reform and austerity measures... can do nothing about the backup in reforms, the loss of competitiveness and the unproductive use of funds in the past." In Greece there is a separate wage scale for the highly paid public sector employees such as doctors, diplomats, professors, and uniformed personnel in the military and police. This is different from what the ministry bureaucrats, hospital support staff and local government administrators get paid. This group took only a 10% cut, even though it makes up one third of the payroll according to IMF and EU estimates. The cuts to the minimum wage were made to improve Greece's competitiveness and because in Greece during the last decade wages went up much higher compared to Germany. Brian Carney pointed out in a Journal article Feb. 14, 2012, that nominal private sector labor costs went up by 62% in Greece from 2000-2008 compared to 15% in Germany. Showing the nature of the fight to make the cuts more equitable, is the resistance to the IMF-EU insistence on cuts to the highest pensions which amounted to $178 million. In the end prime minister Papademos said the monthly pension of $1975 was reduced by $32 or 1.6%. The lack of fairness creates more uncertainty about the cuts as elections are expected in April, only 7-8 weeks from now, and fears that this may not hold when a new government is elected. For this reason the IMF-EU officials are considering putting the $170 billion bailout money in an escrow account....

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Electricity prices are regulated in Spain and the companies are allowed to charge less than the cost of producing electricity. Prices have fallen in real terms by 30% in the past 10 years. The cumulative deficit from this has now reached 14 billion euros according to the Spanish National Energy Commission. But the present Spanish government is in a bind because just to stop the deficit from increasing would require price increases of 20% according to the Spanish power industryassociation Unesa. Paying off the deficit in the next 15 years would require price increases of 35%.

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In a sign of the low returns in the past year for pension funds, the 896,000 California teacher retirement pension fund CALSTRS, shows returns for year ending June 30, 2016, at 1.3%. Half of the holdings of CALSTRS are in U.S. and global stocks with returns of negative 2.3%. Real estate provided return of 11% but overall the returns were low. Over 10 years the returns of CALSTRS are now at 5.6%. The California Public Employees Retirement System (CALPERS), says its returns on its investments were 0.6% for the past year. With large retirement obligations pension funds in the U.S. face real challenges in this low return environment. Private equity investments of CALSTRS had returns of 2.9%, also lagging behind.

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Trump rally for 100 Days in Warren, Michigan, at a community college gymnasium, April 29, 2025. DJT also visits Selfridge Air Force Base and says it will get 15 new F-16 jets to replace old jets.  DJT says we're "getting woke lunacy and transgender ideology the hell out of our government." Border crossings of 8400 in February 2025 and 7200 in March 2025 are the lowest since the 1960's, one of the lowest ever, compared to 140,000 in March 2024 under Biden. DJT says he is protecting the middle class and Main Street. The millions of jobs lost to China, DJT says he is bringing them back. He talks about creating manufacturing jobs and restoring the industrial base of America that was lost in the last 30 years.  Trump lists the cost of everything from eggs to gasoline at the pump. He says there are three states where gas at the pump is below $2.00 a gallon. He cites the 345,000 jobs created in 100 days and the lowering of inflation.   ...

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Anne Lukits brings this exceptional bit of evidence about improved parenting and family life. Only about 15% of families in a University of British Columbia research study had fathers who shared equally in household work with mothers. About 65% of fathers and 14% of mothers reported inconsistent behaviour about their beliefs in gender roles and how they acted at home. Girls were seen as more likely to pursue careers in science and nontraditional fields if fathers played out their beliefs in real life by taking active part in household work, from doing the laundry, washing dishes, vacuuming and cooking meals. The study is discussed in the August 2014 issue of Psychological Science. This means that only one in four fathers who believe women should not have to do all the household work and work outside in paid jobs, actually play their beliefs out in real life roles in the home by sharing in the household work. Other aspects of this that are still to be researched are how much an active role by fathers in the home can improve the number of meals that are home cooked with fresh ingredients, with fathers taking daughters or sons out to fresh food markets, which have a significant bearing on how families can eat healthy and pass this onto the next generation. An unnoticed aspect of this is that it improves the overall quality of life for families through healthy eating and healthy living. When companies recognize this and encourage their employees with some extra time for family acitivity and work the overall benefits would include- healthier employees able to do more productive work in shorter time, less paid for employee medical coverage, and healthier members of society....

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Socialist justice politics in north eastern Indian state of Bihar led by Nitish Kumar (following Ram manohar Lohia)- with backward caste mobilization, mobilization of women, and evolution of ancient Buddhist lands into the modern world in 1980-2025. The state has a population of 130 million and an urbanization rate of 17% compared to India's urbanization rate of 37%. It is taking a new turn in 2026 as Nitish Kumar a ten term Chief Minister joins the Rajya Sabha upper house of parliament in New Delhi and his successor pushes forward a new rapid development agenda similar to another state Maharashtra with capital Mumbai.