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The new plan of the Obama administration in August 2016 to tackle climate change is to cut power plant emissions of carbon dioxide by 32% by 2030 from 2005 levels. This will increase the energy from renewables to 28% of the total by 2030 from about 13% in 2014. The power industry was given more time to comply by shifting the first year to begin complying to 2022 from 2020. The final rule will also provide for generating more energy from nuclear power which provides 20% of the electricity, and which will help reach the 32% target for cutting emissions by 2030. It will also give more flexibility for the shift to natural gas from coal by giving credits towards compliance for projects starting early, rather than mandating a large shift early.

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In 2010 Chicago Federal Reserve president Charles Evans sugggested the Fed adopt a "7-3 rule"- the Fed would keep interest rates low and credit flowing till unemployment dropped below 7%, and inflation was below 2.5% and not taking off. He modified this to keeping rates low till unemployment reaches 6.5%, as long as inflation remained below 2.5%, on Nov. 27, 2012. In Fed meetings Evans was supported by vice chairman Janet Yellen, with Minneapolis Fed president Kocherlakota and Boston Fed president Rosengren offering similiar proposals. On Dec. 12, 2012, Fed chairman Bernanke announced a position very close to what Evans has suggested. Charles Evans, worked on the staff of the Chicago Fed for 20 years before being appointed president of the Chicago Fed in 2007, at the beginning of the financial crisis.

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The Muslim Brotherhood and the democracy movement activists in Egypt reject any connection to Iran, Hezbollah or Islamic movements in other parts of the Middle East.

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Thoughts about the mortgage crisis bring one to look at the ather areas of aggressive lending to the uninformed borrower. Here is a look at what goes on in lending to college students with all the protestations of the lender that cover up aggressive practices made for the profit seeking lender willing to bend rules of fairness in lending wherever he can make an extra profit.

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New Jersey's Supreme Court rules that the facts vary in each case so there is no justification for class action suits. It takes away one more hurdle from Merck as it tries to come back from the Vioxx crisis which lead to 27,000 law suits being filed against it. Over 1 billion in legal fees already incurred by Merck and its has reserves for $800 million more.

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Brexit negotiation guidelines from the EU rule out parallel talks on both Britian's future relationship with the EU and the separation agreement negotiations, preferring a phased approach. Only when the first phase of separation is complete or at an advanced stage would the second phase of future relationship with the EU be negotiated. The EU Council president, Donald Tusk, says the process would be long, complex and at times confrontational. Der Spiegel online writing on the negotiation describes the approach in a meeting with the lead German negotiator Mr. Oettinger, on the team of Michael Barnier who leads the negotiations for the EU- Oettinger focussed on what Britain owes the EU, estimated at over 60 billion euros. So far apart are the British and EU positions that Michael Barnier has no idea on the pathway for these negotiations, only awareness of the priorities such as the rights of EU and British citizens in each others region, says Der Spiegel. Looking at Theresa May speaking in parliament about her decision to move forward with Brexit in a letter to the EU invoking Article 50, one senses a mixture of confidence and nationalist appeal, far different from reality on the ground. The Leader of the Opposition cited government figures for a sharp decline in GDP as a result of Brexit, and the Scottish leader in parliament went so far as to say the government attitude in negotiations made "Scottish independence inevitable"- all headwinds Theresa May appears to be ignoring or treating with disdain. At this time the EU and the British prime minister appear to be talking over rather than to each other.   ...

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This report in The Economist magazine shows that Germany no longer runs the European Union in the way it has previously. During the austerity crisis with bank bailouts in many countries in southern Europe Germany played a key role. Merkel was perceived as the dominant partner in the relationships with French presidents Sarkozy and Hollande. Britain perceived Germany's increased dominance during that period as a threat. Brexit Leave campaign played on these fears and a diminished British role. Merkel's handling of the migration crisis also played into the hands of Brexit Leave campaigners with poster pictures of migrants crossing European borders in large numbers on British buses. Merkel changed course on migration policies and gradually reversed it to where Germany no longer welcomes economic migrants preferring that they stay in their home countries with German aid to these countries. Merkel's CDU is now facing challenges from a fragmented electorate with many parties and its own diminished role. Gradually the perception of Germany's role is now also reversing. Even though the new president of the European Commission is Ursula Leyen from Germany, there are more Spaniards, French, Italians and Belgians, work in the commission and parliament than Germans, More Director General roles are held by Italy. Germans in Brussels also do not take directions from Berlin, and are actually more Francophile and federalist in their thinking. Germans opinion is more diverse and plural than the idea of a dominant German view. Greens in Germany are coming first in polls showing how much is changing. These multilayers and different strands of thinking make Germany introverted as it is at present. Leyen is seen as more European in outlook and a more European Germany may be the result than a German Europe.  This may play a part in any new elections in Britain or a second referendum on Brexit as polls suggest there is a shift in opinion in Britain underway. ...

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Protonix or Pantoprazole Wyeth's third best selling drug with sales of $1.8 billion has patent that expires in July 2010. Now a judge has ruled that Teva Pharmaceutical can introduce its generic version of this drug, Teva had filed a suit challenging the patent's validity and the judge ruled rejecting Wyeth's request to block the generic version from being marketed. Pantoprazole is used to treat severe inflammation of the esophagus from excess acid production.

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Islamists in the Egyptian parliament write the new constitution after liberals and Coptic Christians walk out. The rushed approach to writing it to meet a deadline and dissolution by judges critical of president Morsi has prevented the careful thought and discussion needed for writing a constitution. The existing constitution under military rulers of Egypt was revised instead of writing a new constitution from the beginning. The constitution also preserves the privileges of the military and the lack of oversight over the defense budget and military afairs by the elected civilian government. It also preserves the right for people to be tried in military courts for acts considered damaging to the armed forces. Opposition leader El Baradei says this new constitution will not not survive because of the way it was drafted. The opposition to decrees granting new powers to president Morsi that are above judicial oversight and protests in the streets of Cairo also creates new uncertainty.

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This WSJ editorial describes the choices facing states in the U.S. for Medicaid- staying in and increasing the strain on state budgets or opting out altogether from Medicaid when hospitals in the states have enlarged their Medicaid dependent programs- as being a kind of extortion. Justice Kennedy said this was not giving the states much of an option, and Justice Scalia described it with a Jack Benny humor quote about being held up by a robber saying "your money or your life." Justice Roberts described the overwillingness of states to accept federal funds that got them to this point. The overall sense of the hearings at the U.S. Supreme Court on the third day, was that of skepticism on the part of Justices Scalia, Alito, Kennedy and Roberts, leaving Solicitor General Verrilli to make an appeal to humanitarian and patriotic sentiment about millions of the poor who would go without medical care if the Court ruled against the government.

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Kim Kyung-jae, aide to former president Kim Dae Jung, and reconciliation with the daughter of military backed president Park Chung Hee who ruled in the 1970's and suppressed dissent. Presidential candidate, Ms. Park Geun-hye, is reaching out to dissenters who suffered during her father's military regime. Much of the industrialized part of S. Korea is in the southeastern provinces, and Ms. Park's father pushed development in this region. There is a development gap with the southwestern provinces where much of the dissent to the military regime took place. The gap is still being healed many years later. Ms. Park's conservative party hopes to get 20% of the vote from the southwestern provinces with her efforts at reconciliation, up from the current conservative party president Lee Myung-bak who won 9% of the vote there. Moon Jae-in, the liberal candidate for president, is from the city of Busan in the southeastern provinces and hopes to increase his vote in the southeast to 40%.

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Mexico reports 1092 deaths from coronavirus. Mexico has 101,000 cases and 11,729 deaths, a death rate of over 10% of cases. Brazil passes 600,000 cases only 4 days after passing 500,000.

Germany is implementing a 130 billion euro package to revive the economy. Measures include temporarily reducing VAT from 19% to 16%, giving 300 euro payment for each child. Incentives to buy new cars, and relief for municipalities with high debt are also included. This is on top of 1.1 trillion euro rescue package in March. To fund this effort Germany approved new borrowing and disregarded the deficit rules.

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Follow Jonathan Liew and pictures of sensational save of an own goal by German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger vs France in front of a Basel Swiss crowd in July 2025. Berger faced a never ending onslaught from the French team over 90 minutes and survived with grace and persistence. It included a penalty for the French and two French goals that were not allowed for offside rules. In a chaotic game with both teams tired and all energies spent, simply running with no idea what was going to happen next, Berger never faltered with 9 saves.

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FR24 gives this video of the televised national debate in France between Macron and Le Pen. Macron took up the challenge of not enough attention being given to Le Pen's ties with Russia and her position of skepticism when it comes to the European Union and climate change. "You are dependent on the Russian government and you are dependent on Mr. Putin. When you speak to Russia, you are speaking to your banker." Le Pen says she had taken that loan from a Czech-Russian bank only because French banks refused to lend to her. "I'm absolutely and totally free woman." The candidates also clashed over Le Pen's proposal for banning Muslim women from wearing headscarves. Le Pen described the veil as "a uniform imposed by Islamists." Macron sad that such a plan would violate France's secular rules and would trigger "civil war" in a country that has the largest Muslim population in western Europe. The Fench colonoized parts of North Africa during the period after 1830, with French colonies in Algeria, Morocco and other parts of the region, leading to immigration from this part of the Arab world. After a series of terrorist incidents the French public lost patience with Islamist tendencies leading to a general swing to the right in French politics including Macron. Yet mainstream parties such as Macron's continue to support France's secular values. The traditional parties from the period before Macron such as the Le Republicains of the De Gaulle period in the sixties and the Socialists from the Mitterand period (1981-1995) both failed to win more than 5% of the vote in 2022 showing the many changes happening in France.  During the Macron period as president Yellow Vest protests brought up the issues of working families having a hard time making ends meet. Macron has responded to such protests with some aloofness but also with a tendency to organize town hall meetings to listen to people express their frustrations.  France has established a stronger welfare state than the US and Britain, and for this reason issues related to the dislocation of smaller towns because of the shift of manufacturing to China are part of the general trend that had affected both the US and western Europe, requiring a more unified response. This now takes shape with the renewal of manufacturing in the US and all the western European countries. Candidates with platforms such as Le Pen's to provide relief for the current surge in the cost of living could offer temporary band aid solutions but not address the root causes that require a renewal of French manufacturing and bringing good jobs home or closer to home. The will and aspiration to bring a next generation industrial revolution to France and Europe is the kind of solution that is needed, one that would revive towns and communities across France and across Europe. Much of the technological capabilities are there in Europe, needed is the will and aspiration.  ...

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By putting the credibility of 6 Republican National Chairmen in recent years on the line, including Republican figures such as Bill Brock and Bob Dole, this op-ed article in the WSJ aims to put to rest any doubts about the rule that an absolute majority of delegates is always needed to become the nominee of the Republican Party. This is true since Lincoln won the nomination on the third ballot, and who would never have been president if this was not the rule. The party coalesced behind Lincoln after the nominee on the first ballot failed to win. This also happened when Reagan won a million more votes than Gerald Ford but gracefully conceded to Ford who had the delegate lead. Eisenhower also was nominated on the second ballot after the leading candidate failed to win the first ballot. Reasons given by the party chairmen for this setup are that the party works to elect the best candidate to represent it by coming together at the convention behind the best leader for the party in the general election. Only about 17% of eligible voters voted in the Republican primaries, with a highly fragmented vote, which make the primaries only one way of bringing in public representation, the other being grassroots leaders in each state party having their views represented as delegates, leaders of the party in prevous elections also offering their views and being represented in some form. Even the general election system of electoral votes is based on winning by state electoral votes and does not simply tally up the votes in the entire country, the framework for the Senate with 2 senators for each state, 2 for California and 2 for Wyoming is not entirely on number of voters because it was the intent of the founders for the Senate to bring representation in a different way than for the House of Representatives, all the time looking for appropriate checks and balances for good government as the goal they set above everything else....