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How is Ceylon or Sri Lanka faring for the economy and the standard of living after the collapse in 2022-2023? Krishna Srinivasan the IMF Director Asia Pacific and Peter Breuer in Feb 22, 2024 report say there is light at the end of the tunnel. It shows a graph of where tax revenues had fallen to 9% of GDP making it impossible for the government to function and for essential imports to be financed. "Corruption, tax exemptions, and non-competitive procurement and allocation practices imply higher taxes and costs for everyone, hitting the most vulnerable hardest." This is where PM Modi has made a huge, huge difference in India. It also calls for prevention- "Prevention also requires providing a safe space for public engagement in governance." The British American concept of governance through elections has to be modified with emphasis on as Srinivasan and Beuer state correctly -creating a safe space for public engagement in governance. Only when the public and the young people of the country understand the basics of the economy and an educated informed mindset in created -as is the goal of Lyrarc.com- can the conditions be created for this good governance. This is true for India and is true for its neighbors Ceylon or Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, with whom India has a long history of the closest relations. The rest of the report goes on to call for an end to corruption and inefficiency.         ...

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After a sudden surge in the beginning of May the coronavirus wave in India, its second wave, is decreasing. It is 186,000 new coronavirus cases on May 27, down from over 350,000 at the peak. In India's largest state Uttar Pradesh with a population of 210 million the coronavirus cases have dropped sharply to 4000 a day. New coronavirus cases in Delhi and Bombay are around 1000 a day. The Indian government has moved quickly to tackle this wave with decisive action to meet the sudden surge in May 2021. For the rest of 2021 and into 2022 the most important action by the Indian government has been to create a government sponsored effort of India's entire pharmaceutical company sector to reunite in production of over 2 billion vaccine doses by December 2021. After independence in 1947 one of the steps taken by India with great foresight was to create a strong pharmaceutical sector with fair and transparent pricing of basic drugs and vaccines. Something that does not exist in this manner and scale anywhere else in the world. Today this is giving India a tremendous asset in the fight against coronavirus. India is already the largest producer of vaccines in the world, the new effort will make give it a decisive advantage in meeting not only India's but the world's need for new vaccines. ...

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Deteriorating China Iran relations as the oil imports from Iran for China face US tariffs of 25% on China's exports to US, and US economic relations far more significant for the Chinese economy. China gets somwhere between 1.4 to 1.6 million barrels aday from Iran (80% of Iran's oil exports) into Shandong refiners at $10 below Brent crude prices. Another 400 mbd comes from Venezuela to China. This means $30 billion comes to Iran from oil sales to China at $59 a barrel, and $8 billion for Venezuela from oil sales to China. This has financed much of the bellicose policies towards the US in the western hemisphere and in the Gulf region. Iran's bellicose policies in the Middle East, its nuclear policy, are now seen by China as a distraction and  detract from good economic relations with the US. China $400 billion oil deal 25 year cooperation agreement signed in 2021 was signed under the Biden administration and China today faces a completely different situation in 2026. Even China's relations with Russia are not the same as the US builds better relations with Russia. A wind down of the Ukraine war would change the situation completely and ensure peace in Europe including Russia, as the US works with the EU to meet future challenges having learned from this experience in Europe (Ukraine dividing Europe) and in the Western hemisphere (drug/ migrant. trafficking). When historians write this chapter of the inflows of capital from advanced West to Arab countries and the Gulf region they will write about the huge contrast between China/India's efforts to modernize and these nations where much of that capital was wasted in wars and conflicts and in grandiose projects that made no material difference to the standard of living and quality of life of the vast number of ordinary people. Once the oil dividend is gone with fossil fuels replaced with renewable energy by 2035-2040 this opportunity to advance is lost for the Arab and Gulf region. ...

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David Card and Alan Krueger with a study on New Jersey and Philadelphia restaurant workers in 1994 and their subsequent studies on minimum wage increases show no negative effects on unemployment of increasing the minimum wage- More discussion on this topic as Minimum wage increases to $22 an hour in 2026 in NY and California. Indrajit Dube of U Massachusetts says it all depends on how far one goes in increasing the minimum wage. At some point maybe $30 a week it could lead to restaurants deciding not to hire more workers. At 45 hours a week for 48 weeks an employe in the fast food industry at $22 an hour would make $47,520, and at $30 would make $64,800. The poverty level is set at $33,000. The problem with these figures is that the cost of housing is so high and automobile costs have risen very fast in the last 5 years. Housing in New York and Los Angeles is very costly compared to states in the midwest, in the south, and other states. Card's and Krueger's, Dube's studies show that retention is higher employees are more motivated leading to higher restaurant and fast food sales, happier customers, that could lead to more employment not less. Some of this is intuitive and one does not need an economist to tell one that. When compared to Britain's economic and social philosopher Adam Smith much of the accepted wisdom of what Smith said is selective taking what one wants and leaving out the rest, as Lahart shows here about minimum wage. As Adam Smith was  a keen observer of the social sentiments of society which he considered very important for British society, and for British civilization to flourish. For this reason he supported higher wages and the betterment of the lower classes, as Britain's example to the world. Card received a Nobel prize in 2021 for his experiments including his paper on minimum wage in New Jersey and Philadelphia. ...

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Connor Hellebuyck US ice hockey goalie who turned in 41 saves for the 2-1 win by US over Canada at Olympics in Milan 2026. He had a 96% saved percentage in the Olympics and a 92% saved percentage for the Winnipeg Jets for last 3 seasons. And yet he struggled in some periods when he was not at his best. No one knew he would turn in his best performance ever at this game.

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Margherita Stancati and Benoit Faucon provide glimpses of the reaction of the Iranian public to the air strikes on Iran on Feb 28, 2026. The public was taken by surprise even though talks had failed, and there is a sense that something had to happen for the direction of Iran to change to put more resources to improve lives for the people, there was also a sense of deep unease about the strikes. 

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Spain Mexico relations improve with World Cup Soccer 2026 games in Mexico including one in Guadalajara, Jalisco state. Spain's King Felipe apologizes for acts of the early Spanish explorers Pizarro in Peru in 1532 and Hernan Cortez in Mexico in 1520 after the defeat of the local Empires of the Incas and the Aztecs to Spanish soldiers in the Spanish Conquest of the Americas. Much of the local population did not survive the conquest.

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US programs in thousands of dollars 2026- physical therapist $37 nurse anesthetist $38 and $46 physician assistant $100. Federal lending limit for graduate programs is $20,000. The federal lending should not support the spiralling cost of these programs in graduate professional education. As a result most will have to get private funding. There  are serious questions about the inflation in the cost of these programs. In 2016 physician assistant programs cost $46,000.

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One survey in 2021 shows that about 73% of workers in all age groups are feeling burnout since the pandemic started says this BBC report on Work Life. The situation is the worst for young workers in their twenties who have the least work capital and the most work. For these Generation Z workers the burnout rate is higher at 80%. This presents a huge problem for mental health. Across all age groups volume of work is up over 50% with the highest for young inexperienced workers who are pushed to the limit, working late hours and not able to say no. 

This situation shows that so much has happened during the pandemic that mental health is a major priority in 2022 and beyond.

 

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Some companies have raised prices by 5% on footwear and clothing. Out of the total tariffs of about $50 billion in the first half, the Census department numbers show that about $22 billion is from machinery and electronic, about $12 billion from automobiles and about $12 billion from items such as clothing, footwear.  The major manufacturers in Japan, South Korea and Europe of automobiles and electronics, machinery, make up $34 billion out of the $50 billion in tariffs. To maintain US market access  these large companies are absorbing most of the tariffs. It is only in clothing and footwear making up $12 billion that some of the tariff related price increases will be seen.  Overall this impact could be 5% of $12 billion or $600 million. The DJT administration will find ways to offset this for American buyers in 2025-2026 similar to the deduction of auto lease interest costs in the One Big Act 2025 to cut automobile expenses, using the new $100 billion Customs revenue.  ...

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This NYT report covers the period around 2019 and since when Tesla established its first factory in China.  It is the remarkable story of how the intuition and rapid decisionmaking  of Huang Li, a top Shanghai official and now premier since 2022, helped China create its own EV industry from scratch. He did this by giving Tesla a start with a new factory in Shanghai with $1.5 billion in incentivized loans and building it in 1 year 2019-2020.  A top Shanghai official Huang Li hoped to attract Tesla to China in 2019 after contacts were opened through California officials. Tesla had its only factory at Fremont, California, and had worked with the state government on a program of emissions credits as a form of financing that it could use. California officials  advocated for a similar policy in China in 2019. With Mr. Li's backing the Tesla factory in Shanghai was built in 1 year, California style emissions credit were put in place in China. What Mr. Huang Li's intuition told him was that China was at a turning point it had to take strong steps for a emissions free auto industry to tackle climate change. A company like Tesla offered an opportunity to do this. The factory was built faster than Chinese time in 1 year and loans of $1.5 billion helped finance this. Li correctly sensed that local supplier chain had to be built giving China a way to build its own EV industry. CATL was a lead supplier to Tesla. By providing assistance to CATL and other suppliers and using China's rapid development model Li was able to build an entire EV vehicle industry from scratch. BYD became through work in the pandemic years the largest EV maker in the world, and CATL the largest battery maker. Tesla provided the impetus which Li took on with the idea of building its own versions to soon overtake Tesla in 4 years between 2020 and 2024. BYD went even further and developed its own in house battery technology to cut costs and bring prices down. ...

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International arrivals to the US that were still down by about 35% in June last year over the pre pandemic levels of 2019, are going to be only about 20% below prepandemic 2019 levels this summer 2023. The cost of gasoline for people in the US is about $3.57 a gallon compared to $4.60 last summer. Justin Lahart in WSJ says Americans with steady checks and low unemployment are willing to spend on trips this summer. Among Americans about 40% still avoided travel by airplane, train or subway in 2022. This is now down to 18% or less in 2023.

Traditional vacations are up as old style remote work vacations are receding. Marriott, Hilton and other hotels, and airlines report strong demand. Older people who spend more are also joining the trend this summer leading to higher spending. This may even help the US avoid a recession, says Lahart.

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Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Doha, all these Gulf International Airports hit by  Iranian strikes 840 drones and 325 ballistic missiles in first 24 hours, most of them intercepted by air defenses March 1 2026.

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Ad spending in 2022 US 2022 midterms is already double that in 2018. Democrats focus on abortion, Republicans on high prices of food and energy.

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It reduces oil prices a little bit so why not let India buy Russian oil for 30 days- Scott Bessent announcement March 5 2025. Bessent said for the US- "India is an essential partner of the United States, and we fully anticipate that New Delhi will ramp up purchases of US oil. This stop-gap measure will alleviate pressure caused by Iran's attempt to take global energy hostage."

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Warming of oceans by climate change cause US hurricanes Helene and Milton 2024. Ocean heat content in the Gulf of Mexico is much higher in October 2024 than the average heat content 2013-2023, as shown in this NYT chart. At a single glance one can see climate change at work. This is real America. And FEMA is stretched thin, not adequately funded for the natural disasters happening all over the US, yet Congress has failed to act, and the AI billionaires shown in today's NYT piece "Imperial Reach," talk about trillions of dollars they wish to divert from essential needs of the Nation in climate change action, disaster relief, childcare, health, and education, more than the GDP of European nations. In effect writing off the Nation's future and future generations.  

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This NYT report cites safety experts saying that Norfolk Southern's excessive focus on profits may be partly to blame for derailments and accidents like the one in Ohio. Norfolk Southern made $3 billion in 2022, invested $2 billion in its railways and operations, up a third from 2021. But says the NYT Norfolk invested only half of the $18 billion it put into stock buybacks and dividends for its railways and  operations over a five year period. One environmental group says the railways have fought all kinds of basic safety regulations- modern braking systems, stronger tank cars for explosive, even information on what's on trains from passing to communities. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington now leads an investigation from the Senate Commerce Committee. She said- Over the past five years the 7 railroads "have cut their workforce by nearly one third, shuttered rail yards where rail cars are traditionally inspected, and are running longer and heavier trains." Concerns about staffing shortages and rail road scheduling policies led to workers not being able to take medical leave leading to workers deciding to go on strike. This was averted by president Biden on December 2, 2022 by imposing a contract for pay raises and better terms for workers on the railroad companies only about 3 months before this train disaster. ...

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Canada's oil sands is an oil patch with strong climate change effects. As big oil companies under pressure from different groups leave this oil patch, other local companies are stepping in. This WSJ report says these local companies in Canada are pumping more oil from this patch in third quarter 2021 than in the same period in 2020. As long as it is profitable to do so these companies will operate in this patch of Canadian oil sands in Alberta, says the WSJ.

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Northwestern University has its federal funding  frozen. $790 million federal funds are frozen by the US government for toleration of anti-semitism on campus in 2024 and 2025. Northwestern cut a deal with protesters putting out anti-semitic slogans following an encampment, that was followed by other universities, says this WSJ report. This is not in the tradition of US universities and the Nation founded with the Christian faith that includes the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish faiths as one indivisible faith. Northwestern and others fail when new drug research leads to discoveries funded by federal dollars. Yet the universities get their portion of the return from the pharmaceutical companies, which then charge the average public exorbitant prices, making the universities complicit in the huge burdens placed on the American people. Similar to a Catholic Church  working with the nobles in feudal times- placing ever higher burdens on ordinary working people. Another issue is that universities are investing in new buildings, raising their prices, and operating as if they are unaccountable to the people, as young American men are being pushed away by high prices and foreign students are taking their places.   ...

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Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, calls for fresh elections on September 20, 2021. His term ends in 2023. Trudeau called for elections early as government aid programs have helped Canadians during the pandemic, and Canada has managed to vaccinate 70% of the population over age of 12. The economy is expected to increase by 6% in 2021. Trudeau's party, the Liberals, are popular and Trudeau hopes to increase his progressive base. He currently leads a minority government making it difficult to pass legislation on the government's priorities for child care, clean environment, healthcare, and affordable housing.

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WSJ's Vibhuti Agarwal and Shan Li describe the situation of families in New Delhi during the coronavirus surge that is affecting India in April, 2021. WSJ says the outbreak in India has implications for the world- threatening to extend the duration of the pandemic into 2022, with the possibility of new mutations bringing new dangers from the virus. Public complacency, relaxation of restrictions and failures in compliance with covid protocols after weariness with the long social and economic isolation, elections, and the force of a new variant, have led to the situation in India, with over 300,000 cases of infections daily.