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After energy shortages in 2021 the Chinese government decided to increase coal power projects. In 2023 these coal power projects are increasingly seen as backup sources of power with rapid increases in the production of renewable solar, wind and nuclear energy. China has nearly reached the point where half its energy is coming from renewable energy sources. Coal power companies are not profitable compared to renewable power companies. The result is that China's total emissions of carbon are declined in 2022 by 1.5%. China's power demand is growing by 6% each year, yet more of the increase in demand is being met through renewable energy expansion with coal being set as a backup source. Soon many of the power projects started after 2021 may be cancelled because they are losing money.

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Washington Post reporters Clement and Gushkin with research and polling experience at Pew Research Center give the results of the Post-ABC News poll taken before the State of the Union 2023 address by president Biden. It shows what president Biden has said about his  investment spending of trillions of dollars in America's crumbling infrastructure, in new manufacturing for chips, advanced technologies, R&D, electric charging stations, EV vehicles, renewable energy. "Folks we are just getting started." The investments are taking place quickly because today there many projects ready for investment. Yet it takes time for the manufacturing plants to be built, new expressways and bridges to be built. The poll shows not enough people know- only a third of people know about two thirds do not know. That Mr.Biden is aware of this is apparent. He says-"It is one thing to have passed it all- now we have to make sure we're on it every single day. Not a joke." And on Jan 26, saying "Implementing it so people can see what we've delivered and give it to them directly."  This is why president Biden used his State of the Union address to make the points directly to the American people. This is also seen in his recent speech to a union audience when he told workers- Mr. Trump used infrastructure as a punchline, Biden turned it into a decade only headline. Creating well paying jobs and doing this while cutting the deficit by trillions of dollars. To give the contrast Mr. Biden told workers and working families the spending cuts proposed by the Republican House of Representatives were according to Moody's likely to result in a loss of 780,000 jobs.    ...

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Elections are won on messages that can be put in one line. FDR's in 1932 he stated clearly and applies to Biden in 2024- it has Abraham Lincoln's message from his writings. FDR said in 1932 "Give me your help not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people." America in 2024 during the pandemic resembles America in 1932 during the Depression with widening gaps between the upper and lower classes and in opportunity for better life. Philip Bump in his Analysis in the Washington Post points out that the 2024 US election remains a referendum on the former president Trump. This is because as is already evident the voters have made up their minds, on Biden's side people that have decided they will not vote for Trump, and on Trump's side people who will vote for Trump. Biden has a stable vote when the election is referendum on Trump. Crime has come down so that crime is not so much of an issue. Immigration is also coming down and the Lankford- Biden immigration legislation did not pass to close the border as it was seen not attractive for the reelection bid on basis of immigration fears from the former president. Biden has take steps to close the border using executive action in the absence of Congress stalling on advice of the former president. The other issue is abortion and the selection of J.D. Vance for VP creates more fears about abortion bans for suburban women in all 51 states. Climate Change action is another issue and if stalled for 4 years it would cost the US upward of 1 trillion dollars to make up for action not taken till 2028. Donilon has said elections are fought on issues that can be put in one line for focus and concentration. For Democrats it is democracy in the words of FDR in his 1932 address: "Give me your help not to win votes alone but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people." It is good to reflect and know that this is what president Abraham Lincoln would also have said knowing Lincoln's views from his writings on the this aspect of freedom in the Civil War in fighting the plantation economies of the Southern states. ...

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The campaign to establish net neutrality. It is purported to address the problem of phone and cable companies blocking access to websites and interfering with internet traffic. The FCC passed new net neutrality rules by a 3-2 vote. The net neutrality rules are supported by Mr. Obama, and FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, a former law school friend of Obama.

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South Korea's LG Energy Solution is pushing forward with its aggressive investments in electric vehicle batteries by going public, raising $11 billion through South Korea's largest listing on January 27. LG Energy has made large investments in the US and is dominant in Europe. CEO Kwon Young-soo told a recent news conference that its strength is that "we have global buyers and global production facilities in the US and Europe, which CATL doesn't have." Saying that LG Energy is not Chinese is a big pitch, and LG Energy is taking advantage of the current trade war between the US and China.  China's CATL or Amperex is the largest maker of electric vehicle batteries with 30% of all batteries sold, compared to LG Energy's 20%. Yet CATL is concentrated in the China home market. The next three companies are in order Japan's Panasonic, China's BYD, South Korea's SK Innovation, and Samsung SDI. The South Koreans plan $15 billion in investment in the US. They see the fact that they are not Chinese a big advantage in meeting European and US automaker needs. ...

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How the need for better power management for mobile, PC and Cloud helped ARM  Holdings compete effectively with much larger Intel Corporation. This report tells the story of the rise of ARM as a dominant supplier of chips for mobile phones. Apple is looking at "performance per watt" as a key parameter in selection of chips. This comes at a time when global cloud computing makes up 1% of global electricity use. Cambridge UK based company Arm Holdings licenses its microchips to 500 companies. Arm has 90% of the market for small processors going into smartphones and tablets, laptops. Intel does not license its microchip designs for them to build their own versions except for AMD and Via Technologies. Apple, Samsung, Qualcomm and Nvidia pay Arm for the license and make variants customized for them with their own engineers.  but all compatible with Arm's ecosystem and "instruction set (which is the instructions used for software to talk to hardware). ...

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The DW.com's Christoph Strack says its a good sign that chancellor Merkel of Germany is opening up and showing emotions. She was decisive in the way she presented herself and what she has learned in the past 12 months since the refugee crisis erupted in summer 2015. She expressed her sense that she had "an absolutely sure feeling" that Germany will emerge out of all this better "than when we went into it." The remarks at Konrad-Adenauer-Haus for thirteen minutes were unusual and open in sharing how she felt. She said she is "fully committed" to making sure that the situation of 2015 never happens again. Don't count Merkel out, says Strack, she is down but not out, because she is going through the weaknesses in her policy, weakness in communication, and reflecting on her mistakes. And she has shown defiance and resolve, as she prepares for 2017, and its for everything she believes in.

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The Guardiola Klopp rivalry and yet the deep respect for each other comes across in this video and report in The Guardian about the two best coaches and teams in world soccer. Klopp says that like Guardiola he looks forward to a time when he and Guardiola could sit together and have some wine together. It is a heck of a good relationship for world soccer and a role model for the ages.

"He has told me when we are not in charge of any club anymore we will sit together and have a glass of wine, even though I am not a big wine drinker."

"" I am not Roger Federer and he is not Rafael Nadal,but they compete on the highest level and are still best friends. Pep and I are not best friends because we don't know each other, but I respect him a lot, and he respects what we are doing as well, and that's fine."

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Japanese prime minister Kishida joins president Biden in deciding not to run again with low popularity ratings and cost of living concerns of the public. The LDP administration of prime minister Kishida put through a $100 billion investment package to revive the economy in November 2023. In the first quarter of 2024 the Japanese economy GDP growth suffered from a 0.7% decline. Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida of the LDP party popularity has remained at around 25% and Kishida has decided not to run again for prime minister. His term expires in 2025. A new LDP leader will be elected. This report says growing voices in the LDP party persuaded Kishida not to run and have a new leader. Inflation which was tame for over a decade has increased with surging prices for oil and gas after the Ukraine war. The situation is similar to the US and EU where rising prices have hurt ordinary people struggling to make a living. Kishida committed Japan to investing 2% of GDP on defense. The effects of economic developments is that the Japanese currency is weakening. ...

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George Washington is cited for his emphasis on preparedness and preparation for conflict as critical to preserve peace, or to defend America's role in the world as the first Republic based on a simple idea in the Declaration of Independence. Much of the war with Britain in the late1770's depended on the careful and many years of preparation done by Washington. Washington's diaries tell the story day by day of the preparations over years and the final months that won the war at Yorktown in 1781 that no one not the British were aware of- the logistics of moving the army from the south to the north, of equipment and training.  Roger Wicker, leading Republican on Senate Armed Services Committee has a plan- add $55 billion for defense in 2025, Add 357 ships for Navy and 340 fighters for Air Force by 2035. Do the $180 billion backlog for maintenance of the defense forces. Raise the military spending from 2.9% to 5% over 5-7 years as a parallel effort to investing in infrastructure and manufacturing at home. ...

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The wisdom of trying hard but not too hard. Productivity declines when trying too hard. It helps for the mind to get rest and come back to the task refreshed, which means push yourself but only so much and continue to work at it steadily. There is no such thing as achieving 100%, it could mean the goals set were not ambitious enough or that the goals were too hard acting as a demotivating influence. Also minutae or stuff that is not that important can creep into that extra 15% to get to 100%. 

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U.S. president Trump's 2017 budget is an effort to reshape spending priorities by the Republican party. Apart from Medicare and Social Security all other entitlement programs from the days of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society are subject to cuts. Deep cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, including introducing work requirements. The philosophy behind it is that compassion will now be measured not by how large these programs are but by how much the government can get people "off these programs and back in charge of their lives,"  according to Budget Director Mulvaney.  The cuts are $616 billion to Medicaid and Children's Health programs, $193 billion in cuts to Food Stamps, $143 billion in student loans, $72 billion in disability programs. The overhaul of the Affordable Health Care Act is part of this change. The reallocation would put more money into infrastructure for $200 billion, and in tax cuts, $19 billion in a parental leave program and $29 billion for veterans programs, plus added spending on the military. William Hoagland of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Republican who worked on budget issues says it will be politically difficult as the cuts to lower income groups come with tax cuts for small businesses and higher income individuals.  Beyond the policy priorities there is an area where both Republicans and Democrats are skeptical of the budget. This is how it impacts the U.S. debt. Under Congressional Budget Office estimates the U.S. debt as a percentage of GDP which rose to about 75% after the Great Recession starting in 2008, is projected to grow to about 85%. In sharp contrast the Trump administration estimates of the Office of Management and Budget are for it to drop to 65% based on rosier estimates of 2% inflation, 3% growth for the decade ahead. Experts say this is unlikely once the Fed raises interest rates and the unemployment rate currently at 4.4% leads to rising inflation, undercutting growth which has remained below 2% for a long period. These concerns are also voiced by Hilsenrath in the WSJ based on the experience of other countries such a Britain that cut corporate taxes without seeing an uptick in economic growth. ...

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This opinion piece in DW.com says India's prime minister should not isolate prime minister Sharif of Pakistan, as he had no part in the escalation of tensions in Kashmir. Foreign and military affairs are now run by the Pakistan Army, and isolating Sharif only entrenches the Army it says, which has kept up tensions similar to the situation in 1999 with the Kargil crisis when the Pakistan Army initiated a conflict in Kargil region. At that time Indian premier Vajpayee and Pakistan premier Sharif were improving relations. 

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David Rubenstein's Interview of Heather Cox Richardson about the Revolutionary War after 1776 and the Civil War under Lincoln, and about American democracy in 2026, as a podcaster and a newsletter for Substack. She reaches a large audience in the northeastern, states and is based at Boston College where she is professor of American history. She says here most historians do not agree about history, and this shows as she has a unique interpretation of history. A reading of Abraham Lincoln's letters and speeches from the books published by Library of America shows a different Lincoln. Heather Richardson says Lincoln was hesitant about slavery and moved to abolition only as political situations required action. Our own reading at Lyrarc.com shows Lincoln in his debates with Douglas taking on the role of stewardship of the Nation Jefferson and Washington helped create with the Declaration of Independence, and Washington's conduct of the war (as a war of attrition that would be finally won with divine providence in the form of the aid from the French naval and military power.) His heart was with the Nation following the British example and abolishing slavery (as Britain had done under Witherspoon's leadership in parliament in 1807), and he was the principal proponent of that vision. All over Europe, from France to Britain the emancipation of man from feudalism, from slaveholding or holding people tied to the land was on the way out, and Lincoln believed that this direction was established and it was God's will expressed through his skills in debating the issues for the Nation to bring these ideas already established in Europe to the American continent. Nowhere, not even in one sentence unless taken out of context do we find Lincoln moving from his firm view, using every skill he had to push his vision forward to transform America step by step, almost as if God's own hand was guiding him in this task all the way. One has only to understand the mood of Britain to know that Lincoln knew in his heart that he would prevail. In 1772 Lord Mansfield in the Somerset vs Stewart case declared that chattel slavery had no basis under English Common law. In 1807 the British parliament abolished slavery. And in 1834 the Abolition of Slavery Act abolished slavery in the whole British Empire. By 1800 with the French Revolutionary Wars the mood was all over Europe for emancipation from feudalism, from slavery, for freedom. Lincoln was himself an expression of the mood of the time coming from a log cabin in Kentucky with little schooling and believing in the best British values in a new frontier country including its system of common law and freedoms guaranteed by an unwritten constitution. In 2026 there are views that show an hesitant ambivalent interpretation of America's resolve under Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, in the fight for freedom of all people by projecting the founders into the current situation. Living in their time they fought the hardest to change what they saw, no less than William Wilberforce in the British parliament for the freedom of man in 1807. Britain's parliament abolished slavery in 1807 by 283 votes to 16 to standing ovation and an emotional parliament. Wilberforce said at the time-"God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners." Lincoln was no less a force for good under God Almighty on the American continent than Wilberforce was in Britain. Carl Sandburg's biography of Lincoln shows this on every page. ...

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China's export dependent economy with 4% decline in fixed investment Jan-May 2026 and 27% jump in exports.1 million car exports per month in June. Exports make up 20% of China's GDP. China is challenging German companies in their home markets in Europe. Domestic sales of cars are down 16% in June. What this means is that China's growth now depends on exports alone, with construction slowdown, and weak consumer spending. How does this tie into China's posture in trade with the US? It negotiated from a position of strength on rare earths not to give in to DJT tariffs yet knows the importance of trade for the Chinese economic model, importance of US and EU markets, markets worldwide. China's strategy is to shift some of the lost US sales due to tariffs to other countries in Latin America and Asia. A top priority is to keep trade with the US and European Union on a good footing, so that its exports can be absorbed. How does it affect Hormuz? For China Hormuz as an oil source is much lower in importance and China can do without Iran, it absolutely cannot do without the US and European Union to take a big part of its exports. It also does not openly say this but it also shares concerns similar to the US, on nuclear weapons in Iran. India, Japan and the EU have similar concerns. As shown in the articles on this page China has large unused oil in reserves and coal supplies, has lower oil demand at 4% growth, and is accelerating renewable energy, so that it is now importing 8.5 million barrels a day down from 12.5 million barrels a day. By doing this China puts this oil back into the world supply leading to lower oil prices. This means the world can do without the supplies from Hormuz, keep lower oil prices, and go on as before if Hormuz remains closed. The US can focus on domestic issues and its involvement in the Middle East can be limited to naval blockade which the US Navy is capable of doing. This is good for China, good for the US, and good for the World. Local governments in China, provincial authorites, pushed growth in building road, bridges, factories during the 30 year growth phase 1990-2020. In 2026 local governments with debt loads and lack of good projects for investment are a bottleneck to growth. This is the first time fixed investment is in decline, except for the years in 1961 and in 1967. The year 1961 is a result of many mistakes made by chairman of CCP, Mao, by shifting 2 million in farm labour to work in iron foundries, and the shift from private farm plots to soviet style commune farms, coupled with floods leading to 43-46 million famine deaths (1994, Chen Yizi, top advisor to CCP General Secretary Zhao Zhiyang). 1967 is the chaotic situation of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution launched by Mao. What it shows is that the China Miracle like the Japan Miracle and the German Miracle of recovery after World War II, is based on certain conditions and will enter a phase of lower growth closer to 3% like other industrialized nations over time. India and Indonesia are larger than China and will be the next growth story, which is also shown on these pages this week, with the address to the Indonesian parliament by Modi, and Indonesian president Prabovo's saying that he has studied Modi's economic changes and is copying them as there is no copyright. ...

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Simon Nixon of WSJ says even if the government took the estimated $120 billion in losses estimated by Goldman for the UK banking system. it would change public sector debt to GDP ratio for the UK from 60% to 73%, which is still better compared to other countries and does not trigger a credit downgrading. The UK has received a huge monetary stimulus and the lower value of the pound helps exports, so the situation is a mess but far from being a disaster.

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Much as the average American does not like too many numbers that confuse and sources that may be incorrect. It does not have to be that way and it is important to know what can mean ease of living for all. Trump 2017 tax cuts have been studied in detail at Princeton, U of Chicago, Harvard, and Treasury Department. The effects are that it is adding $100 billion each year to the national debt of $34 trillion. And gains to individual workers are only about $750 a year not the $4000 promised per worker. The corporate tax rate was reduced from top rate of 35% to 21%, and investment spending was given accelerated deduction for income taxes. The studies show investment growth in years after 2017 was the same as the years before. To test if the rate of investment was slowing and the law pushed it up studies show this not to be the case. It was also shown that accelerated deduction of investment was more effective in increasing investment for individual companies based on 12000 corporate returns studied. ...

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Chancellor Scholz tells the German parliament before a special EU summit-that Putin "will not achieve his goals in Ukraine, not on the battlefield, not through a dictated peace." He responds to the Russian Defense Ministry claim that the western tank supplies are drawing NATO into the conflict and could lead to an "unpredictable escalation." Scholz said- "It is not NATO in war against Russia. It is Russia's invasion of Ukraine."

"From the first day of the war our strongest characteristic lies in our cohesion. We simply will not allow a country to invade another and disrupt peace in Europe."

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These 2 steel plants date back to Scunthorpe 1861, and Port Talbot 1905, when they were first built, when Britain led the world's industrial revolution. The two plants were modernized in the 1950's. British Steel and Tata Steel Port Talbot only two remaining steel plants in UK- retaking the UK steel supply chain move taken Labour in July 2026 as Andy Burnham takes the premiership. British Steel was privatized in 1988. In Asia British Steel and US Steel were revered during the colonial period to the 1950's and 1960's. In the US and UK strangely economic theories took hold that did not see the importance of steel and other basic industries in the life of a nation and its people. About 40 years later the lessons of outsourcing your main supply chains has been learned at great cost to the US and the UK. Note that in today's WSJ an Exclusive report shows the success US steel has become with government help and American tariff protection agiainst dumped steel from China and India. US Steel has grown till it is now the third largest steelmaker in the world. The UK government is nationalizing Scunthorpe plant now given name British Steel under the Steel Industry Nationalization Act. UK has set aside 2.5 million pounds for subsidies to the Scunthorpe and Port Talbot plants for modernization of old pre-1960's plants. This is the right move, if US Steel is a success story with DJT tariffs and government support, British Steel will be a success story with the same kind of support. And contrary to bad economic theory purveyed by some economists the US and UK can now have their own modern steel industries and supply chains at home. ...

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Good advice for parents from a children's books author, Mo Willems. Its ok to be fumbling, its ok not to know, we are human. Its all about being a better human oneself, everything follows from that.  Its ok to tell your children you don't know how to discuss the pandemic.

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A threefold increase in immigration to meet staff and labour shortages makes using immigration as an issue in the next election risky for Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives in Britain. In a strange twist it is the Conservatives under Boris Johnson who campaigned on immigration  to take Britain out of the EU now having a record on immigration of this kind. In 2019 Sunak battlecry " get Brexit done" was for lower immigration from a level of 245,000 that year. In 2022 it was a net migration of 720,000 for Britain. Most of this has come from student, work and family visa routes, and legal asylum channels from Ukraine Hong Kong and Afghanistan. Now economists believe it is a result of shortages of labour and staff, and high domestic wages.

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Which may not be a bad thing as it would keep inflation in check and shift to a new way of handling the economy with higher employment and wages and moderate to low inflation. The US may be facing inflation on a bumpy path to 2% or more likely stay near 3%. The 2% target of the Fed was from an earlier era when wages were stuck for most factory workers. The increase in wages was needed so that workers could improve their standard of living that was being eroded and after years of stagnant wages. Inflation at around 3% may be where inflation would be in the current environment. This also means higher interest rates on savings which form the most important source of income next to social security for retirees and older workers with larger savings. This also provides an incentive to younger workers to save that did not exist when interest rates were brought to zero to tackle recurring financial crises caused by banks and external events.