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The 8000 mile Pacific Light underwater sea cable for internet goes from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. After review by the U.S. Justice Department the conduit connecting to Taiwan and Philippines will be used. leaving the internet link to Hong Kong offline. The U.S. is wary of connection to Hong Kong, and its use as a data hub, after the long public protests in Hong Kong. Perception earlier was of Hong Kong as a separate region from China, with its own distinct identity. This is now changing following the protests.

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India reaches $400 billion in exports for 2021-2022. This is a significant increase from the pre covid export figure of $330 billion in 2018-2019 which slipped to $313 billion in 2019-2020. Frequent lockdowns marked the period of the pandemic.

India's industrial sectors play a large role, including cotton yarn and the apparel industry. With the global supply chains being restructured and shifted away from China, India is gaining a more significant role. Australian exports are up 94% and US exports up 47%. India is making an effort to become a key part of the new supply chain arrangements of US and Europe, along with Vietnam and Japan. As part of the supply chain India is increasing imports from other countries with imports reaching about $600 billion, up about one third in 2021-2022.

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On some of the major issues today, competition with China, vaccination drive, infrastructure, both parties in Congress are working together in 2020 with president Trump and in 2021 with president Biden. During 2020 Congress passed laws on competition promoting US, in 2021 Congress passed first aid to the people for the pandemic, and recently a $1 trillion in spending on infrastructure. The was achieved with help from Senators from both parties who worked hard together to find solutions. Brooks says in the NYT that Congress worked better than the CDC during the pandemic. Though the politics made the headlines Congressmen worked quietly in the halls of Congress to craft reasonable solutions to the nation's challenges to help the country recover from the pandemic and point the way to a bright future ahead.

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Chinese companies are building railways, power projects, airports and other infrastructure in East Africa. This report looks at work in Uganda building infrastructure projects and exploring for oil near Lake Albert. Chinese state owned banks provide access to financing for projects and other infrastructure companies build projects using about 60% of labour from China, on low interest rates but with payment over shorter periods than with World Bank projects. The U.S. lags far behind in investing in African infrastructure which badly needs modernization. 

The drawback of debt load is being balanced by exploring for oil in Uganda and keeping the debt load manageable. CNOOC is exploring for oil near Lake Albert. Uganda received $1.4 billion from 200 to 2014, in 2015 another $1.9 billion for 2 dams, and now $2.2 billion loan for new railways.

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Prof. Jeffrey Wasserstrom of UC Irvine reviews Henry Paulson's "Dealing With China." Paulson was head of Goldman Sachs investment bank and Secretary of the Treasury 2006-2009, the period of the global financial crisis. He made 70 visits to China since his days at Goldman Sachs and calls Chinese leaders Jiang Zemin and Jinping "old friends." He established the Strategic Economic Dialogue in the Bush administration for dialogue on economic issues with China, and setup the Paulson Institute at the University of Chicago to focus on China-U.S. relations. One of Paulson's points is that China's financial system faces a day of reckoning, with large losses and many restructurings. Wasserstrom's review looks at Paulson's view of dealing with China and points to a sense that it needs updating because by the time the book is published a lot has changed with the new Jinping administration. The new administration in China is more assertive in foreign affairs, and less tolerant of both the corruption that became part of the Chinese capitalist development inside a state run one party system, and of the voices for more openness. It also has placed tight controls on the Internet. Jinping sees a constructive role for the Communist party in the future as China makes economic reforms away from state run enterprises, and is working to strengthen the party through discipline and anti-corruption initiative. The reckoning Paulson mentions, Krugman and other experts have described in other language- not as a reckoning but that China was no exception and would face the same problems that the U.S. and the eurozone faced since 2008 from financial excesses. In this sense Paulson's views and interactions with the Chinese leadership may represent another era, a period of exuberance when some of these financial excesses were being built up. Today's economic team of Jinping and Li Keqiang is more focussed on making sure the transition through a economic crisis is managed carefully, keeping in mind the risks for China considering its history, and the situation where China is still a "middle income country" with aspirations for further development to improve incomes and living standards. Their view is that tight control is needed as China makes this transition to a less state enterprise dependent, and more consumer economy, so that there is no loss of the gains made so far. A different set of skills and deft management of the economy is needed, making Paulson's views from another era less relevant. External influences such as managing the complex China-Japan relationship as both countries become more assertive are creating another dynamic in Asia, which Chinese leaders may see as requiring careful management, making Paulson's experience less relevant for a new period with new challenges. For the U.S. the economic cooperation with China now occurs with an added political dimension. Of concern for the tight control, seen as not forward looking and not bringing more constructive voices into the system, and the new complexities of carefully managing the changing U.S.-China-Japan relationship in Asia. ...

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President Biden removes one of the costly boondoggles thrust on the American people with Bush's Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, which was anything but an improvement. .The following are the 10 pharmaceutical drugs that will be negotiated for Medicare prices under the Inflation Reduction Act- Eliquis and Jardiance (strokes), Jardiance, Xarelto (diabetes), Entresto (heart failure), Enbrel (arthritis). Laws passed under Republican president younger Bush incomprehensibly took away the right of the government to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies in one of the most egregious and costly decisions in postwar history by the government of the United States. It has only aggravated the problems and cots of healthcare for the American people. President Biden reversed this with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act during the pandemic. Strangely it is part of the real culture war in America in which about 80% of both Republicans and Democrats support this but the media allowed the Bush legislation to be passed without saying it made no sense to say this negotiation was a form of price controls by the US government. This is how low the US policymaking had fallen by 2003 with legislators and press unable to make a simple point. Bush's legislation was called even more incomprehensibly the Medicare Drug Improvement and Modernization Act, when it was one of the biggest financial disasters for the American people costing them hundreds of billions of dollars in their savings and incomes to pay inflated prices of pharmaceuticals that people in Europe and Asia (India and China) were not paying.  ...

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This commentary in the WSJ says it is essential that the U.S. get back manufacturing of all technological goods back to the U.S. or its allies. The dangers of depending on China or other countries not clearly allied with the U.S. is quite clear especially after the pandemic. The U.S. and European supply chains need to be completely remade, restructured, to avoid dependence on China or countries that are not allies. This is what supply chain renewal is about. Yet initiatives alone with hundreds of billions of dollars price tag re not the answer to the problem. What is needed are specific targeted actions such government direct assistance to key sectors to ensure U.S. technological advantages in worldwide competition. Giving a hole range of incentives and direct financial support to industries making everything from electronic and computer components to high tech parts that go to defense and civilian production.   The U.S educational component in this puzzle is university students in all high tech courses which should be kept for U.S. citizens or from key allied nations at American universities. The manufacturing base would mean securing incentives and aid to manufacturing industries, component by component, part by part, to secure American leadership and distinct advantage.  Job losses have to be reversed and industries relocated back to the U.S. And only in cases where it is advantageous to manufacture overseas to relocate in allied countries India, Japan or South Korea. U.S. labor has to be brought into the picture as a key participant in the national interest and given an important role. R& D efforts have to be developed component by component, technological part by part, and technology by technology, so that a systematic plan can be followed to secure American leadership for the rest of this century, is what experts including this one say is required today. ...

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About 60% of Americans think the testing for coronavirus and getting medical supplies to health care workers is too slow, in a poll by Wall Street Journal/NBC News. About 6 in 10 Americans in a new survey say they are concerned that the U.S. would move too fast to loosen coronavirus restrictions to slow the spread, and only 3 in 10 say they are concerned that it is not moving fast enough. About twice as many Americans thinking the risks were higher that public authorites and governors would reopen states too soon. About 75% of respondents in the survey say they are very or somewhat worried about themselves or a family member getting the virus. Mr. Trump's approval rating  remains unchanged from March with 46% approving. Most people place their faith in the governor of their state- 66%, and Mr. Fauci, Director National Institute of Infectious Diseases- 60%, than anyone else. On the economy president Trump is seen as being better at handling the economy 47% to 36% than Democratic nominee Biden, even though Biden has a nine point lead. This confirms the widespread dissatisfaction at the way medical supplies shortages are felt at hospitals, and the way testing for coronavirus is happening with not enough testing. President Trump perceived by business and the public as better at handling the economy is also confirmed in this survey. The dissatisfaction with the president for supplies shortages and testing lagging behind may also be tempered by a sense that the public has not taken aggressive action in supporting an early lockdown with many governors and people not supporting or following strict distancing rules till late March. By contrast the president acted quickly to stop all flights from China. ...

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It makes for good political rhetoric, but in reality the flow of money goes both ways. A lot of investments are made by American companies overseas. This time the flow of oil money because of high oil prices, from the USA and Europe to the Middle East is being recycled back to the USA in the form of investments in the US through small equity stakes in companies and more so through purchases of capital equipment and services to build Saudi infrastructure projects. The $500 billion investment plan over several years in Saudi Arabia is to build everything from new cities, aluminium plants, electricity generation plants and chemicals and plastics plants. The fears and rhetoric are overblown, as the USA also invests overseas with holdings according to the Treasury department of $6 trillion of foreign stock and debt. The acceleration of foreign investment in the US is to be seen in the numbers, as the dollar gets weaker, and its more advantageous for Canadians and Euuropeans to invest here. Last year $414 billion of foreign investors money went into buying stakes in American companies and building factories and purchasing stock, according to Thomson Financial. Thats up 90% from 2006 and represented one fourth of all announced deals. This year in just 2 weeks foreign investors poured $22.6 billion in just the first 2 weeks of January, and that represents one half of all deals. Shows how quickly the picture is changing. One way of looking at it is that Americans buy a lot of foreign goods and the money Americans use to pay for a lot of imports is now being returned to the USA in the form of foreign investments. Note that foreign investment is desirable because it brings new ideas and technology and new management methods to the host country from other countries. These foreign investors in many cases are able to make these investments overseas because they are good at what they do, having them in the host country benefits the host country and shakes up competition in the particular industry in the host country that is receiving the investment. This is why economies once relatively unfavorable to foreign investors like Japan and S. Korea are now passionately seeking foreign investment to make their economies thrive through the exchange and inflow of new ideas and ways of doing things. The same can be and is true for the USA. The other aspect is that most of the investment is still from countries like Canada, Germany, Japan, S. Korea which are big free trade partners of the USA. Manufacturing investment is heavily skewed to European and Japanese companies. Foreign multinational investment (Sony, Toyota etc) grew to $43.3 billion in 2007 from $39.2 billion in 2006 according to OCO Monitor, and will accelerate significantly as companies like VW and other German companies find it cheaper to build in the USA and shift more manufacturing here. To get an idea why the rhetoric is overblown Canada spent the most in buying American companies, $65 billion in 2007, according to Thomson Financial. Russia spent $572 million and India $3.3 billion. How will this improve the chances of the USA making it out of this recession? Five million American work for foreign companies in the USA. Of these one third are manufacturing jobs. These jobs pay about 30% more than jobs in American owned companies. Figures from Treasury Department. There will be more of these jobs as companies like VW build plants here. Roubini Economics estimates that an infusion of about $300-400 billion is needed for the USA to overcome the effects of the current mortgage and credit crisis. $414 billion was invested in the USA by foreign investors according to Thomson Financial in 2007, going up from something like $200 billion in 2006. If this pace continues becasue of some of the same underlying reasons as the weaker dollar, stronger economies overseas, then $200 billion additional investments this year would add that much to a stimulus package of $150 billion by one estimate, to provide a boost of somewhere around $350 billion. In the range of the needed boost. Companies like IBM and GE which have significant investments in India and China and investments in software or infrastructure industries that are growing rapidly or Caterpillar with growth in construction overseas, may keep growing through this downturn. This recession may hit selectively and differently, not be a complete hit to the USA economy, and could prevent it from going beyond 2009 with recovery in 2010. ...

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The Journal's Jeff Bennett talks with Rodney O'Neal, the CEO of Delphi Automotive. O'Neal says Delphi's success depends on focussing on advanced technologies where emerging market producers are less able to compete. He has focussed on 33 product lines which are 'green,' safe' and connected.' If it doen't create value then revenue and cost numbers are wrong, is O'Neal's lesson from the bankruptcy filing. He likes the chaotic discussion coming form strong debate, where views are expressed with passion and counterpoints made, and he takes this debate seriously, because as he sees it choosing the right course is a significant task in itself, which takes much time to correct if wrong. There are major improvements in emission and fuel economy ahead and a high tech future for the automobile industry. He see America's future in high-tech where America can do better than emerging market producers, and ensuring that the steady flow of exceptional American talent continues to be channelled properly....

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Officials of 130 countries met virtually to agree on a global minimum tax rate. A minimum tax rate of 15% would be paid by corporations in each of the countries in which they operate so that tax avoidance is prevented. The Group of 20 major economies including India and China also agreed to this change in taxation to ensure that all companies pay their fair share of taxes. It is also part of the Biden plan for tax revenue generation to fund the infrastructure and human needs in health, education and public services that were neglected for so long. US president Biden says- "This will level the playing field and also make America more competitive. And it will allow us to devote the additional revenue we raise to make generational investments, which are necessary to keep America's competitive edge razor sharp in today's global economy." This tax change was needed to prevent companies shopping for low tax locations such as Ireland. This kind of locating in low tax rate locations worked badly for the major G-20 economies for decades as it prevented the generation of revenues needed for essential services and infrastructure investments. Tax changes include Biden's plan to increase the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, and raise the minimum tax on US based companies foreign profits to 21% from 10.5%.  ...

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German economy contracts in second quarter 2024 by 0.1%. Growth is forecast at 0.3% for 2024 and 1.1% for 2025, according to country statistics office Destatis. The contrast could not be greater in Biden's management of the economy as US economic growth was much higher at about 2.8% in 2024. It shows the positive effects of Biden's effort to revive American manufacturing, and to support chips and science and American industry, and the investment of a trillion dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act in American infrastructure. Without these investments American recovery strong at this time would have hobbled along with much worse effects on jobs and inflation, and looming recession, under a Trump administration. Unusual factors such as the concentration of the supply chain in China have influenced US inflation, which Biden is correcting, and also bringing jobs at home. The economic management is excellent it  is the effects of the pandemic and broken supply chains, high mortgage rates and 20% price increases in apartment rentals that are making cost of living a problem for average Americans. Biden has taken cost of living action including canceling student debt and calling for limiting rent increases for apartment rentals to 5%. Harris has a program to support renters when housing takes up more than 30% of their income. ...

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During several year of environmental disasters, and the pandemic, where can one find the tranquillity one so much desires? One place is music, says classical pianist Maria Joao Pires. "We have so many emergencies to deal with in our society now, things like the breakdown of the family, environmental disasters. We have to ask, 'How can the way we make music be changed, to help people to face these things?’" Of the quiet space in her music she brings aspects of the ancient ways of Buddhism- her father lived in China and Japan. She has studied Buddhism which in some ways comes through in her music, as she says-  "the breathing, the space and the quietness of the space." Pires dresses with simplicity that "puts my mind at ease." She is for music in more informal relaxed settings and not the formal orchestra settings and piano recitals.  She likes easy-to-wear fabrics, like hemp or cotton. "I don't wear makeup and my hair is always cut short. I only wear flat shoes. That way my mind is at ease." She was born in Lisbon 23 July 1944, with her first recital at age 5, and studied at the Lisbon Conservatory.   ...

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India is becoming a major destination for foreign investment in manufacturing in many industries. The youth population 15-24 now exceeds that of China. Over the period 2015-2019 the number of youth 15-24 will increase to be close to 250 million in India in 2019, compared to a rapidly declining youth population in China of little over 150 million in 2019, according to the International Labor Organization. China's one child policy, investigation of multinationals business practices, and increasing wages in manufacturing, are reducing its attractiveness for foreign investors. Other destinations such as Russia are less attractive because of the economic crisis after falling oil prices. India also benefits from the large drop in oil prices to help reduce its chronic deficit and lower inflation- significant dividends at a critical time. Raghuram Rajan, head of the central bank, estimates the gain from the drop in oil prices at about $50 billion. Indonesia also benefits from the same trends. Prime minister Modi is reducing the bureaucratic structures and red tape that are a legacy of the Congress governments since independence in 1947, creating a new climate for business investment. ...

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When Manmohan Singh and Wen of India and China said in Beijing that the people of both countries were united in their aspirations for the future this was very real and sincerely stated. Geopolitics is somebody's game who does not know his own country, people and history in these long neglected parts of Asia. Here in India or China in different ways its these aspirations that matter. India is desperately trying now to improve schooling after years of neglect for the country's rural poor, where the quality of government schools is startlingly poor. The figures are dismal. In general only 1 in 10 college age Indians go to college. But its worst at the lower poorer parts of society. Among the poorest 20% of Indian men half are illiterate and only about 2% graduate from high school. For the top 20% of Indian people only 2% are illiterate and 50% are high school graduates. The problems even as the government pans to triple spending in the next 5 years run deep. There is no motivation among school teachers because for years the schools have been neglected and there is no education culture in poor villages, teachers are poorly trained if at all, they are late or absent and there islittle discipline and education ethic. Parents are very poor and do not understand the value of education and want to pull children out of school to earn wages for the family as migrant labor. The parents are illiterate or poorly educated so there is very little help at home. And there is corruption as some of the money to be invested in school buildings, equipment, lunches, teachers, etc is stolen or goes to bribes. There are some dedicated people but they get washed out in the midst of so much apathy, lack of conviction, corruption and lack of motivation among teachers parents and village officials....

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Chinese company investments in Korean companies are not doing well because of widespread feeling among Korean workers in these companies that the Chinese company is only interested in transferring the Korean company technology to China. Also hopes of selling products in the Chinese market have not been realized. Instead the experience is that the Korean company ends up up laying off most of the employees after being hollowed out. In 2003 BOE a Chinese company paid $380 million for Hydis, a Korean maker of displays for cellphones and laptop computers. After the transfer of technology to build a new display panel factory in Beijing, Hydis was left o hollow out and went into bankrupptcy protection in 2006. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation bought a controlling stake in Ssangyong Motor of South Korea in 2004. Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, one of China's top state owned companies saw this as a push abroad, as China accumulated large dollar reserves from foreign trade, and a chance to acquire foreign technolgy for SUV and luxury car manufacture. Shanghai Automotive has partnerships with GM and VW to use foreign technology to make cars in China. The Korean economy after the financial crisis of 1997 was opening up to foreign investment. In this climate the Korean side was expecting China to open its market to Korean cars from Ssangyong, but this did not happen. Instead Korean workers say the company transferred technology to its Chinese parent, and after 5 years the partnership is falling apart in protests by the workers, layoffs and bitter battles amid declining sales. The Korean workers even have a word for such foreign companies that have come to Korea, during Korea's opening to foreign investors after the 1997 banking crisis, when Korean firms went for fire-sale prices. That word is "meoktwi", a slang term that means "a thief who eats and runs away." This has hurt China's reputation in South Korea, and its reputation as an enlightened investor in other countries. It also is what may be happening with Taiwanese investment in China in this downturn. Companies like Hon Hai, with its Chinese subsidiary Foxconn, are reported by the Economist to be shrinking their Chinese operations in a large industrial city sized campus employing 250,000 workers in the Shenzen area, to 100,000 workers. That factory city made laptops, PC's cellphones for Western companies using foreign technology....

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Reidel argues in a new book on the Sino-Indian war of 1962 that Kennedy would have deepened relations with India following the 1962 war. Johnson continued Cold War policies from earlier administrations which sidelined the non aligned movement of Indian prime minister Nehru. However it is not clear how this would have happened. Kennedy, he says, saw China and India offering competing visions in Asia. Today India and Japan are coming closer and offering a different view of society and democracy than China.

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Lou Jiwei chairman of China Investment Corporation met with Treasury officials in Washington to give reassurances that China's sovereign wealth fund would invest as a portfolio investor and be a good citizen when it comes to investing in the USA. He reiterated the pledge by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that the Chinese government would not interfere in the operations of the fund, and that the fund would have its own corporate governance structure. He also met with officials of the IMF who are drawing up a code of "best practices" for sovereign wealth funds. Following the Chinese experience with the Unocal deal and the experience of Dubai in a deal to buy a company that manages USA ports, both deals falling apart on concerns in the media and Congress, the Chinese and the Persian Gulf sovereign funds have become more savy and aware of these concerns and tried to handle them better. They also point out that in the case of the financial institutions caught in the US mortgage securities crisis, it is these companies like Morgan Stanley and Citigroup that have come to them, to China, to Persian Gulf countries and to Singapore and other countries, asking them to invest for small stakes in the companies. Their line goes like this- if you have second thoughts about our investment we will invest elsewhere in other countries. Another facet of this is that these portfolio investments are spread out between many different countries sovereign wealth funds, and the possible influence is small in management decisions. China Investment Corporation has $200 billion in assets. Lou says that only a third would be invested to buy foreign assets, about $70 billion. The other two thirds would be used to support China's three large commercial bank balance sheets. ...

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Erich Scwartzel's exceptional account of Dreamworks going astray as its CEO went in a hundred different directions- a smaller studio trying to get into multiple platforms and industries, and trying to compete with much larger Disney in China- provides a unique insight into what happens when a CEO, especially one with creative talent, loses his primary focus. Extensive interviews by Schwartzel with insiders shows the creative people at the studio struggling to get Katzenberg's attention as he made many of his frequent trips to China. DreamWorks Animation CEO's effort to get into several related businesses, television, publishing, theme parks, children's toys, and enter the Chinese market in a big way to compete with Disney, has led to a loss of focus in its main business of feature films. The result is large impairment charges and several films from the "Rise of the Guardians" in 2012 to "Penguins of Madagascar" recently, that did not cover rising production costs at the box office. Four of six films since 2012, before the recent film "Home," failed at the box office since 2012. Katzenberg now says he realizes pursuing different directions led to spreading resources too thin, and he intends to make producing 2 or 3 good feature films every year his No. 1 priority. Restructuring underway and some box office flops led to 4th quarter loss of $263 million from $17 million profit the prior year. About 20% of the workforce or 500 workers will be laid off, a Northern California operation will be closed, and the Glendale headquarters sold and leased back to improve cash flow. DreamWorks shares were at $22.68, March 27, 2015, down from $44 Feb 2010, and IPO day close of $38.75. ...

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South Korean public opinion shows 80% of the public opposed to the release of slightly radioactive Fukushima water into the sea by Japan. Japanese public opinion is accepting this as unavoidable. This is weakening the position of South Korean president Yoon in coming elections. Yoon is a prosecutor who joined politics only a few years back and has seen his popularity drop by 7 percentage points to 35%. Yoon is known for his effort to bring South Korea and Japan closer together with the US in dealing with North Korea and China. Biden met with Kishida and Yoon at the White House only recently, and Yoon made a state visit to the US before India's Modi. Because Yoon is an outsider to politics he has been able to get South Koreans to accept the idea of settling past disputes with Japan tracing back to the colonial era and World War II, yet the Fukushima water release is opposed by the vast majority of South Koreans.

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George Bush's administration passed healthcare legislation that allowed private pharmaceutical companies not to have to negotiate with Medicare on cost of drugs. It also passed the so called Medicare Modernization Act that created a huge opportunity for profits through Medicare Advantage Plans. The chart in WSJ shows profits it calls a bonanza. What it means is that instead of reducing the costs of providing medical care to elderly Americans it has increased the cost leaving less and less money for infrastructure for roads and bridges and airports that are dilapidated in the US, and less money for essential services in education and health care, transportation, housing. This has reduced the standard of living and quality of life in America. For healthcare it is providing less for higher cost when compared to China, India, Germany, France and the UK. George W Bush administration put America into 2 wars in Asia and the Arab world which also drained resources contributing to a lack of investment in the country in essential infrastructure and services. ...

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This NYT analysis of fund raising by the Republican and Democratic parties for the 2020 election campaign shows Republicans hardly raising any money from people with incomes over 250,000 and very little from incomes over $200,000 with most funding coming from the base white working class and lower and upper middle class. For Democrats fund raising is significant at the levels of income over $200,000. Geographically the Democrats get most of their funding from the east and west coast areas.  This reflects the changes in the parties starting in the the 2008 elections when higher income groups in software, finance, and in professions of law and medicine and Silicon Valley tech shifted to Democrats. The Democrats also held onto minority votes. In 2016 this changed with a sharp turn with tech on the west coast and finance professionals on the east coast shifting to the Democrats. The PPP agreement under Obama favored tech over the auto industry, and renewal fossil fuels such as solar were favored over the oil industry and fracking. In 2016 this helped shift the votes in Michigan and Pennsylvania to Republicans. Older manufacturing industries, oil and fracking were supported by Republicans who pushed back against ceding global dominance in manufacturing to China. By 2020 these changes are now entrenched with white working class voters in industries decimated and communities destroyed by foreign imports mainly from China, supporting Republicans. Republicans under Trump have made regaining the manufacturing leadership of the U.S. that was the situation after World War II, a top priority for the U.S.  The minority vote shifted with Hispanics moving towards Republicans to a much larger degree than before. The urban rural divide is similar to Europe where the similar impact of foreign imports mainly from China have destroyed older industries and led to sharp decline in older towns and communities outside major cities. This is the situation facing the U.S. and Britain, France, Italy Spain, and Poland. Germany as a manufacturing country dependent on exports is also affected but to a lesser degree. The unwholesome aspect of this is that the larger urban areas are divorced from the rest of the country  and rural small towns, smaller cities. In some form reintegration has to take place. The vast majority of the working class classified in today's terminology as the less educated lacking a college degree and white are  paradoxically with Republicans, and the wealthy professionals and industries in software, finance with Democrats. Nothing makes this more evident than a quick look at the map of the U.S. with blue on the opposite coasts for Democrats and mostly red in between and in the south. This is unprecedented in American history. A rising tide that lifts all boats in the U.S. and the return of the U.S. to the position it held after World War II could change this in the next decade. ...

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A Taiwan based correspondent of BBC News reflects on how China has changed during the Singles day 11.11 on November 11. This is a huge promotion event for online retailer Alibaba. It was originally a day used by male college students without girlfriends, showing with the 11 their desire to have relationships. Alibaba has used it as a promotional day for online sales with discounts of 30% or more. About halfway though the day sales were larger than 2016 sales on Nov. 11.  Many retailers from different countries took part. and the sales reached $25 billion. Many people used it to buy household supplies for 6 months using the discounts, or apparel and clothing which could be delivered to their home. The old ideas of frugality are now replaced with a willingness to try new ways to live in a different period.  Use of mobile phones for ordering is widespread as a new urban middle class in China shifts to a materialist culture of buying on credit.

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World War I was the first major worldwide war since the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, and World War II was fought after World War I's punitive reparations exacted from Germany led to the Nazis. US General Pershing did not want to see the French negotiate the settlement, preferring the war to continue till the destruction of the German Empire's war machine rebuilt by the Nazis. Mistakes were made in Europe for which millions of Americans gave their lives to liberate Europe. Russians and Americans see themselves as part of western civilization. On this point there is no difference, none, it is only who is the more important and whose view of the world is right. Asian civilization including China and India see the benefits of western civilization, of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution and embrace it wholeheartedly and wish it had come sooner on of their own volition and intent. Other than the Korean and Vietnam wars fought in their origins against the Japanese and the French colonialism and Empires, the wars of the Middle East since the end of colonialism stand out. In Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen the only other major wars since the 1970's there are religious and ethnic wars that are of no interest to the people of three continents Europe, Americas, and East and South Asia, for whom the spread of nuclear weapons to the Gulf region brings nothing but dangerous developments for their peoples and for the peace of the world. ...

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Apartment prices in HongKong are up 28% so far in 2009. THey are at their highest levels since the 1997 Aisna financial crisis. This occurs with rising unemployment and falling household incomes. It is fueled by low interest rates and cash rich investors from mainland China.