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The incomprehensible situation that the UK Tory governments have not asked Shell and other oil companies to pay a properly implemented windfall tax on record profits. Shell made over $30 billion in profits in 2022 so far says this report in The Guardian and paid no windfall tax, because Mr. Sunak as finance minister put a huge offset to taxable profits by giving back 91p for every  1 pound as tax breaks to oil companies for investing in extraction in North sea fields when he imposed the windfall tax. Shell made large investments in North Sea fields that nullify the windfall tax so no such tax is paid. Mr. Sunak thus completely negated the very positive effect of the windfall tax. This tax if paid would help the UK with its fiscal situation during the pandemic and reduce borrowing costs, provide credibility in financial markets, fund assistance to vulnerable segments during a cost of living crisis, at a time of crisis in UK finances in October 2022.  ...

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The WSJ covers men's falling enrollment in colleges, with a sharp drop in community college enrollment during the pandemic, in a recent report. The NYT look at this issue from the perspective of women pointing out that women have historically experienced a disadvantage. Women are shown to be struggling in lower paid professions, and underrepresented in higher income fields and positions. Seen from this perspective what is seen as a calamity for men is also not happening in a way that is providing visible advantage for women. Women stayed home more than men during the pandemic and were more likely to quit work during the coronavirus pandemic to take care of children when schools were closed. This was happening not just in the US, but also in Europe. The result is that both men and women have suffered setbacks during the pandemic. Biden's families and workers plan investment in America comes at a time of severe stress for families and workers. ...

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Yan Xuetong, is professor of political science and dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, Beijing. He is the author of Ancient Chinese Thought, Modern Chinese Power. In this essay translated from the Chinese, Xuetong says China's new leaders should borrow ideas from ancient Chinese philosophers and theorists like Guanzi, Confucius, Xunzi and Mencius who pointed to the importance of morally informed leadership as the key to success in the long term. Xuetong presents this as the best way for China to compete with the U.S. At the same time it gives Xuetong a basis for calling on the new Chinese leadership to create a less unequal society, with attention paid to social justice and balanced development free from corruption, similiar to the calls made in the U.S.

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Yvette Cooper, UK Home Secretary, continues to pursue a policy of keeping open asylum hotels even as the UK public opinion on asylum seekers shifts, with large parts of the population not supporting it. Immigration is the top issue in Britain and keeping asylum seekers in hotels at government expense is highly unpopular. Giving Reform UK support that it did not have in 2024. A WSJ report shows the problems UK immigration policy is running into in 2025 under Labour.  Editorial opinion in The Times of London says Farage's ideas on stopping migrants should be heard, as both Conservatives and Labour have not got it right, with surging numbers of migrants as long as policies on benefits favor migrant flow. It is plain common sense. The irony is that for most of the British Empire since 1600 during colonization there were no such policies favoring immigrants much less illegal migrants, colonial peoples had no such rights in British colonies in China or India much less in Britain that are now being offered to migrants coming illegally under the European Convention of Human Rights. Asian people pulled themselves up by the bootstraps- Japan, Taiwan, China, and India, and never depended on such Conventions. Some ideas in The Times of London say the UK military should be given the task of protecting the waters around Britain and some troops stationed in France to prevent illegal boat crossings where they start, considering that such action was taken during the recent Olympics in France. ...

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JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon's confidence in Ina Drew was based on her hands on abilities, especially demonstrated during the 2008 financial crisis. Current and former bankers in this account by the Times Silver-Greenberg and Schwartz, say things changed in the years that followed. In 2010 Ina Drew was ill with Lyme's disease. The conflicts between the risk taking propensities of traders at the London trading desk under Mr. Macris, and the more risk conscious New York trading desk under Ms. Duersten, had already led to shouting matches under Ina Drew. After her illness and her absence from the office for long periods this spilled out into the open. In early 2011 Ms. Duersten left Chase after 16 years. Her replacement who would be new to Chase could not restrain the risk taking propensities of Mr. Macris and the London trading desk, the way Duersten and Ina Drew had done earlier. Macris and a trader reporting to him, Mr Iksil (referred to as the "London Whale" for his massive trading positions and bets), were free to operate without any restraint in this environment. Ina Drew returned in 2011, but she was not the same hands on person after the illness. She moved to the corporate offices on the 48th floor, instead of being on the floor above the New York trading desk. In 2008 she had held daily meetings with traders required to defend their trading positions. This did not happen in 2011. Jamie Dimon learned about the London Whale in the Wall Street Journal, April 6, 2012. Dimon's efforts in pushing back against stricter regulation, stress tests, and other issues were to lead to the CEO of the 2008 crisis becoming a much more distracted person in 2011. He was taken unawares by the breakdown in the relationship between the London and New York offices of the Chief Investment Office, the changed situation of Ms. Drew, and that risk management controls at the bank were not in place. Risk management overly depended on one person and the trust of the CEO in that person, and was not institutionalized. At the same time it should be noted that Jamie Dimon became CEO of Chase after the acquisition of Bank One in 2005, and Ina Drew was hired in that year, only three years before the crisis of 2008. The merger of other banks into JP Morgan Chase created a bank with $360 billion investment portfolio- even Ina Drew had never previously handled a portfolio of this size and the complex risks brought in with the Washington Mutual portfolio....

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People at street protests in France are increasingly asking whether the pension reform from 62 to 64 years is that much of a priority in 2023 when people are just recovering from the pandemic and a cost of living crisis with high inflation and high energy costs stemming from the Ukraine conflict. The independent Pension Advisory Council stated "pension spending is not out of control, it is relatively contained." More people turned out than before in a second round of street protests by over half a million people in Paris. The reforms come down harder on women who worked part time to raise children. Age discrimination for jobs in France is widespread. The pandemic has created additional stress and burnout at work leading to early retirement in the US and other countries. Some of the pension changes are being used to finance an expansion of the military budget. Social justice is seen as at risk in France in a society that is socially fragmented.

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This editorial in the WSJ shows a different view of the passage of the $280 billion semiconductor bill in the US Congress and the Biden Schumer negotiation for the $369 billion climate change and tax bill that was done at rapid pace in the span of 24 hours. It sees this from the view of the Republican party that hoped to present president Biden as a failure, unable to tackle inflation or achieve much for action on climate change, renewable energy, and building America's supply chain.  All this is happening quickly and shows the value of patience and persistence, and faith in the ultimate fairness of the American cause during a difficult time of war in Europe and rancor at home. It is not that 17 Republican Senators got played as the WSJ puts it, they voted for the $280 billion semiconductor bill on its merits and their ultimate faith in the fairness of the American cause and faith in America's workers and families, in its people. ...

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OPEC and Russian oil producers are planning to increase oil production by 400,000 barrels a day for each month through 2022. Demand is increasing with economic recovery and this will lead to higher oil prices. Oil prices are now $80 a barrel in October 2021. Shortages of natural gas and high prices are leading power generation companies to use oil in place of natural gas. This will increase demand for oil by 500,000 barrels a day. Oil export revenue was cut in half to $119 billion for Saudi Arabia in 2020 and Saudis want to see higher prices to make up for lost revenue. OPEC + that includes Russia decided to end a price war during the Trump administration and this time have designed a strategy that will gradually push up prices. In recent years shale oil producers in the US quickly responded to higher prices of oil and increased production. After the pandemic in March 2020 American shale oil producers in 2021 are not increasing production. This gives OPEC+ better ability to set oil prices at higher levels. ...

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Melina Grundmann is the author of this video about Turkish life in Germany. What is it like for three generations of Turkish immigrants, 3.8 million Turkish people today after the first arrivals under a guest workers program in the 1960's. The guest workers program brought Turkish workers to Germany at a time of high unemployment in Germany and shortages of workers in German factories. One such factory was the Ford factory in Cologne which soon became a center for Turkish immigrants. It is useful to look at Turkish immigrants in Cologne and other German cities as one of the two researchers who researched and developed the Pfizer mRNA vaccine is a woman scientist whose father was a guest worker at the Ford factory in Cologne. Turkish people face an identity crisis as they work to fit into German society. Yet their contributions have made Germany prosperous. Some say even less boring as Turkish people are passionate and Turkish food is accepted in Germany. ...

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Jaishankar  of India and Blinken of the US join to say the world should not be divided into political blocs and that there is room for working together in different groupings such as the Quad, in the Indo-Pacific economic cooperation, as two largest democracies, and for the rule of law, open navigation in the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific. Both agree that polical complexity should not be reduced into black and white and simplified. For India Jaishankar says it means we are in a certain location in the world, there is history, our experience is different, all this shapes how we see the world. India gives voice to the aspirations of over 2 billion people in India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and other countries. It created the G20 out of the G7 nations.

Baerbock of Germany adds that Europe has to accept that in the past it when it backed colonialism based on attitudes at the time, when it supported Apartheid in Africa, it had made mistakes.

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Women voters made up 53% of the voters in the 2012 election. The 2016 U.S. presidential election in unique because of the first women candidate for president with advantage in the women's vote. Also unique is the split between the college educated and the non college educated voter, something that has into happened in an election in this way for a long time. A pro business party such as Republicans finds itself with a significant part of the non college educated vote.  Another difference is the huge turnout of Hispanic voters, and questions raised about how their loyalty may have shifted for decades with Republican positions on immigration and deportation. The demographics have also shifted with college educated voters in suburbs of southern states such as Georgia, Colorado and North Carolina. States that once dominated the national election such as Ohio with a larger number of non college educated voters are now not as significant as in the past. As a result the picture is changing in the electoral map. ...

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Little of what John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy fought hard for comes through in the next generation of Kennedys. Looking at Profiles of Courage and Kennedy's speeches one finds something authentic in its conversations about America past and present, about the world past and present. This authenticity is missing in the next generation and the passion for the themes of the day in Kennedy's time is long gone. Did Kennedy come in too early, too soon, Harry Truman would have him wait, giving Humphrey or others a chance. Profiles of Courage and its author would still have made a mark on America in the seventies and eighties. The examples JFK gives of people who put country before party are genuine and real, and they are relevant to today as others including Republican Lankford of Oklahoma who authored the immigration bill in the Senate -that Harris gave a pledge to sign in the nomination speech -are modern day embodiments of that courage They will join the list Kennedy covered. ...

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This interview conducted by Bret Baier of Fox News of the vice president Kamala Harris was more like a debate with a Republican nominee for president as Baier would not let the vice president finish several times. The interview took place on October 16, 2024, in an effort by Harris to reach voters who supported Trump but would consider alternative visions of the future than the one offered by the former president.

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This report in The Times says president Trump seeks to reduce tensions with Iran and relies more on the advice of General Keane than his National Security Adviser Mr. Bolton. Mr. Bolton is seen as holding strong views on Iran that could accidentally increase tensions or conflict with Iran.

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What is the one thing experts say is most beneficial for health? Improving our minds by building self-awareness. Understanding your feelings, motivations and behaviours in more depth, enables us to make better choices. To do this try journaling, meditating, practicing mindfulness or simply making time for self-reflection at the end of the day.

In doing this also pay attention to diversity in eating plant based foods for as many as 30 plant based foods, incorporating different exercize routines that get you motivated and happy, and get a good seven or eight hours of sleep, say these experts in health and nutrition.

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"There is'nt another planet to export to," is what Paul Krugman of the New York Times says, when referring to the impossibility of all countries keeping up exports and reducing imports at the same time. In crises similiar to what the US faces today, countries have increased exports as a way to stage an economic recovery. But this time countries are depressing their currencies to gain or preserve a large share of global demand achieved through high exports. China has resisted demands for a significant revaluation of the yuan, and persists in efforts in currrency markets to keep the value of the yuan low. This cuts off one avenue of recovery. Bloomberg Business Week and Bloomberg News interviewed Edmund Phelps, Jan Hatzius, Krugman, and other economists, with the idea of figuring out how the US could stage an economic recovery. Krugman is not optimistic, considering the effects of the financial crisis being really protracted. Krugman points out that when comparing the US currently to the eaarly stages of Japan's lost decade, the US is doing worse. Unemployment is worse, and overall he says, a weaker policy response. And he says Japan is still a depressed fragile economy 18 years after its financial crisis. Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs, predicts that the unemployment rate will rise back to 10% in early 2011, with a 30% chance that the economy will fall back into a recession. He says that in the postwar economy, there has never been an increase in the unemployment rate of one third of one percentage point that did not result in a recession. Phelps and Hatzius see one way the US could stage a recovery is with replacement old structures and equipmet as wear and tear and obsolescence takes place. Phelps sees the possibility of technological innovation resultig in a new burst of activity. Robert Gordon of Northwestern University, is less optimistic about this, and predicts a lower growth rate of 1.5% over the next 20 years. ...

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Plans of the incoming administration of president Lopez Obrador to increase renewable energy from wind, solar and other sources, in Mexico. Mexico's potential is for 8 times the current levels for wind energy and 75 times current levels for solar. Solar energy has not received much attention as Mexico increased reliance on coal and oil for energy. Mexico's supply of renewable energy is only 25% of total installed power capacity compared to 50% for other countries in Latin America.

The Obrador administration plans to cut Mexico's emissions by 6.8% a year. Solar energy in particular has high potential in Mexico.

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The cushion of pandemic savings of US households is thinning About 35% of it is spent already and by the end of the year 65% of it will be spent, says this report in WSJ. American households accumulated $2.7 trillion by the end of 2021 in extra savings during lockdowns that restricted spending and with stimulus government aid. At the exact time when transfer payments by the US government to households stopped there was inflation lowering the purchasing power and this has resulted in some households increasing credit card balances, dipping into savings and cutting spending. This is what economists are seeing at the Fed as resistance to price increases. Estimates show the percentage of disposable income saved in the US doubling to 16% in 2020 from 8% in 2019 with lockdowns, then dropping to 3% in 2022 with extra spending, and up to 4.5% by the end of 2023. This will have the effect of putting up resistance to inflation and lowering the Fed's interest rate increases to cut inflation. ...

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Safety checks at Norfolk Southern are the subject of this report in the WSJ. The derailment of a freight train leading to spill of toxic chemicals in Ohio on Feb 3, 2023, led to concern about the safety practices at American railroads in the efforts to cut costs. The National Transportation Safety Board has opened a probe into the safety culture and practices of Norfolk Southern. One practice called PSR or precison scheduled railroading has been used by railroads in America to cut costs. This means fewer employees, longer freight trains as long as 3 miles, and fewer locomotives. The result is that employees count went down from 159,000 in 2011 to 115,000 in 2021 a drop of 28% even when freight dropped by 11%. This increased profits resulting in higher dividends and stock buybacks, with a heavier workload and less time off  even for sick days until a threatened strike. President Biden intervened to set a new pay and work deal and an element of fairness for workers. ...

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The bicentenary of Napoleon is remembered in 2021 in France and the French speaking world.  Napoleon helped defend the French revolutionary ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, in the period 1789 to 1799 including the efforts of the French Army in Italy and other countries freeing people from feudal powers. In the period that followed Napoleon ruled France 1799-1812 during which he introduced new ideas of the Civil Code and revolutionary France to countries in different parts of the world. It was in Britain and the Iberian Peninsula that his policies faltered and his regime was seen as tyrannical after the early years.  George Washington was a contemporary of Napoleon and brought both these ideals that the French Revolution cherished to the American colonies, and yet did not seek anything beyond this-as he said the "approbation of good and virtuous people is the limit of my ambition." The British education of that time he received may have made a difference. ...

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The closest parallel of the campaigns for president in 2016, 2020, 2024 are in the campaign of 1952. The difference is that Eisenhower was widely respected in both parties and had fought the war against Germany and Japan alongside Gen.George Marshall under president Harry Truman. His name was put on the ballot in New Hampshire but he himself preferred not to run or run as an Independent according to JFK. The Eastern Establishment including Governor Dewey of NY pushed for Eisenhower while the Midwestern States more isolationist in their approach supported Robert Taft. Eisenhower also did not choose Senator Nixon and he was chosen to win support in California and as a compromise with the Taft group. Eisenhower did not at any time approve of the reckless criticism tactics of McCarthy, though he remained silent on the issue not wanting to distract from the need to find a new approach to ending the war in Korea and with the Soviets than the one offered by Truman. There was also the weariness of the people with the wars.   ...

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The first lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska talks to BBC News about the war and the impact of the war on herself and her children. She says her family misses most spending time together. Her emotional state at the beginning of the war was a constant flow of adrenaline, and she found it necessary to calm herself to live in the conditions that existed in Ukraine. Some months were spent in hiding in different locations. She doesn't live together with her husband and the family is separated because of war conditions, she says. She becomes emotional when she talks about her family.

She met Mr. Zelensky in high school and went to work together in a comedy troupe, Zelensky as an actor and she as a screen writer. Zelensky went to Kviv National Economic University where he obtained a law degree in 2000. His career was to be with Studio 95 for a comedy series which he did till he became a producer for Inter TV, and then joining Ukrainian network 1+1.

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The American pope's brother is John Prevost, 71 years, a school educator and principal, who lives in New Lenox, a community of 27,000 people 40 miles southwest of Chicago. He says of his borhter who was with him at his home for a couple of weeks last August 2024- "The best way I could describe him right now is that he will be following in Francis’ footsteps, they were very good friends. They knew each other before he was pope, before my brother even was bishop.” Pope Francis (Bergoglio) made the new American Pope bishop of a small Peruvian town in 1998, then archbishop and cardinal in Peru, before he returned to the US in 2014. At that time the new pope drove a white pickup truck to carry food and blankets to remote regions in the Andes mountains of Peru. Francis of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the new pope have a passion for seeing to the needs of the poor and the forgotten in society. ...

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It has happened before- the issues and the tactics. This article is from the Washington Post March 10, 1985. The 2016, 2020, and 2024 US campaign for president most resembles the 1952 campaign between Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson. In that campaign Senators Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin and Senator Jenner of Indiana made unfounded statements and criticism of of candidate Adlai Stevenson, of Gen. George Marshall, of NATO and aid to war ravaged Europe under the Marshall plan, and by 1958 of Eisenhower for "ruining the party," according to the Washington Post. Edward Jenner, Senator from Indiana 1952-1958, conducted Senate hearings in which he made spectacular criticism of public figures and US policy from 1953 to 1955. Eisenhower was elected as president in 1952 and after considering running as an Independent reluctantly accepted when New York Governor Dewey asked him to do on the Republican party ticket. What is similar is that the issues and tactics used now are reminiscent of issues and tactics in those days in the 1950's, that this is not happening for the first time- it is not new. Both Senator Taft who headed the Republican party at the time and president Eisenhower felt uneasy about this type of criticism. Then as today it was about aid to Europe and NATO. Jenner said America could not afford it and it "would bankrupt America." Jenner also called the US Supreme Court "the most powerful instrument of the communist global conquest by paralysis," and introduced a bill to limit the SC jurisdiction. Jenner said in 1951 on the Senate floor, according to the Washington Post-  "the only choice is to impeach Truman," as "this country is in the hands of a secret inner coterie directed by agents of the Soviet Union." Today's differences are not new, the rhetoric familiar, about NATO, Europe funding, about the SC, about this and the former president, and about isolationism and about extended costly foreign wars, all after a pandemic and climate change in an uneasy atmosphere about the threats to American leadership then from the Soviets now from China. ...