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Douglas Wilson was born in Annapolis, Maryland, before his father, a Baptist pastor, moved the family to Idaho in the American West.  Wilson started a Christian revival movement from Christ Church, Idaho, which is based on his views of Calvinism and the original teachings of Christianity dating back to the Mayflower Compact of 1602 set in Geneva, which outlined the vision of the early colonists to America of the relations between the church and the government, setting forth their vision. This is America going back to the earliest days in 1600, of Britain and Northern Europe, and the settlement of a vast continent 185 years before the drafting at a convention for the new Republic, of the United States of America the 13 original colonies in 1787. The original roots of the Nation in the Geneva Compact of 1602 can still be seen in Geneva, Switzerland, near the Calvinist cathedral in the center of the French Swiss town of Geneva, that acted as a crossroads for the prominent ideas on Christian thought at the time. From it's earliest days for the colonists since 1602, the Tynsdale Bible of the 16th century that brought it into the English language from Latin and Greek, and its offshoot the Authorized King James Version of the Bible of 1611 formed the basis of civilized life in the American colonies, and helped the colonists seek a new world in the wilderness that was the North American continent in the years 1600 to 1780. In the early years of the 13 colonies on the Atlantic seaboard, and further west into Ohio and Michigan- vast untamed forests, mountains, lakes and rivers. From 1780 to the 1880 this wilderness extended into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming upto the Pacific. Ideas of Common Prayer in schools and in everyday life informed the society of the time and was integrated in all parts of life. Only after 1780 were the ideas of separation of church and state developed by Madison and Jefferson for the constitutional framework of orderly government and respect for rights of citizens to practice their faith. At no point was it intended to take the Common Prayer out of schools, which is essentially a new idea from the 19th century. There is mention of Asian religions Buddhism and the religion of the Upanishads in India in the argument against prayer in schools,  yet it is a fact that this is only a theory as immigration from China, Japan, and India was actively discouraged, and also banned in many ways, till the Irish Kennedy administration in 1960. And it is also a fact that Mohandas Gandhi the leader of India drew great inspiration from the King James 1611 version of the Bible, and it helped him deepen his religious beliefs in the Upanishads to create the modern Indian state for 1.4 billion people in Asia. Most of the hymns of the Christian faith were known to Gandhi and formed part of his beliefs, when the Common Prayer itself started disappearing from American schools in a post war reaction to colonialism, imperialism and racial discrimination, such that it depleted the very reserves of civilization, of wisdom and thought, of science and technology, that helped create America out of the wilderness. ...

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Greg Ip of the WSj points out that Britain is in a weaker position to tackle Brexit than it was when Boris Johnson called for supporting the Yes vote to Leave the EU three years ago in the referendum. Business investment is lower than France, Germany and even Italy. And today protectionism, nationalism, hostility to globalization mean that its not so easy to increase exports by signing free trade agreements with other nations. Even a treaty with a friendly Trump administration  is not certain as Mr. Trump favors looking at how he can get the best deal and reverse any advantages of other trading nations, Britain being no exception. A trade agreement with the U.S. could mean the U.S. barring Britain from signing one with China as a condition of Mr. Trump. Greg Ip also points out that it was precisely joining the EU that helped Britain catch up with German and French standards of living after a period of low growth, inflation, and balance of payments crises in the 1970's. Joining the European Economic Community was as prime minister Heath stated would " enable us to be more efficient and more competitive in gaining more markets not only in Europe but in the rest of the world."   ...

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Michael Gerson offers his assessment of president Obama's 7 years in office, saying that after this period the public has lost faith in American liberalism, that Obama held it all together through a self-centredness that is now replaced by public rage that has brought out other self-centred politicians in the Republican party, such as Donald Trump. Deutsche Welle summed up its view from Europe of the Obama presidency as a period that was little more than a transitional presidency. Gero Schliess writing in DW.com, says one of the tragedies of this presidency is that the much talked about change would come about only under a successor, in a best case scenario under a Democratic successor. Yet if Gerson is right Americans are losing faith in American liberalism after the Obama years, with the setbacks suffered by the white working class and the middle class in these years, and the political deadlock that has prevented action to help them. Speaker Paul Ryan recently convened a conference on this subject. In October 2014 Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen described the problem at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston conference on economic opportunity and inequality, questioning whether the trends were "compatible with the values rooted in our nation's history, and the high value Americans tend to place on equality of opportunity."...

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Inozemtsev of the Institute of Post-Industrial Studies in Moscow, asks the question wht if the Russian economy shows no growth in 2017, and 2015-2016 become the beginning of a serious downturn. If oil prices remain low for an extended period as now looks likely with factors such as shale oil technologies, Iranian oil, and Saudi policy, playing an increasingly long term role, Russia could face some of the problems former finance minister, Alexei Kudrin, other business leaders including head of Sberbank, warned about. A major problem that Inozemtsev points to is the change in the business climate for foreign investment in 2012-2016 as the Russian economy looks more inward, and the departure of many foreign companies. During the period 2000-2008, a major boost to the economy came from foreign investment which brought with it management and technological improvements. No emerging market country, including China, can have a bright future without access to new technologies and investments from foreign investment. The current period starting in 2009 stands in sharp contrast to the earlier period with the Russian economy lacking the boost from foreign investment, facing capital outflows, and international conflicts creating a long term effect on oil prices. Russia needed time to move its economy away from commodity dependence through technological improvements and investment, yet this does not appear to be happening, raising serious questions....

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This piece in the Economist says the men involved in sexual harassment in Cologne identifed so far were Moroccans and Algerians, not Syrians. The police in Cologne are seen as failing to identify sexual attackers and apprehend them on the spot. Tensions will exist because of the different values in the Middle East, and as in America, the Economist says the refugees must be required to adopt the values and norms of the new country. Because most of the refugees are men, this could skew the men to women ratio in some places which welcome refugees, and for this reason the men should be allowed to bring their spouses. So far German chancellor Merkel has acted firmly, calling the sexual attacks "disgusting," passing laws that would make it possible to quickly deport those migrants and refugees who break the law in Germany. This is the right way to tackle the problem. In the long run the immigration will help countries such as Germany tackle the problem of aging of the labor force, yet in the short run stronger action is needed to prevent any abuses to the humanitarian welcome offered refugees. The problem of economically motivated migrants remains- Britain, Germany and France all agree that these migrants should go back to their home countries, as prime minister Cameron and chancellor Merkel have already affirmed....

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Anne- Marie Slaughter's new book Unfinished Business is reviewed by Laura Vanderkam. Ms. Slaughter says in her new book that part of the unfinished business for women in the workplace is to give women time for child care duties in a way that does not hurt their careers. Anne Marie makes the case on the grounds that this is a social bias. Yet there are many reasons beyond simple fairness, and the value of parental work. Women can contribute to society in different ways than men. For example reports show women are more interested in using technical skills in ways that will benefit developing countries. Women bring a different perspective than men. Women are also prominent in scientific fields. For this contribution to grow and enrich society it can be enlarged by giving women proper benefit for maternity leave, and preserving the ability to come back and contribute in the same way after the maternity leave period is over. Toshiba did this for a female engineer who had made significant contributions in the technical field. Doing this would also help in other ways. It could make it more attractive for women to have kids knowing it will not hurt their careers or the careers of their partners. This is needed in western societies with falling birthrates and declining number of young people to support larger numbers of older people....

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Richard Portes of the London Business School provides two good reasons why the EU's decision to adopt the French Banking Federation's proposal for rollovers with 10% interest costs is a serious mistake. It doubles the interest costs from 4-6% to 10% with 2% Greek GDP growth and makes debt servicing untenable. Portes says the real Brady Plan from the 1980's included a 35-40% bondholders haircut. Deals of this type have a precedent- in Mexico in 1988 and in Argentina in 2001 such bond exchanges were soon followed by deals that placed bondholder haricuts on creditors. The lesson from Latin America in the 1980's, says Portes, is that the burdens of servicing a debt of such proportions under onerous conditions only extinguishes the enterprise, investment and productive capabilities of the particular country trying to service that debt, making the debt even less serviceable. See the Wall Street Journal's editorial on this deal which it calls "The French Deception." The terms sound like Greek to the editors leaving a sense that French banks are only saying "gimme." The only benefit achieved may be putting off the problem and avoiding contagion to Portugal and Spain. Yet this is not that much of a benefit when one realizes that the problem has not gone away, and is likely to look much worse six or nine months from now....

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Sony's efforts to buy out Ericsson's 50% share of Sony-Ericsson joint venture in cell phone devices. Analysts estimate the value of Ericsson's stake at 1-1.25 billion euros. For Sony it is critical to become a major player in the smartphone business. Smartphones are carried by consumers everywhere and offer the opportunity to link smartphones to its online music, games and videos. The Sony-Ericsson venture failed to catch the smartphone trend early. After the launch of the Sony iPad, Sony sees significant opportunities in coming up with newer smartphone models and leveraging its technological strengths. This can only be done by having complete control over the smartphone business and having it in-house. Ericsson also sees it this way. Sony Ericsson Chief Bert Nordberg stated recently that the smartphone business has more in common with Sony than Ericsson. Ericsson's strengths are in heavy engineering and telecommunications, business to business, which are in contrast to the consumer emphasis at Sony. The Sony-Ericsson venture is barely profitable, with net profits of 90 millon euros for sales revenue of 6.3 billion euros in 2010. The strength of the Japanese yen, and the firmer valuation after the venture turned profitable in 2010- after two years of losses in 2008 and 2009- make a buyout of Ericsson's stake a good move for Sony....

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GM is making efforts to increase sales of its Cadillac luxury car division. Cadillac marketing has not produced results. $354 million was spent on marketing in 2009 for the Cadillac division, according to industry estimates. Yet only 109,092 Cadillacs were sold. Cadillac needs a younger look and feel- currently the average age of buyers is 62. As a comparison the average age for BMW owners is an estimated 49 years. Cadillac executives see a lot of work to be done on the product side, and the marketing and customer service side. Analysts see the need for more style and zip for younger buyers. A smaller entry level Cadillac is planned for 2012. Some of the comments made about the current models suggest that the larger models and styles that may appeal to an older customer base, may not be what a younger customer base is looking for. GM is addressing the problem of customer service at dealerships by having Marriott Intenational's Ritz Carlton division give training sessions to its Cadillac dealers. A Ritz Carlton customer service expert has given 9 training sessions in New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles and other cities to more than 2100 dealers and their salespersons. But this does not address the major problems of appealing to a younger demographic, which requires a major shift in thinking, and taking some risks with the product....

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Glenn Hubbard, says Bowles and Simpson, have provided the framework for solutions to the US deficit. He says the elimination of the mortgage interest deduction and other actions such as elimination or reduction of deductions for charitable giving and employer provided healthcare subsidies, actually help reduce the marginal tax rates. Bowles-Simpson report, he says, correctly identified the problem that you need higher offsetting marginal tax rates because of these kinds of deductions to raise offsetting revenue. The two chairmen want to see government reduce marginal tax rates to a range of 8 to 23%, as opposed to 10% and 35% now, and this is a positive development. These kinds of deductions favor upper income households more than other households. He sees the co-chairmen's proposal to cut the tax rate for corporate income tax to 26% from 35%, as being a wise move, as it should not require much offsetting revenue, because OECD research has shown this to be the revenue maximizing rate. He concedes that liberals would have difficulty with the report, because the proposal accepts that maintaining a broad welfare state is inconsistent with the need to balance the country's finances through economic growth and social insurance. Yet he sees the limits on tax deduction and cutbacks in the entitlement's benefits for upper income households, as giving Bowles-Simpson proposals a progressive character....

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President Obama ordered the surge in 2010 for 30,000 additional troops in Afghanistan. There are now 150,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan. Of these two thirds are Americans. The goal of the surge was set by President Obama as " disrupting, dismantling, and defeating al Quaeda and its extremist allies" in Afghanistan. Yet the fact remains that official estimates on the coallition side are for only about 100 or so al Quaeda militants operating in Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan is being fought with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan who also live in the mountainous region that comprises Pakistan and Afghanistan, and has some form of clandestine support from sections of the Pakistani military and intelligence services- the Pakistani military having played a critical role in the formation of the Taliban from its inception to act as Pakistan's proxy in that region. With the democracy protests in the Arab world in 2011, al Quaeda does not fit into the existing mood in the Middle East and the Muslim world. Considering these facts- and the mood favoring American disengagement on the part of America's allies in the Afghan government and Pakistan's military, and the American public mood favoring disengagement, the Taliban seeing their conflict as purely domestic and little to do with al Quaeda- the situation is likely to move in the direction of phased American withdrawal. ...

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With yields on ten year Greek bonds reaching new highs, the Economist says it is time to go to Plan B. The German government wants to see something different from a continuation of the 2010 plan and merely loaning more funds to Greece. One option is for Greece to pledge privatization proceeds as collateral for new loans. Another option is the restructuring of Greece's debt, even though the German government is reluctant to impose losses on holders of Greek bonds. But Trichet and the ECB are opposed to any restructuring. ECB officials fear this could cause a crisis like that caused by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. And privately ECB officials say they could go so far as to refuse to accept Greek bonds as collateral for ECB loans if a restructuring goes through. The contagion from a Greece default could affect Ireland, Portugal, and impact the European banking system and the ECB's own balance sheet. Yet a sounder plan would be for European governments to come up with the funds to recapitalize hard hit banks, knowing that Greece will never be able to pay back its loans under the current plan. The IMF and the German government should push for an orderly restructuring of Greece's debt as the only workable solution, says the Economist....

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Saudis unilaterally cut prices of crude oil without consultation with other members of OPEC at the beginning of Oct. 2014. Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi says there is not much point in talking to other members of OPEC as everyone does as they please. The old cooperation between Gulf states Qatar, U.A.E., Kuwait and Saudi Arabia is breaking down with each country backing different rebel factions against the Assad regime in Syria-Iraq. Ali al-Naimi who normally comes in ahead of the OPEC meetings in Vienna, which meet twice a year, arrived this time at the last minute. He said meetings should be conducted only once a year and consulting can be done remotely. The old style when he guided discussion at OPEC meetings is gone. OPEC now produces about a third of the world's oil, has large spare capacity of 3.8 million barrels a day in 2014 or 4% of global oil supply in a crisis, according to IEA. Yet it faces pressures from the increasing shale production in North America and the decline in demand from Asia. Brent crude is at about $92 in October 2014. OPEC production in August 2014 was split as follows- Saudis 9.6, Iraq 3.0, Iran 3.0, U.A.E. 2.9. Kuwait 2.9, Venezuela 2.3, Qatar 0.7, Libya 0.5, Algeria 1.2, Nigeria 1.8, Angola 1.7 (millions of barrels a day, source: OPEC)...

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U.S. Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen's speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston conference on inequality was remarkable in the clear focus on the increase in inequality of the last three decades. Yellen calls it "the most sustained rise in inequality since the nineteenth century." Yellen also described the stark inequality between the lower half of households and those at the top- "The lower half of households by wealth held just 3 percent of wealth in 1989 and only 1 percent in 2013. To put that in perspective... the average net worth of the lower half of the distribution, representing 62 million households, was $11,000 in 2013. About one fourth of these families reported zero wealth or negative net worth, and a significant fraction of those said they were "underwater" on their home mortgages, owing more than the value of the home." Without saying this explicitly Yellen has accepted the Fed's own role in this situation under Greenspan and Bernanke. Under Bernanke Yellen was vicechairwoman. Yellen participated in many of the decisions of the Fed that kept interest rates low- hurting savers and those who could not take the risks of a volatile stock market. Yet Yellen has shown courage in stating the problem with all the facts she could muster, and making clear that Fed sees the long term unemployed as a critical driver for Fed policy....

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Douthat offers insights into U.S. president Obama's thinking when he said at a National Prayer Breakfast, that Christians also had committed bad acts in the name of religion and reminded listener of the Jim Crow days when blacks were oppressed by church going Christians. The Crusades were a long battle against an advancing Islam over several centuries and many regions, says Douthat, and do not quite compare with the actions committed by an individual organization such as Islamic State in 2014-2015. The Jim Crow reference comes from personal experience during the fading days of racial discrimination. Yet says Douthat this reference to Christian culpability does little to bring the criticism back to self that the writer Niebuhr, Obama's role model, suggests, because it does not take the criticism back to self or political party to serve as useful introspection. It is almost like saying Christians are just as bad,(so why act?) without distinguishing from Christians and Muslims who respect tolerance and peaceful coexistence from those who do not. It also encourages one to remain a bystander in foreign and defense policy, leaving a younger generation with any future consequences. Ike does better by bringing self-criticism home to his own party and ideological wing by talking about the military-industrial complex and the problems it will create....

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The Labor Department reports that there is no U.S. productivity growth in the 4th quarter of 2014 over the prior year. U.S. productivity growth is about 1.3% for the period since 2009, showing a weak expansion. Job gains of 295,000 in February 2015 show an improving jobs picture, yet wage gains are tepid. This is partly due to slack in the labor market not reflected in the official unemployment rate of 5.5% for Feb. 2015, with a large number of part time workers who do not have full time work. The low productivity growth is another reason for low wage gains in this economic recovery. Economic growth is also weak with economists estimating GDP growth for the 1st quarter 2015 at 1.5% annualized. GDP growth is in the 2-2.5% growth range since 2009. Hourly wages are up less than 2% since 2009, with hourly wage growth in Feb. 2015 at 2% over the prior year. Weak business investment is part of the reason for the sluggish economic growth. Macroeconomic Advisors estimates the capital investment for equipment software and buildings is seeing growth of only 0.3% in the last decade, much lower than in the last forty years. With most of the gains from the internet technology advances already made there is less prospect of a sudden increase in productivity....

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Bill Keller describes the diversity of news sources available today from the BBC and Guardian websites to Al Jazeera and websites of other foreign news organizations. Radio stations are another source. Yet this diversity exists with one troubling factor- the decline in foreign news bureaus and experienced journalists covering events in distant locations. As a result many of the important foreign events are now covered by free lance journalists who take many risks and are still underpaid. Without experienced journalists it becomes more difficult to sort out the good information from the bad or poorly researched, and the average reader facing a glut of information or misinformation is faced with the prospect of being as uninformed as before or worse misinformed. Keller gives the example of NYT's journalist C. J. Chivers who carefully researched information from a UN report- compass bearings for two chemical rockets- to show that the chemical weapons attack in Syria originated with the Assad military forces in Damascus. This was after much of the media went with the stories spread by different sources that there were doubts about who was responsible. Unusual and cause for concern is that many governments around the world may have found the ambiguity useful by taking off some of the moral pressure for action, of having to intervene so soon after the Bush invasion of Iraq....

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A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll shows that 58% of people polled want the President to worry more about keeping the budget deficit down even though this may mean alonger recession and asloer recovery. Only 35% say they favoring boosting the economy. What may be vague here is what a longer recession here means, its length from 1 to 2 years or 3-4 years, and what boosting the economy means; when the stimulus package has already been passed and its impact has still to be felt as a lot of the money is not yet spent. Democrats are evenly split with 50% favoring boosting the economy, and 42% urging a deficit focus. Republicans overwhelmingly are worried about the budget deficit. Independents by 2 to 1 also are worried about the deficit. Overall 31% of those polled say job creation and economic growth should be the highest priority for the government. And 19% say deficit and government spending should be the highest priority. About 16% say they see health care as the biggest priority, and 14% said national security and terrorism should be the highest priority. This means that the Obama administration will have two conflicting concerns throughout the early years in keeping the stimulus measures in place, and at the same time paying attention to the budget deficit....

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Here Posen of the Peterson Institute and Jeffrey Garten of Yale speak in favor of nationalization. Nancy Pelosi also supports nationalization as away to protect taxpayers. The bad bank option is considered, but one of the drawbacks is that the taxpayers may not be sufficiently protected as bad assets become ever larger. Geithner and Summers made the case in the financial crisis in Asia in the 1990's that the government makes lousy financial managers. But is it more a political issue as charges from Republicans would be that the government is going socialist. Yet its more the way the word has negative connotations, more than what is to be done in this situation. The reality is that the banks are pretty much in government hands anyway with the amount of taxpayer money at risk, and without any way to get rid of the problem of valuing these toxic assets which nationalization effectively eliminates. The U.S. government has put in its own managers and gone through the cycle of owning and later privatizing banks successfully in the S&L crisis in the 1990's. Its very probable that its not the ideological thing that will carry the day, but the decisive action and the confidence it can build for the financial system. See the link to the Economist view on this. ...

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he doesn't yet have the necessary votes to stop Democrats from calling for witnesses. Democrats want former presidential National Security Adviser Mr. Bolton to testify under oath about the president's motivations for freezing aid to Ukraine. During three day of presentations by Mr. Trump's defense legal team the focus of Pat Philbin and Alan Dershowitz was on the actions of the president on Ukraine policy not rising to the level of Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Justice that Democrats in the House have presented as the 2 Articles for impeachment. Earlier the White House legal team put the focus on Mr. Biden, and his son Hunter Biden's role in the Ukrainian company Burisma as a board member. Burisma was being investigated for corruption by Ukrainian prosecutors. Much of the defense presentation recalled the effort during the early days after the Civil War to impeach president Andrew Johnson simply because Republicans in Lincoln's party did not like Mr. Johnson's views on Reconstruction of the South, and his dismissal of Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War. That effort failed because it lacked one additional vote needed for a two thirds majority in the Senate. Republicans say not only are the president's actions on Ukraine calling for an investigation of the Biden's not an impeachable offense as "a high crime," but also that Democrats dislike of Mr. Trump just as Republican dislike for Mr. Johnson was lowering the bar for impeachment by making malleable charges. They argued that one of the country's founders Mr. Mason even rejected the idea presented to him that "maladministration" as grounds for impeachment should be put in the Constitution for the very same reason, that it was malleable to a preconceived notion of what is wrong. Four Republican senators Gardner of Colorado, McSally of Arizona, Tillis of North Carolina and Collins of Maine face tight races in upcoming elections, and may decide in favor of a compromise for the calling of witnesses. This would allow Republicans to call Mr. Biden and Hunter Biden to testify, and Democrats to call Mr. Bolton to testify on his views expressed in his to be published book that the president withheld aid to Ukraine because he felt that corruption needed to be investigated.   ...

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California's economy is going through tough times during the coronavirus. Unemployment is up to over 20% which compares to 14.7% for the U.S., closer to that of New York. The state depends on the tourism industry, agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley, and entertainment industry around Los Angeles for jobs. Tech in the San Jose area does not account for as many jobs. The state also has a public university system and foreign students mostly from China bringing in $7 billion.   Its port system around Long Beach and Los Angeles connects with the Asian economies and China, for goods mainly transported to the rest of the U.S.  All these sectors are the ones most badly hit during the coronavirus.  California now has a deficit of $54 billion and was the first state to borrow from the federal government to pay $13 billion in unemployment claims. Undocumented Californians are not able to collect unemployment because of their immigration status, creating an American version of the informal economy that is found in India and Italy or Spain. California has 83 million people taking plane trips to the state for a tourism industry that normally brings in $145 billion. 600,000 travel industry jobs were lost in the state. Taxes related to travel are a significant source of revenue for cities in California bringing in $12 billion. The only sector that is less affected is the tech industry, yet this makes up only about 10% of the jobs or 1.7 million higher paid but fewer jobs. This tech sector at about just 15% of the California economy GDP, is of a precarious nature with a boom bust pattern, the last boom one that happened since the 2009 financial crisis. It in no way forms a significant support for employment or income for people in California or the U.S., and may even be responsible for distortions in the allocation of capital away from infrastructure and public services, through its disproportionate influence on how the nation's capital is allocated. The broader changes underway during coronavirus are likely to affect the state over many years, as supply chains shift away from China, and as infrastructure and public services investment assume their rightful role again in the nation rebuilding effort, agriculture and rural America become a part of the American renewal story.   ...