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The Vice Chairman of the NITI Aayog, which replaced the Planning Commission, says his work in the government led to significant progress with the Indian economy reaching nearly 8% growth.

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President Biden makes clear US commitment to Taiwan's defense. He said in Tokyo during his Asian visit in response to a question would the US intervene militarily if Taiwan was invaded. He said "Yes. That is the commitment we made." Biden said he supports the One China policy that there is one China, but for China to take Taiwan by force- "It would dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine. So the burden, is even stronger."

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Sadanand Dhume of the American Enterprise Institute and Arvind Panagriya of Columbia University, offer contrasting views on the performance of the Modi administration. There is a significant difference in the point of view. Dhume expresses the view of small business and some of the middle class hurt by demonetisation and the government move to check the growth in black money resulting in cooling off real estate prices. Panagriya cites the initiatives helping the poor and rural classes in an unprecedented way across the entire country.  Memories are short about the last 2 years of the Congress led government says Panagriya, when inflation was twice as high as it is now. Inflation then was 9.3% compared to 4.3% average for 4 years of the Modi government. GDP growth averaged 5.9% in the last 2 years of the Congress led government. The average GDP growth for the 4 years of the Modi government was 7.3%. Foreign investment dropped during the last 2 years of the Congress led government, and allegations of corruption in issuance of telecom licenses dominated the news. Indecision of the Congress led Manmohan Singh government led to a serious lack of sense of direction in government in 2013-2014. ...

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Fed Governor Kevin Warsh who is an investment banker and was an important participant in shaping the Fed's response to the credit market crises commented about the crisis and what lies ahead at a New York University conference. The credit crisis poses meaningful downside risks to the econmy and especially now as the crisis developes to small businesses and consumers he said suggesting that consumption spending is likely to take the next big hit. He sees credit replacing liquidity as the primary antagonist. For financial markets the curative process is unlikely to be swift or curative. Underscoring the problems ahead- he said we are fighting against the wind. The Fed does not know what to expect whats the next crisis around the corner, as each time things settled down in the last 6 months something else developed because of the crisis in confidence, the perception that the financial architecture itself is not working, and fragility of credit markets. Telling is his remark that a new financial architecture born of the forces of creative destruction is in the early stages of construction. More creative destruction lies ahead before all participants, the mortgage industry, political parties and poiliticians, lenders and financial institutions, homeowners, and the public can be persuaded that some sacrifice will be required of all and things that normally would not be palatable will have to be swallowed to help forge a solution that avoids a downward spiral....

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This interview with Indian Health Minister, Harsh Vardhan, by Amitabh Bachchan and Anant Goenka of the Indian Express covers a range of questions including India's low fatality rate for coronavirus of 1: 46, its vaccination programs for polio, malaria and other diseases long before the pandemic for a population of 1.3 billion people, respect for healthcare workers, and the distribution of the new vaccines under development in India. Vardhan says there are of the 100 vaccines being developed 30 are in India,and of the ones nearing approval 5 are in India.  India makes 60% of the world's vaccines and its distribution capacity for such a large population has been proven many times. During this coronavirus months of preparation are going into reaching the whole population including remote parts in the mountainous areas. Vardhan says the plan is to vaccinate about 30 crores or 300 million people by June-July 2021 out of a total population of 135 crores or 1.35 billion. The vaccination will start with health care workers, moving on to essential service personnel in the military, police and other occupations, and to vulnerable parts of the population based on age and health conditions. Vardhan who is also the chair of the executive board of the WHO as India's representative, says the prime minister is personally holding two 3 hour long meetings to monitor the preparations for the vaccine and its distribution. Vardhan lists the achievements of the Modi administration and the quality of leadership provided by the prime minister- 2100 testing labs, 97% of the country having a testing facility within 3 kms, testing 1-1.5 million people each day, 1 million testing kits produced daily, 2 million beds in India with oxygen support or in ICU, 13,000 quarantine centers. By personally visiting the vaccine development facilities in Ahmedabad, Pune and Hyderabad, the prime minister also directly supported and encouraged scientists and their efforts. ...

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The Editorial Board of the Washington Post draws attention to the speculative bubble in housing in China, the policies for sale of land by local governments that fuel the bubble, the corrupt local officials, and GDP growth that reflects overinvestment in housing creating serious imbalances in the economy. The structure of the economic and political system which promote this overinvestment in real estate has also reduced the role of the Chinese consumer in GDP growth, and is preventing a rebalancing of the world economy.

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A look at a bit of humor on diversity in India from India's Northeast.

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At the opening of the new aircraft manufcturing complex in Vadodara, Gujarat, PM Modi says- "The defense and aerospace sectors will be two important pillars of making India self reliant (atman nirbhar). We have. agoal of $25 billion in defense manufacturing by 2025, defense exports will be $5 billion." He said India will need 2000 aircraft in 15 years. "India will move forward with the mantra Make in India. Make for the Globe."

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Independent oil companies are eager to invest in Venezuela says Treasury Secretary Bessent at the Economic Club of Minnesota. He says phone are ringing non stop from these companies. Big Oil such as Exxon is taking longer. Chevron is already in Venezuela and Bessent says in a few months it can increase production by 40-50%. Oil revenue from Venezuela will be in a special fund that will be used for the people of Venezuela. Under Maduro since 2013 the oil revenue was used for regimes in Cuba and not managed well for the investment in infrastructure and modernization. US sanctions made it hard to modernize the oil industry which will now take place. Bessent calls Cuba's economy decrepit and now in bad shape. It also shows that realistically modernization and good standards of living are not possible in the western hemisphere by regimes of the Cuban or Bolivarist type which descend into corrupt regimes and lack foreign capital and technologies. Lula adopted an approach in Brazil that worked with the US and EU to modernize the economy creating a workable model for a Workers party. There is much to learn from these experiences in Latin America which come at considerable cost and suffering. ...

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British fashion designer Anya Hindmarch tells NYT reporter Aimee Farrell how to de-clutter one's life- how to organize everything from the closet to the mailbox so that it becomes easy to live. She says about cleaning up her email box every day- a clean box is a clean head. Amazon delivery for example goes into its own folder, and one can pull up the folders when needed. She separates the clothes she uses frequently from clothes she will use in 6 months, and puts away stuff she may never use in years. Separating whats important from the less important is basic to her method.  She says her best ideas come from a clean table. A scrambled bunch of post-it notes are out.  Methods she uses are digitizing photos into a small key chip, labeling everything, having pre-packaged kits she can take when needed in a hurry as for a trip. She uses a page to put down a list of what needs to be done, and a separate list if some things need to be done urgently in a few hours, putting things in a category such as calls to make, location specific such as things to do at the desk or outside. At the end of the day she also sits down to write in a diary note to reflect on what she has done during the day. ...

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A new mom discusses maternity leave in her native Germany compared to maternity leave in the U.S.

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Concern about Whole Foods performance because of saturation in many major metropolitan areas such as Boston and San Francisco with the opening of many new stores- 27 in Boston area and 22 in San Francisco area by 2014. As Kroger and other supermarkets increase organic offerings price competition in this sector will increase.