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UK's GDP falls by 0.1% in October over prior month. UK economy faces headwinds. It could take several months to overcome the effects of asharp increase in employment taxes in the UK Budget. COvid 19, Brexit, and 6 premiers in 9 years, uncertainty affecting business investment decisions, is affecting the British economy.

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These two workers at a Ford Motor Chicago stamping plant joined in 1961 and 1963- Arthur Porter and Calbert Wright are 85 and 86 longest serving employees of Ford. WSJ looks at experiences of worker who have worked all their life at one company and how things have changed from 1960's to 2025.

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Merz at ease at Gandhiji's Sabarmati Ashram with Modi in Ahmedabad, India. An historic opportunity for the European Union and India, two of the world's great civilizations and with 2 billion people taking the first step to modernize the German and Indian economy by 2037 and 2047. 

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Redford's "Downhill Racer" and the Sundance Film Festival's origins for low budget films that can be produced by independent producers. Redford learned from his experience in this early film and set about setting up a new location for struggling filmmakers to experiment in filmmaking at Park City, Utah. This was a period in which Redford bought land in Utah's mountains away from the Los Angeles and Santa Monica of his childhood days. With more of the city going into concrete and less green space Redford felt he could not relate to this sprawling city of highways and congested living.

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Apple, Caterpillar, and Microsoft, Amex pushed the Dow higher to get to 50,000 from 25,000 in 2018 in just 9 years when it took decades to get to 25,000. Sales Force, because of AI threat, Boeing because of its engineering and quality issues acted as laggard. Exxon was removed, Chevron stayed on. Intel was taken out and Nvidia took its place. The PE ratio in 2026 for Dow is 22 times earnings. Companies with higher stock price Goldman $929 a share as an example have a bigger impact in moves of the Dow just because of the higher price per share. Compared to Apple at $249 a share. The calculation is to take the price s of 30 stocks add them together and divide by a factor that adds effect of stock splits and new index entrants. That factor was 0.162 in 2025. Note that it took 76 years to 1972 to get to 1000 for the Dow Jones Average in 1972.

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Kristi Noem's handling of the situation in Venezuela defeated the overall purpose of correcting unlimited migration and open borders with use of aggressive approach in Minnesota that was not consistent with standards set at Homeland Security. It took a great deal of effort from Tom Homan, head of the overall effort on migration control and border security to restore public confidence in immigration approach in Minnesota. The US president was ill served by the use of these aggressive tactics which did not have support even from many Republicans in Congress. The president had showed his dissatisfaction at this and has now moved to correct this by bringing in Markwayne Mullin whom he called "highly respected"  from Oklahoma, who can talk to all sides as the immigration actions take place to get the largest degree of support from the American people along with Tom Homan in many diverse and different states in the Nation.

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Washington Post Editorial Board on the importance of federal workforce being based on performance and laying off or force reduction of  underperforming workers, not protecting workers with seniority. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of the US government has taken a sensible action, says The Post in proposing to federal agencies that they layoff low performers first. Under the Biden administration the longest serving employees often the highest paid were not laid off, even if they were not productive. Agencies reduced workforce based on a complicated formula that heavily weighted seniority. The new rule will give performance the largest weighting. As OPM puts it: “By elevating performance in the order of retention, the employees who are best contributing to the mission will be more likely to be retained during restructuring.” Department of Government Efficiency government cuts were for 90% of the 2025 cuts due to voluntary programs such as buyouts, says The Post.  ...

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British MP raises issue of Arab Gulf countries providing 37% of China's oil imports, excluding Iraq 27%, vs 11% from Iran and 20% from Russia- 2024 US EIA. Tom Tugendhat says China has to balance its interests in the region after the closure of the Straits of Hormuz, between Iran, Gulf monarchies, and Russia. China also faces a more credible choice of accelerating the development of renewable energy in the same way that India and the European Union face. US will act as a supplier of last resort  adding Venezuelan and other supplies but temporarily as the entire Middle East region poses quandaries for China, the US, and India, European Union. The quandary stems from the irreconciliable differences between religious sects in the region, post 1950 ideological and religious militancy,  in which neither China, India, the US, Russia or the European Union wants to get drawn into after 5 decades of bitter experience in the Middle East.

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Alberta referendum of October 19 2026 for separation from Canada. Alberta with oil and gas, Saskatchewan and Manitoba with agricultural production provide Eastern Canadian provinces such as Ontario and Quebec with food and energy,  Sepratist sentiment in Alberta comes from a sense that Alberta is being exploited by Eastern Canada for the last 100 years. An independent Alberta would be aligned with the US, more likely, though it could be part of the US states. Canada says Sir Ivor Jennings in his book Commonwealth of Nations, if it had joined the US in 1776 would have trade patterns north to south with trade between Vermont and New Hampshire to Ontario, Birtish Columbia with Washington state, instead of the east to west trade of the last 250 years with western Canadian product shipped to the more populated east. Alberta has 12 % of the population of Canada of 40 million or about 5 million people and contributes 15% of the Canadian economy.

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Amazon reported a 96% drop in second quarter 2012 profit to only $7 million on sales of $12.83 billion. Sales were up in second quarter by 29%.

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President Biden gives a rousing speech to the unions and the AFL-CIO, reminiscent of Lincoln's speeches as he debated Stephen Douglas in the struggle for the emancipation in the 1850's.

"Wall Street did'nt build this country, the middle class built this country. And the unions built the middle class. I'm not joking, without unions there would be no middle class. That's a fact."

Recalling the long lines for food during the pandemic-

"Ordinary people waiting in line for an hour for a box of food. And the policies in the past created more billionaires in the past than never before in our history." 

"Laying a strong foundation for the future of this country is more than having strong roads and bridges. It is about making sure, that here in America, folks who work hard can live their lives with dignity and respect."

 

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The Indian prime minister has ordered that a million job vacancies be filled in the next 18 months. About 21% of job openings in the Central government have not been filled says this report in The Indian Express. According to the Annual Report of the Department of Expenditure 21.75% of the 4.1 million sanctioned posts were vacant as of March 1, 2020. It is these and other additional jobs that will be filled in mission mode. Jobs are vacant at all levels of the different departments and ministries and regions.  About 92% of the positions are in the departments of Railways with 40%, Home Affairs with 30%, Civil Defense 11%, Postal 6% and Revenue 3%. Of the employees Indian Railways had 1.25 million on March 1, 2020, and 1.20 employees on March 1, 2022. The pandemic had the effect of restricting hiring of people needed. With the expansion of the economy the hiring for government has not kept pace. In the Armed Forces, for the Army no hiring took place in 2020 and 2021 recruitment years says this report in Indian Express.  There are calls at public meetings including at Defense Minister Rajnath Singh's rallies for "sena bharti chalu karo" to start recruitment drives for the army, navy and air force. The government is responding to the public's demand for recruitment to begin as the needs of the government grow and the economy grows, to keep pace with it. ...

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The complete Transcript of the Harris Trump television debate on ABC Television that went on for 90 minutes. As expected Harris remained organized, thoughtful and precise in her answers to questions of cost of living, the economy, and never wavered in her focus on her plan for an Opportunity Economy that lifts all boats where she said Trump had none. Trump raised the immigration issue in questions about the economy and cost of living failing to tackle one issue at a time and do it well and convincingly. Harris brought up Trump's focus on himself and billionaires, and on Project 2025, when Trump talked about immigration. Trump's response on Project 2025 was long and rambling and failed to register losing critical minutes and spreading himself thin leaving behind the idea that he had no Plan for America, for if he had one would he not have offered it when the question was raised. This set the pattern for the rest of the debate. The next issue Trump hoped to focus on was migrant crime after immigration. This is where his exaggeration that migrant crime was rampant came under the first fact check of the evening by David Muir. Something that other moderators had amazing as it sounds neglected their duty to do - all of them failed to do this with rigor and on the spot- till David Muir. “As you know, the F.B.I. says overall violent crime is coming down in this country.” ...

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Bidenomics and how it works for America- you don't have to have a college degree and two thirds of the workforce doesn't have one, you don't have to move and most people can't move to costly housing locations like California or New York. America can build here at home in chips, aviation and advanced technologies in scale and discovery that it has in its heritage. And you don't have to move when factories can go up in all parts of America, rural areas, small towns, and in neglected factory towns from a different era of the 50's and 60's. This is what Biden is doing with trillions of dollars in spending with the help of some Republicans sharing his vision for American Renewal. Not just talk- just substance, results. And cost of living- inflation cut in half from 2022 to 4%.

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Steps taken by Secretary of State Tillerson are drawing criticism from Senator McCain and Democrats in Congress for weakening the diplomatic efforts of the U.S. Before taking office Tillerson, who believes the State Department has a bloated staff, announced a 31% cut in its budget. A year later  the cuts are leading to the departure of many senior diplomats. Some like Mr. Miller have received only a few minutes to talk to Tillerson, six top career diplomats were fired by Tillerson. Most hiring is stopped and a $25,000 buyout is being promoted to get 2000 career diplomats to leave by October 2018. This report describes a retirement class for diplomats with 26 senior employees, including two acting secretaries of statein early 50's who would normally wait many years before retiring. The top two position ranks at State are career ambassador and career minister. This is cut from 39 to 19. Political appointees are also missing to fill positions with only 10 of 44 political positions filled. Some experts see a loss also in diversity as this happens. Differences between the Nikki Haley, who is the next senior official in America's foreign service and a potential successor to Tillerson, and Mr Tillerson are also complicating the situation at the State Department. During the Obama and Bush administrations experts cited the weak role played by the institutions such as diplomatic services in promoting America's role in the world. This was not corrected in any significant way in the last decade. The position of the diplomatic service has weakened further, along with the abandonment of America's leadership role under the presidency of Mr. Trump. It will require a future president's concerted effort to restore the diplomatic service under new leadership and with a new generation of diplomats more in tune with the multipolar world of today.   ...

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The Guardian calls Chris Whipple's account of president Biden's first 2 years in office fascinating and timely. It gives a close look at what happened to get path changing legislation passed in the US Congress that will shape America for decades through new infrastructure, science and technology investments, climate change action, and building a society of opportunity envisioned by president Lincoln since the 1850's, that define what America means- a land of opportunity and dignity for all.

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Lael Brainard, formerly Fed Governor and president Biden's key economic policy adviser, takes leadership in protecting the $779 billion of 401K's that in 2023 were rolled over for retirement savings into IRA's. Brainard says- "When a retirement saver pays for trusted economic advice that is not actually in their best interest and comes at a hidden cost in their lifetime savings, that's a junk fee." When the courts failed to introduce regulatory oversight of IRA's the Biden administration has introduced the protection under junk fee protection. 

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How a small Kansas town of Grinnell in America finds a way to deal with the rural-urban divide and covid anxiety generated in the tumultuous years of 2020-2021, is the subject with pictures of this report in the WSJ. Grinnell is heartland America and its residents find a way to set Kansas and America in the right direction. One one side some resident worried they would end up like Minneapolis or Portland with protesters. An incident of drivers along Highway 70 emptying shelves of toilet paper in neighborhood stores is seen negatively by some  Grinnell residents and leads to forming an Emergency Preparedness Group to prevent outside agitators from creating problems. Others like the Enlightened Ladies Group try to calm things down. Gene Tilton, 84, and his son 63 years, whose family arrived in Kansas in 1880's did'nt see the need for forming some sort of vigilante group. He raises cattle and crops on a 10,000 acre farm. Michael Machen who practiced medicine in Gove County for 35 years also felt the same way and believed law enforcement could tackle the problem if there was one. Sheriff Mesch attended the Gove County emergency Preparedness Group public meeting by invitation in January 2021. This about the time when the Capitol in Washington DC was stormed by protesters and the country was divided after the election. At that time after 19 months of coronavirus deaths, racial unrest and political violence America was on edge, communities all over America were struggling with the idea that the immediate threat they faced was from other Americans not foreign adversaries. The sheriff told everyone at the Emergency Preparedness Group's public meeting where he stood- law enforcement could handle any threat and he didn't anticpate anything his deputies could not handle. He told the Emergency Preparedness Group that he appreciated their sentiment though, if he needed help he would ask, yet concluded that is the only way. From that rebuff by the sheriff the Group paused its activity and shifted its message to offering to help anyone deal with the deep cold spell in February, to cope with snow, tornadoes, fires, rattlesnake bites and similar hazards. They sponsored first aid classes, and a "Homesteader Gardening Class." Soon their idea was "we're here to help people, the last thing we want is for people to be uncomfortable." "Gove County" says Don Tilton, "has moved on." So must America today. ...

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Beck's map of the London Underground subway system resembling an electrical circuit was done in the 1930's, and is one of the great designs of the 20th century. It major achievement is that it puts clarity and accessibility over geographical accuracy. It has been copied by every large subway system in the world.

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By pulling back from the kind of erratic immigration enforcement in Minneapolis DJT as shown by the WSJ, the administration is closer to getting a deal on the government's budget for passage in Congress. It averts a shutdown. The DHS part is being discussed and voted separately in that deal. In Congress there is more openness to talk about each other's flaws as Chris Murphy leads the Democrats. Tim Kaine says "we can do better" instead of the belligerant opposition to ICE. Lisa Mukowski says it is hopeful because the talk has shifted away from "abolish ICE" to better law enforcement and doing better law enforcement. The WSJ and business have taken the lead on this issue with "de-escalate." Congressis doing more as Republicans are critical and even in DHS Homan is now in charge, the president say "de-escalate a bit," many Republicans including Kristi Noem at DHS and government officials look for ways to do better. In this way Minneapolis has opened up new dialogue so that the American tradition of law enforcement done right that makes people and neighborhoods safe and law enforcement acts in ways that are a role model, the anger and frustration on boh sides is defused little by little in constructive ways, and topics at the heart of the matter are being discussed and sorted out for the first time in years. ...

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Labour's Keir Starmer wants to make Britain the first nation to have a zero emissions power system. His plan put forward in September 2022 would double onshore wind, triple solar energy, and quadruple offshore energy production by 2030. It would create half a million jobs, reindustrialize Britain and cut electricity bills by hundreds of pounds, says this report in The Guardian.This is Labour's answer to the Tories faltering energy plans. The Breakthrough report on achieving COP26 goals of the IEA and IRENA, international renewable energy agencies, shows the opportunity to create 85 million additional jobs by 2030, compared to 2019. Many world leaders including president Biden and Starmer, Germany's Habeck, and India's Modi are setting aggressive goals for renewable energy.

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On Gandhi Jayanti remembering American president FDR's contribution to Hind Swaraj. FDR rejected Churchill's ideas of retaining the British Empire's colonies while fighting the German Nazis in the name of freedom. FDR said- " India should be made a commonwealth at once. After a certain number of years- 5 perhaps or 10- she should be able to choose whether she wants to remain in the Empire or have complete independence." 

FDR (US president Franklin Roosevelt) said -"I can't believe that we can fight a war against fascist slavery, and at the same time not work to free people all over the world from a backward colonial policy."

 

 

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Canadian steel and lumber industries get government aid, as talks to end US tariffs are halted over an ad on Reagan misrepresenting him on tariffs by Ontario state.  Canada's steel and lumber industries will get the aid in the form of railway costs cut in half with rail subsidies, and tariffs on US steel imports into Canada to reduce domestic steel costs for other industries. Stellantis shifts car production for a new Jeep from suburban Toronto to Illinois, GM cut a shift at a pickup plant and closed a electric van plant in Ontario. Not all imports to the US from Canada face tariffs. Other products enter the US from Canada under a free trade agreement USMCA that went into effect July 1 2020. Canada is also shifting policy under Carney's Liberals on climate change, as it seeks to reorient its economy to export oil to China and India- a new pipeline is now approved for oil and gas to be shipped across the country from Alberta. Since it's independence with Dominion status in 1867 Canada's economy has struggled with the idea of building a economy separate from the US so that trade between the northeastern Canada and Northeastern US which is next to each other is foregone for trade with distant provinces in the western states such as Alberta and British Columbia. In Brazil Lula's Worker's Party is also slowing efforts on climate change for the economy as it approves oil and gas projects in the Amazon, at the same time as it holds COP30 at Belem port in the Amazon. Even Biden had shown flexibility on the economy to support cost of living measures that are in conflict with climate change action. In DJT's second term climate change action has taken a back seat to cost of living concerns when a large majority of people are living paycheck to paycheck. ...

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Hardeep Singh Puri's service spans 39 years after graduating in the batch of 74 as an Indian Foreign Service Officer. He has served 11 prime ministers of India starting with Morarji Desai India's 4th prime minister in 1977. A truly remarkable record of service that is shown here in The Indian Express as the Pradan Mantri Sangrahalaya opens in New Delhi, a museum to honor India's prime ministers since Jawaharlal Nehru.

Hardeep Singh Puri is current minister for petroleum and natural gas, and minister for housing and urban affairs. He says "it took PM Modiji's bipartisan dedication to India's democratic institutions to immortalize the contributions of these great leaders for the current and coming generations."