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The 2018 report on doing Business ratings shows China at 78th place same as before when it should be 85th in the world. The World Bank is correcting the data in the report. It is seen as the result of manipulation of data as a result of "undue pressure" reported by members of the the Doing Business ratings team at the World Bank. The 2020 report is also being corrected for giving the UAE and Saudi Arabia a higher rating. The review was carried out by senior management of the World Bank in place in June 2020.

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India crosses the 10 million mark in coronavirus cases for the first time on December 18, 2020. The number of deaths is at 146,000. The U.S. is the only other country with over 10 million cases. U.S. has 17 million cases and 318,000 deaths on December 18. The daily cases in India peaked in September at about 94,000 and have declined to 27,000 in December. The U.S. meanwhile is hit by a second wave that is much worse than the first. Daily cases now are close to 250,000 on December 18, 2020. The daily cases in the second wave are much more severe than the first. They have increased by a factor of 5 to 10 times. Places which got through the first wave without severe damage are hit hard in December. This includes Germany, and California. In California daily cases exceed 50,000 and in Germany 30,000. In California, France, Germany, and UK, Spain, the daily cases far exceed earlier cases in the first wave by a factor of 5 to 10 times. For this reason India needs to be wary of a resurgence in the pandemic in a second wave. With its large population, need for economic recovery, and opportunity to benefit from the vaccine developments and its strict protocols for testing, isolation and social distancing, mask wearing, India can carefully and vigilantly prepare for the second wave. ...

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California is feeling overwhelmed by the pandemic with patients treated in parking lots, in hallways, and in lobbies of California hospitals. This report looks at the situation in California as it reports 53,000 new cases on December 16, 2020. The entire state from high deserts to beachfront cities, from the San Joaquin Valley to Sierra Nevada resort towns is facing a growing pandemic. In Apple Valley, California in the southern part of the state the only capacity is overcapacity with hospitals at 200 or 250% of capacity.  The scary thing is that the health care system is reduced to being available only to the gravest, most urgent medical conditions.

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North Korea's trade with China has plunged 75% in 2020 and the economy has suffered the worst in a generation. Trade with China withered to $1.7 million in October for a 99% drop. A weak health system meant North Korea had no choice but to shut down completely. It locked off some provinces and shut down foreign tourism. Prices of food staples like sugar have quadrupled.  

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Private investment in U.S. Infrastructure is growing with investment in renewable energy and in digital communications. About $89 billion was raised in 2020 following $226 billion in 2019 for infrastructure deals.

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The Moderna vaccine can be more easily shipped and handled than the Pfizer vaccine making it easier to use at smaller hospitals and in rural areas. Moderna would add 20 million doses in December to that of Pfizer's 25 million doses for the U.S. Moderna vaccine is developed in Cambridge Massachusetts Labs and is manufactured in the U.S. and Switzerland.  Moderna vaccine can be stored in freezers does not require ultra low temperatures as Pfizer vaccine. Once thawed it can be stay refrigerated for 30 days compared to 5 days for Pfizer vaccine. Moderna ships in containers of 100 vaccine doses or larger, Pfizer minimum container size is for 975 doses. Both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are in th 94-95% effectiveness range. Moderna can be injected as is, Pfizer's requires to be diluted in a separate solution. On Dec. 11 the U.S. ito double its purchase of Moderna vaccine to 200 million doses by end of June, Pfizer 's is still at 100 million doses. Moderna may get its approval from FDA in U.S. by Dec. 18. Both Moderna and Pfizer would require a second dose in 3 weeks, both use the same MrnA technology. J&J is developing a vaccine that requires only one dose. J&J finishes its trials in January and expects approval in February.  ...

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The Times reports that multiple red flags were ignored at the Financial Conduct Authority as the 237 million pound London Capital and FInance scandal developed. Mr. Andrew Bailey headed the FCA during the period of the scandal. He is now the Governor of the Bank of England. 

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China has banned coal imports from Australia in response to Australian request for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus and criticism of China's handling of Hong Kong protests. 

China imports about a quarter of its coal imports from Australia. Yet this has impacted China because of a rebound in the economy and a very cold winter in 2020. This means there is a shortage of electricity in some parts of China. 

China imports 80% of its iron ore, with 60% coming from Australia and prices of iron ore have almost doubled in the past year. Last year China imported over 1 billion tons of iron ore.

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Robert Lighthizer, U.S. Trade Representative, makes a passionate plea for the dignity of work in America, the founding principle for the society of opportunity that America has been and the reason it was settled by immigrants from Europe over 200 years. He points out that trade policy is not about geopolitics or about efficiency as others perceive, it is about what kind of society we want to live in. Is it about a society of opportunity? This is the foundation on which this American continent was settled by settlers from Britain and Europe, and the basis of the growth over two hundred years till the last four decades. From 2000 and China's entry into the World Trade Organization under president Clinton to 2016 the U.S. manufacturing base has shrunk with the loss of five million jobs, two million jobs lost to China in the period 1999-2011 alone. And 350,000 automobile manufacturing jobs to Mexico since 1994, one third of all U.S. automobile jobs. Without the initiative and hard work of Mr. Lighthizer both American workers and Mexican workers would be stuck in low paying jobs. The USMCA he negotiated changed all that by giving Mexican workers fair wages and American workers and manufacturing the opportunity for revival.  This view was also expressed by Intel founder Andy Grove, a founder of one of the first pioneer companies in Silicon Valley. Grove asked the question after seeing the outsourcing of production out of America and the condition of the American worker- he said for him it was about what kind of society he wanted to live in. It was all about the dignity of the American worker long ignored by economists who live in a world of theory and the elite that has lived for so long apart from the places where the fabric of American workers and working life was torn apart. It was a question that touched Andy Grove's heart just as it does for Robert Lighthizer and others who are fighting to make America a society of opportunity for the American worker and opportunity for the American people, for dignity in America. It also charts a new course for the French worker, the British worker, the Indian worker, as other countries learn from the American experience. We have covered Grove and Lighthizer from the early days of their leadership and wise reminders to the people of what America is and stands for. Lighthizer points out one huge error that makes the thinking of these economists and elite that have not listened for so long, more than a bit crazy, reckless and callous. He says there about half of 250 million adults who lack a college diploma in America. Historically manufacturing has provided stable well paying employment. Even if with investment in education they were taught to write software code, there aren't enough jobs for them. The combined total of jobs at Apple Google, Facebook and Netflix is 300,000 jobs. Never has so much been at stake for so many and defended by so few. ...

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This is an highly important interview by the BBC with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. We have followed the path breaking work of Mr. Lighthizer at Lyrarc.com over 10 years, and have great respect for his effort on behalf of the American people and American workers. Here are some of the remarks he made at the end of the term of the Trump administration. Lighthizer says the objective of trade is not just efficiency, it must be working men and women. This is the shift that Mr. Trump has made. It will be a lasting change as leaders in both parties see this as important, says Lighthizer. There are companies that immediately want to go back to the way things were but Lighthizer says members of both parties will prevent this. This will be a lasting change. Democrats in particular could soon face strident criticism that they have let down the working class from within their party, increasing the risks of the party to represent large parts of the American population. Lighthizer says its not accurate that we started a lot of trade wars, we have simply enforced our laws and insisted on fairness for American workers. There was really no trade war in the improved NAFTA deal in the interests of American workers, which also enhanced worker protections in Mexico, for a win-win on both sides of two neighbors. "We want strong communities in the U.S. and if that means T-shirts will cost another nickel, they will cost another nickel," sums up the way Lighthizer sees it, and the way all of America would see it if one regained the idea of government for the people, of the people and with the people. "We are proud of what we have done to reorient American trade towards working people in the U.S. and less towards outsourcing and corporations," says Lighthizer. And he says that was important to do. Lighthizer only highly underestimates what he has done for America and American workers.  A lot remains to be done. The about $800 billion in overall trade deficit the U.S. has with China, Germany and the rest of the world is not sustainable, he says. The job only gets harder now that the direction is clear.    ...

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The UK will drop retaliatory tariffs on Boeing on the issue of subsidies following final Brexit.

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Sweden's king Gustaf says the coronavirus policy of voluntary action has failed. Sweden now has 350,000 cases and deaths at 7800. This is more than all other Nordic countries combined and one of the highest rates per 100,000 of the population. Most are elderly who never had time to say goodbye. The makes Sweden a target of worldwide criticism for neglecting older people who never got a chance to say goodbye and died in chaotic conditions. It puts into spotlight the values of Swedish society of self centredness. Sweden, Netherlands and some Northern European countries also opposed the large stimulus planned by Merkel and Macron for the EU. showing lack of sensitivity for the plight of poorer countries in Europe such as Greece Portugal, Spain and Eastern Europe that were already hit by the eurozone financial crisis. The king said 2020 "was a terrible year" for Sweden. Now that the second wave has hit Germany hard, Sweden has acted to close schools, limit gatherings for Christmas and is following the restrictions practiced in the rest of Europe. To get some sense of how hard the second wave is hitting countries Germany recorded  952 deaths a day December 16, close to one third of that in the U.S. on Dec 15. ...