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Mikaela Shiffrin of Edwards, Colorado, and her original coach her mother Eileen, her candor, and her fighting spirit- at the Milan Olympics 2026. It shows the struggles of an American athlete before the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in 2026. Her dads death in an accident, her fiance's accident in Wengen, and her accident at Killington, left this ski racer in turmoil and wondering with her therapist about the nuances in PTSD- everything she would wrestle with in those dark days when she even wondered whether she wanted to continue. This is told by Shiffrin with complete candor- something that endears her to her fans and to all the people around her- her ability to tell it all and tell it straight, about everything that is going on inside her, a remarkable gift. "For me, when I’m able to dig in and really understand something, for whatever reason, that allows me to be less scared of it. Less afraid.  And, thankfully, after a while, my body … it has started to remember what to do again." She runs through the race at Killington again and again trying to tell herself that it was ok hundreds of times, nothing happened, she was OK, she would be OK.  After the 100th win in Alpine ski racing downhill in Cortina in Italy in slalom racing- which requires a sharp precision of body and mind in perfect unified composure to turn within the slalom poles in fractions of a second- Mikaela feels "she can breathe again." ...

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Walter Mead of WSJ offers this view- expect more action from DJT in 2026 not less, than 2025. The president took the US Supreme Court's decision in stride, noting that it lets him do the same thing on tariffs- charge tariffs on countries doing unfair trade with the US- with other tools in trade legislation, just not IIEP rules. On the practical side every country wants to keep its trade agreement with the US said the president- Britain, Japan, South Korea, Germany, China, India. China and India have increased exports in 2025 even with tariffs rules that allow some exemptions. Large trading nations do not want the uncertainty that comes with renegotiating agreements arrived at with much difficulty with the US. This is not mentioned much in the media such as WSJ and NYT which instead  focus on the tariff revenue already collected of $130 billion and its use or refunding. What is relevant is that the purpose of splitting powers beteen the executive branch and the Supreme Court and Congress is preceded to a great extent by the public's ideas about what is fair, of rights of the US to fair trade, and preventing the deindustrialization of US and Europe. Which is why the Supreme Court has tried to tread warily on issue of illegal migrants by millions entering the country, and is trying to tread warily on issue of rebuilding American industry and infrastructure using tariffs to reduce concentration in China and act to restore a fair trading system for the US and the world. ...

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The Trump Accounts for children born 2025-2028 and the Dell $6.5 billion expansion to include earlier born children may be one of the single biggest actions to rebuild the bank accounts of the next generation. It looks at the shrivelled bank accounts of today's older generation with lack of enough savings for a medical crisis and says it has got to be different from now on. The median bank account of Americans over 65 and over is $13400 which means there is little for medical health emergencies and little for needs of older Americans. Median means half have less and half have more than $13400. This is astounding for the wealthiest nation at a time when the total wealth is the highest ever in history. This report by WSJ unfortunately does not mention this at all and dwells on how this is an opportunity for banks and investment companies to get in the door to get your business. DJT as US president with a mandate from lower income Americans has designed this so that it shows the value of careful investments of small seed money. With $1000 to begin with from the government, added amounts from parents and grandparents and invested in a mutual fund that tracks the S&P 500 it will grow with the economy for 18 years, doubling two to three times on the way. It would provide funds for education increasing enrollment in higher education, increase financial literacy by showing how money grows in broad S&P 500 type index funds such as Vanguard type funds. Much of the shriveling of bank accounts for the shocking figure of $13400 median for American 65+ year olds is a result of job losses, high health care costs, wage decline  with factories outshored, hits from 2009 financial crisis caused by bank irresponsible behaviour, drug epidemics and fentanyl allowed to pour into the country, covid pandemic and stock bubbles, decline in higher education enrollment, other. The US president DJT is seeing his mandate as one that reverses these adverse situations one by one to take America back to post war prosperity and rising incomes, rising bank acocunt savings and rising hopes and aspirations for the next generation. ...

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President Trump announces a $ 16 billion farm aid program to help American farmers hurt by Chinese tariffs on American agricultural products. The money goes directly in payments to farmers. Mr. Trump sees the tariffs on Chinese products as paying for the program.

The Trump administration has blacklisted China's Huawei  and president Trump says that he considers it to be a threat to national security. He also sees it as a bargaining chip in future trade negotiations with the Chinese. China's president Xi sees his country's national sovereignty in how it sets its own economic policy and manages its economy as an issue. Both sides are far apart. Xi even cited the Long March led by Communist leader Mao to Yenan in the 1930's as an example of the fortitude needed by China in dealing with the American challenge.

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The 800 foot Chinese ocean carrier Zhen Hua 29 sails into Kingston, Jamaica, from Shanghai on the long route with 5 cranes in epic 3 months voyage through the Indian Ocean around Mozambique- the last of the globalization voyages. As globalization dims these are the last of these voyages. US policy is for its control of the Panama Canal, the Monroe Doctrine in the western hemisphere, pushing out a globalization that hurt American industry and jobs in the USA. China continues on with its surplus capacity make for export policy, the US wants out from these imports, and the EU is wary of imports dependence.  Gemany's Foreign ministry under Wadephul is forming a commission to investigate German dependence on China made products. This is the last of the globalization that started with Clinton, and went on with Bush and Obama, wrecking huge parts of the American industrial base. Cranes- no longer made in the USA, one by one, including ships- no longer made in the USA. The great shipyards of Britain and the US languishing in disrepair! ...

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Dr. Andrew Pollard and the invention of Covishield vaccine at Oxford University in Britain in 12 months, that has saved the world, with 2.6 billion doses given. It is in its final act says this report in The Guardian with 3 billion doses to go for the 3 billion people in the world that have not received a dose. Billions of people in India, other Asian countries, Latin America and Africa depend on this vaccine during this pandemic.

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Since 2003 China has poured more concrete every 2 years than America has done over the whole 20th century. China uses 50% of the world's concrete. Roads, rail, bridges, dams account for one third of the growth of the Chinese economy in 2017.

A huge project of president Jinping is the new airport with plans for 4 runways and handling 200 million passengers a year. The current airport handles 96 million passengers a year.

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Krugman points to the mounting toll of joblessness in America in 2011. He calls the joblessness- six million Americans out of work for more than 6 months and four million jobless for more than one year- America's overriding problem. More than the deficits which he sees as a problem beyond the immediate next couple of years, and the dollar which he says has seen drops larger than the current one during the Bush and Reagan administrations and which presents an opportunity to increase exports. He says the scare stories may distract from the major problem unemployment presents for Americans.

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David McCoullough, dies at 89 years. He is the author of two best selling biographies of American presidents at crucial points in the American experiment on Harry Truman (1992) and John Adams (2001), for which he won 2 Pulitzer Prizes. He also won the National Book Award for- Path Between the Seas- the Making of the Panama Canal. He saw writing as painting in words, and writing as an art form, did extensive research so that his Truman book took 10 years, the Adams book 7 years. 

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Most people may not realize that for the average Chinese Jimmy Carter was the benevolent American. This report overs Carter's effort to bring China into the world economy and world relations during the Jan 1979 visit of Premier Deng Xiaoping.

Carter said in his dairy that day- "It was a pleasure to negotiate with him."

He later wrote in his diary the trip was "one of the delightful experiences of my Presidency… to me, everything went right, and the Chinese leader seemed equally pleased."

This was the start of the American journey with China that has resumed between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in California after the Covid pandemic and is still being navigated today.

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Iran peace talks in Islamabad on April 12 and Iranian refusal on nuclear weapons development and ballistic missiles leading to collapse in 21 hours of talks. Vance leaves talks and US plans to impose a naval blockade of Iran. This report by the Guardian shows that media coverage has created a sense of delusion that the world including the poorest countries in the world in Asia, in Latin America and even in Europe, and the industrialized countries will somehow allow the free navigation for oil and other raw materials to be interrupted by any nation. There are protests all over the world about increase in fuel prices, some of this affects LPG supplies for cooking in countries with a population of 1.4 billion people (India) many times that of the entire Middle East. Tens of millions of migrant workers head back to their homes in poorest states in India as LPG cylinder prices quadruple and are in short supply April 13, 2026.It also affects China and Japan which are dependent on Hormuz,  not the US which exports oil and does not seek to gain from oil prices. Posturing by the media and European governments on this issue has created this delusion that this is about US actions, when the US is only acting in the interests of all nations to keep the planet safer from dangerous nuclear proliferation in the region most torn by repeated wars in the last 50 years. Some of the language used about attacks on power plants has become a reason to justify such reporting to present aggressive ballistic missile development and nuclear weapons development in Iran in a benign way, becoming oblivious of how it affects the lives of billions of people around the world, as the Middle Eastern region a small fraction of the world's population (less than 7%) and a small fraction of the planet's surface (less than 6%) continues to operate in a way that is destructive for the lives of people around the world.   ...

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DW.com provides graphics and explanation of key parts of the climate change crisis, which is very useful information to understand the climate change crisis facing the world today. It taken into account income of countries to put CO2 in perspective. It shows the impact of climate change locally when the 1 degree celsius of climate warming globally that has already happened can produce 30 degree centigrade temperatures in Portland, Oregon, and vary temperatures by large numbers locally in Asia, Europe and America. It looks at deforestation's impact and many other aspects of the climate change crisis in a useful manner.

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Talks at the White House between Macron of France and DJT on Feb 24, 2025. DJT says Russian president Putin will accept European and American troops in Ukraine to monitor a peace settlement as a peace keeping force. French troops were offered for such aforce by Macron. DJT says he asked Putin directly this question and the answer was yes for a peacekeeping force to end the war. Analysis by The Times shows Britain and the EU are coming to terms with DJT policy to end the war and Europe shouldering its defense  responsibilities and costs because America has challenges in the Asia Pacific with the rise of China. 

To get an idea of China's resources and capacity it now has over 50% of ship building capacity in the world. The US is only now ramping up its efforts to build ships and increase the effectiveness and size of the US Navy, and a major defense effort is underway.

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How transgender issues played out in the 2024 election. Pamela Paul looks at the effects across Europe of the Cass Commission's 4 year research for Britain's National Health Service concluding that gender affirming approach is mistaken. The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Department of Health and Human Services, are not a taking a science based approach to this important issue for parents of children, and the serious unease this is causing across the Nation in 2024, is shown in this report in the NYT. This type of unease added to the anxieties about efforts to change the cultural identity of the US based on its history of European settlers, first from Spain and later from France and Britain, over the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth century putting politics before history. Not being alarmed enough about a general price increase of 30 percent over 3 years in groceries and housing costs created a general sense of unease in the Nation. ...

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This commentary in the WSJ says it is essential that the U.S. get back manufacturing of all technological goods back to the U.S. or its allies. The dangers of depending on China or other countries not clearly allied with the U.S. is quite clear especially after the pandemic. The U.S. and European supply chains need to be completely remade, restructured, to avoid dependence on China or countries that are not allies. This is what supply chain renewal is about. Yet initiatives alone with hundreds of billions of dollars price tag re not the answer to the problem. What is needed are specific targeted actions such government direct assistance to key sectors to ensure U.S. technological advantages in worldwide competition. Giving a hole range of incentives and direct financial support to industries making everything from electronic and computer components to high tech parts that go to defense and civilian production.   The U.S educational component in this puzzle is university students in all high tech courses which should be kept for U.S. citizens or from key allied nations at American universities. The manufacturing base would mean securing incentives and aid to manufacturing industries, component by component, part by part, to secure American leadership and distinct advantage.  Job losses have to be reversed and industries relocated back to the U.S. And only in cases where it is advantageous to manufacture overseas to relocate in allied countries India, Japan or South Korea. U.S. labor has to be brought into the picture as a key participant in the national interest and given an important role. R& D efforts have to be developed component by component, technological part by part, and technology by technology, so that a systematic plan can be followed to secure American leadership for the rest of this century, is what experts including this one say is required today. ...

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The Economist continues to advocate nationalization of American banks as the only meaningful and effective solution.

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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.   ...

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The Justice Department focussed on two airports Reagan National in Washington D.C. and La Guardia in New York in its antitrust settlement for the merger of U.S. Airways and American Airlines. As Gara points out the combination does not change the situation by much at other airports letting the Justice Department reverse an earlier postiiton that the merger would limit competition and increase fares for consumers.

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Loan officers in the Institute of International Finance Survey showed a tightening of credit standards and moderation in loan demand for the 2nd quarter of 2011. Commercial real estate sector showed a sharp decline in Latin America and Europe. A third of respondents said local funding conditions had tightened. More than 40% of banks in Europe reported decline in funding conditions.

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The uncertainty that hangs over Iraq after the American withdrawal. Religious reconciliation and sectarian reconciliation is fragile. There is a push for autonomy in the provinces. There is a fear of Iranian backed militias in some areas. A prominent Iraqi singer says "all of Iraq is sad."

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Krugman points out that the prevailing bias in the US distorts the facts about Europe's performance. Frankfurt, London and Paris he says are just as lively and modern as New York and Chicago. They are not poor and backward. When you factor out population growth in the USA, since 1980 per capita real GDP which is what affects living standards has grown in America at about the same rate as the 15 European Union countries: 1.95 percent in the USA vs. 1.83 percent for the EU. And for the 25-54 years working age group unemployment in the EU 15 countries in 2008 was 80% of adults (83% in France), which is about the same as in the USA. The French and Germans work fewer hours but output per hour is close to American levels.

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The European Union Commission says Ireland must recover 13 billion euros in back taxes for giving tax preferences to Apple that are against EU rules. The EU Commission says Ireland allowed Apple to pay a corporate tax rate of 1% on its European profits in 2003, and .005% in 2014. The EU Commissioner says the use of Ireland as the place where Apple pays taxes on operations in Europe has no base in reality, as most profits are earned in other countries outside Ireland. Taxable profits of Apple "did not correspond to economic reality," according to Ms. Vestager, the EU Commissioner.  In the current environment where political upheaval is unsettling the democratic process in the U.S., Britain, Spain, France and Italy, as well as in Brazil and other countries in the developing world- because of deep recessions, and efforts to cut the deficits with deep cuts in state spending including in education and healthcare, basic services- the moves by companies to reduce taxes to these absurdly low levels such as .005% when other companies in the EU are paying 12.5%, is becoming increasingly unpopular. As pointed out in this BBC News article this sounds like the way Carnegie, Rockefeller and Vanderbilt operated during the late 19th century, and were seen as operating in a manner that was above the law. Janet Yellen pointed out at a Boston Fed Conference on inequality in Oct 2014 that the bottom half of the distribution or 62 million households in the U.S. in 2013, had a net worth of about $10,000, One quarter of these households had a net worth of zero dollars. The working class and blue collar workers in the U.S. provide much of the support at Trump rallies. Younger college educated people support Sanders, because of the situation of the working and middle class in the U.S., and a similar situation exists in Europe. It is for the sake of the democratic process and delivering services in education, healthcare, and other basic areas to all, that companies small and large need to pay their fair share of taxes, regardless of size, influence, or technological advantages. Today this is is seen by most leaders who draw public support as the right way forward for the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asian countries, including proper allocation of resources to best serve the needs of working people. For example the 13 billion euros is equal to all of Ireland's healthcare budget, and 66% of its social welfare budget.    ...

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In a special and graceful  way American Danielle Collins wins the Miami Open women's tennis tournament coming from No. 52 ranking to beat top seeded Kazakhstan's Ryabkina 7-5, 6-3, looking unstoppable all the way. 

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Taylor Swift's show in Buenos Aires, Argentina, attracts a staggering 2.8 million on the waiting list, and 200,000 in the audience over 3 shows. Swift is amazed at this turnout, her popularity reaching that of Messi in this South American country.

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US China agreement on TikTok sale to American ownership as required by Congress, Scott Bessent announces that an agreement has been reached with China in negotiations for the transfer of ownership. China is concentrating its energies in negotiating tariffs that were kept at 30% by the US and 10% by China which hurt Chinese industry in industries where it has overcapacity.