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A retired librarian from California has made her home in Oaxaca in the mountains oof southern Mexico with a large indigenous population. Here she writes in WSJ about life in one of the less developed parts of Mexico.

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The faltering Ben Carson candidacy has given more support to Ted Cruz. Cruz's grass roots efforts to fire up evangelical voters is also a plus in the Deep South, with six of 12 states in the March 1, 2016 Republican primaries in that region.

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The James Webb Space Telescope unfolds in space  to become fully functional on January 7.

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This early by May end heat wave in Texas and Louisiana with temperatures reaching 102 degrees.

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Losers in US Tax Mega Bill 2025- Medicaid users, food aid recipients, college borrowers, and EV drivers.

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Northern Lights in the winter skies as seen from Derbyshire Peak District in UK during guided walks in the national park. The dancing waves of light are caused by highly charged solar wind particles colliding with air molecules in the earth's atmosphere.

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China's population decline and fewer working age people is likely to reduce the high capital accumulation that sustained rapid growth in the past. China's dependency ratio- population of children and elderly relative to the 15 to 64 year old age group went up to 46% in 2021 from 34% in 2010, says WSJ. This means less savings accumulation, and less of the enormous pool of cheap capital of the last 2 decades that led to fast growth. That period is ending. This makes the subsidy based approach to push key industries such as chips and solar panels in the past much more difficult in the future, says Nathaniel Taplin in the WSJ. 

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After recovering from the eurozone financial crisis Spain is recovering with low inflation of 1.8%, and growth of 2.4% in 2024, 2.1% in 2025, and unemployment at 11.2%. Even with high unemployment prime minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain sees new immigrant workers aiding higher growth and supporting pensions- Spain's tourism growth also supports this. “The contribution of migrant workers to our economy is fundamental, as is the sustainability of our social security system and pensions.” This makes Spain one of the only countries to continue supporting legal migration to the country- 250,000 are needed both in high skilled jobs in hospitality and construction, and "invisible" jobs in agriculture and other places. 1 million migrants will arrive each year till 2028. Spain will also give legal stats to 500,000 undocumented migrants mostly from Latin America including Venezuela's middle class. ...

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In his comments at the Congressional Institute DJT says his tariffs plan resulted in China cancelling building the largest automobile plant in the world just across the US border in Mexico to export these cars to the US. That plant was planned for a capacity of 1 million cars a year which would have hit the US auto industry hard. DJT's  tells this story of how his tariffs are making a difference in not letting other countries take advantage of the US and destroy America's industry and communities, and jobs. "In Mexico they are going to build the largest auto plant in the world. It was during my campaign. And a great gentleman who builds auto plants was building this factory and I asked how is it going? I want to take a look at one of your factories you are building. One of the good ones. Are you ready? This was 8 months ago. I said you will have to go to Mexico. What about the US? He said  we are putting up a couple but they are small. In Mexico they are building massive automobile factories. I said you mean they are doing it? Who is the owner. He said mostly China. One in particular is massive. So they are going to build cars and send them to the US, for no tax or little tax, and destroy whats left of Detroit." "Mexico has taken 32% of business over 30 years. The other is Canada. They send us millions of cars. We don't need them for that. I said to hime when is this going to open. A couple of months. It will openin 1.5 years. I said I am not happy about that. And I said in my next speech I'm going to charge them. No cars coming ino the United States from Mexico without a massive tariff. I said it 3 or 4 times and what happened is about 2 months later I saw the same gentleman in the audience and I said I want to see you backstage. I said let me ask you what happened to that plant. Where is it now? He said China has canceled it. Why? Because they think you are going to be elected and charge tariffs on the cars coming in and it doesn't work."  "So Detroit will breathe and we are going to do the opposite. Companies can build plants if they want but they are going to have to build it in the United States."   ...

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Socialist candidate for president in France's runoff elections, Francois Hollande, says he will ask that the fiscal compact treaty completed in Dec. 2012 be renegotiated to include measures that promote growth in the eurozone. He praised ECB chairman, Mario Draghi's comments that uppermost in his mind was the need for a growth compact in the eurozone.

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Muhammad Azhar Ali, factory manager for National Foods plant near Karanchi, Pakistan, describes what it is like running a manufacturing operation in Pakistan. National Foods is the largest manufacturer of pickles and other spice products in Pakistan. A big problem is the lack of security and terrorism. This remains a constant cause of anxiety for business people in Pakistan. Its like being in a war zone says the National Foods chairman Abdul Majeed. Another major problem is lack of reliable electricity supplies. Supply of electricity is only one third of national demand in Pakistan. Larger companies such as Lucky Cement generate their own electricity, with Lucky Cement producing 150 megawatts from its plants. Smaller companies like National Foods rely on diesel generators. To conserve electricity many factory, floor office and bathroom lights are turned off. For workers the lack of electric supplies and high inflation affect lives in many ways. National Foods has a weighing department and assesses workers picked up from many parts of Karanchi to see if they are fit for work or are unduly stressed from poor living conditions. This is a side of Pakistani life that is rarely touched on-the daily lives of workers and managers. Ali works harder than other production managers in other countries because of the power shortages and lack of security. He would like to devote time to increase productivity and be more like other production managers. The war with the Taliban has cost Pakistan $68 billion in destroyed infrastructure, security costs, lost foreign investment according to one estimate. ...

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Higher savings, covid assistance checks, and cheap credit led to higher consumer spending in the second half of 2020. This lasted through the higher inflation in 2022 when consumer spending outpaced inflation by two percentage points. The share of monthly income set aside for savings dropped from a high in April 2020, to 7.5% in December 2021, to 3.4% in December 2022. This is rapidly reversing with increase in mortgage rates and interest rates by the Fed to 4.75%, home and car sales the lowest in a decade. Inflation is at 5% year over year and wages up 4.6% in December year over year. The labor market is tight with about 10 million unfilled jobs and unemployment at 3.4%. Tech and other companies that overly expanded during the pandemic and are under antitrust oversight are laying off some employees. A recession is possible but this depends on how Jay Powell at the Fed reads the employment situation so that it brings down inflation but not so much that it hurts American workers. ...

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Canada's Bombardier based in Montreal launched the C series in 2008 to develop aircraft to compete with Airbus 320neo and Boeing 737 MAX, narrow body commercial airplanes. After cost overruns and delays Bombardier has $9 billion of long term debt and its financial condition deteriorated to the point where it needed a $1 billion loan from Quebec government in 2015. About 40,000 workers in Quebec are in the aerospace industry. In 2018 Airbus acquired a 50.01% stake in the Cseries program to provide marketing muscle because sustainablility became a marketing issue in Bombardier's severely weakened financial condition resulting in weak sales. Quebec government holds 16%, Bombardier 34%. Now Bombardier is planning to sell its stake in the A220 jet program to Airbus to cut its debt. Airbus will cover $350 million in losses for 2020. It is also negotiating to sell its core jet division to Textron Inc. The ambitious strategy appears to have failed for Bombardier as Airbus takes control.     ...

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Milei wins 41% of the vote in Argentina midterm Congressional elections in October 2025, with one third of Congress to support his economic programs to fight runaway inflation. About one third of the people live in poverty, as Milei resorted to tough action to fight over 100% inflation. It is  now down to 30%. Argentines are determined to find a way out of this inflationary crisis that happens once every decade for the last 70 years. The US plans to provide $20 billion in loan assistance, and another $20 billion from private funds. The IMF has a $55 billion program to support the economic programs that cut the number of people in the state sector companies and government, cut economic subsidies and social assistance, in a desperate effort to rein in inflation. Only when all members of society pull together, particularly young people, can a nation get its economic act right. Argentina must find a way. A rainy day fund has to be set up as happened in Brazil and Russia, financial prudence exercised by leaders, and the young people stepping up to change the country's future, change the trajectory forever. ...

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Donald Trump is acquitted in the second impeachment trial with a vote in the Senate of 53 in favor to 47 against. A two thirds majority is required to impeach a president. Senators Burr of North Carolina and Cassidy of Louisiana were Republicans who joined the expected ones to vote for impeachment- the Republicans Mitt Romney of Utah, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. The Republican defense lawyer insisted that Trump's speech to his supporters was not an intention to incite them on the day of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 but an expression of his rights to free speech guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution First Amendment. He made the point that the prosecution lawyers had selectively focused attention on the words "fight like hell" and taken them out of the entire context in which they were made, ignoring key parts of Mr. Trump's speech. The defense argued that the president had already left office and this made an impeachment unconstitutional. Seventy five million voters voted for Mr. Trump and he cited this as the most number of votes won by a sitting president. President Biden is shifting his attention to the president's agenda and needs Republican support to pass key legislation including financial help to households, unemployed, and business to recover from the pandemic. The U.S. health effort behind the vaccination drive and seeing the struggle in Europe to access key medical supplies of vaccine is also leading to new efforts to move beyond the rhetoric to the hard work ahead with support of all parties. As part of this the trial once it reached the Senate was quickly resolved in about 5 days. The defense used only a small fraction of the time allotted with bipartisan effort to not let the trial drag on, bipartisan effort to putting some statements simply on the record and not calling witnesses.   ...

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Netherlands is becoming a much more crowded country with housing scarcity and high rents with increasing immigration. At this pace the population which was only 10 million in 1950 and 14 million in 1980 is now 17.2 million and expected to hit 22 million. By 1950 Queen Juliana in her parliament speech was calling for migration to ease congestion, says The Times. 620,000 people migrated to Canada, Australia. and 450,000 returned from Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. Most parties now oppose the high level of immigration into the urban sprawl of Rotterdam, Utrecht and Amsterdam home to about 9 million people.

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Binyamin Applebaum of the NYT Editorial Board says the gap from 1972 to 2021 of 21% of GDP in spending and 17% of GDP in taxes taken in is a serious problem because it creates $31 trillion in debt and over 475 billion in interest payments each year. And much of the spending is wildly popular 63% that goes to Social Security and Medicare, and vital spending on health care and education, social services that takes up 15%. The rest is defense and interest payments. The rest of the G7 spend about 50% more on average he says. This is why he says Republicans holding up raising the debt ceiling is not the issue that needs to be faced each year there are better more direct and sensible solutions that also address the need for the Renewal of America after years of underinvestment in everything from infrastructure to health and education. And capital markets that overcrowded essential government spending to finance massive capital misallocation by tech companies, the costs of which are only now being understood in America. ...

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Genome sequencing is a way to tell if there are mutations in the virus. This is a very important part of the battle against the virus. About half of the genome sequencing in the world is done in Britain. 
Lessons learned are pointed out by the Science Editor of The Times.

During the first wave with the origins of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, focus shifted to selected countries without much attention to Europe next door to Britain. Much of the mutated virus strains from Europe, from Italy, Spain and other countries cause the epidemic to get out of control. This is being repeated in the second wave.

When the epidemic surged in Kent British health authorites conducted genome sequencing for the virus to find out that there was a variant, a mutation of the virus that was causing a surge. This has helped Britain prepare to tackle the pandemic as it changes with new strains of the virus.

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There are now 2 Lefts in France after the failure of a no confidence motion in parliament on premier Francis Bayrou. Le Monde says the Socialist Party under Faure made a responsible choice to work with "reconciliation" in mind at a difficult time for the slowing European economy, changes in government in US and Germany in 2025, and no settlement in Ukraine. The Socialist party made certain of key changes in the government's policies for the remainder of Macron's term as president as the price of it's support and for ongoing discussions.

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Google AI tools Gemini is shown as failing when it comes to civics and democratic form of government. It is in these vital issues for a democracy that widely used tools can fail particularly in AI, and which makes them hazardous. Ai tools shown here are not able to differentiate between good leaders and bad leaders who caused major wars in the 20th century. Humans and human thinking process and sentiment are essential for democracies to function, for people to exercize their rights and fulfill their responsibilities so that a good state can serve its citizens.

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Electricians union and dockworkers unions say they will support a strike for collective bargaining agreement of the mechanics working at Tesla in Sweden. The IF Metall Union representing 300,000 workers in Sweden is negotiating for a collective bargaining agreement with Tesla. Unless an agreement is reached in which workers participate to set working hours and wages, benefits, the transport workers says they will not unload Tesla cars from any Swedish ports. The idea is to support the current situation for 90% of workers in Sweden to participate in reaching a consensus for wages, benefits and working conditions.