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As with so much in life too much of anything is bad. Obsession for dealing with inequality without grasping the potential of new technology and people with skills, has hurt both China and India, with both moving to correct this in the last 20 years. Allowing too much inequality disturbs the balance in society damaging democratic processes and creating new dangers for democratic processes.  Today Piketty, and other Western and Asian leaders are presenting the argument for fairer societies principally because this is the only way to generate the kind of cycle for growth seen after the second  world war in the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's  following FDR and Truman, De Gaulle and Adenauer. At some point the curve for growth simply drops with extreme disparities in society- something that happened with disastrous consequences in the history of China and India in the 1500's and the long descent into colonial or semi-colonial rule. That pattern is documented in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. And it is a drop no nation or society would want to repeat because of the immense suffering, and the decline of Asian societies in a social and cultural sense, leading to a closed outlook to science in general and knowledge accumulation behaviours based on scientific observation of Nature over the course of the 17th to 19th century.  Some traces of this in the early stages are evident in the US and Europe which is why all well meaning people and people of goodwill for their countries seek a way out of this endless fracturing, the rural-urban divide, the society blind and morally neutral views of tech, and the starving of resources which benefit the broad segments of society for infrastructure, health and education through the misallocation of resources to other places. In the long run what is important is not the long theories which can fail, but to "Just Do," follow good common sense, do the right thing as Modi has done for women in essentials such as water, toilets, cooking gas, digital bank accounts, dignity, safety, access to education. And what Xi is attempting to do for Common Prosperity in China. And what Biden and Scholz are setting out to do in the US and Germany. ...

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Jeannie Rice, originally from Seoul, South Korea, is a 71 year old marathon runner who runs the marathon in 3 hours 27 minutes and 50 seconds. She holds the world record for her age, after 3 failed attempts. Average pace is 7:25 per mile for 13.1 miles, which is something people aspire for at 30 years age. She runs 4 to 6 marathons a year. Her routine is to run 10 miles a day on average for 7 days a week with long runs on the weekend. She lives in Ohio and runs in the winter in Florida. The way she does it- take a day off before the race, keep several pairs of sneakers and change them every 3 months. She doesn't crosstrain much, preferring golf. She eats a lot of carbs, rice even white rice, pasta. She starts with a pre-run snack of a small banana and half tablespoon of natural peanut butter, coffee. Post run it is a bagel with avocado. Lunch is green salad with avocado. Dinner may be rice with shrimp and vegetables. Experts say training programs are highly individualistic. A fit person takes about 3 months to be ready for marathon running. Long runs are crucial. A 12-18 hour rest period after a marathon is suggested to allow tissue healing. Proper footwear and several pairs of sneakers are critical to avoid injury. ...

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Bridget Phillipson and Keir Starmer are politicians who would like to get things done and take ideas from all sides in the effort to improve life for British parents and children. See the article alongside on the changes proposed by Phillipson and Starmer to bring better education to all schools, and keeping the best of the Academy system- just spreading the best to all parts of the country.  Zoe Wiliiams had this interview with Bridget Philipson in The Guardian, March 21, 2023, when she was UK Shadow Education Secretary with big plans to revive childcare and children's education in UK schools. Phillipson is now Education Secretary and is getting a bill passed in Parliament to improve some aspects of the British education system keeping the infrastructure and foundations that are delivering well. Phillipson grew up in a dilapidated northeast England neighborhood in Tyne and Wear. She describes this as a place with an air of decline with a railroad track and idled chemical plant in the area, high youth unemployment. He mother and her grandparents provided a caring home and signed her up for drama lessons on Saturdays. She attended Catholic school and went on to study at Oxford University in Modern Languages and Modern History, returning to work for Sunderland City Council for 2 years instead of going to London. She is seen as self-effacing but vigorous in putting forward ideas on better childcare and children's education for British children.   ...

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Palaiologos of the Kathimerini newspaper in Athens, Greece, says the early euphoria of support for Tsipras is fading, as the negotiations with the EU require Tsipras to go back on his election pledges and require difficult choices. He points to a poll from the University of Macedonia putting government support of its negotiating strategy in April 2015 at 45.5%, down from 72% in February 2015. He says the Syriza government has conveyed different and contradictory messages, wasting a lot of the goodwill in Europe for Greece's position, and by backtracking on agreements put Greece back into recession. Greece needs to take responsibility for how deep the crisis is compared to a country like Ireland or Portugal, because of dysfunctional public administration and political systems, says Palaiologos. The EU and Greece need to make a fresh start after all the false starts of the early part of 2015.

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The large Iranian missile attack on Israel on April 13th 2024 was expelled with American, UK and Jordan's help. It cost about $1 billion in antimissile systems. The US does not seek an expansion of the war. The events show how without a clear policy on non escalation with the US taking leadership- how without this events could spin out of control in unanticipated ways. And the need for priority to be given to rebuilding after the pandemic, not conflict that is driven in a random manner when most of the largest countries on every continent are committed to peaceful development to improve standard of living of their people- US and EU, China and India, Brazil and Mexico, African nations, and most other nations in Asia and Latin America. It is for Biden and Scholz/Macron, Xi and Modi, to make this happen.

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Russian President Medvedev is taking to fireside chats to talk openly about Russia's problems. "It is very important to tell the truth", Medvedev now tells Russians. In the early stages of the crisis the Russian government was not as open and frank in assessing the damage and the problems.

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If it is possible and necessary for someone like David Attenborough to rediscover experience with nature unhurried and in quietness it is possible and necessary for all of us. The famous BBC personality and naturalist David Attenborough is considered to be the most popular person in the UK. In this interview in 2020 he talks about his garden and bird watching hobby during the lockdown, the way it is helping to preserve mental health. For the first time he is in one place for months. At 94 years, Attenborough is a bit subdued and looks back at his long career and bringing the natural world to television viewers through natural world series such as Blue Planet, The Living Planet, Our Planet, and Life on Earth. He was a speaker at the Climate Change conference in Poland in 2016 and hopes to speak at Glasgow conference in 2021 about the earth being finite and the need to change human behaviour.  The interviewer senses that something is amiss with all the naturalist wonders that Attenborough has been depicting on television. They seem too perfect and made for reaching large audiences. In the process was something being lost. Even Attenborough senses this as he starts discovering nature through birdwatching with excitement as if he had never done this before. He lists the birds one by one. It is the ability to discover and always treasure this sense of wonder at the natural world, and rediscover it again, that is what we strive for in this world, and so important for mental health.   ...

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The resilience of U.S. large cap value stocks was shown in 2000-2002 and 2008-2009, and offered investors greater protection, according to research by Mark Hulbert of Hulbert Financial Digest.

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Controversy surrounding the $55.8 billion pay package for Elon Musk that was disapproved by a judge, and the behaviour of the Board of Directors at Tesla, is the subject of this exclusive report in the WSJ. A series of WSJ articles in recent months have shown that Musk is not the role model for American business or for the younger generation.  A parallel with can be seen in the contrast between Sergio Marchionne of Fiat Chrysler and Carlos Tavares, current CEO of Stellantis, which includes Chrysler and Peugeot, Fiat. WSJ coverage of Tavares as head of Stellantis, and running the company from his home in Lisbon, shows a respect for the dignity of workers, their health and worklife balance with very productive work turning out as many as 75  new electric car models by 2030 that was absent under the CEO Marchionne. Marchionne's constant travel and long hours, reported continuous smoking with unhealthy work and health habits took its toll. It set the wrong role model at the time for workers of Stellantis Chrysler and for business and the younger generation even as it received favorable reporting in the Harvard Business Review and other places. The same can be seen with Elon Musk with such reporting giving a glamorous image and much hype, yet as the Wall Street Journal in its reporting shows setting the wrong role model for business and the younger generation and the renewed future of America. ...

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U.S. Federal Reserve officials are likely to take a wait and see approach based on incoming data following a likely rate increase in December 2018. Jerome Powell, Fed chairman and other members are likely to want to see how the economy is holding up from moves already taken. Under this evolving data dependent approach the Fed will step back from the predictable path of quarterly rate increases of the last 2 years.

Inflation has softened in the last quarter of 2018 with falling oil prices, reducing the Fed's sense of urgency. The dents in the stock market have not changed the situation of low unemployment and strong growth.

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A black supporter of Obama, Ms. Hart, tells him- " I'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration. I've been told that I voted for a man who was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class." This encounter happened at an hour long town hall meeting on CNBC, which John Harwood moderated. Harwood asked Obama whether he was having difficulty connecting with average Americans because of attending Ivy League schools and spending part of his youth overseas. The incident reflects the frustration and disappointment felt by average Americans with the Obama administration and with Obama.

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The median age in Uganda is only 16 years, the second youngest population in Africa after Niger. Most of Africa is under leaders from another generation, as pointed out in this WSJ report.

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The 2018 U.S. Budget deal that passed the U.S. Senate on February 8 meets nearly all of the priorities set by Democrats in Congress for increases in spending, says Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky, the senior Democrat in the House Budget Committee. Part of the deal are increases in funding for domestic programs favored by Democrats. As a result Democrats are having difficulty taking a stand on the budget and forcing a shutdown of government on the basis of a single issue, that of children who were brought unlawfully into the country by their parents but offered protection under president Obama's Dreamers legislation called DACA.  Reflecting this ambivalent position Representative Pelosi of San Francisco, made a spirited defense of the Dreamer legislation with a 8 hour nonstop speech, plans to vote against the budget deal, yet says the compromise was fair and helped achieve Democrats priorities on other issues that affect the whole country. Democrats from the most liberal section of the party plan to vote their conscience on the issue, and Pelosi called merely for a commitment from Speaker Ryan to have a vote on legislation that would address the issue of the Dreamers, children of unlawful immigrants. Speaker Ryan offered no commitment on Dreamers except to say any immigration legislation would have to be something president a Trump supports. In the previous vote that led to a government shutdown a settlement was reached between the two parties in a matter of days when Majority Leader McConnell of the Republicans committed to a debate on immigration. On the Republican side the Freedom Caucus members oppose lifting spending caps to address priorities in spending supported by Democrats and to some extent by president Trump, because it worsens the deficit. The budget deal lifts spending caps for this fiscal year for domestic and military spending by about $300 billion. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky emphasized this issue with his opposition to the budget deal and delayed the deal till the final vote in the Senate 71 in favor and 28 against.  ...

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Knowing the thinking and mood of the younger generation of engineers programmers and other staff is critical. They are more optimistic and impatient about things so companies have to move quickly to change things to retain talent. The other major change is the number of young women that are joining. Nasscom the software industry association in India says that last year this was 35% and will rise to 45% by 2010. This is amazing rise considering that it started from very low numbers and these young women are more vocal than the men. It means companies have to keep their minds open to gender issues and respond. Giving young people a voice in the affairs of the company, giving them achance to be not lost in the crowd, a shot at challenging assignments for the talented, some kind of inhouse training program in management and in other areas so that they can keep upgrading their education and value to the company, some peers and superiors assigned to mentor new employees, hiring from smaller cities so that those who want to be near family can do so and have higher loyalty than with chasing high level talent in bigger cities and supplementing with good inhouse training , are a list of some of the things being tried by companies. ...

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Health safety tips for using the gym and in outdoor exercize.

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New York city Mayor Bloomberg, says President Obama and Republicans should stop promising a free lunch, or something for nothing. He points to Obama's reelection strategy of higher taxes for the rich- by taxing those earning over $1 million at minimum of 30% in federal income taxes- as generating $1.1 billion, according to Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation. This would make little difference on a federal government with $1.2 trillion gap in spending and revenue. And he says Republicans who say making the Bush tax cuts permanent while at the same time cutting the deficit are promising a free lunch, with no connection to reality. The answer says Bloomberg should be to eliminate the Bush tax cuts for all groups, for shared sacrifice, and for Congress to pass the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan with $4 trillion in savings on an up or down vote.

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This editorial in the NYT says a two state solution is the best way to justice and peace in the region. It says more states are likely to recognize Palestine as a state, following Sweden and the Vatican, as the negotiations are in total breakdown.