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The Republican presidential debate with Chris Christie former governor of New Jersey, Nikki Haley former governor of North Carolina and UN Representative, Senator Rick Scott, Ron DeSantis governor of Florida. Mr. Trump with his lead in the polls chose not to participate. Nikki Haley comes out on top with her experience at the UN and in foreign policy.  Absent in the debate discussion of cost of living issues or issues about wages of workers, climate change, reshoring, or any of the major issues confronting the American people today.

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A Tunisian man who was to be deported by law enforcement in Germany, but was not for reasons relating to him not having a passport from Tunisian authorites, is seen as having committed the attack on a Christmas market in Berlin. He was already identified as a security risk by the authorites. He is 23 years old and had a history of using false names and nationalities. He comes from a remote region of Tunisia bordering the Sahara. He was temporarily offered asylum in 2015 and entered from Italy.

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Germany is building the new pipeline that connects the Wilhelmshaven LNG Terminal to its natural gas storage tank in record time in the midst of an energy crisis in Europe. The new 26 kilometer pipeline for  the LNG Terminal is being built in a few months when it would have otherwise taken 8 years. See Rani Bhandari, Managing Director of Open Grid Europe talk about the project in this video from DW.com to get a sense of how Germany is moving quickly to address natural gas needs for the winter. Click on Original article to see it.

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The European Union has adapted well to a cutoff of supplies of Russian gas. Alternative sources were quickly pulled together in a matter of months after the invasion and cutoff to tackle the winter of 2022-2023. Conservation was moved into high gear, renewable energy investment expanded, and alternative sources for gas established. Germany sought supplies of LNG from the US and Qatar and built gas terminal at Wilhelmshaven in record time of less than 6 months. Norway increased gas supplies to Europe and now provides one third of Europe's gas needs. German industry changed the way they used gas supplies to reduce usage and make it efficient.

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The best exercise routine is a consistent routine, says this health expert in The Guardian. Beware she says of sugary drink highs or coffee in excess to serve as pick ups during the day when energy is low. Instead do some short stretching or exercise routine even if it is only 10 minutes. It does not have to be a long or strenuous exercise, don't let the ads of young people doing strenuous routines fool you, says this expert. What is important is to keep doing it, to stretch and move around even if this is for a short time. Consistent routine is critical.

Carbohydrates, whole grain breads are not to be frowned on, she says, as this provides extra energy, and is healthy when balanced with protein and fat in the diet.

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Janice Turner writes about all those empty calories that are being taken without a thought. For children obesity starts with cereals such as Frosted Sugar Flakes with extremely high sugar content, and other cereals that have high sugar content with fancy names, says this report of how people unconsciously take in so many empty calories. Sugar content that can range to as high as 37%. This builds up disease in our bodies, and obesity. Obesity acts during this time of coronavirus to create a wild fire.

 

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What it takes to put a CDU/SPD coalition government in Germany- 16 working groups, 250 negotiators, 10 work days. And that is only the first step. It then goes to party leaders talking with their working groups. Taxes and migration policy are 2 key hurdles. Lars Kingbeil on the Social Democrat side, Carsten Linnemann on the Christian Democrat side with to be chancellor Merz. Both sides say some friction, dissent is normal after an election in which the CDU barely crossed 29% and the SPD made it only to 16% of the vote. Both sides see each other as indispensable. CDU feels SPD is sticking to its positions. Migration- SPD's Carl Stegner says- "The SPD will not engage in a contest to treat as badly as possible those who have come to Germany and have done nothing wrong." The CDU wants to give only "bed, bread and soap," to rejected asylum seekers. It sees its promises in the election as real when it made clear statements to stop migration and cut benefits, with its credibility at stake. CDU also believes that like DJT in the USA this tough policy is certain to make such migration unattractive. The other difference is on Taxes- the SPD wants to see higher taxes on the well off. ...

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Lt. General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the new defense minister appointed by President Morsi in Egypt, has close ties with U.S. officials. His ties to the U.S. go back to the basic infantry training course he took at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1981. This marks a shift to a younger generation in the military from the aging military leaders of the Mubarak period, and was achieved by consensus so that the military could continue to maintain its privileges and the elected President Morsi could assume control of running the country. This was peceded by the visit of U.S. Defense Secretary Panetta to Cairo, in which he mediated between the different factions to ensure a peaceful and normal transition to democratically elected leaders. It also comes as the U.S. and European allies and Sunni nations in the Middle East are focussing their attention on Iran and the civil war in Syria. For the military in Egypt the situation in Syria could be one more reason to arrive at a rapprochement with the elected civilian government, and Secretary Panetta is likely to have pointed this out to Gen. Tantawi and leaders in the SCAF military body. It shows the considerable diplomatic and leadership skills of Secretary Panetta in helping to bring all sides together on a mutually agreed arrangement. The initiative was left to President Morsi because it was important that this be seen as a return to normal democratic processes by an elected president....

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Volcker says that even with all the fuss about the length of the Volcker Rule, its important to remember that the regulation itself is only 35 pages. And he says that lawyers for the banks are not honest when it comes to this, because they spent a lot of time finding holes in the rule and were working to add complications to it, and now they are turning around and saying that the Volcker Rule is too complicated. Asked about Dodd-Frank, Volcker says that it does make the U.S safer in a financial crisis because of the crisis resolution process set up under Dodd-Frank legislation. A bank fails and the resolution is clearly laid out- the government takes over and liquidates it, or merges it or sells it. Stockholders don't get a bail out, management is fired, and creditors have to take losses. A lot still depends on having vigorous and alert regulators. He sees two large problems, the Euro crisis and the U.S. deficit, which need strong action. Volcker remains perplexed by why the situation of huge disparities in income growth has not been expressed to a greater extent- on one side the lack of growth in income for the average family in 10-15 years and the other side having the huge increase in incomes at the top end. He does not know of any years when this was as big as it is now- except 1928, 1929....

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Japanese prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, of the Democratic Party of Japan, is pressing forward with a plan to increase Japan's 5% consumption tax to 10% by 2015. Noda told reporters in Tokyo: "There is no waiting in responding to this question" of how to strengthen the social security system. Adding that Japan is "faced with an aging society and a declining birthrate unprecedented in the history of humankind and we cannot sidestep the challenge." In theory the Liberal Democratic party supports this, but in reality the LDP sees a chance to force a new election. Japan has a lower consumption tax rate compared to other OECD countries. It was last increased in 1997. Polls show both parties are deeply unpopular- the LDP has 17% support from voters, the DPJ has 16%, and over 50% support no party. An increase in the consumption tax comes with its own risks for the Japanese economy, as Japanese exporters have been hit hard by the yen's rapid rise in the last year. At 76-77 yen to the dollar Japanese automakers find making compact cars in Japan unprofitable. A chip maker Elpida recently filed for bankruptcy, with its CEO saying he never imagined the yen at this level. Another difficulty maybe the size of the increase in the consumption tax, effectively doubling it at a time when European markets for Japanese exports are showing a marked slowdown....

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The slowing of China's growth with GDP growth for 2012 estimated by the government at 7.5%. Growth was 8.1% in the first quarter of 2012, with expected decline in the second quarter. In response China's National Development and Reform Commission, which executes economic policy in China, has accelerated the approval of major infrastructure investments starting in April. This includes hydropower stations, clean energy projects, 4 new airports and renovations of 3 large steel plants, a subway in Nanjing. The investments total about $150 billion. Another stimulus comes from investments by local governments with central government support, including highways, sewage treatment plants, and $55 billion investment by state corporations in the Chongqing municipality. To revive the auto industry a cash-for-clunkers program is also planned, and this may include cash incentives for home appliance purchases. In addition to this the State Council headed by premier Wen Biao is making plans for 20 major projects in 7 strategic industries, from advanced equipment manufacturing to energy conservation. The result is a Stimulus that will be much smaller than the $585 Stimulus spending of 2008-2009, with a measured response compared to the earlier splurge in spending. Experts say the Communist party sees this as ensuring a smoother transition to a new president and prime minister in 2012, with added credibility for the nations growth and for the leadership of the Communist party in the modernization drive. ...

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Joe Nocera of the NYT, says prosecution of individuals responsible in the 2008 mortgage financial crisis is mostly a joke. Not one official of Countrywide Financial, says Nocera, that was at the heart of the financial wrongdoing in the crisis has been prosecuted. This may be one of the strangest aspects of this crisis and the behaviour of the Obama administration, the Justice Department and the regulatory agencies including the SEC remains dubious at best, when it comes to how little can be seen in this area that Nocera points out. By contrast says Nocera, about 1100 prosecutions were done in the S&L crisis and Charles Keating, a key figure in the crisis was prosecuted. When he inquired why the government was so intent on prosecuting figures involved in the S&L crisis, Nocera was told it was because the country insisted that this happen. This is because without this the deterrent effect no longer has an effect in preventing future behaviour of this type. Now he points out this is what the country is insisting happen. Regulatory actions alone may not create enough of a deterrent to protect the ordinary people who were worst hit in the crisis from another crisis. The exacerbated social tensions emerging from the crisis have created a large fragile part of the population with minimal savings that can hardly afford future hits of this type....

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Norbert Rottgen, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the German parliament is realistic about the prospects of Minsk 2, after the failure of Minsk 1, which was negotiated in the Belarus capital Minsk in September 2014. The Russians have the upper hand militarily and the demarcation line moves further to the west in current negotiations in Minsk. The breakdown in Minsk 1 comes as Putin continues to support the separatists in Ukraine, who declared a Donestsk People's Republic with elections held recently, and have now taken territory to make their positions in eastern Ukraine more defensible. The war could end there with a de facto split of eastern Ukraine on the Russian side, or lead to further guessing of Russian president Putin's intentions if the conflict continues. Italy's foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni, points out that arms aid by the U.S. to Ukraine would only fail as Russia could respond, and it gives the Russian president the added advantage of the narrative that the U.S. and NATO are a threat to Russia at its borders. All sides say they respect the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine, but the fact remains that Ukraine is deeply divided with the eastern region bordering Russia having close ties to Russia, and the western region near Poland having strong ties to a newly emergent EU that includes much of Eastern Europe. Prudence and restraint is needed on all sides for a settlement. ...

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Israel's Yesh Atid (there is a future) party came in second with 19 seats after the party of prime minister Netanyahu in Jan 2013 Israeli elecions. Yair Lapid helped organize the middle class protests for social justice in the summer of 2011. He founded the Yesh Atid party to fight for better opportunities for the struggling middle class. Many of the votes came from Tel Aviv. Lapid writes a column for the newspaper Yediot Aharonot under the title, "Where's the money?" He writes in the newspaper: "This is the big question asked by Israel's middle class, the same sector on whose behalf I am going into politics. Where's the money? Why is it that the productive sector, which pays the taxes, fufills its obligations, performs reserve duy and carries the entire country on its back, doesn't see the money?" The summer protests were about an Israeli middle class that is falling behind like the middle class in the U.S. Yair Lapid started as a print journalist and went on to anchor the Channel 2 Friday evening news. His father is a Holocaust survivor from Budapest, Hungary, who went on to become Justice minister. Unlike his father who was strongly secular, Yatid's support comes from all parts of Israeli society including the ultra-religious, and is mainly focussed on the middle class. ...

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Wang Xiaofang is a former bureaucrat and writer who documents real life stories of corruption in China's bureaucracy by using fictional characters. A similiar approach by another Chinese writer Mo Yan in literary novels led to him being awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature. Censorship in China has not affected writings using fictional characters and literary novels of this kind. It may be seen by the government as a way to let the public ventilate some of its frustrations with corrupt bureaucrats and communist party officials in China. It also shows how widespread the problem has become and is a serious matter for the future of the Communist Party. Wang tells the Beijing Bookworm Literary Festival after he entered the official bureaucracy he felt the desire "not to be spiritually crippled." Wang is the author of the Civil Servant's Notebook, which is described as a guide for the 1.4 million people taking the civil service exams in China each year. This suggests that China's new leadership sees this as one of the ways to give right direction to young people joining the civil service, and comes with a new focus on corruption. Wang is also part philosopher in his musings when he says China has lost its traditional culture and cannot adopt western culture, and so it remains confused at a crossroad. This leads to his idea of operators in China's official circles as people who have lost their faith and spiritual home. ...

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Brinkmauer and Pfister of the German magazine Der Spiegel interview German Chancellor Angela Merkel in September 2017. The interview covers a range of topics from whether Merkel is addicted to power, why she chose to run for a fourth term, revolving door for CDU politicians as lobbyists for the automobile industry, the AfD right wing party, the refugee crisis and the CDU's historic policy of controlled immigration, and whether democracy is losing strength.  In characteristic Merkel fashion the chancellor takes up the idea of her addiction to power by saying she is careful not to let this happen to her by reading critical articles in the press and having her staff bring critical reports. Her discussion with her constituents in her electoral district are also frank and open, more so in 2017. About the idea that Helmut Kohl's fourth term as chancellor being not good for Germany and for the CDU, Merkel responds that she has given it considerable thought. She found that she still has the intellectual curiosity to learn new things, understands that she has much to learn about how the country and the world is changing. This has been decisive in her decision to run.  Merkel believes that someone who has worked in politics should be able to work in private industry following historic practice in Germany. On the government links with the automobile industry Merkel says her approach has been to look at what was best for an industry employing 800,000 people in Germany, yet deplores the diesel emissions cheating at VW. Has democracy lost momentum after the U.S. elections and the refugee crisis? Merkel says democracy is still strong, and that she will do everything to strengthen democracy in Germany and other parts of the world.  Merkel's view is that it is important that there be counterweights in democratic systems. In this way democracy is strong in America, and also in Poland and Hungary. The chancellor cites high voter turnout of 82% in 1998, 79% in 2002, 78% in 2009. Since then she says in 2009 it dropped to 71% and 2013  72%, yet  expects that with the issues in this election people will come out to vote in larger numbers.  For many years Merkel is seen as co-opting the issues of the left parties and the SPD, being careful to move to the centre. Der Spiegel puts this idea forward to the chancellor by asking her if she is the best SPD chancellor Germany ever had.  In her matter of fact style Merkel responds that voters do not think of it this way, simply expect her to her job as best as she can possibly do it.       ...

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Strong criticism from Attorney General Luisa Ortega, and dissension inside the government, led to the Supreme Court retracting parts of its decision to nullify the powers of the legislature. Ortega called the move "a rupture of the constitutional order." Most of the judges are appointed on the court by the Maduro government. Strong criticism by the OAS calling it a "self inflicted coup", by other governments in Latin America, also led to retracting parts of the decision by the Supreme Court. Nicholas Maduro succeeded Mr. Chavez who was the democratically elected president of Venezuela from 1999 to 2013. Maduro narrowly won the election in 2013 by a margin of about 1.5% over Henrique Capriles. In 2015 in National Assembly elections the opposition parties won a majority in the National Assembly. Protests against the Maduro government were followed by a recall attempt in 2016 which was suppressed. Inflation and economic conditions in Venezuela worsened under Maduro with the collapse of oil prices. The devaluation of the currency, high inflation and shortages of basic goods have led to widespread protests. As the situation worsened the Supreme Court in support of the government gradually chipped away at the powers of the National Assembly since 2016, leading to the situation in April 2016 with  the effort to strip the Assembly of all powers and remove the immunity from prosecution of legislators. Maduro is a former bus driver for the city of Caracas bus system, and a trade unionist. He was part of the movement supporting Chavez release after a coup attempt, foreign minister 2006-2013, and appointed Chavez successor in 2012.  Max Fisher and Amanda Taub of the NYT go on to discuss the writings of political scientists, including Dutch expert Cas Mudde, who pointed out that populism often starts its climb because established institutions and elites have become unresponsive to pubic needs. Yet the replacement is with what starts out as an effort to bring fairness- yet ends up creating another elite, suppressing opposition, and creating a new set of problems, even threatening the institutional framework of democracy such as elected assembly as happened last week in Venezuela.  In Venezuela the Chavez populist movement was initially intended to reduce corruption in the court system, the established parties control over media, and ensure oil revenues were used to provide services to poor regions and neighborhoods.  In the process over two decades it introduced a system that set up a Bolivarist class of its own based on socialist goals, failed to integrate the economy into the global economy for modernization, and created an overdependence on oil revenues that hurt the country when prices dropped sharply. High inflation, corruption, shortages of basic goods, and an economy slipping behind neighboring countries in Latin America, are the result by 2017. Seeing the situation in Venezuela in the context of current populist trends in the U.S. and Europe may be a stretch because the situation in Venezuela is unique to Latin America in some ways and is from an earlier period. High inflation, collapsing economy, debt problems and mismanagement of the economy, devaluation of currency, are problems faced by Brazil, Argentina, and other countries in Latin America, happening under conservative as well as populist governments since the 1960's. It is different in two respects, the disconnect with the global economy that prevents modernization, and the trend towards authoritarianism, as seen in Venezuela.     ...

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Prime minister Renzi of Italy resigns after defeat in a referendum to change the constitution. Renzi had said he would resign if there was a "no" vote on constitutional changes to make it possible to pass further reforms. The results show the "yes" vote with about 41% of the vote, and 59% saying "no." About 65% of 47 million registered voters voted. The referendum called for cutting the size of the upper house Senate eliminating some constitutional bodies, and increasing powers at the federal level. Renzi may have made the mistake of making the vote for or against constitutional change a vote for his democratic left party, and not understanding the depth of public skepticism of established parties. Parties such as 5 Star M5S  have appealed to a public skeptical of how economic reforms would help bring more prosperity to the middle class, and a desire to try out new options. Virginia Raggi of M5S was elected mayor of Rome recently and Renzi's referendum move similar to the way prime minister Cameron moved for a referendum on an old issue of euroskeptisim, may have failed to grasp grassroots changes. The irony is that in 2014 elections to the European parliament Renzi's democratic left party won 40% of the vote and was seen at the time as a success, and the same size vote in the referendum is seen as a failure. In a referendum all other parties votes are added together from right to left parties and new parties. In the Brexit vote the Labor party "no" vote including Labor voters who never voted added to the votes of Brexit supporters and the newer UKIP party giving Brexit the slight edge needed. The singular feature of the trend is that working class voters are combining with right leaning voters to upset established parties, in the midwestern U.S., in the north of England, and in the north of France. In the medium to long run this means the left parties are likely to move to realign themselves with their base of support. ...

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Galston focusses attention on the major problem facing democracies in Europe and the U.S.- that of providing decent paying jobs and improved economic prospects for lower and middle income households. He cites the surveys from the Pew Research Report and the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics showing how middle income households median net income remains stuck at levels of 1997, and lower income households at levels of 1996. The median net worth of American households adjusted for inflation presents an alarming picture of being at $96,000 in 1983 and $98,000 in 2013 for middle income families, and being at the level of $12,000 for lower income families the level of 1975. Most of the new jobs as much as 95% are being created in the low wage service sector and the BLS statistics show the future looking much the same- with huge numbers of low wage jobs, fewer decent manufacturing jobs because of automation and jobs shifts to low cost locations overseas, remaining manufacturing jobs in the U.S shrinking by another 800,000 to 7% of the workforce by 2025. The result is the alarming rise of populist politicians like Trump in the U.S., Le Pen in France , and populist politicians in Hungary and Poland. Cultural liberals in the Democratic Party and the Republican establishment are both threatened by the rise of cultural illiberalism, xenophobia, and nationalism, as economic anxiety increases, and fears of terrorism and immigrants add to this anxiety. Progressive tendencies in the Republican party since the days of Theodore Roosevelt and of professional elites in the Democratic Party could become endangered if no serious effort is made to come up with solutions to the problems these trends present. The disconnect between the concerns of the working and middle class and the professional elites as the gap widens and the social compact in America and Europe breaks apart, means a new mindset will be required in America and Europe to deal with this. ...

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Cherry Automobile Company's name comes from the GM brand Chevy, say experts. GM sued Cherry and afterwards agreed to a settlement. Shanghai Automotive tried to use Roewe borrowing from the Land Rover brand. Wumart is an imitation of Wal-Mart. Chinese companies imitate American and European brand names which are better known to win customer acceptance as they launch their products for the first time

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Price declines in housing markets just after the mortgage crisis hit in August. Detroit and San Diego hardest hit.Also Phoenix, Las Vegas. Portland due to population shifts in western states and Seattle because of boom in industries there bucked the trend. Worst still to come as credit tightens.