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DJT energy and climate change policy as response to China getting away with 80 GW of new coal powered electricity plants for 2024 under Paris Agreement
01/31/2025
DJT Alaska policy to open up the natural gas potential in Alaska comes from the Republican position that the US should also get some allowance for its needs the way China did for 80 GW of coal powered electricity production in 2024 under Paris Agreement. This is the Republican argument as Senators Dan Borghum of North Dakota and Dan Sullivan of Alaska present it for DJT. DJT reasoning is that Paris Agreement is not fair to US needs. Seen in this way the DJT policy is much more nuanced than media present it- it is for Make America Great Again by using advantages such as Alaskan production and Shale while at the same time pursuing pristine environment and tackling climate change. As this theory goes the stronger economy would give US more resources to tackle climate change. Biden signed on to this approach in a small way when he let Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia put the same idea in his energy plans. Seen in this way DJT is not portrayed as trying to destroy climate change action plans.
Linked Articles
Opinion | Trump Lifts Sanctions on Alaska
WSJ 01/31/2025
China’s coal-fired power boom may be ending amid slowdown in permitsThe Guardian 01/31/2025
How low interest rates from the banks created 2009 financial crisis were squeezing Americans and most of all seniors
06/05/2024
In 2010 Charles Schwab pointed out that low interest rates were squeezing Americans, most of all seniors on fixed incomes and pensions. In 2024 first quarter the higher interest rates in one quarter alone created an additional $770 billion in interest and dividends for Americans, many of them seniors, according to US Federal Reserve. This is the damage done by the recklessness of the banks and financial sector and seniors have paid heavily for this and for the wars in the Middle East which reduced the growth potential of the US economy that were embraced by Reagan and Bush, Trump and Obama. The war money was not used to build new infrastructure to replace the old as it should have been leading to China having new infrastructure and America's being aging and worn out.
Linked Articles
Low Interest Rates Are Squeezing Seniors
Wall Street Journal 03/30/2010
Americans Have More Investment Income Than Ever BeforeWSJ 06/05/2024
Severe floods in Germany 2021 Italy 2023 and effects of climate change in Europe
05/21/2023
The floods in Germany and Europe, the severe drought in parts of Spain and Italy are seen as signs climate change is here. At one southernmost point in Sicily the temperature recently reached about 49 degrees centigrade the highest ever in Europe.
Linked Articles
Italy’s disasters suggest the climate crisis is at the gates of Europe
The Guardian 05/18/2023
Scores dead, hundreds missing after massive floods in Germany, BelgiumFrance 24 07/16/2021
Clean drinking tap water for every home - the stark contrast between China and India
04/05/2023
What this tells one is that GDP requires a new indicator which is Quality GDP which will mean that if you pollute rivers and air then real GDP as an economic concept is totally inadequate even useless, unless one subtracts from that economic GDP number the amount of investment it would take to clean up the rivers or the air. If regulatory agencies cannot control industries from polluting rivers, the case in China, then an additional number has to be subtracted from economic GDP called regulatory deficiency adjustment. The GDP numbers were gained through indiscriminately burning fossil fuels and this means climate change damage so that to be correctly stated China's GDP number would have to be offset by deducting the adjustment for trillions of dollars in climate change correction action. This would shrink the gap between India and China's GDP to where India may be in a position using advanced technology, renewable energy, regulation, and large foreign investment to close the gap with China in the next 10-15 years. China could also benefit because of the new approaches taken by India could be something to learn from as the two countries each have the population of the EU and the US+ Canada combined.
Linked Articles
In China, the water you drink is as dangerous as the air you breathe | Deng Tingting
The Guardian 06/02/2017
Jal Jeevan Mission achieves 60% of its target, says govtHindustan Times 04/05/2023
Nature walks and improved health and wellbeing- Essential during the Coronavius Pandemic
10/09/2021
Walks taken out in parks, nature settings, and further out in wooded areas are seen as essential for health and wellbeing during the pandemic. This is becoming increasingly popular in the UK and can be pursued in the US, other parts of Europe, India, other parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa as a way to promote neglected mental health during the pandemic. Vaccines are doing their part for body health yet much remains to be done for mental health which has taken a big hit during the pandemic.
Linked Articles
‘These salt marshes saved my life’: how nature is helping mental health
The Guardian 10/09/2021
Two-hour ‘dose’ of nature significantly boosts health – studyThe Guardian 06/13/2019
America's self-reliant economy - Biden with Trumpian undertones
01/21/2021
The Biden administration is seen as continuing the efforts of president Trump to pursue American interests in trade, technology, American workers and business to restore America's leadership role in the free world to what it was in the 1950's. Biden from Delaware is in the same tradition as president Harry Truman from Missouri in that period. Because of Biden's age this could be a one term presidency, and strange as it may sound it could be a presidency of Trump in foreign affairs and trade, technological leadership, without the rhetoric, and a socially cohesive presidency of Democrats in the tradition of Harry Truman. What then to make of all the fights of the Trump presidency? Much of this can be seen as an effort to break the status quo which did not benefit American workers.
Linked Articles
Biden’s Economic Team Charts a New Course for Globalization, With Trumpian Undertones
WSJ 12/01/2020
Trump touts record of ‘no new wars’, standing up to China in farewell addressFrance 24 01/21/2021
How Britain made preparations for H1N1 (2015) following the SARS pandemic (2009), then lost interest ditching the effort with Brexit consuming the nation
05/16/2020
How could this happen? Read more to know why. In 2016 Britain even conducted a rehearsal called Cygnus to fight H2N2.
Linked Articles
What was Exercise Cygnus and what did it find?
The Guardian 05/17/2020
Coronavirus: 38 days when Britain sleepwalked into disasterThe Times 05/16/2020
What Bill Gates and France had in common in the fight for health preparedness
05/11/2020
France had learned lessons from SARS epidemic and prepared for the H1N1 epidemic at the time that Bill Gates of Microsoft was pushing for greater awareness of public health priorities. Today Gates says this was not enough, that he did not do enough and feels terrible about it. The irresponsible banking practices that caused the financial crises first in the global financial crisis of 2009 and then in the eurozone financial crisis that followed by 2011 led to the ditching of the pandemic preparedness effort in France and Britain. In all of the western world including the U.S. austerity practices were the response without addressing the root causes of financial crises. Investments in public services and infrastructure were neglected leading to a level of unpreparedness that is shocking. Countries in lesser developed countries with more consciousness of the importance of public services and care of the vast majority of people were better protected in the crisis as a result than the more developed countries.
Linked Articles
WSJ 05/11/2020
Pandemic disarmament: Why France was ready for Covid-19 a decade too soonFrance 24 05/17/2020
Republican House health care bill in 2017 and shift in priorities- $337 billion in savings, expected lower premiums, but leaving 14 million more uninsured in 2018
03/13/2017
A shift in priorities from the poor to the middle class- targeting lower premiums for people who have seen their premiums increase sharply, reducing the overall cost with savings of $337 billion, yet leaving 14 million more people uninsured.
Linked Articles
CBO Sees 24 Million More Uninsured, $337 Billion Deficit Cut in Coming Decade With GOP Health Plan
WSJ 03/13/2017
US health bill 'to leave 14m more uninsured' - BBC NewsBBC News 03/13/2017
The 1976 Montreal Olympics, the 2004 Athens Olympics, the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the Rio Olympics- decades long debt hangovers and costs growing from the $1+ billion in Montreal to $50+ billion in Sochi
08/24/2016
Developing and developed countries alike have seen the cost of the Olympics as a huge burden. Many countries or cities that committed to hosting the Olympic games during boom years were facing economic hard times by the time of the games. Corruption and mismanagement of public funds, overspending and cost overruns added to the problems. Citizens uproar caused cities such as Boston and Oslo to withdraw bids for the Olympics. The Olympics appears to be a costly way to show off a country, and raises questions about better allocation of funds in other directions, especially when upward mobility is a problem for the middle and working class, countries have other infrastructure needs, and neglected basic needs in education, healthcare, public services.
Linked Articles
The 40-year hangover: how the 1976 Olympics nearly broke Montreal
The Guardian 07/06/2016
Rio Games Highlight Problems With the Olympic ModelThe New York Times 08/23/2016
Public focus on good governance, corruption and the rule of law- the situation in Mexico and Brazil in 2016
06/10/2016
The Worker's Party in Brazil and the PRI have seen a sharp decline in popularity by 2016 with public discontent over governance, corruption and the rule of law.
Linked Articles
Mexico’s Ruling Party Loses Gubernatorial Races in Several States
WSJ 06/10/2016
Brazil Workers’ Party, Leaders ‘Intoxicated by Power,’ Falls From GraceNew York Times 05/12/2016
The Chinese market in 2015 and pitfalls for Yum Brands and its KFC, Pizza Hut stores in China
10/21/2015
Rapid growth and then a public scare with media reports of falling quality standards hurt KFC outlets. Local Chinese and Taiwanese brands offer more options at the higher and lower ends of the price range. Other European competitors partnering with local Chinese companies offer better value and quality upscale hurting Pizza Hut stores. And suddenly the whole landscape has changed for Yum Brands in China. It shows the Chinese market is no place for the complacent, that the discriminating tastes of consumers and search for healthier alternatives is taking place in China, India and other developing countries, just as much as it is in the U.S.
Linked Articles
China Isn’t the Easy Market It Once Was for Fast-Food Chains
Wall Street Journal 10/21/2015
Yum Brands to Split Off China BusinessWall Street Journal 10/21/2015
The Obama administration's efforts on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), after losing allies in Asia and Europe to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
04/17/2015
The Obama administration pushes a free trade pact that includes the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. This free trade pact is now seen as a U.S. effort to counter China in the Asian region. India, UK, Germany, France, Italy and other European countries decided to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank sponsored by China, on its merits, after the U.S. refused to join.
Linked Articles
TPP: Momentum on Trade Deal Bolsters U.S., Japan Efforts to Counter China
Wall Street Journal 04/17/2015
Lawmakers Introduce ‘Fast Track’ Trade Bill, Triggering Democratic DiscordWall Street Journal 04/17/2015
Why Trump plan to end tax on Social Security benefits is a fatal mistake
08/17/2024
Senator Larson says it is a fatal mistake as lost revenue is not made up leading to a Medicare insolvency in 2031, and Social Security insolvency in 2033. Social security benefits will then by law will be cut in 2033 by 25%., a dangerous step tragic for many on Social Security who are pushed into poverty.
Linked Articles
CNBC 08/17/2024
Donald Trump's Suggestion to End Taxation of Social Security Benefits | Committee for a Responsible Federal BudgetCommittee for a Responsible Federal Budget 08/17/2024
America has forgotten it is American workers who built America
09/28/2023
American workers built the middle class and American workers built America with its factories. Biden joins a picket line at at GM plant in Beleville, Michigan, saying this with a bull horn. Shawn Fain directly elected by autoworkers says workers not billionaires run America. This happens as the UAW union rejects tiered wages. Entry level tier wages of younger workers at $17 an hour or $34,000 a year is below the Federal Poverty Level of $35000-$40000 for families with children. It would be seen as outrageous by both Lincoln and TR-FDR in a country where the Constitution starts with the line "We the People. Workers are forgotten in a world that is only waking up to this in 2024.
Linked Articles
Biden Joins Autoworkers on Picket Line in Michigan
NYTimes.com 09/27/2023
Trump’s pitch for autoworker votes in car heartland is short on autoworkersThe Guardian 09/28/2023
The collapse of American education and the slowest growth in America's history 2000-2020 as Biden tries to reverse this in 2024
05/19/2023
Krugman looks at the extraordinary effort put in by Robert Gordon of Northwestern University to look at the growth of America since 1850 over periods 1850-1870, 1870-1910, 1910-1950, 1950-2000 and 2000-2020 showing that the last 20 years have the lowest growth in American history. Gordon looks at the near collapse of American education, scores on NAEP of two thirds of 8th graders failing reading comprehension reflect this sad state of affairs that president Biden is trying to reverse in 2024. Other research shows a drop in potential GDP of 2 percentage points when education is failing as it has been for 2 decades. Other researchers have shown what is openly evident today that technology such as social media do more harm, that other internet use technology has not done much for education only established monopolies as with Google and Apple.
Linked Articles
Paul Krugman Reviews ‘The Rise and Fall of American Growth’ by Robert J. Gordon
New York Times 01/25/2016
'Secular Stagnation' May Be for RealWall Street Journal 08/27/2014
Disastrous economic losses for the former Soviet region including Russia from the Ukraine invasion
04/11/2022
Losses to the economy for Russia from 11% to 25%, for Ukraine 45%, for Belarus, Moldova and former Soviet republics 30%. This is the scale and magnitude of economic losses for this region. All sides in the war are losers and the spinoff effects are creating economic problems in other regions of Asia, Latin America and North Africa who have no connection to this war. Yet nothing has been solved.
Linked Articles
Ukraine economy to shrink by almost half this year, World Bank forecasts
The Guardian 04/11/2022
Russia-Ukraine war latest news: Austrian leader’s talks with Putin ‘very direct, open and tough’The Guardian 04/11/2022
How America is building a new chip manufacturing industry at home
07/22/2021
After years of neglect of manufacturing Intel Corp and other companies are building a new chip industry, as America reverses years of decline in manufacturing at home. The importance of manufacturing technologies and years of cumulative expertise in developing new technologies, are now seen as critical for American leadership. US president Biden pushed for these changes, leading to a new CEO and a U turn by Intel Corp.
Linked Articles
Intel CEO’s Chip-Building Plan Has a $50 Billion-Plus Price Tag
WSJ 07/16/2021
The World Relies on One Chip Maker in Taiwan, Leaving Everyone VulnerableWSJ 06/19/2021
The success tackling coronavirus in the Indian state of Kerala
05/18/2020
Past experience with pandemics- most recently the Nipah virus in 2018 -helped the Indian state of Kerala set a unique state of preparedness of both the health ministry and the people in control of spread of coronavirus. Hardship is also a great teacher of solidarity- only recently in 2019 Kerala had the worst floods in a century from a cyclone that hit the coast of Kerala in southwestern India. It did not take long for people to take preventive action starting at the end of January when the first cases were being seen in Wuhan, China, led by Health minister Ms. Shailaja. She personally visited a region quarantined in the state to guide the effort.
Linked Articles
The coronavirus slayer! How Kerala's rock star health minister helped save it from Covid-19
The Guardian 05/14/2020
Coronavirus lockdown: Is India flattening the COVID-19 curve? | DW | 24.04.2020DW.COM 04/24/2020
French and British preparation for pandemics after SARS and H1N1 and losing interest with Brexit (Britain) eurozone austerity policy (France) by 2019
05/16/2020
Both Britain and France learned and prepared for pandemics all the way to H1N1 in France in 2009, and to the 2016 Cygnus exercize for pandemic in Britain, then lost interest and ditched the efforts. How did this happen, learn why here in extraordinary reports from the Le Mode cited by France 24 and in a report from the Times of London. A must for a dynamic participatory informed mindset needed more than ever today.
Linked Articles
Pandemic disarmament: Why France was ready for Covid-19 a decade too soon
France 24 05/17/2020
Coronavirus: 38 days when Britain sleepwalked into disasterThe Times 05/16/2020
East Gemany's struggle to find its own identity after young people leave and a sense of nostalgia for the economic security under the GDR
11/14/2019
By 2019 East Germany's search for identity is in full swing as it struggles with a nostalgia for the past before integration with west Germany, and following a departure of young people going west that leaves behind a rapidly aging society with less economic security. The promise of integration appears to be failed when seen as culture and identity, economic security.
Linked Articles
Germans still don’t agree on what reunification meant
The Economist 11/02/2019
Misrule in East Germany ‘triggered rise of the AfD’11/05/2019
Chancellor Merkel and listening to German public opinion reflected in state elections of 2016
09/20/2016
Here we argue that contrary to general media coverage in the NYT, WSJ, Economist, and German media, a year from now Merkel may be seen more positively. This is because Merkel has always listened to public opinion carefully, and has told the German public frankly what happened- that she and the German government were caught unprepared in the refugee crisis that came up in summer 2015.
Linked Articles
German politics is turning into a six-party system
The Economist 09/19/2016
Opinion: Berlin, capital of mediocrity | Opinion | DW.COM | 19.09.2016DW.COM 09/19/2016
Donald Trump and the themes for the 2016 U.S. presidential election as seen at the Republican National Convention- law and order, and blue collar lives
07/22/2016
Linked Articles
Donald Trump positions himself as the voice of ‘the forgotten men and women’
Washington Post 07/22/2016
Donald Trump proclaims himself 'law and order' candidate at Republican conventionThe Guardian 07/22/2016
Free trade seen as skewed and hurting American manufacturing workers- politically unpopular by 2016
03/09/2016
Linked Articles
After Michigan Loss, Hillary Clinton Sharpens Message on Jobs and Trade
New York Times 03/09/2016
Free Trade Loses Political FavorWall Street Journal 03/10/2016
The huge contrast between Chancellor Merkel's approach and the approach of Obama and Cameron to the Syrian refugee crisis
08/20/2015
The German chancellor will be remembered in history for the way she handled the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015, and for the courage to say, "if Europe fails on the question of refugees, its close connection with universal civil rights will be destroyed." Reports in the Guardian newspaper say Germany is likely to accept about 1 million refugees in 2015. Chancellor Merkel says about 800,000 refugees will be admitted in 2015. Contrast this with the UK reports the Guardian which has 166 refugees admitted to the UK, and reports in the WSJ that about 1500 refugees have been admitted to the U.S.. Merkel has taken on the challenge in a spirited way as Europe faces anti-immigrant sentiment and rallied German society in a way that is remarkable. The withdrawal of the Obama administration from the Middle East led to the collapse of the fragile situation in Libya, Iraq and Syria, and the unravelling of these countries, leading to the current refugee crisis with about half of the Syrian population dislocated and large parts of the population of Libya, Iraq, and Kurdish regions dislocated.
Linked Articles
U.S. Pressed to Take More Syrian Refugees
Wall Street Journal 09/05/2015
Why some German universities will educate refugees for free - The Washington PostWashington Post 08/20/2015
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