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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
"Pay their fair share of taxes" Biden asks of corporations showing 2017 predecessor tax cuts did not increase investment and added $100 billion yearly to the US Deficit
03/08/2024
By paying their fair share of taxes Biden says in State of Union speech to US Congress 2024 one can increase investment in education, affordable childcare and better living for seniors in their homes, and still cut the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars. What is fair share? Certainly not zero percent that 55 of the largest corporations paid on $40 billion in profits in 2020, and corporate minimum tax was introduced at levels of 15% for which most ordinary Americans are not eligible for. And certainly not 8.2% that Biden said was being paid by 1000 billionaires in the US. Not a single penny more is being asked of hard working Americans earning less than $400,000 a year. Biden said he wanted to see the corporate minimum tax at 21% not 15%, and the top corporate tax rate set at 28% not the 21% that it was reduced to in 2017 from 35%. In short his predecessor turned to help companies and billionaires profit from the popular distress of the shipping of jobs overseas and the 2009 financial crisis caused by Bank executives without investing the nation's capital resources in manufacturing at home in scale to match and exceed China's. And at the same time neglecting to do anything about the concerns of the people for ease of living- affordable access to childcare, preschool education, education, health care to match Europe/China/India in quality and cost, and aging transportation infrastructure of airports, subways, roads and bridges. The savings when this is done properly go to cut the deficit by over 4 trillion dollars and keep America as the leader of all G-20 economies.
Linked Articles
Biden Draws Sharp Contrast With Trump in State of the Union
WSJ 03/07/2024
Biden Pushes More Corporate-Tax Hikes to Draw Contrast With TrumpWSJ 03/07/2024
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
Friendshoring- US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Jake Sullivan NSA Advisor's call to invest in India
03/07/2023
American leaders president Biden, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan call for friendshoring- to invest in Indian manufacturing. This will reduce concentration of manufacturing in one country and create abetter more resilient supply chain. The pandemic and supply chain problems that added to inflation showed the extraordinary risks of the existing supply chain. As pointed out by FInance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in an interview at Raisina Dialogue India is creating the right conditions to attract foreign investors in Indian maufacturing for advanced technologies.
Linked Articles
U.S. Pursues India as a Supply-Chain Alternative to China
WSJ 03/06/2023
Raisina Dialogue 2023: In conversation with Finance Minister Nirmala SitharamanThe Economic Times 03/06/2023
Common sense and wisdom for passage to India Pakistan trade after the floods in 2022 with one third of Pakistan under water
08/30/2022
In 2012 Michael Boskin, who helped George W. Bush, with the NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement, wrote this article in the WSJ about the normal trade using trade models that take into account the advantage of cross border trade and size of economies would be 20 times the $2.7 billion in trade between India and Pakistan in 2012. This would be $50 billion. This would have increased to $100 billion by 2020 under normal trade. Instead in the year of the 2022 floods when Pakistan is one third under water, and cross border trade never made more sense, the OEC data show trade at less than $300 million or one three hundredth portion of what trade could be if normalized.
Linked Articles
Pakistan: Food prices soar amid floods | DW | 30.08.2022
DW.COM 08/30/2022
Michael Boskin: A Passage to India-Pakistan PeaceWSJ 04/15/2012
US 100 day review of strategic vulnerabilities in 2021
03/10/2021
Linked Articles
China’s Rise Drives a U.S. Experiment in Industrial Policy
WSJ 03/10/2021
America’s Battery-Powered Car Hopes Ride on Lithium. One Producer Paves the Way.WSJ 03/09/2021
How global travel seeded the first and second wave of the pandemic- ski resorts in March and beach resorts in September
09/30/2020
Linked Articles
Ski, Party, Seed a Pandemic: The Travel Rules That Let Covid-19 Take Flight
NYTimes.com 09/30/2020
Tourists in Croatia Help Feed Covid-19 Surge Across EuropeWSJ 09/21/2020
How Germany made "total" contact tracing the mission in early March, and how it limited spread of coronavirus
05/26/2020
Linked Articles
The first wave: How Germany’s coronavirus contact tracers helped to ease its lockdown
The Times 05/26/2020
While U.S. struggles to roll out coronavirus contact tracing, Germany has been doing it from the startWashington Post 05/25/2020
Report on Russian disinformation effort 2014-2017 by two cybersecurity companies for the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee
12/18/2018
Linked Articles
Opinion | What We Now Know About Russian Disinformation
New York Times 12/17/2018
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube Withheld Russia Data, Reports SayNew York Times 12/18/2018
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
The pause in the U.S. economy with the May 2016 U.S. jobs report showing 38,000 jobs added
06/06/2016
Krugman discusses the U.S. May 2016 jobs report from the Labor Department. He says it will be harder to come up with a response to the political uncertainty in an election year, especially now that rates are near zero.
Linked Articles
Sharp Fall in U.S. Hiring Saps Chance of Fed Rate Increase in June
The New York Times 06/03/2016
A Pause That DistressesThe New York Times 06/06/2016
The EU's evolving relations with Turkey in 2016- Germany's Merkel and the Erdogan government reach an agreement on refugees in March 2016
03/07/2016
Merkel facing populist pressures and opposition from the CDU to accepting more refugees tries to get Turkey to stem the flow and send refugees back to Turkey. The Erdogan government with its own problems and seeking a closer relationship with the EU following the Russian bombing of the Turkmen in Syria and shooting down of a Russian plane approves the agreement.
Linked Articles
Stakes Are High for Germany’s Angela Merkel in Success of New Migrant Deal
Wall Street Journal 03/24/2016
Turkey Places Conditions on E.U. for Migrant HelpNew York Times 03/07/2016
How television channels and internet media are failing to ask questions about what will be done on climate change action 2024-2028?
07/31/2024
Linked Articles
How the Murdoch family ended up in a legal fight over the future of Fox
Washington Post 07/31/2024
What Rupert Murdoch Owns, and How He Built His Media EmpireNYTimes.com 07/30/2024
Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor "dithering and hesitation have compounded the challenges we face" and the passage of $61 billion aid to Ukraine April 2024
04/26/2024
Mitch McConnell persuades 31 Republican Senators a majority of his caucus to support Ukraine's defense by joining Democrats, working "shoulder to shoulder" with Democrat Pat Schumer to get passage of Ukraine aid legislation in the vote 79 to 18 in April 2024. It comes at a critical moment of the defense of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, just 25 miles from the border as shown by NYT in April 24 coverage. It is part of the larger effort to secure a peace in Ukraine with the help of India and China as the war drags on for another year.
Linked Articles
Bucking G.O.P. Isolationists, McConnell Was Linchpin in Winning Ukraine Aid
NYTimes.com 04/24/2024
Senate Approves Aid for Ukraine and Israel, Sending It to Biden’s DeskNYTimes.com 04/24/2024
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 indictment of Donald Trump for hush payments to a porn actress
04/01/2023
The indictment by a grand jury of Donald Trump in March 2023, with other investigations underway in other places.
Linked Articles
How Alvin Bragg Resurrected the Case Against Donald Trump
NYTimes.com 04/01/2023
Donald Trump Indictment Sets Historical MarkerWSJ 03/31/2023
How the transition from the Soviet Union in 1985-1989 was mismanaged by Gorbachev leading to a 40% drop in GDP, 2000% inflation, drop in life expectancy , worse than the US Great Depression in the 1930's
09/03/2022
It is not commonly known in the US how bad the collapse was in Russia after 1989. An understanding of this in the US and Europe not just of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and its effect on Eastern Europe and West Germany, is needed to get a complete understanding of what happened and the events leading up to the war in Ukraine and threats to US and the EU. It also helps in framing solutions for the future that include lessons learned.
Linked Articles
Mikhail Gorbachev, Germany's most beloved Russian, has died | DW | 31.08.2022
DW.COM 08/31/2022
Opinion | Wonking Out: The Nightmare After GorbachevNYTimes.com 09/03/2022
The world one year after lockdown in March 2020
03/23/2021
Linked Articles
Queen leads royal tributes to NHS in minute’s silence to mark year since lockdown
03/23/2021
One Year of Lockdowns- Where India Stands NowHindustan Times 03/23/2021
The rendezvous of Jupiter and Saturn in 2020, the last in 1623, and the 200 billion stars in The Milky Way
12/22/2020
Linked Articles
The great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn | DW | 21.12.2020
DW.COM 12/21/2020
What 21 stars tell us about the Universe | DW | 22.12.2020DW.COM 12/22/2020
How the Coronavirus test in the U.S. got delayed for 3 crucial weeks in February letting the pandemic spread quickly
08/21/2020
Three lost weeks in February starting February 9 when the FDA realized its third component of the test to test mutated virus had failed in use by labs but continued to persist in doing this on its own. Private labs of well known medical companies and university teaching hospitals were ready to develop and use their own tests with lightning speed and yet the FDA required its approval stalling that effort. FDA and HHS failure in the crisis led to the quick spread of the virus in Feb- March making any use of test and contact trace for containment ineffective. a crucial window of time was lost!
Linked Articles
FDA’s Authority to Regulate Lab Tests Is Curtailed
WSJ 08/21/2020
What Derailed America’s Covid Testing: Three Lost WeeksWSJ 08/18/2020
Carlos Ghosn and Nissan discontent in Japan- the failing Renault-Nissan alliance
12/18/2018
Renault-Nissan's failure to invest in Japan and the lack of interest in Nissan under Ghosn added to worries in Japan about the compensation of Ghosn being larger than all nine top executives of Nissan combined. A deep sense of affront was felt in Japan as one executive put it -"where is the transparency and where is the frugality." This special report by WSJ shows how the ego based executive which is not typical of Japan failed Nissan. It also shows why this type of management is not healthy for companies or the employees and all stakeholders. Its hard driving nature with unhealthy lifestyles is also becoming unpopular today.
Linked Articles
The Fall of the House of Ghosn
WSJ 12/16/2018
Ghosn’s U.S. Push Irked Nissan ExecutivesWSJ 12/18/2018
The moderating influence of business executives Gary Cohn, Wilbur Ross and Muilenburg on president Trump- change in policy on NAFTA, Mexico, China and Export Import Bank
04/14/2017
Business executives help moderate the campaign positions taken by Donald Trump during the first 100 days of his presidency, putting him closer to the traditional view on China, Mexico, NATO and Russia.
Linked Articles
Donald Trump’s Recent Policy Reversals Reflect Business Influence
WSJ 04/14/2017
Within Trump’s inner circle, a moderate voice captures the president’s earWashington Post 04/14/2017
Why initiating Brexit by invoking the Lisbon Treaty's Article 50 could go into 2017, or even past 2020 into new general elections- (2) the British economy and the Bank of England's stimulus effort to avoid a recession
08/16/2016
The stimulus action of the Bank of England in August 2016 was designed to avert a recession in Britain. The Bank of England estimates that even with the stimulus the Brexit move will lead to a 1% drop in economic growth every year for 3 years as compared to staying in the European Union. The British public is weary of the austerity programs for 7 years under finance minister Osborne. if higher growth under Brexit turns out to be an illusion as the Bank of England forecasts show, there would be reason for much reflection on the meaning of the vote- seeing it as a rejection of the Cameron-Osborne government in favor of a government more in tune with the interests of working class people under Theresa May.
Linked Articles
Wait and see: Theresa May is in no hurry on Brexit | Europe | DW.COM | 15.08.2016
DW.COM 08/15/2016
Bank of England unveils four-pronged stimulus package in bid to avoid Brexit recessionThe Telegraph 08/04/2016
Lack of coordination between EU nations and with Turkey- identified as a serious problem following the Brussels airport/subway terrorist attacks in March 2016
03/24/2016
Linked Articles
Hillary Clinton Criticizes Republican Rivals in Counterterrorism Speech
Wall Street Journal 03/24/2016
Brussels Suicide Bomber Slipped Terror NetWall Street Journal 03/24/2016
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