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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
Try hard but not too hard-cutting yourself some slack improves health and concentration, the Andy Grove principle for slack in your work routine reinforces this
09/15/2023
People forget that this applies to sports athletes and high achieving people. Andy Grove, founder of Intel and of Silicon Valley, believed in keeping some slack in his work routine and schedule. He left Hungary in 1956 after the Hungarian revolution and Russian invasion as a refugee, and graduated first in his class in the City College of New York in chemical engineering 3 years later. In 3 more years he obtained a PhD from UC Berkeley. In his book Output Management he says productive arrangement is one that keeps slack in the way that highway planners know that having too many cars compared to capacity means everything comes to a halt. In his daily work he always believed in having some slack. Today people pile on work upon work forgetting these basic principles. The other principle is leveraging of activities which is where the output comes from. To leverage effectively concentration of mind is needed and a chance to reflect and think, which requires slack and slack that adds additional time for healthy living that aids mindfulness. This adds to Motivation and Training which Grove says affect Output. To do this requires some slack to think and reflect and healthy lifestyles that power this process. This is also why the competing styles today show contrasts between those of Boeing's top managers and Stellantis managers similar to Grove and Musk's style for Tesla also shown in WSJ in the last few months being just the opposite.
Linked Articles
Burnt-out from work? Try following Hugh Jackman’s 85% rule
The Guardian 09/15/2023
Try Hard, but Not That Hard. 85% Is the Magic Number for Productivity.WSJ 09/11/2023
Ashwini Bhide, 1995 IAS batch, tireless worker for the millions of Mumbai residents looking for better modern Rail
07/13/2022
Ashwini Bhide was the head of the Metro Rail project in Mumbai and the first woman to be profiled by WSJ in this way - as a tireless worker for getting modern Rail with the latest technology to Mumbai after decades in which millions of Mumbai residents had to put up with old, dilapidated, incomplete rail subway services. It is work that meets the aspirations of Young India and which would make Mohandas Gandhi proud a century later. It shows that India can deliver on the kind of infrastructure needed for making project Make in India work.
Linked Articles
Newsmaker | Fadnavis ensures pet Metro project on track, puts Ashwini Bhide back in driver’s seat
The Indian Express 07/13/2022
‘You Have to Actually Cut Open Mumbai’s Belly’—Inside One of the World’s Most Audacious Transit ProjectsWSJ 05/08/2023
Rule of Law and Good Governance - the transformation of India's largest state Uttar Pradesh
09/21/2021
Sushasan- Good Governance, and Surakshan- Rule of Law, for the first time since independence in 1947 India's largest state with a population of 250 million people is being transformed. This creates the right climate for domestic and foreign investment. The Swachh Bharat (Clean India) and Jal Jeevsn missions for water, electricity for every home projects provide the underpinnings of future development.
Linked Articles
The Indian Express 09/20/2021
In Uttar Pradesh, does the BJP have an edge?Hindustan Times 09/20/2021
The cloud over Franco-German relations and the European project in 2019
11/30/2019
Linked Articles
Franco-German Rift Clouds EU’s Future
WSJ 11/28/2019
Russia is no longer our enemy, Macron tells Nato before summitThe Times 11/30/2019
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
Emmanuel Macron and the project to revive the French economy and the European Union
05/08/2017
Linked Articles
Macron's presidency: It's the economy, stupid! | Business | DW.COM | 08.05.2017
DW.COM 05/08/2017
Five reasons why Macron won the French election - BBC NewsBBC News 05/08/2017
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
2016 U.S. presidential candidate Carly Fiorina's record at Lucent Technologies and HP and the Trump comment of it being "not a good picture"
08/17/2015
Linked Articles
The Influence of Fiorina at Lucent, in Hindsight
New York Times 09/21/2015
Carly Fiorina’s Business Record: Not So SterlingNew York Times 08/17/2015
Warren Buffett and Berkshire Holdings- a future without Buffett and a careful look at Buffett's performance
05/01/2015
Linked Articles
After Warren Buffett: Berkshire Prepares for Life Without Legendary Leader
Wall Street Journal 05/01/2015
Warren Buffett Has a Tough Act to FollowWall Street Journal 05/01/2015
The puzzle of U.S. job gains in 2014-2015 with tepid wage gains- a result of labor market slack not reflected in 5.5% unemployment rate, low productivity, low investment
03/07/2015
Linked Articles
Sluggish Productivity Hampers Wage Gains
Wall Street Journal 03/07/2015
Brisk Jobs Growth Puts Focus on FedWall Street Journal 03/07/2015
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 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
How Carlos Tavares is setting the way for remote workers in an hybrid work model to disconnect during the day and on weekends
07/08/2022
Carlos Tavares heads a auto company that has 75,000 employees across the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America and plans 75 new electric car models by 2030. He favors a hybrid work model and works one week a month from his home in Lisbon, Portugal. He works Portuguese time 7am to 4 or 5 pm when he disconnects from the workday by taking a one hour walk. Germans call this practice "feierabend" literally to break away from work to revitalize and get fresh by say taking a bike ride through the woods or in a park. Tavares does not call or email employees on the weekend, and believes to be in game shape on Monday one needs to disconnect on the weekends.
Linked Articles
Right to disconnect is vital for future health of home workers
04/23/2021
This Auto CEO Won’t Put Remote Work in ReverseWSJ 07/08/2022
The opening of bars in tourism destinations of Europe in summer triggering a second wave of the pandemic
09/22/2020
Linked Articles
Tourists in Croatia Help Feed Covid-19 Surge Across Europe
WSJ 09/21/2020
Coronavirus Cases Rise in Europe as Youth Hit Beaches and BarsWSJ 08/02/2020
Ashwini Bhide and the Mumbai Metro- getting infrastructure done in India on time
10/05/2019
The desperate need for good infrastructure and millions of people in Mumbai who have put up for too long with creaky infrastructure. The Mumbai Metro led by Ashwini Bhide is a path breaking effort to speed things up, as the WSJ points out. As before petitions and other methods are used to stall projects. This time the courts not only dismissed the petition about cutting trees in Aarey Colony, north Mumbai, but also fined the petitioners Rs 50,000 for filing a frivolous petition. Trees are important, as few trees as possible are being cut for the new Metro, and new trees are being planted to replace them.
Linked Articles
WSJ 05/08/2023
‘Activists should accept defeat honourably’: Mumbai Metro MD on Aarey rowHindustan Times 10/05/2019
Tesla's stalled effort in self-driving cars
04/02/2018
Linked Articles
Tesla’s Push to Build a Self-Driving Car Sparks Dissent Among Its Engineers
WSJ 08/24/2017
Tesla Says Autopilot Was Engaged in Fatal Crash Under Investigation in CaliforniaWSJ 03/31/2018
Germany's fumbled response to electric cars
12/11/2016
Linked Articles
German Government at Odds with Industry over Electric Cars - SPIEGEL ONLINE
SPIEGEL ONLINE 12/01/2016
Germany’s Premium Car Makers Fumble Response to Electric ChallengeWall Street Journal 05/12/2016
The Donald Trump campaign for U.S. president in 2016- strategies from "The Art of the Deal"
02/25/2016
Thinking big embracing the entire electorate, using social media to the fullest, improvising often based on voter sentiment, commonsense approaches, worked for Trump in the Republican primaries in 2016. The failure of the other candidates to address issues of voter frustration, and splitting of the vote with many candidates, created the opportunity for Trump to succeed with his unconventional campaigning style coupled with a careful attention to what troubled voters.
Linked Articles
Donald Trump’s Campaign Blueprint: His Own Book
Wall Street Journal 03/03/2016
Trump and the Also-RansWall Street Journal 02/25/2016
Errors made by the IMF, Syriza Tsipras far left government, leading to the third bailout program of 2015 for Greece
07/06/2015
Just when the first signs of growth in the economy were taking place in 2014 the IMF held back on a 7.2 billion euro payment to Greece which would have increased liquidity to the private sector for growth. The IMF hope to gain leverage with a future Syriza far left government. The first half of 2015 led to economic anxiety in Greece with a failed negotiating strategy of Syriza far left government focussing only on the debt and not on the economy. The damage led to about 85 billion in addtional financing needed following the closing of Greece's banking system in July 2015.
Linked Articles
IMF Warns Eurozone That Greece Needs Far More Debt Relief
Wall Street Journal 07/15/2015
How to Undo the Damage in GreeceNew York Times 07/06/2015
"Operation Car Wash"- Petrobras, construction firms Odebrecht SA, Andrade Gutierrez, the Workers Party, and young prosecutors in Curitiba, Brazil
04/07/2015
Linked Articles
Brazil Arrests the Heads of Construction Giants in Graft Probe
Wall Street Journal 06/19/2015
How Brazil’s ‘Nine Horsemen’ Cracked a Bribery ScandalWall Street Journal 04/07/2015
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