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All Topics | America 250th | Direct From The Editor / Topics Vital to the Nation | Fighting Fake News | India - The Way Forward | Mental Well-Being | Movement for the Renewal of America | The Movement for Global Literacy | US - The Way Forward | Weekly MRA Goal DiscussionWeekly MRA Goal Discussion
Weekly MRA Goal Discussion February 28, 2024
Jake Sullivan sketches out the two most important policies of the Biden administration in 2 speeches- one at the Council for Foreign Relations on the Future of US-China relations, and the the next one at the Brookings Institution on how for Biden the US domestic policy and the foreign policy are so intertwined that they are essentially one and the same. This was how John F. Kennedy envisioned his own policy where essentially US domestic and foreign policy were one and the same in an era of global competition. This happened also for FDR and Truman. The global competition has evolved from competition with Germany and Japan to competition with the Soviet Union, and now to competition with China. One can see this in actual practice in this week's articles- on electric cars manufacturing and technologies where China is ahead, on cost of living action which is bound up with supply chains and reducing concentration in China, on dignity for labor here and overseas with the port of Charleston union efforts. And on the Border where US policies need to address the problems facing Mexico, Central American and South American countries, as envisioned by John Kennedy in his Alliance for Progress by invigorating these ideas and funding them aggressively, so that immigration can be handled on an organized basis from the source countries and improved standards of living provide no incentive for hazardous journeys. As part of this Biden administration closed the Canadian border by getting Trudeau of Canada to reimpose earlier policy of visas for Mexico.
NYTimes.com | Peter S. Goodman | 02/19/2024
Peter Goodman who covers the consequences in the lives of ordinary people of the industrial changes going on around us, gives this report from Michigan. He shows how today's Michigan, was home to Henry Ford's automobile plants that made it a major part of the industrial revolution in the US after 1910, when Ford's first assembly line manufacturing was set up in Highland Park, Detroit. Industrial growth till 1960 made the US the leading industrial nation in the world. Followed by Japanese imports and auto manufacturing shifting to Asia and Mexico, that led to deindustrialization and neglect in Michigan and the midwestern US. Key aspects of resurgence today is coming from lessons learned in the period of deindustrialization. From labor and management not working together, from huge pension obligations and costs that had to be overcome, that made existing wage and cost structures uncompetitive with Asian manufacturing. Labor concessions in the last decade have made a rearrangement of cost structure possible, yet along with the financial crisis of 2008 further worsened worker incomes. The first steps of a return for Michigan to its role in the early industrialization of America, the new labor contract negotiated in 2023, the support of president Biden and the government, the investment in the new technology of electric car manufacturing by Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. Goodman shows how the state, federal government, community colleges and other educational institutions training workers and students, and car companies are working together to promote interests of workers and communities. There is uncertainty created about the fewer parts in the electric car manufacturing process, automation advances, and fewer jobs. Yet the process is a transition over many years and this is accepted by the Biden administration and by the industry as it responds to slower demand for electric cars in 2024. This provides the time to bring up new training programs for workers, enable the funding of new research into battery technologies that would bring down the cost and make electric car prices accessible to the wider population. Uncertainty and fears about the transition are counteracted by the effort the Biden administration is making to bring up all manufacturing and to make large investments in American manufacturing. ...
Biden proposes the electric car conversion to happen more slowly to give industry and buyers time to adapt, for more charging stations to be built and for technologies to evolve so that costs can make electric cars affordable. This is critical to preserving jobs during the transition to clean energy. Instead of the 67% emissions cuts by 2032, the target is now 50% by 2030 including hybrids and the curve for slower cuts in the earlier years. One can see this in actual practice in this weeks articles- on electric cars manufacturing and technologies where China is ahead, on cost of living action which is bound up with supply chains and reducing concentration in China, on dignity for labor here and overseas with the port of Charleston union efforts, the Border where US policies need to address the problems facing Mexico, Central American and South American countries as envisioned by John Kennedy in his Alliance for Progress by invigorating these ideas and funding them aggressively.
USDA Economic Research Service US Department 0f Agriculture | | 02/21/2024
Food costs for eating at home have actually come down by half since 1960. Charts on the US Department of Agriculture site (USDA) show US food costs for family budgets at 13% of personal disposable income for eating at home in the Kennedy years the 1960's. This has come down by half to 5.7% in 2024. In that period eating at restaurants and outside has doubled to 5.7% of personal disposable income. When people complain about food inflation this is an important factor, eating outside also leads to less control of intake and right nutrition, consequently leads to poorer health outcomes, and a growing share of health expenditures in America's national budget. It hits both the family budget and the national budget and then comes back to hit health outcomes. ...
notes about article 72797 Food Prices and Spending
notes about article 72799 U.S. to Invest Billions to Replace China-Made Cranes at Nation’s Ports
WSJ | River Davis | 02/21/2024
1.1 million EVs were sold in US in 2024, compared to 1.4 million hybrids. Hybrids have made a comeback as sales of electric cars are slowing in US in 2024. Constraints being lack of enough charging stations, price of electric cars still high, driving range limited before recharge. Hybrid car sales are surging helping Toyota after a too cautious entry into EV's. Now the Biden administration is looking at the targets and how to make the transition smoother. Toyota is pushing back on strict environmental rules that expect 67% of cars to be electric by 2032. The 2021 executive order by president Biden was for 50% target by 2030 and this included hybrids. The gradual shift would make it less costly for the public to replace the cars and help first time buyers wanting to try it out do this with hybrids as an option. As a quick guide 12000 pounds of carbon dioxide for global warming are given out by gasoline only cars, half or 6000 pounds by hybrids like Toyota's, and half again 3000 pounds of carbon dioxide by all electric like BYD China's or Tesla/GM/VW. The actual numbers are confirmed by Dept of Energy 2022, and MIT 2019 studies- 2727 pounds all electric, 6898 pounds hybrid, and 12594 pounds all gasoline. ...
notes about article 72800 As Hybrids Gain Popularity, Skeptics Ask if They Are Sufficiently Green
WSJ | Paul Berger | 02/20/2024
The Supreme Court of the US lets stand the ruling of lower courts and the National Labor Relations Board that says unions can organize and represent workers on the docks in container terminal at South Charleston. The Charleston terminal is in right-to-work state South Carolina. It is the fourth largest container terminal on the East Coast after NY NJ Terminal, Port of Savannah Terminal, and Port of Virginia. A new terminal is being built at Savannah on 395 acres to handle addition 2 million containers per year. Savannah, Georgia is another right-to-work state. Georgia Ports Authority now says it is talking to the ILA and the decision for union labor will not affect its plans for expansion. The Biden administration has supported cost of living action through increase in workers wages and helping workers organize through unions after a long period when labor was not able to push for a fair wage and the relationships between labor and employers were excessively drifting against workers. Rail strikes were settled with an agreement, auto strikes were settled with Biden on the picket lines in Detroit for the United Auto workers. International Longshoremans Association labor efforts at NLRB are part of this story of Biden and the changing face of labor in the US. ...
notes about article 72805 Supreme Court Rejects Port of Charleston Case in Labor Battle
The White House | The White House | 02/22/2024
"To Invest (at home), To Align (with allies), To Compete (with the world)" sums up the approach of president Biden with China. It also sums up the approach at home and overseas. Biden senior adviser, Jake Sullivan at Council of Foreign Relations sets out the framework and path for managing US-China relations into the future for many decades. Here at the Council of Foreign Relations he shows how- through careful study of the relationship's history, the changes in the relationship, and where it is today in 2024. Having participated in previous administrations Jake understood how it has evolved, where mistakes were made by both China and the US, where misperceptions took hold and need for clarification, for action. The old Strategic Dialogue followed by Paulsen under Bush 2000-2008 allowed the relationship to be guided by business interests, -without any clear strategy or idea where it was going except maximizing interests of business on both sides- was continued by Kerry under Obama 2008-2016. Sullivan, Blinken and Biden have built a Strategic Economic Cooperation Framework that has clear goals on the American side and goals on the Chinese side, and work between the two presidents and their cabinet ministers. Trump 2016-2020 rejected the earlier Strategic Dialogue but was not able to set up a sound framework that would guide future relations for decades. Sullivan helped set up a new framework around three principles- To Invest, To Align, and To Compete. Here he describes how the plan to invest trillions in infrastructure in the US was part of this plan's principle To Invest. On Align it was to derisk not decouple by reducing the excessive concentration of supply chains in China, that was revealed as a problem in the pandemic years. Building up manufacturing at home and in India, Vietnam and Japan. Align also was to have allies Japan, South Korea and India to be aligned with the US policy. It also meant that all three countries would follow the same framework for their economies To Invest, To Align, To Compete. By combining the strengths of the 2 largest economic centers Seoul/Tokyo with New Delhi/Sydney in Indo-Pacific the leveraging effect of US strength could be felt to support its position. And third to compete on level field so that America retained control of its technologies and implementing exports controls. And sharing this in open communication with China that the US was protecting its technology and interests the way China has done in the past for its interests. The benefit of open communication even where there are differences had the advantage of not turning this into open rhetoric that damaged relations as had happened under previous administrations. Wang Yi on China's side having seen and approached it with careful study and reflection had similar goals to stabilize and put the relationship on a sound footing. Sullivan met extensively with Wang Yi in meetings in several locations around the world. Ministers Yellen, Raimondo, Blinken, Kerry, were sent to China for extensive discussions as part of this strategy in 2023 leading to remarkable change in the mood and confidence in US- China relations after tumult in 2016-2020 and uncertainty in previous administrations. Much credit goes to president Biden and Jake Sullivan, Anthony Blinken, and also to Wang Yi and Jinping in no way diminishing their own initiative, so that for the first time in decades the US China relationship is now on a stable footing. Both countries faced common challenges around counter narcotics, around climate change, and other issues. These are being addressed. Competition is managed carefully and no rhetoric is taking place so that the largest two economies and about 1.7 billion in US and China and 2 billion people who are allies in India/Indonesia/Vietnam/ Korea/Japan living on the same planet earth can have economic and other cooperation with different cultures, economic structures and systems of government. The result of such a framework also gives the basis for cooperation with America's allies to invest in Africa and Latin America and in the people of these two continents as another level of alignment and investment for a safer better world. ...
Jake Sullivan, Biden's senior adviser, working with president Biden has studied the history of US-China relations, its evolution over the last one hundred years from Woodrow Wilson to FDR and Truman in the 1900- 1950 period. As allies against Japan, and the post war period 1950-2024 in three phases as an adversary in the Cold War, as an economic partner, and a falling out as an economic partner with deindustrialization in the US as business in the two countries collaborated in the shipping of jobs overseas. It is now entering a new phase that corrects the mistakes of the past to build supply resilience and de-risking the relationship with the US government shaping the new relationship and rebuilding American manufacturing restoring the dignity of workers and communities in the US. This is described here by Sullivan in his speech to the Council of Foreign Relations. It followed Sullivan's speech to the Brookings Institution on economic policies and the central idea of president Biden that foreign and domestic policy are one and same united in their goals and disposition to rebuild American manufacturing and create opportunities for all communities in America. The speech to Brookings is shown below.
Brookings Institution | Jake Sullivan | 02/23/2024
Jake Sullivan cites JFK and what this means for the vision that "the Biden Administration must and will fight to achieve." Here at the Brookings Institution Jake Sullivan articulates Biden's vision for America and the Way Forward. "Let me close with this. President Kennedy was fond of saying that a rising tide lifts all boats. Over the years, advocates of trickle-down economics appropriated this phrase for their own uses. But President Kennedy wasn't saying what's good for the wealthy is good for the working class. He was saying, we're all in this together. And look at what he said next. If one section of the country is standing still, then sooner or later, a dropping tide drops all boats. That's true for our country. That's true for our world. Economically, over time, we are going to rise or fall together. And that goes for the strength of our democracies, as well as for the strength of our economies. As we pursue this strategy at home and abroad, there will be reasonable debate. And this is going to take time. The international order that emerged after the end of the Second World War and then the Cold War were not built overnight. Neither will this one. But together, we can work to lift up all of America's people, communities, and industries. And we can do the same with our friends and partners everywhere around the globe as well. This is a vision the Biden administration must and will fight to achieve." "This is what is guiding us as we make our policy decisions at the intersection of economics, national security, and democracy. And this is the work that we will do, not just as a government, but with every element of the United States and with the support and help of partners, both in government and out of government around the world." ...
notes about article 72808 The Biden Administration's International Economic Agenda
WSJ | Vipal Monga, Michelle Hackman, Santiago Pérez | 02/23/2024
US efforts to control immigration of Mexican flow of migrants through Canada. US is asking Canada to change its policy of electronic travel authorization and reimposing a visa. 10,000 migrants were detained at the northern border in the fiscal year ending in September.
Biden getting Canada's Trudeau to close the Canadian border with the US by retracting a policy of no visa requirements for Mexico.
notes about article 72820 Biden Targets a New Economic Villain: Shrinkflation
President Biden's visit to the Southern Border after calling on Republicans in Congress to pass the legislation he proposed to close the border and change asylum and parole policy Republicans in the Senate had agreed to.
WSJ | Molly Ball | 02/26/2024
Nikki Haley is doing what has happened before, fighting for principles in her party and showing that a fully significant 40 percentage points of her party believe in the old conservative ideas, of the Republican party. That of the country club type, the everyman who happens to be conservative the core of the party, small and large business owners. The situation is analogous to the intraparty struggles that beset the Democratic party after the abrupt end after 1000 days of the John F. Kennedy presidency and administration. Since the 1920's and two periods of rising inequality accompanied by technological change from the 1870's that ended with the Great Depression, the US had experienced a great revival under Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Eisenhower. In 1960 a new future was articulated by Kennedy of the new world that lay ahead, one he had seen upfront in Asia before, during and after the war. How would we bring the post colonial world of billions of people into the modern world. Since then both a modern China and now modern India are part of this change. "Today our concern must be with that future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do." Acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for President, July 15, 1960. It was interrupted after the intraparty disputes that began in 1968, Robert Kennedy challenging LBJ, leading to Richard Nixon, and Edward Kennedy challenging Jimmy Carter leading to Ronald Reagan. John F. Kennedy had articulated a vision that still is alive today based on an understanding of how America's needs fit into all humanity's needs. In some ways the situation after 2024 or 2028 still goes back to the vision of a new order of the world with emerging nations in Asia with 3 billion people, and additional billions of people in Africa, Latin America. The Arms buildup promised by Reagan in 1980 has yielded little about 50 years later, not even the fall of the Berlin Wall which today has been replaced by another struggle in Eastern Europe in 2024. Truman tackled the Berlin Blockade, Eisenhower had faced upto Soviet tanks in Budapest, Kennedy had faced the Berlin crisis in 1963 his ich bin ein Berliner (I am Berliner). What purpose would an orbital weapons program serve- and could the US ever be or even want to be "only one superpower in a safe world," with an orbital weapons program as Reagan and Weinberger went out to do and failed completely. America faces a situation analogous to 1920's with increasing inequality and weakness in the social fabric, as a result of four decades of rising inequality accompanied by technological changes, and misguided Reagan programs that diverted from John Kennedy's vision that the "old era is ending, the old ways will not do." The vision put forward by John F. Kennedy has more relevance today for the future. That vision he articulated in the First Inaugural Address in which he also said that this work may not be accomplished "in our lifetime on the planet." It is important to remember that John F. Kennedy connected his vision to FDR when he said in his State of the Union Address to Congress in Jan. 1961- In the name of a great President whose birthday we honor today, closing his final State of the Union Message sixteen years ago. "We pray that we may be worthy of the unlimited opportunities that God has given us." This is the vision that stands before America even today in 2024. ...
notes about article 72823 What Nikki Haley Is Really Doing
National Park Service | | 02/26/2024
There is something about John F. Kennedy that makes his 1000 days simply the blueprint for America's first 100 years since his presidency in 1960- in space and by extension in climate change, in civil rights, in diversity that spans the whole world of Asia-Africa-Latin America, in the struggle for global literacy and education.
notes about article 72824 John Fitzgerald Kennedy: The First One Hundred Years (U.S. National Park Service)
WSJ | Jennifer Hiller, Andrew Mollica | 02/27/2024
$112 billion out of $170 billion in new investments resulting from Biden's 2 climate laws, and the bulk of the 200,000 new jobs are being pushed by president Biden into Republican states. Republican voting states including many southern states are getting the largest share of the hundreds of billions of dollars in renewable energy investments by the Biden administration. Two new climate laws were passed by Biden without many Republican votes in 2022. WSJ offers a visual guide to where new manufacturing investment is taking place. It shows that three fourths of the $170 billion in investments by companies are going to Republican voting states. On a state wide basis this amounts to $112 billion for Republican states. Most of the public is unaware of the role of the climate laws in this new investment in manufacturing. This is why other presidents talked about manufacturing investment including previous presidents Republican and Democrat, president Biden has done the country a great service by making much needed investment in manufacturing and creating a new sense of hope in once neglected communities. Investments are being attracted to these states many in the south with easier land development and lower costs for labor, electricity, and lower taxes. This gives Republican states the ability to use their advantages in the best way and overcome the failure of many Republicans in Congress to support these investments with president Biden putting together bipartisan support. ...
$112 billion of $170 billion investment from president Biden's 2 climate laws will be invested in Republican states. 200,000 jobs will be created in Republican states. A rising tide lifts all boats- development and modernization For All, By All, With All.
dw.com | | 02/27/2024
India Middle East Economic Corridor or IMEC is a proposal backed by US and France, Britain for rail, shipping and other connections from India to Europe. India, Saudis and UAE back this Economic Corridor plan. Turkey for geostrategic reasons had operated as a route for east-west trade and has wanted a plan of its own. India has improved ties with Qatar and this could bring other nations into the plan. France hopes to bring planners together over the next 2 months. Saudis had committed $20 billion for rail investment for IMEC. ...
notes about article 72843 Israel-Hamas war: What next for India-Middle East corridor – DW – 02/27/2024
France 24 | | 02/27/2024
FR24 gives details of the Gaza Truce proposals under Paris negotiations. A 40 day ceasefire Truce is proposed with one hostage released for 10 Palestinian prisoners. All Israeli hostages, including women and children to be released. In exchange for 40 hostages 400 Palestinian prisoners to be released. Humanitarian aid- 500 trucks per day, 60,000 caravans, 200,000 tents. Rehabilitation of hospitals and bakeries, supply of fuel and other services. Necessary equipment to clear rubble. ...
notes about article 72838 What are the details of the 40-day Gaza truce draft proposal being studied in Paris?
Tackling the Gaza crisis is about building resilience in the policies of the US so that it does not get distracted by events and can focus on the economic and foreign policy that rebuilds America.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum | | 02/27/2024
Sixty four years ago president Kennedy accepted the nomination of his party with these words in Los Angeles on July 15, 1960- "But I think the American people expect more from us than cries of indignation and attack. The times are too grave, the challenge too urgent, and the stakes too high--to permit the customary passions of political debate. We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future. As Winston Churchill said on taking office some twenty years ago: if we open a quarrel between the present and the past, we shall be in danger of losing the future. Today our concern must be with that future. For the world is changing. The old era is ending. The old ways will not do. Abroad, the balance of power is shifting. There are new and more terrible weapons--new and uncertain nations--new pressures of population and deprivation. One-third of the world, it has been said, may be free- -but one-third is the victim of cruel repression--and the other one- third is rocked by the pangs of poverty, hunger and envy. More energy is released by the awakening of these new nations than by the fission of the atom itself." ...
President Kennedy's acceptance speech at the Democratic nomination in 1960 set forth a new vision for the world and America. This still holds true with its breadth of vision and imagination. The intervening years with wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan only sapped America's strength and resources. The Star Wars type intitiatives of Reagan and Weinberger have yielded little as the war in Ukraine shows today. For the staying power it needed more than a young president- it needed the wisdom of older men from Wilson and FDR to Truman and Biden.
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