The Next China: A Powerful Consumer Society
It looks like China finally is about to take a great leap forward. Beijing at last recognizes that an overheating economy is threatening to spin out of control and that it has a serious inflation fight on its hands. And…
Developing Countries Plan to Challenge U.S. Dollar
New eras do not announce themselves with billboards or welcoming brochures. They arrive by way of many disparate events. Last week we witnessed one: the gathering in southern China of leaders from the world’s most dynamic emerging economies –the nations we now…
Vermont Leads on Health Care Reform
Having spent part of my childhood in New Hampshire, I always thought there was something a little different about those Vermonters across the river. Now I’m sure of it: The state legislature in Montpelier is considering a single-payer health care…
Why London Is Burning (Hint: It’s Not Just Thugs)
London is starting to look at lot like Athens did a few weeks ago—and so are Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, and other British cities with large populations of underprivileged urbanites, white and minority alike. And it is no coincidence. These are…
U.S. Budget Crisis: Lessons from the Brits
The government shutdown may have been averted, but the fiscal dispute confronting Washington is about to get even louder. Congress once again has to agree to raise the debt limit or default on our obligations which could have “catastrophic” consequences for…
Japan’s Economy Will Recover Quickly and Grow Fast
While we continue to grieve for the victims of the Japanese earthquake and its aftermath, it is perhaps time to cast a colder eye on the consequences of the country’s worst disaster since the atomic attacks of 1945. What is…
The Pacific Century: Can the U.S. Compete?
Remember those astonishing test scores that came out late last year — the ones that measured science, reading and arithmetic proficiency according to an international standard that included China for the first time? Not even the Chinese could quite believe…
U.S. Productivity Gets a Frightening Wake-up Call
Did you read that item in the paper last week? An air-traffic controller apparently fell asleep at Reagan International Airport in Washington, leaving two planes to land without ground guidance. The controller, now suspended while the incident is investigated, was on…
Why ‘Defunding’ Public Broadcasting Is a Crisis
It’s well enough that we can reasonably rely on the Senate to reject the egregious bill the House approved last week – the one “defunding” public broadcasting. But there the matter cannot sit. The larger question is what value Americans attach…
Japan: The Meltdown of Growth-At-Any-Cost
Long before the worst earthquake in Japan’s history produced the worst nuclearaccident in Japan’s history, nuclear power had acquired a menacing reputation among many Japanese. If the crisis in triplicate at the Fukushima power plant (where four nuclear reactors are…
Recent Comments