China May Not Place Its Big Bets on America
Right now we should begin to worry about one of the following: 1. A flood of Chinese money is coming and Americans will react rather badly, as they did when big Japanese investments arrived in the U.S. 20 years ago. 2. A…
Japan’s Crippled Economy: Signs of a Snap-Back
Not quite two months after the earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster entered the record books as Japan’s worst tragedy since World War II, the economic picture is becoming clearer. It’s a bigger-than-expected blow for corporations, suppliers, consumers, taxpayers, and many others. In fact,…
Housing Market Still Needs Government Support
There is no immediate action on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the offing, but the knives in Washington are clearly out for the two mortgage behemoths, whose failings and excesses helped foster the housing crisis. In fact, there are…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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