MOST RECENT COMMENTARIES
-
Balancing the State and the Market
Josef Ackermann Series: Frontiers of Growth 2010-04-30The financial and economic crisis that erupted in 2008 has dented faith in the market, while trust in government and regulation is increasing. But we must resist the temptation to believe that a meddling, paternalistic state is the way of the future.... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 1 Read: 1308 -
The Great Escapism
Naomi Wolf Series: The Next Wave 2010-04-30Ever since Huck Finn took his friends down the Mississippi River on a raft, American men have created and consumed fantasies of setting out with their males friends for parts unknown, or of traveling in an all-male group to have adventures closer to home. The male-escape scenario is hard to spot emerging from any other country, but the US version seems to have universal appeal.... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 2294 -
Obama and the Middle East
Joschka Fischer Series: The Rebel Realist 2010-04-30Barack Obama, whose hands had been tied in recent months by domestic concerns, and whose political power had been progressively eroded, has suddenly returned to the world stage. But his prospects for success in thwarting Iran's nuclear ambitions and resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remain dim.... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 656 -
All for One Tax and One Tax for All?
Kenneth Rogoff Series: The Unbound Economy 2010-04-29The IMF recently proposed a new global tax on financial institutions loosely in proportion to their size, as well as a tax on banks’ profits and bonuses. The proposal has been greeted with predictable disdain and derision by the financial industry, but, as a diagnosis of the problem that needs to be fixed, the Fund gets more right than it does wrong.... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 2533 -
The Dangers of Nuclear Disarmament
Sergei Karaganov Series: A Window on Russia 2010-04-29Unlike other weapons, nuclear arms are an effective means of preventing the large-scale wars and mass destruction of people, property, and cultures that have plagued humanity throughout recorded history. To reject nuclear weapons and strive for their elimination is, no doubt, a moral aim, at least in the abstract, but it is feasible only if humanity changes.... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 884 -
Change Africa from Within
Kanayo F. Nwanze Series: Into Africa 2010-04-29Agriculture, predominantly on a small scale, accounts for about 30% of sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP and at least 40% of export value. In some small countries, it plays an even greater role, representing 80% or more of export earnings. But the potential in these numbers will remain untapped unless the right policies are put in place to help agriculture to develop and flourish. ... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 1242 -
Hamas, Fatah, and the Palestinian Dilemma
Mkhaimar Abusada Series: The World in Words 2010-04-28In Hamas-controlled Gaza, the high price of armed resistance to Israel has discredited any attempts to revive the conflict, whereas in the Fatah-ruled West Bank, negotiations have gone nowhere. Thus, neither track of Palestinian politics – resistance or negotiation – offers hope of achieving independence, leaving Palestinians to face their most difficult challenge since 1948. ... read Comments: 1 Recommended: 1 Read: 1418 -
Remembering the Importance of Forgetting
Viktor Mayer-Schonberger Series: The Worldly Philosophers 2010-04-28For millennia, remembering information was costly and time-consuming, and to forget was a natural part of being human. In the digital age, the opposite is true: cheap computer storage, powerful processors, and ubiquitous Internet access have made remembering the norm - at a huge cost to all of us.... read Comments: 0 Recommended: 1 Read: 1929 -
Why Greece Will Default
Martin Feldstein Series: The Magic of the Market 2010-04-28There simply is no way around the arithmetic implied by the scale of deficit reduction that Greece must undertake, and by the accompanying economic decline: sovereign default is inevitable. If Greece were not part of the euro system, it might not have gotten into its current predicament, and, even if it had, it could have avoided the need to default.... read Comments: 4 Recommended: 0 Read: 12130
Obama the Centrist | J. Bradford DeLong |
Britain Votes and Reality Waits | Chris Patten |