For much of the past 30 years, the long-running, 20th-century contest between state and market had appeared settled. The strong, post-Reagan economic performance of the U.S. based on deregulation, free trade and capital flows and globalization appeared to confirm the virtues of liberal economic policies, while the collapse of the Soviet …
Something truly scary might be about to take place in Europe. OK, I know what you’re thinking – isn’t something scary already happening in Europe? Greece is heading for a default as politicians and bankers bicker over the terms of its second bailout. Pressure is growing on Italy as its borrowing costs rise. Stocks have been …
As global stocks tank over rising fears of a double-dip recession, one country at the center of the storm has never exited the recession – Greece. Amid its increasingly severe debt crisis, the Greek economy is in its third consecutive year of contraction, and, under pressure to slash state spending and stabilize its national debt, …
So we all by now know the story of how the global economy fell into the 2008 financial crisis. Banks gorged themselves on high-yielding U.S. subprime mortgage securities, which were awarded top credit ratings (perhaps fraudulently). When those investments proved as financially sound as the over-leveraged homeowners behind them, the …
I was just in Paris, reporting a story for TIME magazine, and watching Europe unravel around me. Concerns about a Greek default are escalating, sending the yields on one-year bonds soaring up near 100%. The Greek prime minister is scrambling to close a yawning budget deficit and appease his creditors to keep rescue funds flowing, while …
Only a bit more than a month ago, the leaders of the euro zone were happily congratulating themselves on overcoming their differences and cobbling together a second bailout of troubled Greece. The package, which includes 109 billion euros ($157 billion) in fresh loans from an EU/IMF bailout fund, was supposed to rebuild investor …
Those of us old enough to remember the 1980s – and I unfortunately include myself in that category – will probably recall how terrified Americans became about Japan “buying up” the U.S. The fears were sparked by Japanese purchases of American real estate, most notably famed Rockefeller Center in New York City, and other assets, …
There is an unusual political battle going on in South Korea right now, over, believe it or not, school lunches. The Seoul city council voted to implement a large-scale program to feed every primary and middle school student in the capital – all 850,000 of them – a free lunch every day, at a cost to the government of nearly $380 …
If you are living in the U.S. or Western Europe and feeling pretty bad about the miserable state of the recovery, political paralysis, and growing unease about your country’s future, remember things could be worse. You could be in Japan.
Japan has been experiencing those same woes for the past 20 years. And there is no end in sight. …
So we all know Italy is a mess. Its government debt to GDP ratio of 127% in 2010 is the third worst in the OECD (after Japan and Greece). Economic growth is practically nonexistent, with growth surpassing 2% only once since 2001. So is it any surprise that Italy has been tarred as one of the PIIGS and fallen into a debt …
Late the other night, I was talking about the debt problems in the euro zone with my wife, who is also a journalist. “How can Europe solve the crisis anyway?” she asked me. Leaving aside for a moment how pathetic it is that we still discuss such issues in our evenings at home, it got me musing about what really needs to get done to …
Euphoria erupted in Tripoli as rebel forces rolled into the Libyan capital, likely bringing an end to the brutal 42-year reign of Muammar Gaddafi. Libya now joins Egypt and Tunisia on the list of Arab states where opposition movements toppled long-standing dictators. Political change seems destined to take place in Yemen as well, while …
