Is this the future of health care in the United States? From an Economist report on health care in Spain: Health spending makes up 30-40% of regional governments’ budgets. Long-lived Spaniards are rightly proud that they enjoy free health care from cradle to grave. But soaring drug bills, an ageing population, slack cost controls and […]

Despite what you might conclude from reading the news (and sometimes this blog), green energy companies can be eco-friendly and profitable. The Economist reports: A new study by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) identifies 16 emerging-market firms that they say are turning eco-consciousness into a source of competitive advantage. […]

The virtual education movement received a major boost from London yesterday. From the Wall Street Journal: Pearson PLC on Thursday said it has acquired U.S.-based online schooling network Connections Education for $400 million in cash, as the U.K.-based publishing giant ramps up its extensive North American education operations. […]“Virtual schooling is an attractive choice for […]

As debt-laden Greece nears default, the EU is still in fundamental disarray over what to do. Yesterday’s dollar infusion by various central banks helped turn down the temperature, but the IMF’s bailout plan that would keep the Greeks afloat looks dicey. Reports the FT: Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, on Thursday raised […]

It seems that Uncle Sam’s Mickey Mouse loan deal to the now-bankrupt solar manufacturer Solyndra was not only a bad investment decision, but likely a contributing factor to the company’s implosion. The new factory built with Department of Energy funds foisted fixed costs on a company already struggling through an industry shake-out, [investors] say. What’s […]

If you want to know the main problems stalling India’s rise, watch the policies of its Reserve Bank. The Financial Times has the story: India has responded to near double digit inflation by raising interest rates for the 12th time since March 2010, as its central bank prioritizes reigning in high prices at the cost […]

The number of internet users in India is expected to triple from 100 million to 300 million in the next two years, Google predicts.  From the Wall Street Journal: In an interview, Google’s country head in India, Rajan Anandan, said the Web giant expects India to reach at least 300 million Internet users by 2014, […]

Joe Joffe, editor of Die Zeit, one of the most respected German news organizations, has a smart though not optimistic piece about the Arab Spring in the Wall Street Journal.  Joe is a WRM colleague at The American Interest, and he and I have knocked around Brazil and most recently Yaroslavl.  Joe is always worth […]

Posting may be a little irregular during the next few days.  I leave this evening for a week teaching and lecturing on both Israeli and Palestinian campuses.  I’ll be teaching Thucydides in Israel and speaking on Middle East issues at Palestinian universities — including Al Quds, which has a close relationship with Bard.Thanks to the […]

The more you look under the hood of China’s economic growth model, the more trouble you see.  As a recent report in the  Wall Street Journal pointed out, as small manufacturers face a profit squeeze, a new class of lenders, “guarantors” are charging high interest rates when bank lending dries up. Guarantors have become the […]