As the mess in Europe gradually gets worse week after week, we move closer and closer to the dreaded “transfer union” where a series of massive bailouts send money from the prosperous North to the collapsing South. But even as more and more observers begin to see this as the only possible outcome, powerful voices […]

There’s been a distinct uptick in stories about Iran’s nuclear program and the international tensions around it, but today there is something new.Oil prices are moving higher, and people I talk to who watch the markets closely believe that politics, not economics is driving the surge.As long as the oil prices stay flat, chatter about […]

Good news and bad news: The good news is that SAT scores for America’s lowest-achieving students are up; the bad news is that the scores for the top achieving students are down. Recently, state governments and the Department of Education have focused their attention on bringing kids who fall behind up to speed, but this […]

Taking a cue from slight upticks in the national economy, Americans are braving the damp November weather to go shopping more than at any time since last June. The FT reports: Opinion about current conditions ticked up to 76.6 from 75.1, while the gauge of expectations for the next six months jumped to 56.2 from […]

Russia and China are standing strong against American efforts to coax them into taking a stronger stance on Iran’s nuclear program. But perhaps Obama has found a way persuade the Russians to change sides: trade. As the WSJ reports, Mr. Obama also said that with Russia on the verge of joining the World Trade Organization, […]

Three years into his administration, President Obama is defining his Asia policy. The Wall Street Journal reports: One of Mr. Obama’s core objectives is to serve notice that the United States will serve as a counterweight to China’s growing economic, diplomatic and military influence.“This trip is very much about extending a clear signal that the […]

In another win for the famously blind meritocracy that rules American life, rewarding the ultra-talented and pushing the less brilliant and skilled into the outer darkness, Chelsea Clinton has landed a coveted position at NBC News.  This was almost as much a surprise as her admission to Stanford; one can only marvel at the sheer […]

According to the Daily Telegraph, British Foreign Minister William Hague told reporters that the military option for dealing with Iran remains “on the table”.  (In British English that expression may be slightly more forceful than in the US.  When our Congress ‘tables’ an issue, it postpones it indefinitely.  When they ‘table’ something in Britain, it […]

“Talkin’ about my generation”: the Who song once expressed the hope and self confidence of the Baby Boomers as they reached biological if not emotional maturity.  It was an attack on the older generation, a defense of the young, but it includes an ominous refrain: “Hope I die before I get old.”  Already, perhaps, the […]

Advocates of industrial policy have been pointing to ‘smart subsidies’ for green technology as proof that government can function as an effective venture capitalist, directing subsidies effectively toward ‘sunrise’ industries.We will probably be hearing less of those claims now as the public digests the massive excess, failure and fraud that have turned the Obama administration’s […]