The following chart (courtesy Z/Yen Group [pdf] & Financial Times) lists the world’s top ten financial centers.A couple of noteworthy things about this chart: 4 of the 10 centers are in the US, UK, or Canada and 2 more — Hong Kong and Singapore — originated as British colonies, continue to have a close financial relationship […]

The decline of American manufacturing employment is an important topic. The nature of America’s trade relationship with China should receive serious discussion. The conditions faced by the workers who make our iPhones and iPads matter immensely.They deserve rigorous inquiry. They do not deserve Mike Daisey.A quick recap for those readers who may have missed the […]

A cruise down El Camino Real on your way to Stanford University takes you right through the heart of Palo Alto, the center of Silicon Valley. Innovation thrives there, where venture capitalists, electrical engineers and math nerds mix together in a potent brew of new technologies and businesses.The paradox of Palo Alto, though, is that […]

Last week we highlighted a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that stated Iran’s oil production could plummet to levels last seen during the Iran-Iraq War three decades ago. The IEA has lately estimated that, from July onward, when EU sanctions come into effect, Iranian exports could be reduced by about 800,000 to one […]

Last week South Africa, one of the last major importers of Iranian oil to seek alternative sources, tightened the knot on the noose around Tehran’s neck.South Africa’s minister of energy, Elizabeth Dipuo Peters, has announced plans to have alternative sources to Iranian crude in place by the self-imposed deadline of May. This is a significant move—and […]

Since the fall of the British Empire back in the 20th century, many have believed that the British are doomed to forever pine for the glory days. Yet while Britain may never be as powerful as it was in its heyday, there are signs that reports of its decline, to paraphrase Mark Twain, have been […]

The Mayans turned out to be wrong; the world can’t end on December 21 of this year because it ended this morning. That’s when a major American newspaper ran a straight story about an international cricket match, written in pure cricketese without benefit of translation or explanation for those benighted few among us who don’t […]

Tensions are rising between the two largest economies and most powerful military forces in Asia: Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshiko Noda is using some very un-Japanese language (direct, forceful, naming names) to address what he sees as a growing threat. As the [paywall alert] Wall Street Journal reports, Noda told graduating cadets at Japan’s National Defense […]

As President Obama’s signature health care law comes before the Supreme Court, most of the constitutional commentary has focused on whether Congress has the power to require individuals to purchase health insurance. Relatively little attention has been given to a more complicated and potentially more far-reaching issue: If the Supreme Court strikes down the individual […]

So there it is: Via Meadia‘s best projection for the 2012 election results based on current polls.  You can compare Romney’s projected electoral vote with Santorum’s, and with President Obama’s actual results against Senator McCain in 2008. We’ve derived this from some quick and dirty back of the envelope guesses complex mathematical formulae using our […]