Remember peak oil? This was supposed to be the time when the earth’s oil supply began to run dry. Green energy buffs told us that one reason for subsidizing expensive green energy boondoggles was that the oil would soon be gone and we had to have something to put in its place.As Aragorn might have […]

In Stockton, California, the dangerous combination of high debt and low employment has sent the city into state-mandated mediation to stave off bankruptcy. But the city is already preparing its bankruptcy case in the event that mediation doesn’t work. The Wall Street Journal details the city’s problems: The city of 300,000 in the agriculture-heavy Central […]

This week IMF chief Christine Lagarde betrayed a hint of frustration with Europe’s leaders. She suspects they know how to fix the continent’s problems, but don’t quite have the will, the desire, or the domestic support to do what must be done: “If I was able to do one thing, I would lock them in a […]

Fresh off his visit to India, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in Kabul on Thursday, where he lambasted the Pakistani government for refusing to go after the insurgents operating from the country’s tribal areas. The secretary’s comments come on top of the failure to agree on a deal to re-open transit routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, […]

The latest offering from the imprudent documentary crew at Vice magazine is a guide to Karachi, Pakistan’s center of finance, education, and bloody violence. From burned-out neighborhoods to a smoldering dump on the outskirts of town, the Vice boys fraternized with all the elements of a gangster city: inept police forces, murderous politicians, mafioso shadow […]

This has been one of the worst weeks in years for union power in America. Governor Scott Walker’s convincing victory has been the big story of the week, but voters in San Diego and San Jose also passed measures to curb the power and benefits of public sector unions. The non-stop demonstrations and millions of […]

As America enters an age of austerity, when funding evaporates for education, infrastructure, and all manner of government programs, the National Corn Growers Association says, No matter, we still need subsidies. Bigger ones, please. Now. On Tuesday, the Senate began debate on a farm bill, passed by the Agriculture Committee in April, that would set […]

The dismal Chinese economic data continues to roll in. What had initially been considered a blip on the radar is looking more like a long-term slowdown. Many analysts (including, somewhat surprisingly, a Chinese government think tank) now believe China’s GDP growth will likely have a 7 in front of it; if so, it would be the […]

California is falling to pieces but its administrators are far too busy banning luxury foods to care. The state is failing to educate its kids, cannot house its prisoners or pay its bills; what was once the most vibrant and forward-looking state in the country has become a dismal failure — a social catastrophe that is […]

Relations between India and Pakistan seem always to be, well, strained. For Pakistan, these days, one big reason for the strain is America’s preparations for India to become more involved in Afghanistan. US defense secretary Leon Panetta will encourage India to take a more active role in Afghanistan as international forces draw down after a decade […]