China’s economy continues to show signs of a dramatic slowdown. According to Trade data for July, exports hit a six-month low and dropped significantly from last month. Meanwhile, imports were up just 4.7 percent, suggesting China’s demand for commodities is shrinking.These data, together with earlier reports that Chinese growth has slowed to its lowest level since […]

In efforts to save money and streamline state government, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder recently set up a plan to consolidate municipalities into larger entities. This effort hasn’t met with universal approval, highlighting a debate between the virtues of hyperlocal government and those of a leaner administrative state. The WSJ‘s coverage opens with an account of Onekama […]

It’s been scarcely three months since Francois Hollande was inaugurated as President of France, but his honeymoon already ended a long time ago. The policies of his Socialist government have been unable to stave off a nascent recession or a mass exodus from the country, and his approval ratings are beginning to suffer as a result, according to a […]

by John EllisFor the past year or so, I have been working on a political manifesto entitled: “Recall Them All.” The plan is to hone it down over the next few months and release it as an e-book in early 2013. The idea is to put forward a platform of fiscal reform, government re-invention, and […]

The world is trying to figure out who rules Egypt following the surprise dismissals/resignations of former chief military leader and defense minister Hussein Tantawi, Lt. General Sami Anan, the military chief of staff, and the heads of the three armed services.As the Wall Street Journal reports, President Morsi announced the dismissals and issued a statement […]

At a handsome new building on Hainan Island, the headquarters of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, a video is played to visitors. As Jane Perlez writes for the NYT: The video says that China enjoys maritime rights over “a vast area” of the South China Sea, though it does not specify how much. […]

With WRM traveling in India, Via Meadia’s guest bloggers were contributing essays. Adam Garfinkle wrote about the meaning of the Arab Spring late last week. Roger Berkowitz looked at the latest report from bond maven Bill Gross, who suggests that the expected return on stocks of 6.6%—an accepted benchmark among financial planners—is merely a historical […]

With Governor Romney’s selection of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate, the vague contours of the presidential race have suddenly become sharper. Up until now, partly because Romney’s image has been so fuzzy, we were looking at a referendum on President Obama rather than a clear-cut contest between political philosophies. Now, given Ryan’s […]

FT: The International Energy Agency, the western countries’ oil watchdog, said on Friday that last month Iraq produced more than 3m barrels a day, the highest since the US-led invasion nearly a decade ago. At the same time, Iranian oil output fell below the 3m b/d level for the first time in more than 20 […]

WRM was interviewed on Hyderabad’s HMTV News by the channel’s chief editor K. Ramachandra Murthy yesterday evening. The interview is split by commercials which do not appear to be skippable, so keep watching to see the whole thing.Update: YouTube clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwz4vNbEhIU