As Americans who were alive during the Carter administration know all too well, stagflation—low growth mixed with inflation—is something you don’t want. Unfortunately, Brazil could be headed in that direction, according to the FT. Last year, inflation there reached 5.84 percent, well above the central bank’s target of 4.5 percent. That figure, combined with disappointing economic […]

Greece just can’t get out of its own way. Acting under a law enforcement strategy meant to protect the economy from foreign workers, police detained and beat a Korean tourist whom they mistook for an illegal immigrant. This story echoes a similar one from last year, in which police beat an African American tourist until […]

You know that long-held conventional wisdom that the human population will grow exponentially, wreaking havoc on the planet and depleting its resources? According to a recent report, it’s bunk. Demographers are predicting that global population will soon taper and eventually decline. Slate has the story: It took humankind 13 years to add its 7 billionth. That’s […]

Decades of steady tuition increases may finally be coming to an end at American universities: The Wall Street Journal reports that a number of schools are beginning to cut back on tuition increases in response to waning student demand. But these cuts are beginning to take a toll on revenue.According to a recent survey by Moody’s, […]

The news out of Pakistan seems to get bloodier by the day. Taliban and Baluchi separatists targeted Shia Muslims in the lawless province of Baluchistan, taking 120 lives in a pair of bombing attacks. The FT: A senior police officer said from Quetta that the sophistication of the attacks was “unbelievable”. In the first of […]

Last January plans to build the Keystone XL pipeline were halted by the Obama administration; this January it’s Canadian politics that is blocking a new pipeline. Plans to build the Northern Gateway pipeline, a Keystone alternative that would bring Canada’s vast reserves of crude from its Albertan oil sands to the Pacific Ocean, are buckling under […]

In sobering if not surprising news, a new study released Wednesday confirms that Americans are spending more on health care than the rest of the developed world and getting less bang for the buck. The Financial Times reports: In comparison with Australia, Canada, Japan and many western European countries, the US ranks among the worst when […]

Egyptians are quickly losing the hopeful optimism that once fueled the revolution, as the economy deteriorates, dissatisfaction with the Brotherhood government grows, and security is still questionable.A $4.8 billion loan from the IMF depends on President Mohamed Morsi’s willingness to impose austerity measures, a move which could tip the scales into civil disorder, as Reuters reports: With their […]

According to new data by Public Policy Polling, Americans’ dismal view of Congress looks even worse compared to other loathed items: When asked if they have a higher opinion of either Congress or a series of unpleasant or disliked things, voters said they had a higher opinion of root canals (32 for Congress and 56 […]

Henry Nau at the Hoover Institution has written an incisive summary of the opposition to President Obama’s foreign policy coming from the smart rather than the antediluvian wing of the GOP: Obama’s foreign policy is inordinately piecemeal, even picayune. It lacks a vision that draws connections between specific issues, such as terrorism, and the broader American […]