The wonks in Washington have no shortage of miracle fixes for America’s health care system. One is performance rewards, where doctors are rewarded for the quality and efficiency of their treatments. As usual, the theory is sound: paying doctors based on outcomes rather than treatments should reduce the use of expensive or unnecessary medical procedures. But […]

The nature of world politics has changed more rapidly in the past four years than anyone expected. From the fall of the Berlin Wall up to the financial crisis of 2008, the United States had enjoyed a unprecedented period of hegemony. A decade ago, the US defense budget by itself was larger than the combined […]

The blue vision of the future, as I wrote in my last essay, is a bleak one in many respects. If the establishment liberals of our time are right in their future vision, most of the population will be economically surplus; globalization and automation will empower a creative class on Wall Street and in Hollywood […]

Greens take heart: New data out of Norway suggests that the rate at which the earth is warming is less than previously feared. Bloomberg brings us the story: After the planet’s average surface temperature rose through the 1990s, the increase has almost leveled off at the level of 2000, while ocean water temperature has also […]

Even as national treasures are being destroyed by retreating Islamist radicals, liberated Malians in Gao are dancing in the streets, celebrating newfound freedoms. The New York Times reports: Residents of Gao, northern Mali’s largest city, poured out of their homes to celebrate the expulsion of Islamist fighters who had held their town for months, playing […]

A bipartisan “group of eight” (tired of that phrase yet?) senators announced a new plan to reform immigration today. As Obama prepares to give a speech in Las Vegas tomorrow outlining his plans for immigration, both parties seem willing to put aside their differences to chase the Hispanic vote. The document sketches out a comprehensive […]

Even at 76 years old and with countless scandals to his name, Silvio Berlusconi has not lost the ability to shock. At a recent event commemorating those killed during the Holocaust, Berlusconi defended the legacy of Benito Mussolini, remarking: “It’s difficult now to put yourself in the shoes of people who were making decisions at […]

The (digital) arms race is on. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is pushing to massively expand his department’s cyber command forces from 900 to 4,000, and to increase America’s defensive and offensive cyber capacities. According to the NYT, Panetta’s plan is a response to the increasing role cyber attacks are playing in warfare: In October, Mr. Panetta warned […]

If high-speed rail works anywhere, it should work in France. The compact Gallic “hexagon”, as the French often call their country, is densely populated, and many of its cities are in the sweet spot for high speed rail: close enough so that a fast train competes effectively with air travel yet far enough away that […]

French forces are coming closer to recapturing Timbuktu from Islamist and Tuareg militants, but the city may be minus a few priceless historical and cultural treasures when they get there. The Mayor of the city recently told the AP that Islamists torched the library there, destroying a number of ancient documents of cultural and historical […]