Another report was leaked this week linking fracking—the drilling technique that has unlocked vast reserves of oil and gas trapped in shale—to earthquakes. The report, released by the same group of scientists who previously linked fracking’s wastewater disposal with micro-quakes, purports to show that the controversial oil and gas extraction process is likely responsible for […]

Talk about a cry for help. The Saudis have apparently judged President Obama to be rudderless in his Middle East policies, judging by their recent diplomatic moves toward Russia: They appear to have plied Putin with a deal to collude in the global oil market, while also urging him to distance himself from Syria’s Butcher […]

The People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party in China, ran an editorial yesterday arguing that, contrary to much analysis by both Western and Chinese economists and international organizations, China doesn’t face a debt crisis. But the rationale for that conclusion is a little shaky: China’s local government debt was primarily used for […]

California Governor Jerry Brown has received some much-deserved flak for his dogged support of the state’s wasteful high-speed rail project, but it’s good to remember that projects like these are not an American invention. Over in the UK, the coalition government has been pushing an equally foolish £50 billion plan for a high-speed rail line […]

China brushed away an offer from Japan to negotiate over disputed territory in the East China Sea today. On several occasions Japan has offered to send high-level officials to China to discuss the sensitive issue, but China has shown no interest. “A meeting between leaders is not simply for the sake of shaking hands and taking […]

Our health care and higher ed systems have the same root problem, and Obama has the solution to both, says Ezra Klein. The root of skyrocketing costs in both of these industries, says Klein, is the relative weakness of the consumer’s negotiating power. We can decline to buy a television or a computer, but we […]

The Dutch government just released a report finding that the environmental risks of fracking shale can be managed. It’s a small but important step for the country, but also for the future of shale energy in Europe. American companies are already balancing the risks of drilling—including the fines, loss of resources, and bad press that […]

One unexpected outcome of the charter school revolution has been the compression of teachers’ careers. While traditional public schools were often staffed by older teachers who approached the job as a lifetime occupation, the charter school movement has attracted a number of idealistic young people who come in and teach for a few years before […]

In The Importance of Being Earnest, an impressionable young student is advised to skip the chapter in her economics textbook on the Indian rupee as it is “too sensational.” The adventures of the rupee this summer live up to that billing; India is now facing a full blown currency crash.When I came to India for […]

The last of the ancient kings of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, was approached one day by a woman who offered nine books of prophecy at a steep price. The king refused; the price was too high. The woman burned three of the books and offered the remaining six at the original price. Nothing doing, said […]