American states aren’t the only ones facing major pension crises. France’s pension system now has a deficit of €14 billion, and it is expected to rise to €18.8 billion by 2017 unless significant changes are made.Reforms put in place under former President Nicolas Sarkozy to raise the retirement age and increase pension contributions were supposed […]

Republicans in Kansas are set to have total control of state politics in 2013 and are already planning an ambitious agenda for the next legislative session. The most important change concerns management of the state’s budget following an aggressive tax cut earlier this year. To offset the loss in revenue, major spending cuts may be […]

Few Indian politicians command as much global attention, or as much praise and scorn at home, as Narendra Modi, who last night won a third consecutive term as Gujarat’s chief minister. Lionized by his supporters for Gujarat’s “growth miracle” but hated by his enemies for his role in the bloody 2002 communal rioting and for threatening […]

Last week it was New Jersey, this week it’s New York. The nonpartisan State Budget Crisis Task Force just released a report stating that New York’s fiscal accounting is “papered over with gimmicks” and that the state will face a serious budget crisis unless it changes course quickly. The report does commend Governor Andrew Cuomo […]

A Washington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday will be disappointing news for those hoping for a new era of Jeffersonian restraint in American foreign policy—and it will frustrate Wilsonians as well. Those polled don’t want U.S. troops in humanitarian shooting wars but would favor a no-fly zone in Syria and are ready for war if Assad […]

The four most important powers in Northeast Asia, bitterly divided rivals, have all now completed a leadership change: North Korea, China, Japan, and now South Korea are all under new management. Dynastic politics plays a role everywhere: the new Chinese leadership is stuffed with princelings, Japan’s new PM is grandson of a former prime minister, […]

Politicians in Illinois have been wrangling for months over how to solve their state’s public pension crisis. Numerous proposals have been put forth and discussed, but unsurprisingly none of them have received much love from the state’s public-worker unions. Today, a union group known as the We Are One coalition blasted the current proposal supported by […]

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal reports on the rise of “dual-enrollment“, which allows high school students to take community college courses, receiving credit toward both a high school diploma and an undergraduate degree. More students are seizing the opportunity to complete their college education earlier and with less debt:  “It’s a great way to encourage students to have college […]

Incoming Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hasn’t taken office yet, but he’s wasting no time in telling off China over the Senkaku Islands dispute. BBC News reports: Mr Abe said the islands were Japan’s “inherent territory” and it was his party’s objective was “to stop the challenge” from China.“We don’t intend to worsen relations between Japan […]

One of the world’s greatest killers is making a comeback. Once thought to be nearly eliminated as a public health threat, tuberculosis is again becoming a serious danger due to a rapid increase in drug-resistant strains of the disease around the world. Although the U.S. has long been able to avoid most of the deadlier […]