Last week we urged congressional Republicans to make a deal with Obama and accept higher tax rates on the wealthy in return for reasonable concessions on entitlement spending. Now House Speaker Boehner is edging in this direction. The FT reports: People familiar with the negotiations said Mr Boehner was proposing to allow tax rates to rise for […]

The standoff between Iraq’s central government and the de facto independent Kurdish Regional Government has taken a turn for the worse. Over the weekend, at least 26 people were killed in attacks in the ethnically mixed disputed territories (which the KRG calls “Kurdish areas not controlled by the KRG”).It’s unclear who exactly is responsible for the […]

A word of advice for those toiling through law school: Skip the fancy electives.The Wall Street Journal reports that law schools are coming under increasing scrutiny for “quirky” elective courses like “Understanding Obama” and “Bloodfueds.” These are almost always offered in the third (and final) year of law school and, unlike offerings during the first two years, […]

Spain’s youth unemployment rate, now over 50 percent, is the stuff of nightmares for economists. But even those young Spaniards lucky enough to be gainfully employed are beginning to learn that having a job doesn’t guarantee you’ll get paid. As the New York Times reports, many Spanish businesses are so strapped for cash that they can no longer […]

At age 73, Silvio Berlusconi is finally ready to close down the “bunga bunga” parties and settle down with one woman (again). At least that’s what he’s been telling the Italian public on talk shows this week, announcing his engagement to, apparently, his one true love discovered after a lifetime search, the 27-year-old Francesca Pascale. The […]

Imagine if you could banish all opposition from the island, legislate unchecked, and prove that you were right and they were wrong all along.Welcome to California. With a supermajority and control of the governor’s mansion, California Democrats can do anything they want. The NYT: The Democratic Party has controlled the California Legislature for a nearly […]

As Via Meadia noted yesterday, Shinzo Abe’s LDP cruised to victory in Japan’s elections yesterday, winning 294 seats. In coalition with its partner New Komeito, which won 31 seats, the LDP will have enough votes to override the Democratic Party of Japan-controlled upper house. The market is already responding to the new PM’s likely plans: […]

Farouk al-Sharaa, Syria’s longtime vice president, voiced the sentiment of many on Sunday when he said that both sides of the Syrian civil war are losing. With neither Assad nor the rebels able to achieve outright victory and Syrians fleeing to neighboring countries as their beautiful cities are bombed and burned into rubble, few people would […]

Now is not a good time to be a university professor. For centuries, the profession has remained essentially the same, with professors splitting their time between research and teaching, presiding over courses in which students living nearby or on campus came in year in and year out to hear the same lectures and take the […]

The terrible tragedy in Connecticut on Friday has weighed on all of our minds this weekend. All of our hopes and prayers go out to the families and friends of those affected, and we hope that everyone in the community gets the help and support they need in the difficult weeks and months ahead.In Michigan, […]