NY TIMES – The latest French utopia (Vélib’, Paris’s bicycle rental system) has met a prosaic reality: Many of the specially designed bikes, which cost $3,500 each, are showing up on black markets in Eastern Europe and northern Africa. Many … read more
Iran’s rejection of Barack Obama’s open hand is an epic fail for the president’s signature foreign policy. We all know the drill: George Bush/axis of evil/alienating the world/bla bla bla. But it turns out that Barack Obama/no one nation is better … read more
My friend Arnold Kling has described a divide between what he calls Chauffered America–Hollywood, investment bankers, and high government officials–and Strip Mall America–people who launch businesses like restaurants, hair salons, and other small enterprises. No matter how the government responded … read more
From Comcast.net via Rand Gerald.
We know we are living in interesting times when a Chinese vice premier stakes out a position that the United States and China should oppose all forms of protectionism, while his American counterparts talk about the Obama administration’s commitment to … read more
President Obama has clearly resented suggestions he is dithering on the decision about troop levels in Afghanistan. Having suggested that he “will never rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm’s way” (though he should have added he won’t … read more
Economist Scott Grannis: I’ve never paid much attention to surveys of confidence, mainly because they tend to be lagging indicators. Consumers are often quite happy until just before a recession starts, and quite depressed well after a recovery begins (see … read more
