11.13.09

In his current Asian trip, President Obama visits Japan, then addresses a forum of leaders in Singapore, and eventually ends up in Seoul to discuss nukes and North Korea. But make no mistake, the axis of this week is the time Obama will spend in China, which has catapulted to the forefront of international affairs and is on its way to joining the United States as the alpha and omega of the global economic system. Read more…

07.16.09

With a slew of major companies reporting earnings so far, it’s clear that expectations were severely skewed to the negative. Once again, Wall Street analysts overshot - this time to the downside. The substantial margin expansion reported by Intel; the higher-than-anticipated profitability of IBM; and the blow-out quarters of Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan all stand in contrast to sentiment just a few weeks ago, which was grim and getting grimmer. So what happened? Read more…

11.17.08

So the G20 met over the weekend, and if there was any doubt before, there should be none now: the financial balance of power is shifting. China, Brazil, even Japan can all claim more sound economies than the United States, and they collectively let it be known that they would no longer take marching orders from the Washington consensus. They expect a voice, and they are not asking permission. Read more…

11.06.08

American elections usually produce a brief euphoria; the public sense of renewal, of future possibilities, acts as a shot of adrenaline. This year, however, the palpable relief and celebration will be tempered by the widely shared sense that all is not well in America.

The economic data are almost uniformly bleak and will not improve soon, and, while national security issues appear less pressing because of the financial crisis, they have hardly disappeared, given the tenuous situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the unresolved problems in Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Moreover, the power of America’s presidency, and of the United States, has undergone dramatic shifts in recent years, making our era unlike earlier periods when the world was in flux and a new American president faced deep challenges. Read more…