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Archive for February 2011

This week’s articles of note

“How Chris Christie did his homework,” New York Times Magazine, by Matt Bai “What the census tells us about America’s future,” Forbes, by Joel Kotkin “The Madoff tapes,” New York, by Steven Fishman “Business as usual: the next Wall Street collapse,” Boston Review, by Jonathan Kirshner [Review of four economics books] “The dangers of the […]

This week’s articles of note

“Wanted: a grand strategy for America,” Newsweek, by Niall Ferguson [on “Obama’s Egypt debacle”] “The politics of the new middle America,” The American Prospect, by E.J. Dionne “Why isn’t Wall Street in jail?” Rolling Stone, by Matt Taibbi “Daniel Bell, master builder,” New York Times Book Review, by Sam Tanenhaus “How we know,” New York […]

Finance and the real economy

The Lex column in yesterday’s Financial Times picks up on the International Monetary Fund’s recent self-evaluation, in a piece entitled “Ignorant economists”. Specificially, Lex notes that one of the IMF’s self-confessed shortcomings was an “inadequate understanding of how finance influences the real economy”: The greatest challenge for all economists is to understand the dynamics of the financial-economic nexus. It is a […]

Obama on Egypt: more confused than cool

Thumbnail : Obama on Egypt: more confused than cool

The idea that Obama played it “brilliantly cool” on Egypt represents a spectacular rewriting of history. Read my spiked article in full here.

This week’s articles of note: post-Mubarak edition

This week’s edition is a post-Mubarak reading list: “Mubarakism without Mubarak: why Egypt’s military will not embrace democracy,” Foreign Affairs, by Ellis Goldberg “Why Egypt’s progressives win,” Al Jazeera, by Paul Adam “Who lost Egypt? Not Obama,” Foreign Policy, by Aaron David Miller “Mubarak resignation creates vacuum for US in the Mideast,” The Washington Post, […]

Good riddance to Mubarak, now take on the military

Bye Bye Mubarak from Ramy Rizkallah on Vimeo. Mubarak is gone – congratulations to the Egyptian people! The video above, shot by Egyptian film-maker Ramy Rizkallah, captures the celebrations shortly after the announcement that Mubarak was stepping down. Egyptians’ courageous protests have been a great inspiration. Hopefully, their example will stir others in the region and […]

Showdown in Egypt: may the people prevail!

Egypt went from festive jubilation to anger last night as Mubarak refused to step down. It was a disappointment felt around the world. It has become clear that the army is backing the Mubarak-Suleiman regime. The military’s statement today, “communique #2”, said the army will ensure that the reforms will be enacted, including the removal of the emergency law and […]

Do the global elite serve the masses?

That’s the motion of the current debate hosted by The Economist. It features Jamie Whyte, who argues “for”, and Daniel Ben-Ami, who argues “against”. This topic was also the conclusion to a January 20th special feature in the magazine on global leaders. Ben-Ami’s argument is not a simplistic, “the rich are bastards” one. Instead, he contends: The culture of limits […]

Focus on banks is a “giant displacement activity”

Last night Rob Killick spoke in a debate in London on whether the big banks should be broken up, along with Kitty Ussher of Demos and Philip Blond of Res Publica, and he has posted the text of his sharp speech on his blog (here). Killick argues that the focus on banking misses the point:  The financial boom and bust […]

For America, stability trumps freedom

Thumbnail : For America, stability trumps freedom

In echoing Mubarak’s call for an “orderly transition”, the US is undermining the fight for democratic rights. Read my spiked article in full here.

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