World economy

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Quosque tandem… Silvio?

THE CORNER’S FRIDAY WRAP-UP | Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, and writer Cicero, who vainly tried to uphold principles in the final civil wars that destroyed the Republic once told his traitor, Catilina: “Quosque tandem abutere Catilina patientia nostra” (How long, O Catiline, will you abuse our patience?). This week that very same Senate in Italy is preparing to expel Berlusconi, who is threatening to topple Prime Minister Letta.


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The Recovery Charts That Made Our Day

THE CORNER TEAM | Because an image is worth more than 1,000 words, we are reposting here a fantastic idea by Quartz: they’ve put together 19 graphs of the global economic recovery, from the adjustments that the most crippled euro zone countries are making to Japan leaving deflation behind. Chill out, things are getting better… and it’s Friday.


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Chemical Weapons in Syria: Not the Heart of the Matter

Chemical weapons or not, the forecast remains: Partition in Syria; Syria, in the main, as Sunni; Hezbollah diminished; Lebanon disturbed further by Christian and Shi’a refugees; Saudi and Turkish influence enhanced; the substitution of America’s hard power with soft power as a changing paradigm for its foreign relations unless, of course, Israel and the Strait of Hormuz are threatened and then its terrible swift sword gets unsheathed.


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“Spain is Back”

NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | The Spanish Government has launched a charming offensive in the U.S. The United Nations General Assembly was the perfect excuse. PM Mariano Rajoy came to the Big Apple on a 36-hour-trip in order to push for a seat at the Security Council. Indeed. But the most important thing for him was to seduce American business media and send them a clear message: Spain’s economy is far better than it was one year ago.



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To Really Root Out Corruption, Chinese SOEs Need Reform

BEIJING | Via Caixin Magazine | Chinese SOEs, the state behemoths, use systems that make dictators of top managers, a situation that must be addressed for corruption to be rooted out. Appointed outside directors, and learning from advanced economies such as Britain, can be a solution, he magazine believes.



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IMF Pledges for European Fiscal Union

NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | For the IMF, it’s time for Europe’s fiscal union. Unless the 17 members of the euro zone are willing to lose some control over their budgets in favor of an insurance program and do common borrowing, bailout crisis like Cyprus’ are likely to cripple them, the Washington-based fund’s said in a report.


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Indian Economy Will Not Thrive Unless Reforms Take Place

BANGALORE | By Srikanth Vasuraj | Indian economy needs a push. After a lull of almost 3 years in bringing in reform initiatives, due to political one-upmanship by the opposition parties, we have seen some key reforms passed Parliament in recent months. Whilst these are not expected to produce results overnight, they will become performance benchmarks for whoever forms the government after the 2014 general elections.

 


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Road To the Fed’s Chair: Summer’s Out; Unfortunately, Romer’s Not In

SAO PAULO/ NEW YORK | By Marcus Nunes and Ana Fuentes | Since Larry Summer’s withdrawal, Janet Yellen seems to be the clear candidate to replace Bernanke at the U.S. Fed. However, for Marcus Nunes, the choice is clear: former White House Council of Economic Advisors chair Christina Romer should be the one because she “shows an understanding Bernanke lacks”. Other members of The Corner team are strongly supporting Stanley Fisher. Time for readers to bet (and speculate).