Category Archives: Global Economy

Egypt: It’s Not About Democracy

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Protesters crowded Tahrir Square in Cairo earlier this month to call for their President's ouster. The military obliged them. [Credit: Washington Times]

Pro­test­ers crowd­ed Tahrir Square in Cairo ear­li­er this month to call for their Pres­i­den­t’s ouster. The mil­i­tary oblig­ed them.  Is that the tri­umph of democ­ra­cy or just a mil­i­tary coup?  [Cred­it: Wash­ing­ton Times]

The Oba­ma pres­i­den­cy, now well into its fifth year, seems as flum­moxed by glob­al devel­op­ments as it did in its first. Egypt pro­vides the most recent exam­ple. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

The Fed, the ECB and La Dolce Vita

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Fellini celebrated "La Dolce Vita" in his film classic. Today, Italians may feel as though they're living in a Fellini flick. [Credit: theworld.org]

Felli­ni cel­e­brat­ed “La Dolce Vita” in his film clas­sic.  But a strug­gling econ­o­my, wob­bly banks and frac­tious pol­i­tics threat­en to take the “dolce” out of their vita. [Cred­it: theworld.org]

Stran­gozzi is the char­ac­ter­is­tic pas­ta of Umbria, Tuscany’s hot sister.

Con­tin­ue read­ing →

David Stockman sez we’re all gonna die! He’s wrong. Right?

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Showtime's Savanarola from The Borgias

Show­time’s Sava­naro­la from The Borgias

Sea­son 3 of The Bor­gias pre­mieres on Show­time this Sun­day . For those not yet ensnared in this addic­tion, the series tells the sto­ry of Renais­sance Pope Alexan­der VI, one of the papacy’s most dev­il­ish­ly inter­est­ing char­ac­ters. Show­time takes the usu­al Hol­ly­wood lib­er­ties with his­to­ry, though Alexan­der, born in Spain as Rodri­go de Bor­gia, led a life that needs no embell­ish­ing. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Cyprus: Euro Saved! But things are not so good for Cypriots who saved euros

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CyprusDid you cash a check today?  Or with­draw mon­ey from your sav­ings account?  Or use your deb­it card to buy a sand­wich?  If so, many Cypri­ots wish they were you. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Italy holds elections tomorrow and many observers fear a muddled outcome

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Bersani for President signs

Last minute plea from Ital­ian voters.

Italy’s nation’s cur­rent leader, Mario Mon­ti, the dar­ling of Europe’s gov­ern­ing class, is run­ning fourth among the cur­rent slate of can­di­dates. He trails come­di­an Beppe Gril­lo, whose obscen­i­ty-laced rants are draw­ing big crowds and may pro­pel him beyond his cur­rent third place posi­tion. Pier Lui­gi Bersani, the Cen­ter-Left can­di­date, leads the pack, but he’s being pur­sued hard by the nev­er-bor­ing Sil­vio Berlus­coni. Mr. B is try­ing to reclaim the office from which he was roust­ed 15 months ago in favor of Mario Mon­ti, who was appoint­ed to head a “tech­ni­cal gov­ern­ment.” Con­tin­ue read­ing →