The Failing State of Greece – NYTimes.com

Before we can fix Greece we have to understand the nature of the problem.  What is wrong with this nation-state?

What are we to make of Greece, which borrowed beyond its means and now has been pushed to the brink by its lenders? Is it the “problem child” of Europe, more corrupt and dysfunctional than its neighbors? Is it a special case, as the lenders are saying, hoping that after the write-down of Greek debt last week they won’t have to restructure other ailing euro zone countries’ large public debts? Or is it in fact a harbinger, a vision of how economic collapse transforms a country — or of what happens to democracy when banks become more powerful than political institutions?

While the mainstream political parties suffer under the weight of their own mismanagement and of the austerity they have pledged and reforms they have often struggled to enforce, unemployment and homelessness rise and the European Union inches toward transforming its institutions to get behind a currency battered by fast-moving market forces. Something profound and distressing is happening: the rapid dissolution of a democracy in plain sight. As I stood outside the Attikon last week, I asked myself: Where is the line between a weak state and a failed state?

via The Failing State of Greece – NYTimes.com.

The Art of Economic Complexity – NYTimes.com

These data visualizations by Cesar A. Hidalgo of the MIT Media Lab help explain the variety and complex structure of our economic diversity:

Strip away the mathematical language of economists, and conventional theories of economic growth are rather crude. Economies produce “stuff,” and if you want more stuff to come out of the process, put more stuff in (like human capital, say). Yet economies do not produce stuff so much as billions of distinct types of goods — perhaps 10 billion, according to Eric Beinhocker of the McKinsey Global Institute — ranging from size 34 dark stonewash bootcut jeans to beauty therapies involving avocado. The difference between China’s economy and that of the United States is not simply that China’s is smaller; it has a different structure entirely.

via The Art of Economic Complexity – NYTimes.com.

Obama Sees Economic Power of Asia-Pacific Region – NYTimes.com

Diplomacy amidst the white sand beaches and pineapple farms of Hawaii:

Underscoring the region’s importance to the U.S., Obama on Saturday, as expected, announced the broad outlines of an agreement to create a transpacific trade zone encompassing the United States and eight other nations. He said details must still be worked out, but said the goal was to complete the deal by next year. ‘I’m confident we can get this done,” he said.

On a day of heavy diplomacy, the president also was looking to contain deepening worries over Iran amid a fresh U.N. atomic agency report that Iran is working secretly on a nuclear weapon.

On the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific economic summit, Obama met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and was to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The timing of the meetings with the Russian and Chinese leaders was particularly significant as Obama seeks to increase world pressure on Iran.

via Obama Sees Economic Power of Asia-Pacific Region – NYTimes.com.

Another interesting quote on any China wasn’t invited to the ‘trade bloc’ dance:

In a sign of potential tension with China, Mike Froman, a deputy national security adviser who focuses on international economic matters, shrugged off complaints from China that it had not been invited to join the trade bloc. He told reporters that China had not expressed interest in joining and said the trade group “is not something that one gets invited to. It’s something that one aspires to.”

All That Glimmers – NYTimes.com

Riposte to Ron Paul:

Gold can’t be smoked away. Yet, as money, it shares tobacco’s basic drawback: It would shackle the economy to how much gold we could get our hands on. Today the Fed can print dollars at will to meet the growing demand for money as the economy grows, or even to encourage growth. Under a gold standard, the economy couldn’t grow faster than the supply of gold.

via All That Glimmers – NYTimes.com.

Still Trying to Understand OCW

On CNN, Douglas Rushkoff who believes corporations run the world–tries to make sense of OCW for the media (clueless) and the rest of us (perplexed):

Anyone who says he has no idea what these folks are protesting is not being truthful. Whether we agree with them or not, we all know what they are upset about, and we all know that there are investment bankers working on Wall Street getting richer while things for most of the rest of us are getting tougher. What upsets banking’s defenders and politicians alike is the refusal of this movement to state its terms or set its goals in the traditional language of campaigns.

That’s because, unlike a political campaign designed to get some person in office and then close up shop (as in the election of Obama), this is not a movement with a traditional narrative arc. As the product of the decentralized networked-era culture, it is less about victory than sustainability. It is not about one-pointedness, but inclusion and groping toward consensus. It is not like a book; it is like the Internet.

via Think Occupy Wall St. is a phase? You don’t get it – CNN.com.

http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:video:colbertnation.com:238643

The Colbert Report

• A left-leaning FAQ and a Fox News opinion piece may help, as well.
• The Nobel Laureate economist, Joseph Stieglitz, makes the case for OCW as a global movement.

The Shale Gas Revolution – NYTimes.com

This week’s visit by R. James Woolsey to BYU–whose talk was similar to this one–echoed the insights proffered by Brooks’ column on an energy opportunity:

John Rowe, the chief executive of the utility Exelon, which derives almost all its power from nuclear plants, says that shale gas is one of the most important energy revolutions of his lifetime. It’s a cliché word, Yergin told me, but the fracking innovation is game-changing. It transforms the energy marketplace.

The U.S. now seems to possess a 100-year supply of natural gas, which is the cleanest of the fossil fuels. This cleaner, cheaper energy source is already replacing dirtier coal-fired plants. It could serve as the ideal bridge, Amy Jaffe of Rice University says, until renewable sources like wind and solar mature.

via The Shale Gas Revolution – NYTimes.com.

Financial Lessons From Four Nations – NYTimes.com

What not to wear?  How about what economic policies to avoid in the form of a brief discussion from one of MItt Romney’s key advisors at Harvard:

The recent economic histories of four nations are noteworthy: France, Greece, Japan and Zimbabwe. Each illustrates a kind of policy mistake that could, if we are not careful, presage the future of the United States economy. Think of them as the four horsemen of the economic apocalypse

via Financial Lessons From Four Nations – NYTimes.com.

What the Occupiers Signify

If the Occupy Wall Street protests were a band, I’d say the closest corollary would probably be the legendary ’90s grunge band Nirvana — both meaningful and murky, tapping into a national angst and hopelessness, providing a much-needed catharsis and gaining a broad and devoted following while quickly becoming the voice of a generation.

via Occupy-apalooza Strikes a Chord – NYTimes.com.

Congress Passes Trade Deals, Ending 5-Year Standoff – NYTimes.com

Why did the trade deals take so long?  Some say it was an effort to deny President Obama the political victory, because the economic net gain was nominal. If they had not passed this would have signified a critical failure to back three US allies.

The passage of the trade deals is important primarily as a political achievement, and for its foreign policy value in solidifying relationships with strategic allies. The economic benefits are projected to be small. A federal agency estimated in 2007 that the impact on employment would be “negligible” and that the deals would increase gross domestic product by about $14.4 billion, or roughly 0.1 percent.

via Congress Passes Trade Deals, Ending 5-Year Standoff – NYTimes.com.

Germans Love Europe — But Not the Euro – NYTimes.com

The European sovereign debt crisis is still unresolved.  Why Germany dithers, and what it means for Europe:

Germans firmly believe in European integration, but they have never wholeheartedly embraced the euro.Grasping this ambiguity helps explain Chancellor Angela Merkel’s actions — or lack thereof — during the crisis. And it helps explain why Germans first tore apart the new euro rescue fund in public debate — only to turn around and adopt it by a huge majority in the Bundestag.

via Germans Love Europe — But Not the Euro – NYTimes.com.