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Why did Merkel shake Sarkozy’s hand more warmly than at the last summit? Does that mean she’s softerning her stance on a Greek bailout? And did you overhear what a friend of a friend of mine thinks he overheard in a cloakroom in the Bundestag? These are the sort of parlour game questions to which [...]
Archive for the ‘Europe’ Category
December 15th, 2011
Thre cable TV service run by crimunals in Rio´s favelas was much cheaper than its legal successors.
December 10th, 2011
Category: Europe, MSM (mainstream media)
Media coverage today of PM Cameron’s veto of the latest EU attempt to deal with the “EuroMess” (h/t Ezra Klein) has a focus which has become familiar. The Guardian reports that the UK will now be unpopular in Paris and in other European capitals. The Telegraph relays that the other heads of the EU are [...]
November 22nd, 2011
Category: Europe, Financial crises
In the ongoing polarized debates about the size and scope of government, many American politicians and talking heads are turning to European examples to make their case. When discussions of increased government spending arise, some conservatives screech “We are turning into profligate overspenders like those irresponsible Greeks!” When discussions of cutting government spending arise, some [...]
November 7th, 2011
Sarkozy lines up somemiddle-rank supporters for a financial transactions tax; and how an FTT can improve financial markets.
October 29th, 2011
A ropewalk in Rio illustrates the liberatinrg power of a safey net.
October 12th, 2011
They just lend to each other.
September 28th, 2011
Not long after I arrived at Stanford, our medical center entered into a disastrous union with the UC-San Francisco’s health care system which ultimately poured tens and probably hundreds of millions of dollars down the drain. I could tell an enormously complicated story about why it didn’t work, bringing in issues of risk-pooling, local cultures [...]
August 26th, 2011
Is the health of European royalty expensive?
