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A New Trade Promotion Authority Would Be a Blessing for the US Economy
News about the economy just went from bad to worse. The Commerce Department released new figures showing gross domestic product fell 2.9 percent in the first quarter of 2014 and corporate profits plummeted more than 9 percent from last year’s numbers. It seems that the U.S. economic engine is still ...
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China Uncensored: Mooncakes – Tasty Treats, or Instruments of Corruption?
Monday was the Mid-Autumn Festival in China, also known as the moon festival. It’s a time for people to reunite with family and friends and celebrate the harvest, while they gaze up at that glowing orb in the sky and remember the goddess of the moon, who saved Earth by ...
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Argentina Default Flashes Warning to Emerging Markets
Legal systems in the world’s wealthiest nations often do not understand the all- encompassing challenges confronting emerging economies. Those outside the Americas may not have paid much attention to the battle between Argentina and a few bondholders, but should take note: The legal tangle over Argentinian bonds provides a salutary ...
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Don’t Dismiss MOOCs—We Are Just Starting to Understand Their True Value
Over the past couple of years, massive open online courses (MOOCs) have taken the academic world by storm. Despite much debate about whether the idea of running free online courses for everyone is both a good and cost-effective idea in the long run, MOOCs are teaching universities valuable lessons about ...
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Blockbuster Existential Angst
Dystopian movies aren't new. From Fritz Lang’s silent classic Metropolis (1927) to The War of the Worlds (1953), and Blade Runner (1982), they've long been a staple of cinema. What is new is the rise in popularity of these films and the veritable slew of them in recent years. Nightmarish ...
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China Uncensored: Is the SAT Controlling Your Mind?
I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news. According to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, there are concerns in China that the United States is using the SAT to “impose the American values systems on [Chinese] students.” This is stirring “heated debates in China ...
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World Suicide Prevention Day: How Communities Can Work Together to Prevent Suicide
The death of comedian Robin Williams last month sparked a worldwide discussion about suicide, its underlying causes and how it might be prevented. And, with World Suicide Prevention Day taking place Sept. 10, the subject is certain to generate more debate as people seek to understand this important health issue.
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Ouch, the Bill for ‘Obamacare’ Coming Due
The bill is coming due for “Obamacare,” and it’s a whopper. According to Medicare’s actuaries, U.S. health care spending is about to skyrocket.
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Indigenous Suicide Prevention: Culture Is Key
In the last few decades the rate of Indigenous Australians taking their own lives has reached crisis levels – it's time we started talking about it. A recent report states that parts of Northern Australia are witnessing the highest rate of youth suicide in the world. Some remote areas in ...
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Why Finland, Korea, and Czech Republic Get the Most Bang for Their Educational Buck
There are around 1.3 billion children enrolled in primary and secondary schools worldwide. Each year, governments spend trillions of dollars on their education systems with the objective of educating children to the highest possible standard. Some governments use available budgets more efficiently than others. A new report that I co-authored ...
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US–Africa Summit in the Age of Political Insanity
The U.S.–Africa Leaders Summit held in Washington at the beginning of August did little to advance a mutual agenda among the various parties. There at a great smokescreen event, African leaders smiled widely for the camera while holding the same old grudges toward their American partner. America, of course, remains ...
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Divorce, European Style
“All happy families are alike,” Leo Tolstoy wrote at the beginning of “Anna Karenina.” “Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Imagine, as Lenin liked to do, that a country is a marriage of different nationalities. Lenin believed, and he enshrined this principle in the Soviet Constitution, that ...