By Paolo von Schirach May 12, 2012 WASHINGTON - A Fox TV interview by John Stossel with Luis Fortuno, the Governor of Puerto Rico, made me curious to learn more. This boysh (just 51 years old, and looking more like 31) Republican has had the courage to meet head on the challenge of a gigantic state debt [...]
By Paolo von Schirach April 30, 2012 WASHINGTON – The Europeans are (rightfully) clamoring against an EU mandated “austerity only therapy” aimed at bringing several fiscally damaged countries back to financial health. Indeed, as it has been pointed out by many economists, (Nouriel Roubini, among others), austerity alone causes already weak economies to contract. When governments cut spending, the fiscal [...]
By Paolo von Schirach April 17, 2012 WASHINGTON – The purging of Bo Xilai, until recently the powerful and even popular party boss of Chongquing in China caused genuine surprise in some Western media. They noted that Bo was ousted in a backroom manoeuvre. They observed that the real motives for his downfall are unknown. [...]
By Paolo von Schirach April 10, 2012 WASHINGTON – By dropping out of the Republican Party nomination process, Rick Santorum did the only sensible thing he has done in a campaign founded mostly on preposterous, sentimental and hopelessly archaic themes. The scary part is not that another out of step with the modern world politician wanted to run on family [...]
By Paolo von Schirach March 21, 2012 WASHINGTON – House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is a courageous man. He came forth with a Republican budget proposal that would actually do something substantive about entitlement and tax reform. He already did this with his 2011 “Path to Prosperity” budget proposal. But that got nowhere because the [...]
By Paolo von Schirach March 14, 2012 WASHINGTON – Listening to the pundits debating the upcoming presidential elections, the consensus boils down to this: if the unemployment rate stays as is (8,3%) or trends down between now and November, president Obama gets re-elected. If it goes higher, then he is in trouble and may not make [...]
By Paolo von Schirach Related story: http://schirachreport.com/index.php/2012/02/25/worl-bank-and-chinese-think-tank-recommend-overhaul-of-chinas-large-system-of-state-run-enterprises-a-surprise-that-such-a-sensitive-issue-is-publicly-debated-economic-reforms-coming-up-in-beiji/ March 10, 2012 WASHINGTON – It was interesting to note a while ago (see link above) that a Chinese think tank, with some cover via a partnership with the World Bank, came up with recommendations about reconfiguring the role of the vast state owned sector of the Chinese [...]
By Paolo von Schirach March 9, 2012 WASHINGTON – At the very beginning of his long campaign it seemed as if Mitt Romney had all it takes to get the Republican nomination, augment his base with the support of most moderate independents, and then win the November elections. Having been a key contender in 2008, Romney had name [...]
By Paolo von Schirach March 8, 2012 WASHINGTON – The most striking, truly dissonant effect of an American anemic economy, growing only a little and burdened by an epic $ 15 trillion national debt, and of the 8.3% unemployment is that president Barack Obama, just months before the elections, is back, with almost 50% favorable ratings. This is rather astonishing. Rightly or wrongly, Americans [...]
By Paolo von Schirach February 28, 2012 WASHINGTON – In case you missed it, yesterday February 27, was a day of national and international protest about the integrity of our food supply promoted by the Occupy Wall Street Movement and its affiliate Occupy Our Food Supply. The point of the protest was to fight against the large agri-business [...]