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 May 11, 2012 WASHINGTON – American enthusiasm for renewable energy, not too deep to begin with, has gone away. In part this has to do with loss of interest in “climate change” and its dire consequences. Unfortunately, climate change has been and is mostly an issue of political belief, rather than upholding [...]
By Paolo von Schirach May 8, 2012 WASHINGTON – Just a few weeks ago Agustin Carstens, the Governor of the bank of Mexico, argued in a Washington public forum that the European debt crisis will not be over until the Europeans will be able to convince markets that all is well and that there is absolutely no [...]
By Paolo von Schirach May 7, 2012 WASHINGTON – Watching on C-SPAN, (the meritorious public affairs TV channels), a session of the US House Budget Committee was quite depressing. There was no real debate on the issues aimed at getting to some constructive policy outcome. I heard only prepackaged slogans and a lot of predictable posturing.
By Paolo von Schirach May 4, 2012 WASHINGTON – A really lousy jobs report. Only 115,000 new jobs created in the US in the month of April. And the unemployment ticked down to 8.1% just because 300,000 Americans dropped out, and so they are no longer counted as unemployed. But the really scary item is the percentage of Americans [...]
By Paolo von Schirach May 1, 2012 WASHINGTON - In the never ending Greek fiscal debacle saga, everybody’s focus has been on the unfolding drama. Will this Eurozone-IMF rescue package work? Or will it be the next one, until finally something that would stick is cobbled together? But, while not unreasonable, this focus on crisis management and related countermeasures took all [...]
By Paolo von Schirach Related story: http://schirachreport.com/index.php/2012/04/08/why-is-obama-so-timid-about-syria-because-there-is-no-more-money-to-get-into-a-confrontation-that-might-escalate-into-another-conflict-pentagon-already-on-a-cost-cutting-path-this-dog-wont-bite/ April 25, 2012 WASHINGTON – Fouad Ajami is a keen observer of key developments in the Middle East and US policy towards them. He just wrote a compelling piece in The Wall Street Journal, (America’s Syria Abdication, April 25, 2012), in which he deplores US lack of leadership in [...]
By Paolo von Schirach Related story: http://schirachreport.com/index.php/2012/04/22/agustin-carstens-governor-of-the-bank-of-mexico-believes-that-eurozone-crisis-is-still-not-over-markets-still-worry-about-possibile-catastrophic-event-eu-needs-to-take-actions-that-will-dispel-f/ April 23, 2012 WASHINGTON – The European financial picture continues to worry markets. (See link to related story above). Any bit of bad news becomes an opportunity to put more pressure on the already stressed bonds of the weaker countries: Spain and Italy being now in the forefront.
By Paolo von Schirach April 21, 2012 WASHINGTON – Expats help compile a list of the most livable places in the world. Once more Singapore came back on top as the best Asian city to live in. Hong Kong is a few steps behind. How so? Because of air pollution. Does air quality mean that much? [...]
By Paolo von Schirach April 21, 2012 WASHINGTON – IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde stated in a public forum hosted by Charlie Rose that she is hopeful about Europe and the future viability of the Euro because the common currency is one big part of a broader coming together of diverse European states moved by a [...]