The Economist (US) back issues from January 2008:
Slush and garbage; Argentina, Venezuela and America.(Argentina, Venezuela and the United States)
Jan 05, 2008 ... The Kirchners and their wealthy friend The imbroglio over a cash-stuffed suitcase WHEN Cristina Fernandez replaced her husband, Nestor Kirchner, as Argentina's president on December 10th, she hinted that she would improve her country's strained relations with the ...
Camera, no action; Colombia.(No release for Colombia's hostages)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Another hostage debacle FOR four days, several Venezuelan helicopters and an international reception committee including Nestor Kirchner, Argentina's former president, and Oliver Stone, a Hollywood filmmaker, waited at the airport in Villavicencio, a town in the Colombian ...
If redemption fails, you can still use the free bathroom; Brazil.(Brazil's Universal Church)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Edir Macedo (pictured above) and his Universal Church have prospered by offering a religion "of results" to the upwardly mobile THE Tuesday-lunchtime exorcism at the Sao Paulo cathedral of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God is well-attended, as always. On stage a woman ...
Democracy denied; Hong Kong.(Hong Kong denied democracy)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Beijing blocks open elections in Hong Kong until at least 2017 TO DIM the impact of what it had to know would be unpopular news, China's government waited until the Saturday evening of the New Year's weekend to reveal its long-awaited reaction to Hong Kong's petition for a ...
Eerie silence; Nuclear North Korea.(North Korea's declaration of its nuclear activities)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Golly: the Dear Leader won't come clean about his bombs ANOTHER deadline, another disappointment. Last February North Korea agreed with four of its neighbours and the United States to give up its ambitions as a nuclear power in return for lashings of aid and rehabilitation from ...
Vote, vote and vote again; Taiwan.(Taiwan's legislative elections)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Read her nails: Ma Ying-jeou is innocent Government and opposition limber up for March's presidential poll WITH the new year, election season has arrived in Taiwan. Parliamentary and presidential elections loom in the next three months. As always, the government in ...
A la Modi; Gujarat.(India's BJP triumph in Gujarat)(Bharatiya Janata Party)
Jan 05, 2008 ... The chief minister wins again THE teetotal state of Gujarat, in the west of India, has once again revealed a taste for a strong political brew. On December 23rd a vote count showed that the state's chief minister, Narendra Modi, romped home to another big victory in elections to ...
Truce and fiction; Sri Lanka.(Sri Lanka's truce called off)
Jan 05, 2008 ... The government and the Tigers stop pretending they have a ceasefire THE six-year-old ceasefire agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had long been in tatters, as the two sides had already resumed their 25-year-old war. On January ...
Counting Thaksin's blessings; Thailand.(Thailand votes for democracy)(Thaksin Shinawatra)
Jan 05, 2008 ... By electing allies of the deposed prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, Thais have voted against the 2006 coup. But the country's worries are not over yet IN STARK contrast to the terrible political violence in Pakistan and Kenya, Thailand's election, on December 23rd, was mostly ...
Sayonara, salaryman - Employment in Japan.
Jan 05, 2008 ... Images of days gone by Once the cornerstone of the economy, the paternalistic relationship between Japan's companies and their salaried employees is crumbling WHEN they were young they might spend the night at the office, sleeping under their desks. For years they ...
The spider's stratagem; Pakistan's nuclear ambitions.(Book review)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Pakistan's role in developing and disseminating nuclear-weapons technology around the world has long been known to America, a new book contends DURING a visit last year to Washington, DC, to try to convince George Bush's administration that she was theanswer to Pakistan's ...
A black and white case; The importance of economics.(Economic Facts and Fallacies)(Book review)
Jan 05, 2008 ... . AT SOME point in the past 20 years the interested amateur began to struggle to keep up with economic theory. It was just too hard to enjoy the latest academic work unless you had a head for higher mathematics. Recently, however, some writers, notably Paul Krugman in the New ...
HP sauce; Amazon worldwide bestsellers.(The Secret)(Brief article)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Food, fun and emotional fulfilment filled 2007's bestseller lists--and Harry Potter EVERYBODY knows who the world's bestselling writer was last year. But how many people realise that the second biggest selling author after J.K. Rowling was a blonde Australian television producer ...
An outsider looking in; American social history.(Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets)(Book review)
Jan 05, 2008 ... IN THE bleak history of America's poor, the construction of Robert Taylor Homes was a low point. Finished in 1962 and torn down just in the past decade, the project was America's biggest public housing scheme, its 28 towers home to almost 30,000 residents in Chicago's South Side. ...
Expressionists at war; German art.
Jan 05, 2008 ... Diet of worms German images of the first world war continue to surprise AN EXHIBITION at the Musee Maillol in Paris about the brutal and brutalising effects of the first world war, as recorded by a handful of German Expressionist artists, has been drawing crowds of ...
Dominoes on the skyline; Commercial property.(Prices are falling fast)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Collapsing markets suggest a mini-subprime crisis in the making FROM up high, London is a picture of vigorous renewal. In just about every direction, construction cranes point contemplatively to the skies. They also point to the great boom that has taken place in commercial ...
Birthday politics; National Health Service.(Health-care politics in 2008)
Jan 05, 2008 ... As the NHS turns 60, politicians fight to blow out the candles NO SOONER had the new year begun than the parties grabbed scalpels and started scrapping for advantage in the operating theatre. In a message to health-service staff, Gordon Brown said this would be "the year in ...
The Mighty Atom; Bagehot.(The meaning of "Strictly Come Dancing")(Bruce Forsyth)
Jan 05, 2008 ... The meaning of Britain's favourite television programme IT IS hard to explain the enduring appeal of Bruce Forsyth--especially, perhaps, to anyone who isn't British. Mr Forsyth, who turns 80 next month, sports a silly toupee and an elongated chin. The jokes he makes in his ...
The morning after the night before; Drinking.(Don't blame pubs)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Legless It's not when you imbibe but how much that counts VOMIT and broken glass are as much a part of the festive season in binge-prone Britain as are crackers and tinsel. This year, though, drinkers took the customary bender further than usual. Calls to ambulance ...
Still with us; Victorian diseases.(The return of rickets and tuberculosis)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Two pre-modern ailments are making a comeback AS BEFITS an industrialised country, Britain's public-health problems are those of wealth rather than poverty. But beneath headlines about fat, cigarettes and a national epidemic of drunkenness, two diseases that were believed ...
Guarding British soil; Immigration controls.(A new points-based system)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Britain's immigration regime, long one of Europe's most liberal, is to tighten up. Will it secure the jobs of British workers--or those of MPs? DURING dull moments in the office, British workers may while away the time looking at the website of Australia's immigration ...
Now hear this; Focus on audio and video.(Brief article)
Jan 05, 2008 ... The library is found at:http://audiovideo.economist.com Listen online to the argument that African development depends, ultimately, on better leaders OVER the holidays The Economist launched an audio and video library, a collection of interviews, conversations with ...
Latkes and vodka - Germany's Jews.(Jewish life in today's Germany)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Remembrance of things past Immigrants from the former Soviet Union are transforming Jewish life in Germany IN 1938 Julius Schoeps's parents did what many German Jews who were prescient or lucky did at the time: they left. They went to Sweden, where Julius's father ...
Tax bonanza; Italy's fiscal policy.(Tax worries in Italy)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Slow growth, rising taxes: an unhappy combination for Italians THE Italian language has no word for hangover. Yet the Italian people began 2008 with a worse one than most. Just before Christmas they learnt that in 2006 they were officially overtaken by Spain in GDP per head (see ...
Shop-worn arguments; Charlemagne.(The lunacy of retailing rules)
Jan 05, 2008 ... What strict national rules on shopping hours and sales reveal about European views of competition ARE you glum about brashly commercial holiday seasons? Annoyed when winter sales start earlier every year? Then Charlemagne has the place for you. Pick the right European country, ...
Sarkozy's testing year ahead; France.(Looking forward to hard reforms)(Nicolas Sarkozy)
Jan 05, 2008 ... France looks forward to more controversial reforms and more protests--all at a time when the European economy is slowing THE economic mood may be souring fast, but Nicolas Sarkozy still managed to bring some festive cheer to his electorate over the holiday period. His liaison ...
A country on the brink - Pakistan.(Pakistan after Benazir Bhutto)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Cast votes, not stones The assassination of Benazir Bhutto seems to assure a turbulent election campaign and strengthen the likelihood of an unstable government FOR some time Pakistan has been the main contender for the title of most dangerous country on earth. Since ...
An old Chinese myth; Economics focus.(The effect of an American downturn on China will hurt less than popularly imagined)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Contrary to popular wisdom, China's rapid growth is not hugely dependent on exports MOST people suppose that China's economic success depends on exporting cheap goods to the rich world. If so, its growth would be seriously dented by a stuttering American economy. Headline ...
Deja vu; The euro area.(The euro area faces a challenging environment as it enters the new year)
Jan 05, 2008 ... The euro area is not immune to the ills that afflict America and Britain EARLY in the new year of 2001, Lucas Papademos attended his first meeting of the European Central Bank's (ECB) rate-setting council. Mr Papademos was there to represent Greece, which had just joined the ...
And God created alpha; Buttonwood.(Techniques to replicate hedge-fund returns beg some difficult questions)
Jan 05, 2008 ... A looming challenge for the fund-management industry A LOT of people would like to earn hedge-fund returns. But they are nervous about paying the fees that hedge-fund managers like to charge, and about the risks those managers take. That creates a great opportunity ...
Testing the waters; Bond insurance.(Warren Buffett gets into the bond-insurance business)(Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corporation )
Jan 05, 2008 ... There's more where that came from America's most admired investor dips a toe in a troubled market "BE FEARFUL when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful." Thus wrote Warren Buffett in the 2006 annual report of Berkshire Hathaway, his holding ...
Building wealth; Japan's property markets.(The Japanese government wants to stimulate a resale market for houses)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Homes in Japan last for only 30 years. The government wants to change that HOUSES in Japan are supposed to be built to withstand earthquakes. Even so, few of them defy demolition for more than a few decades. The housing stock is amazingly young: more than 60% of all Japanese ...
The sun sets on Cotonou; Trade.(The EU negotiates new trade agreements with former colonies)(Cotonou, Benin)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Ripe for renegotiation An end-of-year rush to replace an outdated trade agreement JUNIOR LODGE, a trade negotiator for the 15 members of the Caribbean Forum, describes the signing of the group's new trade agreement with the European Union (EU) on December 16th as a ...
Page1Chart.(confidence survey of executive)(Brief article)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Spirits are weighed down, according to the latest global business barometer, a quarterly confidence survey of more than 1,000 executives conducted for The Economist by the Economist Intelligence Unit, its sister company. The overall confidence index, which measures the balance of ...
The rewards of beavering away; The United Nations.(The UN's South Korean boss lacks charisma but has learned on the job)(Ban Ki-moon)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Not just a stony face: after Algeria's bomb The UN's new secretary-general is neither a dazzler nor a grandstander, but (at last) he has some things to show for his long hours and dogged phone calls ON DECEMBER 31st African Union troops in Darfur exchanged green ...
A very African coup; Kenya.(Kenya's contested election)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Kenya's president steals an election, showing utter contempt for democracy and his people THE mayhem that killed hundreds of people following Kenya's election on December 27th completes a depressing cycle of democratic abuses in Africa's biggest countries. Nigeria held its own ...
- Keep the borders open; Global migration.
Jan 05, 2008 ... [c]Alex Webb / Magnum The backlash against immigrants in the rich world is a threat to prosperity everywhere ITALIANS blame gypsies from Romania for a spate of crime. British politicians of all stripes promise to curb the rapid immigration of recent years. Voters in ...
Aspirin, not morphine; America's economy.
Jan 05, 2008 ... America's economy will be weak in 2008, but policymakers should dispense the pain-killers with care MORE drugs do not always speed a patient's recovery. And strong medicine can have unpleasant side-effects. These medical homilies are worth bearing in mind as America's economy ...
Peak nationalism; The oil price.
Jan 05, 2008 ... Oil keeps getting more expensive--but not because it is running out NEW YEAR'S EVE has been and gone, but for oilmen, the party continues. On January 2nd, helped across the line by a New York trader eager for bragging rights, the first business day of the year, the price of ...
The world's most dangerous place - The world's most dangerous place; Pakistan.(Fixing Pakistan)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Nothing else has worked: it is time for Pakistan to try democracy THE war against Islamist extremism and the terrorism it spawns is being fought on many fronts. But it may well be in Pakistan that it is won or lost. It is not only that the country's lawless frontier lands ...
The good, the bad and the president; Nigeria.(Nigeria's anti-corruption chief is removed from office)(Economic and Financial Crimes Commission's Nuhu Ribadu)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Nuhu Ribadu; too good at his job A doughty fighter of corruption is sent away for re-education NIGERIANS are painfully aware of how much corruption has cost their country--over $400 billion, according to official estimates. That is the equivalent of about two-thirds ...
Yo, anyone who fears Iran; America and the Middle East.(President Bush's first full visit to the Middle East)
Jan 05, 2008 ... George Bush is heading off for a tour of the Middle East. He will not be greeted as a conquering hero THE smart people are getting out of Jerusalem next week. Traffic mayhem is assured as George Bush and his entourage, about 800 souls, guarded by thousands of Israeli police, are ...
Twilight robbery, daylight murder; Kenya's elections.(Kenya's dodgy presidential election)
Jan 05, 2008 ... After a stolen election, ethnic cleansing and even the threat of civil war THE decision to return Kenya's 76-year-old incumbent president, Mwai Kibaki, to office was not made by the Kenyan people but by a small group of hardline leaders from Mr Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe. They made ...
Benazir Bhutto.(Obituary)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani politician, was killed on December 27th, aged 54 WHEN Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was deposed as Pakistan's prime minister in 1977, his 24-year-old daughter, Benazir, looked on the bright side. She expected General Zia ul-Haq, the coup leader, to hold ...
Open up.(Open up)(migrant labor)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Despite a growing backlash, the boom in migration has been mostly good for both sending and recipient countries, says Adam Roberts ENOCH POWELL had a point. The Conservative British politician gave warning, nearly four decades ago, that immigrants were causing such strife that ...
Send me a number.(Send me a number)(remittances)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Flying money in the Seven Sisters Road Migrants' remittances help ease poverty back home, but they are not a cure-all SEVEN years into the century a remarkable figure was produced. Foreigners in America sent home $275m in a single year, a total not far short of the ...
Keep out.(Keep out)(border control)
Jan 05, 2008 ... India's way with a fence Voters like the idea of tougher borders, but the cost is high and the benefits are limited ILLEGAL migrants risk their lives to better themselves. Europeans are more aware of Africans drowning in the Mediterranean in the summer holiday ...
You don't have to be rich.(You don't have to be rich)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Turfed out of Little London Developing countries attract migrants too THE complaints sound familiar. Foreigners steal our jobs. Aliens cause a rise in crime. The corrupt interior ministry cannot cope. The border is ineffective and deporting illegal migrants does not ...
Of bedsheets and bison grass vodka.(Of bedsheets and bison grass vodka)(migrants)
Jan 05, 2008 ... They need her Rich economies gain from high levels of migration, but the benefits are unevenly spread FOR the past two decades or so, high rates of immigration into OECD countries have coincided with prolonged economic growth in much of the Western world. Consider ...
Circulate or integrate?(circular migration in Europe)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Work is here, but where is home? A choice of migration policies THOSE setting migration policy in rich countries face an almost impossible task. The demands of demography and economics--shrinking and ageing workforces, a growing shortage of people to fill jobs ...
The long term.(The long term)(global migration)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Available now: young risk-takers, willing to travel, lots of get-up-and-go Too much or not enough? WHAT will happen to global migration in the next half-century? Whether they think migration is good or bad, experts agree on one thing: that governments are generally ...
The politics of the gun.(The politics of the gun)(public hostility to migration)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Woolly thinking Migration has once again become a touchy political issue UNTIL recently, politicians who inveighed against immigration could expect support from an angry minority of voters in many Western countries. Some, like Australia's Pauline Hanson, won moments ...
How to live forever; Abolishing ageing.
Jan 05, 2008 ... It looks unlikely that medical science will abolish the process of ageing. But it no longer looks impossible "IN THE long run," as John Maynard Keynes observed, "we are all dead." True. But can the short run be elongated in a way that makes the long run longer? And if so, how, ...
Eyes on the prize; The Methuselah mouse.(genetic engineering)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Not so much designing a better mousetrap as designing a better mouse TO ENCOURAGE people to take his ideas seriously, Aubrey de Grey, the originator of the strategies for engineered negligible senescence, has organised a competition. He is offering a prize for the development ...
Primary colour; On the campaign trail.(Primary colour)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Silent but deadly "I'm sorry, I don't talk to the press and that applies to you, unfortunately." Chelsea Clinton refuses to be interviewed by any journalists, even a nine-year-old reporter for Scholastic News. Associated Press, December 31st Having your ...
A tale of two mayors; Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg.(The two mayors with a chance of the presidency)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Room for only one Far from Iowa, two would-be presidents are biding their time AS THE other candidates battled frostbite and each other in Iowa, two men were conspicuously absent. Rudy Giuliani was planning to be in Florida on January 3rd, the day of Iowa's ...
Off track; Chicago's public transport.(Chaos on Chicago)
Jan 05, 2008 ... It's hell on the El Most commuters are miserable, but Chicago's may be the most beleaguered THE city's average commute is not quite America's longest (that honour goes to New York), but in one respect Chicago is unrivalled: the bitterness and passion of the argument ...
The Texas pole tax; Strip clubs.(The strip-club tax)
Jan 05, 2008 ... A good cause, but a bad policy THERE is a new price to be paid for looking at naked women in Texas. On January 1st the state's strip clubs began imposing a $5 surcharge for each visitor. The "pole tax," as it is commonly called, is expected to bring the state an additional $40m ...
American pastoral; Parks.(Parks in America)
Jan 05, 2008 ... What a new park reveals about attitudes to public space JUST east of downtown Irvine, in southern California, a bucolic landscape is under construction. Little by little, a former military airport is being dismantled, to be replaced by grass, trees and a canyon 70 feet (21 ...
The 40-year itch; Lexington.(The shadow of 1968)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Can America ever escape from the shadow of 1968? AMERICA is greeting the New Year with a spasm of nostalgia for an old one. Tom Brokaw's new book, "Boom!", is a virtual reunion of the class of '68 (the high point is a photograph of the young Dick Cheney astride a motorbike and ...
George Bush's last year; The presidency.(George Bush's last year)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Can the president achieve anything before he leaves the White House? FEW presidents have a pleasant time of it in their last year in office. Their chickens come home to roost. Their political capital dries up. Their advisers start worrying where their next pay cheque will come ...
Winging it; Business jets.(Flying at the double)(Aerion Corporation)
Jan 05, 2008 ... The best thing about a new supersonic plane is how well it flies slowly NOTHING, it seems, can slow the demand for business jets. Even a recession in America is unlikely to put a dent in the planemakers' bulging order books. In 2007, as new customers from China, Russia and ...
The social technologist; Face value.(Yossi Vardi)
Jan 05, 2008 ... Yossi Vardi, an Israeli entrepreneur, thinks the technology industry should do more to address social problems "IF YOU print this, I will kill you." Yossi Vardi, a veteran Israeli entrepreneur and venture investor, says it politely, but this is clearly not one of his many jokes ....
A question of demand; Software as a service.(NetSuite Inc. and Salesforce.com Inc.)
Jan 05, 2008 ... What NetSuite's flotation says about the software industry INVESTORS appear ready to suspend disbelief yet again, at least when it comes to technology firms. On December 20th they drove up shares of NetSuite, which provides business software that runs inside a web browser, by ...
Whither the great wave? Mergers and acquisitions.
Jan 05, 2008 ... The greatest ever merger wave is changing shape--but it may not be breaking yet "IT'S A bump in the road, but not an unhealthy one," says David Rubenstein. The morning after paying $21.3m for a copy of the Magna Carta dating from 1297, the boss of the Carlyle Group, a big ...