Moisés Naím / The World Reacts to Biden’s First 100 Days at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Ask anyone in President Joe Biden’s administration what their key goals are for global leadership and they’ll talk about rekindling U.S. alliances to fight the pandemic and climate change, champion human rights, contain China and Russia, and break with economic isolationism—an ambitious agenda and one that can greatly benefit from the active engagement of Washington’s hemispheric partners. Yet ask Biden’s team about their hemispheric agenda, and the answer you’ll get begins—and, too often, ends—on the United States’ southwestern border. That mismatch is telling.
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Moisés Naím, Thomas Carothers, Marwan Muasher, Lina Khatib, James M. Acton, Jan Techau, Eugene Rumer, Douglas H. Paal, Paul Haenle & Uri Dadush / Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
It was quite a year. The Year in Crisis, 2014, will be remembered for the upheaval that captivated the globe. And it won’t get any easier—the Ukraine conflict, rise of the Islamic State, and the Ebola epidemic aren’t over yet, and new concerns could be lurking just over the horizon.
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Moisés Naím and Uri Dadush / Global Ten at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Political bickering has blinded American leadership to the deeply rooted problems with the U.S. economy. America’s fundamentals remain strong—from its capacity to innovate to its high productivity. But the United States will only make the most of its potential if President Obama takes decisive action and with the support of Congress manages to increase savings, reform a healthcare system that is draining resources, and combat high levels of inequality.
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Moisés Naím, Uri Dadush and Bennett Stancil / Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
With the debt crisis in Europe now entering its second phase, California seems an odd place to turn for guidance. At first glance, California appears to be in the midst of an economic and fiscal crisis that dwarfs Europe's. Its unemployment rate, now more than 12 percent, is one of the highest in the United States and nearly 3 percent more than the EU average; California's home prices have dropped 34 percent since 2007, while in Europe the decline has been moderate; and, over the last three years, the collapse of California's tax receipts produced a cumulative budget deficit of about 40 percent of its revenues, more than twice that of Greece. California's politics are as gridlocked as any in Europe. Political infighting left the state without a budget for the first 100 days of this year.
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Moisés Naím / Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
"Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas…. But, soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil…."
- John Maynard Keynes. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, London: 1936.
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