While Mao Zedong was the founder of communist China, Deng Xiaoping was the architect of its economic miracle and great power resurgence. Even as China was going through spectacular economic growth during the 1980s and 1990s, Deng cautioned the country’s leaders to “bide your time and hide your capabilities.” The first part of his advice was spot on as China was navigating the difficult task of building and modernizing in an international environment not entirely favorable to the country. By conc

Viewpoints Aug. 1, 2012

NEW YORK ― For years, climate scientists have been warning the world that the heavy use of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) threatens the world with human-induced climate change. The rising atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, a byproduct of burning fossil fuels, would warm the planet and change rainfall and storm patterns and raise sea levels. Now those changes are hitting in every direction, even as powerful corporate lobbies and media propagandists like Rupert Murdoch try to

Viewpoints Aug. 1, 2012

Former Citigroup honcho Sanford I. Weill is widely seen as the man most responsible for the rise of “too big to fail” banks and, by extension, for the enormous federal bailouts they received in 2008 and 2009. Last week, however, Weill shocked the financial industry when he said that megabanks should be broken into smaller pieces, separating the arms that take federally insured deposits from the ones making bets on Wall Street. Lawmakers resisted such a straightforward approach when they enacted

Viewpoints July 31, 2012

It’s hip these days for everyone from world leaders to the Occupy Wall Street crowd to attack free-market, limited-government capitalism as wild and in need of control because it’s supposedly the cause of the world economic collapse. This is a myth. It’s too much government-facilitated cronyism that’s causing the mayhem wrongfully attributed to capitalism. This trend now continues in the context of the London Olympics and its private security outsourcing.Security firm G4S fell drastically short

Viewpoints July 30, 2012

State capitalism, according to Bloomberg Businessweek, is a serious rival to U.S. and European businesses, which face being excluded from some markets. “Instead of trying to prevent ― or worse, dismiss altogether ― the rise of state-capitalist systems,” the magazine argues, “U.S. and European companies and governments would do better to learn from them.” A similar case was made in the 1980s, when Japan’s state-supported conglomerates briefly threatened to take over the world. For a moment ― as I

Viewpoints July 30, 2012

Despite huge political and social changes that have occurred over the last 60 years, electoral politics in Pakistan has remained largely a family enterprise. A limited number of families continue to dominate Pakistan’s legislatures, turning them into oligarchies.This stranglehold of a narrow power elite on the country’s politics was highlighted by the victory of Abdul Qadir Gilani in the by-election on the seat vacated by his father Yousuf Raza Gilani.Although the former prime minister himself i

Viewpoints July 30, 2012

As the world struggles to deal with its two largest foreign-affairs dilemmas, Syria and Iran, resolutely standing in the way are the BRICs.That’s the acronym foreign-policy wonks use for the block of nations that routinely refuses to join the multilateral world of diplomacy, dominated by the United States and the West. They seem to glory in being contrary. The nations are Brazil, Russia, India and China.Russia and China, of course, routinely veto any United Nations Security Council resolution cr

Viewpoints July 29, 2012

Here’s a question for you: Would you rather have more money, or keep your current income and see the rich become less wealthy? It’s not a trick question. Any member of the middle class would rather have more money. Income inequality may be a problem for society at large, but it isn’t a concern for those struggling to make ends meet. Give more to those with less, and they will be better off. Making the rich poorer does nothing for the middle class ― it may even hurt ― except assuage some jealousy

Viewpoints July 29, 2012

Lots of things are still very wrong with the U.S. economy, but this is one that should be getting more attention: Census figures for 2011 are expected to show the poverty rate jumping to its highest level since the 1960s.Essentially, all the anti-poverty public policy of the last 50 years ― the war on poverty and the expansion of the social safety net, the massive private-sector gains spurred by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and Bill Clinton in the 1990s ― has been rendered ineffective by the meltd

Viewpoints July 29, 2012

Murders ― especially random mass murders ― are frightening. And when we’re frightened, we look for explanations that will restore some sense of safety to the world. That’s one reason so many people are speculating about whether James Holmes, the suspect in Friday’s horrific Colorado shootings, is mentally ill.In some ways it would be reassuring to find out that he is. Then we could begin figuring out new ways to keep ourselves safe. Some people would argue for better outreach to the mentally ill

Viewpoints July 29, 2012

The London Olympics open Friday, and let’s hope they go well. The host country could use some good news. This week’s figures for U.K. national output showed a surprisingly big contraction of 0.7 percent in the second quarter, deepening a double-dip recession. There’s no longer much question about it: Prime Minister David Cameron’s government needs to loosen up its austerity-focused fiscal policy. Admittedly, the latest growth figures are puzzling, leading some analysts to ask whether they can be

Viewpoints July 27, 2012