Group items tagged

"the "commanding heights" (large-scale industry, foreign trade, banking, and transport) "

Excerpt from book Commanding Heights

The Iranian national currency, the rial has been in steady decline for months, and the only method that the government has used to combat the issue is to print more money-- not the best plan of action.

I agree with what Alexander said. I think it would be interesting to investigate whether or not the Obama administration has considered applying economic pressure to Iran in order to achieve diplomatic means. With Iran in such an unstable economic state (which I am surprised isn't covered more by American news media), why would the US government even consider using military force against Iran if the Ahmadinejad regime could be destabilized in another way. We'll see how Obama and Romney treat this issue in the foreign policy debate, as Obama could use an argument based on Iran's economic instability in going against Romney's position on using military force against Iran.

yes!

All eyes are on China as its president and prime minister, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, plan to implement economic liberalization while increasing the power of the state political party. This has drawn criticism from political scientists, as discussed in the article, because of its apparent contradiction: how can you encourage markets and the private sector to open up more if you don't want to decrease the eminence of the state (and state control over sectors)? The reforms proposed by the state and government heads will try to make Chinese economic growth more sustainable in more ways than one, a task the previous president Hu Jintao shirked away from. Some political scientists also believe the problems arising from the reforms won't originate from "ideological conservatism", but rather from state-owned, controlled, or subsidized industries that do not want the increased market competition. Protectionism, anyone?