| | | | Fareed: America's Dysfunction Is Helping China Rise | | Chinese President Xi Jinping has signaled that China "sees itself as the world's other superpower, positioning itself as the alternative, if not rival, to the United States," Fareed writes in his latest Washington Post column. That it can do so says as much about America's decline as it does China's rise.
"In part, China's new stance toward the world, and the way it has been received, are a result of the continued strength of the Chinese economy and the growing political confidence of the party under Xi. But these changes are also occurring against the backdrop of the total collapse of political and moral authority of the United States in the world," Fareed argues.
"China has aggressively sought to improve its image in the world, spending billions on foreign aid, promising trade and investment, and opening Confucius Institutes to promote Chinese culture.
"Meanwhile, consider how the United States must look now to the rest of the world. It is politically paralyzed, unable to make major decisions. Amidst a ballooning debt, its investments in education, infrastructure, and science and technology are seriously lacking. Politics has become a branch of reality TV, with daily insults, comebacks and color commentary. America's historical leadership role in the world has been replaced by a narrow and cramped ideology. Foreign policy has become a partisan game, with Washington breaking agreements, shifting course and reversing policy almost entirely to score political points at home." "The gathering comes at the very end of a long trip to Asia that features a robust agenda, designed to demonstrate Washington's commitment to the region. The summit remains the only opportunity for the president of the United States to sit down and collectively engage his Asia-Pacific counterparts on the main political and security issues of the day," they write. "Trump will actually be in the Philippines, where the summit is being held, as it gets underway. Departing as it begins can only be viewed as a snub and will undermine whatever else the president may have achieved in the previous 11 days."
| | Why Catalan Crisis Is About Far More than Spain's Future | | | The question of what happens to Catalonia after the region's parliament voted Friday for independence is about far more than Spain's future, argues Simon Jenkins in The Guardian. Europe's leaders need to get their heads out of the sand. "Economies globalize and national governments centralize, and as a result regional identities become more assertive and belligerent. Not just Catalans but Scots, Basques, Corsicans, Flemings, Silesians and Venetians show no signs of diminishing their plea for more autonomy, whether heavy or 'lite.' The Catalans are merely the vanguard of a movement against the clumsy bureaucratic elites that rule Brussels as they do Madrid – not to mention London. Hence it is pointless for Madrid simply to read the rule book and the riot act to solve this crisis," Jenkins writes. "It is clear that the Catalan president, Carles Puigdemont, is desperate to avoid a cataclysmic break with Madrid, knowing that his own people are deeply divided in their separatism. There has to be the sort of deal that there was with the Basques in the 1990s – perhaps even more radical." | | The Dangers of Stamping the Trump Brand on the Fed: Prasad | | | Tax reform and trade agreements may grab the headlines, but some upcoming decisions for President Trump on Federal Reserve vacancies could have just as significant an impact on America's economy – and its standing in the world, suggests Eswar Prasad for Project Syndicate.
"The Fed has international credibility precisely because it is independent from any political master. But the Fed also has legitimacy, because it is accountable to the government and to the people. That accountability is, or at least should be, based on pre-established economic targets – namely, low inflation and unemployment – rather than on the political whims of whoever is in power at a given moment," Prasad writes.
"A Fed dominated by Trump acolytes might prioritize economic growth over other objectives, such as maintaining financial stability and low inflation. But while this approach may boost GDP growth for a brief period, it would hurt growth in the long run, by fueling inflation and financial-market instability."
"If Trump does try to press the Fed into the service of his own political agenda, he could do irreparable harm to an institution that ensures financial stability, low and stable inflation, and sustainable growth. Rather than putting "America first," he would be undercutting the dollar's status as the dominant global reserve currency, and clearing the way for others to fill its role in global financial markets." | | Asia Takes America's (Aging) Billionaires Crown | | | The world's richest got much, much richer in 2016 – especially in Asia, according to the latest edition of the UBS/PwC Billionaires Report, with the total wealth of billionaires across the globe rising 17% last year, up from $5.1 trillion to $6 trillion. "For the first time, Asian billionaires outnumbered their U.S. counterparts. If the current trend continues, the total wealth of Asian billionaires will overtake that of their counterparts in the U.S. in four years. Asia's economic expansion saw, on average, a new billionaire every other day," the report notes. "At the end of 2016, Asian billionaires averaged 59 years-old. In China, where wealth is growing fastest, the average age was 55. By contrast, the average age of billionaires in Europe and the U.S. was 66 and 67 respectively. On average, Asians break into the billion-dollar bracket at the age of 53, six years earlier than their U.S. peers and seven years earlier than the Europeans." | | Does Saudi Arabia's New Citizen Play By Her Own Rules? | | | Saudi Arabia made history this week when it bestowed citizenship on a robot called Sophia. But not everyone in the country is happy about it, writes Aaron Mak for Slate. "Sophia has cameras and AI software that allow her to 'make eye contact' and recognize people. She also has voice recognition capabilities and can become smarter by talking with people," Mak writes. "[But] social media users criticized the fact that she was not wearing an abaya and appeared to be unaccompanied by a male guardian, two illegal acts for a woman in the country. Others pointed out that the fact that she didn't get in trouble means that this robotic woman has more rights than an actual woman in Saudi Arabia. "However, the abaya might be a moot point since Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman plans to put Sophia in a forthcoming megacity called Neom -- a center for business and tourism that will not require women to wear abayas. Robots are expected to outnumber people in the city." | | | | | | |
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