Word: formful
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...China have proved that opposites do indeed attract - even economically speaking. China is thrifty to a fault; the U.S. (until recently, anyway) reveled in spending money it didn't have. China was more than happy to send America its excess savings, in the form of investments in U.S. government debt, because that kept interest rates down, which kept consumers spending, which kept the Chinese exporters producing...
Brazil is no stranger to economic crises. In the 1970s and '80s, Latin America's economic giant turned financial mismanagement into an art form. The current global turmoil has not left Brazil unscathed: stock prices, exports and growth are all down. But something interesting is at work this time around, and the best place to see it is in one of Brazil's favelas, the vast urban slums that are desperate even in the best of times. Walk through São Paulo's sprawling Brasilândia, though, and you don't sense the relentless doom and gloom gripping...
...similar career boost for bright students would be helpful in government. The public sector already has plenty of institutions that do the job of a West Point in the form of high-ranking government and public-service schools. The government would be well-served by starting a “Public Service Fellows” program in which students who graduate magna cum laude are put on an official career fast track. Of course, this does not mean that such graduates should be blindly promoted regardless of competence. But simply giving a promise of open doors and professional attention ahead...
...Welcome to the cruel downside of Vélib' - the enormously popular bike-rental scheme offering Parisians a cheap, environmentally friendly form of urban transportation. Since its introduction in July 2007, Paris' Vélib' program has facilitated 42 million rentals by 177,000 people with annual subscriptions to the system and countless others who have rented bikes on a one-off basis. The program allows riders to use credit cards or subscriptions to hop onto one of the program's 20,600 bikes from 1,451 stations around Paris and its nearby suburbs. And the ride is free...
...While the proliferation of bicycles in Paris has created a new form of pushy and irresponsible behavior rivaling that of the city's motorists, it may not, in fact, be true that the worst two-wheeled offenders are usually Vélib' renters - despite the statistics that suggest as much. The number of Paris accidents involving cyclists has exploded 37.2% since the scheme was introduced, surging from 506 crashes in 2006 to nearly 700 in 2007 (including three Vélib' rider deaths that year; there were four in 2008). However, that surging accident rate is largely accounted...