Word: homely
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...other interesting bit about the mortgage-interest deduction is that policymakers never intended it to help promote homeownership - something that many people assume to be the case and use to help frame their thinking about the appropriateness of using the tax code to boost home-buying. Rather, the deduction is an artifact of the 1894 federal income-tax code, under which all interest was deductible, since pretty much all interest was a business expense. There weren't really loans to buy houses back then. In other words, a massive and costly cornerstone of American housing policy isn't even something...
...good news with the home-buyer tax credit is that we do, in fact, have a choice...
...decades later, China has fully embraced globalization at home and has burst onto the world's stage in a largely positive fashion. It now has both interests and a presence in parts of the world completely new to China - such as Latin America and the Middle East - and enjoys rising international prestige. Beijing has generally managed its relations well with the major world powers: the U.S., Russia and the E.U. It has transformed its regional diplomacy in Asia, reasserted a role in Africa and become much more deeply engaged with international organizations and across a range of global-governance issues...
...surrounding greater industry oversight may paper over a divisive philosophical gulf. The U.S. and Britain, with their instinctive support and dependence on free-market finance, are increasingly at odds with France and Germany, who are more skeptical about the benefits of unfettered capitalism and hope to win votes at home by controlling its excesses. But even among native English speakers, there's an intriguing debate taking place about the limits of finance, spearheaded by Adair Turner, the chairman of Britain's market regulator, the Financial Services Authority. To the dismay of some in the City of London, he is arguing...
Battle fatigue - or its equivalent among those safe at home - is inevitable, especially after eight years fighting the same war. Things might be different if people had a sense that Afghanistan was making progress. Instead, this summer saw an escalation in violence and a steady stream of fatalities. The number of European soldiers lost - 35 Germans, 31 French, 15 Italians - may not be big in comparison to the 830 Americans killed. But as a proportion of numbers deployed, casualties have been significant. An incident like that in August last year, when 10 French soldiers were killed in a single Taliban...