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This just in: Somalia hasn't gotten any better. For the third year in a row, the African nation topped the annual Corruption Perceptions Index, produced by the global watchdog group Transparency International, because of concerns over rampant piracy off its coasts and the crumbling government. More troubling for the U.S. and its allies, Afghanistan, viewed as the second most corrupt nation, is up three spots from 2008, as its Taliban insurgency has worsened. Iraq, still bedeviled by reconstruction woes, placed fifth...
...January 2008, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index was launched. It was designed to work like a Dow Jones average of attitude. At least 1,000 people are surveyed daily, 350 days a year. (You can see how happy people are broken down by congressional district; Utah turns out to be the merriest state, West Virginia the glummest.) When the markets tanked last fall, happiness did too, and anyone who has lost his or her job, house or health care is probably still in a world of pain. But here's the funny thing: by this past summer, overall well...
...dismal story. In the 10 years ending Dec. 31, 2008, investors suffered a negative 3.15% real return in U.S. stocks, constituting the fourth worst 10-year period since 1871. Given the pummeling the stock market has taken this decade - even after this year's rally, the S&P 500 index remains 32% below its all-time high reached in October 2007 - many are now questioning whether stocks should be the cornerstone of investors' long-run portfolios...
...Jesper Koll, president and CEO of Tantallon Research Japan, argues that when falling prices are factored in, the country's nascent recovery is weaker than recent positive GDP growth numbers suggest. "We've got the consumer price index falling by 2.5%, wages falling by about 2.0%, winter bonuses falling by about 14%, and the Nikkei (stock market index) going down," he says. "All the growth we're seeing is because of arithmetic." Complicating matters is the strength of the Japanese yen, which has gained 6% on the dollar in the last three months. Prices generally decline in a strong currency...
...bank, inflation and asset bubbles in an environment of easy money evidently now trump worries of a second-dip recession. Its October and November decisions, which raised interest rates from 3% to 3.5%, are meant to keep inflation between 2% to 3% in 2010. The country's consumer price index as of September actually rose just 1.3%, but the fear is that the resurgent economy and government's $38 billion in cash handouts and infrastructure spending will push inflation above...