Word: specializing
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...maybe not. In the past few weeks, another rival to the dollar - created in 1969 but dormant for most of the time since - has made a spectacular re-entry onto the world scene. It goes by the ungainly name of special drawing right (SDR), and it is the currency not of some foreign rival but of the Washington-based and traditionally U.S.-dominated International Monetary Fund (IMF). It isn't even really its own currency, since it derives its value from a "basket" that contains dollars, euros, yen and pounds. (See 25 people to blame for the financial crisis...
...dollar's status as global reserve currency. But borrowing trillions isn't really a ticket to long-run prosperity. In fact, the current economic crisis may have been spawned by huge imbalances in global trade and capital flows that are in part the product of the dollar's special status. Global demand for dollars supplanted demand for U.S. products and services, argues Columbia University economist and longtime SDR fan Joseph Stiglitz, resulting in trade deficits, the decline of U.S. manufacturing - and years of supereasy mortgage credit. (Read "Is the Almighty Dollar Doomed...
...sure this is such a bad thing. There's a reason we tell our kids they're special and can do anything they want. A monolithic culture that puts a ceiling on personal expectations isn't very interesting. One that celebrates differences and self-expression tolerates not only diversity but also the opportunity for individual greatness. Sure, that means some selfishness and entitlement and a few Tila Tequilas, but it also means greater freedom. And it's a whole lot more entertaining. By the end of the year, I'm hoping...
...latest of a series of attacks, a remote-controlled bomb ripped through a music shop in Peshawar on Monday night. The explosion came just hours after Richard Holbrooke, the Obama Administration's special representative to the region, and Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Islamabad for their first visit since Washington announced its new strategy for the region. The morning before, 22 people were killed by a suicide bomber outside a mosque in Chakwal, a Punjabi town known for its links to the army. And on Saturday night, six paramilitary soldiers died after...
Obama has spoken of peeling away "moderate" Taliban members from extremists and reintegrating them into society. The easiest way to do that would be to provide opportunities and jobs. "It's not just about winning hearts and minds," says Ettore Francesco Sequi, the European Union's special representative to Afghanistan. "We also have to fill stomachs. That's the way we - and the Afghan government - will succeed...