Word: worthing
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...proclaimed--the worst crisis since the Great Depression. But you don't have to agree with Phil Gramm that this is a "mental recession" to acknowledge that things don't look quite so bleak beyond Wall Street--unless you're struggling to make payments on a house that's worth 30% less than the mortgage. Then you're in crisis. Most Americans aren't. The economy still seems to be growing. Job losses have been manageable. Yes, people are very unhappy about the economy. But day to day, they're more worried about the price of gas than the soundness...
Running against Washington is the oldest play in the book; even Presidents up for re-election have been known to try to run as outsiders, and rookie candidates should be optimistic about where voters fall now on the change-vs.-experience spectrum. It's worth remembering what usually happens to amateurs who are ambitious enough to think they can vault to the top of the political pile: they end up acting just like the professionals who are already there. But maybe this year really will be different after...
...everyone agrees that Hizballah's gains were worth the price paid by Lebanon. A few anti-Hizballah media outlets pointed out that the true cost of the prisoner swap should include destruction wrought by the July war: 1,200 people killed, 400,000 wounded, 1 million displaced and $15 billion in economic damage. Yet, after more than 18 months of internal political stuggles that culminated in a brief armed takeover of Beirut by Hizballah last May, the group has for now effectively ended all debate over its continued bearing of arms. It has secured a veto power in the Cabinet...
...Turkey's currency. That said, political Islam would indeed pose a future threat to the modern lifestyles of many Turks - and, despite the AKP's protestations, it's not unreasonable to suspect that the party might want to strengthen Islam's role in political life. Still, it's worth keeping such worries from spiraling out of control. After all, if secularists undermine Turkey's democratic institutions in the name of averting a still nebulous risk, their cure may prove far worse than the disease they fear...
...global sport of tax evasion has its moments of intrigue, but it's usually well worth playing, as trillions of dollars in assets find their way to Caribbean shores and Alpine enclaves, safely hidden from the world's tax authorities by no-tell bankers. Or so many ultra-rich Americans have long assumed...