Articles on the sustainability of our lifestyle, credit ratings, America’s liquidity trap, how liberals got seduced by capitalism, China’s cross middle class, stock market correction like 1938 (not 2008) and hopeful Africa.

Turns out the flat world is making it fuller too. Thanks to Evan of Victoria.

New York Times – The Earth is Full
You really do have to wonder whether a few years from now we’ll look back at the first decade of the 21st century — when food prices spiked, energy prices soared, world population surged, tornados plowed through cities, floods and droughts set records, populations were displaced and governments were threatened by the confluence of it all — and ask ourselves: What were we thinking?

The credit rating ladder.

America’s money trap.

Wall Street Journal -- Finding a Prescription for the U.S.'s Money Trap
The attention-grabbing event in the economy over the past week was Thursday's 512.76-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Related.

San Francisco Chronicle -- Reinhart Says Inflation Risks May Keep Fed From QE3: Tom Keene
 The U.S. Federal Reserve may refrain from a third round of asset purchases because of concerns they could drive up prices, said Vincent Reinhart, who was the Fed's chief monetary-policy strategist from 2001 until September 2007.

Related.

Globe and Mail -- World’s leading economies hold urgent talks after U.S. credit downgrade
The world's leading economies on Sunday urgently discussed the stability of financial markets after a historic U.S. credit downgrade rattled investors already worried about European debt crises.

Seduction.

London Review of Books – Socialism in One Country
One of Ed Miliband’s first decisive acts on becoming Labour leader (one of his few decisive acts, sceptics would say) was to appoint as his press secretary a seasoned hack with no illusions about how the media work.

The high speed train crash has raised middle class questions about China’s leadership.

Financial Times – China Crashes into a Middle Class Revolt
When a student asked Sigmund Freud about the meaning of his cigar-smoking habit, the Austrian psychoanalyst is said to have replied: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

2008 will be worse.

Christian Science Monitor – Stock Market Crash: Think 1938 Not 2008
Stock market debacle doesn't necessarily signal a spectacular crash. The stock market may be reacting to prospects of a garden-variety recession.

 

Letting a thousand markets bloom in Africa.

Forbes – Can Africa Become the Land of Milk and Honey?
At a recent Townhall event, under Republican pressure to cut spending, President Barack Obama defended foreign aid.