Commentary on China's real estate meltdown, India’s corrupt economy, Armenia’s heavy legacies, reforming British welfare, art and life, Gaga and Indonesia, and Mulcair’s cracks.

China breaking.

An American Perspective from China -- China Real Estate Unravels
As a prelude to a broader analysis of China’s GDP, and the accuracy of its official GDP figures, I want to start by examining the national real estate statistics for the first four months of 2012.

Indian economy still serving vested interests after all these years.

Financial Times -- India’s growth threatened by old abuses
During a recent breakfast with an investor visiting Mumbai from a large western fund, the conversation quickly turned to the question of the moment: what ails India?

The weight of history.

New York Review of Books -- Armenia Survives!
Depending on which figures you look at, Armenia’s population hovers around three million people.

Reforming welfare, the long battle.

Telegraph -- Getting to grips with the nation’s welfare
Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms are welcome but we need to go further.

Quote worth quoting.

“Over the coming years, the country will need to think long and hard about the future of welfare, and how to return it to Beveridge’s ideal of a system based on need, rather than demand.”

Finding redemption in the saddest places.

Economist -- Enacting forgiveness and redemption
IT IS painfully hot and dry in the rodeo arena at Louisiana State Penitentiary, known as Angola, the largest maximum-security prison in America.

Lady Gaga’s sold out concert refused permit by government because it will corrupt morality. (ed’s note – just what are they thinking?)

Asia Sentinel -- Lady Gaga Meets Radical Islam in Jakarta
A decision by Indonesian national police to ban a sold-out June 3 performance in Jakarta by the American pop star Lady Gaga, which has already sold a whopping 52,000 tickets, has pushed the country’s laid-back urbanites into outrage at the country’s thin crust of Islamic militants.

 

Telephone

Tom’s cracks.

Maclean’s -- Tom Mulcair and the Tar Messengers
One obvious response to Tom Mulcair’s remarks about the Western premiers — apparently they are Stephen Harper’s “messengers” — is concern.