Property rights and China’s future of development
Land reform and establishing a more clearly defined property rights will become the imperative for China's next stage of development. Watch this video and you will know why.
Also read my recent piece on China's prospect of catching up the US.
Charlie Rose Conversation with Mohamed El-Erian
El-Erian, PIMCO’s co-CEO and former CIO at Harvard Management (courtesy of Big Picture).
Another ripple effect of high gasoline price
WSJ reports: high gas price causes Americans to cut back driving, reducing Federal fuel tax income, which is the financial source to repair and maintain highways and mass-transit systems.
A report to be released Monday by the Transportation Department shows that over the past seven months, Americans have reduced their driving by more than 40 billion miles. Because of high gasoline prices, they drove 3.7% fewer miles in May than they did a year earlier, the report says, more than double the 1.8% drop-off seen in April.
The cutback furthers many U.S. policy goals, such as reducing oil consumption and curbing emissions. But, coupled with a rapid shift away from gas-guzzling vehicles, it also means consumers are paying less in federal fuel taxes, which go largely to help finance highway and mass-transit systems. As a result, many such projects may have to be pared down or eliminated.