【经济学人XXXX0403】.

1、袄April 3rd,敖 2010扒A岸ll the parts 班of this copy 胺are taken fro板m岸 HYPERLINK 昂http:/www.ec拔芭, and for stu鞍dy only. 伴A岸ll rights bel阿ong to the or拜iginal publis板her.奥Compiled 办into this for敖m and edited 扮by Zhiguang伴The world thi白s week八Politics this氨 week芭Mar 31st 2010按 | 绊Russian secur耙ity services 搬

2、said that two斑 female suici安de-bombers bl罢ew themselves叭 up on 爸Moscows柏 metro system拜, killing 39 艾people. There芭 was no claim隘 of responsib扒ility, but bl板ame immediate扒ly fell on Is按lamic insurge颁nts from Russ摆ias north Ca隘ucasus region挨. Vladimir Pu敖tin, Russias挨 prime minist凹er, vowed to 哎drag t

3、he bomb笆ers “from the凹 bottom of th般e sewers”. Tw敖o days later,案 two explosio岸ns killed aro碍und a dozen p案eople in the 爸north Caucasu按s region of D案agestan. HYPERLINK /world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15824303 凹The president柏s of Russia a靶nd America co吧nfirmed an ag啊reement to cu颁t their respe扒ctive

4、拜nuclear arsen懊als邦 by about a third. The dea柏l was receive叭d more warmly摆 in Washingto霸n than in Mos唉cow; Sergei L伴avrov, Russia阿s foreign mi扳nister, empha邦sised that Ru瓣ssia could wi邦thdraw from t瓣he arrangemen巴t if America 啊pursues plans爱 for a missil岸e-defence shi斑eld. HYPERLINK /world/displayst

5、ory.cfm?story_id=15833025 叭The Serbian p碍arliament for懊mally apologi案sed for the 1鞍995 隘Srebrenica颁 massacre in 斑which almost 八8,000 Bosnian碍 Muslims were稗 killed. It d埃eclined to de坝scribe the ki板llings as gen蔼ocide. Meanwh坝ile, John She安ehan, a forme拔r supreme all扮ied commander拔 of NATO, sai白d his

6、 recent 般statement bla疤ming the pres伴ence of openl暗y gay UN peac傲ekeepers for 奥making the ma八ssacre possib胺le, was wrong案. HYPERLINK /world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15825726 柏 邦The conservat罢ive coalition拌 led by Silvi氨o Berlusconi 岸outperformed 鞍expectations 疤in 傲Italys昂 regional ele板ctions, winni

7、办ng four of th搬e 13 regions 翱at stake from爸 the left-win扒g opposition.叭 The Northern八 League, Mr B爸erlusconis c安oalition part坝ner, did part俺icularly well绊. HYPERLINK /world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15829868 安Pope Benedict绊 XVI remained霸 resolute as 邦criticism mou翱nted of the r耙ole he played癌, when

8、a card疤inal, in the 凹child-abuse s暗candals engul凹fing the 佰Catholic chur凹ch袄. In his Palm捌 邦Sunday sermon氨, the pope sa按id his faith 柏helped him av吧oid being int稗imidated by “八the petty gos拔sip of domina罢nt opinion”. HYPERLINK /world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15833015 吧The 疤Large Hadron 凹Collider奥,

9、Europes ne芭wly repaired 俺particle acce搬lerator, offi阿cially overto伴ok Americas 柏Tevatron as t哎he worlds mo拔st powerful. 背It collided t颁wo streams of暗 protons at a安n energy of 7阿 tera electro啊n volts, thre坝e-and-a-half 澳times the pre芭vious record.白 HYPERLINK /world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15814419

10、唉Done and dust跋ed爸Barack Obama 耙signed a “rec安onciliation” 吧bill that fix碍es some measu扳res in the re哀cently passed霸 罢health-care a氨ct稗. The reconci败liation bill 吧was part of t矮he Democratic暗 leaderships办 parliamentar氨y manoeuvre t耙o avoid a fil暗ibuster in th挨e Senate. Mea哀nwhile, the t昂wo parties c

11、r耙anked up the 阿rancour over 啊health care, 岸with each acc岸using the oth癌er of exploit佰ing voter ang板er on the iss案ue. HYPERLINK /world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15819198 案In a busy wee颁k for a reinv啊igorated Mr O傲bama, the pre哀sident prepar扒ed a plan tha暗t would allow把 new 巴drilling for 邦oil and gas

12、扳 off America熬s east coast,澳 from Delawar巴e to Florida,背 in waters of拔f northern Alaska and othe癌r offshore ar案eas, in some 碍places for th凹e first time.翱 Environmenta扮lists were no爱t pleased.鞍Rallying the 哀troops稗Barack Obama 氨flew unannoun稗ced to 半Afghanistan艾 where, besid艾es visiting A霸merican tro

13、op哎s, he held a 胺meeting with 扮his Afghan co爱unterpart, Ha瓣mid Karzai. A罢merican officials said he 班told Mr Karza吧i his governm蔼ent had to do澳 more to root埃 out corrupti皑on. HYPERLINK /world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15816822 哀The National 岸League for De办mocracy, 般Myanmars氨 main opposit盎ion party, w

14、h白ich won an el搬ection in 199拌0, announced 摆it would not 澳register to t稗ake part in a扒n election to芭 be held late疤r this year b哀ecause it ref氨uses to recog绊nise the cons暗titution unde哀r which the b埃allot will be碍 held. Many o暗f its leaders八, including A败ung San Suu K按yi, who is un疤der house arr岸est,

15、 are anyw癌ay barred fro扳m contesting 胺the poll. HYPERLINK /world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15816746 澳More than 40 案sailors were 捌missing, and 把58 rescued, w哎hen a 澳South Korean皑 navy ship sa阿nk off North 班Korea after a矮n explosion. 稗A diver died 袄searching the捌 wreckage. Th挨e defence min暗ister said

16、th跋e explosion m隘ight have bee半n caused by a岸 mine laid by瓣 North Korea 昂during the Ko皑rean war, fro哀m 1950-53. 扮After two wee翱ks of mass an癌ti-government昂 demonstratio扮ns in Bangkok爸 by red-shirt矮ed supporters盎 of Thaksin S背hinawatra, an佰 exiled forme安r prime minis扮ter, protest 敖leaders held 碍telev

17、ised tal办ks with Abhis挨it Vejjajiva,办 the present prime ministe绊r (above). Bu唉t Mr Abhisit rejected thei靶r demand for 瓣an 挨immediate dis氨solution of 靶Thailands肮 parliament a瓣nd talks brok拔e down with n盎o agreement. HYPERLINK /world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15819472 靶Narendra Modi按, chief minis伴ter

18、of the 吧Indian state 哎of Gujarat唉, was questio搬ned for sever隘al hours by a百 panel invest袄igating the r版iots in his s蔼tate in 2002,氨 in which mor熬e than 1,000 靶people, mostl坝y Muslims, we凹re killed. Mr凹 Modi denies 背charges that 霸he and his go班vernment conn耙ived in the p罢ogrom.百The people ha唉ve spoke

19、n捌The final res扮ults of Iraqs疤 general elec癌tion gave the坝 Iraqi Nation办al Movement l摆ed by Iyad Al埃lawi, a forme奥r prime minis背ter and secul扮ar-minded Shi哎a with Sunni 按support, 91 s哀eats out of t叭he parliament奥s 325, pippi半ng the incumb癌ent prime min把ister, Nuri a啊l-Maliki, who笆se State of L稗aw al

20、liance g八ot 89. A Shia靶 religious fr柏ont, includin绊g followers o凹f Muqtada al-爱Sadr, got 70.芭 The two main盎 Kurdish part百ies together 八got 43. Vario半us coalition 拌combinations 百are being moo坝ted. A new go班vernment may 按take months t凹o emerge.霸Israeli polit版icians argued罢 over the fal坝lout from Bin艾y

21、amin Netanya熬hus recent u肮nfriendly enc按ounter in Was癌hington with 哎Barack Obama.唉 The American捌 presidents 熬advisers were伴 said to be h敖oping that a 蔼new ruling co捌alition might阿 emerge in 暗Israel哎, with or wit爱hout Mr Netan跋yahu as prime胺 minister. 瓣The mute butt摆on半The head of t傲he Catholic c扳hur

22、ch in 暗Venezuela颁 accused Pres爱ident Hugo Ch班vezs govern袄ment of using般 judges and p爸rosecutors to绊 punish polit办ical opponent把s, after Guil背lermo Zuloaga百, the majorit蔼y shareholder耙 in Globovisi扒n, the last 爱remaining ant版i-government 办television ch阿annel, was ch佰arged with ma挨king “offensi扮ve” co

23、mments 疤about the pre挨sident. Two o靶pposition pol昂iticians have傲 also recentl澳y been arrest奥ed.哀Colombias昂 FARC guerril埃las released 跋two soldiers 般they had been板 holding host稗age. One of t班hem, who was 哎captured as a拔 teenager, ha般d been held i艾n captivity f澳or 12 years. 瓣The first oil敖-well drille

24、d稗 in the sea o蔼ff the 办Falkland Isla盎nds巴 for more tha伴n a decade ap凹pears not to 佰have found co叭mmercial quan哀tities of oil盎, according t俺o Desire Petr坝oleum, a Brit柏ish company t版hat last mont班h brought a d半rilling rig t拔o the islands稗. The presenc捌e of the rig 邦prompted Arge蔼ntina, which 爸claims

25、 the Br爱itish territo八ry, to place 阿restrictions 爸on shipping. 氨More wells ar懊e to be drill肮ed.拜Business this凹 week敖Mar 31st 2010皑 | 背A court in Sh巴anghai handed爱 down stiff j扳ail sentences皑 to four empl办oyees of 袄Rio Tinto 吧who had admit伴ted taking br懊ibes from pri般vate steel mi扳lls seeking t奥o sec

26、ure supp疤lies of iron 把ore. Stern Hu凹, the mining 巴companys hea俺d salesman in氨 China, was g芭iven a ten-ye稗ar sentence a版nd fined 1m y百uan ($146,000搬). The mining company, which originally搬 said there w绊as no evidenc艾e of wrongdoi背ng, dismissed邦 the four aft版er the verdic扒t, citing “cl搬ear evidence”敖

27、 they had acc爱epted bribes.盎 Parts of the岸 trial relati俺ng to “commer胺cial secrets”俺 were held 隘in camera邦. HYPERLINK /business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15814746 唉Getting rid o癌f benchmarks伴BHP Billiton 板said it had r巴eached agreem霸ent with most哀 of its custo疤mers to sell 埃iron ore爸 on a sh

28、orter翱-term basis, 扳the clearest 巴indication ye背t of an end t摆o the 40-year啊-old system o哀f mining comp稗anies and ste奥elmakers nego癌tiating price罢s in annual c案ontracts. But稗 China prefer敖s the old sys蔼tem, which is傲 less market-坝oriented and 矮keeps costs d邦own for its f捌irms. 懊The profits o袄f 佰Chin

29、as big i碍ndustrial com啊panies鞍 were 120% hi癌gher in Janua皑ry and Februa版ry than in th耙e first two m皑onths of 2009搬. Chinas sta斑tistics burea疤u advised tha挨t profits had唉 “merely” ret懊urned to the 氨level that pr百evailed befor奥e the start o岸f the financi败al crisis, an袄d that some s罢ectors, notab拌ly st

30、eel and 艾oil explorati坝on, had yet t爱o rebound. 拜After months 叭of negotiatio坝ns, 肮Ford袄 agreed to se敖ll 岸Volvo案 to 败Geely盎, a privately翱 held Chinese拜 company, whi氨ch is paying 吧$1.8 billion 爸for the Swedi靶sh brand. The澳 purchase is 岸the biggest f颁oreign acquisition yet by 挨a Chinese car懊maker. HYPE

31、RLINK /business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15825810 奥A deal was fi稗nally struck 霸to acquire 瓣AXA Asia Paci扳fic敖. 疤National Aust按ralia Bank盎 will pay A$1靶3.3 billion (岸$12.2 billion扮) for the ins芭urers assets耙 and sell the碍 non-Australi熬an business b摆ack to 熬AXA颁, its French 肮parent. Last Nove

32、mber AXA 半made a simila佰r bid in part艾nership with 懊AMP, an Austr唉alian wealth 扳manager, but 背AXAs Asian s办ubsidiary rej疤ected the off胺er. 办What goes up 稗can come down俺Americas Tre吧asury departm绊ent announced叭 plans to sel笆l the 7.7 bil按lion shares i芭t holds in 澳Citigroup柏 before the e安nd of the yea

33、白r, at market 叭prices and in耙 an “orderly 爱and measured 白fashion”. The俺 Treasury acq背uired the sha巴res in 2009 a瓣s part of a b伴ail-out of Ci埃ti. It had wa翱nted to sell 扳the stock at 扒the end of la熬st year, but 俺the banks sh八are price fel坝l by enough t胺o cause it to伴 worry that t澳axpayers migh稗t not

34、make a 爸profit. 氨Royal Bank of俺 Scotland皑 was fined 2隘8.6m ($43m) a盎fter it confe靶ssed to fixin败g the price o疤f some loans 爸to profession熬al firms, suc拌h as 芭solicitors an吧d property ag板ents, in coll吧usion with 蔼Barclays 伴between Octob罢er 2007 and e瓣arly 2008. Ba背rclays escape扮d a penalty b捌ecause i

35、t ble胺w the whistle把 to the Offic爱e of Fair Tra熬ding. 吧Greece returned to 挨the bond mark坝et, just days稗 after the Eu傲ropean Union 般said it would碍 come to its 敖aid with IMF 啊backing if ne半eded, though 颁its 5 billio百n ($6.7 billi拔on) seven-yea靶r bond attrac绊ted less inte按rest from inv柏estors than t敖wo

36、 previous o笆fferings. The岸 Greek govern昂ments borrow佰ing costs als罢o remained hi碍gh; it is pay昂ing a coupon 笆of 5.9% on th版e bond, twice百 what Germany胺 pays for sim爱ilar borrowin颁g. HYPERLINK /business-finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15829886 敖The share pri笆ces of 八Irish banks跋 wilted as th熬e gove

37、rnment 敖unveiled toug挨her capital r鞍equirements t艾hat are expec皑ted to lead t跋o more nation摆alisations. T板he government百 also gave de鞍tails about i靶ts new “bad b埃ank”, which w办ill take over霸 many toxic l扳oans given pr埃imarily to pr岸operty develo挨pers. HYPERLINK /business-finance/displaystory.cfm?sto

38、ry_id=15819160 安AT&T said it 白would book a 哎$1 billion ch斑arge because 案of adjustment哀s to subsidie矮s for 笆drug benefits背 contained in巴 the recently阿 signed healt把h-care act. O扮ther companie昂s have also a暗nnounced (muc俺h smaller) ch搬arges for the佰 measure, whi耙ch does not c笆ome into effe疤ct until 20

39、13蔼. The governm挨ent insists t巴hat the measu半re simply clo爱ses a tax loo伴phole. 胺Hotter than E佰aster eggs版Analysts prep般ared to crunc安h the numbers啊 from the fir巴st sales of A埃pples 凹iPad败, which goes 爱on sale in Am版erican shops 拌on April 3rd.版 Techies were稗 queuing up t背o test applic按ations and gr隘

40、aphics on its罢 9.7-inch (25扒cm) screen. And publishers袄 were nervous百ly waiting to罢 see what dem矮and would be 伴like for down八loadable titl背es at Apples傲 new online b白ookstore. 斑Britains Pre案ss Complaints白 Commission c八ensured a 懊blog熬 for the firs盎t time. In hi八s blog at the巴 凹Spectator斑, Rod Liddle

41、,鞍 a journalist阿, had claimed肮 that the “ov颁erwhelming ma绊jority” of vi版olent crimes 叭in London wer巴e carried out坝 by young bla拌ck men, to wh俺ich a reader 鞍objected. The凹 PCC said it 柏“expects the 般same standard盎s in newspape办r and magazin按e blogs” that扳 it would fin拌d in print an敖d that facts 叭must

42、 be subst碍antiated. 哎After axing 捌NASAs摆 planned miss板ion to the mo半on, the feder白al government疤 found some w爱ork for the s办pace agencys罢 engineers by案 asking them 半to conduct te般sts into the 跋recent glitch坝es found in T拌oyotas cars.巴 KALs cartoon岸Mar 31st 2010艾 | Leaders拔Americas economyHope at las

43、t绊The worlds b耙iggest econom摆y has begun a暗 much-needed 疤transition. B拔arack Obama c肮ould do more 艾to help爱Mar 31st 2010袄 | 傲GREAT storms 翱and floods ha翱ve a way of a伴ltering lands把capes. Once t白he waters rec坝ede, some of 爸the changes a俺re obvious: u阿prooted trees唉, damaged pro霸perty, wrecke疤d roads

44、. Late阿r come furthe埃r changes, as伴 people seek 半to avoid a re佰peat, erectin盎g new flood w芭alls or rebui拌lding elsewhe爸re.八As in the phy罢sical world, 白so in the eco爱nomic one. Th办e financial d碍eluge that br摆oke over Amer昂ica has passe敖d and the rec胺ession it cau颁sed, the wors碍t since the 1岸930s, is

45、ebbi按ng. This year敖 the American耙 economy is e碍xpected to gr艾ow by around 扮3%, after shr敖inking by 2.4阿% in 2009. Ra八inbow-spotter办s hope that e板mployment is 搬at last begin芭ning to grow 版again. And th版e economy eme艾rging from re瓣cession is no按t the same as把 the one that暗 went in. The斑re is obvious啊

46、damage: high挨 unemployment啊, millions of挨 foreclosed h坝omes and a hu扮ge hole in th盎e public fina胺nces. Less ob唉viously, a “r瓣ebalancing” i芭s under way: 暗from consumpt蔼ion, housing 艾and debt to e疤xports, investment and sav笆ing. As our扒 special repo斑rt this week 扮argues, this 啊is enormously疤 promisi百n

47、g for Americ白a and the wor安ld; but it is跋 far from ass挨ured. A lot d哎epends on pol靶iticiansand 奥not just the 氨ones in Washi案ngton.挨America has r岸elied for dec懊ades on its c笆onsumers wil百lingness to s拜pend, borne u邦p by borrowin案g and the fal案se comfort of捌 bubbles in a爱sset prices. 败Now Americans哎 a

48、re saving m扳ore and borro案wing less bec按ause the coll百apse in home 把prices has ev邦iscerated the柏ir wealth. Ba稗nkers and reg巴ulators who o伴nce celebrate百d the democra败tisation of c搬redit now ration it. Busin胺esses from Ge爱neral Electri坝c to Citigrou吧p that prospe百red from the 艾consumption c扳ulture ar

49、e re巴thinkingand 绊often shrinki拜ngtheir loan癌 books. Prope笆rty developer稗s are buildin柏g smaller, si袄mpler houses.扮 The country扒s geography is changing. R背ecession has 暗slowed the ru八sh to sun and背 sprawl. Peop把le are moving澳 out of Flori罢da and into N岸orth Dakota. 爸Foreclosures 颁and costlier 把commu

50、tes have俺 laid low the隘 distant subu耙rbs, or exurb安s. 芭Dearer, scarc傲er credit is 爱not the only 败reason. Energ笆y, though not坝 as frighteni胺ngly expensiv安e as in 2008,癌 is also no l俺onger cheap. 昂Americans are扮 choosing car凹s over light 挨trucks, utili疤ties are bein傲g told to use稗 more renewab败le fuel

51、, and 爸domestic depo吧sits of oil a袄nd gas locked伴 deep beneath搬 the sea or in dense rock 耙are suddenly 盎profitable to拔 extract. If 案these trends 按continue (adm芭ittedly, a bi疤g if), Americ百a could impor懊t barely half扳 as much oil 碍in 2025 as se巴emed likely j笆ust five year埃s ago. 扳United States拌 of ex

52、ports叭With consumer芭s forced to l袄ive within th般eir means, Am扮erican firms 搬will have to 半sell more to 啊the rest of t阿he world. Tha敖t may seem a 肮tall order, b袄ut with a com疤petitive doll捌ar and favour蔼able growth i阿n other count蔼ries, exports暗 in which Ame肮rica already 把excels, such 瓣as high-value矮

53、 manufacturin班g and service绊s, should do 邦well. The res爸ult will be a绊 more balance拌d American ec扮onomy and, by叭 extension, a靶 healthier gl胺obal economy.靶 巴Or so it shou矮ld be. But th斑e smoothness 艾of this trans绊ition cannot 版be taken for 扒granted. Poli按cy decisions 邦both inside a氨nd outside Am岸eric

54、a will de懊termine wheth盎er this rebal袄ancing is pai挨nful or easy.扒 Put crudely,安 if Americans埃 save more an熬d spend less 皑while other b肮ig countries 胺do the opposi凹te, the world安 economy will翱 prosper. If 艾Americans bec爸ome thriftier伴 while foreig爱ners fail to 捌spend more, i唉t will stagna柏te.鞍The wo

55、rlds s半urplus econom碍ies have been办 propelled by盎 American con熬sumers appet挨ite for every颁thing from ca傲rs and electr翱onics to furn叭iture and clo艾thing. If the芭 United State邦s is going to摆 save and exp氨ort more, cou懊ntries in eme俺rging Asia wi鞍ll have to re班ly more on th懊eir own shopp半ers and on ea叭

56、ch other. Tha版t means chang奥ing a mindset唉 that equates蔼 啊economic heal斑th with bulgi袄ng trade surp靶luses, and al伴so ushering i霸n a plethora 半of microecono挨mic reforms t埃o boost Asian挨 workers inc昂omes and enco皑urage consump邦tion. It is n凹ow in everybo氨dys interest哀 to push Chin般a to overhaul疤 its h

57、ealth c安are, pensions坝 and corporat凹e governance.扮And, yes, a s败tronger yuan 爱would also sp板eed up global挨 rebalancing.白 Yet it is al艾so dangerous 拔for America t扮o make a feti佰sh of Chinas巴 currency (se摆e HYPERLINK /opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15819107 捌article佰). Slapping b拜ilateral tari绊ffs

58、on China,办 which some Democrats want安 to do to pun奥ish it for th叭e low yuan, w扒ould hardly h哀elp rebalance昂 anything: Am颁erica would m拌erely import 板stuff from el斑sewhere. And 疤the cost in t斑erms of begga碍r-thy-neighbo凹ur protection爸ism and diplo班matic poison 拔would be dire安. Far better 巴for Mr Obam

59、a 敖to seek a mul袄tilateral sol巴ution while f挨ocusing on re俺balancing at 疤home. 按How to become挨 thriftier wi扳thout anybody凹 minding艾From that perspective the 板macroeconomic隘 imperative i坝n Washington 邦is clear: a c拌redible mediu懊m-term plan t斑o reduce the 绊deficit. That盎 would avoid 颁premature and捌 d

60、angerous ti靶ghtening whil傲e calming bon袄d markets eno盎ugh to hold d耙own long-term佰 interest rat唉es. The combi蔼nation of tig耙ht fiscal pol肮icy and low i哎nterest rates扒 is usually a靶 recipe for a吧 weaker curre唉ncy. 唉Plenty of mic扳roeconomic re般forms could a疤lso help with瓣 rebalancing.跋 America taxe肮s