Forbes

Monday's embrace of covered bonds by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and senior representatives of the Fed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the country's largest banks to help thaw the U.S. mortgage market is a laudable step, appealing to market proponents and skeptics alike. Introducing covered bonds to the U.S. is a great idea. In fact, covered bonds can help more than just the mortgage market. At its most basic, a covered bond is a bond issued by a bank and backed by… more

Lackluster Legacy On Health Care (Forbes)

"There's going to be a lot of fallout over the decisions they made on SCHIP," says Len Nichols, a fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based think tank New America Foundation and a health care adviser to seven Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns. "[The president's veto] will play out over and over again in Congressional districts, and Republicans will lose seats over it."

Health Care's Champions Of Change (Forbes) "There's no question that every member of Congress and every Senator is acutely aware of the importance of small-business community," says Len Nichols, a fellow at the New America Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, and a health care adviser to seven Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns. "And there's no question that [small-business lobbying groups] are among the more organized forces."

The Bush administration trumpeted its improved forecast for the federal budget deficit on Tuesday, but budget experts were unimpressed given the bleak long-term picture.

"The economic growth fueled by tax relief has helped send our tax revenue soaring," said President George W. Bush.

During the presidential race, Bush vowed to halve the deficit from a projected high of $521 billion, or 4.5% of gross domestic product, by 2009. Going by the new estimates, he will make good on his pledge one year… more

The history of modern capitalism has been the story of great cities. By the very need to harbor goods and process information, business has tended to concentrate primarily in urban centers, from Venice and Florence in the Renaissance to early modern Antwerp, Amsterdam and London and, in this century, New York and Tokyo.

Today this long dominance by global cities may be ending. Instead of clustering increasingly in "world cities," economic power is now declustering away from the primary urban… more