Chinese exports fell unexpectedly by 0.3% in September (compared to last September), raising serious questions about the state of the global economy. The biggest drop was to countries in Southeast Asia, and analysts fear that the downturn is due to a fear that US monetary policy will stiffen as the Federal Reserve slows down its policy of quantitative easing. That easing will likely cause currencies around the world to rise leading to reduce spending on imports. The uncertainty over US budget and debt policy will also serve to aggravate that tendency.
We often have the sense that the media is not always reporting accurately, and nowhere does this suspicion arise more often than on the issue of climate change. Media Matters for America has done a study of media reporting on climate change and found that the media often try to present a “balanced” point of view by interviewing people who reject the possibility of human induced climate change even if their scientific credentials are lacking. The strategy thus leads to the sense that climate scientists themselves are having a similar debate, a conclusion that is most certainly not the case.
If you wish to be really spooked about climate change, you should check out the new research just published by a team of Rutgers geologists. I have no credentials whatsoever in assessing their findings.
Apparently, the Greek Party, Golden Dawn, has established chapters in the US. The party which is unapologetically sympathetic to Nazi ideology believes that it can find sympathetic followers in the US. It is hard to assess its popularity in the US, but it will undoubtedly find many frustrated Americans who might be looking for an alternative to the usual politics in Washington.
World Politics News 
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