Obama on the auto industry

In this video, Obama says the government is not interested in running GM, and then explains how GM is going to be run (if they fancy any of that taxpayer money, that is). The way he talks about launching the auto industry into the 21st century and into worldwide preeminence sounds almost like the Japanese MITI guiding baby industries—except these firms are going to have to be killed before they can be born again.

Are the French lazy or lifestyle-smart?

Six views on the shorter workweek as a solution to the economic crisis. Instead of laying off one worker, why not reduce the hours of three? Read here.

Hayek for the 21st century

Reason.com interviewed Hayek biographer Bruce Caldwell on the 60th anniversary of the publication of The Road to Serfdom. Read the interview.

Gary Becker

He still believes in markets. Interview in the Wall Street Journal.

Life after the crisis

Richard Florida writes in The Atlantic Monthly on what America will look like after the crisis. Read here.

Wall Street Lays Another Egg

Harvard historian Niall Ferguson explains the global financial crisis in historical context on the pages of Vanity Fair.(click here)

The Future of Capitalism

A discussion on the Financial Times website. In light of the current crisis, what will capitalism look like in five years? Click here.

HDI

The Human Development Report ranks countries according to their level of development, taking a wide variety of factors into account. Do you think the US is in the top five? The top ten?

Freedom House

Which countries enjoy the most freedom in the world? Which have the least freedom? The Freedom in the World Report gives you one answer.

HPI

We often measure progress with GDP and identify development with GDP growth. But does more stuff make a country happier? The Happy Planet index (at http://www.happyplanetindex.org/index.htm) tries to at least ask the right question.