The financial turmoil convulsing the Eurozone and threatening global economic recovery are a result of rising public sector debt, and these problems will likely be magnified in the coming future, especially when factoring in demographic trends.

The stress tests have definitely achieved their principal purpose.

Twenty years from now, due to demographic pressures, Western economies will have stagnating populations, shrinking workforces, and ballooning social-spending commitments.

Walter Russell Mead’s column in the Wall Street Journal last week praises America’s bipartisan policy in Asia, claiming that it may be as influential as NATO or the Marshall Plan. I’m a bit less optimistic than Mead on the depth of strength our policy has. It’s not a Potemkin village, but I think it falls short of the informally cohesive structure he sees.

Recent events suggest the G-20 may not matter at all, especially as it faces the first real test of its power.

The new Public-Private Investment Program looks similar to, and faces the same technical challenges as, plans proposed by then-treasury secretary Paulson last year.

We need to be better prepared if and when further escalation occurs in the middle east.

The Euro-Union's scramble to contain a self-inflicted debt crisis provides a cautionary tale of what happens to monetary union when promises are broken, markets are misled, and geopolitical dreams override economic good sense.