China is heading for a hard landing in 2012 or 2013 for three reasons: Excess capacity tied to overstimulation of investment in export industries and weak domestic demand growth, a bursting speculative bubble in its real estate sector, and a sharp slowdown in global growth.

With each passing day, Greece's economic and political malaise deepens despite one massive International Monetary Fund-European Union bailout package after another to keep that country afloat.

Ever since its founding in 1948, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has maintained an aggressive and bellicose international security posture. Today, fully two decades after the end of the Cold War, North Korea's external defense and security policies look arguably more extreme and anomalous than ever.

It is not a moment too soon for the IMF to start planning how to respond to a spate of Euro-zone sovereign debt defaults, and the possible Euro exit of a few countries within the next year or so.

Momentum on reducing the deficit is building in Washington as Congress and the White House consider reform to benefit entitlements.

The U.S. economic recovery currently faces an increased risk of a double-dip recession and a call for Federal Reserve tightening could hardly be more ill-timed.

Schools should prepare themselves for the leaner years ahead by tightening up operations, rethinking staffing, and using technology smartly.

Financial crises, and their aftermaths, can pose greater challenges to central bank independence than the more traditional pain associated with combating inflation.