Fed Chairman Ben BernankePAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP / Getty Images
FedSpeak, deciphered
Planet Money and Slate combined to produce a brilliant interactive following Tuesday's Fed policy annoucement. If you want to know what Ben Bernanke and the rest of the gang at the Fed really meant to say, check this out.
Higher yuan won't help America's trade imbalance
The New York Times takes a look at the parallels between China now and Japan 25-30 years ago. It argues that U.S. pressure on Japan to float the yen and allow it to appreciate did very little to restore the trade balance between the two countries. The piece suggests history is repeating itself.
Higher education vs. health care
The New York Times also looks at the pain that rising health care costs are inflicting on publically funded higher education in the United States. ."...states tend to rob education to pay for Medicaid during economic downturns. And when the economy recovers, the money for education usually doesn't get restored."
Postwar passion sparks U.K. pension debate
Britain is bracing for a spike in retirees in 2012, thanks to a surge in children born in late 1946 and early 1947 to couples reunited after the Second World War, the Guardian reports. The British government says it expects 800,000 baby boomers will stop working in 2012, up from 650,000 this year. Since 2000, the cost of pensions has rise from about 10 per cent of GDP to 12 per cent.
... Maybe Britons should retire to France
Also from the Guardian, a study that suggests Britain and Ireland are the worst places in Europe for quality of life. France topped the list.