Breakingviews

China’s leadership line-up gets 6.5 out of 10

By John Foley

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

The seven men who will run China’s ruling party for the next five years have a tough job. Two of them, party chief Xi Jinping and premier-in-waiting Li Keqiang, have been groomed for years, but even they are little known. Are they up to it? Breakingviews has scored them on five key criteria, and found some scope for encouragement.

China buzzword bingo shows slow move forward

By John Foley
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

China’s rulers give little away. So at the five-yearly Communist Party Congress, details matter, from the order the new leaders come onstage to the arrangement of portraits on the front page of People’s Daily. To see what’s on the mind of outgoing party leader Hu Jintao, there’s another option: buzzword bingo.

Japan shuns fiscal cliff, won’t escape growth funk

By Andy Mukherjee

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Japan has avoided fiscal harakiri. The decision by the country’s opposition parties to stop blocking the government’s deficit-spending plans is a big relief for an economy that shrank by an annualised 3.5 percent in three months through Sept. 30, and is likely to contract again in the current quarter. Exports are stumbling amid weak global demand and a boycott of Japanese-made goods in China. Amidst this, government spending worth 8 percent of GDP was in jeopardy because of the parliamentary stalemate, according to Fitch.

UK gas price probe another jolt to cosy markets

By Kevin Allison

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Free-wheeling capitalism has a knack for self-destruction. Allegations that traders rigged UK wholesale gas prices, if true, would be another blow to the public’s faith in market indicators. Libor was bad enough. Anger at rising home heating bills makes a gas scandal more politically explosive in the UK, even if the financial stakes look smaller.

SOEs could be China’s economic vampire squid

By John Foley

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

State-owned enterprises are China’s economic version of the giant vampire squid. The 20,253 industrial companies owned and controlled by the government soak up capital, and pay little out. Their costs are low and their bosses powerful. If China’s new leaders are serious about making households wealthy, they need to make these industrial giants behave more like normal companies.

BBC shows how not to manage a crisis

By Hugo Dixon

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

The first lesson of managing a crisis is to get a grip fast. This, in turn, requires those in charge to appreciate – even exaggerate – the severity of the problem.

Who would argue with a U.S. millionaire tax hike?

By Daniel Indiviglio
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Would anyone really argue with hiking tax rates on Americans making over $1 million a year? OK, the millionaires might. But selling out the country’s 250,000 super-rich by taxing them at Clinton-era rates might be the needed political compromise to avert the fiscal cliff – if only one of many financial sacrifices required to right Uncle Sam’s finances.

Election reveals clear calculus: 47 pct > 1 pct

By Jeffrey Goldfarb
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

This U.S. election provided a valuable math lesson for those worried about the consequences of income inequality: the 47 percent of the population dismissed by Mitt Romney during his campaign can wield greater power than the richest 1 percent.

O-Burma trip rewards reformists for job half done

By Wayne Arnold 

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

Barack Obama’s planned trip to Myanmar this month risks rewarding the country’s rulers for a job half-done. The visit would justifiably herald recent reforms and cultivate a key ally as U.S. foreign policy pivots to Asia. But it is sure to antagonize China’s new leaders and could reduce pressure on Myanmar to make the tougher changes it still needs.

Obama continuity is good for China-U.S. ties

By Richard Beales
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

The United States and China couldn’t have more different political systems. But with Barack Obama re-elected on Tuesday as U.S. president and China’s new leaders taking over next week, there is reason to hope they can see eye to eye. If Obama builds on America’s recent prudent diplomacy, the two superpowers’ rivalry can be constructive.