Breakingviews

Even one-sided Chinese investment has its benefits

By Christopher Swann

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

Canada wants equal rights for its companies to pile into China.  The country’s opposition leader says his compatriots would be “chumps” if they allowed state-owned CNOOC to buy Canadian oil group Nexen without China granting equal access to its natural resources. Demands for reciprocity seem only fair. But workers and investors in rich countries gain even if the money flows only one way. It’s the Middle Kingdom that misses out by being less welcoming.

Consumer boycotts won’t decide Sino-Japan fight

By John Foley

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

Are consumers China’s secret weapon? Not when it comes to winning its ongoing spat with Japan. Even if some Chinese shoppers are giving Uniqlo and Toyota a miss, history shows that consumer boycotts have at best a short-lived effect. Economic warfare looks reassuringly hard to wage.

For Italy, crisis freedom is almost within reach

By Neil Unmack

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

Rome is half out of the woods. Italy’s 10-year bond yields have fallen by over a percentage point since European Central Bank Chief Mario Draghi hinted at a new bond-buying programme. With yields falling and confidence returning, the need for a bailout is waning.

It’s the budget, not the economy, stupid

By Rob Cox 

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

It’s the budget, not the economy, stupid. That variation of the 1992 slogan that propelled Bill Clinton into the Oval Office may now apply to Mitt Romney’s candidacy. The Republican presidential wannabe’s choice of conservative House budget chief Paul Ryan as his running mate has the power to transform a heretofore mealy campaign into something substantive: a referendum on fixing the American balance sheet.

Spain needs to get on with its to-do list

By Fiona Maharg-Bravo

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

Spain’s current government, like its predecessor, always seems behind the curve. It has made some progress in passing budget cuts and some structural reforms, but it’s not enough. Only recently did it start to mention additional measures to get the country’s finances under control. The hope is that it won’t fall short.

Mongolia’s task: avoid Nigerian resource curse

By Martin Hutchinson

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

In much of the developing world, natural resources seem to offer a handy way out of poverty. But they also present a curse. Mongolia, where the center-right Democratic Party led last week’s elections on a wave of resource nationalism, would be wise to avoid the mistakes of Nigeria and other nations. Government and private fingers can get sticky, the bonanza wasted and non-resource activity burdened and disincentivized.

Investors fussing too much over Greek election

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

The tension over Sunday’s Greek election is almost palpable. The financial world is watching Athens as if this vote, the second in two months, will change history dramatically for the worse. It just might, but probably won’t. But either way, the world economy will remain troubled for years.

National breakups don’t work like corporate ones

By Martin Hutchinson

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

The recent attempt by Malian rebels to split their country is not wrong in principle. With good will and support from the rest of the world, some national partitions – not unlike corporate breakups – produce smaller, better-governed and more prosperous nations. But military force makes such results rare and disasters all too common.

California shows way through tricky pension mess

By Agnes T. Crane

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

San Jose and San Diego want current public workers to make sacrifices for their pensions, like contributing up to 16 percent more of salaries to fund retirement schemes. The proposals, overwhelmingly backed by voters in elections this week, look to be a sensible way forward in the thorny thicket of pension reform.

UK limbers up for next EU clash

By Hugo Dixon

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

The UK could be limbering up for its next European clash. As Prime Minister David Cameron flies to Berlin to tell Germany’s Angela Merkel that the euro zone needs to make up or break up, his finance minister is demanding “safeguards” if the zone forms a full banking union. Other countries won’t like either the UK’s lectures or pleas for special treatment for its lenders.