Super Hamburger America

The “pull” of the global marketplace will only grow stronger as other economies grow richer, an outcome that will depend, in part, on keeping the U.S. market open to the goods and services of others. Conversely, because our commitment to open markets has encouraged other countries to relax their restrictions—to our products, and to those from other countries—a shift in direction on trade on our part risks ending liberalization abroad and possibly sparking a tit-for-tat process of retaliation that will harm everyone, everywhere.

Since health insurance is tied to employment, improving access to affordable healthcare and insurance would go a long way toward easing workers’ anxieties.

Whatever the ultimate outcome, the last Russian election marks a transition from a phase of consolidation to a period of modernization. The ceding of power by a ruler at the height of his influence is unprecedented in Russian history. The growing complexity of the economy has generated the need for predictable legal procedures, as already foreshadowed by Medvedev. The government’s operation — at least initially — with two centers of power may, in retrospect, appear to be the beginning of an evolution toward a form of checks and balances.

A Russian democracy is not foreordained, of course. But neither was the democratic evolution in the West.