FridayGlobalist Read from Singapore webpage and email subscription here: http://www.theglobalist.com/ Nothing is quite so bracing as an informed view of your own country from someone else's country. When I live in USofA Costa Rica is invisible When I live in Costa Rica I'm continually astonished what they know, see, love and pray for re my home country. Here's this weeks Globalist [from Singapore] content America, Enjoy the Downward Slide Michael Lind recently worried in The Globalist about the British seeds of America's decline. Meghnad Desai, an Indian-born economist and member of Britain's House of Lords, responds by calling on Americans to relax and enjoy shedding the burdens of its far-flung and expensive empire. The Danger of More Financial Concentration The financial industry has witnessed a wave of mergers and acquisitions in recent decades, leading to too-big-to-fail conglomerates. This trend has not improved the economic function of finance, writes Henry Kaufman. In fact, its reversal is one of the keys to creating a robust economic recovery. and... The India-Brazil Axis There has been plenty of talk in recent years about the parallels between India and China. In his book "Breakout Nations," Ruchir Sharma finds more compelling similarities to India in an emerging market half a world away. Can Central Bankers Cope With the Crisis? What sets the current financial crisis apart from past ones is not just the huge overhang of sovereign debt, but where it resides. Formerly confined mainly to the developing world, sovereign debt problems are now endemic throughout the West, writes Henry Kaufman. China's Development-First Approach to Africa Stephan Richter's op-ed appeared in the English-language edition of the China Daily, on August 14. A Portuguese version appeared in Brazil's Valor Econômico (PDF), on August 9. -- Steve