In ancient Chinese mythology, dragons live in the center of the earth, and when they awaken and shake their tails, earthquakes result. The Chinese economic dragon has very clearly awakened; dealing with the lashings of its tail will be no mean feat.

They don’t ring a bell at the top of a bull market, goes the popular aphorism. Well, last week the U.S. stock market broke decisively through its 2005 lows and my advice to those with long positions is: seek not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee!

As Britain heads into a General Election May 5, the question naturally arises for supporters of the “Bear’s Lair” free market, sound economy approach: do we want the Tories (Britain’s “Conservative Party”) to win this time? It’s a surprisingly close call.

As education policies in Britain, the United States and elsewhere focus attention and resources increasingly on “graduating” the lower half of the intellectual Bell Curve the private sector has produced a response that benefits its top quartile. The International Baccalaureate is increasingly becoming an international “Gold Standard” of education for the cognitive elite.