With the ECB meeting, Greek vote, signs that the German locomotive is moving in reverse, and the continuing wait-on-Rajoy, Europe is rightly in the cross hairs. The US election also does not do much to push the world's biggest economy out off center stage as the fiscal cliff is looming and the key actors have not changed. The seeming willingness to embrace revenue increases by the Republican leadership needs to be understood in the broader context of tax reform rather than a particular position on the tax breaks soon to expire. Nevertheless, news from Japan is important and ought not be overshadowed. For the first ... (full story)