On Wednesday, President Obama toured some of the hardest-hit parts of New Jersey, along with Republican Gov. Chris Christie. The two have become a political odd couple since the storm — each offering praise for the other's leadership.
Even facing economic headwinds in Europe and South America, GM's quarterly earnings came in well above analysts' estimates, and its stock soared.
People often say China is a nation of contrasts: of wealth and poverty, of personal freedom and political limits. But that observation doesn't begin to capture the tensions and incongruities of modern life here.
For instance, in today's Shanghai, you can sip a $31 champagne cocktail in a sleek rooftop bar overlooking the city's spectacular skyline, while, just a few miles away, ordinary citizens languish in a secret detention center run by government-paid thugs.
Many foreigners are familiar with Shanghai's futuristic bar scene — less so its black detention sites. So, earlier this year, I asked a frequent inmate of the government's so-called "black jails" to show me the place where she's been detained a half-dozen times.
My guide was Li Yufang, a petite, feisty woman of 42.
"I was put in black sites many times," Li said matter-of-factly. "I didn't really count how many, but definitely more than 10 times."
Enlarge Frank Langfitt/NPR
It may appear cute and quaint and sit in the midst of a sprawling Shanghai park, but this cottage is used as a "black jail."
Think of the smallest kitchen you can imagine, and then take away a few square feet. That's Deb Perelman's New York kitchen. It's so small that the blogger, and now author, literally has to wedge herself between the stove and the refrigerator to cook.
Perelman insists you don't need a big or gourmet kitchen to make good food — and she's done a good job of proving it. Since 2006, she's blogged about cooking on her website, Smitten Kitchen, where she tracks down and tests the best recipes for food she thinks pretty much anyone can make, then snaps a picture of the final product and posts it. Her recipes, photos and funny posts attract some 8 million views a month, and now they can also be found in The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.
"I hear people say, 'I have a tiny kitchen and I don't think I can cook the stuff that you cook in it,' " she says. "They may not realize that my kitchen's tiny , and I'm like, 'Uh-uh, you can't use that excuse with me. You're going to have to find another one.' "
By now, Perelman has discovered that the key to cooking in such a small space is staying organized.
"You just need to clear the decks of what you have. I don't have any canisters out on the counter, I do have some seasonings, and I pretty much make sure it's completely clear when I get started," she says. "When you go to a restaurant and they have amazing food, all those line cooks, they do not have more space than this. They just have a little station and they know how to manage it. They do prep work and they put it in little bowls around and they have one cutting board and they have one knife and they get their work done in a small space."
Although it was written in 1882, Henrik Ibsen's play An Enemy of the People still resonates today. Richard Thomas and Boyd Gaines, the stars of a new production of the play, join Ira Flatow to talk about the play's themes of power and truth, and the role of whistle-blowers.
Will the United States ever elect a woman president?
When President Obama — or Mitt Romney — leaves the Oval Office, there will be a handful of highly touted female candidates for consideration as top-of-the-ticket nominees for both major parties.
On the Republican side, the list includes Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and governors Susana Martinez of New Mexico, Nikki Haley of South Carolina and maybe even Sarah Palin of Alaska.
On the Democratic side, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Massachusetts Senate nominee Elizabeth Warren would be serious contenders, regardless of whether Obama wins or loses.
"We have all heard rumors about women running at the top of the ticket of both parties for 2016," says Linda Young, President of the National Women's Political Caucus. "We do not have any concrete commitment by anyone yet for those races."
But despite all of the possible female candidates waiting in the wings, many political observers express doubt that a woman will be elected — or even nominated to be — president in the near future.
Which is weird. Because in just about every other aspect of American life, women are taking over.
'Poised To Lead'
Check the stats: According to the latest census figures, there are more women than men in the United States. More women earn college degrees and graduate degrees than men, the University of Minnesota reports.
In many places of cultural import where women are not in power, the trend is in their favor. In 1990, for example, only 36 percent of medical school graduates were female; in 2011, more than 48 percent were female, according to a Catalyst survey. For the past 10 years, the Women's Media Center finds, women have outpaced men by at least 2-to-1 among journalism and mass communications majors.
Women are making gains in the workplace. In 2012, there are more female CEOs running Fortune 500 companies than ever before. "There's a pipeline of women coming into leadership positions that's very, very deep and very, very wide," Fortune's executive editor Stephanie Mehta told The Huffington Post. "There are women sitting just below the CEO position at these Fortune 500 companies and many of them are poised to lead Fortune 500 companies when there are openings and movement."
Businesswomen beget more businesswomen. According to Catalyst, a pro-business organization for women, "companies with more women in top leadership positions, on average, far outperform those with fewer and that companies with more women board directors are likelier to have more women corporate officers five years later."
Chances Increasing
And in the policymaking arena, female politicians beget more of the same. In 1979, only 3 percent of those in Congress were women; in 2012, nearly 17 percent of those in Congress are women. The percentage of women in statewide elective offices has also increased from 11 percent in 1979 to more than 23 percent in 2012, the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University tells us.
Moreover, the Center notes, women voters rule in presidential elections, as well. In every presidential election since 1964, there have been more female voters than male voters. And since 1980, "the proportion of eligible female adults who voted has exceeded the proportion of eligible male adults who voted."
That is not to say that women tend to vote more for women than for men. That is not always the case. But if there are more women than men in this country and there are more women in powerful positions in colleges and corporations, the chances of a female candidate being nominated and elected naturally increase.
Room At The Top
But is America ready for a female president? Apparently so. Way back in 2006, more than 60 percent of Americans, Gallup News Service reported, thought the United States was ready for a female president.
Less than 60 percent, by the way, thought the country was ready for an African-American president. Now that Obama has broken one barrier, perhaps a female candidate will break another in a coming contest.
Women are looking for new leaders. According to a recent report by Generation Opportunity — a nonpartisan think tank focusing on the economics of young Americans — less than 40 percent of women surveyed say that elected officials represent their interests. And nearly 80 percent plan to vote on Nov. 6.
But even if women are looking to other women to better represent them, proponents of female representation say there are just not enough potential candidates. There are significantly more women running for office in 2012 than before, says Linda Young. But "women still do not represent even close to an equal number of men candidates."
According to stats from the National Women's Political Caucus, there are 18 women from the major parties running for Senate in 15 races in 2012. That boils down to 27 percent of all candidates in 45 percent of the races — leaving men with 73 percent of candidates and with at least one man running in 91 percent of the races. Women make up only 18.7 percent of the House candidates.
For years the National Women's Political Caucus has called for gender equality in federal offices. The slogan has been "50/50 by 2020." But as the deadline approaches, Young says, "It is unlikely that we will be able to achieve such equality by 2020 since in 2012 the congressional percentage of women compared to men members is only 17 percent."
She is heartened by some signs. "We have seen women in higher positions politically in the U.S., as we fairly recently saw a woman serve as speaker of the House [Nancy Pelosi , 2007-2011], and we have had women serve in Cabinet positions for quite a number of years. What we have not seen is a woman at the top of our national government."
Meanwhile, in many other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Germany, Iceland, Liberia and Switzerland, women hold top leadership positions.
A Shallow Bench
So will a woman be nominated for president next time around? "To me it will just take the right woman, rather than just any woman," says Monika L. McDermott, a political scientist at Fordham University. "I believe Hillary Clinton could have been the right woman, she was just at the wrong time — Obama's time. What it will take is a woman who overcomes being a 'woman candidate' and is just a 'candidate.'"
The problem: "We don't have a very deep bench," says former Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colo. "Hillary Clinton is the one woman I could see being able to run and make it. ... There are a lot of women running this year. Hopefully some will make it and move up."
In 1972 Schroeder became the first woman from Colorado to be elected to Congress. She served for 24 years and in 1987 she launched a trailblazing — but truncated — campaign for the presidency. (Other women have run for president over the years, but never received a major-party nomination.) Today Schroeder is retired from public office and living in Florida.
When it comes to electing a woman president, there is, Schroeder says, "lots to do." But she believes that having a female president would change the nature of national debates. "Women define the economy differently," she says, "wanting equal pay."
And the importance of contraception for planning one's family and working, she says, would move to the forefront.
Under female leadership, the U.S. domestic policy "would be very different," Schroeder says. And, she adds, "Foreign policy would hopefully not have the bluster that can sometimes lead to confrontation."
When Schroeder was first elected, she says, "I asked the Library of Congress how long it would be before the Congress would reflect the percentage of women in the population. ... They said over 400 years."
Schroeder says, "I thought I had some sexist jerk researcher. But today, I worry they may be close to right."
NPR's Backseat Book Club is back! And we begin this round of reading adventures with a cherished classic: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Generations of children and adults have loved this book. With vivid detail and simple, yet lyrical prose, Black Beauty describes both the cruelty and kindness that an ebony-colored horse experiences through his lifetime — from the open pastures in the English countryside to the cobblestone grit of 19th-century England.
Sewell wanted the reader to see the world from a horse's point of view and so Black Beauty tells his own story in these pages. His wise observations and unvarnished candor reveal much about both human nature and animal suffering. Black Beauty was born at a time when horse power fueled almost everything: wars, agriculture, transportation, construction and factory work. Horses pulled barges. They hauled coal and granite. And they were also seen as a measure of wealth; the way one rode atop a stiffly controlled horse could convey style and stature. All of this meant horses were both exalted and often pushed past the point of exhaustion.
Mitt Romney made his "closing arguments" on the campaign trail in Wisconsin on Friday.
Mario Veas spent Monday night hunkered down with his family. But he has been running ever since.
Veas runs a tree service in Willow Grove, Pa. He says his phone has been ringing nonstop because people want trees felled by the storm chopped up and cleared.
"Everybody [is] calling and they want [the job] to be done this morning," Veas says.
Insurance Information
Eqecat Inc. estimates $10 billion to $20 billion in insured losses from Superstorm Sandy. The company, which provides catastrophic risk models, says total economic damage could be as high as $50 billion.
If you need to file a claim, the Insurance Information Institute has a variety of resources on its website, including:
— a guide to settling insurance claims after a disaster,
— an insurance coverage FAQ, and
- a list of claims-filing phone numbers for several insurance companies.
And the National Flood Insurance Program's website has information about buying flood insurance.
— Christopher Connelly
Robert Siegel and Audie Cornish read emails from listeners about an author who estimates he's read almost 7,000 books.
Each month, the Labor Department issues an employment report. On Friday, that report showed job creation rose in October — and it revealed something more.
With its latest unemployment assessment, the government in effect took a BEFORE snapshot of the U.S. economy. It collected all of the data before Superstorm Sandy slammed into the East Coast and before the election outcome could be known. Each of those two events has the potential to change the AFTER outlook.
The October report showed employers added 171,000 jobs — more than the 125,000 that most economists had been predicting. And both August and September had upward revisions, suggesting job growth has been stronger lately than previously thought.
The October jobless rate did increase a 10th of a point to 7.9 percent. But the uptick generally was interpreted as good news because it reflected a surge of applicants entering the labor market. Having 578,000 more people in the hunt for a job suggests optimism is rising.
Still, last month's report had plenty of bad news, too. Some 12.3 million people are still looking for paychecks, and wages remain essentially flat. The economy would have to be generating roughly 350,000 jobs a month to get the unemployment rate back down under 6 percent within three years.
A Mixed Snapshot
So, most economists saw this BEFORE snapshot as mixed. It revealed a still-cloudy job market, but one with some bright rays, especially in the retail, construction, hospitality and health care industries.
After studying the statistics, "one can have very different readings of the temperature of the recovery," Sharon Poczter, an economics professor at Cornell University, concluded in a written analysis.
Those who believe the job market is heating up had no trouble finding evidence to support their optimism. Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist for IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm, saw "a brighter picture" in the numbers.
"There was good news in both construction and retail employment, consistent with the better news coming in from the housing market and with an improving consumer mood," Gault said in his analysis.
But former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is challenging President Obama for the White House, said the job market, filled with part-time workers and millions of long-term unemployed, remains much too weak.
At a rally in Wisconsin, Romney said "unemployment is higher today than when Barack Obama took office." Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009. The unemployment rate was 7.8 percent that January, but it shot to 8.3 percent in February — the first full month following the Bush administration.
What About November?
Whatever the job market reality was this past month, it may well be different in November, both because of Superstorm Sandy and because of the election results.
First, Sandy is having a huge impact on the East Coast, where physical damage is extensive and business-activity losses are mounting. Millions of people who work in restaurants, factories and offices are sitting at home, unable to work because of power outages and transportation breakdowns. Financial losses for their employers might lead to layoffs in coming weeks.
Economists generally are putting the total losses at somewhere around $50 billion.
But on the other hand, those losses likely will lead to job creation in November and December in the construction industry and elsewhere. Builders may go on a hiring binge to help families scrambling to fix and rebuild homes before Christmas. Companies that make building materials, such as roofing and lumber, may have to add employees.
Tuesday's election results also could have an impact on jobs. Economists are unanimous in saying job growth is being slowed by the uncertainty surrounding the "fiscal cliff" — an elaborate cluster of tax-and-spending changes coming at year's end.
"Uncertainty harms the economy by reducing consumers' level of spending on goods and services and lowering levels of investment and hiring by firms," says John Makin, an economist with the American Enterprise Institute.
If Congress and the White House were to make progress in November and December toward removing that uncertainty, job creation could accelerate in coming months.
Enlarge Bureau of Labor Statistics
Household and payroll survey employment, seasonally adjusted, 1994-2012. Blue bars indicate recessions.
A Chinese government think tank is urging the country's leaders to start phasing out its "one-child" policy immediately and allow two children for every family by 2015, a daring proposal to do away with the unpopular policy.
Some demographers see the timeline put forward by the China Development Research Foundation as a bold move by the body close to the central leadership. Others warn that the gradual approach, if implemented, would still be insufficient to help correct the problems that China's strict birth limits have created.
Xie Meng, a press affairs official with the foundation, said the final version of the report will be released "in a week or two." But Chinese state media have been given advance copies. The official Xinhua News Agency said the foundation recommends a two-child policy in some provinces from this year and a nationwide two-child policy by 2015. It proposes all birth limits be dropped by 2020, Xinhua reported.
"China has paid a huge political and social cost for the policy, as it has resulted in social conflict, high administrative costs and led indirectly to a long-term gender imbalance at birth," Xinhua said, citing the report.
But it remains unclear whether Chinese leaders are ready to take up the recommendations. China's National Population and Family Planning Commission had no immediate comment on the report Wednesday.
Known to many as the one-child policy, China's actual rules are more complicated. The government limits most urban couples to one child, and allows two children for rural families if their first-born is a girl. There are numerous other exceptions as well, including looser rules for minority families and a two-child limit for parents who are themselves both singletons.
Cai Yong, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said the report holds extra weight because the think tank is under the State Council, China's Cabinet. He said he found it remarkable that state-backed demographers were willing to publicly propose such a detailed schedule and plan on how to get rid of China's birth limits.
"That tells us at least that policy change is inevitable, it's coming," said Cai, who was not involved in the drafting of the report but knows many of the experts who were. Cai is currently a visiting scholar at Fudan University in Shanghai. "It's coming, but we cannot predict when exactly it will come."
Adding to the uncertainty is a once-in-a-decade leadership transition that kicks off Nov. 8 that will see a new slate of top leaders installed by next spring. Cai said the transition could keep population reform on the back burner or changes might be rushed through to help burnish the reputations of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao on their way out.
There has been growing speculation among Chinese media, experts and ordinary people about whether the government will soon relax the one-child policy — introduced in 1980 as a temporary measure to curb surging population growth — and allow more people to have two children.
Though the government credits the policy with preventing hundreds of millions of births and helping lift countless families out of poverty, it is reviled by many ordinary people. The strict limits have led to forced abortions and sterilizations, even though such measures are illegal. Couples who flout the rules face hefty fines, seizure of their property and loss of their jobs.
Many demographers argue that the policy has worsened the country's aging crisis by limiting the size of the young labor pool that must support the large baby boom generation as it retires. They say it has contributed to the imbalanced sex ratio by encouraging families to abort baby girls, preferring to try for a male heir.
The government recognizes those problems and has tried to address them by boosting social services for the elderly. It has also banned sex-selective abortion and rewarded rural families whose only child is a girl.
Many today also see the birth limits as outdated, a relic of the era when housing, jobs and food were provided by the state.
"It has been 30 years since our planned economy was liberalized," commented Wang Yi, the owner of a shop that sells textiles online, under a news report on the foundation's proposal. "So why do we still have to plan our population?"
Though open debate about the policy has flourished in state media and on the Internet, leaders have so far expressed a desire to maintain the status quo. President Hu said last year that China would keep its strict family planning policy to keep the birth rate low, and other officials have said that no changes are expected until at least 2015.
Wang Feng, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy and an expert on China's demographics, contributed research material to the foundation's report but has yet to see the full text. He said he welcomed the gist of the document that he's seen in state media.
It says the government "should return the rights of reproduction to the people," he said. "That's very bold."
Gu Baochang, a professor of demography at Beijing's Renmin University and a vocal advocate of reform, said the proposed timeline wasn't aggressive enough.
"They should have reformed this policy ages ago," he said. "It just keeps getting held up, delayed."
Japanese TV maker Sharp on Thursday doubled its expected net loss for the year to more than $5 billion. The company also raised concerns about its ability to survive on its own. The news comes a day after another Japanese tech giant, Panasonic, forecast a nearly $10 billion loss for the year.
Chrysler is again in the news — not for political reasons, but because the Detroit automaker is selling cars. A lot of them. The automaker had it best October sales in five years.
Russia's parliament has approved an expanded legal definition of high treason, prompting accusations that President Vladimir Putin's government wants to further crack down on opponents.
Supporters say the proposed changes bring Russia's law up-to-date and will help the country's security service counter modern forms of spying and interference by foreign governments.
Related NPR Stories
Europe
Russia Charges Leading Dissident With Embezzlement
Funny lines, well-delivered can help a president's popularity. Whether they're spontaneous or carefully crafted, they have the power to persuade. Michael Phillips-Anderson, assistant professor at Monmouth University, says laughter helps us believe politicians will govern in a way we like.
One of New York's biggest economic engines reopened on Wednesday after being dark in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Broadway brings in more than $1 billion in annual ticket sales and billions more in revenue from hotels, restaurants and other businesses in the Times Square area. But getting Broadway running, with much of the transportation system down, required some extreme measures.
Charlotte St. Martin is president of The Broadway League, the association of Broadway theaters and producers. Her commute from Manhattan normally takes 15 or 20 minutes. On Wednesday, it took an hour and a half.
"There are very few times that Broadway goes dark," St. Martin says. "There's this amazing tradition with Broadway, it's probably been in place for over 100 years — we all believe the show must go on. It's just got to go on. When Sept. 11 occurred, Mayor [Rudolph] Giuliani said 'You've got to get Broadway back up; it's a symbol of New York.' "
More On Post-Sandy New York:
Planet Money
Photos: Halloween On Wall Street, 2012
Over the recent four-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, more than 1,000 sexual harassment complaints were filed in Egypt.
President Mohammed Morsi has ordered an investigation, but some are not prepared to wait for the government and the police to act.
Young men have formed vigilante groups and are hunting down perpetrators of sexual harassment in the capital, Cairo. Some are applauding the action, while others say it's a sign of how lawless Egypt has become.
Spraying The Perpetrators
The young vigilantes wear yellow vests as they gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the focal point of last year's revolution. They carry cans of spray paint, but none is a graffiti artist.
They are part of the new campaign called "Estargel!" or "Be a Man." Emblazoned on the back of their vests are the words "Harassment Prevention." The spray paint is used to tag grabby young men and send them on their way, marked as harassers.
Enlarge Samuel Mohsen/AP
Young men harass women in Cairo. Such episodes surged during the Muslim holiday last month.
On Wednesday, President Obama toured some of the hardest-hit parts of New Jersey, along with Republican Gov. Chris Christie. The two have become a political odd couple since the storm — each offering praise for the other's leadership.
The cleanup effort is underway after superstorm Sandy, and questions are cropping up about the country's aging infrastructure. Henry Gomez reports for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. He put his questions to President Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney well before the storm hit. He speaks with host Michel Martin, as part of NPR's "Solve This" series.
Russia's parliament has approved an expanded legal definition of high treason, prompting accusations that President Vladimir Putin's government wants to further crack down on opponents.
Supporters say the proposed changes bring Russia's law up-to-date and will help the country's security service counter modern forms of spying and interference by foreign governments.
Related NPR Stories
Europe
Russia Charges Leading Dissident With Embezzlement
Firebrand and Tea Party favorite Congressman Allen West abandoned his old South Florida district after redistricting made it more Democratic. But even his new one is forcing the freshman to work hard to win a second term in the House.
Audie Cornish speaks with Steven Zeitchik, who covers entertainment for the Los Angeles Times, about the recent Disney deal that bought out filmmaker George Lucas' production company Lucasfilm Ltd. for over $4 billion. The company is behind one of the most beloved, profitable and iconic movie franchises of all time, Star Wars.
The Walt Disney Co. has announced that it is buying Lucasfilm, reportedly paying more than $4 billion in stock and cash for the studio founded and owned by George Lucas. Disney says it will release a new Star Wars movie in 2015.
The total amount of spending on Halloween this year is expected to reach $8 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. Some trends include Victorian corsets, group costumes, and fancy dress for pets.
The New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ are both set to reopen Tuesday. The markets were closed Monday and Tuesday as Hurricane Sandy pounded the East Coast, flooding New York's financial district.
The National Hockey League has now canceled all games through the end of November, as team owners lock out players in a labor dispute. In the meantime, there are many businesses and workers who count on hockey games to help make ends meet. But they are now trying to make due without.
A Chinese government think tank is urging the country's leaders to start phasing out its "one-child" policy immediately and allow two children for every family by 2015, a daring proposal to do away with the unpopular policy.
Some demographers see the timeline put forward by the China Development Research Foundation as a bold move by the body close to the central leadership. Others warn that the gradual approach, if implemented, would still be insufficient to help correct the problems that China's strict birth limits have created.
Xie Meng, a press affairs official with the foundation, said the final version of the report will be released "in a week or two." But Chinese state media have been given advance copies. The official Xinhua News Agency said the foundation recommends a two-child policy in some provinces from this year and a nationwide two-child policy by 2015. It proposes all birth limits be dropped by 2020, Xinhua reported.
"China has paid a huge political and social cost for the policy, as it has resulted in social conflict, high administrative costs and led indirectly to a long-term gender imbalance at birth," Xinhua said, citing the report.
But it remains unclear whether Chinese leaders are ready to take up the recommendations. China's National Population and Family Planning Commission had no immediate comment on the report Wednesday.
Known to many as the one-child policy, China's actual rules are more complicated. The government limits most urban couples to one child, and allows two children for rural families if their first-born is a girl. There are numerous other exceptions as well, including looser rules for minority families and a two-child limit for parents who are themselves both singletons.
Cai Yong, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said the report holds extra weight because the think tank is under the State Council, China's Cabinet. He said he found it remarkable that state-backed demographers were willing to publicly propose such a detailed schedule and plan on how to get rid of China's birth limits.
"That tells us at least that policy change is inevitable, it's coming," said Cai, who was not involved in the drafting of the report but knows many of the experts who were. Cai is currently a visiting scholar at Fudan University in Shanghai. "It's coming, but we cannot predict when exactly it will come."
Adding to the uncertainty is a once-in-a-decade leadership transition that kicks off Nov. 8 that will see a new slate of top leaders installed by next spring. Cai said the transition could keep population reform on the back burner or changes might be rushed through to help burnish the reputations of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao on their way out.
There has been growing speculation among Chinese media, experts and ordinary people about whether the government will soon relax the one-child policy — introduced in 1980 as a temporary measure to curb surging population growth — and allow more people to have two children.
Though the government credits the policy with preventing hundreds of millions of births and helping lift countless families out of poverty, it is reviled by many ordinary people. The strict limits have led to forced abortions and sterilizations, even though such measures are illegal. Couples who flout the rules face hefty fines, seizure of their property and loss of their jobs.
Many demographers argue that the policy has worsened the country's aging crisis by limiting the size of the young labor pool that must support the large baby boom generation as it retires. They say it has contributed to the imbalanced sex ratio by encouraging families to abort baby girls, preferring to try for a male heir.
The government recognizes those problems and has tried to address them by boosting social services for the elderly. It has also banned sex-selective abortion and rewarded rural families whose only child is a girl.
Many today also see the birth limits as outdated, a relic of the era when housing, jobs and food were provided by the state.
"It has been 30 years since our planned economy was liberalized," commented Wang Yi, the owner of a shop that sells textiles online, under a news report on the foundation's proposal. "So why do we still have to plan our population?"
Though open debate about the policy has flourished in state media and on the Internet, leaders have so far expressed a desire to maintain the status quo. President Hu said last year that China would keep its strict family planning policy to keep the birth rate low, and other officials have said that no changes are expected until at least 2015.
Wang Feng, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy and an expert on China's demographics, contributed research material to the foundation's report but has yet to see the full text. He said he welcomed the gist of the document that he's seen in state media.
It says the government "should return the rights of reproduction to the people," he said. "That's very bold."
Gu Baochang, a professor of demography at Beijing's Renmin University and a vocal advocate of reform, said the proposed timeline wasn't aggressive enough.
"They should have reformed this policy ages ago," he said. "It just keeps getting held up, delayed."
Many of my all-time favorite novels have a common (if slightly unsettling) thread: They feature an unreliable narrator at the helm. The term was popularized in the 1960s by the literary critic Wayne C. Booth, but the unreliable narrator herself has been around at least as long as the Wife of Bath in The Canterbury Tales. An unreliable narrator is one who tells a tale with compromised credibility, whether the narrator herself understands that or not. The reader usually finds this out only slowly, as cracks in the narrator's version of events begin to appear. For the reader, figuring out what really did happen is an unending but joyful mystery.
It's said that savvy shoppers should never leave home without coupons. Some "extreme couponers" can load shopping carts with hundreds of dollars in merchandise and owe just a few dollars at checkout. But one reformed couponer says the cost is too high, in time and hard work. Christy Rakoczy speaks with host Michel Martin.
A number of East Coast states shut down early voting sites or made other election adjustments because of Hurricane Sandy on Monday. However, it's not likely to have a great impact on the election.
Hitting theaters this week is an epic story of good and evil, love and loss, failure and redemption ... Pac-Man ghosts and Cy-Bugs? Wreck-It Ralph is about video games and the characters who live in them.
Enlarge Walt Disney Pictures
Tired of being overshadowed by Fix-It Felix Jr., the "good guy" star of their game, Ralph (John C. Reilly) sets off on a quest to prove he's got what it takes to be a hero.
Travel is at a virtual standstill along the East Coast because of Sandy. Up to 15,000 flights have been canceled, Amtrak service in the Northeast is shut down again today, and crews are just beginning to assess the extensive cleanup work needed to clear roads and tracks.
Steve Inskeep speaks with Morning Edition regular contributor Cokie Roberts about the week in politics.
Tax policy has been a divisive theme throughout the presidential campaign. At the core of the debate are divergent philosophies about what the economy needs — and how to get it.
In this Oxford-style debate from Intelligence Squared U.S., a panel of experts dissects the motion "The Rich Are Taxed Enough." The term "enough," in this case, is determined by three factors: fairness, sufficiency and efficiency.
More On The Debate
The rest of the government may have been shut down for the hurricane, but not the U.S. Supreme Court.
The justices were in court Monday to consider a challenge to 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA. That law broadly expanded the government's ability to conduct large-scale monitoring of international phone calls and emails to and from people in the United States.
FISA, passed in 1978, was amended in 2008 to do away with the previous requirement that the government obtain a warrant from a special intelligence court when conducting electronic surveillance of individuals abroad who had contacts in the U.S. Instead, the government can now monitor large swaths of people, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has very limited powers of supervision.
Surveillance Act Criticized, But Can It Be Fought? Oct. 29, 2012
Americans increased their spending in September at twice the rate that their income grew, a sign of confidence in the economy. Still, consumers made up the difference by saving less for a third straight month, a troubling trend.
The Commerce Department said Monday that consumer spending increased 0.8 percent in September from August. That followed a 0.5 percent gain in August and was the best showing since February.
Personal income rose 0.4 percent, an improvement from a slight 0.1 percent gain in August and the best gain since March. However, after adjusting for inflation and taxes, income was flat in September. That followed a 0.3 percent decline in August.
Consumer spending is important because it drives nearly 70 percent of economic activity.
A pickup in consumer spending helped lift economic growth in the July-September quarter to a 2 percent annual rate. While that is faster than the 1.3 percent rate in the April-June period, it's still too weak to create enough jobs to rapidly lower the unemployment rate.
Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics, said weak income growth would likely hold back spending in the coming months. Consumers can only cut their savings by so much, he cautioned. And if Congress fails to reach a budget deal by the end of the year, taxes will rise in January. That could also dampen consumer spending.
"Faced with the prospect of major tax hikes in the New Year, (consumers) will soon become more cautious," Dales said.
The spending gain in September reflected in part rising consumer confidence. The University of Michigan reported Friday that its final consumer sentiment index for October had hit a five-year high. Falling gas prices and a slightly better job market were credited with lifting consumers' outlook.
Savings Rate Drops
Still, households trimmed their savings to finance the increase in purchases, Monday's report showed. The savings rate dropped to 3.3 percent of after-tax incomes in September, down from 3.7 percent in August and 4.1 percent in July.
Americans also paid more for gas in September. That drove an inflation gauge tied to consumer spending up 0.4 percent last month. But excluding food and energy, prices rose just 0.1 percent. And gas prices have dropped since then, which could encourage more spending elsewhere.
With eight days until the election, the economy is being kept afloat by a revitalized consumer and the early stages of a housing recovery. The nation continues to struggle because businesses are reluctant to invest, and slower global growth has cut demand for American exports.
Republican nominee Mitt Romney is telling voters that President Obama's policies have kept the economy from accelerating.
Obama says his policies helped to stabilize the economy after the worst downturn since the Great Depression. He says the economy is slowly recovering under his administration and that Romney is advocating policies that would undo that progress.
The unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent last month, the first time it has been below 8 percent since January 2009, the month Obama took office.
The economy has peppered political speeches for much of the presidential campaign. But talk of creating jobs has stolen thunder from the housing market.
The epic housing collapse four years ago was a key ingredient in creating the Great Recession in the first place. Plus, boosting the housing market can be a boon for overall economic recovery.
Beginning A 'Long-Term Cycle'
Derek Thompson, senior editor at The Atlantic, follows the housing market. He says housing is a major driver of the overall economy because it impacts multiple sectors. When you buy a home, for example, you also buy things to put in it. When companies notice that kind of activity, they respond, he says.
That knock-on effect is boosting stocks at Home Depot and Lowe's; they're trading at their highest prices in a decade. That, in turn, lures investors.
Brian Peery of the California investment firm Hennessy Funds says he's hopeful.
"I think we're actually just beginning a long-term cycle here," he says. "I think if you look at the home builders and the construction companies themselves, they're not quite optimistic yet, but they've certainly become less pessimistic."
Denver real estate agent Victoria McCaskill, meanwhile, certainly is optimistic.
"What we're seeing now is low inventory ... lots of buyers in the marketplace, rents are up" she says, "and we're seeing a situation where it's almost difficult to find a home as a buyer. It's a multiple-bid situation in a lot of instances."
Still, a number of false starts in the economy over the past few years have fallen flat. This time, according to Thompson, the growth is real — if halting.
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Republican Roy Moore, Alabama's controversial "Ten Commandments Judge," is back on the ballot this year, running for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court — despite being removed from that office nearly a decade ago.
In a state as red as they come, he is facing last-minute Democratic challenger Bob Vance, who is reaching out to moderate Republicans turned off by Moore's politics.
Moore has been on the front lines of the culture wars since the 1990s, when, as an Alabama circuit judge, he displayed a small wooden plaque of the Ten Commandments in his Gadsden courtroom. In a 1997 interview with NPR, he said it was his duty to acknowledge God.
"Separation of church and state never meant to separate God from government," he said. "The First Amendment never meant to divide our country from an acknowledgement of God."
A Veteran Of The Culture Wars
Ensuing court battles brought Moore national notoriety and a loyal following in Alabama. He was elected chief justice in 2000 and followed through with his campaign promise to erect a Ten Commandments monument in the state judicial building. It was the size of a washing machine and copyrighted by Moore.
Enlarge Mario Villafuerte/Getty Images
Roy Moore was ousted from his position as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court because he refused to remove a marble statue of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse.
Steve Inskeep speaks with Morning Edition regular contributor Cokie Roberts about the week in politics.
Not so long ago, many Chinese commentators wrote in a cautious, oblique style designed not to offend the nation's famously humorless leaders — then came the Internet, blogs and a cheeky young man named Han Han.
The voice of China's post-'80s generation, Han is ironic, skeptical and blunt — writing what many young Chinese think but dare not say publicly.
Now 30 years old, Han has boy-band good looks, drives race cars and has 8 million followers on the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.
A collection of his satiric essays is out this month for the first time in English. It's called This Generation: Dispatches From China's Most Popular Literary Star (and Race Car Driver).
Han aims his sarcastic barbs at a wide range of targets in Chinese government and society, from the state education system:
— "I participated in quite a few essay competitions. Before each event, I had to first brainwash myself and check to see what slogans were in fashion."
To the rule of law:
— "We learned that the first article of the Constitution is: 'If we say you're guilty, you're guilty.' "
And the growing gap between the rulers and the ruled:
— "The main contradiction in China today is between the growing intelligence of the population and rapidly waning morality of our officials."
Enlarge Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
Blogger and race car driver Han Han doesn't shy away from skewering Chinese government and society.
Weekend Edition host Scott Simon talks to Mort Berkowitz, who has been making political buttons since 1976. He shares some of his favorites with host Scott Simon.
Iraqi insurgents unleashed a string of bombings and other attacks primarily targeting the country's Shiite community on Saturday, leaving at least 40 dead in a challenge to government efforts to promote a sense of stability by preventing attacks during a major Muslim holiday.
The bloodshed appeared to be the worst in Iraq since Sept. 9, when insurgents launched a wave of bombings and other attacks that left at least 92 dead in one of the country's bloodiest days this year.
The attacks underscored the difficulties facing the country's leadership as it struggles to keep its citizens safe. Authorities had increased security in hopes of preventing attacks during the four-day Eid al-Adha celebrations, when people are off work and families gather in public places.
The deadliest attacks struck in the evening in the Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City. Police said a car packed with explosives blew up near a market, killing 12 people and wounding 27. Half an hour later, a second car bomb went off in one of Sadr city's bus stations, killing 10 and injuring 31.
Earlier in the day, a bomb exploded near playground equipment that had been set up for the holiday in a market on the capital's outskirts in the eastern neighborhood of Bawiya. Police officials said eight people were killed, including four children. Another 24 people, including children, were wounded, they added.
"Nobody expected this explosion because our neighborhood has been living in peace, away from the violence hitting the rest of the capital," said Bassem Mohammed, a 35-year-old father of three in the neighborhood who was startled by the blast.
"We feel sad for the children who thought that they would spend a happy time during Eid, but instead ended up getting killed or hurt."
Elsewhere, a bomb attached to a bus carrying Iranian Shiite pilgrims killed five people and wounded nine, according to police. The bomb, hidden on the underside of the bus, detonated as the pilgrims were heading to a Shiite shrine in Baghdad to mark the holiday.
Authorities have said they planned to increase the number of checkpoints, shut some roads and deploy extra personnel during the holiday period.
They are also relying more on undercover intelligence agents, said Lt. Col. Saad Maan Ibrahim, a spokesman for the interior ministry. He emphasized that both bombings took place on the edge of the capital rather than in densely populated areas.
"The terrorists apparently weren't able to get to the heart of the city. So they chose to attack soft targets on the outskirts," he said.
In the northern city of Mosul, gunmen broke into the houses of two Shabak families, killing a boy and his parents in one and a mother and daughter in the other, according to police. A bomb exploded near the house of another Shabak family, wounding six family members.
Shabaks are ethnically Turkomen and Shiite by religion. Most Shabaks were driven out of Mosul by Sunni militants during the sectarian fighting a few years ago.
In Tuz Khormato, about 130 miles north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near in a neighborhood with a Turkomen Shiite majority. Mayor Shalal Abdoul said 11 people were wounded, including three children.
Medics in nearby hospitals confirmed the casualties. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, is a major Muslim holiday that commemorates what Muslims believe was the Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail, the Biblical Ishmael, as a test of his faith from God. Christians and Jews believe another of Abraham's sons, Isaac, was the one almost sacrificed.
The holiday, which began Friday, marks the end of the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims worldwide typically slaughter lambs and other animals to commemorate the holiday, sharing some of the meat with the poor.
Violence has ebbed across Iraq, but insurgents frequently attack security forces and civilians in an attempt to undermine the country's Shiite-led government.
Holidays are a particular time of concern for security forces. A wave of attacks shortly before another Muslim holiday in August, Eid al-Fitr, killed more than 90 people in one of the deadliest days in Iraq this year.