The America that works

The greatest nation on earth-the greatest nation on earth- cannot keep

conducting [1] business [2] drifting from one manufactured crisis to [3] next. We
cant do it, fulminated Barack Obama last month. The crisis of the moment, the
sequester (a package of budget cuts designed to be so ghastly that Congress
would pass a better version), duly came [4] effect on March 1 st. Unless
Congress agrees on [5] extension to its budget, the government will start to shut
down on March 28th. In May, the greatest nation will hit its debt ceiling. Unless it
is raised, uncle Sam will soon start defaulting on his bills.
This is the American that Chinas leaders laugh [6], and the rest of the
democratic world despairs of. Its debt is rising, its population [7] ageing in a
budget-threatening way, its schools [8] mediocre by international standards, its
infrastructure rickety, its regulation dense, its taxes code byzantine, its
immigration systems hare-brained and it [9] fallen from first position in the
World Economic Forums competitiveness rankings [10] seventh in just four
years. Last year [11] Mr. Obama and his election opponent, Mitt Romney
complained [12] the American dream slipping away. Today, the countrys main
businesses sit on nearly $2 trillion in cash, afraid to invest [13] part because
corporate bosses [14] imagine any of Washingtons feuding partisans fixing
anything.
Yet there is also another America, [15] things work. One hint comes from [16]
those bosses like to call the real economy. Recent numbers from the jobs
market and the housing sector [17] been quite healthy. Consumer balance-
sheets are being repaired. The stock market has just hit a record high. Some of
this is cyclical: the private sector is rebounding form the crunch. But is also
reflects the fact [18], beyond the District of Columbia, the rest [19] the country is
starting to tackle [20] of its deeper competitive problems. Business and
politicians are not waiting for the federal government to ride to their rescue.
Instead, as our special report this week shows, they are getting to grips with the
failing Congress is ignoring.
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Make a model of it, not a mess

Make a model of it, not a mess
The country [1] fewer [2] a million inhabitants and its economy makes [3]
less than 0.2% of the euro zones GDP. It is hard [4] believe that Europes
policymakers would squander [5] progress in calming the single currencys
crisis by botching the bail-out of such a minnow. Yet, judging by the bickering
over [6] to handle Cypruss bust banks and help its cash-strapped
government, the rescue plan that looks likely to emerge in the coming weeks
will [7] full of fudged numbers and will fail [8] solve Cypruss problems. It will
be a messy deal and a missed opportunity.
[9] euro zones policymakers [10] use the plight of Cypruss not only to
encourage reform on [11] island. They should [12] seize the chance to push
ahead towards a banking union. They should do [13] by using European
rescue funds [14] restructure, recapitalize [15] reform Cypruss broken
banks.

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Looking for Indias Zuckerberg

Information technology has [1] a mighty force for good in India. [2] first tech
revolution began 30 years [3], when a [4] engineers came [5] with the
unlikely idea of doing back-office IT work for far-off Western firms. Today that
outsourcing industry is a capitalist marvel. It [6] annual sales of $100 billion,
mostly from abroad, and [7] export earnings have been vital in a country [8]
a weak balance of payments. Millions of good jobs in India have been
created. Young Indians have seen that globalization creates winners. Indias
reputation in the world has changed, [9]: Bangalores shining IT campuses
have become as famous [10] the Ganges and the Gandhis.
Yet India has been a comparative failure in terms [11] innovation over the
past decade. You might have expected Indias many advantages (the
English language, abundant engineers and a thriving diaspora in Silicon
Valley) to pay off spectacularly on the internet. But only [12] few start-ups
have [13] clever technical innovations that have been sold abroad. And at
home e-commerce is in [14] infancy, with sales only 6% of Chinas. Thanks
[15] lousy infrastructure, useless regulation [16] a famously corrupt telecoms
sector, the web is available to only 10% of Indians, many of them squinting
at screens in cafs.
India boasts no big internet firms to compare with Chinese giants [17] as
Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent, nor start-up stars like Facebooks Mark
Zuckerberg. Instead, it has seen a succession of false dawns, [18] its
version of the dotcom bubble in 1998-2002 to more recent hype over deal-
of-the-day websites and text-based cricket updates. [19] 2010-11 lots of
start-ups raised cash, but they have struggled since. Venture capitalists
grumble that their returns [20] been poor. The original emerging-market tech
pioneer has fallen behind in the internet era.
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