Check out five opinions trending online, from the (coming) end of the Southern Republican to end-of-life care.
Financial crises need bold action: Former Harvard president Lawrence Summers takes stock of instability in Greece, China's roller-coaster stock market, Puerto Rico's debt, and calls for sweeping, bold action – not incrementalism.
"Financial problems are in some combination always about two things – arithmetic that does not add up and a loss of confidence. Incremental steps that provide some but not large sums of assistance, that postpone but do not reduce scheduled debt payments and that defer decisions about the future to the future run the constant risk that they will not bring convincing arithmetic into view and will be insufficient to restore market confidence. There are dozens of examples in financial history when an exchange-rate peg was maintained too long, or debt was restructured too late, or forbearance was carried out for too long. I can think of none where strong action came too soon," Summers writes in the Washington Post. "Clear-eyed, bold action is what the world requires if financial drama is too subside. Let us hope against much of the experience of recent years that it will be forthcoming." Read more.
Republican disruption: Howell Raines, former executive editor of the New York Times and a Southerner, predicts in an op-ed column that new political coalitions brewing in a New Sunbelt will break the Republican lock on Southern states in coming years.
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"But, as in the time of Henry W. Grady, the post-Reconstruction journalist who popularized the term 'the New South,' inexorable forces will in a few decades reshape Southern society, this time in a more progressive direction. Witness the flood of gay weddings in Mobile and the mounting alarm of evangelicals across the region, the latter being the driving force behind the former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's retro presidential campaign. Like their peers in other regions, secular Southern whites under 40 care less than their elders do about cultural issues like flags, racial and ethnic purity, or private sexual conduct." Read more.
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Myth of "El Chapo." Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the drug kingpin who escaped from a maximum security prison, is the subject of legend and song in Mexico, writes Tracy Wilkinson for the Los Angeles Times.
"Farmer turned business entrepreneur, Guzman was first arrested in Guatemala in 1993, extradited to Mexico and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Eight years later, he paid off guards and left hidden inside a laundry cart — or, so the legend goes. (Some reports say he merely strode out the front door.)" Wilkinson writes. "Even as he was a fugitive, sightings of El Chapo were common. The most frequent tale was that he would enter a restaurant with his henchmen, order everyone to turn in their cellphones, then eat and pay the bill for all those present." Read more.
Haiti battles cholera: Although Ebola continues to make headlines, Haiti has been battling another deadly scourge since 2010: cholera. Rose George writes about her experiences traveling with a Haitian sanitation team in The Atlantic.
"We park, finally, and the team gets ready. One man is the disinfector. He puts on a mask, apron, and gloves and gets his spray can. There are three stages of disinfection and three strengths of chlorine solution: Today will be A-strength (four spoonfuls of chlorine solution in 20 liters of water) and the whole house will be sprayed, along with the neighbors' houses. Another team member has a clipboard and pen. To combat the speed of contamination, questions are as important as chlorine. How did you get cholera? Where have you traveled? Who have you met? Cholera is easily transmitted in food and water, but also at funerals and carnivals and street markets." Read more.
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How to talk about the end of life: Medicare will pay doctors to discuss end-of-life care under a change proposed by the Obama administration – a small but profound reform in health care, write the editors of BloombergView.
"What will it take to bring the experience of death more in line with the way people say they would like it to unfold? Part of the change can come from the health-care system. Paying doctors to discuss questions about the end of life is a start – but they'll also need training in how to approach the conversation, to ensure the results best reflect each patient's wishes," the editors write. "Such training isn't mandatory at most medical schools or residency programs. This needs to change. Expertise in guiding patients through the issues requires the same level of instruction, practice and supervision as any other procedure." Read more.
Ellen Clegg is a member of the Globe staff. To suggest a publication or topic for review, e-mail ellen.clegg@globe.com.
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