From the desk of John Micklethwait, Editor - 22nd January 2015

Thursday, January 22, 2015

America was born out of a reaction against hereditary privilege, but these days it is growing its own aristocracy. As our cover story this week explains, today's rich pass on to their children something far more valuable than wealth—brains  John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief

Investment in Africa The sub-Saharan private-equity boom READ MORE » Skiing in China Downhill all the way for the new rich READ MORE » The Big Mac index Some currencies lose weight on a diet of QE and cheap oil; others bulk up READ MORE » Politics this week Chad sent 2,000 troops to Cameroon to help fight jihadists from Boko Haram, a group based in north-eastern Nigeria that has slaughtered thousands of people there and stepped up its raids across the Cameroonian border. Paul Biya, the president of Cameroon, described Boko Haram as a “global threat” as he appealed for international help SEE ARTICLE » MORE FROM: POLITICS THIS WEEK » Business this week Standard & Poor’s was fined by America’s Securities and Exchange Commission and banned for a year from providing credit ratings for some types of mortgage securities backed by commercial property. It is the first time the regulator has penalised a credit-rating agency, finding that S&P had elevated “its own financial interests above investors by loosening its rating criteria” for the securities and then tried to hide the changes SEE ARTICLE » MORE FROM: BUSINESS THIS WEEK »