At a time when budget zealots are attacking everything from Medicare to corporate welfare to whole Cabinet departments, the U.S. military has presented Congress with a plan to spend as much on new warplanes over the next decade as it did during the huge defense buildup of the 1980s.

CNN: The Sky's The Limit

Among his fans, his reputation has never been higher although the stockmarket as a whole reacted coolly to his break-up plan.

ECONOMIST: Face value

Despite official reluctance to push a national scheme, the Manchester plan suggests that the government is still committed to road pricing, if not for the country as a whole then at least for its big cities.

ECONOMIST: Congestion charging comes to Manchester

Its plan aims to reverse the president's blurring of the distinctions between the executive, the PSUV and the state as a whole.

ECONOMIST: Venezuela��s presidential campaign