Anti-contraception battle a loser on policy

Politically, the great contraception debate appears to have been a wash. Republicans saw their message on religious liberty enveloped by the crude misogyny of radio host Rush Limbaugh. Democrats, anticipating a polling boost from outraged female voters, appear to have experienced nothing of the sort. Instead, in a Bloomberg News poll, three-quarters of respondents, including the majority of women, said the issue has no place in the debate. Politics, however, is not all there is to political deba

March 19, 2012

Let’s reexamine Jeju naval base project from the start

Your March 9 editorial “No more delay for Jeju base” has said we should not delay the construction of the proposed Jeju naval base any more. But I think it should also have considered whether the base is actually needed and whether there are no problems with this project.As you know, Jeju boasts beautiful nature and an affluent ecosystem. The coast of Gangjeong Village, in particular, is UNESCO-designated biosphere reserves, and a Korean government-designated ecosystem and cultural asset preserv

March 19, 2012

WTO rare-earths case won’t ensure security

The Cold War had Americans worried about a “missile gap.” Should the rise of China have us nervous about a neodymium gap? It’s a question President Barack Obama is taking seriously, as he showed Tuesday in asking the World Trade Organization to look into China’s manipulation of the global market in so-called rare-earth elements. We wish the U.S. Defense Department would show an equal amount of concern. Neodymium is one of 17 rare-earth metals that have become vital to industrial production and n

March 19, 2012

Kill the primaries to save American politics

By now, you’ve probably heard of Americans Elect, the political-reform group funded by a collection of Wall Street executives (some of whom remain anonymous) who hope to field a bipartisan presidential ticket in 2012. Americans Elect has been amply, but poorly, covered. The part of its strategy that generates the most attention is also the part that’s most wrongheaded: an effort to nominate a bipartisan superticket to contest for the presidency in 2012. This sort of thing is a perennial fantasy.

March 19, 2012

Sarkozy’s cry for help in face of socialist march

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was elected five years ago by promising to modernize France’s societal infrastructure and bring it more into line with America’s: less government reliance, more freedom in life and work. It was a tall order, but his mandate was overwhelming, with a six-percentage-point win over Socialist rival Segolene Royal. Sarkozy was full of vigor and free-market, limited-government ideas imported directly from across the Atlantic.But then something got in the way: France. It

March 18, 2012

Yes, Mr. Smith, Goldman Sachs is all about making money

Apparently, when Greg Smith arrived at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. almost 12 years ago, the legendary investment firm was something like the Make-A-Wish Foundation ― existing only to bring light and peace and happiness to the world. Smith, who was executive director and head of the firm’s U.S. equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, does not go into details in his already notorious op-ed article in Wednesday’s New York Times, “Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs.” But one imag

March 18, 2012

Self-reported data blemishes U.S. college rankings

International parents and students considering an undergraduate education in the U.S. frequently consult one or more of the big three ranking publications ― the Shanghai, QS World and Times Higher Education World University rankings reports. Emphasizing research publication productivity and the accompanying reputation, these reports tend to filter out all but the top tier research institutions in any country. With hundreds of high quality yet sub-top tier institutions in the United States, these

March 18, 2012

To boost U.S. productivity, elect a new Congress

Last week, Harvard Business School hosted a conference in New York to talk about how the U.S. could continue to support “high and rising living standards for Americans” in the face of global competition. It was a lively discussion, leading to many good, if familiar, economic-policy ideas for increasing productivity in the U.S. Unfortunately, this conversation largely ignored the key constraint to many of the policy recommendations: the rise of hyperpolarization in Congress. If business leaders w

March 18, 2012

Online videos signal shift in accessibility of media

Ever since the popularization of the Internet, people have been forecasting the end of old media such as the printed newspaper. The popular analysis points to the fatal inadequacy of outdated technologies to collect and deliver content as well as to a changed advertisement revenue model that favours online media. The recent rapid successes of two videos, one locally and one globally, however, show that a true digital revolution in the media might stem less from a technological standpoint but fro

March 16, 2012

Nuclear power must be part of Japan’s future

The effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have made energy policy more important than ever.The government must utilize lessons from the nuclear crisis to improve the safety of nuclear reactors. It is an urgent task for the government to allow resumption of idle reactors after confirming their safety as part of its efforts to avert a power crisis.Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda declared at a press conference on Su

March 16, 2012

Time to come up with a Plan C for Afghanistan

President Obama has long been criticized by Republicans for his purportedly inadequate zeal in pursuing the war in Afghanistan. He was criticized sharply from the right for his plan to draw down troops over three years; too fast, they said.So it’s ironic that Obama now finds himself defending that timetable against GOP critics who want to pull out more quickly in the wake of news that a U.S. soldier allegedly massacred at least 16 civilians.“We’re risking the lives of young men and women in a mi

March 16, 2012

Jakarta’s House of traitors

It is perhaps the loss of public faith in Indonesia’s House of Representatives that explains why the harder it seeks to boost its image, the more it disappoints its constituents. The House has gradually distanced itself from the public for whom it is supposed to fight and defend.The tall fence surrounding the House compound is merely evidence of a gap separating the elites inside and the masses outside to whom they are indebted, as without their votes the political bigwigs would never have accum

March 16, 2012

The double-edged health care debate in U.S.

There’s a seeming paradox in the way Americans view the health care law that President Barack Obamaand the Democrats passed two years ago this month.Most people tell pollsters they like the parts of the law that have gone into effect: health insurance for people with pre-existing conditions, a clause that allows children to stay on their parents’ health plans until the age of 26 and discounts for prescription drugs on Medicare. And, as time goes by, Americans seem less worried that the law will

March 15, 2012

Iceland’s big trial is a travesty of justice

Everybody is polite and formal at the trial of former Icelandic Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde, which began last week inside a historic mansion in the capital, Reykjavik. Yet the atmosphere is tense, and the stakes are high. In the fall of 2010, a narrow majority in Iceland’s parliament decided to charge Haarde with criminal negligence before and during the collapse of all three major Icelandic banks in early October 2008. The trial is politically driven ― the vote to hold it fell largely along p

March 15, 2012