[Albert Hunt] Mideast without despots needs different U.S. surge

With a rapidity that would have been unimaginable only a month ago, oppression in the Middle East ― Tunisia, Egypt and now, hopefully, Libya ― is on the run. Whatever the short-term challenges, what emerges will probably be better than the old dictatorial regimes.That’s different than proclaiming that democracy and freedom have arrived. Creating a representative political system of self-rule in th

Feb. 28, 2011

Vigilantism’s fundamental moral errors

Political fanaticism fosters moral relativism. That’s the lesson we should all learn from the gruesome case of Shawna Forde, the Arizona anti-immigrant vigilante who was recently convicted lof two counts of first-degree murder.Prosecutors argued that Forde and two accomplices killed 29-year-old Raul Junior Flores and his 9-year-old daughter, Brisenia, in a botched robbery attempt meant to raise mo

Feb. 27, 2011

Washington state should legalize marijuana

Marijuana should be legalized, regulated and taxed. The push to repeal federal prohibition should come from the states, and it should begin with the state of Washington.In 1998, Washington was one of the earliest to vote for medical marijuana. It was a leap of faith, and the right decision. In 2003, Seattle was one of the first places in America to vote to make simple marijuana possession the lowe

Feb. 27, 2011

[Dan Becker and James Gerstenzang] Fouling the Clean Air Act in the United States

Largely hidden in its attack on the federal budget, the House of Representatives has approved a key Republican campaign promise to big business: Protecting it from what the new majority argues are the handcuffs of environmental safeguards. The Republicans would cuff the Environmental Protection Agency instead.If they prevail in the Senate and overcome a White House veto, they would hobble the Clea

Feb. 27, 2011

[Matthew Lynn] Madman is wanted to fill Europe’s job from hell

It comes with a nice office and a grand title. You would probably have a pretty generous expense account. And there may well be a lucrative consulting gig with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. when it is all over.Even so, you would have to be bordering on insanity to accept the role of European Central Bank president when Jean-Claude Trichet steps down in October this year.It’s the job from hell. The euro

Feb. 27, 2011

Target’s turnaround for political donations

Target has adopted new guidelines for donations to trade associations that prohibit the use of the company’s contributions in political campaigns. The decision is a victory for gay rights activists, who objected to the retailer’s donation to a group that supported a candidate opposed to same-sex marriage. But Target’s turnaround has a wider importance. It shows that consumers and activists can hol

Feb. 25, 2011

[Tim Rutten] A tipping point for labor in U.S.

The nonpartisan Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has released a fascinating poll that finds that people on the West Coast are far more likely to regard their states’ budget crises as “very serious” and are increasingly open to solving them through a combination of spending cuts and tax increases.Those findings suggest that circumstances and popular attitudes may be turning in favor o

Feb. 25, 2011

[Editorial] Japan’s risk from rising global prices

A part from agreeing on a set of indicators to measure economic imbalances, the Group of 20 emerging and developed economies that met in Paris last week shared the observation that rising prices of primary industry commodities including food are becoming a risk factor for the global economy.Finance ministers and central bankers from the G20 economies agreed to analyze the causes of excessive price

Feb. 25, 2011

[Editorial] N.Z. shows horror of near-field quakes

It was a bleak scene that prevailed after Tuesday’s earthquake in New Zealand ― buildings and other structures were reduced to piles of rubble, including an old British-style brick church.The disaster that struck Christchurch, the largest city on the country’s South Island, has palpably demonstrated the ferocity of quakes that have their focus just below urban areas, known as near-field temblors.T

Feb. 25, 2011

[Editorial] Blame is misplaced in deportation row

The Philippines sent a special envoy to Taipei on Monday to explain away a misunderstanding in regard to its deportation of 14 Taiwanese nationals to China rather than Taiwan for trial on fraud charges. Manuel Roxas, a former senator and confidant of Filipino President Benigno Aquino III, refused to apologize on Wednesday for what Manila calls a regrettable incident. It all started right after 24

Feb. 25, 2011

Another bite by Apple into music services

As CD sales plummeted, music executives looked in hope toward a new business model: Instead of trying to sell albums for $15 to $20 apiece, offer unlimited access to songs online for a flat monthly fee. The idea, however, has yet to catch on with the masses of music fans. The main impediment for many years was that subscribers couldn’t use the services on the MP3 players that most of them owned, A

Feb. 24, 2011

[Peter Goldmark] Questions for China and the U.S.

Every serious global problem has an important China angle. The Chinese are everywhere, and they’re not going away any time soon.As a matter of fact, the Chinese are firmly convinced that this is “their” century, and that they will displace the United States as global economic leader.The last country with a dominant global economic role that had to face a boisterous, fast-growing upstart was Britai

Feb. 24, 2011

[Jens Bastian] Euro gets cold shoulder at ballot box of outrage

The result in Hamburg couldn’t have been more punishing for the Christian Democratic Union and for Chancellor Angela Merkel. The first of seven regional elections in Germany this year left no doubt about where German voters stand on a much larger issue: the euro crisis.The race for mayor of the city-state, the equivalent of the premier in other German states, was won by the candidate from the oppo

Feb. 24, 2011

[Laurence Kotlikoff] When pretending fails to hide bankruptcy

Our country is bankrupt. It’s not bankrupt in 30 years or five years. It’s bankrupt today.Want proof? Look at President Barack Obama’s 2010 budget. It showed a massive fiscal gap over the next 75 years, the closure of which requires immediate tax increases, spending cuts, or some combination totaling 8 percent of gross domestic product. To put 8 percent of GDP in perspective, this year’s employee

Feb. 24, 2011