The Korea Herald

[Martin Khor] Rich economies caught in crisis

There was more bad news about the global economy last week. It looks as if the major developed economies are facing worsening problems that will not go away.This does not augur well for the developing world, as it is still dependent on the richer economies.An economic slowdown in the United States was indicated by last week’s data of a rise in unemployment to 9.2 percent and only 18,000 new non-fa

July 15, 2011

[Martin Khor] Rich economies caught in crisis

[Editorial] Social networks for Taiwan’s presidential poll

The introduction of Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks and online video-streaming sites has revolutionized the concept of “breaking news” and information distribution.Using the highly visual and instantaneous new media can allow something to spread faster than the proverbial wildfire, creating a borderless, 24-hour wellspring of data that simultaneously attracts millions of eyeballs acro

July 15, 2011

[Editorial] Cruel news for world

For the print media struggling to survive in a world that seems to be inexorably bent on embracing the electronic media, the news that News of the World, London’s biggest selling weekend tabloid, was closing was, indeed, cruel, cruel news. If only for the paper’s longevity, the last issue last Sunday of the 168-year-old News of the World was headline news many times over. The News was an instituti

July 15, 2011

[Editorial] China, U.S. need more military exchanges

It is noteworthy that over the years whenever there has been a rift in Sino-U.S. ties, bilateral military relations have always been the first to be affected and that even when bilateral relations are warming, military-to-military exchanges are usually the last to thaw. With the unfolding of a series of reciprocal visits and dialogues between the two militaries this year, including former U.S. Sec

July 15, 2011

[Gordon Brown] Why Europe slept during crisis

LONDON ― When the history of the 21st century is written, people will rightly ask why it was that Europe was found wanting during its most intractable economic crisis.They will ask why Europe slept as an undercapitalized banking system floundered, unemployment remained unacceptably high, and the continent’s growth and competitiveness plummeted.Worse still, if a reconstruction plan does not come so

July 14, 2011

[Gordon Brown] Why Europe slept during crisis

[Allan Luks] Charities can act as the United States’ conscience

Among the many proposals to raise taxes and cut and reallocate government spending to regain our country’s economic health, one of the most sensitive is decreasing the tax deductibility of charitable contributions.The independent Congressional Budget Office recently reviewed 11 options for revising the income tax treatment of charitable giving, and it grouped them into four categories. All establi

July 14, 2011

[Francois Godement] China bargain-hunting in Europe

PARIS ― In Shakespeare’s plays, comedy often meets tragedy. Perhaps Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reflected on this as he watched a performance of Hamlet in Stratford-upon-Avon during his recent European tour. And, apropos the play, he may have been thinking: “To buy or not to buy?” In Bulgaria last March, one of his ministers quipped that “there will always be someone pointing fingers at us, whether

July 14, 2011

[Francois Godement] China bargain-hunting in Europe

[Adam Skaggs and Maria da Silva] America’s judiciary: Courting disaster

Denouncing a proposal to cut $150 million out of a courts budget that has already absorbed a $200 million reduction, California’s chief justice, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, recently warned that the “devastating and crippling” cuts would “threaten access to justice for all.”California’s not alone. Last month, 350 court employees in New York were laid off to offset $170 million in cuts to the state judicia

July 14, 2011

[Steffen Hertog] The perils of economic populism in the Mideast

The first signs of a post-revolutionary hangover are everywhere in the Arab world. Where unity of purpose once defined the reform movements in Egypt and Tunisia, now particular interests are coming to the fore. Forces for change are fracturing. Conflicts revolve not just around the constitutional framework of the transition away from dictatorship or the place of Islam in public life, but increasin

July 14, 2011

[Joseph E. Stiglitz] Ideological crisis of capitalism

NEW YORK ― Just a few years ago, a powerful ideology ― the belief in free and unfettered markets ― brought the world to the brink of ruin. Even in its hey-day, from the early 1980s until 2007, American-style deregulated capitalism brought greater material well-being only to the very richest in the richest country of the world. Indeed, over the course of this ideology’s 30-year ascendance, most Ame

July 13, 2011

[Joseph E. Stiglitz] Ideological crisis of capitalism

[By Jonathan Alter] Sputnik dreams lost to space shuttle realities

It’s hard to believe that less than six months ago President Barack Obama was talking about a “Sputnik moment.” In his State of the Union address he proposed huge investments in infrastructure, innovation and education to help us “win the future.” The president still wants those investments, but nowadays he means something different when he talks about the need to “do something big.” At his news c

July 13, 2011

[Linda Yueh] Seeing double at central banks

The current issue is that the monetary aggregate (M4) measure of lending to the private sector is at its lowest level in a decade, while inflation is more than double the BOE’s target.OXFORD ― Central banks are now targeting liquidity, not just inflation. The credit boom of the past decade highlighted the inadequacy of focusing only on prices, and underscored the need for the monetary authority of

July 13, 2011

[Linda Yueh] Seeing double at central banks

[Ehab Kotb] Revolution leaving much of Egypt behind

CAIRO ― Dramatic and once unimaginable changes have occurred in Egypt over the last six months. President Hosni Mubarak has been ousted from office. The people have won the right to new and free elections. The long-feared secret police appears to have been muzzled.But this revolution has only occurred in Cairo and the northern part of the country.Upper Egypt, an area that forms more than two-third

July 13, 2011

[Tayler Clough ] Taxi drivers discriminate

As guests in Korea who only speak French and English, my wife and I have been amazed at the polite and helpful approach most Koreans have shown in helping us to buy groceries, get to the hospital, or travel to a certain destination. Having moved from America, a country with increasingly little patience for foreigners, we both appreciate the warm approach we have come to enjoy in Korea. However, re

July 13, 2011

[Albert R. Hunt] High court may wade into election-year politics

A familiar pattern of past presidential elections is that early in the cycle both parties gin up their base with warnings about dire consequences if the other side controls the next Supreme Court selections; after a few well-timed speeches and fundraising appeals the matter is usually ignored by the electorate. Next year could be different by becoming the first time since 1968 that the Supreme Cou

July 13, 2011

[William Pesek] Viral video says it all about Japan’s economy

If a poll were taken to pick the most reviled man in Japan, Ryu Matsumoto would win hands down. Until Tuesday, he had Japan’s second-most important job: reconstruction minister. Four months after the earthquake and tsunami, no issue looms larger than how Japan rebuilds, boosts growth and reassesses its nuclear industry. On July 3, a week into the job, Matsumoto headed north to check the devastatio

July 12, 2011

[William Pesek] Viral video says it all about Japan’s economy

[Lee Jae-min] A new start for South Sudan

The establishment of South Sudan last weekend sowed a seed of new hope. For the seed to bear fruit, wholehearted assistance from the international community is crucial.A major breakup occurred over the weekend and this one was very peaceful. The southern part of Sudan seceded from the country and went independent. The Republic of South Sudan was thus established on July 9 with the attendance of ma

July 12, 2011

[Lee Jae-min] A new start for South Sudan

[Naomi Klein] Climate change and disaster in Montana

“We’re a disaster area,” Alexis Bonogofsky told me, “and it’s going to take a long time to get over it.”Bonogofsky and her partner, Mike Scott, are all over the news this week, telling the world about how Montana’s Exxon Mobil pipeline spill has fouled their goat ranch and is threatening the health of their animals.But my conversation with Bonogofsky was four full days before the pipeline began po

July 12, 2011

[Meghan Daum] Walking out of a movie

In a world where everything’s refundable, fast-forwardable or otherwise disposable, it’s easy to forget that buying a movie ticket has never been a risk-free proposition.There’s something exhilarating about walking out of a movie. Not only does it reacquaint you with the notion of your own free will (“Wait a second, no one is forcing me to watch Tom Hanks ride around on a scooter!”), it’s like get

July 12, 2011

[Editorial] Putting blame on the jury

Somewhere along the way, the American viewing public mistook the Casey Anthony trial for an episode of “American Idol.” If the audience had been allowed to vote, she’d be on her way to Florida’s death row.Instead, she’ll be released within days, acquitted of first-degree murder of her 2-year-old daughter. She’ll be free to sell her story, have another baby, go on breathing ― all to the loud dismay

July 12, 2011