Welcome to the year of the bubble.It may seem an odd assertion at a time when many key economies are in, or on the verge of, recession. Yet near-zero interest rates in Washington, Tokyo and Frankfurt have a way of wreaking havoc with markets and human psychology. It’s not a reach to say we have a bubble in bubbles.The forces that will make for an interesting 2011 go beyond monetary policies. A var

Viewpoints Jan. 6, 2011

The Korea Communications Commission has recently selected a consortium formed by Yonhap News Agency as the sole successful applicant for a news-only cable TV channel license. The panel announced on Dec. 31 that among the five bidders, Yonhap News TV alone earned more than the cut-off score of 800 points. But serious questions are being raised about the fairness of the screening process.First of al

Editorial Jan. 5, 2011

Only when those in need receive the minimum living allowance will this form of state aid fulfill its proper role of redistributing social wealth in a fair manner and thus ease the gap between the haves and have-nots. The fact that more than 7,000 relatives of officials at various levels were deprived of the privilege to such allowances in East China’s Jiangxi province alone sends the message that

Viewpoints Jan. 5, 2011

Housing prices are sliding again, and there is plenty of blame to go around. Factors include the sluggish recovery, ineffective private and public efforts to prevent foreclosures, suddenly risk-averse lenders and temporary tax credits that generated a short-lived and artificial rally in home sales. But a lawsuit filed last week provides a pointed reminder that the bubble would never have happened

Viewpoints Jan. 5, 2011

“You come into this world on the way out.”All my life, I have heard that axiom. Even as a child, I understood it meant I would die. Of course, as a youngster, I assumed that day would be many years away.Over time, I learned that death is not reserved for the old. Children, young adults and people in their prime could also get a visit from the Grim Reaper.Death is no respecter of persons ― no one c

Viewpoints Jan. 5, 2011

Here’s a familiar fact: Economic inequality is rising in the United States. The rich have gotten richer, the poor have stayed poor, and families in the middle have seen their incomes stagnate.Here’s a less-familiar fact: Opportunity in America isn’t what it used to be either. Among children born into low-income households, more than two-thirds grow up to earn a below-average income, and only 6 per

Viewpoints Jan. 5, 2011

I hope that 2011 will provide better foreign policy stories than 2010 did.Consider this woeful litany: The continuing fighting in Afghanistan, the jihadis and floods of Pakistan, a recovering but deeply troubled Iraq, a nuclear-bent Iran that crushed the “Green” opposition. Add a failed Mideast peace process, an increasingly aggressive China and regressive Russia, and a United States drawn inward

Viewpoints Jan. 5, 2011

Few by now remember what the Sept. 19, 2005 and Feb. 13, 2007 agreements were in the six-party talks, while there are signs that the multilateral process will be resumed more than two years after it went into recess. To help readers’ memories, North Korea agreed, in the earlier accord, to abandon all nuclear weapons and nuclear programs and return to the NPT, while other parties vowed to provide e

Editorial Jan. 4, 2011

Kim Young-ran, chairwoman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, cautioned everyone of the nation to guard against “the virus of corruption.” Upon her inauguration this week, the former Supreme Court justice observed that corruption was still a chronic malady in our society, although it seems fairly weakened.The new head of the corruption watchdog will now see for herself how the viru

Editorial Jan. 4, 2011

We can’t peer into President Obama’s soul, but his statement last week that he is “struggling” with whether to endorse same-sex marriage is open to an unedifying interpretation. Given the president’s support of gay rights in other contexts, his opposition to marriage equality raises the question of whether the struggle Obama referred to is between politics and principle. If so, we hope principle w

Viewpoints Jan. 4, 2011

With his signature last week, President Obama ended the military’s distasteful policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” In doing away with this discriminatory practice, he also ushered the American armed forces back into the mainstream of American life. One salutary consequence is that some of the nation’s most prestigious universities now are willing to host Reserve Officer Training Corps units on thei

Viewpoints Jan. 4, 2011

Europeans have grown accustomed to seeing government workers shut down their countries when provoked. At this time of huge deficits from Washington to the smallest towns, government workers in the U.S. also face significant cutbacks.Americans may have had their first taste of what that will mean.New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Governor David Paterson are both calling for an inve

Viewpoints Jan. 4, 2011