For more than 30 years Republicans have won elections by promising to cut middle-class taxes, or at least to stop middle-class tax increases. No domestic issue has been as reliable a vote-winner. But now Republicans are in a bind. The huge deficit makes tax-cut promises seem impractical. They also worry that cutting middle-class taxes will leave high earners paying an even larger share of income t

Viewpoints June 16, 2011

Buy a farm house in the middle of nowhere, pick up a gun or two, prepare for hyperinflation and brace for a catastrophic bankruptcy. Thirty minutes with hedge-fund manager J. Kyle Bass has you wanting to do all of the above. The head of Dallas-based Hayman Advisors LP isn’t thinking about Greece or even Spain but Japan, the world’s third-biggest economy. He says his bet against Japanese government

Viewpoints June 15, 2011

How was Anthony Weiner so easily able to find such willing sexting partners?Even conceding that Weiner’s pecs were pretty impressive when he took off his shirt, this is nevertheless the embodiment of the geeky guy we all grew up with who struggled with girls. Sure, his quick thinking and tart tongue probably earned him a few points with ladies, but not to a level that could account for the online

Viewpoints June 15, 2011

No other president has invested as much political capital in a national development program.This assessment by Danareksa Research Institute’s chief economist Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa of a new economic blueprint launched by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on May 27 says it all.Since his reelection in 2009, Yudhoyono has tried various means to stimulate economic growth by improving the performance of

Viewpoints June 15, 2011

Hope isn’t a strategy. But it was a major part of NATO’s decision to launch an air war against Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi almost three months ago.Back in March, when the bombing began, the leaders of France, Britain and the United States hoped Gadhafi’s regime would shatter under the shock and awe of modern munitions, and that Libyan military officers would take the advice of their European counterpa

Viewpoints June 15, 2011

Former Agriculture-Forestry Minister Im Sang-gyu should have secured a place in the annals of Korean bureaucracy as a model public administrator, if only he had a little more courage to escape the temptation of corruption. He called it “the devil’s snare” in his suicide note found Monday. Suicide is not rare in this country. But in most corruption scandals, the accused bureaucrats or politicians e

Editorial June 14, 2011

If the political atmosphere between China and North Korea may at times be changeable, the two neighboring countries have been strengthening their economic cooperation steadily and substantially, particularly across the Tumen River. Some of the South Korean media saw political significance in the postponement of the official launches of the Hwanggeumpyeong and Hunchun-Raseon projects last month, bu

Editorial June 14, 2011

Republicans and Democrats alike need a significant deficit-reduction package. It is increasingly elusive. President Barack Obama and his congressional allies face a sputtering economic recovery that signals an inhospitable election environment next year, a bad situation getting worse. They need an infusion of confidence that most analysts say a serious debt deal would achieve. Republicans need to

Viewpoints June 14, 2011

North Korea appears to have begun to experiment with Chinese-style economic development. The reclusive state and its ally have started work to create two joint economic zones that they plan to develop into commercial and industrial centers by attracting foreign investment.On Thursday, high-ranking officials of the two countries broke ground in Raseon, a port city at the northeastern tip of North K

Editorial June 10, 2011

Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung Electronics, said Thursday that corruption seemed to permeate all subsidiaries of Samsung Group. “Corruption can take the form of receiving lavish entertainment and taking money. But the worst type is a manager forcing his subordinates to engage in corrupt practices,” the tycoon said. What led Lee to chastise the executives and employees of Korea’s largest business

Editorial June 10, 2011

It is easy to see how a commercial against nuclear power could influence a voter. A Taiwanese family is enjoying supper when alarms ring out. Images of people in hazmat suits fill the television screen as an announcer reports horrific events: thousands dead, millions evacuated, parts of northern Taiwan unlivable for generations. This theoretical TV spot then ends with the tagline: “Is Nuclear Powe

Viewpoints June 10, 2011