You might think this is a great time for the offshore-banking industry. There is a lot of spare cash sloshing around the world. The mega-rich are still piling up money. Taxes are likely to go up as every developed country tries to cope with huge deficits, creating even more incentive to shift money to some island hideaway.But it’s not so easy anymore.A former Julius Baer Group Ltd. banker has hand

Viewpoints Jan. 26, 2011

China, which is on the way to superpower status with its economic wealth and military strength, has become increasingly assertive. Moves by this rising nation have the potential to bring structural changes to the balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region.While calling on Beijing for self-restraint, Japan must join hands with neighboring countries and show a resolute stance against China if it ta

Viewpoints Jan. 25, 2011

You know we’ve got problems when Barbra Streisand and Herbie Hancock understand the global economy better than John Boehner and Harry Reid. Singer Streisand and jazz great Hancock were on hand for the Chinese president’s White House dinner last week, while House Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Reid and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell wimped out and stayed away. Lawmakers are right to obj

Viewpoints Jan. 25, 2011

It is pretty amazing reading the story of Jung Heung-won. This Korean lived in Argentina for 10 years, then another five in Lima, until finally moving to Chanchamayo, where he has helped many of those in need. In reward for his efforts, he was easily elected mayor of the latter city this year, since any “foreigner granted residence in Peru can run for public office if he or she lives in the same e

Viewpoints Jan. 25, 2011

At a joint press conference to welcome Chinese President Hu Jintao to the U.S. on Jan. 19, President Barack Obama downplayed contentious issues, such as China’s undervalued currency, and focused instead on areas of economic cooperation. “We want to sell you all kinds of stuff,” Obama said. “We want to sell you planes, we want to sell you cars, we want to sell you software.” One thing not on his ex

Viewpoints Jan. 25, 2011

The prospect of meaningful tax reform has become the hot topic in the hearing rooms and, just as important, the back rooms of Washington.House Ways and Means Committee Chairman David Camp, Republican of Michigan, devoted his first hearing to the topic, and President Barack Obama’s team is talking up the subject in private and in public.“We’re examining whether we can find the political support for

Viewpoints Jan. 25, 2011

Rep. Chung Dong-young, a supreme council member of the main opposition Democratic Party, has added fuel to an escalating debate on welfare reform by calling for wealth taxes to finance the party’s universal welfare scheme.Chung, who was the DP’s candidate for the 2007 presidential election, proposed on Thursday the introduction a wealth tax and a welfare tax. The wealth tax targets the nation’s ri

Editorial Jan. 21, 2011

Pushed by the United States and China, the two Koreas are set to resume dialogue. On the heels of the U.S.-China summit in Washington on Wednesday, North Korea proposed that the two sides hold high-ranking military talks to discuss the sinking of the South Korean Navy’s Cheonan warship and the North’s shelling of the South’s Yeonpyeong Island. Seoul accepted to enter talks with the North to see wh

Editorial Jan. 21, 2011

Many Latinos have grown frustrated by the failure of Democrats and Republicans to craft a comprehensive reform of national immigration policy. Those disaffected voters may have a new home: the Tequila Party, an independent, grassroots effort designed to mobilize Latinos much as the tea party movement has seized on the anger and frustration of fiscal conservatives.The Tequila Party remains more an

Viewpoints Jan. 21, 2011

As if Haiti needed another plague, former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier made a surprise return to the country on Sunday after 25 years of exile, raising alarm about his intentions and complicating efforts to resolve a paralyzing electoral crisis.The one-time “president for life” is a polarizing figure who governed Haiti during one of its most wretched eras. His return is yet another dos

Viewpoints Jan. 21, 2011

The pieces just don’t add up.Credit card debt outstanding has fallen 27 straight months for a total decline of $177.2 billion.The unemployment rate has been stuck above 9 percent for 20 months.Average hourly earnings rose 1.9 percent in 2010.Personal income rose less than 4 percent in the 12 months ended November.About 23 percent of homes with mortgages are worth less than the amount of the loan.F

Viewpoints Jan. 21, 2011

Shenzhen is famous for being the guinea pig for China’s development over the past three decades. It became China’s first special economic zone in 1980 as the government pioneered the nation’s economic opening-up in this former fishing village adjacent to Hong Kong. Now higher education is the latest area in which the city is blazing a trail for the rest of the country, as it is setting up a univer

Viewpoints Jan. 21, 2011

Few were expecting any surprises from the ASEAN Ministerial Retreat in Lombok, Indonesia over the weekend. So when news emerged that the 10-member group was urging an easing of sanctions against Burma (Myanmar), we found it rather shocking, if not altogether disturbing.The introduction of a regime sanctioned constitution, general elections and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi are grounds for Indone

Viewpoints Jan. 21, 2011

In the past 12 and a half months great areas of the world have experienced extreme, crazy and topsy-turvy weather. Both the western and eastern worlds suffered a midsummer breakdown:The hottest summer (more than 100 degrees F for the first time) in Russia, sparking wildfires and blanketing Moscow with toxic smog;The heaviest monsoon rains in Pakistan, causing rivers to rampage over the countryside

Viewpoints Jan. 21, 2011