Ever since Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party has moved steadily to the right. Yet in Tampa this week, for the seventh consecutive time, Republicans nominated a mainstream presidential candidate after rejecting movement conservatives. No one would confuse Willard Mitt Romney with a populist or movement conservative; he oozes establishment. So did the other presidential nominees since Reagan, both Presidents Bush, Bob Dole and John McCain. Like those predecessors, Romney calculated the formula f

Viewpoints Aug. 30, 2012

Hailed as new heroes for bringing in billions of dollars a year to fuel the growth of the Philippine economy, many overseas Filipino workers are, in truth, martyrs for slaving abroad just to help their families survive back home.As of last count, there are about 12 million Filipinos ― more than 10 percent of the population ― working in some 200 countries across the globe. In 2011, they sent home $20.1 billion to the families they left behind.In the first half of 2012, OFW remittances amounted to

Viewpoints Aug. 30, 2012

From the look of it, life couldn’t be better right now for Apple Inc. The value of the Cupertino, California-based technology giant surpassed $600 billion in mid-August to become the world’s most valuable company. Last Friday Apple scored a major legal victory over its smart device market rival Samsung, with a California court finding several Samsung devices infringed on Apple patents. Apple was awarded $1.05 billion in damages. While $1.05 billion is a big number, it is trivial compared to the

Viewpoints Aug. 30, 2012

The overlapping claim between South Korea and Japan over the Dokdo or Takeshima islands is moving towards uncharted water. The international community thinks that, as the two most important allies of the U.S. in the region, South Korea and Japan should know how to avoid creating an environment that augurs badly for strategic cooperation. That is not true. Worst of all, this tension is happening when their giant neighbor, China, is on a meteoric rise. In fact, if the quarrel continues unabated, i

Viewpoints Aug. 30, 2012

South Koreans may face a fascinating choice come December’s presidential election: Elizabeth I or Ross Perot? Park Geun-hye, the unmarried ruling-party candidate, touts the virgin queen who ruled England from 1558 to 1603 as a role model. Ahn Cheol-soo is the businessman most Koreans want to take her on. He’s Korea’s answer to Perot, the billionaire who 20 years ago ran as America’s most successful modern third-party candidate. So far, Ahn hasn’t said if he will run. Should he do so, he could st

Viewpoints Aug. 29, 2012

ARCADE, N.Y. ― Kathy Hochul is a young, first-term Democratic congresswoman fighting for her political life in a solidly Republican district outside Buffalo, N.Y. Unlike most of that liberal state, this is Romney country; a poll last week showed the GOP candidate ahead of President Barack Obama in her district by a whopping 12 points.So how does Hochul hope to persuade Republican-leaning voters to cross partisan lines to send a Democrat back to Washington? One word: Medicare.“Here’s what they pr

Viewpoints Aug. 29, 2012

The fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation took place last month in Beijing. The event reaffirmed China’s determination to become a privileged partner for the ongoing economic development of African countries. Now, Beijing’s rising influence in Africa prompted the attention of another emerging Asian economy, South Korea, which is looking at the African context with ever greater interest. “No matter how the international landscape may change, China will remain uncha

Viewpoints Aug. 29, 2012

Samsung Electronics has suffered a crushing defeat in a landmark patent battle against Apple Inc. A U.S. jury found last week that the Korean smartphone maker infringed upon a number of patents held by Apple, while the American tech giant did not violate any of its Korean rival’s intellectual properties. The jury’s judgment is widely criticized here as unfair. But it is highly likely to be upheld by the California court, dealing a serious blow to Samsung, the world’s largest mobile device produc

Editorial Aug. 28, 2012

People who are financially strapped because of their mortgages are commonly called “house poor.” Likewise, families that are poor due to heavy spending on their children’s education are called “education poor” in Korea. According to a recent survey, a large number of Korean households belong to this category. The survey, conducted by Hyundai Research Institute, defines the education poor as families that are indebted and unable to make ends meet but nevertheless spend more than average on their

Editorial Aug. 28, 2012

The way the Chinese government is behaving right now, you’d almost think it had converted to democracy. Half a dozen times in recent weeks, government officials have backed down in the face of angry citizen protests ― canceling unpopular industrial projects, freeing wrongly imprisoned citizens or arresting one of its own for his reprehensible behavior.That’s not how a communist dictatorship is supposed to behave.The most notorious example involves Tang Hui from Yongzhou City in southern China. T

Viewpoints Aug. 27, 2012