Articles by Yu Kun-ha
Yu Kun-ha
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[David Ignatius] Bill due for central banks
WASHINGTON ― Because of the breakdown of political decision-making in the U.S. and Europe during the Great Recession, the burden of response has fallen largely on two big central banks: the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. And down the road, they are going to pay for it. The balance sheets of these institutions have ballooned as they’ve pumped out cash ― adding so many new obligations that some economists worry the central banks may be sowing the seeds of the next financial crisis.
Viewpoints July 23, 2012
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It’s about time the U.N. helped the Syrian people
Assad’s regime should be finished. There have been numerous defections: a Syrian pilot, a brigadier general, and a high ranking diplomat. Assad’s grip on power has been crumbling. His regime even desperately lashed out by attacking a Turkish fighter jet. This is likened to a wounded animal that is taking vicious last bites before it dies. Meanwhile, the U.N. is doing pretty much nothing about ending his regime sooner. Instead, we are letting the regime inflict extraordinarily heinous crimes agai
Viewpoints July 23, 2012
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China: A bubble to burst?
Every now and then, an army of experts goes around proclaiming the end of China’s economy. Since mid-July 2012, the new song is about China being a bubble and the bubble bursting. Giving the answers right away: Yes, China’s economy is weakening; Yes, there are troubling signals; No, China is not a bubble; No, the bubble is not bursting.What is wrong with China?Chinese economic authorities have revised their growth-forecast from 8 percent to 7.5 percent for the year 2012. This rate, taken for fac
Viewpoints July 23, 2012
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U.S. campaign can’t match nastiness of yore
The U.S. presidential election, by some accounts, is sinking to record depths of negativity and nastiness, with unprecedented attacks on Wall Street, especially the private-equity industry. It’s enough to send the children inside. Except that it isn’t true. There are still more than 100 days to go, but so far the tone and tenor of the contest between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is tame by historical standards. The Republican candidate has said the preside
Viewpoints July 23, 2012
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[Curtis S. Chin] Myanmar: Bubble or miracle?
BANGKOK ― Fifteen years ago this month, the world’s eyes turned to Southeast Asia and then to South Korea and across the Asia-Pacific region as what would become known as the Asian financial crisis unfolded, ending a period of business euphoria about the so-called Asian miracle. In Thailand, after a decade of economic growth averaging 9 percent per year, the bubble burst first, when the government was forced to float its currency in July 1997. The crisis spread, as the value of currencies and eq
Viewpoints July 23, 2012
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Mayer could inspire better policy for moms
In announcing that she would soon be a new mother, Marissa Mayer, the new chief executive officer of Yahoo! Inc., made one thing perfectly clear: She wouldn’t be taking maternity leave. More precisely, Mayer said she would grab just a few weeks away from the office and would work at home the whole time. Many been-there-done-that moms scoffed. Just wait until she experiences the labor, the every-two-hours feedings and the moments of intense joy in between, she’ll change her mind. This would not b
Viewpoints July 22, 2012
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[Robert B. Reich] Truth about Obama’s tax plan
To hear the media report it, President Obama is proposing a tax increase on wealthy Americans. That’s misleading at best. He’s proposing that everyone ― including the rich ― receive a continuation of the Bush tax cuts on the first $250,000 of their incomes. (If they’re filing singly, the first $200,000.) Any dollars they earn in excess of $250,000 will be taxed at the old Clinton-era rates.Get it? Everyone is treated exactly the same. Everyone gets a one-year extension of the Bush tax cut on the
Viewpoints July 22, 2012
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ASEAN is not blind to China’s moves
Philippine Foreign Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio did well to explain ― in print ― “[w]hy there’s no ASEAN joint communique” that came out of last week’s big regional meeting at Phnom Penh. Until I read her essay yesterday, all I had read about was China’s going to town with its “success” at ASEAN, portraying the Philippines as an isolated state pathetically abandoned by its fellow ASEAN countries, all of them bowing before China’s might and meekly going along with the regional bully.Basilio exp
Viewpoints July 22, 2012
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Can we learn anything from America?
South Korea is competitively successful and produces excellent students. Families who move to America, even temporarily, find that their children do very well in school. Korean children achieve easily in mathematics, refine their English quickly, and win honors within two to three years in subjects such as science, history, foreign languages, and of course, English! Given the success of Korean students, is there anything to be learned from America? Is there anything Korean families and corporati
Viewpoints July 22, 2012
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[Jeffrey Frankel] How the First World got its Keynesian policies all wrong
CAMBRIDGE ― The world’s advanced economies remain divided over whether to strengthen budget balances in the short term or to use fiscal policy to promote recovery. Those worried about the short-run contractionary effects on the economy call the first option “austerity”; those concerned about long-term sustainability and moral hazard call it “discipline.”Either way, the debate is akin to asking whether it is better for a driver to turn left or right; depending on where the car is, either choice m
Viewpoints July 22, 2012
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[Editorial] Unfunded welfare plans
Presidential aspirants keep pouring out costly welfare pledges without taking into account the nation’s slowing economic growth and a growing sense of crisis among domestic corporations.Park Geun-hye, the leading candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party, and her rivals in the main opposition Democratic United Party have promised to offer free education to high school students. Park’s plan called for phasing in free education for 1.42 million high school students over four years starting in 2014. Sh
Editorial July 20, 2012
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[Editorial] Campaign funding probe
Pressure is building on the prosecution to investigate growing suspicions of illegal fundraising by aides to President Lee Myung-bak during the 2007 presidential race.Opening a probe into presidential campaign finance must be something the prosecution wants to avoid as much as possible as it could involve the incumbent president.But it is its duty to launch an investigation as circumstantial evidence strongly suggests Lee’s campaign raised funds illegally. If the prosecution shies away from taki
Editorial July 20, 2012
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HSBC reminds us why anger at bankers is norm
You have to love the chutzpah at HSBC Holdings Plc. At the very moment it’s asking the courts to remove a ragged band of Occupy Wall Street protesters encamped under its Hong Kong headquarters, the largest European bank is also reminding the world why many people are so angry at bankers. The subject of the anti-Wall Street crusade isn’t much to behold: A few dozen 20-somethings living in tents, lounging on shabby sofas, strumming guitars and handing out pamphlets. Their notoriety is all about lo
Viewpoints July 20, 2012
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[Joel Brinkley] Morsi’s silence speaks volumes
Mohammed Morsi has been Egypt’s president for less than a month, and already senior clerics in his country and around the Islamic world are loudly calling for the demolition of the pyramids, Egypt’s most important tourist attraction and among the Seven Wonders of the World.Saudi Sheik Ali bin Said al-Rabi’i called them heinous “symbols of paganism.” In recent days, similar calls have been echoing through Egypt and the region, including one from a Bahraini sheik who urged Morsi to “destroy the py
Viewpoints July 20, 2012
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Clinton’s legacy for Asia hangs in the balance
If U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wants to leave a positive legacy in our region, she must make sure that her constant presence, smile and speeches do not further divide ASEAN and cause discord with other major powers and among countries. Clinton has just made another tour of the region as her tenure in office nears completion. She is not going to take up any post in the next U.S. administration. Whatever she has done in Asia, especially in Southeast Asia, will be gauged carefully from
Viewpoints July 20, 2012
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