Here’s a trend to watch in the coming year: the rise of new economic powers.China, India and Brazil are in the ascendancy, as the economies of United States, Europe and Japan continue to stagnate.China and India are the two most populous countries in the world, together having about 37 percent of the world’s population.With 780 million workers, China has the world’s largest workforce. India is in second place, with 478 million. Both countries together have about 40 percent of the planet’s workfo

Viewpoints Dec. 29, 2011

The emergency leadership council of the ruling Grand National Party has taken a scalpel to the embattled party. In its inaugural meeting held on Tuesday, the council decided to deprive GNP lawmakers of an important prerogative ― immunity from arrest while the parliament is in session.The council’s spokesman said the decision would become the party’s official policy if its 169 lawmakers endorse it at a general meeting. He said the council wanted to show the electorate that GNP lawmakers were read

Editorial Dec. 28, 2011

More than 30 years ago, Kim Seok-dong, chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission, tasted the bitterness of business failure. In 1978, he started a leather jumper exporting business after working for a trading company for a year. Kim’s company ran into trouble when the second oil shock hit the nation in 1979. As business soured, he faced funding problems. To keep his company afloat, he went to his bank to get trade financing. But the bank demanded that all his family members, including eve

Editorial Dec. 28, 2011

Christmastime is a season of gratitude. Whether it’s because we reflect upon the birth of the Christ child or the blessings of the past year, the holiday often prompts a sense of appreciation and thankfulness, as well as the tradition of gift-giving.And this year, the season of giving and receiving gifts comes in sharp contrast to a succession of months pervaded with a sense of entitlement.An entitlement mentality ― a sense of being owed something for nothing ― settles in when people interpret w

Viewpoints Dec. 28, 2011

A silver lining in the dark cloud of the deficit reduction supercommittee’s failure is that it gives Americans another chance to do the right thing to control health care costs. To save money, we must move beyond administrative fiat and put patients first.The problem is illustrated by the “sustainable growth rate” legislation to control physician payments by Medicare. The sustainable growth rate has been repeatedly countermanded by Congress, an issue that might have been addressed by the superco

Viewpoints Dec. 28, 2011

We are witnessing the decline and fall of the investment-banking profession as we have known it for the past 40 years. The evidence is everywhere. The increasing regulations on Wall Street ― as required by the Dodd-Frank law and still being written by the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and others agencies in the U.S. and Europe ― will require the remaining companies to increase their capital, curb their risk-taking and reduce t

Viewpoints Dec. 28, 2011

In cultural commentary about the American economy, one company at a time always seems to be the goat. Everything it does is interpreted as evil. In the 1950s, it was General Motors. GM’s CEO, Charles “Engine Charlie” Wilson, became a national figure of ridicule for telling a congressional committee, “What’s good for General Motors is good for America.” Except that he actually said, “For years I thought that what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa” ― which is quit

Viewpoints Dec. 27, 2011

The scary decline of relations between the United States and Pakistan ― the world’s most dangerous nuclear-armed country ― is illustrated by the perilous plight of one man.Husain Haqqani was, until recently, the savvy and energetic Pakistani ambassador to Washington, dubbed by Bloomberg “the hardest working man in DC.” His job was thankless: trying to maintain ties between two countries that deeply distrust each other.Pakistan’s military disliked Haqqani because of his long-standing opposition t

Viewpoints Dec. 27, 2011

Kim Seong-kon in “One exam decides your future” wrote an interesting piece in this paper last Wednesday (Dec. 21). Whilst sympathetic to the view of the writer, there was a hint that creative education was somehow linked to the “foreign” issue and that, yet again, Koreans are having to adapt to the external whims of foreigners. I would like to add a few reflections. On meeting President Obama earlier last month, President Lee in classic Korean style “complained” that the problem with Koreans is

Viewpoints Dec. 27, 2011

In December 1908, the insurance industry declared war on Christmas. The New York Board of Underwriters issued an announcement to every client of every fire-insurance firm in the city.It read:Your attention is hereby respectfully called to the fact that the introduction about the premises of Christmas green, harvest specimens and other inflammable materials, such as cotton, to represent snow, and the like, and the use of moving picture machines, introduces additional hazard not contemplated by th

Viewpoints Dec. 27, 2011

When 13 medical, pharmaceutical and medical instruments industry organizations held a joint rally last week to pledge to put an end to the practice of rebates between the medical goods suppliers and doctors, the Korea Medical Association, a powerful organization of doctors, did not take part. The KMA’s excuse was that the declarative action would have little effect and participating in such a move was like admitting that all doctors are corrupt.The body of nearly 100,000 medical doctors was in f

Editorial Dec. 26, 2011

Schools in Korea are in crisis from the elementary to university level. Problems range from costly and prevalent off-school classes and high tuition fees for college students to rows between liberal and conservative educators over “human rights” in school. Classroom violence has worsened and adult society, preoccupied with its own problems, does not know what to do. The suicide of a middle school boy in Daegu last week once again alarmed teachers and parents about the growing evil of bullying in

Editorial Dec. 26, 2011