We could be nearing a golden hour in U.S. foreign policy, that rare moment when a newly reelected president theoretically has the experience and clout to make good things happen. As President Barack Obama told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last March before an unanticipated open microphone, “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.” We can think of many places more deserving of presidential flexibility than Russia, which is in such a state of pugnacious isolationi

Viewpoints Jan. 2, 2013

OXFORD ― Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, recently said of the unfinished agenda for global financial-sector reform: “To start, we need concrete progress with the too-important-to-fail conundrum. We need a global-level discussion of the pros and cons of direct restrictions on business models.” Five years on from the start of the crisis, with the publication of the Liikanen report on European Union banking reform, that debate has finally begun.The Liikanen p

Viewpoints Jan. 2, 2013

President-elect Park Geun-hye is grappling with a task that has been blown out of proportion in terms of importance ― appointing members of the presidential transition team. By now she should have started to receive briefings from members of the transition committee on the conduct of the affairs of the central government. Yet she is still not ready to unveil the full lineup. On New Year’s Eve, Kim Yong-joon, the former Constitutional Court chief who was named to lead the transition team, said hi

Editorial Jan. 1, 2013

Lawmakers have begun to drop tax bombs to bankroll the welfare pledges of President-elect Park Geun-hye. They passed the budget bill for 2013 early Tuesday morning together with a set of measures aimed at increasing tax revenue.This year’s budget was finally set at 342 trillion won, down 500 billion won from the administration’s original proposal submitted last September. Nevertheless, legislators approved bills that would increase the tax burden on rich people as shortfalls are expected in tax

Editorial Jan. 1, 2013

Ever since the invention of the wheel in Mesopotamia around 3500 B.C., technological innovation has been improving our lives. Because new devices and processes help us produce more (output) with less (labor input), prices fall, real wages rise and we are all better off. If there is a free lunch in this world, it’s productivity growth. There is even an economic school of thought, known as real business cycle theory, which views technology shocks as the main driver of the business cycle: not the c

Viewpoints Jan. 1, 2013

In a few weeks, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will be reinaugurated with great fanfare in Washington. Soon after that, in Beijing, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang will ascend to the presidency and premiership of China. (China’s premier is the second-highest office but unlike the American vice president is more like the country’s chief operating officer, with the president as chief executive officer.) If our political leaders would play their cards right, the concomitant inaugurat

Viewpoints Dec. 30, 2012

I want to pay tribute to a few brave men and women who fought in 2012 for dignity, justice, and peace in some of the world’s most troubled countries.My list is limited by space considerations. So I’ve chosen to focus on people I’ve been privileged to meet or whom I’ve learned about from contacts in their countries. What distinguishes them is that each has chosen to struggle, at great risk, for values that most of us take for granted ― though their odds of success are small.I’ll start with someon

Viewpoints Dec. 30, 2012

Is the U.S. getting ready to wage the Cold War again? If one believes the critics, that’s the aim behind a planned $10 billion modernization of the B61 nuclear bomb, the backbone of the Pentagon’s tactical nuclear arsenal. Actually, there are some other reasons for the upgrade: to reinforce global deterrence, to provide options against a range of future threats, and to make the U.S. stronger and safer. Achieving those goals is worth the money. As wonderful as the idea of a world without nuclear

Viewpoints Dec. 28, 2012

After a tragedy like the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn., the injection of anything short of seriousness into the subsequent public discourse about guns is touchy. But last week, the National Rifle Association blasted numerous rounds into that particular barrier with NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre’s mouth.The organization’s hysteric solution to gun violence in America is to put designated sitting ducks ― er, “armed police officers” ― in every American school.

Viewpoints Dec. 27, 2012

The problem of affluent self-employed people free riding on the national health insurance system is well known. To avoid paying contributions commensurate with their large personal wealth, these people manage to put their names on company payrolls and register themselves as employees, whose contributions are computed solely based on their monthly wages.To curb these practices, the National Health Insurance Corp. has begun to levy extra contributions on employees with income other than their mont

Editorial Dec. 26, 2012