The Korea Herald

[J. Bradford DeLong] The perils of making predictions

ViewpointsJul 1, 2012

BERKELEY ― We economists who are steeped in economic and financial history ― and aware of the history of economic thought concerning financial crises and their effects ― have reason to be proud of our analyses over the past five years. We understood where we were heading, because we knew where we had been.In particular, we understood that the rapid run-up of house prices, coupled with the extension of leverage, posed macroeconomic dangers. We recognized that large bubble-driven losses in assets
[Editorial] Boosting marine R&D

EditorialJun 29, 2012

On June 24, China made a large stride in space exploration by successfully conducting a manual docking between a manned spacecraft and an experimental orbiting lab module. The feat, carried out by three Chinese astronauts aboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, took China one step closer to its dream of building a space station by 2020. On the same day, China made another technological breakthrough under the sea, which carried just as much, if not more, significance than the space docking exercise. It
[Editorial] Guarding against theft

EditorialJun 29, 2012

It is shocking that the state-of-the-art display technology of Samsung Mobile Display and LG Display has been leaked abroad, probably to some of their foreign rivals. According to prosecutors, circumstantial evidence suggests that circuit diagrams of the two companies’ active-matrix organic light-emitting diode, or Amoled, display technology have been leaked to their rivals in China and Taiwan, including the BOE Technology Group in China, and AU Optronics Corp. in Taiwan.Prosecutors say the susp
[David Ignatius] Greece on its sickbed without cure

ViewpointsJun 29, 2012

KIFISIA, Greece ― This upscale suburb of Athens offers a snapshot of a country sliding toward bankruptcy. It’s an ugly picture, as expectations of prosperity and stability vanish, and fear begins to take over. The trendy shops in the town center looked empty during a visit this week; many stylish restaurants were said to be closed or open only on weekends; banks here, as everywhere in Greece, have been depleted over the past month by a riptide of withdrawals. I’m here visiting Yannos Papantoniou
Catch share: Responsible ways to harvest fish

ViewpointsJun 29, 2012

Most of the news about the world’s oceans is a litany of gloom: rising water temperatures, acidification, bleached coral reefs, tons of Japanese tsunami trash drifting toward North America’s west coast. So it is worth noting when something good is happening with the seas. Last month, the U.S. government reported that six types of fish, including Maine haddock, summer flounder in the mid-Atlantic and Chinook salmon in northern California, had fully recovered in the past year from decades of overf
Parties must ensure bills pass upper house

ViewpointsJun 29, 2012

The House of Representatives passed bills on integrated reform of the social security and tax systems at a plenary meeting Tuesday. This marked a significant step toward the nation’s fiscal reconstruction and social security reform.The set of bills ― with an increase in the consumption tax rate as the centerpiece ― was approved by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and its junior partner, People’s New Party, and also by the two main opposition parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Kome
Exit, entry management

ViewpointsJun 29, 2012

Besides a heavy dose of routine legislative scrutiny, the Chinese National People’s Congress will review five draft laws in five days, the topics ranging from seniors’ rights to government budgets.But the small yet growing expat community across the country will be most interested in the third reading of the draft law on exit and entry control. Especially in the wake of the recent media frenzy over the city of Beijing’s ongoing efforts to deal with illegal immigration.Over-analysis and misinterp
Go boldly into space, but go jointly too

ViewpointsJun 29, 2012

Not without reason, China was in an exuberant mood last week over its first manned docking in space and its record 6,965m submersible dive in the Mariana Trench. Netizens poignantly recalled how Mao Zedong waxed poetically: “We can clasp the moon in the ninth heaven and seize turtles deep down in the five seas.” The simultaneous achievements deserve to be toasted even if others “have been there, done that.”China lags the United States and Russia by decades in manned space flights. And a Swiss-Am
[Park Sang-seek] Looking into the world through the Syrian crisis

ViewpointsJun 29, 2012

Syria is still going through a bloody crisis. The Syrian crisis provides the world with many lessons about how to maintain domestic and international peace and security. The opposition forces began demonstrations in early 2011 demanding democracy and Bashar al-Assad violently responded. The Sunni majority supports the opposition forces and the Alawite and Shiite minorities support the government, while other ethnic and religious minority groups are taking neutral or opportunistic positions. In t
[Editorial] State & family debt

EditorialJun 28, 2012

An opposition lawmaker, announcing his bid for the presidency on Tuesday, pledged to build a “debtless society.” Few would believe his utopian promise was feasible. But many would undoubtedly be tempted to vote for him if he only could freeze the level of national debt at the current level and reduce that of household debt to a manageable one.Controlling debt, both national and household, is one of the greatest issues of concern for the government. Public and private institutions are warning tha
[Editorial] Confirmed unfit again

EditorialJun 28, 2012

It has been confirmed again that factions of the United Progressive Party rigged the vote for the selection of parliamentary nominees for proportional representation in the 19th National Assembly. But the faction that had the party under its control and managed the vote refuses to accept these findings by the party’s ad hoc investigation committee.The committee, which said in its first report in May that the pre-April 11 election vote by party members had been fraudulently conducted, reaffirmed
[Marten Schultz] Justice for Sweden and Assange

ViewpointsJun 28, 2012

STOCKHOLM ― Julian Assange’s bizarre bid for political asylum in Ecuador’s embassy in London has claimed headlines everywhere, but it has obscured an important truth: last month’s decision by the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court that Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual crimes was the only possible outcome. The alternative ― to reject the European arrest warrant issued by Swedish authorities ― would have signaled distrust of Sweden’s legal system, which would have b
In praise of the heavenly hammock

ViewpointsJun 28, 2012

If I wrote a history of the hammock, I’d detail the texture of hamack-tree bark, record the number of hammocks Columbus packed for his return trip to Spain, and dig up reactions among Old World royalty to the slings that let natives sleep above creepy-crawlies. There would be chapters about hammocks on ships of sea and space, chapters on the complexities of weave. I’d think about princes in palaces swaying in the breeze. I’d think about hammocks in the trenches of jungle wars.But as soon as I go
[Meghan Daum] 2012’s pop song for grads: You are not special

ViewpointsJun 28, 2012

Every year around this time, a few notable lines from a few notable commencement speeches start insinuating themselves into the canon of “words to live by.” Recent favorites include Steve Jobs’ 2005 speech at Stanford (“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life”). Then there was Stephen Colbert’s 2006 address at Knox College about “saying yes.” Also in 2005 was David Foster Wallace’s now-enshrined speech at Kenyon College, which discussed freedom, among other things, and
Don’t count out Facebook’s business model just yet

ViewpointsJun 28, 2012

Facebook Inc.’s disastrous initial public offering has led to an increasing consensus that the social networking site was overpriced and that its business model is flawed. Some attribute the debacle to issues raised in the company’s prospectus, such as the difficulty of monetizing mobile technology. Others have pointed to the slow growth in advertising revenue or questioned Facebook’s strategy of collecting vast quantities of data from its networked users to enable customized ads. Yet the pillar