The Korea Herald

[Edward Glaeser] Targets for future spending cuts

ViewpointsAug 18, 2011

There is a time to spend and a time to cut and we are now in an age of austerity. Even since Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S.’s “AAA” credit rating earlier this month, some Keynesians still favor more spending. They say the threat that the economy will dip back into recession calls for more pub
[Uri Dromi] Voice of protest in Israel says enough is enough

ViewpointsAug 18, 2011

For the last few weeks, Israel has been experiencing an unprecedented phenomenon: Hundreds of thousands of people are rallying in the streets, demanding social justice. The numbers are mind-boggling: 300,000 Israelis is the equivalent of 18 million Americans. And this is not a one-shot rally. The pr
[William D. Cohan] Ending the moral rot on Wall Street (Part 3)

ViewpointsAug 18, 2011

The following is the last installment of a three-part article on Wall Street corruption and remedies for it. ― Ed.Since 1970, when financial companies began selling shares to the public, the industry has ensnared the rest of us in repeated crises of its own making. There was the crash of 1987 and th
[Nouriel Roubini] Market-oriented economy doomed?

ViewpointsAug 17, 2011

NEW YORK ― The massive volatility and sharp equity-price correction now hitting global financial markets signal that most advanced economies are on the brink of a double-dip recession. A financial and economic crisis caused by too much private-sector debt and leverage led to a massive re-leveraging
[William Pesek] Economic suicide is only a scandal or two away

ViewpointsAug 17, 2011

The Philippines can be a scandalmonger’s paradise. At this very moment, editors are pressed to decide which controversy goes on the front page: the suicide story, the car scam, Chopper-gate or the asylum follies. Each of them sells newspapers and each is linked to a central figure: Gloria Arroyo, wh
[Editorial] New charity foundation

EditorialAug 17, 2011

Rep. Chung Mong-joon, his relatives and their Hyundai companies are contributing 500 billion won to inaugurate a charity ― the Asan Sharing Foundation ― in memory of his deceased father, Chung Ju-yung.The Asan Sharing Foundation sets itself apart from many charity foundations established by other bu
[Editorial] Cost of unification

EditorialAug 17, 2011

All swans were perceived to be white in the West. But what stood this perception on its head was the discovery by a Dutch expedition that found black swans in Australia in 1697. A black swan was no longer an oxymoron.Based on this episode, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the author of “The Black Swan,” build
[Nina Khrushcheva] Democracy and walls of August

ViewpointsAug 17, 2011

MOSCOW ― History’s milestones are rarely so neatly arrayed as they are this summer. Fifty years ago this month, the Berlin Wall was born. After some hesitation, Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Union’s leader, allowed his East German counterpart, Walter Ulbricht, to erect a barrier between East and Wes
[Simon Johnson] The real U.S. crisis is not the debt downgrade

ViewpointsAug 17, 2011

The U.S. has a fiscal crisis, but not the one that everyone is talking about. Standard and Poor’s proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the U.S. still has the world’s preeminent reserve currency. When shocks hit ― and investors have no idea who or what might be next in line for a downgrade ― they bu
[William D. Cohan] Ending the moral rot on Wall Street (Part 2)

ViewpointsAug 17, 2011

The following is the second installment of a three-part article on Wall Street corruption and remedies for it. ― Ed.Was all of this immoral, unethical and illegal behavior a mere aberration, brought on in the years leading up to the financial crisis by an atypical combination of greed and hubris? Sa
[David Ignatius] Department of Internet Defense

ViewpointsAug 16, 2011

ASPEN, Colo. ― “Cyber-security” is one of those hot topics that has launched a thousand seminars and strategy papers, without producing much in the way of policy. But that’s beginning to change, in one of 2011’s most important but least noted government moves. This summer, with little public fa
[Bob Keeler] Chipping away at Environment Protection Agency

ViewpointsAug 16, 2011

Long before he became our president, Ronald Reagan was widely known for a line he delivered often: “At General Electric, progress is our most important product.” What he didn’t emphasize was GE’s other important product: pollution. The huge company is fully or partly responsible for dozens of Superf
[Editorial] Balancing budget by 2013

EditorialAug 16, 2011

In his Liberation Day address on Monday, President Lee Myung-bak committed himself to balancing the national budget by 2013 when his five-year presidency expires. If he makes good on his promise, it will certainly be remembered as one of his greatest achievements.Fiscal soundness cannot be emphasize
[Editorial] Dire economic prospects

EditorialAug 16, 2011

Each Aug. 15, the anniversary of liberation from Japan’s colonial rule has served as an occasion for the incumbent president to grandstand. This year’s anniversary was no exception.In his Liberation Day speech on Monday, President Lee Myung-bak enumerated the policies he has pursued for “green growt
[Kim Seong-kon] K-pop is not enough on its own

ViewpointsAug 16, 2011

Despite the increasing popularity of K-pop and Korean TV dramas overseas, Korean literature does not seem to attract foreigners’ attention much. With the possible exception of Shin Kyung-sook’s “Please Look after Mom,” which was on the New York Times bestseller list for a while, Korean literature in