The fast fall in vegetable prices must be what Chinese policymakers have long anticipated in their fight against soaring consumer inflation. But sadly, as the recent suicide of a cabbage grower Han Jin in Shandong province shows, it is proving too dear for many Chinese farmers. The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Agriculture are right to take immediate action to help farmers facing an ove

WASHINGTON ― It’s a truth of economics and life that if you have bad news coming, take the hit early and get it behind you. You can’t start building until the debris is out of the way. Modern illustrations of this “pain, then gain” approach start with Paul Volcker, Mr. Tough Guy, who as Fed chairman sharply raised interest rates in 1979 to break the inflationary psychology that had a grip on the U

The line between prudence and moral cowardice can be a fine one, particularly when it comes to the conduct of diplomacy.For Americans, the question of where and how to make such distinctions has a particular urgency last week, as we commemorated the 96th anniversary of the genocide inflicted on the Armenians by the Ottoman Turks. In massacres from 1915 to 1923, more than 1.5 million Armenians were

How happy are you? How happy is the country? This very important question has gradually gained attention over the years, occupying the attention not only of psychologists and New Age gurus, but of economists, political scientists and government leaders.The field of happiness studies is booming with researchers hard at work taking our emotional temperature, figuring out how we feel and trying to un

I have a blue-ribbon commission in mind for Ray LaHood as he tries to sort out what to do about sleeping air traffic controllers. The panel members I’m thinking of have names like Preston & Steve, Cataldi, heck, maybe even Harvey in the Morning. Because when I heard the secretary of transportation say he’d never allow naps on the job, the first person I thought of was a radio DJ.For years, Don Can

From April into midsummer last year, Americans watched BP’s oil spew from the seafloor into the Gulf of Mexico with outrage and guilt that came to feel like a chronic stomachache.Then, on July 15, it stopped. And within a couple of weeks the bad feelings for a lot of us stopped too. There were reports that the surface oil was quickly disappearing. There was a government study that hopeful journali

A week after Apple Inc. filed a patent lawsuit with a California court against Samsung Electronics, the latter came up with countersuits against Apple at courts in Korea, Japan and Germany. While the battle between the two global giants will cost both sides huge legal, the suits could generate enough consumer interests in the products of both parties to more than compensate the costs of litigation

Singer and actor Rain was chosen as the most influential person in the world in a Time magazine poll for the third time since 2006. Rain, 28, with the Korean name Jung Ji-hoon, took the top spot in the Time 100 reader poll for the third year, trouncing competitors from Barack Obama to Lady Gaga, the U.S. news magazine said. Calling him “the unstoppable South Korean superstar,” Time reviewed how Ra

Fox Business reporter Peter Barnes began his televised interview with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner last week with this question: “Is there a risk that the United States could lose its AAA credit rating? Yes or no?” Geithner’s response: “No risk of that.” “No risk?” Barnes asked. “No risk,” Geithner said. It’s enough to make you wonder: How could Geithner know this to be true? The short answer i

He was a frustrating patient, a retired field worker with poorly controlled diabetes and hypertension. I’d warned, I’d pleaded, I’d explained, but nothing had worked. He ignored dietary advice, didn’t exercise and failed to use his medication rigorously. We grew to dread his visits. Then one day he came to the office early for medication refills. His pot belly was almost gone, and his blood sugar

Domestic companies are stepping up efforts to localize some of the parts and materials they import from Japan as their suppliers in the neighboring country are in trouble due to the March 11 earthquake.For instance, LG Electronics has decided to develop a microcontroller unit for its home appliances as Toshiba Corp., which accounts for 60 percent of the global MCU supply, has still not fully norma

Korea suffered a severe credit card crisis in 2003 that not only disrupted the financial system but hit the real economy with a body blow. The crisis followed a massive credit card lending boom, which was fueled by the government’s misguided bid to boost consumption. As the government eased regulations on the credit card business, card issuers pulled out all the stops to recruit new cardholders. T