The Korea Herald

[Robert J. Shiller] Can debt-friendly stimulus gain political acceptance?

Mar 24, 2013

NEW HAVEN ― With much of the global economy apparently trapped in a long and painful austerity-induced slump, it is time to admit that the trap is entirely of our own making. We have constructed it from unfortunate habits of thought about how to handle spiraling public debt.People developed these habits on the basis of the experiences of their families and friends: when in debt trouble, one must cut spending and pass through a period of austerity until the burden (debt relative to income) is red
A European bailout unlike any other

Mar 22, 2013

PARIS ― The European Union’s $13 billion bailout plan for Cyprus has nothing to do with socialism but rather with much greater stakes. This is the EU attempting to outmaneuver an uncharacteristically flat-footed Vladimir Putin and Russia in a key battleground, over long-festering issues: transparency, corruption, and support of Syria and Iran. This is also a case of the EU calling out a Trojan-horse country embedded inside the eurozone.In exchange for the $13 billion from the EU, Cyprus would ha
[Robert Reich] Our biggest economic problem

Mar 22, 2013

“Our biggest problems over the next 10 years are not deficits,” President Obama told House Republicans last week, according to those who attended the meeting.The president needs to deliver the same message to the public, loudly and clearly. The biggest problems we face are unemployment, stagnant wages, slow growth and widening inequality ― not deficits. The major goal must be to get jobs and wages back, not balance the budget.Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget plan is designed to lure the White House and D
Market forces would help set Iraqi leader right

Mar 21, 2013

For many in the U.S., the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq has been an occasion for settling scores and playing “what-if” games with history. Iraqis don’t have that luxury ― as evidenced by the day’s wave of bombings and assassinations that left at least 50 dead. For Iraq, this anniversary underscores the need for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his government to find a new sense of responsibility and engagement. Otherwise, the country’s future may be as dark as its recent past. The l
[David Ignatius] The hard lessons of Iraq War

Mar 21, 2013

WASHINGTON ― Ten years ago this week, I was covering the U.S. military as it began its assault on Iraq. As I read back over my clips, I see a few sensible warnings about the difficulties ahead. But I owe readers an apology for being wrong on the overriding question of whether the war made sense. Invading Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein a decade ago was one of the biggest strategic errors in modern American history. We’ll never know whether the story might have been different if better planning had
Preparing for disasters of the largest scale

Mar 21, 2013

A working group of the government’s Central Disaster Management Council has compiled a report on the expected damage that would be caused by a magnitude-9 Nankai Trough triple earthquake, in which the so-called Tokai, Tonankai and Nankai quakes happen simultaneously.The huge quake is forecast to cause about 220 trillion yen ($2.31 trillion) in economic damage, in the worst-case scenario.The quake and subsequent tsunami is forecast to cause about 170 trillion yen of damage to homes and office bui
Suu Kyi and the 2015 question

Mar 21, 2013

There is irony in Myanmar’s reform. While President Thein Sein has been remarkably bold in liberalizing political and economic structures and opening up foreign relations, the government’s old nemesis, the National League for Democracy, seems at a standstill.This is not a role reversal, but NLD founder Aung San Suu Kyi should be worried her wish for a rejuvenation is not being fulfilled. The party conference last week brought few changes in its executive and middle ranks. It was thin on policy,
Lifting moods: A reasonable policy goal?

Mar 21, 2013

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou announced last week the government’s new plan to develop a “gross national happiness index” aimed at determining whether there has been an improvement in the country’s well-being by using quantifiable data.Based on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s well-known Your Better Life Index, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics will be in charge of developing the new index by adjusting the international standard to accomm
[Li Xueying] Love is a many-faceted thing

Mar 21, 2013

Love. It is a complicated thing. So when Beijing calls on Hong Kongers to ai guo, ai gang ― love the country, love Hong Kong ― what does it mean exactly? The question has roused passions here amid recent remarks by Chinese leaders.Yesterday, President Xi Jinping urged Hong Kongers to work in the larger interests of China, and help fulfil the “Chinese Dream” that will see the country’s renaissance. “When you have more people collecting firewood, the fire will leap higher,” he said in a meeting wi
Squandered opportunity for Nigerians

Mar 20, 2013

Just outside President Goodluck Jonathan’s office sat 17 ambulances, just in case he or one of his aides fell ill. They were seldom if ever used.No actual health care facility nationwide had as many, and in fact a few still have none at all. But as soon as a Nigerian newspaper took a photo of the ambulances and published a story about them, they suddenly disappeared ― probably to an underground garage.Jonathan is president of Nigeria, which should be among the world’s most prosperous nations. Af
[Sergei Karaganov] Xi in Russia amid warm ties

Mar 20, 2013

MOSCOW ― The atmospherics surrounding Xi Jinping’s coming trip to Russia ― his first visit to a foreign country as China’s new president ― remind me of a slogan from my early childhood in the late 1950s: “Russia-China, Friendship Forever.” The irony is that, even in that slogan’s heyday, Sino-Russian relations were deteriorating fast, culminating in spasms of combat along the Amur River in Siberia less than a decade later. Is that slogan more valid now?After China opened up its economy and Russi
Magazine-cover curse takes on new meaning in Asia

Mar 20, 2013

Will Shinzo Abe’s plan to revive Japan suffer the magazine-cover curse? Might Benigno Aquino meet the same fate in the Philippines? What both leaders have in common is everyone slapping the “-nomics” suffix onto their growth strategies. “Abenomics” has excited investors, not to mention the pundit class, with its aim of ending 15 years of deflation. The same is true of “Aquinomics” in a country long deemed the sick man of Asia, now an investment darling. Such bouts of euphoria often end in tears:
Are Republicans abusing the filibuster on Obama’s nominees?

Mar 20, 2013

At various times in history, members of the U.S. Senate have adopted one of three positions with respect to presidential nominees for the federal judiciary: 1. The blank check: A senator should vote to confirm anyone the president chooses. 2. The competence and character test: A senator should vote to confirm anyone the president chooses, unless the nominee is incompetent or suffers from a fatal character flaw (as demonstrated, for example, by corruption). 3. The out-of-the-mainstream test: A se
[Kim Myong-sik] How we are nurturing an underground economy

Mar 20, 2013

Newspaper readers know that the Park Geun-hye government needs at least 135 trillion won ($120 billion) over the next five years to carry out welfare programs pursued by the new president. Rather than increasing taxes on the rich (or reducing the scale of tax cut for larger businesses), the new administration will concentrate its efforts on exposing tax sources hidden in the “underground economy.” It is a good policy for which everyone breathing in this country can play a part because we all are
Don’t leave families out of immigration overhaul

Mar 19, 2013

There is a push in Congress to expand visas for highly skilled immigrants, which would be very good for the economy. Unfortunately, some lawmakers seem determined to expand high-skills visas at the expense of family visas, which are already subject to sharp quotas. Their logic is easily grasped: A study by the American Enterprise Institute and the Partnership for a New American Economy found that a foreign-born worker with an advanced U.S. degree in science, technology, engineering or math creat