The Korea Herald

[Robert Reich] Playing billionaire election game

Feb 22, 2012

How many billionaires does it take to buy a presidential election? We’re about to find out. The 2012 campaign is likely to be a battle between one group of millionaires and billionaires supporting President Obama and another group supporting his GOP rival.Perhaps this was the inevitable result of the Supreme Court’s grotesque decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2010, which opened the floodgates to unrestricted campaign money through so-called “super PACs.” But I’m not s
Greece risks suffering same fate as Argentina

Feb 22, 2012

NEWPORT BEACH ― Let me set the scene: an increasingly discredited economic policy approach gives rise to growing domestic social and political opposition, street protests and violence, disagreements among official creditors, and mounting concerns among private creditors about a disorderly default. In the midst of all of this, national leaders commit to more of the same harsh austerity measures that they have been unable to implement for two years. Official creditors express skepticism, in privat
[Nouriel Roubini] The four downside risks to global economic growth

Feb 22, 2012

RIO DE JANEIRO ― Since late last year, a series of positive developments has boosted investor confidence and led to a sharp rally in risky assets, starting with global equities and commodities. Macroeconomic data from the United States improved; blue-chip companies in advanced economies remained highly profitable; China and emerging markets slowed only moderately; and the risk of a disorderly default and/or exit by some members of the eurozone declined.Moreover, under its new president, Mario Dr
Facebook and China have too much in common to ‘like’

Feb 22, 2012

Mark Zuckerberg is pulling off a feat bigger than becoming the world’s richest 20-something: thriving in the cyber age even before “friending” the most populous nation and biggest Internet market. Facebook Inc.’s founder will soon have to “like” China, where his website is banned. A post-initial-public-offering Facebook will have shareholders demanding that it tap China’s 1.3 billion people, and now. Such is life when your business model is predicated on ever-growing ranks of users updating, sha
A new agenda for European economic growth

Feb 21, 2012

BRUSSELS ― Austerity alone cannot solve Europe’s economic and financial crisis. Growth and jobs need to be promoted with equal zeal. European Union leaders now recognize this: kick-starting growth in 2012 was high on the agenda at the European Council’s meeting on January 30. But the big question remains: How?The need for immediate action is clear. The eurozone’s economy contracted in the last three months of 2011; even Germany’s shrank. The new year is looking grim. France is flat-lining (as is
[Lee Jae-min] ETS tax laudable but misplaced

Feb 21, 2012

The global aviation industry is still scratching its head while digesting the contents of the latest bid by Brussels to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Starting from Jan. 1, the EU included the aviation industry in its CO2 Emission Trading System and started imposing extra taxes on airliners. Actual payments will not take place until 2013, but the system is now up and running. A very laudable effort indeed, but here is the trick: This program of the EU applies to all foreign airlines as well, if
Asia’s development and importance of leadership

Feb 21, 2012

Asia’s development has been so successful that it has been labeled a “miracle.” However, if this is true for economic growth, the picture looks far less impressive if you look at other dimensions of economic development. A return of leadership is needed. Looking at Asia’s phenomenal economic growth figures since the second half of the 20th century, it becomes easy to understand why international observers have used the word “miracle.” From 1975 to 2000 East Asia grew faster than any other region
[Kim Seong-kon] The charm of living in Korea

Feb 21, 2012

Twenty-eight years ago when I was at the L.A. airport waiting for a plane to Seoul, I watched on television clashes between riot police and the tear-gassed students of South Korea, who were protesting against the military dictatorship. I was embarrassed and reluctant to go back to Korea, even though I was returning home after six years in the States. Upon arriving at Gimpo Airport, I was taken aback by the unfriendliness and arrogance of the immigration and customs officers, who treated internat
Laudable but Misplaced: EU’s Aviation ETS Tax

Feb 21, 2012

The global aviation industry is still scratching its head while digesting the contents of the latest bid by Brussels to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Starting from Jan. 1, the EU included the aviation industry in its CO2 Emission Trading System and started imposing extra taxes on airliners. Actual payments will not take place until 2013, but the system is now up and running. A very laudable effort indeed, but here is the trick: This program of the EU applies to all foreign airlines as well, if
Mixing Medicare and mudslinging in campaign

Feb 21, 2012

Don’t look now, but the 2012 election is turning into a national referendum on what to do about Medicare.Democrats want to run on the issue ― and to charge that Republican proposals to change Medicare into a voucher-based system would end the current guarantee of virtually unlimited health care for the elderly.The chairman of their House campaign committee, Rep. Steve Israel, D-New York, has told candidates to stress three issues: “Medicare, Medicare and Medicare.”At least some Republicans ― suc
GOP extremists turn their attention to transportation bills

Feb 21, 2012

Both parties and both houses of Congress appear to have worked through their differences and are poised to extend a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits and avoid drastic cuts in reimbursement rates for physicians treating Medicare enrollees.The optimist thinks, “So Congress CAN deal with real problems, even in a campaign year.”The pessimist thinks, “The Republicans’ radical wing already lost this fight in December, and party leaders saw no reason to follow the fringe to a repeat defeat in
The inferno in Honduras

Feb 21, 2012

The horrifying inferno that engulfed a prison in Honduras and claimed 355 lives or more didn‘t have to happen. In the months preceding this disaster, Honduran officials, beginning with President Porfirio Lobo, ignored multiple warnings that conditions at the jails were ripe for a calamity.One report by the United Nations said overcrowding was out of control by any standard. On any given date, 800 prisoners were confined in a facility built for 500. Those numbers, outrageous in themselves, were b
A New European Growth Agenda

Feb 21, 2012

Austerity alone cannot solve Europe‘s economic and financial crisis. Growth and jobs need to be promoted with equal zeal. European Union leaders now recognize this: kick-starting growth in 2012 was high on the agenda at the European Council’s meeting on January 30. But the big question remains: How?The need for immediate action is clear. The eurozone’s economy contracted in the last three months of 2011; even Germany’s shrank. The new year is looking grim. France is flat-lining (as is Britain).
Euro area leaders consider Greek exit at own peril

Feb 20, 2012

Leaders of the euro area’s wealthier nations are increasingly raising a provocative question: Might the common currency now be strong enough to end the bailout agony and let Greece go? The short answer is no. In fact, the euro area is probably more vulnerable to a Greek disaster than ever. Until recently, European officials dismissed the idea of Greece leaving the euro as unthinkable. They seemed to recognize that such a move would amount to mutually assured destruction. Aside from the horrendou
[David Ignatius] Pakistan needs to clear the air

Feb 20, 2012

WASHINGTON ― With Pakistan’s civilian government and judiciary showing renewed signs of life, it’s time for them to ask the question the country has been avoiding for nine months: How did Osama bin Laden, the world’s leading terrorist, hide out in a military garrison city near Islamabad without anyone knowing? To ask this question is not to accuse the Pakistani military or intelligence service of wrongdoing. So far, no “smoking gun” has emerged. But many puzzling issues surround bin Laden’s stay