The Korea Herald

On reforming social security, the time for hard work has arrived

Dec 9, 2011

The government and ruling parties, which proposed an integrated reform of the social security and tax systems in June this year, have now begun efforts to work out the concrete details and put their plan in place.The Headquarters of the Government and Ruling Parties for Social Security Reform has been established with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda as its head. At its first meeting, Noda said, “I will tackle the reform with unflagging resolve.”The reform headquarters is scheduled to come up with
[Andrew Sheng] European debt depression ― the state vs. the market

Dec 9, 2011

In the 1930s, the American economist Irving Fisher first outlined the dangers of debt deflation dynamics. The first stage involves distress selling of assets by the borrowers to reduce their debt. Stage two affects bank balance sheets that contract when customers are paying off their debt. A general fall in asset prices, signaling the reversal of the asset bubble, creates a further fall in business net worth. The consequent decline in the profit level cuts back trade volume when households feel
Wal-Mart battles against Marx’s ghost in India

Dec 8, 2011

India has a Wal-Mart problem. This may not sound remarkable, considering that China and the U.S. do as well. China’s preference for sweatshops to supply the Arkansas-based behemoth impedes the creation of a vibrant domestic market. America’s addiction to cheap goods made in China helped kill a once-prosperous manufacturing sector. India’s challenge in allowing Wal-Mart to enter its market is more complicated. It’s a question of whether the ninth-biggest economy moves forward or backward and a de
[Pierre Buhler] Putin’s Brezhnev syndrome

Dec 8, 2011

PARIS ― The winner of Sunday’s legislative election in Russia was a foregone conclusion: United Russia, organized by Vladimir Putin. Likewise, there is no doubt that Putin himself will win the presidential election due in March 2012. But the public enthusiasm that ratified Putin’s rule for a decade has vanished, something demonstrated by the poor performance of his party, United Russia, in the just concluded elections to the Duma.Unlike Europe, beset by a sovereign-debt crisis, and the United St
Antibiotics overuse increases threat of superbugs

Dec 8, 2011

A new study of pediatricians’ prescribing habits told us something old and something new. It told us that antibiotics are overused. It also told us ― and this is the new part ― that doctors are using the wrong antibiotics, even when the bacteria-killing drugs are called for. According to the study, which looked at tens of thousands of visits to pediatricians outside hospitals from 2006 to 2008, in more than one in five cases doctors gave their young patients antibiotics. Very often (23 percent o
Trump, Cain exemplify debased debate era

Dec 8, 2011

The League of Women Voters quit sponsoring presidential debates during the 1988 campaign, saying the events had devolved into “charades devoid of substance.” That was more than two decades before Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann took the stage, redefining “substance” and “devoid” and “charade.” One remark you never hear this campaign season: “There just aren’t enough debates.” There have been about a dozen so far, with almost a dozen more promised by the time Florida holds its primar
Tired of nationalism? Try civicism and love your city

Dec 8, 2011

BEIJING ― “I love New York” is perhaps the most successful slogan in modern history. Cities around the world are copying this slogan. “I love Beijing” ― in English ― is commonly seen on T-shirts in the Chinese capital. It’s easy to be cynical, to say that the whole thing is driven by money. The “I love Toronto” website is advertised as a “guide to living well in Toronto,” which turns out to mean buying and selling real estate.But it’s not just a slogan: Many people really do love their cities. C
Obama and Hillary take assertive China stance

Dec 7, 2011

Was that the president of the United States, sailing across the Pacific Ocean, rallying allies ― old, new and potential ones ― and declaring this nation will remain a global power for many decades to come?Anyone who was paying close attention to President Obama’s November trip to Asia and other points in the Pacific had to admit the performance was something to behold. The president has never lacked in self-confidence. In the past, however, his plans to co-opt and cajole on the global stage have
[Robert Reich] Restore basic bargain for workers

Dec 7, 2011

For most of the last century, the basic bargain at the heart of the American economy was that employers paid their workers enough to buy what American employers were selling.That basic bargain created a virtuous cycle of higher living standards, more jobs and better wages.Back in 1914, Henry Ford announced he was paying workers on his Model T assembly line $5 a day ― three times what the typical factory employee earned at the time. The Wall Street Journal termed his action “an economic crime.” B
Revolutionary coup by Egyptian officers

Dec 7, 2011

MADRID ― How revolutions unfold depends on many factors, including a country’s socio-economic structure, its particular historical traditions, and sometimes the role of foreign powers. So the Arab Spring was never expected to be a linear process, or a Middle Eastern version of Central Europe’s non-violent democratic revolutions of 1989. Egypt is a case in point.The structure of revolutions in non-industrialized societies has almost invariably comprised a succession of revolutionary and counter-r
The American century: That was then, not now

Dec 7, 2011

If you want a gauge of an America on the downward slope, you could look at the recent poll commissioned by the newspaper the Hill, in which a startling 69 percent of respondents said they considered the country to be in decline. Or you could just consider the soaring language of this season’s presidential candidates. Mitt Romney, in a recent Republican debate on foreign policy, was typical, insisting that “this century must be an American century” in which “America leads the free world and the f
[Park Sang-seek] A new order emerging in the Asia-Pacific region

Dec 7, 2011

Two major regional organizations in the Asia-Pacific region, APEC and the East Asia Summit, held summit meetings in November consecutively. Discussions and statements made at the two conferences revealed not only participating countries’ varying positions on agenda items but also an emerging new Asia-Pacific regional order.APEC was established as an economic regional organization to promote the economic integration of major economic entities in the Asia-Pacific region, whereas the East Asia Summ
Reliving the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Dec 6, 2011

In August, just months following the tsunami-induced crisis at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, the 2011 World Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs gathered in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the two Japanese cities destroyed in 1945 by atom bombs, becoming forever linked to the birth of nuclear weapons and the nuclear age. The World Conference was formed in 1995 to work toward a nuclear-weapon ban and foster solidarity and support for A-bomb survivors and victims of nuclear disasters.A few of t
[Daniel Fiedler] How to live in a democracy

Dec 6, 2011

In 1987 the Sixth Republic of Korea was established as a democratic government and Roh Tae-woo was elected as the first president; however, it was not until 1998 that the first peaceful transfer of power between opposing parties under a democratic process occurred when Kim Dae-jung became president. Prior to that event, the Korean people had lived under various forms of authoritarian government since time immemorial. While some of those past regimes, such as the Joseon dynasty, are viewed throug
A nuclear wake-up call from Iran, N. Korea

Dec 6, 2011

Western nations are hurriedly collaborating to tighten sanctions on Iran after the United Nations released documents that left little doubt the country is trying to produce nuclear weapons.American diplomats are pushing North Korea to shut down its uranium-enrichment plants so that nuclear-disarmament talks can resume. And as Pakistan grows less stable with every passing week, the U.S. is urgently devising plans to secure that state’s nuclear weapons, should the government lose control.Meantime,