The Korea Herald

Jobs’ influence overshadows presidents, terrorists, turmoil

Sept 2, 2011

As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 draws near, it may be remarkable to argue that the person who changed the way of life the most in the past decade is neither late al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, U.S. President George Bush, who started the so-called “War on Terror” or his successor, Barack Obama, the
[Andrew Sheng] Putting finance to work for the real economy

Sept 2, 2011

Finance is a service industry, but in the past three decades it seems to have gone its own way. The functions of the finance sector are to protect property rights for the real sector, improve resource allocation, reduce transaction costs, help manage risks and help discipline borrowers. Financi
[Michael Smerconish] Some political gaffes really say something

Sept 1, 2011

During his recent visit to China, U.S. Vice President Biden mistakenly said we own 85 percent of U.S. Treasury securities, while the number is actually 54 percent. But who am I to criticize?Sitting in front of a live microphone can be dangerous. I know because I do it for 20 hours each week for my n
[Robert Reich] Workers need marches, not parades

Sept 1, 2011

Labor Day is traditionally a time for picnics and parades. But this year is no picnic for American workers, and a protest march would be more appropriate than a parade.Not only are 25 million unemployed or underemployed, but American companies continue to cut wages and benefits. The median wage is s
Navigating the road map to a post-Gadhafi Libya

Sept 1, 2011

WASHINGTON ― As the Libyan rebels continue to mop up resistance inside Tripoli and extend the nominal authority of the Transitional National Council to the rest of Libya, it is important to remember that the establishment of a new Libya will take time and face challenges even greater than those requ
Mexican president correctly hits cartels’ terrorist threat

Sept 1, 2011

Mexican President Felipe Calderon issued a long overdue warning to drug cartel leaders last week that their murderous rampage has crossed a threshold and deserves to be labeled what it really is: terrorism. His acknowledgement will help change the mindset about the true nature of this menace and cou
[Frida Ghitis] Someone wants a war in the Middle East

Sept 1, 2011

Something extremely important and exceedingly dangerous is unfolding in a most explosive part of the globe, but it is receiving only minimal attention by the media and by world leaders. An outbreak of violence in Southern Israel, Gaza, and along the Egyptian border, triggered by a recent attack agai
[Jeffrey D. Sachs] The new economics of happiness

Sept 1, 2011

NEW YORK ― We live in a time of high anxiety. Despite the world’s unprecedented total wealth, there is vast insecurity, unrest, and dissatisfaction. In the United States, a large majority of Americans believe that the country is “on the wrong track.” Pessimism has soared. The same is true in many ot
[J. Bradford DeLong] Ben Bernanke’s dream world

Aug 31, 2011

BERKELEY ― U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke is not regarded as an oracle in the way that his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, was before the financial crisis. But financial markets were glued to the speech he gave in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Aug. 26. What they heard was a bit of a muddle
[Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus] Harvard’s No. 1 ranking makes us wonder

Aug 31, 2011

The U.S. News and World Report “Best Colleges” rankings, which will be published next month, are viewed as a Baedeker and Bible by more than 5 million American parents considering colleges and universities for their high-school juniors and seniors. We think that parents should use this guide with ca
[Dominique Moisi] Who among us will help the poor?

Aug 31, 2011

PARIS ― With the deepening of the economic crisis and the prospect of another recession looming large on the horizon, growing social inequality has become an increasingly urgent issue. How does one reinforce a sense of solidarity and responsibility within a country? Who will protect the weakest?&nbs
[Meghan Daum] Politics signals the invasion of the idiocrats

Aug 31, 2011

You may not have seen “Idiocracy,” the 2006 sci-fi comedy set in an utterly dysfunctional nation 500 years in the future, but chances are you’ve heard it mentioned lately. References to the film seem to be everywhere, and not just in op-eds penned by cranky columnists (I mentioned it in a column las
[Eve Weinbaum and Rachel Roth] Beyond suffrage: How far have women come since?

Aug 31, 2011

Today we celebrate the anniversary of female suffrage, a victory that took more than 70 years of political struggle to achieve. After women won the right to vote in 1920, socialist feminist Crystal Eastman observed that suffrage was an important first step but that what women really wanted was freed
[Hans-Werner Sinn] The trouble with eurobonds

Aug 30, 2011

MUNICH ― German Chancellor Angela Merkel has withstood the pressure from southern Europe: there will be no eurobonds. For the markets, this is a disappointment, but there is no other way for these countries to rebuild themselves than to insist patiently on a phase of debt discipline and an end to la
[William Pesek] Steve Jobs trumps CEO of $5 trillion economy

Aug 30, 2011

Things are bad when a world leader quitting registers less than a corporate executive. That’s what Naoto Kan gets for bowing out the same week as Steve Jobs. Markets reacted immediately to news of Jobs’s departure from Apple Inc.; there was barely a ripple after Kan cashed out and paved the way for