The Korea Herald

[George Magnus] Trump‘s trade policies only make the dollar stronger

Feb 12, 2017

Donald Trump is off to a controversial start as US president, but for the most part financial markets have been fairly relaxed about American and global economic prospects despite the lack of any precise contours for the new administration’s fiscal strategy.　In fact, the markets have barely discounted the risks of trade and currency conflicts. What they should prepare for is a significantly stronger US dollar, and greater weakness in US bonds, commodities and emerging markets. The implications f
[Other View] A Republican carbon tax

Feb 12, 2017

Some Republicans have grown tired of fighting the rest of the world on climate change.　As economists, religious and military leaders, ordinary Americans and even oil companies have joined the push to lower greenhouse gas emissions, Republicans have, for the most part, resisted. But now, a group of conservative economists and former Republican officials are recommending their party reverse course -- dramatically. The US, they say, should enact a nationwide tax on carbon emissions. It’s a smart id
[Justin Fox] The bureaucrats’ legitimacy crisis

Feb 12, 2017

These are interesting times to be a federal bureaucrat. You know, in the “may you live in interesting times” sense.　President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration unleashed a wave of dissent in the State Department -- and a warning from White House press secretary Sean Spicer that dissenters should “either get with the program or they can go.” US Rep. Patrick McHenry, a member of the House Republican leadership, sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen last week demanding tha
[Los Angeles Times] Appeals court rightfully blocks travel ban

Feb 12, 2017

Thank God that at least part of the US government is functioning as it ought to. On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a temporary freeze on the president’s misguided ban on travel from seven mostly Muslim countries and his suspension of refugee resettlements.　Ostensibly, President Trump wants to suspend the refugee program and freeze immigration from the seven countries in order to give his administration time to review how the government vets visa and asyl
[Adam Minter] Smartphones have an unexpected new rival

Feb 10, 2017

Last week, an Indian government official announced that iPhones will start rolling off an assembly line in Bangalore by the end of April, targeted at local customers. It’s a big moment for Apple, which is counting on India’s emerging middle class to make up for slowing sales in other markets. But don’t bet on the iPhone conquering India, or any other emerging market, just yet.That’s because smartphones of all kinds are facing stiff competition from an unlikely new challenger: Feature phones. Wit
[Other View] Plain on Ukraine: US policy needs to become unambiguous

Feb 9, 2017

What is happening in eastern Ukraine is gaining attention for two reasons: the likely financial involvement in Ukraine’s affairs by President Donald Trump and some of his close advisers, and the fact that fighting there has resumed between US-backed Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists.　US support of Ukrainian government forces and Russian support of Ukrainian separatists is troubling. The conflict continues to evolve into a proxy war between Russia and the United States. Th
[Jonathan Bernstein] Donald Trump, paper tiger

Feb 9, 2017

Republicans in the US Congress and others in the party are apparently concerned that President Donald Trump, or perhaps voters besotted with the president, will target them should they oppose him. The truth is Trump has yet to demonstrate any kind of impressive capacity for inflicting political damage. 　Oh, yes, Trump is clearly capable of tweeting all sorts of nasty things about those he considers his enemies. He won‘t address their arguments; he’ll level petty, personal attacks. No doubt those
[Bloomberg] Why Not Make Economics a Science?

Feb 9, 2017

Economists have come to rival even journalists and politicians in lack of public esteem. That might be partly because so many economists seem as interested in journalism and politics as in advancing their science. But there’s also a deeper problem: Far from advancing, the science of economics has been going backwards.Economists tend to be either practitioners or theorists. Practitioners on Wall Street, in central banks, and in government aim to say where the economy is headed and offer advice on
[Slawomir Sierakowski] The Female Resistance

Feb 9, 2017

Antagonism is mounting between today’s right-wing populists and a somewhat unexpected but formidable opponent: women. In the United States, much like in Poland, women’s rights have been among the first targets of attack by populist leaders. Women are not taking it lying down.Traditional conservatism in the West has largely come to terms with the need to grant women broad reproductive freedom. Today’s right-wing populist administrations, by contrast, are downright pre-modern in this regard, attem
[Leonid Bershidsky] A New Reason for Foreigners to Avoid Google and Facebook

Feb 9, 2017

A Philadelphia court has made the unfortunate decision to reopen the legal debate on whether the US has the right to access emails stored on foreign servers if they belong to US companies. If Magistrate Thomas Rueter‘s ruling stands, anyone using US-based internet companies will have to live with the knowledge that, as far as the US government is concerned, it’s America wherever they operate.That‘s a dangerous approach that hurts the international expansion of US tech companies. Privacy-minded c
[David Ignatius] Can Flynn rein in the national security apparatus amid Trump‘s disruption?

Feb 9, 2017

Of the many puzzles posed by Donald Trump’s administration, the role of the National Security Council is among the trickiest. The NSC usually tries to act as an “honest broker” among cabinet agencies. But how will it function under a headstrong president who sees his role as disruptor and tweeter-in-chief? This challenge falls to national security adviser Michael Flynn, a retired Army general who holds a position once filled by such luminaries as Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Sc
[Andrew Sheng] Crisis of the West or crisis of faith?

Feb 9, 2017

Over the Lunar New Year holidays, we were all treated to “The Trump Reality Show,” changing the world we thought we understood with various tweets or executive orders. 　This behavior reminded me of Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi waking up and not being sure if he was a man dreaming that he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming that it was a man. Trump is either a butterfly disguised as president or a truly smart politician disguised as a butterfly. The tragedy is that the rest of us have to liv
[Other View] Trump’s chance to act on Iran

Feb 8, 2017

Iran’s recent test of a medium-range ballistic missile is an early indicator it doesn’t fear the bellicose rhetoric of Donald Trump any more than it did the passive approach of Barack Obama. Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s immediate response -- National Security Adviser Michael Flynn said the US is “officially putting Iran on notice” -- seems straight out of the Obama playbook.　The president needs to get beyond his vague campaign statements about standing up to Iran. When the regime br
[Kim Ji-hyun] What is Korea fighting for?

Feb 8, 2017

At my neighborhood Starbucks, there’s a Japanese barista who always manages to say a few words of Korean to me. It’s a simple but gratifying gesture, and I always enjoy the short exchange. But he is one of the few people I meet who goes out of his way to be nice to Koreans. I hear that only a few years ago, during the “Hallyu boom,” there were many more like him, and that Japanese people were eager to learn and speak Korean and invited Korean celebrities on TV and for concerts. At the time, anyt
[Malcolm Lazin] Religious exemption would open up sanctioned discrimination

Feb 8, 2017

President Trump would be ill-advised to sign a proposed executive order that exempts religious organizations that provide federally funded services from nondiscrimination provisions.　The exemption is supported by, among others, socially conservative organizations such as the Family Research Council and the Family Leader. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, has said of the president and the exemption, “He gets it. They will have to fix it and they will. I am confident they wil