In The News

Canada Must Face Globalization Head On

Rod Szasz April 25, 2013
Information technology, a global marketplace, wage differentials, plenty of skilled labor and a quest for profits have made outsourcing inevitable for banking and many other businesses. Workers lose jobs as consumers consistently choose low-cost electronics, apparel, news or banking services. “No country is unaffected by these changes,” writes Rod Szasz, trader and founder of an industrial...

Baby Milk Rationing: Chinese Fears Spark Global Restrictions

Celia Hatton April 22, 2013
Any food-safety crisis drives consumers to seek alternatives. A series of reports of contaminated infant formula since 2008 have driven Chinese mothers to look for foreign brands of infant formula – though after the Fukushima tsunami/nuclear disaster, the consumers quickly shifted from Japanese to US imports. Chinese consumers pay double the price for foreign brands. “Fearful of the dangerous...

China Targets Greenland for Mining

Will Hickey April 18, 2013
Tight profit margins in the mining industry – along with consolidation among large multinationals, huge capital investments, high-tech automation and rigid equipment maintenance contracts – have reduced job creation for nations with natural resources. Greenland, with 57,000 citizens, mostly indigenous, has vast deposits of minerals. A logical move would be for Greenlanders to rely on Danish...

Baby Milk Rationing: Chinese Fears Spark Global Restrictions

Celia Hatton April 17, 2013
Any food-safety crisis drives consumers to seek alternatives. A series of reports of contaminated infant formula since 2008 have driven Chinese mothers to look for foreign brands of infant formula – though after the Fukushima tsunami/nuclear disaster, the consumers quickly shifted from Japanese to US imports. Chinese consumers pay double the price for foreign brands. “Fearful of the dangerous...

Brazil and the US – Not on Same Page

Alistair Burnett April 12, 2013
The US is reported to be planning a state visit for Brazil’s president, the first of a Brazilian leader in two decades. The two largest democracies in the Western Hemisphere have much in common, yet are often at odds. The US has the world’s largest military, Brazil’s ranks 10th; the US has the world’s largest economy, Brazil ranks sixth. Some in the US are surprised by the notion that its...

US Rice Imports “Contain Harmful Levels of Lead”

Jason Palmer April 11, 2013
Agricultural crops can absorb heavy pollutants from soil and water. A report at the American Chemical Society Meeting suggests that rice imports from Asia, Europe and Israel, can exceed what’s called the “provisional total tolerable intake” level of lead, set by the US Food and Drug Administration by a factor of 120, particularly for Asian consumers who tend to eat more rice, reports Jason Palmer...

Abenomics and the Japanese Economy

Beina Xu April 9, 2013
While Japan prospered throughout the 1980s, it’s since become mired in deflation, with weak consumer spending and low growth. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to implement new economic policies and jolt his recession-riddled country out of the deflationary malaise. Beina Xu of the Council on Foreign Relations analyzes the history of Japan’s economy and examines Abe’s grand Keynesian-...