In The News

The Secret World of Modern Slavery

Michael Smith March 14, 2007
Some jobs trap desperate workers into circumstances that are impossible to escape. At that point, the work is no longer a job but slavery. An example are the men who shovel hardwood into kilns to make charcoal for the Brazilian pig-iron industry, used for sinks, cars, refrigerators and other conveniences for wealthier consumers throughout the Americas. The US has laws against importing products...

Hershey's Outsourcing

Herb Field March 7, 2007
Entire towns often grow up around a company. For example, Hershey, Pennsylvania, was nicknamed “the sweetest place on earth,” after Milton S. Hershey built what was then the world’s largest chocolate factory in 1903. Hershey constructed not only a factory that provided a luxury product to the middle class, but a community with comfortable homes and services for his employees. More than 100 years...

US Heading For Financial Trouble?

Steve Kroft March 5, 2007
The US weakens its own security by borrowing vast sums from China and other nations to pay for reckless spending with little accountability. The nation, by not reducing spending or restructuring its health-care system over the next 20 years, will have to prepare for bankruptcy, insists David Walker, the US comptroller general, who has gone on tour to urge voters and politicians to oppose the...

Paulson Says Foreign Treasuries Holdings Not Threat

Christopher Swann March 5, 2007
The US holds more than $4 trillion in debt – almost $15,000 for every man, woman and child – and foreign investors hold more than half the notes. In response to congressional critics who question the strength of the US economy, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson reports seeing no problem with foreign investors lending funds to the US. Even though US Congress controls spending appropriations, some...

US Exporters Feel Favorable Trade Winds

Peter S. Goodman February 5, 2007
Many politicians running for office lash out at global competition, blaming it for a host of domestic problems during election campaigns. Yet trade is a two-way street, and firms with international trade links can succeed. Examples in the US include MTS Systems, which makes tire testers, and Caterpillar, which manufactures construction and mining equipment. A sagging US dollar, the rapid...

Obama's International Background an Asset, Not a Flaw

Donald K. Emmerson February 5, 2007
Global exchange of all sorts is a prerequisite for the future, and parents should prepare their children. An international education – attending public school with ordinary children, not cloistered away with children of the elite – can be the best preparation for a global career and an antidote for racism, xenophobia or other forms of social tension. Isolationists in the US try to stoke fear of...

Democrats Give Bush the Business on Trade

Peter S. Goodman February 1, 2007
To avoid petty special-interest confrontations, the US Congress can extend authority to the president to negotiate trade deals. Congress retains final approval, voting yes or no on deals negotiated by the president. But a Democratic Congress at odds with the Republican president has demanded guarantees on labor and environmental protections in any future negotiations. Otherwise, Congress will...