In The News

Trade With China Primes Cuba’s Engine for Change

Marc Frank March 29, 2006
Despite geographic distance, Cuba has opted to work with Chinese manufacturers for revamping railway cars, buses, trucks and cars. Currently, China-Cuba industrial links include trade in domestic appliances and oil rigs, as well as port-equipment to eventually handle future trade in communications, electronics and precious metals. Chinese products, affordable and reliable, prove extremely...

Shifting Toward the Center

Oscar Arias March 28, 2006
After Bolivia elected Evo Morales as president in December 2005, analysts suggested that Latin America had “tilted left.” But Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace laureate, describes Latin American countries as “strikingly moderate,” a distinct change from the 1980s. He notes that Costa Rica, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and even Venezuela are embracing free-trade agreements that...

Help Wanted as Immigration Faces Overhaul

S. Mitra Kalita March 27, 2006
Some landscapers, restaurants and amusement parks insist that affluent Americans no longer want to do certain types of jobs, tedious seasonal work that was once the province of high school and college students – despite increasing wages for low-skilled work and finder fees. Employers run ads to find low-skilled help, but to no avail. So the business owners resort to hiring seasonal guest workers...

Latin Blues

Ernesto Zedillo March 27, 2006
Some analysts anticipate that successful populist campaigns, with irresponsible campaign promises and unrealistic goals, could plunge Latin America into economic disaster and thus reverse democratic gains from the past 20 years. Yet former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, now director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, notes that every Latin American politician recognizes the...

Protectionism Threatens Emerging Engine of Growth

Fred Kempe March 24, 2006
Despite inflation, debt, energy prices and terrorism, global economic growth has flourished with the help of emerging markets. Consumers in developing nations like China are increasingly spending more, approaching the levels of US consumers, and contributing to keeping economies worldwide running smoothly. But protectionist forces in the US and EU could halt the new source of growth. Worried...

Insurance Industry Feels the Heat of Global Warming

Derrick Z. Jackson March 22, 2006
Severe droughts and floods, fires and blizzards, batter properties worldwide along with the insurance industry. As a result, a task force for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners will assess the impacts of climate change on the American insurance industry. This follows up on discussions in Europe, where insurers have warned about “massive financial losses from storm patterns...

Immigration Debate Heats Up

Darryl Fears March 22, 2006
About 12 million immigrants live and work illegally in the United States, according to a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center. As the US Senate debates tough new laws restricting illegal immigration, a coalition of activists who support immigration – including unions like the AFL-CIO, religious groups like Catholic Bishops and business organizations like the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce –...