In The News

Anti-Capitalist A-Team

Bridget Johnson November 11, 2005
A columnist takes on the anti-globalization protestors and points to their self-defeating tactics. At the recent Summit of the Americas they were out in full force, uniting anti-globalization and anti-Bush sentiment in one potent combination and creating chaos. Their premise, that free trade is “pro-corporation,” and hurts “mom-and-pop businesses,” is belied by their tactics, which target...

You Shouldn't Have to Burn Cars to Get a Better Life—Ask My Bolivian Cleaning Lady

Niall Ferguson November 7, 2005
Both Britain and France have endured violence at the hands of their Muslim minorities in recent months: Britain in the July 7 London Underground attacks; France in the wave of nationwide rioting that has now gone on for more than a week. They need not endure such violence in the future. Their problem is not so much an excess of immigration as it is a lack of assimilation: the Muslim youths...

The Final Outcome of Summit: Two Americas

Andres Oppenheimer November 6, 2005
The fourth Summit of the Americas has fractured the hemisphere into two blocs—one consisting of Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Paraguay, and Uruguay; the other consisting of most of the rest of the Americas—that could not even agree on a joint post-summit press conference. They certainly do not agree on the fundamental issue behind the split: free trade. There is hope for agreement in the...

Leakgate Scandal Threatens to Distract Bush

Roger Mitton November 3, 2005
While Lewis “Scooter” Libby may face the direct blame for the “Leakgate” scandal, the broader implications of the Bush administration undergoing “a massive internal prosecutorial investigation” could serve to distract President Bush from pursuing a successful foreign policy agenda. Added to the potential distraction is the fact that Libby and his boss, Vice President Cheney have, up until now,...

Why the Americas Have Drifted Apart

Howard LaFranchi November 3, 2005
When the Summit of the Americas first met, in 1994, it celebrated the spread of democracy in the Western Hemisphere and resolved to create a pan-American free trade zone by 2005. There will be no free trade pact and little celebration, however, when President Bush attends the fourth Summit of the Americas this week. Washington's vision for Latin America is in trouble, hurt by disagreements...

The Fate of ‘Made in the USA’

Robert J. Samuelson October 28, 2005
The specter of declining industry has loomed over the USA in recent years. As the imperatives of free trade and globalization send jobs and factories across borders and beyond oceans, the American worker and the American CEO both recognize they’re in a bind. American manufacturing, once the hallmark of the nation’s booming business, now faces a tenuous future. Robert J. Samuelson, writing for...

US Labor Is in Retreat as Global Forces Squeeze Pay and Benefits

David Streitfeld October 19, 2005
This week, union workers at Delphi Corp. and General Motors will take drastic cuts in their pay and benefits. While the United States may be enjoying an economic recovery, workers in the auto industry and across the nation are contemplating lower wages just to keep their jobs. At the same time, they face a cost of living that has been rising faster than wage increases. But American workers may...