In The News

US Policy Toward Venezuela: Seeing The Larger Picture

Steve Ellner February 25, 2014
Some critics question US policy that weakens central governments and calls for regime change in pluralistic states like Ukraine or Syria without good strategy for the next step in governance. “Could it be that in cases of governments considered adverse to U.S. interests, Washington prefers a civil war over a normal situation free of discord and violence?” questions Steve Ellner in an essay for...

Debt Ceiling Redux?

James Leitner and Ian Shapiro February 20, 2014
US Congress raised the artificial debt ceiling to pay bills without a fuss, but the move may galvanize extremists who want to slow government spending, explain James Leitner, president of Falcon Management, and Ian Shapiro, a Yale political science professor. Economists around the globe agree the United States should slow spending and reduce debt, but oppose the crude approach that would...

China Moves to End Its Codependency with US

Stephen S. Roach February 18, 2014
Global analysts fret about the resilience of emerging markets, including China’s. Yet economic managers in China know what needs to be done, already taking steps to rebalance, shifting from dependence on manufacturing and exports towards more services and consumer spending. The world is not prepared for the necessary slowdown in growth from China as its leaders focus on domestic spending,...

Where We Go From Here

Ernesto Zedillo February 17, 2014
NAFTA is 20 years old, and the trade agreement is assessed by Americas Quarterly, a policy journal by the Council of Americas, an international business organization. Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico, argues NAFTA has fulfilled its promise of growth, employment and competitiveness. “Annual trade among the three partners has increased fourfold, and intraregional investment almost...

China’s Environmental Concerns Could Be GM Problem

Emanuele Berry February 14, 2014
Cars and other fossil fuel-using vehicles contribute to smog, and regulations to reduce notorious urban pollution in China could put a dent in GM and other foreign auto sales there. In recent years, GM has sold more cars in China than were sold in the United States during any years, notes Bruce M. Belzowski of the Transportation Research Institute at the University of Michigan, in the report....

Tennessee Legislators Threaten to Withhold Incentives if VW workers Choose Union

Brent Snavely February 12, 2014
German manufacturers are accustomed to working with unions and workers councils which offer input on efficiency, safety and innovation for workplace procedures. Politicians typically welcome foreign direct investment and new management styles of major international firms, and Volkswagen, a German firm, is considering expanding an auto plant in Tennessee or Mexico. But conservative Republican...

Obama Must Face the Rise of the Robots

Edward Luce February 7, 2014
Robots pose “the central economic dilemma for the Obama era,” suggests Edward Luce in the Financial Times, and that extends to future US administrations as well as leaders and workers in other nations. “With each month, the US economy becomes steadily more automated. In January the US economy added just 4,000 manufacturing jobs, and the net increase since July is zero,” Luce writes. “Yet last...