I demand a recount! Or a re-survey! Or some form of redress for the aspersions Travel + Leisure magazine has cast not only on the City of Angels but on all of us Angelenos.Recently, the magazine released a survey of travelers who, in all their wisdom, concluded that Los Angeles surpasses New York as the rudest city in America.Excuse me?My first reaction was fear that I would never again be able to

LUXEMBOURG ― Much dedication and energy are currently being devoted to institutionalizing a crisis-management mechanism for the euro area. This is a good and important goal. But a far more significant challenge ― largely covered in the accompanying debate ― is the need for crisis prevention.At the European Union’s pre-Christmas summit, European heads of state and government agreed in principle to

By all accounts, Hosni Mubarak’s days are numbered in Egypt. The outside world sees two possibilities about the future of the largest country in the Middle East: It could become a second Iran, a nightmare for the globally-caring United States and the Western community in general, or the predominantly Islam nation of 80 million could gain democracy while remaining a friend and ally of Washington an

In January 2008, when the transition committee for president-elect Lee Myung-bak decided to abolish the Ministry of Science and Technology to put his campaign pledge of small government into practice, an array of academics and industrialists raised strong objections. They feared that absence of a central administration agency responsible for promotion of science and technology would inevitably cau

IMS Health Inc. operates in the shadows of the healthcare industry, gathering data that drug makers can use to sell medications more effectively. The data, however, are taken from the prescriptions that doctors write for their patients. That information is at the heart of a dispute over how far states can go to protect privacy ― a dispute that has reached the Supreme Court, and one that could broa

China’s double-digital economic growth over the past years has helped it replace Japan as the world’s second largest economy. In terms of gross domestic product China exceeded Japan from the second quarter of 2010 and its full-year GDP was more than 39 trillion yuan ($5.93 trillion), as indicated by statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics. That means China now has the second largest glob

NEW YORK ― The heart of any government is found in its budget. Politicians can make endless promises, but if the budget doesn’t add up, politics is little more than mere words.The United States is now caught in such a bind. In his recent State of the Union address, President Barack Obama painted a convincing picture of modern, 21st century government. His Republican Party opponents complained that

A massive archive of documents leaked to al-Jazeera and Britain’s Guardian newspaper offers irrefutable proof that years of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians have been an empty sham. The papers make clear that the time has come for Palestinians and anyone interested in the cause of justice to abandon the charade of official diplomacy and pursue other, more creative and nonviolent path

In his State of the Union address, President Obama said that repealing his health-care law would increase the deficit by $230 billion. While technically true according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, this statement is misleading.In CBO’s own words: “(the) legislation contained a set of provisions ... which CBO and (Joint Committee on Taxation) estimated would have a gross cost of about $

Cultural differences often inspire harmless laughter among individuals. For example, rumors say that the Americans’ favorite car, the Chevy Nova, did not sell in South America because Nova literally means ‘no go’ or ‘doesn’t go’ in Spanish. When GM executives changed the car’s name to the Chevy Caribe, sales increased considerably. This funny anecdote well illustrates the fact that you should thin

When he faced a high wave of public protests over the U.S. beef import issue in 2008, the just-inaugurated President Lee Myung-bak vowed to enhance “public communication.” The president had a painful recognition that the arrogance from having earned the highest supporting rate in recent elections had quickly turned the people away from the new administration. About the harm of mad cow disease, the

The Federation of Korean Industries, the lobbying body for larger businesses, has been virtually headless for the past seven months since its chairman, Cho Suk-rae, 75, of the Hyosung Group, expressed his intent to resign for health reasons. None of the heads of leading corporations is willing to take over. It is ironic that the honorable position that traditionally represented the business world

China’s State Council document released on Thursday to further check housing prices reflects the central government’s determination to deflate the property market bubble and stabilize or even lower real estate prices that have been rising for the past few years. Despite the series of measures the government took last year to rein in housing prices, statistics show that the number of houses sold an

The suspension of all bullet train service Jan. 17 on JR East’s five shinkansen lines ― Tohoku, Akita, Yamagata, Joetsu and Nagano shinkansen lines ― reminds railways and any organization, for that matter, of the importance of sharing important information among personnel concerned and designing a computer system that can flexibly cope with changing situations. At 8:23 a.m. on that day, a screen o

For years, many Middle Easterners have operated on the premise that things could continue as in the past. Arab autocrats assumed they could rule forever, and many Israelis thought they could occupy forever.President George W. Bush tried to explode the status quo by imposing democracy on Iraq from above, but we’ve seen where that led.As of this month, we are entering a new era ― for Arabs and Israe

WASHINGTON, D.C. ― During the state visit to the United States of Chinese President Hu Jintao, President Barack Obama pressed Hu on human rights. He probably should have asked more about spreading democracy in China, because he might have been surprised by what he heard.In September 2010, Hu gave a speech in Hong Kong in which he called for new thinking about Chinese democracy. He said, “There is

Even if you haven’t watched MTV since Duran Duran broke up, you’ve probably heard of “Skins.” It premiered on Jan. 17 amid a fanfare of anticipation after the Parents Television Council pronounced it “the most dangerous program that has ever been foisted on your children.”The council has demanded a federal investigation as to whether the young actors on the show (ages 15 to 19) are participating i

During the 2008 financial crisis, the federal government reacted in a frantic, ad-hoc fashion, tapping taxpayers for bailouts galore, running roughshod over the rights of bondholders and catching the American people unaware and unprepared. In contrast, we still have time to prepare for the looming crisis threatening to engulf California, Illinois, New York and other state governments.The new Congr

The mood in Taipei today is of concern and anxiety. Why? The Taiwanese lai bai xing (commoners) feel quite strongly that the world’s soon-to-be largest economy will eventually usurp up their island, known as Taiwan. Indeed, some even believe that growing economic dependency on the mainland is a kiss of death which they cannot avoid. Tourists, brides, students, agricultural and manufactured product

There’s a move afoot to give the states the authority to repeal measures enacted by Congress and signed by the president. It’s a bad idea. It’s also dishonorable.The measure, led by Republican Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah and taking the form of a proposed amendment to the Constitution, would allow the dis-enactment of “any provision of law or regulation” upon the vote of two-thirds of the state legisla