Economy

I am a die-hard advocate for supporting U.S. exports, so it concerns me that exports have been taken hostage during the ongoing Congressional infighting. Exports are vital, considering that more than 38 million American jobs depend on trade. One in three manufacturing jobs depends on exports, and one in three acres on American farms is […]

In the decade following the horrors of World War I, peace was celebrated at every opportunity. The supporters of a bridge connecting Buffalo and Fort Erie, Ontario, seized upon that tide and in 1927 the Peace Bridge was born. Today it is operated by the Public Bridge Authority. It is ironic that a bridge passionately […]

All business executives are interested in company growth. In turn, many organizations are making fundamental changes in order to stay viable and expand in these uncertain times. An organization cannot grow, however, unless its people grow. New strategies and business initiatives require new mindsets from business leaders — and a thoughtful focus on the culture...

In the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations, many nations expressed shock and dismay over the mass surveillance of their citizens and governments. In turn, on March 12 the European Union (EU) Parliament passed a resolution and new law relating to data privacy. This will have profound implications for every U.S. tech company, as well […]

SPECIAL REPORT—The political upheaval that erupted after President Viktor Yanukovych opted against signing an association agreement with the EU in November 2013 escalated sharply in February, and the situation is spiraling out of control, with serious negative implications for Ukraine’s already poor risk profile. Yanukovych has fled the country, taking refuge in Russia, while Moscow […]

We can't know yet how the markets will behave in Argentina after the announcements made by the economic team, […]

The key question facing policymakers in 2014 will be how to energize the economy and lower the rate of unemployment while avoiding another financial crisis caused by asset price inflation and a misallocation of credit. The Fed seems concerned with deflation, but the real risk is that the Fed’s bloated balance sheet, and the extraordinary...

President Obama has made it clear that he is no advocate of fossil fuels. He has gone to war against coal and refuses to allow drilling on most federal lands for oil. Despite this lack of support, the United States actually has a surplus of crude oil and natural gas. Domestic production is way up […]

In most wars a victor is declared. Yet, there is one war that has raged for more than half a century and there is no winner: the war on poverty. It started under the Lyndon Johnson administration with the best intentions. Now 50 years and $20 trillion later, poverty in this nation has actually grown […]

Legislation recently introduced in Congress to restore “fast track” trade promotion authority is considered necessary to complete and ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement between the United States and 11 other Pacific-bordering nations, as well as other trade agreements. But this vehicle, which conveys congressional negotiating objectives to the president in exchange of a timely, up-or-down...

If there is one thing that site selection consultants agree on, it’s that no two projects are the same. While the process of analyzing locations and selecting sites is the same across most projects, each client has specific requirements that are reflected in the choice and weighting of the criteria used to evaluate locations for […]

With the United States coming off of a certain degree of economic turmoil, rising wages in China, and industrial production decline in Europe, many executives in the U.S. have begun looking back home for manufacturing. As a result, American manufacturing is experiencing a bit of resurgence. Here is a look at U.S. cities experiencing a […]

Portugal’s Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho’s coalition government continues to hold together despite tensions generated by the negative impact of austerity-fatigue on popular support for both the prime minister’s PSD and its junior partner, the CDS-PP. The partner’s resolve has been reinforced by signs of economic improvement, including a revival of tourism and exports that […]

On December 19th, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced the decision to begin tapering monthly bond purchases indicating that “downside risks to growth have diminished.” However, as the United States appears to slowly recover from its worst recession since the Great Depression, many are questioning their level of confidence in American Capitalism. In fact, some...

The United States is experiencing an energy revolution that is having a tremendous impact on business. Moving forward, this is projected to boost corporate competitiveness, manufacturing output, employment, and exports, as well as household income. And this new “gold rush” is catapulting new American energy to the top of global charts, while continuing to reduce...

projections for nearly every emerging market and developing country have been reduced in recent months. At the same time, the prospects of many advanced economies, including the U.S., have improved. And the trends are strengthening. For example, in the first three quarters of 2013, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth registered...

Trade unions are always proclaiming their mission is to save and create U.S. jobs. But if you have been paying attention to their actions, you would be hard pressed to see this philosophy in action. Jobs aren’t being created by unions — the opposite is occurring. That may explain why union membership has dropped to […]

Professional sports players are usually paid based on performance. The better they play, the more money they make. In the business world, CEOs are typically compensated based on the performance of their company. The better the company performs, the more they are paid in salary and stock options.

The strange-bedfellows alliance of the center-left PD and the center-right PdL has been weakened by votes of no-confidence in both houses of Parliament. Nevertheless, it has survived the ordeal, despite fears that the PD’s refusal to help the PdL’s founder, Silvio Berlusconi, to escape his latest legal troubles could bring an early end to the […]

Japan experienced stock market, credit and real estate bubbles in the late 1980s, but with more intensity than the U.S. later experienced. Prior to 1990, the Japanese economy and financial system were considered superior to the U.S.’ as expressed in several books, such as Japan as Number One (1979). Japanese society was considered more thrifty...