Japan Gets A Shot In The Arm, But Is It Enough?

April 5, 2013

Japan’s economy is set to get a much needed booster shot, but it will take more medicine to cure it.

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What Nuclear-Free Japan Means For Us

May 4, 2012

This weekend, Japan will be nuclear-free for the first time in a generation. American gas can help keep it that way.

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Japan Shows Us It Can Happen Here

April 1, 2011

The probability that a particular reactor core at a U.S. nuclear power plant will be damaged as a result of a blackout ranges from 6.5 in 100,000 to less than one in a million, according to a 2003 analysis by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Compared to many more mundane technologies, such as cars and airplanes, nuclear power facilities are quite safe. For the past half century, we have assumed they …

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The Emperor’s Speech

March 17, 2011

Americans can be excused if we do not understand why a constitutional democracy would have a royal head of state. But in times of dire need, people who were raised in a monarchy know why they want one. Japan’s Emperor Akihito provided the latest lesson on the role of a modern sovereign when he appeared on television, for the first time, to rally his stricken people in a pre-recorded speech …

Obama Energy Policy Lies In Japan’s Rubble

March 15, 2011

Amid the devastation of Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters lies one more victim: President Obama’s we-can-have-it-all energy policy for the United States. Less than two months ago, the president called on Congress to mandate that we draw at least 80 percent of our energy from so-called “clean” sources, including nuclear power, within 25 years. “Some folks want wind and solar,” the president said in his State of the Union …

Japan’s Three Existential Crises

March 14, 2011

Only one event in our country’s 222-year history — the Civil War — threatened to tear the United States apart, or to change it beyond recognition. Japan now faces its third existential crisis in the space of 160 years. A society that has long defended its ethnic homogeneity and political independence could soon confront a stark choice: Accept outside manpower, money and influence to a far greater degree than ever …

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Where Will Tomorrow’s Workers Come From?

February 18, 2011

With the unemployment rate still coming down from its double-digit heights, few people in the U.S. are talking about what may be one of the biggest economic problems in our future: a labor shortage. In fact, however, one of the main reasons the unemployment rate has fallen faster than many analysts predicted is that the number of people seeking work has declined. Bloomberg recently reported that overall participation in the …

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A New ‘Sputnik Moment,’ As Misleading As The First

December 29, 2010

Our public schools are awash in high-stakes testing, but we aren’t doing well enough. We know this, of course, because the latest test results tell us so. “To be brutally honest…a host of developed nations are out-educating us,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said earlier this month in response to recently released international rankings produced by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The United …

Prosecutor, Judge And Jury

April 12, 2010

There is something disconcerting about the U.S. Transportation Department — acting as prosecutor, judge and jury — slapping the maximum allowable fine on Toyota for allegedly covering up a problem with sticky accelerator pedals. The department wants to fine Toyota $16.4 million in what would be the largest civil penalty assessed by the government against an auto manufacturer. The $16.4 million relates only to the sticky-pedal problem. As investigations continue, …

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The Extraordinary Life Of An Ordinary Person

September 14, 2009

Gertrude Baines, who was the world’s oldest person when she died on Friday at age 115, was an ordinary woman whose longevity gave her an extraordinary life. But what strikes me most about her death is how ordinary lives like hers soon may be. Just hours before Ms. Baines was found dead in her bed in a Los Angeles convalescent home, Japan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare reported that the …

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