Free Republic

A leading economist has claimed that, in his view, economic globalisation is now ‘over’ as a result of the Ukraine war. Gabriel Felbermayr, a world-renowned economist who heads up the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (WIFO), has declared that globalisation is now “over” thanks to the ongoing war in Ukraine. ....snip Although the end of globalisation has been predicted many times before, Felbermayr’s warning matches those made by other groups and organisations, with Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine already causing serious issues for international trade. The supply of food is one major area where the war has already caused significant...

Guest post by Lawrence SellinSince the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the Chinese Communist Party has desperately tried to convince the world that SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19, was naturally transmitted from animals to humans. That is, SARS-CoV-2, over time, naturally mutated in animals until it attained structures capable of infecting humans.A new scientific study, however, demonstrates that SARS-CoV-2 could not have “jumped” from animals to humans in the way China claims, because it is probably incapable of infecting bats or pangolins (scaly anteaters), the only two animal hosts that could have harboured the virus. The closest ancestor...

When major employers come to a town, replace the local businesses, suck up the people they have made unemployed and then leave a few years later, there is very little hope of recovery. It is destroying towns and families. And what’s worse, it makes the victims complicit in their own demise. Ten years ago in McDowell County, West Virginia, a new Walmart came to town. It was warmly embraced as an employer because the coal industry was in decline; but an unexpected side effect (to the local population, not Walmart) was to shut down many of the smaller businesses that...

An official announcement by the Obama administration disclosing the reality of extraterrestrial life is imminent. For several months, senior administration officials have been quietly deliberating behind closed doors how much to disclose to the world about extraterrestrial life. Dissatisfaction among powerful institutions such as the U.S. Navy over the decades-long secrecy policy has given a boost to efforts to disclose the reality of extraterrestrial life and technology. The impending disclosure announcement follows upon the secret implementation of a year long openness policy on UFOs and extraterrestrial life. Over the period February 12-14, 2008, the United Nations held closed doors discussions...

US President Barack Obama on Friday hit out at naysayers he blamed for peddling "cynical" claims that global warming is a myth to derail a landmark climate change bill in Congress. Obama warned that the closer the Senate came to passing legislation which has already cleared the House of Representatives, the more opponents would resort to underhand tactics. "The naysayers, the folks who would pretend that this is not an issue, they are being marginalized," Obama warned in a speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "But I think it's important to understand that the closer we get, the harder...

ISTANBUL — The United Nations called on Tuesday for a new global reserve currency to end dollar supremacy which has allowed the United States the "privilege" of building a huge trade deficit. "Important progress in managing imbalances can be made by reducing the reserve currency country?s 'privilege' to run external deficits in order to provide international liquidity," UN undersecretary-general for economic and social affairs, Sha Zukang, said.

<p>President will announce Friday morning a significant expansion of the consortium of countries that tackles global economic and climate change issues.</p> <p>In a surprising late-night twist on the eve of the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, FOX News has learned President Obama will announce Friday morning a significant expansion of the consortium of countries that tackles global economic and climate change issues.</p>

The embattled US dollar is expected to come under scrutiny at a summit of developing and industrialized nations following China-led calls to review its role as a reserve currency. The dollar issue is bound to surface at the two-day meeting in Pittsburgh as US President Barack Obama and other leaders of the Group of 20 economies debate a new framework for tackling the so called global "economic imbalances" blamed for fuelling the latest financial crisis. "Though not clear how the plan would be enforced, it would involve measures such as the US cutting its deficits and saving more, China reducing...

U.S. to push for new economic world order at G20 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will urge world leaders this week to launch a new push in November to rebalance the world economy, but there are doubts national governments will bow to external advice. A document outlining the U.S. position ahead of the September 24-25 Group of 20 summit in Pittsburgh said exporters, which include China, Germany and Japan, should consume more, while debtors like the United States ought to boost savings. "The world will face anemic growth if adjustments in one part of the global economy are not...

SNIPWe'll get to all that. But first I want to mention a White House memorandum released last Friday to the heads of federal departments and agencies because it appears the Obama Administration wants to zone the oceans. The memo indicates that Obama is creating a task force that within 180 days will recommend "a framework for effective coastal and marine spatial planning." What's called The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force will make recommendations to the president on protecting ocean and Great Lake resources as they experience "growing demands" from "renewable energy, shipping and aquaculture." "This framework," the memo reads, "should...

The Times interviewed Paul Oquist, D’Escoto’s senior adviser for the conference, who sat beneath portraits of Fidel Castro of Cuba, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, among others. While meaningless United Nations hand-wringing over the North Korean nuclear weapons program garners the headlines, the world body is moving ahead with a global conference to lay the groundwork for world government financed by global taxes. The communist head of the U.N. General Assembly is leading the effort, but he is getting crucial support from "progressive" economists who advise the Obama Administration and the Democratic Party. The United Nations...

LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to host a summit of some 20 world leaders and key figures to discuss "progressive" governance, after a conference on the issue in London Friday, officials said. South African President Thabo Mbeki, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and former US president Bill Clinton are among participants at the summit of broadly centre-left leaders outside London on Saturday, said Downing Street. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy and national leaders from Australia, Chile, Cyprus, Ghana, Italy, Liberia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Norway and Slovakia are also scheduled, according...

Globalization has had varying effects on countries and economies throughout the world. In the first of a series of conversations, NewsHour correspondent Paul Solman talks to Farooq Kathwari, CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PAUL SOLMAN, NewsHour Economics Correspondent: Ethan Allen furniture, how much more American can you get? The green mountain boy himself was a hero of the American Revolution. For decades, the colonial facade and furniture named after him were, for Ethan Allen's customers, early Americana incarnate. And the company is still the state of Vermont's biggest employer. And, yet, Ethan Allen is about as global a...

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is keen for the deal to be ratified The Philippine government is urging the country's senate to ratify a $4bn (£2bn) trade deal with Japan, which it says may create more than 300,000 jobs.The agreement, struck last year, would bolster local exports such as shrimp to Japan, the government said, a market being eyed by trading rival Thailand. Japan has also pledged to employ at least 1,000 Philippine nurses. But the opposition-dominated senate has objected with claims the deal would see toxic waste sent to the Philippines. However, this has been denied by the government, which...

Not everyone is in favour of a free trade deal South Korea and the US are in the final round of free trade talks, trying to reach a deal before a looming deadline.US presidential powers to fast track trade deals ends at the end of March, making agreement all the more urgent. Since talks started on Thursday they have agreed to streamline customs and anti-trust rules, but farming and automobiles remain contentious issues. Hundreds of South Koreans have protested in Seoul arguing that a trade deal could threaten their livelihoods. Seoul wants the US to immediately end tariffs that...

Affluence is more apparent these days BBC World Service will be dedicating a week of special programmes from 3-11 February looking at how India is changing. The BBC's George Arney has been reporting on India for many years and, for just as long, the country's promise has been waiting to be fulfilled. How do you summarise a country which is home to one in six members of the human race, which contains a third of the world's poorest people and yet has an increasingly consumer-oriented middle-class twice the size of the population of Germany? And which - according to...

Multinationals lead India's IT revolution By Steve Schifferes Economics reporter, BBC News, Bangalore India's software and outsourcing industries are growing fast When 13-year old Taylor, who lives in Modesto, California, wants help with her homework, she no longer goes and asks her mother for help. Instead she goes to her computer and gets on the internet, where she dials up an e-tutoring service, TutorVista, based in Bangalore, India, for help with her maths and English. GLOSSARY Outsourcing: Moving company functions from internal departments to external firms Offshoring: Relocating corporate activities overseas. Nearshoring: Relocating offshore activities nearer the client's home...

Fear and those scoundrels of economic patriotism Several foreign takeovers have been axed recently because of fears about national security and identity - some rational, some not By Harold James Friday, Mar 24, 2006,Page 9 Samuel Johnson called patriotism "the last refuge of a scoundrel." If that is true, what should we think of today's mounting economic nationalism, sometimes euphemistically described as "economic patriotism?" Indeed, economic nationalism is exceptionally vigorous at the moment. Vigorous popular opposition to a Dubai company's plan to take over ports in the US shocked the American government. Poland is witnessing a populist backlash against foreign...

According to a Gulf News poll, 64 per cent of readers say the DP World affair "changed their opinion for the worst" about investing in the United States. A number of businessmen told the newspaper yesterday that Arab investors would think about other destinations. The majority agreed that DP World has been forced out of the US port operations due to "racism". President George W. Bush admitted Congress has sent the "wrong message" to the rest of the world. We don't feel that DP World lost. It in fact won the respect of the international business community when it won...

American newspaper covers Viet Nam's competitive advantages 10/06/2004 -- 11:15(GMT+7) Washington (VNA) - The Washington Times has published an advertism describing Viet Nam as having many competitive advantages to become one of the world's export processing centres. One of the advantages is its abundant pool of labour and low labour costs. The paper quoted the first American Ambassador to Viet Nam Pete Peterson as saying Viet Nam is competing with India and other regional countries to become one of the world's major computer component suppliers. The chief executive officer and founder of British Atlas Industries Company said he prefers Vietnamese...