In the U.S. we see the results of consumerism as a lifestyle: the break-down of family structures, the rampant drug and alcohol use, the lack of support for quality education for our youth, the rise in violence in schools, the pressures for young people to ‘look’ adult at younger and younger ages, the reliance on prescription drugs for numbing the emptiness of lives, and the growing prevalence of obesity, even among the youth. Is this in store for the Chinese consumer?

When a few people suffer big losses and many others make small gains, you can expect the losers to complain very loudly, and the winners to say little or nothing. To deal with these situations, communicate frequently and carefully.

The losers in globalization receive much more attention than the winners because those stories are exciting to tell – and sexy stories translate into more television viewers and newspaper subscribers. It is easier to tell a story about layoffs in a thirty-second soundbite on “Lou Dobbs Tonight” than to discuss a complex economic theory. It is important to state that globalization is neither inherently positive or negative; it is an amoral process. What matters is how individuals and countries react to globalization. If a country adapts to these fundamental changes in the world economy, then it will benefit greatly.

The great cultural divides between people can really be bridged by mutual interest. Trade in goods is the tangible manifestation of that mutual interest. The ability of well-meaning people all over the world to reach out and find those points of mutual interest is the key to moving out of the economic slump of our age.

The subprime crisis of the big power has led to the global financial crisis. It seems that such an expression overstates the strength of the big power. But we cannot ignore the economic globalization which makes economic communities connect with and affect each other positively or negatively.

The US continues to print money which devalues each dollar in circulation. World money traders think the US is doing this deliberately, and market forces are driving the dollar down weekly. Traders in China, Japan, France and Russia are responding. They are making plans to dump their dollars for a world currency to protect themselves against further losses.

The word ‘love’ had three distinctly different definitions in ancient Greece. I’m proposing that we use a similar sort of rigor in defining the use of the term “fair trade” in the model economy. The term is being used interchangeably in several different unrelated contexts.

We are in the only age where there is no cultural consensus about anything. People are making it up as they go along because there is no cultural point of reference. We need a new word or phrase to denote this system impelling accelerating change referred to by Marx as the reign of the bourgeoisie. The concept of the free market is incomplete. Any suggestions?

Where does the Obama Administration stand on the issue of free trade? The president has repeatedly described himself as a free-trade proponent who wants to be a “better bargainer” on behalf of U.S. interests and wants agreements to include labor and environmental standards. But actions often speak louder than words. And there is some strong [...]

The global trade and world economy will possibly increase, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This statement was in contrast to the report that the group disseminated stating that the global trade will suffer a major downside in the up and coming years. The said increase was .25 percent higher compared to the initial IMF prediction last April.