William J. Holstein

About this blog:

I believe that the most important thing Americans have to do is secure their economic well-being in an increasingly challenging, complex world. All the arguments about culture (school prayer, the flag, etc.) are fine for other Americans to have—and they are a healthy sign of democracy. But they are beside the point.

What I have written about all these years is the process of creating wealth, not for any one individual, but for the United States as a whole. Ever since I was a young correspondent witnessing the emergence of China, just after the country opened in 1979, I've held the opinion that we have to get more serious about increasing the wealth of the U.S.

That means focusing not only on how our corporations are run (governance), but also on innovation and productivity/competitiveness. Despite the predicament in which we find ourselves today (and I think we face a tough five-year economic restructuring, not a mild recession), I retain faith in the resiliency of the U.S. economy and the enterprise of American people. If Americans have the right facts, and focus on the task at hand, we can once again get serious about creating wealth, not just playing funny money games.

So come with me on this journey as I explore the complicated issues involved in maintaining the economic health of the U.S

Seven Myths About Japanese “Decline”
TOKYO, July 29-- There is such a stunning gap between the images of Japan being promulgated by the American media and the reality of being on the ground in Japan, a subject I will keep turning to in coming days. I thought it might be useful here to ...
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Japanese Elections: What They Show About the Role of Japanese Politicians
TOKYO--I was in Japan for the July 11 Upper House elections and spoke with Koichi Kato, a member of the Diet, and with Takao Toshikawa, editor of Insideline and also the Tokyo correspondent of The Oriental Economist. As everyone knows by know, the old Liberal ...
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CHINA WATCH--Why Emerging Chinese Companies Have Such Difficulty With Branding
JULY 27--An obscure article in today's Wall Street Journal contains some profound truths. The article by Kathy Chen, from a Chicago dateline, features a Chinese man by the name of Jack Yang who is attempting to promote a line of dashboard mounts for GPS devices ...
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NORTH KOREA--Beware of Unintended Consequences
JULY 24 (Continuing a series of commentaries and travel notes from an Asian journey.) The Obama Administration seems to be pursuing the same policy toward North Korea that the previous Bush Administration did. One strand of this strategy is the hope that American ...
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50,000 Thank You’s
JULY 1--In this crazy media world, I'm delighted to announced that the number of hits to my website and blog has now passed the 50,000 mark. That's occurred over roughly an 18-month period. I don't how who you all are and I don't know how many of you are repeat ...
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Thoughtful Views From Reader About Multinationals
JULY 1-- Reader Astor thinks that personality types are just as important as the factors I cited to allow teams of different nationals to function well together at the top of large American corporation, and he argues that the Americans are ahead of the Europeans ...
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Reader Responds to Article on New Challenges Facing Multinationals
JUNE 30--Here is an exchange between a reader of my article in KPMG's Agenda magazine (http://www.kpmg.com/agendaonline) and myself regarding the management of multinational corporations. I posted the original article on April 27: From: John Astor Subject: Your ...
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Is the Insurance Industry Red-Lining?
JUNE 27--This is a personal story, but it may have a broader national spin. I received a call a few weeks ago from the Oxford unit of UnitedHealth Care informing me that the health insurance policy I was carrying for my wife and myself was being canceled as of ...
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China’s Revaluation: Did The Red Sea Part?
JUNE 26--I've waited a few days after China's announcement that it would allow greater flexibility in the movement of the yuan so see if any miracles had occurred. Nope, doesn't look like it. Washington policy-makers and the think tank/media crowd in Washington ...
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The Restructuring of the U.S. Economy--the Economists Still Don’t Get It
JUNE 17--An article in the Wall Street Journal says that there is a sharp divergence emerging in the U.S. economy, with housing stumbling and the industrial sector booming. Divergence? This is what has to happen as part of the structural change of our economy. We ...
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I Am Quoted On GM’s IPO in Fortune
JUNE 15-- Got guts? What to expect from GM's IPO As the US Treasury prepares to exit GM, many challenges remain in convincing investors it's time to get back in. By Kit R. Roane http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/15/news/companies/GM_IPO_valuation.fortune/index.htm ...
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Hey, Guys, What Happened to The Big European Crisis?
JUNE 15--I've suspected from the beginning that there was something fishy about the big European crisis. Greece is such a small economic player and it has had its problems for decades. Its lack of financial discipline was no surprise. Yet financial speculators ...
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The Key Is Getting U.S. Banks to Lend
JUNE 15--The financial reform legislation appears likely to win final congressional approval, which is good. But we should not lose sight of the end goal of this reform process. That is, we need major banks and investment banks to start lending money to Americans. ...
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Hungary Is Rocking World Markets?
JUNE 7--So the merest hint of financial difficulties in Hungary is knocking down the value of the euro and roiling world markets? Give me a break. The world would scarcely notice if Hungary simply were swept away up by the Danube River. What seems to be happening ...
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The BP Spill’s Ideological Impact
JUNE 2-- The huge, nasty BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is creating hash of the hard-right's ideological crusade against "big government." We've been hearing statements from the Tea Party and others that we have to "get government out of the economy" and we ...
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