About: William Holstein

I’ve been looking for signs about how the world will respond to China post-coronavirus (if there ever is a post.) Will countries turn against Beijing and its One Belt, One Road initiative and its overall attempt to impose its will on others? This Reuters story from Bangkok is a very interesting sign. It’s not specifically […]…

I don’t normally comment on soft stuff such as mere human feelings but David Brooks really nailed today in the New York Times. See it here. The punchline: “This is a time to practice aggressive friendship–to be the one who seeks out the lonely and the troubled. It’s also true that character is formed in times […]…

Everyone is recognizing how dependent the United States is on other countries, particularly China, for vital supplies such as medicine and medical gear. The scramble to figure out which companies can “re-shore” or bring some of that production back to North America is just beginning. Vietnam has too many constraints in terms of labor. So […]…

Ever since producing the 1992 cover story for Business Week called Hot Spots, I’ve urged cities, states and regions to think about how their economies work and how they can be improved. The key buzz word is “ecosystem.” How good is their ecosystem for export promotion, for technological innovation, for training and retraining, etc.? I […]…

With tweets and with a “survey” I just received online from the Trump campaign, it’s clear that Trump is escalating his war on the traditional media. He has to do it because the media is reporting that he bungled the handling of the coronavirus. Media organizations have been risking the lives of their reporters and […]…