Articles by Paul Blustein



Wall Street Tapped for U.S. Treasury Chief

  • 01 June 06
  • The Washington Post
U.S. President George W. Bush named Goldman Sachs chairman Henry Paulson as secretary of the Treasury Tuesday, turning to a prominent Wall Street insider to lead his economic team and become the chief promoter of the administration's fiscal policies.

New Trade Chief Could Spell WTO Woes

  • 20 April 06
  • The Washington Post
By switching his chief trade negotiator Tuesday, U.S. President George W. Bush sent a gloomy signal to many trade experts and policymakers about the prospects for achieving significant gains in trade talks with foreign countries anytime soon.

Around World, Drivers Fume Over Pump Prices

  • 04 October 05
  • The Washington Post
Rising fuel prices are stoking popular anger around the world, throwing politicians on the defensive and forcing governments to resort to price freezes, tax cuts and other measures to soothe voter resentment.

Economists Split on U.S. Deficit

  • 16 June 04
  • The Washington Post
Not a month has gone by this year in which the U.S. trade deficit has failed to hit a new record -- and a government report issued Monday provided no exception, showing a $48.3 billion trade gap for April.

New Aid Agency to Get $5Bln

  • 27 November 02
  • The Washington Post
The fund, dubbed the Millennium Challenge Account, will receive annual funding of $5 billion a year by 2006.

Finance Chiefs Tackle Sovereign Bankruptcy

  • 30 September 02
  • The Washington Post
Top economic policymakers attending the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank agreed Saturday to speed efforts to develop a ""sovereign bankruptcy"" procedure for countries in debt crises.

G-7 Approves U.S. Crisis Plan

  • 22 April 02
  • The Washington Post
Amid a deepening crisis in Argentina, the world's leading industrial nations Saturday endorsed new approaches for containing future crises, including a U.S.-backed plan to prod countries and their creditors to adopt more-flexible loan terms to avert catastrophic defaults.

IMF Scales Down Plan For Debtors

  • 03 April 02
  • The Washington Post
The International Monetary Fund, which is trying to forge a new approach to handling financial crises, has agreed to limit its role in a proposed ""bankruptcy"" procedure for countries overburdened with debt.

Bush Intervened in Enron-India Talks

  • 21 January 02
  • The Washington Post
The U.S. White House coordinated a multifront effort last year to help Enron Corp. settle a dispute with the Indian government, which the energy company hoped would deliver $2.3 billion as it was running out of cash in the weeks before declaring bankruptcy.

U.S. Congress Passes Strict Steel Bill

U.S. Drafts Drastic Bill to Protect Steel

Analysts See No Simple Panacea for 'Asian Flu'

U.S., Europe End Summit Divided

Telecom Deregulation Sets Precedent for World

IMF Concentrating On Crisis Prevention

Under Fire, Ex-Im Bank Considered for Merger

Debt Plans Show IMF's New Face

World Bank Sets Sights On War-Torn Nations

Rising Yen Threatens Developing Nations

Move Over Mega: The Gigabit's Here

Asian Trade Pledge: Free Market Victory

Asian Trade Pledge: Free Market Victory

Asia: Trade Hopes for Next Century

Corporate Murder: Japan's Mafia Strikes

TOKYO -- The murder of Juntaro Suzuki, a senior executive of Fuji Photo Film Co. hacked to death outside his home this week, has sent a chilling reminder of organized crime's brazen reach into Japan's corporate boardrooms. Most speculation about the attack centers on the theory that Suzuki was killed -- apparently with a traditional samurai sword -- for refusing to pay extortion money from Fuji to gangsters who specialize in disrupting companies' annual meetings. The murder suggests that the gangsters, known as sokaiya, may be growing bolder and more desperate as a result of a crackdown on their activities that has sharply reduced their numbers and their incomes. Suzuki, 61, was stabbed in his neck, arms and legs Monday night after he went outside to check on an unidentified person who had rung his doorbell, according to police. Witnesses were quoted as saying they saw a man brandishing a samurai sword running from the area.

Bentsen Warns Japan Over Trade Pact



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