Just getting back from South Korea has made me realize how amazing it is that we live in a world sustained by global trade. The stark difference between North and South Korea prompts a lot of reflection about the benefits of global trade. America’s longest-serving Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, reportedly said, “If goods cannot cross borders, armies will.” But business faces its own struggles in its own trenches trying to make goods cross borders, whether these are company, state or international borders. Here is a list of 10 challenges businesses face today in trying to make trade work better. more

Next week Rhode Island voters will be asked – through a ballot referendum - to support the state’s first public institution of higher education. By voting yes on Question 3, you will be improving higher education for thousands of Rhode Islanders, making them more effective and competitive as employees. In addition, you will be creating hundreds of badly needed jobs for Rhode Islanders. more

The New England Council was honored to recently host a discussion of federal immigration policy with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch. These two respected leaders highlighted the critical role that foreign-born workers play in our economy, filling important jobs throughout the work force. more

The first quarter of 2012 was a record-breaking one for the financial markets. The S&P 500 gained more in one quarter than it has since 1998 and the NASDAQ had the best quarter in its history, though still below its all-time high of 5,000. more

Thirty years ago, Wallace Kaufman and Orrin Pilkey published the landmark book on coastal erosion, “The Beaches Are Moving; The Drowning of America’s Shoreline.” One of their many keen observations is simply that shorelines retreat. more

To the Editor: I am writing this letter in response to an article by Patrick Anderson that ran in Providence Business News recently (“Twenty years on, court ruling changes condo law,” Sept. 10, 2012). more

Although they can’t cast their ballots in this year’s presidential election, teens ages 14-17 are paying attention to what the candidates are saying – and aren’t saying. A new national survey finds the presidential election is top-of-mind for today’s youth, and domestic issues top their list of concerns. more

A recent editorial in the Providence Business News (“Tourism fiefdoms are relics to relinquish,” May 14, 2012) called for the consolidation of Rhode Island’s tourism efforts into one statewide agency. While the editorial’s hypothesis claims consolidation would save Rhode Island money, such a strategy would in fact cost the state potential tax revenue. more

Last week, after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced an unexpected decline in September’s unemployment rate, former General Electric Co. CEO Jack Welch questioned the credibility of the data. more

The most recent state-level employment figures remind us that this economic recovery, like the recession that preceded it, is astonishingly uneven across the United States. more