WASHINGTON — Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been dreaming about cutting major deals as Senate majority leader for most of his career. Next year, he’ll finally get the chance to do it with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the most ambitious free trade agreement since the Clinton era. The only thing standing in his way is his…

The Tea Party is aiming to stop one of the few initiatives President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress say they both want in the coming year: more free trade.   [by Carter Dougherty | December 4, 2014 | Bloomberg] The effort, which has drawn interest from Democratic allies in U.S. labor unions, is aimed…

On November 7, 2014, I attended the “Idea Jam – Innovating for the Future” session put on by the Pacific Center for Workforce Innovation in San Diego. The purpose of the session was to identify the major challenges to the San Diego workforce in the coming years and to generate audience participation in visioning exercises…

    Black Friday weekend is just not what it used to be. Despite falling gas prices, stock prices posting records, and buoyant consumer confidence, Thanksgiving weekend sales—in stores and on-line—were down about 11 percent from last year. Five forces combined to reduce this year’s spending binge—and most will endure in the years ahead. [by…

  In 2004, the Pacific Rim mining company applied to dig for gold in El Salvador. Pacific Rim (since acquired by the Canadian-Australian company OceanaGold) assured the government of then-President Antonio Saca that its work would be eco-friendly and would generate jobs. But with 90 percent of the country’s surface water contaminated, and fearing damage…