Literaturbericht

The first international press review focuses on understanding perspectives on policies from various fields in order to learn how they influence the international arena. It begins with the controversial recommendation made by a think tank to increase the retirement age to 70 in Germany which gave a chance to the opposition to raise its voice and logi-cally counter it. The second item talks of the new American law which brings in a steep hike in the H1B and L1 Visa fees creating a lot of dissent within America and from other countries. The report by an American think tank criticizes the move and proposes full autonomy for the organizations along with a need to exempt extra fees to be paid for hiring foreign nationals. The next segment mentions the involvement of public interest groups both in favor of and against net neutrality as proposed by Google and Verizon. Some think tanks see it as a move to limit the role of United States Federal Communica-tion Commission while the others see it as a step in the right direction towards what the Internet ecosystem expects. The last paragraph sheds light on an interesting Australian debate between a think tank member who wants to substitute art with latest culture build-ing measures and practitioners who believe that new takes live from tradition and consid-ers art as never ending.

The conservative economic think tank IW made headlines in Germany this August after its proposal to increase the retirement age to 70. Though the proposal echoes a simi-lar conclusion as put forth by the European Commission last month, IW’s recommenda-tion fuelled a debate in the political circles. Low birth rates and higher life expectancy are the two cited reasons for such a recommendation. Another important reason is the rising costs of the welfare system which increase the burden on the government. It is obvious that such a proposal is bound to raise opposition because the burden needs to be borne by retiring middle aged individuals. Moreover, the opposition has highlighted the shortage of employment opportunities for the people at this age. On the other hand this solution

Z Politikberat (2010) 3:283–285DOI 10.1007/s12392-010-0255-7

German retirement age and American visa regulations, international net neutrality and Australian cultural prioritiesInternational press review May to August 2010

Abhinav Verma

Published online: 18.09.2010 © VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften 2010

A. Verma ()Mumbai, Indiae-mail: abhinav.verma@accenture.com

284 A. Verma

appears to be the most humane way of dealing with the challenges faced by the country. However, the government still faces the challenge of implementing the lift in retirement age from 65 to 67 from 2012 onwards. Even though the recommendation contains ben-efits, raising the limit to 70 appears to be a farfetched ambition as of now.

Important news shook the world when America, the country which itself professed liberalization, signed into law a new “Border Security Bill” moving towards the protec-tionist mode. This bill brings in a steep hike in some categories of H-1B and L-1 Visa fees which is expected to badly hurt countries like India which export a lot of its nationals to America for education and jobs. A report submitted by American Council of International Personnel, an American think tank and US Chambers of Commerce slams the move by valuing the contribution made by highly educated foreign nationals in the development of American organizations. According to the report, the companies are the best judge for deciding who is best for them. It also downplays the argument put forth by the critics that foreign nationals are hired to save money. In fact, the report talks of extra legal and government fees that have to be paid by the organizations to handle foreign nationals. It also mentions the fees generated by H1B petitions to have funded more than 53,000 scholarships in the country. Interestingly, the report recommends a completely different solution by asking to exempt employers for sponsoring highly skilled individuals from labor certification and current employment based quotas. This would expedite the proc-ess of issuing green cards and help in retention of world’s leading future innovators. With Obama working on his promise to restrict outsourcing, it seems difficult for the report to be implemented. However, its entirely different perspective provides a logical counter to the new law.

A recent proposal released by Verizon and Google over net neutrality saw varied remarks from various public interest groups and think tanks. Net neutrality is a principle proposed for user access networks participating in the Internet that advocates no restric-tions by Internet Service Providers and governments on content, sites, platforms, on the kinds of equipment that may be attached, and no restrictions on the modes of commu-nication allowed. The proposal’s controversial limits on the United States Federal Com-munication Commission’s (FCC) authority are the major reason for such a divide. Pro net neutrality groups have talked of a stronger policy adoption by FCC than the one proposed. They fear that such a proposal could‘cannibalize’ the Internet. Several public interest groups wrote to the FCC Chairman no to let giant galoots distract him. Despite protests from organizations like Facebook, Amazon and some venture capitalists, the proposal found some relief with support from labor unions, AT & T and some think tanks. Accord-ing to Communication workers of America and AT & T, this proposal demonstrates that issues over this can be bridged and that they would support all efforts to protect the internet. Another think tank “The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation” applauded the proposal. It mentions it as a very useful starting point and claims it to cap-ture the consensus that exists around the internet ecosystem.

An interesting report on the rarely discussed cultural policy by the Centre of Policy Development in Australia created dissent with artistic director of West Australian Opera Richard Mills objecting strongly to it. A joint call by the Art Minister’s advisory panel member Marcus Westbury and Melbourne based think tank’s member Ben Eltham to abolish the Australian Council and take away the funds from big institutions and dis-

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tribute among “individual creators” is the reason behind the dissent. Westbury suggests that the cultural priorities and needs of Australia have changed with the new technolo-gies. They argue that Australian Council is irrelevant because culture is bigger and more pervasive than the arts. They feel that things such as copyright law, media regulation and even urban planning are much more important. However, the art minister Peter Garrett distanced himself from Westbury’s opinion by saying that organizations like the opera are stalwart deliverers of important culture. This debate is a continuing one with several instances of counter arguments posed by Westbury and Mills. On the one hand, Westbury claims that the idea of small number of elite artists producing large scale culture is out of date; on the other hand, Mills talks of the vitally new art taking its life from tradition and highlights the importance of passing creative heritage through education. Australian Council’s chief Kathy Keele also counters Westbury’s thought by talking of the relevance of Bach’s orchestra and Shakespeare’s theatre which according to her are still perform-ances about today.

The data and information presented in this article were retrieved from the following print and online media: The Washington Post, Associated Press, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist, The Australian, Helsinki Times, Msnbc Digital Network.