Sebastian Beckmann's Archive
Deutsche Bank Layoffs Amid Economic Uncertainty
On July 31, Deutsche Bank announced that it would cut 1,500 jobs from its investment banking branch. In the weeks leading up to the announcement, the bank found itself confronting a series of hurdles just as the company’s co-chairs settled in. Some of its problems, such as its involvement in the LIBOR… Read more >
High Drama in the High Court? ESM and Fiscal Compact in Legal Limbo
For months, policymakers and public alike could only wait with bated breath for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on President Obama’s health care reform law. As they pondered and deliberated the law’s constitutionality, the Court’s justices held Americans in suspense over the future of the polarizing and monumental reform. In the week… Read more >
The U.S. and German Health Care Systems after the Health Care Decision: Not Much Closer
On June 28, the Supreme Court announced its decision to uphold all of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the controversial requirement for individuals to purchase health insurance or face a tax, which conservative challengers of the law starkly opposed. Although the fate of the law remains unclear –… Read more >
Germany and the United States at Rio +20
In planning last week’s United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio +20, organizers sought to bring together the public, private, and NGO sectors for a constructive dialogue on sustainability and development. The ploy worked for the German delegation, whose liveliness underscored a growing convergence of public and private interests regarding sustainability, but… Read more >
Beyond Domestic Politics: Energy Policy in the Transatlantic Relationship
On June 18, Philipp Rösler, Chairman of the FDP and German Minister of Economics and Technology, opened a visit to Washington, DC, with a speech on the three issues at the core of the future of the transatlantic relationship: the ongoing European debt crisis, trade policy, and, perhaps surprisingly, energy policy. While… Read more >
The Momentum of Health Care Reform: UnitedHealth Maintains Consumer Protections
As consumers, insurance companies, and the federal government await the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), one health insurance provider has stepped up to the plate and promised to maintain some of the law’s consumer protections even if the law is struck down. On June 11,… Read more >
Not in My Backyard: Communal Challenges to the Energiewende
In the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster in 2011, pollsters consistently found that a majority of Germans supported the closing of Germany’s remaining nuclear power plants. The anti-atomic sentiment culminated in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s announcement of an Energiewende, energy transformation, which would shift Germany from nuclear to renewable energy. As the project… Read more >
A Volkswagen “Pivot” toward China?
In 2011, Volkswagen AG (VW) delivered 2.3 million cars in China, accounting for 27 percent of its total sales by volume. The importance of the Chinese market to VW, coupled with the unique difficulty of doing business in the People’s Republic’s partially state-run economy, explains VW’s creation of a new Group Board… Read more >
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