WASHINGTON — Deutsche Bank is in trouble — and that’s bad news for all of us. Deutsche Bank is Germany’s biggest bank with 100,000 employees around the world and operations in more than 70 countries. Its assets total about $1.7 trillion. One worrying sign of the bank’s distress is its stock price, which is trading […]
Robert Samuelson
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Economic disappointments pollute politics
WASHINGTON — To understand this nasty and nutty campaign, you have to go back to 1973, which is before roughly 60 percent of today’s Americans were alive. The backward trip in time illuminates how the United States and, indeed, most advanced nations, became addicted to rapid economic growth and how this, in turn, polluted our […]
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Posted inOp-Eds
Voters should consider splitting the ticket
WASHINGTON — There was a time when ticket splitting was common. Voters would support one party’s candidate for president and the other’s for Congress. At its peak in 1972, ticket splitters represented 30 percent of voters, reports political scientist Alan Abramowitz of Emory University. Since then, the practice has gone into eclipse. In 2012, only […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Mass media facing loss of public trust
WASHINGTON — Regardless of who wins the election, the press — or, at any rate, what used to be called the “mainstream” media — may be the big loser. Donald Trump is making a case that he’s the victim of an orchestrated media campaign to defeat him, and although the charge is not true, it […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Global economy could pose problems
WASHINGTON — While everyone fixates on the U.S. election, developments in the world economy threaten to create problems for the next president and, possibly, trigger a major financial crisis. A little-noticed study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delivers the bad news. It finds that global debt — including the debts of governments, households and […]
Posted inOp-Eds, sj-web
Election will bring only disappointment
WASHINGTON — A reactionary is someone who wishes to return, usually unrealistically, to an earlier and more appealing era. We have two reactionaries running for president. Both peddle agendas that promise to re-create a reassuring past. We are being fed different varieties of nostalgia. Neither will work. Donald Trump is most explicit. He pledges to […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Trump gets cozy with Rosy Scenario
WASHINGTON — Rosy Scenario is alive and well. There is a long and dubious tradition among politicians of projecting high — usually unrealistic — rates of economic growth as a way of avoiding unpopular political choices. We can do everything, because rapid growth and torrents of tax revenues will pay the bills. That’s Rosy’s message, […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Will TPP rise from the dead? Doubtful
WASHINGTON — The question about the TPP — the Trans-Pacific Partnership, President Obama’s signature trade agreement — is whether it’s already gone to the political morgue or whether it’s still in intensive care. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump oppose the agreement, while the president has urged ratification. With Obama’s term ending and his already-modest […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Need a different immigration debate
WASHINGTON — The conversation — or argument — we’ve been having on immigration has been remarkably skewed. It’s been all about the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, otherwise known as the “undocumented.” Actually, what counts far more are the estimated 31 million immigrants who are here legally and the roughly 1 million who gain legal […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Trump presidency could end free trade
WASHINGTON — Guess what? A President Trump could adopt his new trade agenda without any authorization from Congress — and that could trigger a global trade war and a deep U.S. recession. Policies that promise to make us stronger economically could do the opposite. That’s the main take-away of a study by the Peterson Institute, […]