WASHINGTON — Capitalism has always been an epic struggle between risk and reward, and the easiest way to understand the present turmoil in world stock markets is to recognize that the two have reversed. Risk has gone up, and reward has come down. Investors have reacted by selling. Fear triumphs over greed. This, of course, […]
Robert Samuelson
Posted inOp-Eds
What is the stock market saying?
WASHINGTON — Just whether the sharp selloff of stocks signals an economic slowdown or recession is an open question. Most economists seem to think not. Strong job growth (2.7 million more payroll jobs in 2015) and low interest rates will sustain slow but steady growth. Still, the dramatic stock market decline raises other possibilities. In […]
advertisement
Posted inOp-Eds
Technology alone can’t power economy
WASHINGTON — It’s only January, but what may be the year’s most important book on economics has already been published. Called “The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War,” it argues that we can’t expect new technologies to rekindle rapid economic growth. Advances in living standards will […]
Posted inOp-Eds
China’s economic stability in question
WASHINGTON — The China bubble has burst. No one ever believed that China’s economy would grow 10 percent annually forever, but the retreat from double-digit growth has been faster than expected and underlies the country’s stock market turmoil and its global repercussions. China is such an economic colossus that a few percentage points shaved off […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Troubles in emerging markets could bring recession
WASHINGTON — It’s hard not to wonder: Is the stock market telling us something? True, the market’s record in forecasting recessions is horrendous. Stocks often move according to whim or fad. But just because the market is wrong much of the time doesn’t mean it’s wrong all the time. Could last week’s turbulent trading be […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Deep schism among Republicans
WASHINGTON — The Donald Trump phenomenon ranks as the great political story of 2015 — and maybe 2016 — but could it simply be a subplot of a bigger story: what commentator David Frum, once a speechwriter for President George W. Bush, calls the Republican party’s “internal class war”? Yes, argues Frum. His thesis is […]
Posted inLetters
In rebuttal: Energy conundrum solved
Columnist Robert Samuelson may feel he is caught in an energy conundrum, but the rest of the world is not. Samuelson’s recent column (Dec. 30) acknowledged fossil fuels are driving climate change, but concluded that we don’t have what it takes to fix it. He’s wrong. Samuelson got a lot right: that we must transition […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Economic inequality on the increase
WASHINGTON — We’ll be hearing a lot about the middle class in the coming months. That’s one sure bet for 2016, as both parties compete for votes. What’s less sure is whether we’ll get an accurate assessment of the middle class’ condition. By now, the conventional wisdom is familiar: The top 1 percent has skimmed […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Climate change cannot be stopped
WASHINGTON — On climate change, curb your enthusiasm. It’s not that the recent international conference in Paris didn’t take significant steps to check global warming. It did. Nearly 200 countries committed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The goal of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) from preindustrial times was reaffirmed. The […]
Posted inOp-Eds
War on poverty faces difficulties
WASHINGTON — Should we fight the “war on poverty” all over again? Well, yes. That’s the recommendation of a group of liberal and conservative poverty scholars, who spent months discussing and arguing to see if they could find common ground. They did. Their new report — “Opportunity, Responsibility and Security” — lays out a plausible […]