Subterms
Donald Trump is all about boundaries. At a personal level, he doesn’t like touching strangers for fear of infection. Politically, he makes no long-lasting close alliances. And geopolitically, he obsesses over strong borders: big walls, more stringent immigration requirements, tariffs on foreign imports. But Trump is nothing if not a walking contradiction. For a guy who shies […] More
Companies spent $84m on congressional campaigns in 2018, analysis of votes and political contributions shows The oil and gas industry substantially rewards US legislators with campaign donations when they oppose environmental protections, according to a new analysis of congressional votes and political contributions. Oil and gas companies spent $84m on congressional campaigns in 2018. Researchers […] More
In the most recent Democratic presidential primary debate in Nevada, MSNBC journalist Chuck Todd asked candidate Bernie Sanders a probing question, “What did you mean that you don’t think they [billionaires] should exist?” Sanders described the effects of an economic system that allows for “a grotesque and immoral distribution of wealth and income.” Todd then […] More
Jeff Bezos has apparently realized that for his customers to retain the level of disposable income required to ensure their continued capacity to order goods from Amazon, their survival might be a critical factor. Not everyone can spend $165 million on a residence that will never suffer from a lack of water or be threatened […] More
Seismic risks for the global system are growing, not least worsening US geopolitical rivalries, climate change and now the coronavirus outbreak In my 2010 book, Crisis Economics, I defined financial crises not as the “black swan” events that Nassim Nicholas Taleb described in his eponymous bestseller but as “white swans”. According to Taleb, black swans […] More
Moderate leftists need an argument and an inspiring leader, writes John Pawsey, while Dariel Francis says the threat of populism is best countered with a dose of Keynesian economics Benjamin Moffitt, in his review of the forces of populism, suggests that if anti-populists want to defeat the likes of Trump, they’ll need a different approach […] More
David Enrich delivers a master class in financial sleuthing but much about bank and billionaire remains unknown Steve Bannon, the brains behind Donald Trump’s upset election victory, saw the danger posed by the cash cravings of the First Family. In Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff chronicled Bannon drawing a direct line between purported dark doings […] More
Yes, the Dow is at a record high and unemployment rates are lower than they have been in decades – but 140 million people are also poor or low wealth Rather than offer a report on the State of the Union, Donald Trump used his annual primetime slot in the House of Representatives to host […] More
