[Eli Lake] America isn’t abandoning fight against Iran

One of the most common arguments against President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces from Syria is that it will strengthen Iran. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was to leave Tuesday for a weeklong tour of the Middle East, makes an interesting case for why that isn’t so.　Trump himself gave his critics ammunition at a cabinet meeting last week, when he observed that Iran already “can do what they want” in Syria. But his comment was merely descriptive, not a prediction of what will

Jan. 9, 2019

[Bloomberg] Let China get to yes on trade

The damage caused by US President Donald Trump’s trade fight with China has spread farther and faster than many expected. Factories in China and the US have seen orders slump. American farmers are hurting. A collapse in Chinese demand for iPhones knocked nearly $75 billion off Apple’s market cap in a single day. Slower growth just prompted China’s central bank to ease monetary policy, and, despite last week’s encouraging news on US jobs, the Fed is having second thoughts about its plan to normal

Jan. 8, 2019

[Noah Feldman] Trump’s long shutdown could destabilize world

US President Donald Trump in a meeting with congressional Democrats on Friday said he was prepared for the partial government shutdown to continue for months -- or even years -- if he doesn’t get the money he wants for a wall along the Mexican border. It’s not hard to see how that prediction comes true. Both sides have framed the issue such that a victory for one side on funding a border wall entails defeat for the other. Neither side has much incentive to compromise.　Suppose Trump is right. The

Jan. 8, 2019

[Joseph E. Stiglitz] From ‘yellow vests’ to Green New Deal

It’s old news that large segments of society have become deeply unhappy with what they see as “the establishment,” especially the political class. The “yellow vest” protests in France, triggered by President Emmanuel Macron’s move to hike fuel taxes in the name of combating climate change, are but the latest example of the scale of this alienation.There are good reasons for today’s disgruntlement: four decades of promises by political leaders of both the center left and center right -- espousing

Jan. 8, 2019

[Peter Lewin] Reducing deficit would solve Trump’s China trade imbalance problem

In light of US President Donald Trump’s current trade policy, it is perhaps worthwhile to review some common-sense principles about international trade.　The most basic and important principle is that countries do not trade, only individuals trade. The US does not trade with China. Rather, some individuals residing in America buy valuable goods and services from individuals residing in China. These are imports from China. At the same time other individuals residing in America sell valuable goods

Jan. 7, 2019

[Shira Ovide] Apple’s iPhone warning comes years too late

The optimistic narrative about Apple’s iPhone business is falling apart in front of our eyes.　The company on Wednesday stunningly slashed its own revenue forecast for its first fiscal quarter that ended in December. Apple led by blaming a slowing economy in China and the trade skirmish with the US for worse-than-expected consumer transactions in the region that includes China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Apple said its first quarter revenue is now expected to fall about 5 percent from a year earlier.

Jan. 7, 2019

[Thomas Spoehr] Five deadly myths of defense spending

It’s both necessary and healthy for the 116th Congress to have a full debate on defense funding. Unfortunately, it’s a near certainty that some members of Congress will muddle that debate by trotting out the following timeworn arguments in an attempt to slash the Pentagon’s budget. Let’s hope our leaders see these assertions for what they truly are: myths.　Myth 1: The US spends more on defense than the next seven countries combined.　Sure, it’s an irrelevant argument. After all, what a nation spe

Jan. 7, 2019

[Faye Flam] Why (some) humans are born to have a beer belly

It’s that time of the year when a middle-aged person’s fancy turns to treadmills and diets. Scientific literature on excess weight and health is expanding along with global waistlines, and yet, it is hard to find a solid, coherent scientific explanation for why some people get fat and others do not, and why some overweight people get Type 2 diabetes and heart disease and others do not.　In the US, beliefs about fat follow a science-y sounding quasi-religious narrative: Our prehistoric ancestors h

Jan. 7, 2019

[William M. McSwain] The feds are focused on ending modern-day slavery in the US

Human trafficking in the form of sexual slavery is a real problem in our country, one that the federal government is fighting hard to dismantle. The ability of traffickers to sell their victims for sex on the internet has caused this problem to proliferate. In response, federal investigative and prosecutorial efforts have increased dramatically in recent years. For example, in 2009, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania initiated a sex-trafficking working group with t

Jan. 6, 2019

[Navneet Manchanda, Vaishali Jain] A few steps on a long journey

The Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech of 2018 marked the announcement of yet another scheme, this time pertaining to the ailing health care situation of India. The National Health Protection Scheme, dubbed “Modicare” is deemed to be one of the largest health insurance schemes in terms of extent and expense. The scheme can be seen as an extension of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana launched by the UPA government in 2008.Like RSBY, AB is targeted at poor, deprived rural families and ident

Jan. 6, 2019

[Adam Minter] No, China Isn’t winning the space race

On Wednesday, China successfully landed its Chang’e-4 spacecraft on the moon’s far side -- an impressive technological accomplishment that speaks to China’s emergence as a major space power. Understandably, some Chinese scientists are taking a victory lap, with one going so far as to gloat to the New York Times that “We Chinese people have done something that the Americans have not dared try.”That cockiness speaks to the spirit of great-power competition animating the Chinese space program. Chin

Jan. 6, 2019

[Faye Flam] Why smart people may be more likely to fall for fake news

One might suspect scientists of belaboring the obvious with the recent study called “Belief in Fake News Is Associated With Delusionality, Dogmatism, Religious Fundamentalism and Reduced Analytical Thinking.” The conclusion that some people are more gullible than others is the understanding in popular culture -- but in the scientific world it’s pitted against another widely believed paradigm, shaped by several counterintuitive studies that indicate we’re all equally biased, irrational and likely

Jan. 3, 2019

[Shira Ovide] Apple’s iPhone warning comes years too late

The optimistic narrative about Apple Inc.’s iPhone business is falling apart in front of our eyes. The company on Wednesday stunningly slashed its own revenue forecast for its first fiscal quarter that ended in December. Apple led by blaming a slowing economy in China and the trade skirmish with the US for worse-than-expected consumer transactions in the region that includes China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Apple said its first quarter revenue is now expected to fall about 5 percent from a year earl

Jan. 3, 2019