[Noah Smith] Democrats should aim high

The US government is divided once again. Democrats have the House of Representatives, while Republicans still hold the presidency and have deepened their control over the Senate. This means actual legislative breakthroughs are likely to be few and far between. But that doesn’t mean it’s useless to think about policy -- on the contrary, now is a perfect time for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to lay out their big ideas, as a way of inspiring the country to think about the future. Here’s a b

Nov. 12, 2018

[Trudy Rubin] House win means Democrats can scrutinize Trump’s foreign policy

Don’t expect the mixed results of Nov. 6’s midterm elections to rein in “Trumpism.”I refer to the president’s personalized foreign policy that disses treaties, friendly leaders, old alliances and anything multilateral, but favors dealings with strongmen.Although the House of Representatives changed hands, the Republican Party’s increased control of the Senate will block any effort to pass legislation that could circumscribe Donald Trump’s foreign policy efforts. Moreover, the US Congress has rar

Nov. 12, 2018

[Allison Jaslow] This is a time for everyday heroes

“Not all heroes wear capes.” This Veterans Day, I have a new spin on that popular saying: Not all American heroes wear camouflage.I appreciate the high regard most Americans have for us veterans in the post-9/11 era, but the strength of our country depends on patriots of all kinds. Every citizen has to be invested in the success of our democracy, not just those in the warrior class. And I definitely didn’t deploy to Iraq twice to defend this country, our constitution and our ideals abroad just t

Nov. 12, 2018

[David Fickling] We’re running out of road

Think traffic is bad in New York or London? They ain’t got nothing on Jakarta and Chongqing.The top of TomTom NV’s ranking of the world’s most congested places is dominated by emerging markets. Among cities in rich countries, only Los Angeles makes it into the top 15, and then only just. Some of the world’s worst traffic snarls are in South Asian cities not even picked up by TomTom’s ranking, such as Dhaka, Delhi and Karachi. Their problems are only likely to get worse as growing populations and

Nov. 11, 2018

[Jonathan Bernstein] Trump should learn from Nixon’s mistakes

President Donald Trump pushed Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign Wednesday. Matthew Whitaker, Sessions’ chief of staff, who has expressed hostility to special counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry, will step in as acting attorney general and, according to reports, take over supervision of the investigation.The president has the right to replace his cabinet officials. After all, it’s not unusual, as Trump said in his press conference earlier Wednesday, to have some turnover after an election.But

Nov. 11, 2018

[Therese Raphael] Brexit enters its most dangerous phase

If the European Commission’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, utters the words “decisive progress” sometime in the next few days, take notice. It would be the signal that the UK and the European Union have agreed on the terms of their divorce. A summit can be held and the white smoke sent up.That would be a watershed after 16 months of negotiations and drama. It would mean broad agreement has been reached, including one on the tricky problem of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.Bu

Nov. 11, 2018

[Daniel Moss] Japan can trim stimulus without repeating mistakes

If Haruhiko Kuroda is starting to lay the groundwork to trim Japan’s huge stimulus, he’ll be looking over his shoulder at two things: the world outside and a deceased predecessor.The first issue for the Bank of Japan governor to watch is the international scene, which is getting tougher for central banks eyeing steps away from ultra-accommodation. Kuroda’s speech this week in Nagoya that hinted at policy normalization described a benign global growth outlook. It’s as though the weaker data of th

Nov. 8, 2018

[David Ignatius] America needs a leader who can capture the high ground of technology

A conference here to gather American business and military experts to discuss the coming revolution in artificial intelligence was a good Election Day measure of the challenges ahead to maintain the US competitive edge. Corporate and government leaders agree that China’s rapid application of AI to business and military problems should be a “Sputnik moment” to propel change in America. As a top-down command economy, China is directing money and its best brains to develop the smart systems that wi

Nov. 8, 2018

[David Fickling] Railways put China on Belt and Road to nowhere

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, what are we to make of China’s plans to build a Silk Road railway through the heart of Asia?After all, those who think steel tracks are the best way to shift goods from the Pacific to the Atlantic have been able to use the Trans-Siberian Railway since 1916. In practice, the efficiency, flexibility, volume and logistical simplicity of maritime freight have won out again, and again, and again.That’s even been t

Nov. 7, 2018

[John M. Crisp] Trump loves military, but from safe distance

Andy Thomas’s painting, “The Republican Club,” achieved some notoriety recently when it was discovered hanging in a prominent location in the Trump White House. You’ve probably seen his kitschy rendering of nine Republican presidents -- Reagan, the two Bushes, Lincoln, Eisenhower, Ford, Teddy Roosevelt, Nixon and Trump -- huddling together for a drink and a few laughs.Lesser-known Republicans of the past, such as Taft and Coolidge, appear less distinctly in the painting, but the focus is on the

Nov. 7, 2018

[Lionel Laurent] France’s referendum lesson for Brexit Britain

A second referendum on Brexit has been portrayed as an attack on democracy by ardent Leavers, and outright rejected by the UK government. While a growing chorus of businesses and voters like the idea, some politicians say it would be divisive, unhelpful and akin to telling Brits they got it wrong first time.Yet over the weekend, a small South Pacific archipelago over 16,000 kilometers from London showed how a second -- or even third -- vote on a potentially radical constitutional turn of events

Nov. 7, 2018

[Ashoka Mody] Angela Merkel’s tragedy

What we care about most is often our undoing. So it was for Angela Merkel, who recently announced her intention to step down as leader of the Christian Democratic Union in December and as Germany’s chancellor in 2021.History placed Merkel amid raging storms: a series of eurozone crises that drove wedges between Europeans; economic tensions at home that fueled social fragmentation; and the largest migration wave since World War II, which intensified European and domestic anxieties. But, rather th

Nov. 6, 2018

[Noah Smith] Don’t expect robots to take away everyone’s job

How many jobs are vulnerable to automation? Plenty of people ask that question, and plenty of people try to give numerical answers. A recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said that about 46 percent of jobs have a better-than-even chance of being automated. A 2016 study by Citigroup and the University of Oxford reported that 57 percent of jobs were at high risk of automation, although a 2013 paper by two of the same researchers predicted 47 percent. A recent P

Nov. 6, 2018