[Conor Sen] New economy needs to go retro

A taxi company that owns no cars. A media titan that creates no content. A retailer with no stores.A couple of years ago, this was the view of Uber, Facebook and Amazon: growing powerhouses even though they consisted of little more than software engineers and data centers (and, in Amazon’s case, a warehouse with no storefront). Perhaps the future of the economy was a handful of gigantic tech firms serving as an interface on the real economy, collecting a toll for all activity, while the rest of

July 12, 2017

[Peter Singer] Trump’s unethical aid cuts

When Americans are asked what percentage of US government spending goes to foreign aid, the median answer is 25 percent. The correct answer is 1 percent. No wonder, then, that when President Donald Trump justifies cutting aid on the grounds that other countries need to step up because they are not paying their fair share, many people believe him. The truth is that it is the United States that is not paying its fair share. Long ago, the United Nations called on rich countries to raise their forei

July 12, 2017

[Albert R. Hunt] Trump confidants, Russia and a pattern of duplicity

Skepticism about President Donald Trump‘s denials that his campaign colluded with clandestine Russian efforts to help him win last year’s presidential election are fueled by a disturbing reality: Trump operatives misled, lied or failed to disclose at least a half-dozen secret meetings they had with Russians last year until confronted afterward. In the latest episode, the New York Times revealed Saturday that Trump’s son and son-in-law, Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, along with Paul Manafort

July 12, 2017

[Other view] The Macron Revolution should be about growth

It took brave, radical thinking for President Emmanuel Macron to transform French politics so completely. Reforming the French economy will demand no less focus and ambition. To judge by the speech he gave at Versailles last week, there’ll be no lack of ambition: It was positively regal. Focus, though, was less apparent. Once he turns to the task of governing, he needs to make structural economic reform -- especially to France’s broken labor market -- his overriding priority. Instead, France’s n

July 12, 2017

[Adam Minter] China cracks down on video games

Shareholders of Tencent Holdings, the world’s biggest video game company, panicked last week. People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, singled out “Honour of Kings,” Tencent’s biggest game, for an unusually high-profile criticism.“Poison,” the paper declared of a game played by roughly 1 in 7 Chinese. “Constantly spreading ‘negative energy.’” It linked the game to recent reports in which children allegedly stole money, experienced strokes and even jumped out of a hi

July 11, 2017

[Doug Bandow] How to get China to rein in Kim Jong-un

Even when President Donald Trump has a good idea, he doesn’t stick with it long enough. Like pushing China on North Korea.Of North Korea, said candidate Trump, “We should put pressure on China to solve the problem.” As president, he initially placed the issue front and center in the US-China relationship.But a couple of months later, Trump appears to have lost hope in Beijing. “While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At leas

July 11, 2017

[Leonid Bershidsky] Does Trump understand nuclear game theory?

The US may use “considerable military forces” against North Korea, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says. President Donald Trump is thinking about “some pretty severe things,” too. Both achieve the same goal, and it’s the opposite of what the US wants.The North Korean regime of Kim Jong-un is a deliberately archaic one. To understand the game he’s playing, it’s worth going back to literature from the first decades of the nuclear standoff between the US and the Soviet Union. Thomas

July 11, 2017

[Other view] Italy’s migrant crisis is Europe’s problem

Summer makes it easier for migrants to cross the Mediterranean, so Italy is struggling to cope with another influx of refugees. And like before, its European partners are doing too little to help. The Italian government is asking for a new approach, and it‘s right: the EU should see this as a pan-European issue, requiring a pan-European response.More than 84,000 migrants have arrived in Italy by sea in the first six months of this year, nearly 20 percent more than in the first half of 2016. The

July 11, 2017

[Other view] The future of work demands big ideas

Donald Trump won the US presidency in large part on a promise to help American workers displaced by trade and technology. That’s a worthy goal -- but if he wants to deliver, he’ll have to rethink his approach. Above all, he’ll need to recognize that the modern economy is not just about digging holes and bashing metal.To date, Trump has focused narrowly on industries such as mining and manufacturing -- for example, by loosening environmental regulations on coal producers and by haranguing automak

July 10, 2017

[Mark Buchanan] China’s electric cars are actually pretty dirty

Could China, the world’s largest automobile market, help address the threat of global warming if it went completely electric? The answer isn’t as obvious as it seems.China has been making great strides toward electrification. Electric vehicle sales are booming: consumers bought more than 300,000 last year, and more than 5 million are expected to be on the road by 2020. The government just announced bold plans for a wave of big new battery factories.Encouraging as that may be, though, the move aw

July 10, 2017

[The San Diego Union-Tribune] North Korea missile crisis: US can’t go it alone

Barack Obama drew criticism for the perception that while he was president, the United States in some ways abandoned its traditional role of global leadership in favor of an approach that an Obama aide memorably described as “leading from behind.” But even as the US stayed mostly away from the fray as the Syrian civil war turned into a massive humanitarian crisis, America maintained its leading position by pushing for a global response to climate change, supporting longstanding mutual defense pa

July 10, 2017

[Letter to the Editor] Government should not exempt taxes on income earned abroad

In response to KERI’s suggestion that Korea follow Donald Trump’s administration and lower the tax rate on business income held overseas, it is wrong to assume that multinational companies would reinvest in Korea, ordinary citizens are tired of governments favoring big business, and Donald Trump is not someone any reasonable leader should follow.With less than six months in office, Trump is the most volatile and polarizing president in American history, and -- as a president and a human being --

July 10, 2017

[Other view] N. Korea missile test requires global response

The latest feat of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the launching on Tuesday of what could be an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching Alaska, presents the 13th American president in a row the dilemma of what to do about North Korea.None of the various options to be considered to address this problem is attractive. A military attack on North Korea would lead inevitably to catastrophic damage to America’s long-term ally, South Korea, as well as to carnage and disruption

July 9, 2017