Trump’s latest tweet telling Iran it would suffer “consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before” is an almost-verbatim rehash of his August 2017 threat to North Korea; then, Trump promised “fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.” It’s about as serious this time around, but there’s more bad blood behind Trump’s deployment of all caps against Iran.　Trump’s tweet is a response to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s speec

Viewpoints July 25, 2018

This weekend a beleaguered Argentina hosted the G-20 finance ministers to work out the agenda for their leaders’ December conclave in Buenos Aires. While officially focused on infrastructure and the future of work, these more technical discussions were overshadowed by US tariff threats and President Donald Trump’s belligerence toward allies and the World Trade Organization.　The US attack on the global trading system comes as Latin America is finally embracing free trade. In a resurgence of marke

Viewpoints July 25, 2018

The American left has a lot on its plate -- universal health care, climate change, stagnant wages, wealth inequality and more. But there’s one more issue that needs to be added to the list: environmental justice. Poor Americans, especially minorities, are exposed to too many toxins and environmental hazards, destroying their health and harming their opportunities for advancement.　One of the worst hazards is lead. There is now good evidence that banning leaded gasoline contributed to significant

Viewpoints July 25, 2018

With friends like these, it’s wise to look around for some new ones.　Donald Trump has called the EU a “foe” and advised British Prime Minister Theresa May to sue the rest of the bloc over Brexit. The US president has already levied tariffs on European steel, and is threatening to do the same on lots of other products, including cars. So it’s hardly a surprise that Europe’s leaders are turning eastward in search of new allies.　Last week, the EU signed a landmark trade deal with Japan, known as JE

Viewpoints July 24, 2018

Here are some things we know about Maria Butina. She is a 29-year-old white woman with an enthusiasm for guns who has attended multiple National Rifle Association events, socialized with NRA leaders and repeated NRA talking points.She attended Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s 2015 announcement seeking the Republican nomination for president, and later supported Republican Donald Trump for president. She attended the National Prayer Breakfast, a Republican gathering place, in Washington this year.　B

Viewpoints July 24, 2018

It’s hardly a surprise that Donald Trump broke with longstanding presidential practice and publicly criticized the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates.　Trump told CNBC on Thursday that he was “not thrilled” with signals from the Fed that it planned to raise interest rates. “I don’t like all of this work that we’re putting into the economy and then I see rates going up,” he said. The White House issued a statement saying the president “respects the independence of the Fed,” but he seemed t

Viewpoints July 23, 2018

Monsoon rains battered down on Manila this week as a tropical storm -- the ninth this year -- howled nearby. Schools, courts and the senate were shut for two days; roads were flooded; public transport was affected. 　It could have been worse.　That the Philippine capital is one big ocean wave away from disaster isn’t news to climate scientists or economists. After analyzing 393 cyclone-vulnerable coastal cities in 31 countries, World Bank economists have concluded that 40 percent of the burden of

Viewpoints July 23, 2018

In the US and other developed countries, there are three basic philosophies of macroeconomic stabilization. Each of them was present in some form during the Great Depression, and each survives to this day.　The first is Keynesianism, which centers on fiscal stimulus, mainly in the form of increased government spending. The second is monetarism, which holds that getting economies out of recession is the job of the central bank, which can lower interest rates, engage in quantitative easing or ease

Viewpoints July 22, 2018

There’s no chance China will cut its trade surplus with the US in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff threats. For starters, Washington has made no specific demand to which Beijing can respond. But its efforts may have an unexpected side effect: a debt crisis in China.　The 25 percent additional tariffs on exports of machinery and electronics looked, at first blush, like a stealth tax on offshoring. The focus on categories like semiconductors and nuclear components, in which US-owned manu

Viewpoints July 19, 2018

How’s this for a thought experiment the day after President Donald Trump provoked bipartisan disgust over his performance with Russian President Vladimir Putin: Try to think charitably and ascribe rational, noncorrupt motives to political actors.　Looking at domestic politics, Trump may simply think that any acknowledgment on his part of Russian efforts to elect him discredits his presidency. Looking internationally, it would be possible to explain Trump’s behavior as an expression of a radically

Viewpoints July 19, 2018

It’s the go-to measure of an economy. But sometimes gross domestic product doesn’t tell you much.　A glance at China’s second-quarter GDP, released Monday, might suggest things are holding up pretty well in the world’s second-largest economy. The 6.7 percent increase from a year ago -- just barely below the prior period -- points to a China that weathered the early skirmishes of a trade war, continued its transition to a consumption-driven economy and isn’t suffering too much from a state campaig

Viewpoints July 19, 2018

Democracies look to voters for validation of their economic policies. For Thailand’s military junta, the affirmation is coming from Beijing, bankers and the likes of Harley-Davidson.　Harley’s decision to build a new Thai factory to supply Southeast Asia should be reassuring to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha. The former army chief, who ousted a civilian government in a 2014 coup, has a $51 billion, five-year plan to mold the country’s eastern seaboard -- already a large manufacturing hub -- int

Viewpoints July 18, 2018