Opinion

The politics of “law and order” have long been a repository of cultural and racial grievance. In his 1999 book, “From George Wallace to Newt Gingrich: Race in the Conservative Counterrevolution, 1963-1994,” Dan T Carter, a celebrated historian of the American South, describes a pioneering political advertisement from Wallace’s 1970 campaign for governor of Alabama: Radio spots depicted the dramatic ...

The European Union’s political leaders will meet next week to negotiate the details of their joint fiscal response to the Covid-19 crisis. The Netherlands has emerged as the main villain opposing the plan, as Prime Minister Mark Rutte demands that countries should implement economic reforms in exchange for any financial help. Rutte is being too rigid, but supporters of the ...

Samsung Electronics Co’s second-quarter earnings seem like good news. But it’s really not as simple as that. Revenue beat estimates by around 3.6% while operating profit topped even the highest of sell-side analyst estimates by 6.3%, the South Korean giant reported on Tuesday. Right off the bat, those numbers carry a caveat: The company posted a one-time gain related to ...

Online schooling has failed. American schools need to reopen in the fall. It has now become obvious that the steady diet of online instruction put in place for the coronavirus pandemic not only has hurt kids academically and increased absenteeism, but has contributed to anxiety and depression and probably even aggravated health problems such as obesity. “All policy considerations for ...

Investors with more than $4.5 trillion in assets want Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to stop loosening environmental rules and do more to control escalating deforestation in the Amazon and beyond. This may be their moment. Upcoming virtual discussions are well-timed: Faced with a pandemic-shattered economy and record outflows, the populist government that has brushed off foreign donors as interfering busybodies ...

The French revolutionaries’ instrument for administering the 1793-1794 Reign of Terror was the Committee of Public Safety. Today, China’s totalitarians, displaying either ignorance of this unsavory history, or arrogance in flaunting their emulation of it, call their new instrument for suffocating Hong Kong the Commission for Safeguarding National Security. Yet again, actual tyranny is imposed in the supposed service of ...

After the great recession, the American economy rebounded faster and stronger than the euro zone, raising doubts over the effectiveness of the “European social model.” As Europe emerges from the first wave of the Covid-19 epidemic in better shape than the US, its combination of welfare states and strong public health systems suddenly seems appealing again. The US is still ...

Although the better-than-expected US employment numbers that came out last week give reason for optimism, it is far too early to declare victory over the threat of further economic damage. Yes, the jobs report and other data released last week illustrated the kind of impressive across-the-board recovery that the economy is capable of. But the durability of this much-needed recovery ...

The NBA may be reflecting a still-hidden trend in the broader US economy: People may not actually be so keen to return to work. The NBA is planning to resume a fragment of its regular season, and then the playoffs, in a custom-tailored “bubble” in Orlando, Florida, on July 30. The games will be played only among the top teams in ...

Given the circumstances, it would be astounding if Americans were not in a sour mood over the July 4 weekend. Public opinion polls show that on a long list of subjects Americans are angry, pessimistic, disillusioned and fed up. They fear for themselves, their children, the economy, the United States’ role in the world and for their happiness. We know ...