Germany’s vice chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, says talks about a major trade deal between the European Union and the U.S. have failed, though “nobody is really admitting it.†That statement should be taken with a grain of salt, but the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership appears to be doomed, at least until after elections in the U.S. and major European …
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India’s Monsanto clash is bad news for innovators
Monsanto’s many battles with the Indian government have typically been cast as clashes between poor Indian farmers and a giant multinational that’s overcharging for its genetically modified seeds. And certainly, the U.S. agriculture giant isn’t the most sympathetic of companies. Its seeds are indeed expensive and, in the case of cotton, no longer deliver the returns promised as resistance …
Read More »Voters deserve to know more about candidates’ health
Like all of us, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are going to die. Will it be in the next four years? Probably — ideally — not. But for voters, that’s a reasonable question, especially given that Clinton is 68 and Trump, 70. Unfortunately, the candidates have refused to divulge the kind of information that would enable anyone to arrive …
Read More »Challenges ahead for US-India bilateral trade
A day after signing a defence agreement that would make joint operations between their militaries easier and efficient, the US and India kicked off a two-day strategic and commercial dialogue in New Delhi on Tuesday. The world’s two largest democracies are keen to boost their bilateral trade —which currently stands at $109 billion — to $500 billion. They look …
Read More »Anguish of Obamacare didn’t have to happen
The last few weeks have featured a great deal of news for Obamacare, most of it bad. Insurers are pulling out of the exchanges and premiums are rising. Coverage has been expanded, but it increasingly looks as if that coverage will mostly consist of companies taking their Medicaid managed care plans and repackaging them for private customers. Call it …
Read More »Uber is trying to figure out if it’s a real business
Uber is still losing lots and lots of money, the world learned last week from Bloomberg’s Eric Newcomer. It may even be losing a lot more money than Newcomer was able to tell us about. As he put it in his weekly e-mail newsletter: We know that Uber has lost at least $1.2 billion in the first half of …
Read More »China’s economic shift leaves many adrift
Economists too often talk about policy changes in abstract, ignoring the drawbacks that even sensible reforms can bring. For years, analysts have been urging China to shift its economy away from heavy industry and toward services and consumption. Yet now that Beijing is taking heed, the costs are piling up. Most obvious is a deepening gulf between winners and …
Read More »Will 2016 US election come down to electoral map?
Any American political strategist or reporter — I’ve been one for more than four decades — loves the map: That’s the electoral map that decides the presidential election every four years. Each of the 50 states is awarded electors based on its members of Congress, essentially by population; Washington, D.C., for example, gets three votes. In almost all states …
Read More »How next US jobs report could affect Fed
Most of the time, it would be very foolish to suggest that a single data release could determine a policy decision by the Federal Reserve. After all, Fed officials — board governors, regional presidents or senior staff members— pride themselves on considering a wide array of numbers and multidimensional models. Yet the jobs report for August that will be …
Read More »Colombia’s economic growth linked to peace
It took four years of difficult negotiations between the Colombian government and The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to strike a historic peace accord to end the 52-year-old conflict that claimed over 260,000 lives, displaced 6.8 million and left 45,000 missing. The pact will now stand the crucial public test when it goes for a referendum on October …
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