Opinion

It’s debatable whether the Federal Reserve has sense, vision or “guts.” But one thing is certain: The US central bank has become a weakling. The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), on the other hand, is loaded with technocrats on steroids. The Fed’s prestige took a hit. Its most powerful regional reserve bank somehow botched a critical market rescue operation – ...

As a case study in the workings of modern democracy, the handling of Social Security by successive presidents and Congress over recent decades is a deeply disturbing exercise. The facts are not in dispute. Congress and the White House have agreed to benefits for retirees and the disabled that are woefully underfunded. Rather than bring the programs into balance — ...

Physically diminutive, intellectually acerbic and with an eye for the ironic, Margaret Ng — lawyer, writer and former legislator — is, at 71, a member of the generation for which this city’s youthful protesters have scant patience. They say the elders have been too patient about Hong Kong’s precarious situation. But, says Ng dryly, the youths frequently welcome assistance from ...

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) decision to reactivate quantitative easing has put monetary policy back in the spotlight. But as the bank’s president Mario Draghi says, the currency union would be in much better shape if countries with strong fiscal positions opened their purses. Fiscal doves will no doubt take heart from a slight softening of tone in Germany, the ...

Ever wonder why some global banks are still failing in the fight against money laundering? An account of Standard Chartered Plc’s latest shortcomings is a stark reminder of how much needs to improve in the industry. A review by regulators of the London-based emerging markets lender found that it wasn’t able to prove how some of its wealthy clients had ...

For once, President Donald Trump may be on the verge of signing a trade pact that benefits Americans. He could strike an even better one if he got out of his own way. Trump announced that the US and Japan have worked out an initial trade accord. Japan will reportedly lower tariffs on US beef, among other products, to the ...

India’s fragile financial system is swinging between despair and hope. Two separate incidents — both featuring the lender Yes Bank Ltd. — recently underscored the drag of past underwriting follies as well as the lift from a digital reset. It will take time, but good things will come to Indian banking as a result of the present crisis. Clearwater Capital ...

The headline from the US Census Bureau’s report on health insurance coverage was that the ranks of the uninsured swelled by almost 2 million Americans in 2018. But the larger trends illustrated in the report are more consequential — and more positive — for the US economy. First, about those health-insurance numbers. More than half of the decline in insurance ...

SoftBank Group Corp. and its Vision Fund need another win. And they need it fast. With news that US rental office company WeWork – formally known as The We Company – looks set to delay its IPO, we can see just how dependent SoftBank supremo Masayoshi Son’s empire was on this one exit to keep the Japanese company’s hit machine ...

The idea that interest rates could be “negative” seems so counterintuitive that it defies easy understanding. Yet, here we are. Some foreign central banks (among them, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the central banks of Denmark and Sweden) have adopted them. No less a figure than former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has suggested that it’s just a matter ...