Opinion

Congress returns to Washington this week to a meat grinder: In short order, members must raise the debt ceiling, pass a budget (to avoid a government shutdown) and deliver emergency relief to the victims of Hurricane Harvey. So it might seem unrealistic to suggest that they strike a bipartisan deal on child-care tax credits. Yet this is precisely the kind …

Since December 2015, China’s government has been talking up what it calls supply-side reform. State media says the goal is “stimulating business through tax cuts, entrepreneurship and innovation while phasing out excess capacity.” That sounds reasonable. In reality, though, supply-side reform is doing almost nothing to reduce capacity, and may well be worsening the inefficiencies that are holding back China’s …

The sheer nastiness of Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton TV debates and the deft verbal fencing of French presidential candidates are still fresh in watchers’ memory. No wonder many were disappointed by Sunday’s ‘TV duel’ between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Social Democratic Party leader Martin Schulz, which Merkel won, according to polls. To many, the tame debate looked more like a …

Nothing makes a tech company quake in its boots so much as the sight of Apple Inc. marching into its territory. It’s a big deal for Western Digital Corp. not only to have Apple throw its hat in the ring of the Toshiba Corp. chip fight, but to have that name brandished like a weapon. Foxconn Technology Group, long a …

When you ask someone in the financial industry how his job creates value, he’ll often answer that it enhances liquidity. Why are high-frequency trading and other forms of algorithmic trading good for markets? Liquidity, we’re told. What’s the potential harm from the Volcker Rule, which prohibits banks from engaging in proprietary trading? It could decrease liquidity. There are endless academic …

What has been missing in Washington for the past two or three decades is a serious debate about the role of the federal government. What programs are effective and justified? Who deserves government benefits and how much? The issue is not whether we’ll have big government or small government. To paraphrase President Clinton: The era of small government is over. …

Moody’s Investor’s Service released a very interesting report on Amazon.com Inc. this week. It was distinctly different from the usual Wall Street research, which tends to be glowing about anything related to the company’s founder and chief executive officer, Jeff Bezos. I am a fan of his work and company, so in order to check myself, I seek out opposite …

European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi is discovering that exiting quantitative easing is harder than introducing it. The more the euro rises, the more downward pressure it puts on inflation, making it harder for the central bank to taper its bond-buying program, which in turn boosts the euro. It’s a vicious circle, driven largely by the improved economic outlook …

The absurdist political theater surrounding the US government debt ceiling is having another revival. With debt default looming next month, President Donald Trump has agreed to a deal that will grant emergency relief for Hurricane Harvey and raise the ceiling — until December, when another phony fiscal crisis is scheduled. Given the impressive dysfunction of Congress, compounded these days by …

The recently held Brexit talks between the UK and the European Union didn’t go well. The March 2019 deadline for concluding an agreement is approaching, and progress has been much too slow. Prime Minister Theresa May needs to get a grip on this process. Britain’s government faces two crucial obstacles. It’s in May’s power to break through both. The first …