Opinion

  Minimum-wage policy is a fraught issue. People involved in the public debate — writers, business leaders, politicians and think-tankers — often defend their positions with a passion and commitment reserved for religious disputes. That makes it challenging to bring data to bear on the conversation. Nevertheless, as the weight of evidence piles up, it’s getting harder and harder to ...

  Good news! Twitter’s business is not doing terribly by the low, low standards of Twitter. Well done. In the first quarter, Twitter Inc.’s revenue fell from the year-ago quarter for the first time. Twitter doesn’t turn a profit, and now its sales are shrinking, too. That is … not good. But Twitter executives had told investors to brace for ...

  Just before Earth Day, Apple Inc. announced a new goal: to make its computers and phones and watches without mining any new raw materials. Instead, Apple would one day build its products “using only renewable resources or recycled material.” This is what’s known as a “closed loop,” in which new products are made exclusively from older versions of the ...

  As President Trump nears the 100-day benchmark, it’s a good moment to examine the relationship that has evolved between the mercurial and inexperienced commander in chief and his unflappable Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. It’s an unlikely partnership, but so far it mostly seems to work. Trump may have relatively few domestic-policy accomplishments to show after three months, but he ...

  The cold logic of the oil market dictates that crisis usually equals profit. That’s because a crisis in oil usually means a supply crisis, as some large producing country becomes embroiled in war or civil unrest or sanctions or some other geopolitical mess. The country currently occupying the unenviable position of being the likeliest source of a supply shock ...

  In Sydney last weekend, Vice President Mike Pence hailed the close economic ties linking the U.S. and Australia. In fact, currently America’s chief export to the Antipodes seems to be bad ideas. Last week, on the same day President Donald Trump took aim at the H-1B visa program in the U.S., Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull abolished Australia’s own skilled-worker ...

  The US navy flotilla is sailing towards Korean peninsula, the nuclear-powered USS Michigan, one of four Ohio-class guided-missile submarines capable of launching cruise missiles, arrived at the South Korean port of Busan, and US forces have begun installing THAAD, a missile-defense system in South Korea. Such military equipment build up is the ominous indicator of possible catastrophic events. Tensions ...

  The launch of China’s second aircraft carrier, expected as soon as this week, will be an important and depressing moment for India. The ‘Type 001A’—likely to be named the “Shandong”—will give China an edge for the first time in the carrier race with its Asian rival, a literal two-to-one advantage. After decommissioning the INS Viraat earlier this year, the ...

  What’s a mine worth? In theory, valuation could be based on the amount of salable metal it can produce. On that basis, Freeport-McMoRan Inc.’s Grasberg on the island of New Guinea is one of the best mines in the world, with the third-largest reserves of copper and one of the biggest gold deposits, worth more than $100 billion at ...

  The story about a $400 internet-connected juicer that turned out to be superfluous since a human could simply squeeze juice from its producer’s proprietary packs by hand was destined to go viral and did, with more than 800,000 hits on the Bloomberg website and strong reactions in other publications. It’s evidence of a growing resistance to Silicon Valley-style innovation. ...