If you want to understand why the tax code is so hard to overhaul, consider the case of the mortgage interest deduction. The issue is so sensitive that the House and Senate are dealing with it in completely opposite ways. To its many defenders and beneficiaries, the mortgage interest deduction symbolizes and subsidizes the American Dream. It promotes homeownership, which …

On the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s election win, markets in Asia are behaving like the US president’s rhetoric is just background noise. At first, there were knee-jerk reactions. Japan’s Topix Index slumped 4.6 percent on Nov. 9 as investors digested the news while credit-default swaps protecting Indonesian government debt against default rose 26 basis points that week, the most …

If soon-to-be CEO Michelle Gass needed any reminder of what a tough job she is stepping into at Kohl’s Corp., the department-store chain’s latest earnings report surely provided one. Kohl’s said its same-store sales rose a meager 0.1 percent compared to a year earlier. The company said its traffic trends continued to improve — but just because footfall is better …