OK, the shutdown is over. But no one should be fooled into thinking that this settles the big questions facing the country. Even if (a big ‘if’) the immigration laws are overhauled and the nearly 700,000 ‘Dreamers’ stay in the United States, at least three large issues remain that neither party has yet had the courage to confront. Here they ...

It’s time the world’s largest pension fund boosted its risk appetite again. Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) has been fleeing local government bonds ever since it doubled its allocation targets for domestic and overseas stocks in late 2014. It’s likely to have already exceeded that quota due to the global equities bull run. As of September 30, the latest data ...

In the space of a few hours on Tuesday, what had been increasingly obvious became all but official: The US is no longer leading the world economy. The US withdrawal is signaled by the Trump administration’s announcement of new tariffs on solar panels and washing machines. Dispiriting as this choice may be — not to mention bad for US workers ...