Woodrow Wilson, who enjoyed moralizing about the mundane, called paying taxes a “glorious privilege.” In 1865, when there was a Civil War income tax, one taxpayer shared this sensibility, sort of. Mark Twain said that his tax bill of $36.82 (including a $3.12 fine for filing late) made him feel “important” because the government was paying attention to him. Today, …

“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” As China appears set to acquire the Greek port of Piraeus, this timeless adage seems to be making its way from the Balkan peninsula to the gates of Beijing. Barely a week has passed since Athens accepted COSCO’s €370 million offer to acquire 67 percent of the Piraeus Port Authority that a new dispute that …

US real gross domestic product grew at a 0.7 percent annualised pace in the fourth quarter of 2015, the government announced. Now, forget that number. It is the “advance estimate,” and the Bureau of Economic Analysis will revise it again and again over the coming months and years. These revisions tend to be especially big at points where the economy …