Some American disasters come as bolts from the blue — the stock market crash of October 1929, Pearl Harbor, the designated hitter, 9/11. Others are predictable because they arise from arithmetic that is neither hidden nor arcane. Now comes the tsunami of pension problems that will wash over many cities and states. Dallas has the fastest-growing economy of America’s …

  A payment system is to an economy what plumbing is to houses: The only time people talk about it is when it’s not working. That’s been the case in India since the government’s demonetization decision on Nov. 8. While that shock gutted commerce, it also upended the payment method of choice: cash. A simmering tension between two systems is …

  President Donald Trump’s rocky start should come as no surprise. He has no experience in government or large organizations — his company is a small family office that employs a few dozen people. Before finding success through television and licensing deals, his career was defined by a series of failures and bankruptcies. The image he has cultivated for himself …