Bloomberg Ukrainians are poised to elect the country’s most-watched comedian as president in a backlash at the ex-Soviet republic’s lack of progress since a revolution five years ago. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a 41-year-old TV comic who’s tapped into fury at the political class, was expected to comfortably defeat incumbent Petro Poroshenko at a runoff on Sunday, according to opinion polls. Despite ...

Some government foolishness has an educational value that compensates for its considerable cost. Consider the multibillion-dollar federal electric-vehicle tax credit, which efficiently illustrates how government can, with one act, diminish its already-negligible prestige while subtracting from America’s fairness. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., hope to repeal the tax credit, which probably will survive because it does ...

As China posts yet another quarter of six percent-plus growth, analysts have been quick to brand the latest upswing as a rebound. Buoyed by this year’s double-digit stock-market gains, large flows of credit and tax cuts for consumers, Beijing is trying to sell the narrative that growth remains stable. Some official statistics seem to support that theory: Gross domestic product ...