The good news about President Trump’s proposed 2020 budget is that it vividly illustrates the basic causes of large, chronic deficits — a mismatch between the government’s commitments and the taxes needed to pay for them. The bad news is that the budget does virtually nothing to close the gap. “We must protect future generations from Washington’s habitual deficit spending,” ...

Duterte just did a Modi. He may be as lucky, too. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte bucked procedural niceties when selecting the man who will control the supply of money in his country. He bypassed three deputy governors of the central bank and installed a former budget minister and fan of stimulus to run Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. The new governor, ...

The swell of talk about China implementing a property tax has resurfaced – again. But unlike past years, there’s growing certainty that it’s actually coming. Just not anytime soon. Late last week, shares of Chinese real-estate developers tanked after Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People’s Congress standing committee, said delegates will “focus energy” on drafting a property-tax law, among ...

Thailand’s long-delayed elections to be held on March 24 have stirred concern among some analysts that we will see a fresh round of protests and social unrest. Investors should look past any temporary disruption. Whatever the result, Thai leaders will move forward with a landmark project that will support growth in what has been one of the most economically stable ...

US politicians, who, like Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, want to break up the big technology companies are treading onto a path that has long drawn their European colleagues. Europe has better opportunities and more compelling reasons to dismember Amazon, Facebook and Google. Yet it hasn’t done so, despite years of discussion. There are at least three reasons the EU is ...

The second annual report on the Women in Finance Charter, an initiative sponsored by UK Treasury to redress gender imbalance in the management ranks of financial firms, just landed. The good news is that there has been an improvement in the past year. The bad news is there’s still a long, long way to go before the industry meets even ...

In 2015, the United Nations set 17 sustainable development goals, laudable aims to help humanity to pursue a better future that included reducing inequality, eliminating extreme poverty and addressing climate change. The UN hoped to achieve all of them by 2030. In some areas, we’ve made impressive progress: Now only 1 in 25 children globally dies by the age of ...

Bloomberg Volatility is probably lower than it should be, but that doesn’t mean investors should turn defensive, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Expectations of the price movement across assets appear to be underestimated by about as much as they were in 2013 before the taper tantrum and in 2014 before the Federal Reserve began tightening, JPMorgan strategists led by ...

Bloomberg That relief investors felt in January when the Federal Reserve took its dovish pivot is showing signs of turning into something bigger. A feeling approaching bliss was on display this week when ahead of Wednesday’s rate decision the S&P 500 staged its biggest rally of the year and more money flowed into equity funds than any time in 12 ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Italy asked ING Groep NV to avoid any business with new clients in the country after it fell short in recent anti-money laundering checks, adding to the Dutch lender’s compliance woes. The central bank identified shortcomings in the Amsterdam-based bank’s processes during a four-month on-site inspection in Italy that ended in January, according to a statement. ...